British Israelism

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British Israelism

★1247 ★

Anglo-Saxon Federation of America

Box 177
Merrimac, MA 01860

The longest-lived and largest group of the Anglo-Israel movement is the Anglo-Saxon Federation of America headed by Howard B. Rand, lawyer and Bible student. Rand started a small Anglo-Saxon group in his home in 1928, and as the group grew he began to publish The Bulletin as a periodical. He also met W. C. Cameron (editor of Henry Ford's Dearborn (Michigan) Independent) who, by 1933, had become president of the newly founded Anglo-Saxon Federation. With Cameron's help, a convention of the Anglo-Israelite groups met in Detroit under Rand's leadership. While unable to unite the groups, Rand was able to launch the Federation.

The position of the federation is spelled out in The Pattern of History, an introductory pamphlet. The Bible is the central document; it is to be understood as the history of Israel, past, present and future, and therefore presents quite literally a pattern of history. The key item in Biblical interpretation is identifying Israel. The history of Israel really begins with God's covenant and promises to Abraham (Genesis 15ff.) and passes on through Isaac, Jacob (who was given the name Israel), and the ten tribes. The covenant was especially focused in Joseph's sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were to become the head of all of Israel (Genesis 48). Presentday Israel is found by determining which nation or race fulfills God's promises made in the Old Testament. Israel was to be a powerful nation living northwest of Palestine, a mistress of the earth who holds a great heathen empire in dominion, the chief missionary power of the earth, a nation immune to defeat in war. Part of Israel was to have split off and become a great people in its own right. Such a description can fit only Great Britain and the United States, who split off from her.

In the 1930s and 1940s, groups affiliated with the federation could be found around the country. From the Destiny Publishers, a large number of books and pamphlets were produced, as were the monthly issues of Destiny Magazine. The contents of these materials dealt largely with current events interpreted in terms of the British-Israelite stance. As of the mid-1970s, most of this following had dissolved. Precise statistics are not available. Destiny Magazine ceased publication in 1969 and has been replaced with a much more modest newsletter. Books are still published and distributed, and membership is still open in the federation.

Membership: In 2002 the federation reported several thousand members and associated groups in all Anglo-Saxon countries.

Periodicals: Monthly Newsletter.

Sources:

The Covenant People. Merrimac, MA: Destiny Publishers, 1966.

Gayer, M. H. The Heritage of the Anglo-Saxon Race. Haverhill, MA: Destiny Publishers, 1941.

The Pattern of History. Merrimac, MA: Destiny Publishers, 1961.

Rand, Howard B. Digest of Divine Law. Haverhill, MA: Destiny Publishers, 1943.

★1248 ★

British-Israel-World Federation (Canada) Inc.

313 Sherbourne St.
Toronto, ON, Canada M5A 2S3

Among the oldest of the British-Israel groups, the British-Israel-World Federation dates to 1919, when a number of older organizations in Great Britain affiliated. Some of these groups date themselves to study groups that were formed in the 1860s in response to the early theoretical books by John Wilson (Our Israelitish Origins, 1840) and George Moore (The Ten Tribes, 1861). In the 1870s, Edward Hine formed the British Israel Identity Corporation to be followed by the Metropolitan Anglo Israel Association in 1878, and the Imperial British Israel Association in 1902. The federation's Covenant Publishing Company has been a major publisher of British-Israel books and pamphlets. Its periodical, The National Message, was founded in 1922. From England, the federation has spread around the world, primarily throughout the British Commonwealth.

A Canadian branch of the British Israel Association was organized in 1907 in Victoria, British Columbia, by Edmund Middleton. The Vancouver branch was opened in 1909. Edward Odlum was its first president. Odlum took the work of the association to the radio in 1926. Over the decades the radio work spread across Canada and is currently heard in every province. The federation was established in Canada in the 1920s and held its first convention toward the end of the decade.

The federation conceives of itself as an interdenominational organization, not a church. Rather than competing with other churches, its membership is composed of members from other churches who are admonished to remain in those churches. Meetings are scheduled so as not to compete with the normal Sunday worship hours of most Christian churches. The federation affirms the most basic conservative Protestant Christian beliefs including the authority of the Bible as the Word of God, the deity of Christ, the Virgin Birth, Christ as Savior and Redeemer of Israel and Savior of humankind, and His Second Coming. It clearly affirms belief in the Trinity.

The federation does, however, affirm a variety of doctrines not acceptable to the mainline Christian churches. Primarily, it teaches that the Anglo-Celto-Saxon people are the present-day physical descendents of ancient Israel, the kingdom of 10 tribes spoken of in the Bible.

Membership: In 2002 the federation reported 1,300 members in nine centers across Canada. The radio program "The Voice of British Israel" is heard on 14 stations including short-wave to other continents on WWCR. It is associated with sister organizations in Great Britain, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and Kenya.

Periodicals: The Prophetic Expositor.

Sources:

Allen, J. H. Judah's Septre and Joseph's Birthright. Boston, MA: A. A. Beauchamp, 1930.

These Are the Ancient Things. Fort Langley, BC: Association of Covenant People, n.d.

★1249 ★

Calvary Fellowship, Inc.

Box 128
Rainier, WA 98576

Calvary Fellowships, Inc., founded in 1960, is a ministry centered upon Woodbrook Chapel pastored by the Rev. Clyde Edminster in Rainier, Washington. Edminster was one of several graduates of Dayton Theological Seminary, a shortlived seminary in Dayton, Ohio, in the 1940s. The fellowship was originally built among the seminary graduates and other ministers of like mind. The magazine, Christ Is the Answer, began in 1967, and for several decades the chapel was the center of a vigorous movement. Edminster had previously begun the Woodbrook Soul Winning and Missionary Training School, and the magazine tied together the growing fellowship. Each summer a Western Bible Conference brought together followers throughout the Northwest and British Columbia.

Calvary Fellowship differs from other Anglo-Israel groups in that it has allowed Pentecostalism and an understanding of grace to become established in its midst–it advocates the present experience of the baptism of the Holy Spirit as signified by speaking-intongues, and do not feel bound by the laws of Moses.

