Information Related to "Advocates of British-Israelism"
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Chapter 5 : Advocates of British-Israelism |
The
prosperity of Britain and the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries fueled
the popular belief that the British and American peoples are in fact the descendants
of the lost 10 tribes. This movement came to be popularly known as British-Israelism.
In the United States, where the idea of "manifest destiny"-the belief that
it was the nation's destiny to expand from shore to shore-was already firmly entrenched,
advocates of British-Israelism promoted the biblical explanation for the nation's
unexplained growth and prosperity. Britain and the United States, they concluded,
were recipients of the unconditional birthright of Joseph.
In recent times some have associated British-Israelism with the modern negative connotations
of imperialism. Critics even allege that those who embraced this reasoning were only
seeking a salve for their conscience to justify their imperialist tendencies. Such
accusation, however, is simply not in keeping with the thinking of the 19th century.
Those who project today's political sensitivities on a past audience that viewed
the world far differently are incorrect and unfair in their assessment.
In the mid-19th century British subjects did not perceive imperialism as negative.
They viewed it as a magnanimous gesture-that they were extending the blessings
that had made their nation great to less-fortunate peoples around the globe. Indeed
the British Empire provided many blessings to the peoples who became part of the
empire.
Another criticism-this one accurate-aimed at British-Israel advocates is that some
of their proponents incorporated racism into their beliefs. Prejudicial racist views
have tarnished their reasoning, thus discrediting the historical aspects of their
teachings.
This is both regrettable and biblically unacceptable. Racial bigotry is most definitely
not what the Bible teaches. God is not the author of such a point of view. He
loves all people and commands us to do the same. The central issues we need to consider
are whether many of the descendants of the 10 tribes of Israel reside in the British-descended
nations today and, if so, what
God expects of them.
Focusing on the biblical promises, some scholars have undertaken extensive research
to advance the knowledge that God's promised blessings to Abraham's descendants have
largely been fulfilled in the British and American peoples. Although many have contributed
to the basic research, here are a few people who have made significant contributions
to the advancement of this area of study.
John Wilson, Anglican layman from Cheltenham, England, published Our Israelitish
Origin in 1840. This work was the first full-blown thesis connecting the Anglo-Saxons
to ancient Israel. Wilson drew on the best of contemporary scholarship and methodology.
He made particular use of the work of Sharon Turner (1768-1847), a monumental figure
in British historiography whose multivolume work, The History of the Anglo-Saxons,
traces the Anglo-Saxons back through Europe to the Balkan countries and ultimately
to the Crimea and Caucasus Mountains-exactly what we would expect according to 2 Kings 17:6 and 1Chronicles 5:26.
Edward Hine, a banker and successor of Wilson, wrote Forty-Seven Identifications
of the British Nation With Lost Israel (1871).
Hine claimed to have addressed five million people on this topic during his lecture-circuit
career.
John Harden Allen, Methodist minister from the U.S. Pacific Northwest, wrote Judah's
Sceptre and Joseph's Birthright (1917).
T. Rosling Howlett, Baptist minister, had pastorates in New York City, Washington
and Philadelphia.
Charles Piazzi Smyth (1819-1900) was the royal astronomer of Scotland and emeritus
professor of astronomy at Edinburgh University.
Col. John Cox Gawler (1830-1882) was the keeper of the British crown jewels.
Herbert Armstrong (1892-1986), founder and chancellor of Ambassador University, wrote
The United States and British Commonwealth in Prophecy, published in several
editions until 1986.
Steven Collins wrote The "Lost" Ten Tribes of Israel ... Found!
(1992).
Yair Davidy authored The Tribes: The Israelite Origins of Western Peoples
(1993), Ephraim (1995) and Lost Israelite Identity (1996).
John Ogwyn, minister of the Living Church of God, wrote What's Ahead for America
and Britain? (1999).
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