Witnesses to the Israelite Origin of the Nordic, Germanic, and Anglo-Saxon Peoples
by Mikkel Stjernholm Kragh
Several great personalities have believed that the Nordic, Germanic, and Anglo-Saxon peoples are the descendants of the 'Lost' Tribes of Israel, including the British king during WWII, George VI (1895-1952), the founder of Pentecostalism, the American Charles Fox Parham (1873-1929), the founder of Danish Pentecostalism Anna Bjørner (1875-1955), and the car manufacturer, the American Henry Ford, Sr. (1863-1947).
The organised Christian movement which teaches this was started by the Scotsman John Wilson in 1836, where it became known as British-Israel and Anglo-Israel. Since then it has also become known as Christian Identity, the Israel Vision, Israel Identity, and Nordic Israelism.
This is a presentation of different great witnesses to this teaching as seen with Nordic eyes. They are classified into different categories: Nordic witnesses, Early witnesses, Prominent British-Israelites, Clergy, Evangelists, Royals, Politicians, Military, Businessmen, Newspapers, and Poets.
Nordic witnesses
Anna Bjørner and Sigurd Bjørner (from Evangeliebladet, Christmas 1927)
Anna Larssen Bjørner (1875-1955) and Sigurd Bjørner (1875-1953), the founders of Danish Pentecostalism and the Apostolic Church in Denmark.
Anna Halberg had, besides Danish blood, also Norwegian and Italian-Swiss blood in her veins. She began her acting career app. 1891, and at this very young age she was for a short while engaged to the satirist Gustav Wied, who is the author of the Danish classic Livsens Ondskab (1914), but the engagement was disconnected when Wied tried to seduce her. In 1895 Anna got married to the author Otto Larssen, and they got a boy. But Otto Larssen was drinking and was violent, and in 1899 they were divorced, and the boy was adopted by an acquaintance. At this stage Anna Larssen was one of Denmark's leading actresses and was instructed by Herman Bang, the overt homosexual author who is known for his Danish classics Haabløse Slægter (1880) and Tine (1889). As the major star of The Dagmar Theatre in Copenhagen, she converted to Christ without the rest of the theatre world being able to understand why. In 1909, at the prime of her career, she gave up the theatre and got married to the YMCA secretary in Elsinore, Sigurd Bjørner. From this point her official name is Anna Larssen Bjørner, though she called herself Anna Bjørner. Together, the Bjørners started a crusade which was the birth of the Pentecostal awakening in Denmark.
Anna and Sigurd Bjørner by Evangelievognen (from Evangeliebladet, Christmas 1927)
The Bjørners did missions in Denmark in Evangelievognen, a sort of camper trailer of those days. Sigurd Bjørner became leader of Evangelieforsamlingen on Trianglen in the Østerbro part of Copenhagen, and in 1924 the Bjørners founded the Apostolic Church in Denmark, which was a branch of the Apostolic Church in Britain, and they got congregations all over Denmark. Their magazine Evangeliebladet was sold door-to-door in larger numbers, and it had an easy-to-understand but straight-forward and no-comprise Gospel. The power of the crusade was great and was warmly welcomed by many unsaved and Christian, whereas the meetings which the Bjørners held were attacked by the young socialists.
As early as 1923 you could read articles in Evangeliebladet about 'the fig tree is brooming', and that the Jews would soon establish a Jewish state in Palestine. These articles were especially inspired by the British-Irish Bible teacher H. Grattan Guinness who in Light for the Last Days (1887) had written that the British would free Jerusalem in 1917, which also took place when General Allenby conquered Jerusalem out of the hand of the Muslim Turks, on 9th to 11th December, 1917.
One of the main subjects in Evangeliebladet was the Lost Tribes of Israel, which were identified as the Anglo-Saxons and related peoples. The main article in Evangeliebladet was several times on the subject the Lost Tribes of Israel, and they were primarily written by Anna Bjørner. There were also articles by the prominent British-Israelites of those days, including William Pascoe Goard, Edward Odlum, J. Llewellyn Thomas, Stephen Jeffreys, and Grattan Guinness. There were several articles which were directly translated from The National Message, the organ of the British-Israel-World Federation, and the only foreign magazine which Evangeliebladet advertised was sold on the Apostolic Church's meetings was The National Message. There was an article by Albert Hiorth, the Norwegian known for promoting Israel Identity, and many articles by the Swedish Israel Identity Pentecostal Nils Ramselius, which often had a very strong racial message.
Of reasons which remain unclear, Anna and Sigurd Bjørner left the Apostolic Church and Evangeliebladet in April 1936. From the one week to the following, even the slightest reference to the existence of the Bjørners vanished. At the same time all mentioning of the Lost Tribes of Israel, Jews, and race biology vanished from Evangeliebladet - for two years, but then it were the diametrically opposite messages.
The Bjørners, however, continued undaunted on their own. In 1944 Sigurd Bjørner mentioned the Tribes of Israel in a booklet defending Pentecostalism, and in 1947 and 1949 Anna Bjørner was translator for the evangelistic meeting which the British-Israel Pentecostal preacher George Jeffreys held in Copenhagen and Slagelse.
The joy of the Bjørners was great when they in 1952 got together with the church which they themselves had founded. After one year of illness, Sigurd unfortunately died in 1953. Anna, who was now a widow, was now expressly forbidden by the new leadership of Apostolsk Kirke not to mention anything on the Tribes of Israel or the return of the Jews unto Palestine, when she was speaking at the meetings in Apostolsk Kirke. Anna said that she felt that "they stabbed her in the back when she spoke about those things," that is, the Lost 10 Tribes of Israel. (According to Johannes Rasmussen: Ægteparret Bjørners Liv og Virke, p. 32, 1969) Even in her final years she persevered on her own, and for instance spoke at Hotel Prindsen in Roskilde in September 1953 on the subject 'The Tribes of Israel'. She passed away in 1955, two years after her husband.
Since then it appears that almost everything about Anna Bjørner, Evangeliebladet, and the original Apostolic Church in Denmark has been virtually forgotten, until it was re-discovered by Mikkel S. Kragh in Vor Israelitiske Oprindelse (2006).