During the 1980s, the annual conference has been discontinued and the school closed. Only the chapel and magazine remain of the fellowship ministries. Edminister the authored of numerous books which are circulated to the periodical's readers. He returned in 1995 and was succeed by pastors John and Judy Smith. He continues to edit Christ Is the Answer.

Membership: There is currently one congregation.

Periodicals: Christ Is the Answer.

Sources:

Edminster, Clyde. Is It Law or Grace? Rainier, WA: Woodbrook Chapel, 1987.

★1250 ★

Christian Conservative Churches of America

Box 575
Flora, IL 62839

The Christian Conservative Churches of America was founded in 1959 by John R. Harrell, but because of several occurrences did not begin to function effectively until 1975. In 1961, law enforcement officials arrived at church headquarters looking for a deserter from the U.S. Marines. In 1964, just before his scheduled appearance at an Internal Revenue Service hearing, Harrell disappeared, only to be arrested the following year. He pleaded guilty to charges related to the 1961 incident and jumped bail. He served four years of his 10-year sentence, but was not allowed to activate the church again until his period of parole was completed in 1975.

It is Harrell's belief that the present governmental system in the United States is fragile and likely to collapse in the near future. Therefore, Harrell encourages members of the Christian Conservative Churches of America and the larger Identity (British-Israel) movement to band together for the survival and preservation of the white race. Harrell has designated an area in the middle of the United States as the survivalist stronghold. He terms this area the "Golden Triangle," the prime area which survivalists can colonize and defend when and if a disaster occurs.

Beliefs. The doctrine of the church is summarized in its Articles of Religion. These include belief in the traditional Protestant affirmations: the Trinity; creation by God; the Bible as an instrument of divine revelation; Jesus Christ's virgin birth, act of atonement, resurrection and second coming; the necessity of faith for salvation; the two sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper; and the kingdom of God and judgment at the end of this age. The articles show a Methodist influence in an affirmation that a certain goodness, as evidenced by conscience, remains in fallen humanity and the idea of the Witness of the Spirit to believers that confirm the biblical promise of God. The church has also been influenced by Pentecostalism in affirming the role of the gifts of the spirit (I Corinthians 12-13).

The articles, in distinction from the majority of Protestants, affirm much in common with the Anglo-Israelite movement, though in a manner somewhat different from the other Identity churches. For example, it specifically denies a popular British-Israel belief that the British monarchs have descended in unbroken succession from the kings of ancient Israel. The church also identifies the descendants of ancient Israel with neither the Jews nor the nations of Western Europe, but with those "peoples who have been gathered into the North American continent, the true land of regathered Israel." It also affirms that any person, race, or nation may be grafted spiritually into the Israel of God by accepting Christ; those who are literal physical descendants of ancient Israel have a distinct role to defend the new chosen land of gathering.

Headquarters of the church is located on an estate at Louisville, Illinois, formerly owned by Harrell and given by him to the churches at the time of their formation in 1959. The life-size replica of Mt. Vernon located on the estate is a popular tourist attraction in southern Illinois.

Membership: Not reported. The church is small with only a few centers in operation.

Remarks: The Christian Conservative Churches of America has often been associated with a number of other organizations through the activities of its founder, John R. Harrell. In 1979, Harrell founded the Citizens Emergency Defense System and the Christian Patriots Defense League. The former organization is a private standing militia on alert status, should the collapse of government become imminent. The league is a dues-paying organization that educates and organizes Christian Patriots to ready them for the government collapse. A third organization, the Paul Revere Club is primarily a fund-raising structure that supports the other two. Church leaders have pointed out that while the church endorses these several organizations, they are completely separate from it.

The church has also been included in lists of rightist organizations affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan. Such organizations as the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith have noted that Harrell served as the leader of the Committee of Ten Million, along with Robert dePugh of the Minutemen and Robert Shelton, Imperial Wizard of the United Klans of America. Church leaders assert that, whatever Harrell's personal actions and affiliations may be, the church has no relation to the Klan.

Sources:

Harrell, John R. The Golden Triangle. Flora, IL: Christian Conservative Church, n.d.

Hate Groups in America. New York: Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, 1982.

★1251 ★

Christian Identity Church

Current address not obtained for this edition.

The Christian Identity Church was founded in 1982 by a group of independent believers in the Identity message under the leadership of Pastor Charles Jennings. It grew out of the work of Wesley Swift who first introduced Sacred Name themes (the use of Yahweh and Yashua as names of the Creator and his son) into Christian Identity churches. The church teaches that YHVH (Yahweh) is the one true God who manifests as a Trinity of Father, Son (Yahshua), and Holy Spirit, and that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God. Yahshua came to redeem God's people, Israel, identified as the "White, Anglo-Saxon, Germanic and Kindred people." It also teaches that Israel now makes up the Christian nations of the earth and is considered far superior to other peoples in their calling as a servant race.

In addition, the church teaches that Satan is a real being who also has a literal seed or posterity on earth, identified with the Jews, believed to be children of Satan through the bloodline of Cain, and the eternal enemy of the chosen people. The chosen race should not partake of the wickedness of the world system, and thus should live a segregated existence apart from all non-white races.

Ideally, the church believes, Christians should live in a theocracy under the laws of God. World problems are due to disobedience of these laws. Ultimately the Kingdom of God will be established on earth. America is the prophesied place where Israel is to be regathered, which is to be a center of the dissemination of truth to the other nations until the kingdom is established.

Fred Demoret is the current pastor of the church. The church annually sponsors a "Family of God Reunion," a national Christian Identity conference over Pentecost weekend.

Membership: Not reported.

Remarks: For a brief period (1985-1986) the Christian Identity Church was pastored by Thom Robb, one of the more controversial figures in the larger Identity movement. Robb, a chaplain for the Ku Klux Klan, established several Identity periodicals such as Robb's Editorial Report and The Torch.

★1252 ★

Christian Research

℅ Dan Gentry, Dir.
PO Box 385
Eureka Springs, AR 72632

Christian Research is a Bible-centered ministry, teaching that the Bible is not only for the individual, family, church, and school, but for local, county, state, and national governments. The ministry's purpose is to preserve Christian heritage, and pursue a destiny in the Kingdom of God on earth. Christian Research teaches the Saxon, Celtic, Scandinavian, Slavonic, and kindred peoples are the physical progeny of ancient Israel, while the majority of Jews today are not Israelites, but anti-semitic Khazars.

