The Identity Movement

What has come to be known as the Identity Movement was previously termed Anglo-Israelism or British-Israelism. It is composed of those individuals and groups who identify the present day Anglo-Saxon people as the direct biological descendants of the ancient Israelites and, as such, God's chosen people, the heirs of all God's promises to Abraham and his progeny. The ten lost tribes of Israel, the former northern kingdom, are sharply distinguished from Judah, the ancient southern kingdom centered upon Jerusalem, which consisted of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin and some Levites. In like measure, modern Anglo-Saxons (Israelites) are to be sharply distinguished from the Jews (Judah).

The Anglo-Israelite hypothesis originated with Richard Brothers (1757-1824), a Canadian born visionary. His self-proclaimed right, as a descendant of King David, to the throne of England led to his commitment to an asylum. Dismissed as mentally deranged, Brothers found no support for his ideas before his death, They did not receive serious attention until 1840 when John Wilson published his restatement of them in Our Israelitsh Origin. Throughout the rest of the nineteenth century, supporters of Wilson's presentation emerged in bible student circles. In England, Piazzi Smith, famous for his study of the Great Pyramid, became a believer. In America, M.M. Eshelman, author of Two Sticks or the Lost Tribes of Israel Discovered (1887) and a prominent minister in the Church of the Brethren, became an early exponent. He was soon joined by Canadian minister W.H. Poole, author of Anglo-Israel or the Saxon Race Proved to be the Lost Tribes of the Bible (1889). Both of these early authors were eclipsed by J. J. Allen, whose Judah's Sceptre and Joseph's Birthright (1902) became the single most important instrument in spreading Anglo-Israel thought into Adventist and independent bible student circles. Through the efforts of Merritt Dickinson, who had read and accepted the arguments in Allen, Anglo-Israel thought entered the Church of God (Seventh Day). Herbert W. Armstrong, a minister in the group, as leader of the Worldwide Church of God, subsequently became the most successful exponent of Anglo-Israelism.

In spite of the efforts of the early teachers, and the founding of both British and Canadian Anglo-Israelite organizations, the message did not find a large audience until the 1920s when Howard B. Rand began a small bible study group in Haverhill, Massachusetts. He began a periodical, and in 1930 organized a national convention of Identity people to be held in Detroit. At the convention, he met W. J. Cameron, formerly the editor of the Dearborn (MI) Independent in which Henry Ford had published his infamous series of articles in "The International Jew." Cameron became president of Rand's Anglo-Saxon Federation of America. Assisted by public relations executive Clarence S. Warner, the Federation promoted the formation of Anglo-Israelite groups across the United States. Some of these groups matured into large independent congregations, which in turn, became publishing centers for the movement.

In identifying the Anglo-Saxon people as the modern descendants of ancient Israel (as distinguished from ancient Judah) and in concentrating attention upon the promises of God to Israel, His chosen people, the movement was inherently racist. However, while using their ideas to support Britain's colonial empire and America's manifest destiny during their first decade, American believers did not crusade against those God had not chosen, particularly blacks and Jews. Inevitably, as the movement gained national support, some supporters of the revived Ku Klux Klan and various neo-Nazi movements found Anglo-Israelism a very acceptable ideological system. By the beginning of World War II, most leaders of the Anglo-Israelite Movement were giving open support to racial propaganda.

Rand's Anglo-Saxon federation of America, which had dominated the movement, was joined after World War II by a score of new centers of activity. A new generation of leaders also emerged. Most prominent of the Anglo-Israelite leaders who gave great prominence to racial themes, was Gerald L.K. Smith. In 1947 he launched the Christian Nationalist crusade, and its periodical, The Cross and the Flag, became one of the most violent anti-black and anti-Jewish publications in the United States. Smith campaigned for the deportation of all Zionists, abolition of all "Jewish Gestapo organizations," shipping of all black people to Africa, and liquidation of the United Nations.

A survey of the movement made in the early 1950s appeared in Ralph Lord Roy's Apostles of Discord . Roy discovered centers in every part of United States. Among the most important were the Beacon Light Ministry headed by William Kullgren of Atascadero, California; the Prophetic Herald Ministry headquartered Bethel Temple in Spokane, Washington, pastored by William Schiffner; Destiny of America Foundation headed by Conrad Gaard of Tacoma, Washington; the United Israel World Fellowship headed by James A. Lovell of Fort Worth, Texas; and the Anglo-Saxon Christian Association headed by H.M. Greene and Hugh C. Krum of Portland, Oregon. For a few years in the 1940s, the movement sponsored the Dayton Theological Seminary in Ohio.