Here follow some quotes by Anna Bjørner: "There are so many Christians who cannot see that Jesus is the Redeemer of Israel. In John Chapter 11 we read that the high priests and the Pharisees have summoned a meeting to discuss what they shall do about Jesus, who does so many signs among the people, and if it continues like this, they say, the Romans will come and take away both the land and the people. But Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said: 'Ye know nothing at all, Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.' - 'And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation (The Jews in Palestine): And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad (The 10 Tribes of Israel).' Christendom believes that these are the Christians who are spoken of here, but that is obvious that it is impossible - there were no 'scattered Christians' at that time. It was Israel that Jesus came to. And the high priest says: It is better that one man dies for the whole people, but not the whole people should perish. It is a prophecy, he knows not himself what he says; but he proclaims that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, should redeem not only Judah, but also the Lost Sheep of the House of Israel, the Ten Tribes who were in dispersion. It were 'the Children of God' who were to be gathered as one nation with Judah. But Judah did not receive Him, only a small band of men from Galilee - of the Tribe of Benjamin." (Anna Bjørner: Kajfas' mærkelige profeti. From Evangeliebladet: Organ for den apostolske Kirke i Danmark, 7th August, 1935, p. 1-2)
"The 10 Tribes of Israel, however, did not return from their captivity in Assyria, but trekked north across the Caucasus, around the Black Sea, until they landed in Middle Europe and finally came to the place which God had given them as a refuge: 'The Isles in the Sea' (The British Isles), from where Ephraim-Israel at last shall come, whereas Judah shall come from the 'four corners of the world'. The searchers of history tell us that Hebrew memorials, grave tombs, and other things left behind, marks the way which they had wandered. The Gospel of Jesus, which had been rejected by Judah, was there proclaimed for the Gentiles, and among them were the Ten Tribes of Israel as the 'Lost Sheep of the House of Israel'. Here, the Gospel was received, and today these Lost Ten Tribes make up the core of the Christian nations of the globe." (Anna Bjørner: Den store Pyramide. From Evangeliebladet: Organ for den apostolske Kirke i Danmark, 21st April, 1927, p. 1)
On Israel's identity one day being revealed, Sigurd Bjørner wrote: "'And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.' Thus said the angel to Joseph in a dream, before Jesus was born, and those words were already fulfilled when Jesus walked on earth. All who believed in him got the peace and joy of the redemption of sins into their lives. But we must not forget that the words of the angel about him also have another side to them, and that is that the nation of Israel, comprised of 12 Tribes, one day shall stand forth as a God's people - saved by him from the bondage of sin unto the glorious freedom of the child of God." (Sigurd Bjørner: Pinsevækkelsen - en Sekt? Filadelfia Forlaget, Aarhus, 1944)
Kristen Døssland, Norwegian religious researcher, ethnologist, philologist, and archaeologist. Wrote the book Norrønafolket i Opphav og Vandring (The Origin and Wanderings of the Norse People, 1946, 2nd impression 1949) in which he by the use of secular history, archaeology, and comparisons between the ancient Norse religion and the Bible concluded that the Norsemen were the Lost Tribes of Israel. Døssland also wrote Israels gud Elohim-Jave og oldnordiske gudsnavn og landnåmsnavn (God of Israel Elohim-Jave and Old-Nordic Names of Gods and of Land Acquisitions, 1949), which was a summary of his articles about his discoveries from Norrønafolket i Opphav og Vandring which had been printed in the Norwegian newspapers Vårt Land and Dagen.
In the introduction to Norrønafolket i Opphav og Vandring Døssland wrote: "Already the well known Danish historian and language researcher N.M. Petersen said that the mythical name of the North easily can be explained by Semitic languages. Han was presumably thinking of Phænician or Arabic. The wise researcher of Nordic mythology, the translator of the Edda, Ivar Mortensson-Egnund, has pointed out quite a few Norwegian words which he believes may have their roots in the Hebrew language. He has also shown that Voluspå and Håvamål have many similarities with the Old Testament and Jewish Sibylline books which probably rest on ancient Israelite traditions. Through building upon the theories of these researchers, we will in the following seek to show that there are clear marks after Israelite language and culture, and that these memories tell of immigrant tribes of Israelite origin." (Norrønafolket i Opphav og Vandring, p. 6)
Johannes 'Jöns' Jacobi Eurenius (1688-1751), Swedish dean and pastor in Ångermanland and Torsåker. Johannes Eurenius was the son of a priest, and studied in Uppsala where he in 1716 became Master of Arts. In 1719 he was appointed principal, and in 1722 he became 'eloquentiæ associate professor' in Harnösand, and in 1725 he became pastor in Ångermanland and Torsåker in the north of Sweden. Eurenius wrote Atlantica Orientalis, Eller Atlant Näs til des rätta Belägenhet beskrifwet för många år sedan (Atlantica Orientalis, or the Cape of Atlantis Described at Its Right Position Many Years Ago, Strengnäs, Sweden, 1751). In the book, which contained a foreword by chapter dean Carl Fr. Ljungberg, Eurenius used 140 pages describing that the Norsemen were the descendants of the Lost 10 Tribes of Israel, by using the Bible, Nordic and Greek myths, and history. He wrote that the Greek myth of the giant Atlas was a legend or memory of the Norsemen's forefather Jacob-Israel. He also believed that the myth of the lost land of Atlantis was a legend or memory of the Norsemen's lost homeland Canaan, which the children of Israel had disappeared from. Atlantica Orientalis was also published in Latin in Germany (Berlin, Stralsund, and Leipzig, 1764). Johannes Eurenius had to go through much opposition before Atlantica Orientalis could be published, especially because many did not like changing the flattering thesis which Olof Rudbeck had put forth in his monumental Atlant Eller Manheim (1679), that Scandinavia was the lost Atlantis. Atlant Eller Manheim is still a classic today. Rudbeck also believed that the Norsemen were Japhethites (descendants of Noah's son Japheth), while Eurenius wrote that the Norsemen were Semites (descendants of Noah's son Shem) and Israelites.
Johannes Eurenius was a learned man who was held in great respect for his teachings. He was also viewed as a brilliant man of the church and was in particular known for his linguistical and musical talents. He also wrote other books in Swedish and Latin, such as Historiala literaria Pars II: De antiquitate et origene literarum Græcarum et Runarum (Uppsala, 1716), Munus parentale post exequias funeris. Georgii Wallin superintendentis per Norlandias occidentales eminentissimi altero die exhibitum qui erat XXVIII. aug. in templo Sæbroensi (Stockholm, 1725), En liten barna-syntax, innehållandes alla latinska språkets reglor, som finnas hos Vossium, Tiderum, Cellarium och Ihre In nuce, vtgifwen til prof anno 1733 (Stockholm, 1733) og En präst i sin prydning, eller Grundelig afhandling angående en prästmans och Christi tjenaras ämbetes-skyldigheter, emot Gud och hans dyrtköpte församling; för flera år sedan sammanskrefwen af nu mera framledne probsten (Stockholm, 1770, reprinted 1844).