Christian Research publishes a quarterly newsletter emphasizing God's law as the answer to our national problems. It also publishes and distributes books, including More Light, and occasional booklets and tracts. Christian Research has an active prison ministry and provides educational materials to students and home-school groups at a discount. It also has book tables at various fairs and conferences.

Membership: Christian Research is not a membership organization.

Periodicals: Facts For Action.

Sources:

Hall, Verna N., comp. Christian History of the Constitution. San Francisco, CA: American Christian Constitution Press, 1960.

★1253 ★

Church of Israel

Box 62 B3
Schell City, MO 64783

History. The Church of Israel originated in the early 1970s, born of a controversy in the Church of Christ at Halley's Bluff (a.k.a. the Church of Christ at Zion's Retreat), located in rural Vernon County, Missouri (discussed elsewhere in this volume). This church was a splinter of the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) which claims to be the original Church of Christ founded by Joseph Smith, Jr., the Latter-day Saint prophet. Little, if any, of the Latterday Saint background remains in the present-day Church of Israel.

Dan Gayman, founder of the Church of Israel, was the son of one of the founders of the Church of Christ at Halley's Bluff. During the 1960s, he became a pastor in the church and was appointed to edit the church's periodical, Zions Restorer. Gayman came into open conflict with other church leaders because he promoted views which they considered to be racist. He was charged with inviting white supremists to the churches youth camp and using the facilities for training individuals in the use of weapons and military defense.

The tension culminated in 1972 when Gayman called a church meeting at which two bishops were deposed and new church officers elected. The name of the church's periodical was changed to Zion's Watchman, and the priesthood dissolved. The meeting's action led to a law suit, resulting in the court awarding the two deposed bishops the bulk of the church's land. Gayman and his supporters were awarded 20 acres and was denied use of the name "Church of Christ." In 1974 they incorporated as the Church of Our Christian Heritage and adopted the present name in 1981. In 1977-78 a chapel was erected at Nevada, Missouri, and both Christian Heritage Academy, an elementary school, and a ministerial training school were opened. Gayman also developed a home study program which by 1982 had enrolled approximately 125 people.

Beliefs. The beliefs of the church are summarized in its Articles of Faith and Doctrine. The Bible is accepted as the infallible Word of God (Yahweh). While the 66 books of the Bible are sufficient for building Christian doctrine, the Apocrypha and the Pseudapigrapha (writings authored somewhat contemporaneously with the Biblical books, but not included in the canon of either the Jewish Bible or Christian Testament). The church's doctrine of God follows the traditional affirmation of orthodox Christianity, but differs in matters of election and salvation. Yahweh (God) exists as the Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Jesus Christ is seen as both God and man, who died as a sacrifice for human sin. The church affirms the Apostles, Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds.

The Church of Israel teaches that God chose a race (the Elect in Christ) who are identified as the Seed of Abraham and as the Israelites of the Old Testament. They are God's workmanship and entirely passive in the matter of their salvation. The Seed are made willing and repentent vessels by the grace of Christ and made holy by his atoning blood. The Law was given as a mirror to expose the sin of the Israelites and thus demonstrate that salvation was not earned by the work of people. The Israelites of the Bible are identified with the present-day Caucasian nations of Europe, Scandinavia, America, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, and wherever the seed of these people have been dispersed.

Integral to the understanding of the church's doctrine of salvation is the theory of the two seeds, a variation on the two-seed-inthe-spirit doctrine first popularized by Baptist preacher Daniel Parker in the nineteenth century. Basing his interpretation on Genesis 3:15, Parker argued that Abel and Cain represented two seeds carried by the human race, the former of God and Adam, and the latter of Satan. Every person was born of the two seeds and thus predestined from the beginning to be part of God's family or Satan's dominion. Gayman has developed Parker's ideas along racial lines. He teaches that Caucasians have descended from Seth (the substitute for the murdered Abel). Blacks and Jews have descended from Cain, a product of Satan's impregnating Eve.

As an organization, the church opposes social security, innoculation and the use of vaccines and harmful drugs (narcotics), females serving in the military, the use of violence, and abortion. The church teaches that the goal of history is the establishment of the kingdom of God. In that light, members keep the festivals as established by God for the ancient Israelites–Passover, Pentecost, the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles. They also keep the seven sacraments of the ancient church–baptism, communion, confirmation, matrimony, ordination, repentence, and unction (or healing).

Organization. In 1981, when the present name of the church was adopted, a total reorganization of the church occurred. The church was envisioned as 12 dioceses, each named for and representative of one of the 12 tribes of Israel. There was no diocese for Joseph; rather, there are two dioceses for Joseph's sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. There is also no diocese for Levi (the priestly tribe). The Levites are scattered throughout the nation (or church) as a continuing priesthood. Each diocese is to be headed by a bishop.

To date, only the diocese of Manasseh has been activated and Gayman serves as its bishop. Each of the ancient tribes is identified as one of the nations of Europe and North America. Manasseh is identified as the United States and Ephraim as the British Commonwealth.

Membership: In 1988 the church reported several hundred members in five congregations served by 10 ministers.

Periodicals: The Watchman.

Remarks: In response to the charges that the Church is a white supremist organization, the Church has included a statement in their articles of faith explicitly denying white supremacy. They do affirm that white people are the Israelites of the Bible and hence called to be the servant people of God. The church denies any goal of white separatism or hatred toward any races. They do believe in the segregation of the races, and seek to live, dwell, work, play, worship and educate children in a segregated environment.

Sources:

Articles of Faith and Doctrine. Schell City, MO: Church of God at Schell City, 1982.

Gayman, Dan. Do All Races Share in Salvation? Schell City, MO: The Author, 1985.

——. The Holy Bible, the Book of Adam's Race. Schell City, MO: Church of Israel, n.d.

——. One True and Living Church. Schell City, MO: Church of Israel, n.d.

——. The Two Seeds of Genesis. Nevada, MO: Church of Our Christian Heritage, 1978.