Members of the Identity Movement do not consider themselves a new sect or denomination, rather they believe themselves to be a group of orthodox Christians who accept the Bible as the inspired and hence literally true Word of God. While affirming their belief in God , Jesus and the Holy Spirit the generally stop short of belief in the Trinity. Their belief in the literal truth of the Bible is manifested by a firm belief in the biblical account of creation as described in Genesis, the virgin birth of Jesus, the personal return of Jesus to earth, and the final battle to be fought between the Israel of God and the enemies of Jesus. Following the tradition of free church Protestantism, two ordinances, baptism (by immersion) and communion, are practiced.

Some Identity groups have also adopted both sabbatarianism and sacred name emphases from Adventism. Joe Jeffers, head of the Kingdom of Yahweh, was possibly the first person to combine a belief in the British Israel hypothesis with the keeping of the Sabbath on Saturday and the use of transliterations of the Hebrew names of the Creator and His Son (Yahweh and Yahshua) in place of God and Jesus.

The movement is most at variance with the larger body of Christians by its belief that, as Identity pastor Sheldon Emry asserts, "...the Anglo-Saxon, Celtic, Scandinavian, Germanic, and related peoples, often called the 'Christian nations' are the racial descendants of the tribes of Israel." The modern Anglo-Saxon nations continue those ten tribes of ancient Israel to whom the law and the promises of God were given. Israel is first of all a literal nation and then a Church. Britain and the United States possess what Israel was to possess and are doing what Israel was to do.

The New Covenant first mentioned by the prophet Jeremiah was made with Israel, and Jesus Christ came to confirm that covenant and hence to redeem Israel. Jesus' death re-established the relationship between Israel and God Broken at the time just prior to Israel's being cast out of the Holy Land (II Kings 17).

The perspective on Scripture and history adopted by the Identity movement has led to distinctly pro-white racial bias and an anti-black and anti-Jewish stance that varies in militancy within various segments of the movement. Modern-day Jews, the surviving remnant of the House of Judah, are sharply distinguished from Israel, with which they have no part.

The Identity Movement is composed of numerous independent congregations and ministries, each of which is built around one prominent minister who frequently combines the roles of congregational leader, writer and radio-TV spokesperson. Only one person, Herbert W. Armstrong, has been able to build a large denominational structure. (His Worldwide Church of God is considered elsewhere in this volume.) Though independent, various congregations form networks and distribute the literature of the movement as a whole. Among the most important centers of the movement are the following:

The Anglo-Saxon Federation of America: Founded in 1928 by Howard B. Rand, the Federation is the oldest identity group currently operating, though its work has been considerably reduced as its leader has aged. It is headquartered in Haverhill, Massachusetts and continues to distribute Rand's books and a newsletter.

Christian Conservative Churches of America: The Christian Conservative Church of America grew out of the spiritual experience of John R. Harrell while recuperating from cancer at the Mayo Clinic. He founded the Church and donated his 55-acre state to it in 1959. The Church suffered a major setback five years later, however when Harrell disappeared on the eve of a scheduled IRS hearing. Arrested the following year, he was sentenced to 10 years in jail. Although paroled in 1969, he was not allowed to participate in the work of the Church until his probation was ended in 1975. He immediately began to rebuild the Church whose stated purpose was to blend Christianity and Patriotism to effectively oppose Zionism (i.e. Jews) and communism.

Harrell teaches that the present governmental systems of North America are in imminent danger of collapse, and he encourages members of the Identity Movement to band together for survival and the preservation of the heritage of the white race. He has designated an area in the middle of the United States (roughly the land between Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Lubbock (Texas), and Scottsbluff (Nebraska), which he terms the "golden triangle," as prime territory within which Christian Survivalists can defend themselves when the collapse occurs.