Here follow some excerpts from Atlantica Orientalis:
From Chapter I 'On Israel's Land ATLANTICA': "The history of the children of Israel is no less true and ancient than it is wonderful and matchless . and besides other names with which this highly famous people has been called; it is certain that they by the Greeks have been called Atlantians, and the land of Israel Atlantica." (p. 1) "I will let everyone else look in vain as long as they desire, but it is a certain truth that the Greek word Atlas is the very same as the Hebrew name Israel." (p. 3)
From Chapter VI 'The Dispersed SCYTHIANS or Exiled Israelites': "As known as the SCYTHIANS are to their name, as unknown they are to their true extraction. All histories speak of them, and many count them among their Countrymen; but no one seems to be able to positively prove how they first dispersed in Asia, and how their great power and glory has been able to spread at that time, as the Highest Government in the same Lands was held by the Chaldeans, the Assyrians, the Medes, the Persians, and the Greeks. Thus, it seems to me very obvious, if these Scythians were the Families of Israel, who after the time of Salmanasser dispersed themselves in the Eastern Lands, and did not, at the request of Cyrus, go home, but did plant Inhabitants out in the at that time uninhabited wastelands and Lands towards the North." (p. 83)
From Chapter VII 'The SVIAR'S and the GOTH'S Origin from the Scythians or the Lost Children of ISRAEL ', where Eurenius wrote that Thor is a legend or memory of Moses: "Thor is an Hebrew word, as well as the title of Moses. Therefore, he came out of the thunderstorm and the unheard thundering, and carried forth the Law of God, which in the Hebrew just as much marks Thor as a Lawgiver." (p. 109) "Thor is said to have had a club with which he struck his enemies and opened the rock; which by Joh. Mag. Hist. L. I:9, Adam. Brem. and Erico Olai is called Thor's sceptre or staff, and which was surrounded by fire, and is a certain reminder of the Moses's staff which followed him into the fire, hit the rock and defeated his adversaries." (p. 110)
Eurenius also wrote that the old temple in Uppsala was modeled after king Solomon's temple in Jerusalem: "Of the temple of Sala. Just as the city had its name from the Israelites's former residence in Canaan, so the temple in Upsala was an image of the ruined Solomon's temple in Jerusalem." (p. 112)
About the God service of the Israelites and the Swedes: "With all this you can nonetheless feel an extraordinary similarity on all points between the God service of the Israelites and of the Swedes, which convinces us of their relationship." (p. 115)
About the language: "Furthermore, the language which we have kept confirms that our ancestors have sprung from the fled Israelites and Scythians, since we have an extraordinary mixture of the languages through which the Israelites stayed during their exodus out of the Orient, and wandered through." (p. 122)
Albert Hiorth (1876-1949), Norwegian engineer, inventor, and speaker. Hiorth is particularly known for his grandiose plans for reconstructing Palestine after WWII, as well as for his belief that the north Germanic and Anglo-Saxon peoples were the Lost Tribes of Israel. During the Nazi occupation Hiorth was arrested because he had a Jewess five generations back in his genealogical tree and because he possessed a radio. Albert Hiorth used the opportunity to tell Oberstürmführer Wagner that both the Germans and Norwegians were a part of the Tribes of Israel. He was later released. His son Frederik died, however, in a Nazi concentration camp, which was a severe blow to Albert Hiorth. He was thrilled by the erection of the Jewish State in 1948, but also believed that the Jews were a mixed people with strong Communist tendencies. Albert Hiorth had grandiose plans about a waterwork by the Dead Sea which could irrigate all of Palestine. The Norwegian General Secretary of the UN Trygve Lie suggested in June 1948 that Albert Hiorth's plans were realized. Albert Hiorth wrote Alle Tings Gjenoprettelse (The Restitution of All Things, 1936), Omkring Israels Hus og Folk og Judas Hus og Folk (Zionistene og Jøde-'Israel' i dag) (Concerning the House and People of Israel and the House and People of Judah (The Zionists and Jew-'Israel' Today, 1949), and Israel i Brennpunktet (Israel in Focus, 1949). Shortly after Hiorth's death his biography was published by Harald Stene Dahlin: Boken om Albert Hiorth: En Norsk Aladdin (The Albert Hiorth Book: A Norwegian Aladdin, Lutherstiftelsen, 1949).
Albert Hiorth points to where the main power station for his plan for a reconstruction of Palestine should be situated.
In an interview with Albert Hiorth we read: "The Jews are not all Israel. Palestine is not all of the Promised Land. Almost a thousand years before Christ the land of Israel was divided into the 10 Tribe Kingdom (the Kingdom of Israel) and the 2 Tribe Kingdom (the Kingdom of Judah). The inhabitants of the 10 Tribe Kingdom were carried away to Assyria by King Salmanassar and others app. 700 BC. They have never returned to their fatherland, and their historical marks are vanished. Still many believe that it is the 10 Tribes we find once again in the North Germanic and Anglo-Saxon peoples today. Engineer Hiorth also shares this view, and he brings forth a number of facts which he believes definitely points in this direction. Around 600 BC the inhabitants of the 2 Tribe Kingdom were also carried away. They ended up in Babel, as we know, where they stayed for 70 years. But of this remnant constituting two twelfths, it was only a tiny remnant which returned from Babylon. The conclusion is therefore: Those who got to live in Jewland after the Babylonian captivity were but a rudiment of the original Israel. And they were even mixed to a large extent, primarily with Edomites." (Interview by Alfred Hauge in Israel i Brennpunktet, p. 8-9)
Ole Jørgen Johnsen, Norwegian captain and preacher from Hasla. Wrote Israel i de siste dage (Israel in the Last Days, 1924) on the Israelite origin of the Nordic, Germanic, and Anglo-Saxon peoples, and how Bible prophecy was fulfilled in them. O.J. Johnsen specifically believed that Germany, Prussia, and Austria were of the children of Leah. Bishop Andreas Fleischer wrote a critical introduction to the book. O.J. Johnsen was also mentioned in Anna and Sigurd Bjørner's Evangeliebladet.
In his book, O.J. Johnsen wrote: "The Gospel about the birth, life, ministry, suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus, who was rejected by the Jews, was now proclaimed to the heathens. Among these were the Lost 10 Tribes of Israel as the Lost Sheep of the House of Israel. Here the Gospel was received and believed unto salvation and rehabilitation from the dark night of idolatry. And these Lost 10 Tribes today make up the core of the Christian nations of the earth, who have crowned Christ as King in the spiritual realm, which encompasses all those who believe and praise him as the Son of God and Saviour of the world. The throne of David is moved to Britain, or from Judah to Ephraim, who has now fulfilled his proper place as the firstborn of the 12 Tribes of Israel and the prince among his brethren." (Israel i de siste dage, s. 13-14)
Charles Lee (1840-1926) and Julia Lee (1852-1927) (born Carl August Lindqvist and Ulrika Johansdotter respectively), Swedish preacher-couple who founded the movement Efraims Büdbärare (Ephraim's Messengers). Carl August Lindqvist was born 1840 in Stockholm. When the American Civil War broke out, he felt a deep call to help free the Negro slaves, and went to the United States, where he became a nursing aid in the Union Army, and changed his name to Charles Lee. He became a doctor in 1869 in Philadelphia, where he also began to preach. Ulrika Johansdotter was born 1852 in Östergötland, and emigrated with her family to the United States when she was three years old, where her name was changed to Julia. She heard Charles Lee preach while she was attending the Seventh-Day Adventists, who by the way benefitted by Charles Lee's preaching, as one of his beliefs was that he should not make a church or congregation. In 1874 Charles and Julia were married, and settled in Cambridge, Minnesota, where they published the magazine Sanningsrösten (The Voice of Truth). 1881-1886 the Lee couple preached in Sweden, and 1886-1892 in the United States. In 1892 they returned to Sweden, and from thence they concentrated on Sweden and Norway. 1897-1916 they published the magazine Betlehemsstjernan in Kristiania (today Oslo), Norway, and after 1916 it was published from Chicago, the United States, under the titles Stjernan and Spiran. 1921-1924 they returned to Sweden, and Charles Lee died in 1926, Julia Lee in 1927. The Lee couple had many odd teachings, one of them being that they should built no churches or congregations. They believed that the Lost Tribes of Israel basically were the European working class, and that the Jews were Judah. They still have disciples today who publish their numerous books in Swedish, Norwegian, English, German, and French. Together Charles and Julia Lee wrote their chief work Den Dubbla Planen (The Double Plan, app. 1917). Charles Lee also wrote among other works Harmageddon eller de Två Jättarna (Armageddon or the Two Giants, 1922). Julia Lee also wrote among other works Efraim i historiskt och profetiskt ljus (Ephraim in the Light of History and Prophecy), and Guds Verk och Rike (God's Work and Kingdom).