★1254 ★

Church of Jesus Christ Christian, Aryan Nations

Box 362
Hayden Lake, ID 83835

The Church of Jesus Christ Christian, Aryan Nations dates to the late 1940s when Wesley Swift founded a congregation, the Church of Jesus Christ Christian, in Lancaster, California. Swift had emerged as one of the most prominent voices of pro-white Christian and anti-Marxist Jewish perspectives. Swift died in 1970 and his widow succeeded him as head of the congregation.

After Swift's death, Richard Girnt Butler, a pastor in the church, moved to Hayden Lake, Idaho, and in 1974 began an independent branch of the church. During the 1980s, Butler and the church became the focus of national attention because of his association with factions of the Ku Klux Klan and the American Nazi movement. As early as 1979 he hosted the Pacific States National Identity Conference, and in 1982 he hosted the first World Aryan Congress, an organization periodically reconvened. The congress brought together a wide variety of white-separatist groups and has called for the establishment of an all-white nation in the Pacific Northwest.

The Church of Jesus Christ Christian, Aryan Nations follows the Christian-Israel identity message which believes that modern Anglo-Saxons, Scandinavian, Germanic, Celtic, Basque, Slavic, Lombard, and kindred peoples are the physical descendants of ancient Israel, and hence heir to the promises of the Bible which refer to Israel as a whole. The church is adamantly pro-white.

Membership: In 2002 the church reported over 200 members in Idaho and some 1,500 members worldwide. There were 12 ministers in the United States and two in Canada. Affiliated branches are found in Australia, Denmark, Italy, France, and Germany.

Periodicals: Calling Our Nation. • The Way.

Remarks: Increasing public concern about the Church of Jesus Christ Christian, Aryan Nations is the activity of a group called The Order, composed of former members of the church. The Order has been credited with the 1984 murder of Jewish radio talk-show host Alan Berg, in Denver, and a number of crimes in the Seattle, Washington, area. A massive manhunt for members of The Order resulted in the death of the leader Robert Mathews, killed in gun battles with police, and the arrest, trial, and conviction of 11 on charges of racketeering. Richard Butler, while noting the former affiliation of The Order's leaders and sympathizing with their frustrations, rejected their violent and illegal activities.

Because of The Order, as well as the connections between the church and several Klan and Nazi organizations, the group has come under close observation by the media and groups such as the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith. In 1987 Butler was indicted by the federal government for sedition. He was later found innocent.

In September 2000, a jury found butter, his chief of staff, and two security guards libel for $6.3 million in damages for an attack against Victoria Keenan and her son Jason. After their car backfired outside the groups compound, the guards chased them in a truck, ranthem off the road, and beat the Keenans with their rifle butts. The two guards are serving prison terms for the attack. As part of the settlement, Butler had to turn over the title of the 20-acre Aryan Nation compound to the Keenan's.

As of March 2001, the Keenan's sold the property to Greg Carr, founder and former chairmsn of the Prodigy Internet service. The property is being converted unto a center for human rights.

Sources:

Coates, James. Armed and Dangerous. New York: Hill and Wang, 1987.

Haberman, Frederick. Tracing Our White Ancestors. Phoenix, AZ: Lord's Covenant Church, 1979.

Hate Groups in America. New York: Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, 1982.

Swift, Wesley A. God, Man, Nations, and the Races. Hollywood, CA: New Christian Crusade Church, n.d.

——. Testimony of Tradition and the Origin of Races. Hollywood, CA: New Christian Crusade Church, n.d.

★1255 ★

Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord

(Defunct)

The Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord (C.S.A) was founded in the mid-1970s by James D. Ellison, an Identity minister in San Antonio, Texas. He had had a vision of the coming collapse of the American society and decided to flee the city and establish a survivalist community in the Ozark Mountains. He moved to Elijah, Missouri, and then in 1976 purchased a 224-acre tract of land in Arkansas, adjacent to the Missouri border, near Pontiac, Missouri. The commune, called Zarephath-Horeb, was viewed as a purging place, the name having been adopted after its Biblical counterpart.

The C.S.A. taught the Kingdom Identity Message, i.e., it identified the white Anglo-Saxon race as the literal descendents of Ancient Israel and hence the heir to the covenants and promises God made to Israel. The Anglo-Saxons have been called to be the light of the world, and black people were created for perpetual servitude. The C.S.A. also believed the Bible teaches that the twoedged sword of God's Spirit is coming soon in judgment to the earth, and God's Arm will be manifest to administer that judgment. The C.S.A. will be that Arm of God. In preparation for the difficult times ahead, the community stored food and stockpiled weapons and ammunition.

The C.S.A., in line with Ellison's vision, expected the imminent collapse of America, the sign of judgment, and an ensuing war. In that war (Armageddon), whites would be set against Jews, blacks, homosexuals, witches, Satanists, and foreign enemies. At that point, the settlement in Arkansas would have become a Christian haven.

The community was largely self-supporting. A farm produced much of the food. Education and medical services were provided internally, and most families lived without electricity or plumbing.

Since its founding, the C.S.A. had been a matter of concern for law-enforcement officials. Following a revelation in 1978, the group began to acquire sophisticated weaponry adequate for modern warfare. In 1981, it opened a survival school and gave training to the public in the use of firearms and survivalism. In 1984, a warrant was issued for Ellison's arrest when he failed to appear before a grand jury investigating the murder of an Arkansas state trooper. A gun found in the possession of the accused was registered to Ellison. In spite of a splintering in the winter of 1981-82 over the continuance of paramilitary training and the departure of those most in favor, the tension that grew out of the C.S.A.'s potential for violence remained an unresolved concern.

In April 1985, agents of the F.B.I. surrounded C.S.A. and arrested Ellison and several members on federal racketeering charges. Following the raid, the group disbanded. Subsequently, four members of C.S.A. were sentenced to prison terms. Ellison received 20 years for racketeering. Others receiving lesser terms were Kerry Noble, Kent Michael Yeats, and William Thomas.

Sources:

Schwartz, Alan M., et al. "The 'Identity Churches': A Theology of Hate." ADL Facts 28, no. 1 (Spring 1983).

★1256 ★

Elohim City

Current address not obtained for this edition.

