British Israelism is a theory of a master race similar to the Aryan supremacy propaganda of Adolf Hitler in the 1930s. But unlike the Nazi ideology, British Israelists claim their theory finds support in the Bible and is, therefore, God’s own revelation. One of its first proponents was a mentally insane former British Navy lieutenant named Richard Brothers, who was ultimately sent to an asylum. After that, the idea was picked up by John Wilson in his book Our Israelitish Origins.
The movement made its way to the United States, where its most prominent spokesperson was Herbert W. Armstrong, who wrote The United States and Britain in Prophecy. His now-defunct Worldwide Church of God has since abandoned his racial theories.
Related: 10 Religious Beliefs That Have Changed with History
10 Americans and Britons Are Descendants of Ancient Israelites
The foundational doctrine of British Israelism, upon which all other claims are based, is that the American and British peoples are directly descended from ancient Israelites. In 922 BC, the Hebrews broke up into two separate kingdoms—the Kingdom of Judah and, to the north, the Kingdom of Israel. In 721 BC, the Assyrians invaded the northern kingdom, defeated it, and carried its people away into slavery.
The theory claims that these slaves, comprising ten tribes, were ultimately scattered, never to return to their homeland. They became lost to history—the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. These groups supposedly migrated into Northern Europe and, from there, the British Isles. Other tribes populated Northern and Western Europe. English settlers then brought the Israelite race to the New World, eventually creating the United States of America. The British are traced to the specific tribe of Ephraim, and white Americans to the tribe of Manasseh.
A simple reading of the Bible is sufficient to refute this notion. In Luke 2:36, we find Anna, an Asherite serving in the Jerusalem Temple long after the supposed epic migration of the lost tribes (the tribe Asher is allegedly Belgium today). Peter addresses his audience on Pentecost as “all the house of Israel” (Acts 2:36). Paul, a Benjamite (the tribe that stayed with Judah), called himself an Israelite (Romans 11:1).
Aside from the Bible, the modern science of genetics has conclusively proved that Americans, the British, and West Europeans do not have the same ancestor as Jews. The key is mitochondrial DNA, a particular strand of DNA that passes unbroken through the maternal line. This enables scientists to trace the ancestry of any individual or group of people back, even to prehistoric times. The findings are common-sensical and just what we should expect: Middle Eastern peoples (like Jews and Arabs) are closely related, and their Y-chromosome pool is different from white Europeans.[1]
9 The Jews Are Not Israel
The corollary to the first claim is that the Jews of today are not, and have never been, Israel. The implication is that the Jews had misappropriated the name when they called their independent state “Israel.” British Israelists point out that the first time the word “Jews” appears in the Bible, it says they were at war with Israel (II Kings 16:6). They assert that whenever the Bible talks about “Israel” or the “House of Israel,” it almost always refers to the Anglo-Saxon nations and Western Europeans.
A minority group of British Israelists called the Christian Identity even perpetuates the “Khazar Myth,” which alleges that Ashkenazi Jews (those of German descent) are not ethnic Jews at all but descendants of the Turkic Khazar tribe whose people converted to Judaism. This anti-Semitic propaganda aims to discredit Zionism and establish the British as the true chosen race.[2]
8 The Ark of the Covenant Was Buried in Ireland
The Hill of Tara in County Meath, Ireland, has a rich history, being the traditional seat of the High Kings of Ireland. It boasts many ancient monuments and artifacts, making it an archaeological paradise. It is, therefore, no surprise when, in 1899, a group of British Israelists decided to go Indiana Jones-ey on the site to look for—what else? The Ark of the Covenant.
The Ark, as we very well know, is a chest where God instructed Moses to put the 10 Commandments, the core of the Mosaic Law, the Torah. With a little help from Irish folklore, British Israelists decided that the Ark must be buried on the hill. Led by a judge named Edward Wheeler Bird, the group of archaeologists and academics dug around Meath Hill for three years in a vain search for Moses’s fabled box.
At this time, Ireland was experiencing a cultural revival and an increased interest in preserving heritage sites. The damage the British Israelist team was doing to Tara drew protests from people such as poet William Butler Yeats and Maud Gonne and from the Royal Society of Antiquities of Ireland. Faced with this uproar, the raiders of the lost ark had no choice but to pack up and leave with nothing to show for their efforts.[3]
7 The English Language Derives from Hebrew
If Americans and British are descendants of ancient Israelites, we should expect them to be speaking a tongue akin to Hebrew, right? British Israelists say they do—English is just a form of Hebrew. They cite connections and similarities that, at first glance, seem impressive.
For example, they point to hundreds of English words that have a similar structure and meaning as Hebrew: eye: ayin; twin: towem; tour: toor; fruit: feyrot; evil: avel; cry: kria; lick: likek; piece: pasis; scale: shakel; earth: aretz; wine: yayin; direction: derech, to name a few.
