A N G LO - ISR A E L ISM —True or False?
Second in a Series of Revealing Articles by Louis T. Talbot, D.D.
be hard pressed for source material on which to prove its claims. The Ro man Catholic Church appeals to the Apocrypha for the support of the doc trine of purgatory, and in her trail Anglo-Israelites follow. The Apocryphal books are wholly unreliable, and they do not claim inspiration. The Jews have never accepted them as a part of the Jewish canon. Jesus Christ never quoted from them, .but Anglo-Israelites use them, for they find some fanciful proof of their fantastic tales. The following reference (II Esdras 13:40-45) is used: Those are the ten tribes, which were carried away prisoners out of their own
names, including Edward, Albert, Chris tian, George, Andrew, and Patrick. The name David was given him, we are in formed, because the Marchioness of Wa terford prophesied that he would be “ David your king,” and that ' Ezekiel 37:24 and 34:23 would be fulfilled in him. Before the death of King George V, the Anglo-Israelites were positive that when the Prince of Wales, now Duke of Windsor, came to the throne, he really would be David II, and with him would come the “ British Millennium,” but as you know, this David took the title King Edward VIII, which completely nulli fied another of their delusive claims. But like the Russellites, who prophesied that the Times of the Gentiles would come to a close in 1914, failure in their supposed prophecy gave them little em barrassment. Now before I show how Scripture re futes this whole system, I want to point out how Anglo-Israelites misinterpret and pervert the Scriptures, and how close some of their statements approach blas phemy. A favorite proof text used by this system is Genesis 22:17: “ That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies.” This is supposed to be a prophetic pic ture of the British people and thé people of the United States ’controlling Gibral tar, Malta, Heligoland, Suez, Aden, and Singapore. These seaports are “ the gate of his enemies” the Anglo-Israelites tell us, and Great Britain now possesses that. Reasoning from this, Great Britain (Israel) holds “ the gate of his enemies.” In this text, as with many others, Anglo- Israelism takes the glory that belongs to Jesus Christ and ascribes it to Great Britain and its king. Paul in comment ing on Genesis 22:17 tells us who the seed is that God mentions: “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ” (Gal. 3:16). Christ then is the one to whom ref erence is made and not the British na tion. In Christ all the nations of the earth will be. blessed, and when He reigns He shall possess the “ gate of his enemies”—all of, His former enemies— for He shall be King of kings and Lord of lords and “have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river even unto the ends of the earth.” (Continued on Page 16) Page Eleven
How Do Anglo-Israelites Support Their Theories? . B ECAUSE there is no historical and Scriptural f o u n d a t i o n for their claims, Anglo-Israelism is forced to ap peal to legends, traditions, and folklore for evidence to support their statements and to obtain sufficient basis for their theories. For instance, they claim that hundreds of, years before Christ, Jere miah and a daughter of Zedekiah sailed for Ireland where she married a member of the tribe of Dan, who was the king of Ireland. In this way they maintain the present reigning house of England was established. The legend also includes the amazing story that Jeremiah took with him to Ireland the stone on which Jacob slept at Bethel. This stone, they claim, had been carried by Jacob from place to place during his lifetime, and toward the end of his pilgrimage, he bequeathed it to one of his sons. Finally, it was placed in Jeremiah’s hands and taken with him to Ireland. Later this stone was taken from Ire land to Scotland, and for centuries the kings of Scotland received their corona tion while seated upon it. From Scotland it was taken to England and placed un der the coronation chair, the chair on which all the kings of England have been crowned from William the Conqueror to the present time. In his book entitled, The Destiny of the British Empire and the United States of America, Lieut. Col. W. G. Mackendrick, D.S.O., of Toronto, an exponent of An- glo-Israelism, says of this chair and stone, “ The British coronation chair built around Jacob’s stone which the Bible refers to as the throne of God ( i.e ., set up by God), establishes the throne of England and connects it with David’s throne.” Of course, for all this there is no Scriptural or historical evidence; in fact, geologists have examined this stone un der the coronation chair and have found that it is a red sandstone common to Scotland and entirely different in char acter from any stone forming the geo logical content of Bethel, or any part of Palestine. Because there is no Scripture to sup port this fanciful story concerning Jere miah and the ten tribes making their way toward Great Britain, Anglo-Israel- ism is compelled to resort to methods adopted by the Roman Catholic Church, by appealing to the Apocryphal books and quoting from II Esdras 13:40-43. When a cult is obliged to refer to the Apoc rypha for proof of its position, it must O C T O B E R , I 9 4 8
The Bible Institute of Los Angeles of which Dr. Talbot is president.
land in the time of Osea the king, whom Salmanasar the King of Assyria led away captive, and he carried them over the waters, and so came they into an other land. But they took this counsel among themselves, that they would leave the multitude of the heathen, and go forth into a further country, where never man kind dwelt. That they might there keep their stat utes; which they never kept in their own land. And they entered into Euphrates by the narrow passages of the river. For the Most High then showed signs for them, and held still the flood, till they were passed over. For through that country there was a great way to go, namely, of a year and a half: and the same region is called Arsareth. These theorists continued their state ments by reasoning that the former king of England, Edward VIII, was the de scendant of David, the heir to David’s throne. Therefore, they enlarged upon the fact that one of his names was David, forgetting that he had other
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