Elohim City is a Christian Identity community located in rural Adair County, in northeast Oklahoma, near the Arkansas and Missouri borders. It was founded in 1973 by Robert G. Millar (1925-2001) who, upon his death, was succeeded by his son, John Millar.

Elohim City, as an identity group, accepts the basic Anglo-Israelite interpretation of the Bible that begins with the identification of the northern and western European peoples with the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. Millar has added an apocalyptic cast to his teachings, and has been reported as believing that the biblical period of tribulation had already begun and would peak with an invasion of America by "Asiatics." He also saw a coming civil war involving the "Jews."

As such, it operated as an independent center in fellowship with other Identity groups, especially The Covenant, The Sword, and The Arm of the Lord, a 1980s group that operated in nearby Missouri. While Elohim City has been monitored by groups concerned with Christian identity for most of its life, it gained widespread if brief media exposure in 1995 when it was discovered that convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh had telephoned Millar in hopes of visiting. It should be noted that no evidence ever surfaced to indicate that McVeigh ever physically visited the community.

Robert G. Millar was raised a Mennonite and at some point moved to the United States from his native Canada. He moved to Oklahoma City in the mid-1950s and founded a Pentecostal church. In the 1960s, he moved to Maryland, but returned to Oklahoma in 1973. Most of the original members were part of his extended family. The community was created to "honor God" and await His establishment of His kingdom on earth.

Millar has developed a unique position in the larger movement of racialist churches. In 1985, for example, he cooperated with authorities to end the siege of the church, the Sword and Arm of the Lord compound, and the surrender of its leader James Ellison. He later served as Ellison's "spiritual adviser" during his imprisonment. He married Millar's granddaughter and came to Elohim City to reside. Over the years, a variety of people associated with the larger movement have visited and briefly lived at Elohim City, a number of whom were later arrested and convicted on various crimes that had led to their movement around the country.

The community lives a separatist life and produces no publications nor does it have an Internet presence. Those who have written about Elohim City have generally been reporters or their more hostile critics.

Membership: In 2000, there were approximately 80 residents.

Sources:

Elohim City. http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/Elohim.asp?xpicked=3&item=13. 7 May 2002.

Graff, James L., Patrick E. Cole, and Elaine Shannon. "The White City on a Hill." Time, 149, 8 (24 February 1997).

★1257 ★

House of Prayer for All People

Box 837
Denver, CO 80201

The House of Prayer for All People was founded in Denver, Colorado, by William Lester Blessing (1900-1984) in 1941. A member of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, he withdrew in 1927 and became an independent evangelist. He began to use the name House of Prayer for All People as early as 1932. He identified his audience as "Anglo-Saxon, Cymric, and Scandinavian Israelites" with a definite interest in establishing the Kingdom politically and economically on earth. The goal of his work was the restoration of the church (The temple of Yahveh) in the heart of Israel and the earth as his dominion. Great Britain and the United States are the latter-day Israel of Yahveh.

Blessing considered himself, the House of Prayer, and Showers of Blessing, the monthly periodical established in 1942, to be together the Voice of the Seventh Angel (VOTSA) of Revelation 10:7 and 11:15. VOTSA will usher in the reestablishment of the Church and the Kingdom of Yahveh. Early in his work he had been influenced by the Sacred Name movement and decided that Yahveh and Yahshua to be the proper name of the Creator and Messiah respectively (see the discussion of the Sacred Name movement elsewhere in this volume).

According to Blessing's teachings, the First Recovery of Israel took place between the birth of Yahshua (Jesus) and 70 C.E. After His crucifixion, Christ and 12,000 members from each tribe of Israel were resurrected. They returned in power on Pentecost, and the Apostolic ministry was begun. During this time, all of the New Testament was written under the work of the Holy Spirit, the Mother. The second coming occurred in 70 C.E., at which time the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed, the dead raised, and the saints raptured. The age came to an end. Since that time, there has not been a true church of Christ on earth; the world has existed in the "times of the Gentiles." However, there has been a remnant on earth, through whom Yahveh has spoken. In 1809, the first of the seven angels began to be heard in the person of Alexander Campbell. He was followed by Joseph Smith, Jr., Ellen G. White, Charles Taze Russell, Benjamin Purnell, and A. P. Adams. In 1962 the desolation was ended according to the prophecy of Daniel 12:12, and mankind is now in the wilderness, the time between the end of the present evil world and the coming of the righteous world. In the near future is a One World government–Babylon, the Mother of Harlots. Yahshua, the messiah, is also already here and will before 2000 A.D. reestablish the kingdom, to be administered by the remnant of his people.

The House of Prayer for All People believes that salvation is a contact between Yahveh and the believer. Baptism is the last step in the plan of salvation. Members practice tithing and the kingdom meal, and worship on Sunday. Blessing had an interest in the Great Pyramid, unidentified flying objects, the hollow earth theory, and the psychical, and wrote on all of these.

From the headquarters in Denver, two periodicals are sent to adherents around the United States. Members have established local congregations. The minimum number for each congregation is 70 adults, but ideally this includes 70 heads of family. Each local congregation is headed by seven servants and two bishops who are ordained by the evangelist, the head of the church. Blessing was succeeded by his son, John David Blessing, the present head of the ministry.

Membership: Not reported.

Periodicals: Showers of Blessing. • Blessing Letter.

Sources:

Blessing, William Lester. Hallowed Be Thy Name. Denver, CO: House of Prayer for All People, 1955.

——. More About Jesus. Denver, CO: House of Prayer for All People, 1952.

——. The Supreme Architect of the Universe. Denver, CO: House of Prayer for All People, 1956.

——. The Trial of Jesus. Denver, CO: House of Prayer for All People, 1955.

——. VOTSA. Denver, CO: House of Prayer for All People, 1965.

★1258 ★

Kingdom Identity Ministries

PO Box 1021
Harrison, AR 72602

Kingdom Identity Ministries is an independent Christian ministry that generally follows the Christian Identity teachings with which it has mingled insights of the Sacred Name movement. Kingdom Identity Ministries seeks to establish God's heavenly Kingdom upon this earth; to proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom; to identify the true Children of Israel, God's chosen people; to further the spiritual growth and development of the Saints and to actively encourage each individual calling within the Elect. The ministries reaches out both nationally and internationally via the distribution and publication of books and tracts; the Herald of Truth radio broadcast; the American Institute of Theology Bible Correspondence Course; a prison ministry; and meetings of various types.