On the 10 Tribes of Israel, Charles and Julia Lee wrote: "From the above mentioned texts we see that the Tribes of Israel at the time of the gathering are dispersed among 'all peoples', and that they 'serve the nations', and that their gathering will take place from 'the northland', i.e. Europe. Knowing that the Ten Tribes do not constitute the House of Judah, or the common Jews who after the destruction of Jerusalem were dispersed among the nations, we now ask: Which and where are the Lost Ten Tribes? They are described so intimately in the Scripture that every thinking person who reads all these testimonies should understand it. They serve the nations. What class of people serve the European nations? The working class, of course. The class which plows, sows, and harvest the land, build the towns and work in various trades; in other words: the class which through the work of their hands support and build up the states. It creates capital, pay high taxes and rents and keep up the entire national force of development. The great mass of workers are according to the words of the prophecies mainly the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel." (Den Dubbla Planen, p. 29)
Julia Lee also wrote: "Let us now ask how these people of the Orient were able to come to the farthest north? History shows that the House of Israel, the Ten Tribes, emigrated from Asia to Europe after the fall of the Assyrian Empire. Chas. Rodosi, the editor of Hebrew-English Dictionary, shows that the Ten Tribes sailed across the Mediterranean and colonised the European countries such as Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Germany, England, Austria, Hungary, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, yes, even Russia." (Efraim i historiskt och profetiskt ljus, p. 23)
Nils Ramselius (1888-?), Scanian Pentecostal evangelist and pioneer of Swedish Pentecostalism. Wrote extensively about the Lost Tribes of Israel, Jews, and Biblical race biology in the magazine Missionsfacklan, which was published in the 1920'ies and 1930'ies. Nils Ramselius's articles were often printed in Anna and Sigurd Bjørner's Evangeliebladet. Ramselius wrote much about Biblical race biology, and called Jesus "the Great Race Improver, Jesus Christ". Nils Ramselius also wrote books on diverse matters: Vår nordlige hembygd: en hembygdsbok för Måla, Arvidsjaur och Arjeplog (Our Northern Hometown: a Hometown Book for Måla, Arvidsjaur, and Arjeplog, 1920, a school book), Romarebrefvet 7:7-25: Föredrag (The Letter to the Romans 7:7-25: Lectures, 1920), Eko från Lapland (Ecco From Lapland, 1921), Är du korsfäst och uppstånden med Kristus? (Are You Crucified and Resurrected With Christ? 1923), Tempelfärger (Temple Colours, 1925), På Islandsfärd (Journey to Iceland, 1930), Oljan och lampan: ett budskab i tidsålderns aftonskymning (The Oil and the Lamp: a Message at the Twilight of the Age, 1931), Som präst och pingstvän (As Priest and Pentecostal, 1935), and Om lidandets hemlighet (On the Secret of Suffering, 1940).
In Evangeliebladet Nils Ramselius wrote: "The last twenty five years have seen the emergence of many new sciences, which are really just rehashes of old and are really not as strange as people first believe. Thus pedagogy has appeared, statistics, history of religion, psychology of religion, and philosophy of religion, etc. Like these we have also gotten a new science which is called race biology. Its task dares to be to study the factors which shapes and educates the races of peoples; but also - and most important - the influences which corrupts them. Race biology is a very interesting subject for those who not only study the Bible to find texts for sermons and support for their church or group, but who goes to the Bible to find life and direction in the different questions concerning existence. The Bible is the book of leading principles. In it there are lines of evolution which go back to the ancient darkness of former ages, run through the interwoven structure of the here and now, and fade away in the distant future. The Bible is therefore also a book which can teach a race biologist much." (Bibelsk Racebiologi, Biblical Race Biology, 15th October, 1930, in Evangeliebladet, p. 3)
Early witnesses
Jacques Abbadie (1664-1727), French Huguenot priest from Killaloe, Ireland. Dr. Abbadie was seen as one of the most learned men of his time. In Le Triomphe de la Providence et de la Religion (Amsterdam, 1723) he wrote: "Unless the Ten Tribes of Israel are flown into the air or sunk into the earth, they must be those ten Gothic tribes that entered Europe in the fifth century, overthrew the Roman Empire, and founded the ten nations of modern Europe." (Robert Alan Balaicius: Uncovering the Mysteries of Your Hidden Inheritance, p. 108)
LeLoyer, French Huguenot counselor and magistrate. He wrote in The Ten Lost Tribes Found (1590): "The Israelites came to and founded the English Isles." The Petit Parisien on 24th June, 1913, published a review of his work where it was said: "He has found the Israelites, and that to-day they form the English People." (Balaicius, p. 123)
Adriaan van der Schrieck (1560-1621), Flemish language researcher. The subtitle of an old-Flemish book by Adriaan van der Schrieck published 1614 in Yperen (Ypres) said: ". and that the Netherlanders with the Gauls and Germans together in the earliest times were called: Celts, who are come out of the Hebrews." (E.C. van Petegem-Feij: Aan de Lezers van Troost Troost Mijn Volk, p. 7)
Henry Spelman (ca. 1564-1641), English antiquary noted for his detailed collection of medieval records, in particular of church councils. According to the illustrious Danish 18th century historian Peter Friderich Suhm, Henry Spelman believed that the Danes, Norwegians, and Goths were Hebrews, and that the Danes were the Israelite Tribe of Dan.
Prominent British-Israelites
Several people had previously written about the Israelite origin of the Nordic, Germanic, and Anglo-Saxon peoples, but it was John Wilson's lectures in 1836 and book in 1840 which started the teaching known as British-Israel, and which later has inspired others. Here are mentioned some of the prominent early British-Israelites. (This section is in chronological order.)
John Wilson (1779-1870), Scottish Presbyterian clergyman and evangelist. Born in Kilmarnock, Scotland, residing in Cheltenham, England. After some years of studying the subject Wilson in 1836 began a series of lectures entitled Our Israelitish Origin and summarized them in the book Our Israelitish Origin: Lectures on Ancient Israel and the Israelitish Origin of the Modern Nations of Europe (1840). John Wilson's lectures and book was the beginning of the British-Israel movement. John Wilson viewed the Anglo-Saxons, Norsemen, Germans, and other European peoples as the descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel. He viewed the Jews as Judah mixed with Edom, even though Our Israelitish Origin by no means was anti-Jewish.
John Wilson also wrote The Millenium or the World to Come (1842), Sketches of Some of the Scriptural Evidences Respecting the So Called Lost House of Israel (1843), The Book of Inheritance and Witness of the Prophets Respecting Ephraim and the Raising Up of Israel (1874), Sixty Anglo-Israel Questions Answered (1878), The Title Deeds of the Holy Land, and The Mission of Elijah (1881).