Associated with the Church are three auxiliary organizations. The Christian-Patriots Defense League, founded in 1977, is a dues-free organization which educates and organizes Christian patriots for the coming collapse. It is dedicated to preserving Anglo-Saxon culture against any form of miscegenation. The Citizens Emergency Defense System is a private militia standing ready to be activated should the situation deteriorate sufficiently. The Paul Revere club receives funds to support the other organizations. The Church and its auxiliary organizations are headquartered at Harrell's estate in Louisville, Illinois in a full-scale replica of Mt. Vernon, George Washington's home.

Church of Jesus Christ Christian, Aryan Nations: The Church of Jesus Christ Christian was founded after World War II by Wesley A. Swift, a Ku Klux Klan organizer on the West Coast and close associate of Gerald L.K. Smith. Smith died in 1970 and was succeeded by his widow. Richard Butler, a pastor at the Church moved to Idaho and began an independent branch at Hayden Lake. Due to Butler's open identification with both Klan and Nazi groups, this branch has become one of the most notorious centers of the Identity Movement. In 1982 he organized the International Congress of Aryan Nations, which attracted numerous white supremacy groups.

The Aryan Nations describes itself as a white racial theopolitical movement whose aim is the re-establishment of white Aryan sovereignty over the lands of Aryan settlement and occupation. It teaches that the preservation of the white race is demanded and directed by Yahweh and that a battle is presently being fought between the present-day children of darkness (i.e. the Jews) and the children of light (Aryan race).

The Church of Israel: The Church is Israel was formed in 1972 as a result of a disagreement in a small Mormon splinter group, the Church of Christ at Haley's Bluff, Missouri. That Church was, in turn, a splinter from the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) which claims to be the original church founded by Joseph Smith Jr., the Mormon prophet. During the 1960s, Daniel Gayman, one of the Churches pastors, was appointed editor of the Church?s periodical. He soon began to print articles reflective of his extreme racial views and then began to use the church's youth camp as a seminary for fellow white supremacists and as a military training ground to teach weapons use and military tactics.

Tension over Gayman's activities resulted in schism in 1972 after an election in which Gayman won control of the congregation and dismissed all the members of the congregation's priesthood, Those relieved of their office sued Gayman, and the court returned almost all of the Church's property to their control. From 1074, following the court ruling, to 1981, Gayman's supporters reincorporated as the Church of Christian Heritage.

In the place of the teachings of Joseph Smith, the Church of Israel has substituted the Identity Movement's theology and its belief in white supremacy. Gayman teaches that the British people have transmitted the apostolic succession of the early church through Joseph of Arimathea who brought it to the British Isles in the first century. Gayman has developed a theologically unique variation on the two-seed-in-the-spirit theory first popularized in the last century by Baptist minister Daniel Parker. Basing his interpretation upon Genesis 3:15, Parker argued that Cain and Abel represented two seeds carried within the human race, the former of Satan, the latter of God and Adam. Every person was born of one of the two seeds and was thus predestined from the beginning to be a part of either God's family or Satan's. Gayman turned Parker's theories into a racial polemic against blacks and Jews. White gentiles have descended from Seth (the murdered Abel's substitute) while blacks and Jews have descended from Cain, the child of Satan's impregnation of Eve.

At the time the church adopted its resent name, it also reorganized. The Church was divided into twelve dioceses, each named for one of the twelve tribes of Israel. There is no diocese for either Levi or Joseph, but there is one for each of Joseph's two son's, Ephraim and Manasseh. Each diocese is headed by a bishop. The Diocese of Manasseh, covering the United States, is headed by Bishop Gayman. The Diocese of Ephraim covers the British Commonwealth and other dioceses have been designated for the various European countries. Only the Diocese of Manasseh has been activated as of the mid-1980s.

The Celts are Israelites Under Another Name.

The word Celt is the Anglicised form of the Greek word Keltoi, which means "the people who are different.*" In Scripture, all nations, except the Twelve Tribes of Israel, are referred to as Gentiles (Foreigners), so the only people who are different are Israel. The word Celt is therefore another word for Israelite. The Celts are part of the Ten "lost" Tribes of Israel; as are the Tuatha de Danaan and Milesians. The Irish people are a mixture of Celts; Danaans; Milesians; Judah/Zarahites (of the "Red Hand" - Genesis 38:28-30§); (Dan-ish) Vikings and Norsemen and are all racially cousins.