Kingdom Identity Ministries affirms a belief in YHVH as the one and only true and living eternal God who is manifested in three beings: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, all one God, and in Yahshua the Messiah (Jesus the Christ) as the incarnate begotten Son of God. The entire Bible, both Old and New Testaments, as originally inspired, is considered the inerrant, supreme, revealed Word of God.

The ministries teaches that God chose unto Himself a special race of people who are above all people upon the face of the earth. These children of Abraham through the called-out seedline of Isaac and Jacob were to be a blessing to all the families of the earth who bless them and a cursing to those who curse them. The descendants of the 12 sons of Jacob, called "Israel," have not been cast away. The New Covenant was made with the Children of Israel, and the white, Anglo-Saxon, Germanic, and kindred people are believed to be God's true, literal Children of Israel and only this race fulfills Biblical prophecy concerning Israel and continues in these latter days to be heirs and possessors of the covenants, prophecies, promises, and blessings of YHVH. This chosen seedline making up the "Christian Nations" of the earth stands far superior to all other peoples in its call as God's servant race, the ministries teaches. Only these descendants of the 12 tribes of Israel scattered abroad have carried God's Word, the Bible, throughout the world, have used His Laws in the establishment of their civil governments, and are the "Christians" opposed by the satanic anti-Christ forces of this world who do not recognize the true and living God.

The ministries believes that the man Adam (a Hebrew word meaning: ruddy, to show blood, flush, turn rosy) is father of the white race only. As a son of God, made in His likeness, Adam and his descendants, who are also the children of God, can know YHVH God as their creator. Adamic man is made trichotomous; that is, not only of body and soul, but having an implanted spirit giving him a higher form of consciousness and distinguishing him from all the other races of the earth. As a chosen race, elected by God, the members of the white race are not to be partakers of the wickedness of this world system, the ministries teaches. This includes segregation from all non-white races, who are prohibited in God's natural divine order from ruling over Israel. Race-mixing is an abomination in the sight of Almighty God, a satanic attempt meant to destroy the chosen seedline, and is strictly forbidden by His commandments, according to the ministries.

The ministries also affirms the existence of a being known as the Devil or Satan and called the Serpent (Gen. 3:1; Rev. 12:9), who has a literal "seed" or posterity in the earth commonly called Jews today. These children of Satan through Cain have throughout history always been a curse to true Israel, the Children of God, because of a natural enmity between the two races. The ministries teaches that the Jews do the works of their father the Devil, please not God, and are contrary to all men, though they often pose as ministers of righteousness. The ultimate end of this evil race whose hands bear the blood of the Savior and all the righteous slain upon the earth, the minitries believes, is divine judgment.

The ministries believes that God gave Israel His Laws for their own good. Theocracy being the only perfect form of government, and God's divine Law for governing a nation being far superior to man's laws, individuals are not to add to or diminish from His commandments. The minstries teaches that homosexuality is an abomination before God and should be punished by death.

Additionally, the United States of America fulfills the prophesied place where Christians from all the tribes of Israel would be regathered, according to the ministries. It is here that God made a small nation a strong one, feeding His people with knowledge and understanding through Christian pastors who have carried the light of truth and blessings unto the nations of the earth. The ministries believes that North America is the wilderness to which God brought the dispersed seed of Israel, the land between two seas, surveyed and divided by rivers, where springs of water and streams break out and the desert blossoms as the rose. The ultimate destiny of all history, according to the ministries, will be the establishment of the Kingdom of God upon this earth.

Membership in the church of Yahshua or Messiah (Jesus Christ) is by divine election. The ministries believes that God foreknew, chose, and predestined the Elect from before the foundation of the world according to His perfect purpose and sovereign will. Yahshua the Messiah (Jesus the Christ) came to redeem (a word meaning purchase back according to the law of kinship) only His people Israel who are His portion and inheritance. Baptism is by immersion for the remission of sins, baptism being ordained by God a testimony to the New Covenant as circumcision was under the Old Covenant.

Membership: The ministries believes that membership in the body of Christ is considered to be by divine election only, not by man's appointment, and therefore it does not maintain membership rolls nor issue any membership cards.

Sources:

http://www.kingidentity.com/.

★1259 ★

LaPorte Church of Christ

3206 E. Country Rd. 52
LaPorte, CO

The LaPorte Church of Christ is an independent Christian church that generally follows what is termed the Anglo-Israelite or Christian Identity position. It was founded in the mid-1970s and moved to its present location in 1977. The church is pastored by Peter J. Peters, who also serves as the evangelistic head of Scriptures for America Ministries Worldwide, a national outreach ministry dedicated to preaching the Kingdom of Jesus Christ and revealing to the Anglo-Saxon, Germanic, and kindred (white) Americans their true Biblical Identity.

The church affirms the Bible as the Word of God and the incarnation and atonement of Jesus Christ. It also affirms that Jesus Christ came to the descendents of Abraham and in the process of establishing a covenant with them purchased the world. Believers are to be light to the world and a force against evil. The anti-Christ people are seen as children of darkness who appear outwardly righteous but hinder the Kingdom of Christ (Matthew 23). Followers of Christ, in opposing evil, are to hold up His Laws, Statutes, and Judgements as His answer to man's problems.

Peters graduated from the Church of Christ Bible Training School in Gering, Nebraska, with a Bachelor of Sacred Literature degree. He extends the church's mission as a popular writer and speaker and edits Scriptures for America newsletter. He has developed a sizeable national audio tape ministry. He has a weekly radio show.

Membership: Not reported.

Sources:

http://www.identity.org/.

★1260 ★

Ministry of Christ Church

Current address not obtained for this edition.

The Ministry of Christ Church is a national ministry headed by William Potter Gale. It has taken a prominent place in the larger Identity movement because of Gale's activism and involvement with several associated organizations. A retired army officer, Gale served on General Douglas MacArthur's staff during World WarII. After his retirement Gale became associated with several groups, including the Church of Christ Christian founded by Wesley Swift. In 1960 he organized the California Rangers, a paramilitary group condemned by the office of that state's attorney general. During the 1970s, he started his own church in Glendale, California, and later moved it to Mariposa, California. While the church is centered on the small congregation at Mariposa, the major work of the church is in the distribution of tapes and literature across the country to members of the church and the Identity movement.