Wilson was rather pro-German and viewed the Germans as a part of the Tribes of Israel. He wrote about them: "It need scarcely be remarked, that both Poetry and Music were greatly cultivated in Israel. These were accomplishments which, it might be expected, would be eminently possessed by a people who were to be peculiarly devoted to the worship of God - the Most High over all the earth: and accordingly, they, especially the Germans, have been remarkable for musical talent, and particularly as to instrumental music; and the genius of their music appears to be very much like that of the Jews. With regard to poetry, in all its varieties, these nations have been remarkable. Poetry was greatly cultivated, even among the operatives, in the cities of Germany." (Our Israelitish Origin, p. 197-198)
Wilson's book was certainly not anti-Jewish, but he emphasized that the Jews were a mixed people. In the chapter 'The Jews, or Judah mingled with Edom, etc.' he wrote: "John Hyrcanus, having conquered the Edomites, the Idumeans, reduced them to this necessity, either to embrace the Jewish religion, or else to leave the country, and seek new dwellings elsewhere. They chose to leave their idolatry rather than their country; and all became proselytes to the Jewish religion. And when they had thus taken on them the religion of the Jews, they continued united to them ever after: till at length the name of Edomites was lost in that of Jews; and both peoples became consolidated into one and the same nation together: - so much so, that at the time the true King of the Jews was born, and Idumean swayed the sceptre of Judea, and was the great restorer of the temple to that glory, in which it was so admired by the disciples of our Lord, before its destruction by the Romans. Now, the children of Edom were cursed, - and that curse they have not escaped, although they have nominally become Jews. Nay, they must have increased their curse by thirsting after the blood of Christ, as soon as he was born into the world; and by afterwards joining in the cry, 'His blood be upon us and our children.' And who can now tell whether this or that Jew is of Esau, whom the Lord hated or of Jacob, whom he loved? Nay, have they not all inherited the curse of Edom, - by continuing in his spirit and behaviour, as despising the birthright, and persecuting the Son of Promise, - as well as by the most intimate intermingling of races? Is it only here that we are to look for the first-born Israel? But more than this. It would seem that even the Canaanites themselves, who were, emphatically, the children of the curse, were gradually, and at length fully, amalgamated with the Jews, so as to become one people with them." (ibid., p. 121-122)
And: "Say we these things - do we then bring forward these historical truths - for the purpose of disparaging the Jew? No: far be it: - but to illustrate the truth respecting Israel; and to show, that those who were taken out of the land cannot be more lost among the Gentiles, than were the people that remained in the land. If there was one people cursed above another, it was Edom, of the children of Abraham: it was Canaan, among the mere descendants of Noah: and with both of these the Jews have become most signally mingled, so as to become one people with them, and so as to inherit the curse of both. As Ham, the father of Canaan, exposed Noah, the saviour of his family, to shame, so have his children, as being the inhabitants of Jerusalem, exposed to shame the Saviour of the world, and that, upon the accursed tree; and as Edom pursued his brother Jacob with constant hatred, so did his descendants among the Jews pursue, with unceasing hatred, not only, Christ, the Head, but also his followers, so long as they had the power. But, shall they be excluded? No." (p. 123-124)
Edward Hine (1825-1891), English Jew and banker, who was inspired by John Wilson, and in 1869 continued his work. Contrary to Wilson, who believed the Germans were Israelites, Hine believed that the Germans were Assyrians, and that it were only the Anglo-Saxons and the Jews who were Israel and Judah respectively. Hine himself inspired Edward Bird (aka Philo-Israel), but Hine and Bird became rivals. The main point of contention was that Hine viewed only the Anglo-Saxons and the Jews for Israel and Judah respectively, while Bird - much like Wilson - viewed all 'Teutonic' peoples as Israel. As Bird's success outdid Hine, the latter turned to the United States where he spread his teachings.
Hine's view on Germany as Assyria is found among various groups today, but his works are almost blacklisted among modern British-Israelites. When there until a long time after the end of WWII has been no foundation in Germany for the belief that the Nordic, Germanic, and Anglo-Saxon peoples are the Tribes of Israel, it may very well be because of Edward Hine's 'bite in the heel' on the early British-Israel movement. Among his works is Identifications of the Anglo Saxons With Lost Israel (1880).
Edward Wheeler Bird (aka Philo-Israel), one of the leading British-Israelites of the late Victorian age. In 1877 Philo-Israel began publishing the magazine The Banner of Israel, which in 1926 was incorporated into The National Message, the organ of the British-Israel-World Federation, which was founded in 1919. Philo-Israel wrote numerous books, among them Are the English the Lost Tribes of Israel? (1876) and Geography at the Gates (1880). For more information on Philo-Israel, see the article about Edward Hine.
John Cox Gawler (1830-1882), Colonel and Keeper of the Monarch's Crown Jewels. Colonel Gawler served in the Kaffir War 1850-1853, and was eight times honourably mentioned in official reports. In September 1855, he was appointed a special magistrate in British Kaffraria, and his energetic action there led to the annexation of Kreli's territory. Colonel Gawler is best remembered for his book Dan: The Pioneer of Israel (1880), which was published in Danish in 1993 (Dan - Israels Pioner, Palma Forlaget, 1993). He also wrote Our Scythian Ancestors (1875) and The Two Olive Trees (1880).
Henry Grattan Guinness(1835-1910), British-Irish (Protestant) evangelist. He travelled around the world for 12 years preaching. He was director of Livingstone Inland Mission (1880), and founder and director of the East London Institute for Home and Foreign Missions (1873-1910), and founded missions in five other countries, which were consolidated into this institute. He also founded the mission magazine The Regions Beyond (1878). In his famous book Light for the Last Days (1886), Grattan Guinness wrote, based on Biblical calculations and British-Israel teaching, that Jerusalem would be taken by Great Britain in 1917, which also took place when General Allenby took Jerusalem 9th to 11th December, 1917. (Balaicius, p. 117-118)
Edward Faraday Odlum (1850-1935), respected Canadian professor, historian, scientist, educator, lecturer, and Fellow of American Geographical Society. According to Judge Howay, a noted British Columbia historian, Odlum, under the direction of Dr. Haanel, built the first electric light (a big arc light) used in Canada; and in collaboration they built the first telephones used in Canada for public purposes. Odlum and Haanel founded the Science Association at Victoria University, Toronto, Canada. Here Odlum was instrumental in getting named a building after himself, the "Faraday Hall, the first building in Ontario devoted to the teaching of science." (Quote from Victoria University's web site.) Odlum taught at public schools, at the Collegiate Institute at Cobourg, was principal at Pembroke High School, and in 1886 he became principal at a college in Tokyo, Japan under the Canadian Methodist Church. In Japan he continued his scientific studies and studied the ethnology and history of the Japanese. Odlum took some of the phones he had made in Canada to be used in Japan. In 1889 he returned to Canada, to Vancouver. While visiting relatives he met a lady who knew of his great interest in history. She asked him if he had ever considered the possibility that the Anglo-Saxons and related peoples were the descendants of the ancient Israelites. He immidiately replied that the notion was 'pure nonsense'. But he could not get the idea out of his head, and began writing a paper refuting the idea. After only a few days study, he realized the subject was far greater and more involved than he had imagined. It was not long before he realized it could not be refuted, because it was true. Odlum became very important to the British-Israelites in Vancouver, and he was also granted permission to examine the Stone of Scone, the stone which the British monarchs are crowned upon, and proved that this stone did not originate from the British Isles. He travelled to Palestine, and found a similar rock formation near Luz. The patriarch Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel, slept upon this rock when he had the dream of Jacob's Ladder. Odlum wrote daily articles for the the newspapers Vancouver Daily Star and Vancouver Sun, and in the 1920'ies and 1930'ies he made two weekly radio broadcasts. A small street in Vancouver is even named after Edward Odlum. Edward Odlum's son was the well known Canadian journalist, soldier, and diplomat, General Victor Odlum, who also was a British-Israelite. Edward Odlum wrote several books about the Tribes of Israel, such as God's Covenant Man: British-Israel (1927), and one of his articles was printed in the Danish Evangeliebladet in 1927.