In Isaiah 28:11, “For with the speech (“stammering” in the KJV) of lips, and with another tongue he will speak to this people,” they see a clue. The Hebrew for “stammering” is laeg, but Hebrew reads right to left, so it becomes “Gael” in English which reads left to right. And Gaelic, it is said, is the foundation of the English language. The very name “British” is said to come from the Hebrew “ish” (man) “brith” (covenant), or “Man of the Covenant,” making the British the true covenant people of God.
Lately, this English-Hebrew theory has been getting some support from Isaac Mozeson, a lecturer on literature and Judaica whose controversial view called “Edenics” proposes that all human languages are derived from a single parent language. Of course, what this means, if Edenics is true, is that all languages, not just English, can trace connections to Hebrew, which kind of defeats the exclusivist agenda of British Israelists.
For instance, as Mozeson himself explains, “The Hebrew word DeRech (way/road), with its DR root, is also found in DaRoga (Russian), DeRecho (Spanish), DuRch (German) and DoRo (Japanese). By the way, if you take the DR root of DeRech and reverse its order, you get the English word RoaD. Can you see the Hebrew root from ShoMeR (guardian) in the Japanese word SaMuRai (the emperor’s royal guard)?” Can you imagine the Japanese as one of the lost tribes?
Anyway, orthodox linguistics rejects the entire English-from-Hebrew delusion. Any two languages can have a number of coincidental convergences. So, even if the word “sak” in Hebrew does mean “sack,” it doesn’t follow that a lost tribe carried it to Britain. “Sack” comes from Latin saccus, which comes from Greek sakkos, which was borrowed from a Semitic language like Hebrew—most likely from Aramaic sakka. The indirect connection shows us the route the word traveled to get to us.[4]
6 Assyrians Are Now Modern Germans
In his book Mystery of the Ages, Herbert Armstrong summarizes the British Israel position thus: “The Assyrians—before 604 BC—left their land north of Babylon and migrated northwest—through the lands that are now Georgia, the Ukraine, Poland, and into the land that is called GERMANY today. Today, the descendants of those Assyrians are known to us as the GERMAN people.”
Armstrong never backs up his assertion with evidence simply because there is none. It is pure fantasy. There is zero historical trace of such a migration. Instead, the ancient Assyrians remained in their homeland, even attempting to revive their kingdom in 350 BC. By the time the Muslims arrived on the scene in AD 630, they encountered an Assyrian Christian civilization with a rich cultural history of 600 years behind it. Assyrian blood is now present in modern-day Iraqis.
On the other hand, the Germans came from the Nordic races—the Scandinavian people. This poses a problem for British Israelists since they believe the Scandinavians are brother Israelites to the Anglo-Saxons.[5]
5 Charles III Is Sitting on the Throne of David
History and the Bible tell us that the Davidic dynasty of kings was terminated when the Babylonians conquered the Kingdom of Judah in 587 BC, blinded and took the last king, Zedekiah, captive, and massacred his sons. British Israelists beg to differ. They point out that Jesus Christ was promised the “throne of his father David” (Lk.1:32) upon his Second Coming as Messiah, and since Jesus cannot occupy a non-existent throne, that throne must still exist today.
The scenario they propose is that a princess of the royal line survived the murder of her brothers, and she subsequently escaped to Ireland. They identified a figure allegedly found in Irish annals called Tea Tephi as this Hebrew princess. Tea Tephi was ultimately wed to King Eochaidh of the Irish royal house, and the house of David had been successfully grafted onto the line of Irish kings.
It is further claimed that the Irish/Davidic throne was overturned and transplanted to Scotland, overturned again, and transferred to England, where it resides today. King Charles III is now its venerable occupant. And in the future, perhaps Prince William, Harry, or Jesus. Who knows?
At best, the Tea Tephi legend is an honest misinterpretation of ancient annals perpetuated by one Rev. F.R.A. Glover in 1861. The British Israel World Federation issued a statement in 2001 admitting that the fabled princess never existed. However, they continue to stick to the belief in an Irish-Judahite connection.[6]
4 Jeremiah and the Stone of Destiny
In Genesis 28, we are told of the story of Jacob falling asleep with a stone for a pillow and dreaming of a stairway to heaven. Upon waking, he set up an altar, not to Led Zeppelin, but to his god El, using the stone he used as a pillow. That same stone, say British Israelists, was taken by the prophet Jeremiah to Britain and now rests under the Coronation Chair in Westminster Abbey.
It is known variously as the Coronation Stone, Stone of Scone, or Stone of Destiny (Lia Fail in Gaelic). It is also purportedly the same Lia-Fail over which Tea Tephi and Eochaidh took their vows (note that Lia Fail, if read from right to left as in Hebrew, still reads Lia Fail). There is also some confusion here, with the Irish insisting that Lia Fail never left Tara and others saying the stone at Westminster Abbey is a fake. That last conspiracy theory prompted some British Israelists to accuse Queen Elizabeth II of being a fake queen because she was crowned over a bogus stone. Presumably, Charles III must also be a fake king.