The church follows the consensus of beliefs of the Identity movement. It is segregationist and strongly opposed to interracial marriage. It has a survivalist orientation and has circulated tapes condemning the Internal Revenue Service and the idea of income tax. Gale was a member of the Posse Comitatus, a tax-protest group with strong ties to the Identity movement.

The work of the Ministry of Christ Church was slowed by the conviction in 1987 of Gale and Fortunato Parrino, a minister of the church, on 10 counts of attempting to interfere with the administration of internal revenue laws and the mailing of threatening communications to IRS agents and a state judge. These convictions arose out of Gale's involvement with a tax protest group called the Committee of the States.

Membership: There is one congregation of the Ministry of Christ Church with approximately 30 attendees, but the tapes and written materials distributed by the church are sent to members around the country.

Periodicals: Identity.

Sources:

Gale, William P. Racial and National Identity. Glendale, CA: Ministry of Christ Church, n.d.

Schwartz, Alan M. and Gail L. Gans. "The Identity Churches: A Theology of Hate," in ADL Facts 28, 1 (Spring 1983).

★1261 ★

National Association of Kingdom Evangelicals

Current address not obtained for this edition.

The National Association of Kingdom Evangelicals arose out of the ministry of C. O. Stadsklev in the 1930s. Stadsklev had been a minister with the Christian and Missionary Alliance but left that organization when he came to accept the perspective of British Israelism, the idea that the Anglo-Saxon, Celtic, Nordic, and related peoples of Northern and Western Europe were the literal descendants of the ancient nation of Israel, the 10 tribes that formed a separate kingdom from the tribe of Judah and who were lost to history after the nation was conquered and its leaders deported. As with most British Israel leaders in the United States, Stadsklev also saw the United States, like the nations of Europe, as having a special scheme in the prophetic plan of God.

Stadsklev emerged as one of the most prominent proponents of British Israelism in the years after World War II. He saw the former Soviet Union as the primary enemy of God's people, the standard bearer of Communism, and believed that at some point it would attack the United States. He opposed what he saw as the "Babylonian money system" that undergirded the present economy. He advocated a system in which money could be loaned interest free and backed by the nation rather than by gold. Among the many British Israel ministers, some wished to associate with Stadsklev's special emphases, and thus the National Association of Kingdom Evangelists was founded, though Stadsklev's writings circulated within the larger movement far beyond the National Association.

The National Association is generally conservative and orthodox in its belief. It affirms the Trinity (a doctrine not held by many who believe in British Israelism). It varies from Evangelical emphases by its belief that God has chosen an earthly servant race through whom he works in a special way to bless humankind and its disavowal of a doctrine of a hell of eternal torment.

The association is a loose fellowship of autonomous congregations who meet annually in a national conference. For many years Stadsklev had a radio show, "America's Hope." The Gospel Temple which Stadsklev served for most of his adult life, circulates his writings and tapes.

Membership: Not reported.

Periodicals: Truth and Liberty Magazine.

Sources:

Piepkorn, Arthur C. Profiles in Belief: The Religious Bodies of the United States and Canada. Vol. IV. San Francisco, Harper & Row, 1979.

Stadsklev, C. O. Our Christian Beginnings. Hopkins, MN: America's Hope Broadcasts, n.d. 15 pp.

——. Personal Salvation. Hopkins, MN: America's Hope, n.d. 18 pp.

——. What Happened at Calvary. Hopkins, MN: America's Hope, n.d. 27 pp.

★1262 ★

New Beginnings

Box 228
Waynesville, NC 28786

New Beginnings is a movement that brings together aspects of Pentecostalism and British-Israel Covenant-keeping teachings. New Beginnings was founded by Eldon Purvis, the former editor of New Wine, a Pentecostal-Charismatic magazine associated with the ministry of Bob Mumford, Charles Simpson, and Derek Prince in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. During the 1960s, Purvis began to disagree with the leaders of the New Wine ministry over their advocacy of shepherding; leaders in the New Wine ministry began to disagree with Purvis over his absorption of British-Israel theories. Purvis taught modern Anglo-Saxons to identify with ancient Israel. Purvis also used the sacred names, transliterated from the Hebrew, Yahweh and Yahshua, for the Creator and the Saviour (whom most Christians term God and Jesus).

During his years of association with New Wine, Purvis identified with the Latter Rain revival, a Pentecostal movement that originated in Canada in the late 1940s. Among its emphases were the spiritual gifts of healing and prophecy, the restoration of the church, and the manifestation of the sons of God. It was widely taught through the Latter Rain movement that God was preparing the church for the second coming of Jesus. He was bringing into visible manifestation a group of people dwelling on earth in the image of God. They are overcomers of the world destined to rule and reign with their Everlasting One when he returns to establish His Kingdom on Earth. Integral to this restoration was the reinstitution of the Tabernacle of David, a restoration of God's presence with his people and a return to the Davidic pattern of praise. These teachings are presented in depth in the 1969 book by Graham Truscott, pastor of Restoration Temple in San Diego, California, The Power of His Presence. It is Purvis' belief that the revival gave birth to the sons and daughters of Yahweh.

In the late 1960s, after leaving New Wine, Purvis who had established the Holy Spirit Teaching Ministry, later founded Heartbeat, Inc., and more recently New Beginnings. In the early 1970s, he began a periodical and a book distribution service. In 1981, he organized the New Beginnings Church of Jesus Christ. An annual gathering of people associated with the movement celebrate the feast of Tabernacles near New Beginnings' headquarters. There are also gatherings for Passover and Pentecost.

Since the death of Eldon Purvis in 1990, his wife Nancy Purvis has continued the publishing of the monthly New Beginnings and continues to interpret scripture as it is read in the light of current events of the day.

Membership: In 2002, New Beginnings reported 2,000 members in the United States, 150 in Canada, and an additional 50 worldwide. The magazine is sent to readers in Finland, France, Great Britain, Germany, Northern Ireland, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.