J. Llewellyn Thomas, British-Israelite and author of the books God and My Birthright (1919), Israel and the Church (1931), Assyrian Invasions and Deportations of Israel (1937), Objections to British Israel Teachings Examined (1951), and The Restoration of Israel. In 1930 Anna Bjørner wrote two main articles in Evangeliebladet with the title "Who are the Jews? Freely adapted from Dr. J. Llewellyn Thomas's book 'God and My Birthright'. By Anna Bjørner."
David Davidson (1844-1956), Scottish pyramidologist. Davidson was a British-Israelite and a big name within Pyramidology. His books are sold in alternative circles even today. Among other works he wrote The Great Pyramid, Its Divine Message (1928).
William Pascoe Goard
William Pascoe Goard (1863-1937), English Methodist clergyman for more than 40 years, and maybe the most prominent British-Israelite of the first half of he 20th century. Born in Cornwall, but moved to Canada, where he in 1912 became pastor of the Knox Congregational Church in Vancouver (later renamed Grandview Congregational Church after it relocated to another disctrict in Vancouver). Vice-President in the British-Israel-World Federation in 1921, and editor of The National Message when it was founded in 1922. In 1930 Goard attended a special ceremony at the College of Laws in Chicago, where he was awarded by Chancellor DuBois the degree of 'Doctor of Laws and Logic' in recognition of excellent scholarship for his book The Law of the Lord: The Common Law (1928). In June 1930 he wrote his first manifesto entitled The Present Menace and How To Meet It, which was published in 21 newspapers in Britain. In 1931 he wrote his second manifesto The World Crisis, which was also printed in many British papers, and also in the Danish Evangeliebladet. Goard helped establish the Harrold Weald Park College in 1933. It was a British-Israel teaching college, but it was closed during WWII when the Army used it, but opened again under the name Garrison Bible College. (Balaicius, p. 116-117)
Clergy
John Harden Allen, American bishop in the Methodist Church. Bishop J.H. Allen wrote several books, one of them being the Anglo-Israel classic Judah's Sceptre and Joseph's Birthright (1902).
William Bennett Bond (1805-1906), bishop of Montreal in the Anglican Church of Canada 1879-1906. Bishop Bond stated: "I strongly advise a study of the Scripture prophecies upon British-Israel lines." (H. Robin Tourel: Facets of the Great Story, South Africa, 1954)
George Campbell Morgan (1863-1945), English Congregationalist minister and evangelist. At the age of 10 he was converted by the famous American evangelist D.L. Moody, and preached his first sermon at the age of 13. At the age of 15 he preached regularly in his own and the neighbouring parishes. His reputation as a preacher and Bible interpretor soon became so known that D.L. Moody asked him to hold a lecture at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. After Moody's death in 1899, G. Campbell Morgan was chosen as his successor. In 1904 he returned to England and took over the pastorate of the 'white elephant of Congregationalism', the Westminster Congregational Chapel, a dying church at Buckingham Gate, London. In 1919 he left the church as one of England's most active and well known churches. He served at the faculty of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles 1927-1928, and was a Bible lecturer at Gordon College of Theology and Missions, in Boston, Massachussetts 1930-1931. He was also pastor at Tabernacle Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1929-1932. Then he returned to England, and 1933-1943 he was once again pastor at the Westminster Congregational Chapel. (Balaicius, p. 128)
Samuel Thornton (1835-1917), the first bishop of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. Thornton was born in England, and at Westminster Abbey in 1875 he was appointed the first bishop of Ballarat, Australia. He was held in high esteem, and was described as "probably the best scholar on the Australian Episcopal Bench of his day". (Quote from Australian Dictionary of Biography) Later Thornton became Assistant Bishop of Manchester, England. Bishop Thornton said: "British-Israel truth is most wonderful. I wish I had known it twenty-five years earlier. It makes clear so many things that had been obscure." (Tourel, p. 138)
Jonathan Holt Titcomb (1819-1887), Englishman and first bishop of Rangoon, Burma. He began his ministry in the Church of England in a curate in a parish in Cambridge where a portion of the population belonged to the most unlucky sections of society, but soon made himself popular and drew many to the church, also due to his open-air preaching. Later Titcomb was transferred to London, where he debated with atheists on the Bradlaugh Hall of Science, named after the infamous atheist Charles Bradlaugh, who later came to faith in God and the Bible after having come to faith in the British-Israel teaching. In 1877 in Westminster Abbey, Titcomb was ordained bishop of the new Anglican diocese of Rangoon, Burma. In Burma, Titcomb fervently missionized, baptized, and confirmed among the natives, but in 1881 he fell over a cliff in the Karen hills, and in 1882 he had to resign from his bishopric and returned to England. There he, as the coadjutor to the bishop of London, became the supervisor for English chaplains in ten nations in North and Central Europe. Titcomb was President of the Metropolitan Anglo-Israel Association and known as courageous and fearless in his proclamation of the British-Israel truth.
Bishop Titcomb: "Thousands who have begun by cavelling at British-Israel Truth have ended with conviction, and for the most part, those who have not become convinced have failed only because they were without sufficient patience to go through an examination of the subject carefully."
Evangelists
Herbert W. Armstrong (1892-1986), American who in 1946 founded the large Saturday-Sabbath keeping Worldwide Church of God, which taught Anglo-Israelism and claimed that Germany was Assyria. Armstrong's most famous book is the Anglo-Israel book The United States and Britain in Prophecy (1954). After Armstrong's death, his church has been divided into numerous factions, some of which still teaches Anglo-Israelism, some of which do not.
Fred Francis Bosworth (1877-1958), American Pentecostal evangelist and healing preacher. Wrote Christ the Healer (1924), a book about divine healing which to this day can be bought in most English-language Christian book shops and which has been translated into several languages. In 1920, F.F. Bosworth held a radio lecture entitled The Bible Distinction Between the House of Israel and the House of Judah, which also has been printed as a booklet.