The problem with these claims is, once again, a lack of evidence. There is no reference to Jeremiah in ancient Irish annals. Legends do link the stone to Jacob (hence, it is also known as “Jacob’s Pillar Stone”). One 15th-century source says that it was bought over to Albion (the British Isles) by a daughter of the Egyptian Pharaoh who eloped with a Celtic prince, not Jeremiah. Some say it was brought over by a people called Tuatha de Danann.
But legends are notoriously unreliable, so science must have the last word. The disputed relic has been determined by geologists to be old red sandstone quarried in the vicinity of Scone, Scotland, where the monastery from whence it was taken is located. Charles is an impostor. Case closed.[7]
3 The Lost Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles
British Israelists are not content to rely on obscure, unsubstantiated legends and folklore to make their case. They once had the audacity to add a chapter to the Bible itself to supply proof of their theory. They appended their transparent, not-too-clever forgery to the New Testament Book of Acts, giving it an extra 29th chapter.
This so-called “Lost Chapter,” also known as the “Sonnini Manuscript,” was found among the effects of Sir John Newport in Ireland. It was claimed to be an English translation, made by a C.S. Sonnini from an original Greek text found in the Archives of Constantinople. However, rather conveniently, this Greek document was never found.
The genuine Acts leaves the Apostle Paul preaching in Rome. The Lost Chapter begins where it leaves off, with Paul departing Rome to go to Spain. From there, he proposes to continue on to Britain, “For he had heard in Phoenicia that certain of the children of Israel, about the time of the Assyrian captivity, had escaped by sea to ‘The Isles afar off’ as spoken of by the Prophet, and called by the Romans—Britain.” (Acts 29: 2). Paul takes a ship and lands at Raphinus (modern Sandwich, in Kent), and the very next day, preaches Jesus on Mount Lud (Ludgate Hill, where St. Paul’s Cathedral now stands), thus fulfilling Christ’s commission to evangelize the “lost sheep of the House of Israel.”
Some Druids also come to Paul and convince him by their rites and ceremonies that they are descendants of Israelites. Verse 10 is interesting: “And even the Holy Ghost fell upon Paul, and he prophesied, saying, Behold in the last days the God of Peace shall dwell in the cities, and the inhabitants thereof shall be numbered: and in the seventh numbering of the people, their eyes shall be opened, and the glory of their inheritance shine forth before them. The nations shall come to worship on the mount that testifieth of the patience and long suffering of a servant of the Lord.”
Paul is thus made to “prophesy” the seventh British census of 1861, which happened just before the rise of the British Israel movement, thus endorsing its divine provenance.[8]
2 Europe Will Invade the U.S.
During the Cold War, according to British Israelists, the greatest threat to the U.S. was not the Soviet Union. In this 21st century, the danger lies not with Al-Qaeda, Iran, or North Korea. The real threat to the U.S. (and Britain), the one that will eventually succeed in destroying these democracies, is… Europe. More specifically, the United States of Europe or a Revived Roman Empire.
Here, we see why identifying Germany as Assyria can come in handy. Germany is in the heart of Europe, and in a repetition of history, this modern Assyria will once again conquer and enslave modern Israel (U.S. and Britain). Unfortunately, Germany’s recent history of starting world wars and producing an Antichrist figure in Adolf Hitler doesn’t help her reputation. This bad habit of equating ancient nations with modern states gives British Israelists certain liberties with Bible interpretation. The oracles meant for audiences thousands of years ago suddenly become “prophecies” and warnings directed at the Americans and the British.[9]
1 The Two-Seed Theory
Let it first be clear that a majority of British Israelists are not primarily motivated by hate and racism. There are many British Israelists who are not even white, like those members of Armstrong’s Worldwide Church of God from international congregations. But in the early 20th century, the doctrine was hijacked by a virulent hate group called the Christian Identity to justify their racism and hatred of Jews, non-whites, and homosexuals.
The transformation of this relatively benign racial theory into an extremist, right-wing movement can be credited to a former Methodist minister named Wesley Swift, who was active in the Ku Klux Klan. Swift developed the “two-seed theory,” which teaches that Cain was the product of a sexual union between Eve and the serpent. Cain was the ancestor of the Jews, which, therefore, makes the Jews literally the spawn of Satan.
Eve’s other son, Abel, was the ancestor of the lost tribes and their descendants, the white English-speaking peoples. Meanwhile, non-Caucasians are believed to have originated from a pre-Adamic race of “mud people.” Adam and Eve were the first humans to be created in God’s image and the progenitors of the white race.
These doctrines allowed Christian Identity to find a home among other right-wing groups such as the KKK, neo-Nazis, and skinheads like the Hammerskins.[10]