Periodicals: New Beginnings.

Sources:

Henderson, A. L. The Mystery of Yahweh. Waynesville, NC: New Beginnings, n.d.

Truscott, Graham. The Power of His Presence. San Diego, CA: Restoration Temple, 1982.

★1263 ★

New Christian Crusade Church

Box 426
Metairie, LA 70004

The New Christian Crusade Church was formed in 1971 by James K. Warner. In the 1960s Warner had been a member of the American Nazi Party headed by George Lincoln Rockwell. He broke with Rockwell and later associated himself with the National States Rights Party led by J. B. Stoner and with the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. The New Christian Crusade Church teaches that all white people are the descendents of the ancient Israelites and thus it distinguishes its belief from British Israelism, which identifies the present day Anglo-Saxon people as the literal racial descendents of Ancient Israel. The church believes that the present-day Jews come from the Khazars, a warrior people of Turkish-Mongol origin who inhabited the Volga River valleys near the Black Sea in the tenth century. The church is both anti-Semitic and antiblack.

Associated with the church is the Christian Defense League, an open membership organization founded by Warner for individuals who support the church's racial policies. Warner also established the Sons of Liberty, a publishing and literature-distribution company.

Membership: Not reported. The New Christian Crusade Church consists of a single independent congregation, which serves as the literature and information dissemination center for other independent British-Israel Churches in North America. Through its affiliated Christian Defense League, the church is in direct contact with people who share its beliefs throughout North America.

Periodicals: The CDL Report. • Christian Vanguard.

★1264 ★

Prophetic Herald Ministry

(Defunct)

The Northwest has been a center of British-Israelite activity partly because of a strong concentration of believers in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Bethel Temple in Spokane, Washington, was one of the most active British-Israel centers serving, as headquarters of the Prophetic Herald Ministry and its leader, Alexander Schiffner. Founded in 1933, the ministry has concentrated on anti-Communism and anti-Roman Catholicism as major themes in its British-Israel message.

Schiffner taught that the United States is "branded as God's servant nation, Israel." Jacob gave his name "Israel" to both Ephraim and Manasseh, making thirteen tribes instead of the original twelve. The number thirteen is prominent in the history and founding of the United States. The Prophetic Herald proclaimed the new consummation of history, at which time true Israel and true Judah (Romans 2:28-29) will be restored as the terrestrial kingdom and head of nations over unrepentant Gentiles and heathen nations. The ministry also advocated the celestial restoration of true Israel to be joint heir with Christ. In an emphasis missing in other British-Israel ministries, Schiffner taught that "only those who receive God's Holy Spirit through repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ" can be a part of the "chosen people," and that a consecrated life is essential to celestial glorification.

In 1970 approximately 40 radio stations carried the Prophetic Herald broadcasts from coast to coast. The monthly PropheticHerald is mailed out to subscribers around the nation. Schiffner wrote a variety of pamphlets and booklets. His death ended the ministry, and in 1973 Bethel Temple was sold.

★1265 ★

Remnant of Israel

11303 E. 7th
Opportunity, WA 99206

The Remnant of Israel is a small movement that originated in the Church of God (Seventh Day) by G. G. Rupert (1847-1922). Originally a Methodist, Rupert joined the Seventh-Day Adventist Church and for over 30 years served as a minister. Though blind for most of that period, he had an outstanding career, serving as president of the Southwest Union Conference until his resignation in 1902. Several years later he associated with the Church of God headquartered in Stanberry, Missouri (then known as the Church of God (Adventist) Unattached Congregations and today known as the General Conference of the Church of God headquartered in Denver, Colorado), but was among a number of "independents" who rejected the church's organization. Rupert wrote several articles for the Bible Advocate, the church's periodical.

During these years he absorbed the British-Israel thought that had emerged among the Church of God ministers. In the early 1900s he wrote a book on prophecy entitled The Yellow Peril. Rupert also came to believe a number of doctrines that gradually separated him from his colleagues in the Church of God. To the practice of keeping a Saturday sabbath he added a belief in the continuing validity of Old Testament feast days, advocating their observance in place of such Babylonish holidays as Easter, Christmas, Ash Wednesday, and Good Friday. Most importantly, he came to believe that there was only one true church, undenominational, invisible, and headed by Christ directly. This belief led him to reject the Church of God organization and to label all the visibly organized churches as false. Besides these ideas, Rupert also believed in tithing, divine healing, speaking in tongues, and pacifism.

Rupert began a periodical, The Remnant of Israel, in 1915. It was originally published at Britton, Oklahoma, but was moved to Oklahoma City a short time later. Rupert traveled widely, gathering support for his cause, and small congregations of supporters emerged. In 1919 a national conference of his supporters was held in Pasadena, California. After his death in 1922, his daughter, Lucille Rupert, edited the paper and the work was continued to midcentury by I. C. Sultz, her husband, whom Rupert had ordained in 1916. Sultz ordained William J. Walker as director of the Remnant of Israel in 1967. Walker continued to issue the periodical for several years, but it was discontinued for lack of financial support. Since then, Walker has issued a number of tracts, pamphlets, and Bible studies.

As a correspondence minister, Pastor Walker takes Rupert's ideas a step further: he discounts all church organization and teaches that the true children of Israel (the white race) consists of those whose names are written in Heaven. He believes there is no true church, organized or otherwise; the Saviour is not the head of any church, rather he is the head of his elect, the called-out ones; the modern term "church" is a mistranslation of the Greek "ecclesia" meaning "called-out chosen ones." In like measure, "Christ" is a pagan title of an Eastern sun-deity known as Kristos (Christos). Today, the Remnant of Israel is a small organization supported by a few people who receive the literature produced from its headquarters in Opportunity, Washington.

The contemporary supporters of the Remnant of Israel continue to observe the sabbath and the Old Testament feast days, though the thrust of the work and literature is centered upon the heralding of the "Remnant Message" (British-Israelism) to modern Israel (the white race).

Membership: The Remnant of Israel is not a membership organization. Believers in the Remnant of Israel message can be found throughout the United States (i.e., the land of modern Israel, the new JerUSAlem), Canada, Great Britan, Australia, and other predominantly white Anglo-Saxon nations.