Ken Young, an exUCG member has written a book debunking the British Israelism myth that currently occupies the minds of many Church of God leaders and ministers.
I'm an unofficial bootee from the United Church of God, mainly because of a documentary I made about HWA in 2017. Though I had reservations about COG doctrines before this, the manner in which I was disfellowshipped resolved the matter for me. Since Christ's disciples may recognize each other by their love one for another, my eviction proved to me, once and for all, that I had NOT been attending "God's church". This convinced me I needed to go back and "prove all things".
After several years of intense study, I have gathered enough scriptural evidence to completely debunk British-Israelism, mandatory tithing, and many of the COG's other carnal-minded doctrines. I have put all this evidence in a handful of ebooks which I would like to make freely available to everyone.
Because of the times we live in, and the COG messages I have heard, I believe there is more danger of the churches of God using fearmongering to extort money from sincere but naive Christians now than perhaps ever before. CrossedWord.net
Are the United States and Britain Israel?
A refutation of major arguments which support "Anglo-Israelism", the "identity" movement, racism, and other carnal-mindedness.
This book is written for all those who, like me, were once associated with the Worldwide Church of God, or any of its “splinter groups” (or COG's) who adhere to Herbert W. Armstrong's teachings. For decades, he taught that the US and much of Europe were collectively the lost tribes of Israel. In his book The United States and Britain in Prophecy he called this idea the “master key” to unlock all bible prophecy. And he claimed God revealed this information to him personally, as one of a select number of “restored truths”:
“Another thing restored to us is our own roots, our identity, who we are. We [within the USA] are the tribe of Manasseh of the lost ten tribes of Israel, and no other Church on earth knows it. That knowledge has been restored into this Church, and God restored that to me 53 years ago.” (Armstrong, MOTPCE)
However, “Anglo-Israelism”—or “British-Isralism”—did not originate with Armstrong. His work is clearly influenced by Judah's Scepter and Joseph's Birthright, written in 1902 by J. H. Allen, a preacher in the Church of God (Holiness). In 1874, Edward Hines first published Forty-Seven Identifications of the British Nation With the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel; and still earlier, in 1840, John Wilson published Lectures on our Israelitish Origin.
Though the COG’s seldom admit it, this idea has been floating around protestant circles for centuries. The theory first came into public perception in nineteenth-century England, at a time when the church of England (or Anglican church) was the only game in town. Today, we are accustomed to religious freedom, but back then such freedoms simply did not exist. That was one big reason the pilgrims left England to colonize the Americas.
We may remember King Henry VIII created the church of England because the Pope wouldn't permit him to divorce his wife and marry Ann Bolyn. Since then, every British monarch has held the title 'Supreme Head of the Church of England'. Back then, these monarchs controlled every facet of religion in England. This is why the puritans colonized America, and why Tyndale went to Germany to publish the first mass-produced English-language Bible, as we will see later in this series.
Back then, it would have been very difficult, if not impossible, to publish a book whose doctrines the church of England did not already agree with. In simple terms, they must had the crown’s permission to teach this doctrine. Indeed, some of the first published authors espousing this certainly claimed to be clergymen of the church of England. Thus, by definition, British-Israelism served as royalist propaganda.
Most sources trace British-Israelism back to Richard Brothers, who in 1794 published A Revealed Knowledge of the Prophecies and Times. Brothers believed this knowledge made him God’s apostle of a new religion, calling himself “Prince of the Hebrews” and claiming to be a literal descendant of David. Since he believed Israel to be great Britain—and therefore his subjects—this claim led to his arrest for treason; but instead of serving a prison sentence he was ultimately institutionalized (Wikipedia, “Richard Brothers”). Have we heard any other people claiming to be God’s apostle, and the direct descendant of king David? If so, Brothers did it first.
From this point onward, because of my desire for brevity and penchant for alliteration, I will refer to Anglo-Israelism proponents as either “AI-Advocates” because they support AI, or “BI-Bigots” because they are uniquely close-minded and intolerant of every other opinion on the subject. But honest AI-advocates must admit the scriptures don't support AI. There are no scriptures which explicitly state Israel migrated to Europe—so they SPECULATE and reinforce it by cherry-picking from historical accounts.
Then they make it their official doctrine! I hope we see why this is a bad idea. COG booklets on this subject focus upon the promises to Abraham, Isaac's blessing, and Israel's dispersion; but they almost never delve into the new testament. God explains many deep truths through Paul, which such booklets ignore. Instead, they give us lots of history and speculation. Generally speaking, we cannot learn much of God's word without putting many scriptures together —including those of the new testament.
See Are the United States and Britain Israel? for the complete book.
For those interested, Ken has a website up with other topics that will be relatable to Church of God members. CrossedWord.net