* Deuteronomy 14:2 For thou [art] an holy people unto the "I AM" thy God, and the "I AM" hath chosen thee to be a peculiar* people unto Himself, above all the nations that [are] upon the earth.

* Special - Different (Oxford dictionary).

§ Genesis 38:28 And it came to pass, when she travailed, that [the one] put out [his] hand: and the midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread, saying, This came out first.

38:29 And it came to pass, as he drew back his hand, that, behold, his brother came out: and she said, How hast thou broken forth? Why has thou made [this] breach against thee? Therefore his name was called Pharez (Breach).

38:30 And afterward came out his brother, that had the scarlet thread upon his hand: and his name was called Zarah (Scarlet).

(Please see "The True Origin of The Ulster Flag" article.)

Therefore the Celts, according to God, are Israelites.

The Irish Celts held three sacred assemblies every year at Tara§ during Bealtaine; Lughnasadh and Samhain which assured an abundance of corn and milk; freedom from conquest; the enjoyment of Righteous Laws; comfort in every house; fruit in great abundance, and plenty of fish in their lakes, rivers, and estuaries, exactly as God guaranteed Israel in The Torah/Tara, if they kept The Covenant. Also, during the Feast of Tara/Torah the kings of Ireland used to settle the affairs of Ireland for seven years, so that debts, suits and adjustments used not to be submitted for judgement until the next feast, seven years later, which the Torah calls the 'Year of the "I AM's" Release'** when all debts were forgiven, every seven years. This proves that Irish Celtic law was based on The Torah and is further confirmation that the Celts are Israelites.

** Deuteronomy 15:1 At the end of [every] seven years thou shalt make a release. 15:2 And this [is] the manner of the release: Every creditor that lendeth [ought] unto his neighbour shall release [it]; he shall not exact [it] of his neighbour, or of his brother; because it is called the "I AM"'s release.

§ Deuteronomy 16:16 Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the "I AM" thy God in the place which He shall choose; in the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and in the Feast of Weeks, and in the Feast of Tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the "I AM" empty: 16:17 Every man [shall give] as he is able, according to the blessing of the "I AM" thy God which He hath given thee (corn; milk; fish; etc.; etc.; etc.). 16:18 Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the "I AM" thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes: and they shall judge the people with just Judgment. 16:19 Thou shalt not pervert Judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.

16:20 That which is totally just shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the land which the "I AM" thy God giveth thee.

Also the word British is not English; it is Hebrew. Brit (Berit) means Covenant in Hebrew and Welsh Ish means man or people of, in Hebrew and English Therefore British means The People of The Covenant, in other words, the People Israel of The Covenant.

The Irish people have rejected the English (Davidic) monarchy and its ANTI-Covenant laws and that is good; very good.

However, the Celtish / Irish people are Israelites descended from Jacob/Israel's fifth of his twelve sons, who was called Dan and fathered the Tuatha de Danaan - the Tribe of Dan (the Irish and Danish). Therefore the Irish people are Celtish / British-Israelites by birth i.e. People of The Covenant in the Torah in the Bible and in The Ark, which is buried at Tara.

Reject the House of Windsor's ANTI-Covenant and therefore illegal laws (Deuteronomy 4:2), by all means possible, but do not reject your birthright as Israelites and British people, with YOUR own emblem the War Queen of Ireland, with Trident and Olive Twig - Teia Tephi.

Tephi, symbolised by Britannia, the sixth century B.C. queen of all Ireland.

If you reject your Birth-Right as Israelites, you are insulting God Who gave your Birthright to you, along with The Covenant.</b? Ireland is also called Hibernia - Hebernia from Heber/Eber the great grand-dad of Abraham who was the grand-dad of Jacob/Israel from whom the Celts are descended.

Hebernia (Ireland) means Hebrew's new land. Heberia - Iberia (Spain) means Hebrew's land. The Basque; Galician; Asturian and Guipuzcoan Celts are your cousins.

Its unfortunate that there are ugly people (CI) who try to take knowledge and turn it into hate.

This group here is just researching and studying their history.

So why do you look for articles like this to smear everyone with the same brush?

Why are you so upset with their understanding?

I don't always agree with LT, but we know what we are aware of and if you don't like the POV can't you just agree to disagree instead of draging in these racists?

The Lord loves all of his children.

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