Mordechai Fowler Ham (1877-1961), American 8th generation Baptist preacher who converted Billy Graham to Christ. Mordechai Ham himself was converted to Christ by America's greatest evangelist Billy Sunday. Ham was awarded his Doctorate of Divinities from Bob Jones University. When Mordechai Ham came to a city, he had the practice of inquiring who was the most notorious sinner in any community, then finding him and preaching to him. This of course brought threats of physical harm and police arrests, as well as an occasional conversion. In Macon, Georgia 13 brothels closed because all the prostitutes were converted by Ham's influence. He was also a radio evangelist, published the newspaper The Old Kentucky Home Revivalist, and wrote several books. (Balaicius, p. 118)
Reader Harris (1847-1909), British Pentecostal pioneer and founder of The Pentecostal League. Harris was a lawyer who was an active infidel and antagonist of Christianity who was brought to full faith in the Bible when he was clearly shown that the Anglo-Saxons and related peoples were the Israelites of the Bible, and that not a single prophecy of Scripture nor a single promise of God had failed. Some of the books he wrote was The Case Against Atheism and The Lost Ten Tribes (1907). (Balaicius, p. 119)
George Hawtin (1909-1994), Canadian Pentecostal leader. Hawtin is regarded as one of the pioneers within the branch of Pentecostalism called 'The Latter Rain Movement'. Wrote numerous books and articles, where he also included Anglo-Israelism.
Stephen Jeffreys (1876-1943) and George Jeffreys (1889-1962), Welsh brothers and pioneers within the original Pentecostal movement in Britain. George Jeffreys founded the Elim Foursquare Alliance, one of the largest Pentecostal groups in Britain. George Jeffreys is said to be the evangelist who, next to Billy Graham, has spoken to the largest audiences. In 1947 and 1949 George Jeffreys held revival meetings in Copenhagen and Slagelse in Denmark which were translated by Anna Bjørner. When he died, there came Pentecostal leaders from all over the world to give their respect to him as a great Pentecostal. Both the Jeffreys brothers were known British-Israelites.
Charles Fox Parham (1873-1929), American and the founder of Pentecostalism. At the age of 9 Parham felt a divine call. 1893-1895 he was the pastor of a Methodist church, and then he joined the Holiness movement and opened the Bethel Healing Home in Topeka, Kansas in 1898. Here, he started publishing his magazine The Apostolic Faith, which was published every second month. After having studied the Holiness movement for a while, Parham sought a larger personal manifestation of spiritual power, and returned to Topeka, Kansas in September 1900. Here, he opened a Bible school in an old mansion where he encouraged the students to seek a larger spiritual experience, as it was described in the Acts of the Apostles. One of the students, Agnes Ozman, received the awaited blessing ad 'spoke in tongues'. This encouraged Parham and the rest of the students, and a few days later both he and half the students could testify that they had received the 'baptism of the Holy Spirit'. A similar experince took place in Galena, Kansas in 1903. From there, Parham continued to Houston, Texas and held a ten week training session which fanned the flames of the Pentecostal message throughout Texas. In 1906 a well known Pentecostal revival took place at Azusa Street, California. The man behind it was black William Seymour, who had been taught at one of Parham's schools. The early Pentecostal leaders credited Parham for formulating the classic Pentecostal theology and he is recognized as the pioneer and founder of Pentecostalism, and therefore he is called 'Mr Pentecost'.
Charles Fox Parham
As early as 1899, that is before the outpouring of the Holy Spirit took place, Parham wrote about the Anglo-Israel truth. In an article from 1899 about Queen Victoria and her descent from Adam, Parham wrote that she ruled over the 'Lost' Tribes of Israel, the Anglo-Saxons: "From this royal princess, we obtain, then, a direct and unbroken line of ancestry to King Fergus, who went from Ireland to reign as king of Scotland; and from King Fergus I. of Scotland we get the same unbroken line to the time of King James of Scotland, who himself became king of England; and from King James we get the same unbroken line to our beloved Queen, she being, then, the seed royal to King David's house, and therefore the royal seed of King David; she is, and must be, the ruling monarch over the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel."
In the same article, Parham continued to write about Queen Victoria and the Stone of Scone, which the British monarchs are crowned upon: "I ask, why does this enlightened nation keep such a stone so many generations if there is no meaning to it? Why, because it must continue with the royal seed to be a witness that our Queen is the seed royal to King David's house, and her subjects are the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel." (in Queen Victoria's Descent From Adam, in The Apostolic Faith, 22nd March, 1899)
In 1927 Charles Fox Parham wrote the article The Ten Lost Tribes, which he began: "I want to write a short sketch to introduce to our readers one of the most important topics of the day, commonly known as Anglo-Israel, or The Ten Lost Tribes. I do not think that any Full Gospel preacher ought to longer delay in acquainting himself with this subject as I believe it belongs with the Full Gospel Message and that the message of the last days must include this subject or we are not preaching the Full Gospel." (in The Apostolic Faith, July 1927)
Roger Rusk (1906-1994), American and the brother of the United States Secretary of State Dean Rusk, who served under John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson until 1969. Roger Rusk was fluent in both Hebrew and Greek, professor in physics for 28 years at University of Tennessee, and was a respected Bible scholar in wide circles, while he at the same time taught Anglo-Israelism. He appeared in a TV documentary as science consultant for a team in search of Noah's ark, and wrote The Other End of the World (1988). (Balaicius, p. 136)
C.F.P.D. van der Vecht (1885-1960), Dutch preacher. After a career as major in the Dutch Army in the Dutch East Indies, van der Vecht returned to the Netherlands and spent the next 30 years studying the pyramids and translating works by the pyramidologist David Davidson. van der Vecht founded two Christian Identity groups in the Netherlands, which he was also the chairman of: Bond Nederlands Israël and Nederlandsche Israël-Kring. He was also a well known radio speaker and lecturer. When the Netherlands were occupied in 1940, his two Israel organizations were banned, his own books and David Davidson's books were banned and confiscated, also the manuscript to his main work Israël: Daniël's Laatste Wereldrijk, which only was published in 1946. After the war he continued holding lectures to audiences up to 1000 people. van der Vecht published the magazine Het Stenen Koninkrijk 1938-1940 and 1946-1960 (during the occupation it was banned). van der Vecht's Dutch Israelites seem to be the only organized Christian Identity-societies in Nazi occupied Europe during WWII. van der Vecht also wrote De Israel-visie in vraag en antwoord (1951).
The Apostolic Church in Britain and Denmark:
Andrew Turnbull, Sigurd Bjørner, Anna Bjørner, and Dan Williams
(from Evangeliebladet, 1st April, 1926)
Dan Powell Williams (1882-1947) and William Jones Williams (1891-1945), Welsh brothers and founders of the Apostolic Church in Wales. In the early Apostolic Church in Britain, some of the 'apostles' (including the Williams brothers) believed in British-Israel, while others of the 'apostles' did not. The Apostolic Church in Britain chose not to make British-Israel a prominent message, even though the British-Israel Identity message was one of the official doctrines in the constitution of the Apostolic Church in Britain in the 1920'ies.
Royals
Queen Victoria (1819-1901) of Great Britain and Ireland (ruler 1837-1901) and Empress of India (1876-1901). Queen Victoria traced her descent back to King David, which was shown on a table at the British Museum. The Table is still there. It is said that Queen Victoria was a British-Israelite.
King Edward VII (1841-1910) of Great Britain and Ireland, the British Dominions, and Emperor of India (ruler 1901-1910). It is said that King Edward VII was a British-Israelite.
King George VI (1895-1952) of Great Britain (ruler 1936-1952), King of Ireland (until 1949), and Emperor of India (until 1947), born Albert Frederick Arthur George. His maternal grandmother Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge did not like his first name (Albert), and she wrote prophetically that she hoped the last name "may supplant the less favoured one". His father, George V, had had severe reservations about letting his firstborn Edward become king, and said shortly before his death: "I pray God that my eldest son will never marry and that nothing will come between Bertie and Lilibet and the throne." (Bertie was Albert and Lilibet was the present Queen Elizabeth II.) Less than one year later, Albert was king under the name George VI. In the beginning of 1936, his elder brother was crowned as Edward VIII, but abdicated later same year when he married a twice divorced American woman.
Stamps with George VI
In 1922, when he was Duke of York, the later King George VI wrote: "I am sure the British Israelite business is true. I have read a lot about it lately and everything no matter how large or small points to our being the chosen race."
Politicians
Charles Bradlaugh (1833-1891), English king's counsel and Member of Parliament, but primarily known for being one of Britain's most infamous atheists in the 19th century and founder of the National Secular Society in 1866. He one day stood before a great audience in London with a Bible in his hand. He then read from the Bible about God's covenant with Abraham, and then asked: "Have those promises ever been fulfilled in the Jews?" There were no replies in the affirmative. He then said: "And you tell me the God of that book is a God of truth? I don't believe it." Bradlaugh went on to become one of the most infamous infidels and opponents of Christianity in his day. Initially barred from Parliament because of his atheism, he later won the appeal and his seat. Later in life he learned of the British-Israel teaching and then got full faith in the Bible.
Of the British-Israel meetings, Charles Bradlaugh said: "I love to come: It is most wonderful what light British-Israel truth throws on the Bible." (Thy Kingdom Come, March 1992, pp. 34-35, Association of the Covenant People, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada) (Balaicius, p. 110)
William Ferguson Massey (1856-1925), Prime Minister of New Zealand 1912-1925. Born in Ireland of a British-Irish (Presbyterian) family, and came with his family to New Zealand in 1870. He was seen as one of the most skilled politicians of his day. He is the second-longest serving Prime Minister in New Zealand history. Prime Minister Massey said: "British-Israel truth is God's truth. It is therefore bound to win, it is winning all along the line." (Tourel, p. 140)
Military
John Arbuthnot Fisher (1853-1920), Lord, 1st Baron of Kilverstone, British naval admiral who is known for his huge reforms of Royal Navy. Served in the Crimean War (1856) and in the 2nd Opium War (1856-1860). In the Anglo-Egyptian War (1882), Fisher was captain of the HMS Inflexible and bombarded the port of Alexandria. As Vice-Admiral in 1896 and Full Admiral in 1901, he was chief of the naval Mediterranean station 1899-1902. First Sea Lord 1904-1910 and 1914-1915. Admiral Fisher opposed Churchill's Gallipoli Plan and argued for the Baltic Plan, an attack on the German Baltic coast. The Gallipoli attack turned out to be a disaster. Lord Fisher is by some viewed as the second-most important figure in British naval history, after Lord Nelson. He was also a close friend of King Edward VII.
Admiral Fisher said: "I have been a British-Israelite all my life and I cannot understand any Englishman of common-sense being otherwise."
Of Britain, Admiral Fisher said: "Why we win, in spite of our incredible blunders, is that we are the lost ten tribes of Israel." (W.T.F. Jarrold: Our Great Heritage With Its Responsibilities, p. 187) (Balaicius, p. 115)
Walter Walker (1912-2001), British general who ended as Commander-in-Chief of the NATO forces in Northern Europe. He was born of British parents in India and fought the Japanese in Burma during WWII. As Colonel he fought the Communist rebels in Malaya during the Malayan Emergency (1948-1960). As Brigadier, and later Major General, Walker was commander of the Commonwealth forces during the Confrontation with Indonesia over Borneo 1962-1965. In 1965 Walker was called back to Britain and appointed to Deputy Chief of Staff in charge of Plans, Operations and Intelligence, H.Q., Allied Forces Central Europe, and afterwards General Officer Commander-in-Chief of the British army in northern Britain. Finally, he became Commander-in-Chief of the NATO forces in Northern Europe 1969-1972, and then he retired. Walker supported corporal punishment, denounced communist domestic subversion, denounced homosexuals in the army, demanded a tougher policy against the IRA, supported Enoch Powell as prime minister, supported Ian Smith's White government in Rhodesia, and was a friend of South Africa which he visited six times. In 1974, Walker, who was shocked over the state of Britain, wrote that the country needed a new leadership "above party politics" to save the country from "the Communist Trojan horse in our midst", which brought him support from various sides. In 1974 Walker joined the anti-Communist group Civil Assistance which should take over parts of the infrastructure in case of a civil breakdown. The group made a sensation, got 100.000 members, but faded away after Margaret Thatcher became prime minister. Walter Walker wrote the books The Bear at the Back Door (1978), The Next Domino? (1980), and Fighting On (1997).
Businessmen
Henry Ford, Sr. (1863-1947), American car manufacturer who also published the book The International Jew. Henry Ford wrote: "There is a mission for the pulpit to liberate the Church from what the New Testament Scriptures call 'the fear of the Jews.' The pulpit has also the mission of liberating the Church from the error that Judah and Israel are synonymous. The reading of the Scriptures which confuse the tribe of Judah with Israel, and which interpret every mention of Israel as signifying the Jews, is at the root of more than one-half of the confusion and division traceable in Christian doctrinal statements. The Jews are NOT 'The Chosen People,' though practically the entire Church has succumbed to the propaganda which declares them to be so."
Newspapers
The New Zealand Times, a newspaper, wrote in 1899 in an editorial: "British imperialism rests, unconsciously, upon the theory of the Hebrew origin of the race.... The bulk of the English people do not openly countenance the theory but secretly they are influenced by it." (New Zealand Times, 8th July, 1899)
Poets
Patience Strong (1907-1990) (born Winifred Emma May), English Poetess. Patience Strong's poem Jealousy was recorded by a number of artists, including Hutch, Gracie Fields, Vera Lynn, Richard Tauber, and Billy Fury. From 1935-1946 Strong had a poem a day in The Quiet Corner in The Daily Mirror, the British tabloid which is supported by the Labour Party. From 1946 her column was transferred to the Daily Pictorial (later The Sunday Mirror). Strong also wrote poems to the weekly magazine Woman's Own and to the 'arch-conservative and reactionary' This England. Her lovely and inspiring poems have additionally been printed in books, magazines, wall calendars, greeting cards, place mats, and porcelain ornaments. Patience Strong was known for her British-Israel faith. (Balaicius, p. 143-144)
For these biographies I have used many sources, but especially Uncovering the Mysteries of Your Hidden Inheritance by Robert Alan Balaicius (Mountain City, Tennessee, United States, 2001)
Mikkel Stjernholm Kragh, May 2008