[Search for users] [Overall Top Noters] [List of all Conferences] [Download this site]

Conference yukon::christian_v7

Title:The CHRISTIAN Notesfile
Notice:Jesus reigns! - Intros: note 4; Praise: note 165
Moderator:ICTHUS::YUILLEON
Created:Tue Feb 16 1993
Last Modified:Fri May 02 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:962
Total number of notes:42902

579.0. "Physical Israel" by JUPITR::MESSENGER (The discerning heart seeks knowledge PR 15:14) Thu Sep 22 1994 21:56

It has already been established in 575 that who the physical Israelites are, IS 
important.  Many philosophers have commented how important it is for a people
to know their heritage and to know their roots, or history.
I don't think anyone in this file would argue that it is also important who the
spiritual Israelites are.

The following are some basic facts substantiated by history, the Bible, 
archaeology, fulfilled prophecy, heraldry and more.  Many volumes have been
written to prove the following.  When I started to write this on paper first I 
got to eight pages and was just getting started.  Too much!  This is the
abbreviated version(in the extreme).  It is not intended to be conclusive proof.
It is however intended to be a thought provoker, and a pointer for further study
in the books that have been written, in the Bible, and in the world around you.

Problem 1:  The meaning of the words translated into Jew, Gentile & Israelite.

Get out your complete concordance and do a study of every occurence of the word
Jew in the Bible.  Then do the same for gentile & Israelite.  You wil find the
following to be true of the words translated into:

Jew- Used PRIMARILY to refer to a person of the region of Judea ie. Judean.
     because Judaism(Phariseeism) was the primary religion of Judea it was
     sometimes used of a person whos religion was Judaism(Phariseeism).  One
     could infer a racial connotation to the tribe of Judah by the surrounding
     text but it was not implied in the word itself.

Israelite- Israelite referred to a physical descendant of the Israelites.

Gentile- Was most frequently translated as nation, which is the best translation


In other words a Jew was not necessarily an Israelite(as an American isn't 
necessarily Anglo-Saxon), but an Israelite could be a Jew if he lived in that
region or professed Judaism(Phariseeism)


Problem 2:  The Jews in Christs time and now - Who are they?

In Davids time the Bible record millions of Isrealites.  So at the time of their
captivity by Assyria and Babylon their would naturally have been many more.  The
Bible records less than 50,000 went back to Jerusalem to a region already 
inhabited.  The adoption of the Babylonian Talmud as THE guide to 
interpretation of the Bible, by the few that went back, shows the strong 
influence the captors and inhabitants of the area had on those few returners.
Josphus tells us that a foreign kingdom adopted Judaism and all its people
began to be know as Jews.  This leave much confusion in the time of Christ.  A
few physical Israelites became known as Jews, but so did many, many other 
people who were not physical Israelites.
This problem is further complicated today, because several hundred years after
Christ another kingdom adopted Judaism as a political maneuver caught between 
the empires of Islam and Christianity.  It boils down to the fact that today,
the Sephardic Jews, which comprise 5-10% of "Judaism"(Phariseeism) are the only
ones related physically to the Israelites.  The Ashkenazi "Jews", representing
about 90-95% of Judaism, are not physical Israelites at all.


Problem 3:  The physical Israelites- what happened to the other millions?

Archaeology and history show us that the Israelites who had been deported to
the periphera of their captor kingdom to protect against invasion gradually
moved on.  They travelled across the caucus mountains and by many other paths
and settled in what is now know as Europe.  They eventually became know as
Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavian, and Germanic peoples.  This "scattering" was a 
fulfillment of prophecy and is the reason that the New Testament was adressed
to "the lost sheep of the house of Israel", or "to the twelve tribes scattered
abroad".


Problem 4:  What does it mean to us today?

It gives many their roots.  It is quite a revelation to know that not only are
you a spiritual Israelite, but you are the one to whom it was given ie. "the
covenants", the "adoption" etc.

It also sheds an interesting light on prophecy and world politics.  It is also
easier to see why God forsook Judea.  It also makes it much harder to believe
the bunk that America is not in the scripture.  It also makes it very easy
to understand why 99.x% of all the Bibles printed in the world are printed by
these people- because Christ was right "my sheep hear my voice."  This is
why Christianity flourished in Europe and why it and its colonies became
know as CHRISTENDOM(Christ's kingdom).


Just think back about the logic of all that.  The Bible says Israel was taken
captive and that a very small percentage returned.  They must be somewhere.

In the future let us be more cognizant of our heritage, and its significance.
Lets use words properly.  Jew refers to a modern day Jew or a Biblical resident
of Judea - NOT TO AN ISRAELITE.  Israelite refers to a physical descendent of
Jacob.

Here are some suggested reading material since I have no intention of trying to
make time to answer the flurry of arguments likely to follow when the
books answer them much better than I would.


"God's Covenant People - Yesterday, Today, & Forever"  by Ted R. Weiland
Mission To Israel  PO Box 248   Scottsbluff, NE  69363
They can direct you to other materials.

Rich
T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name
DateLines
579.1COVERT::COVERTJohn R. CovertThu Sep 22 1994 22:5116
>Archaeology and history show us that the Israelites who had been deported to
>the periphera of their captor kingdom to protect against invasion gradually
>moved on.  They travelled across the caucus mountains and by many other paths
>and settled in what is now know as Europe.

Dates, numbers, and specific directions, please.  Differentiate movement of
people and movement of trade articles.

>They eventually became know as Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavian, and Germanic
>peoples.

Oh, wow.  Another version of this can often be seen in Central Square,
with a bunch of angry looking black men explaining how the lost tribes
of Israel are really all the various groups of blacks around the world.

/john
579.2MIMS::CASON_KFri Sep 23 1994 10:3810
    Rich,
    
    In the books that you are citing is there any reference to the words
    British and Saxon as pointers that they are, in fact, decended from
    Israel?
    
    Thanks,
    
    Kent
    
579.3covenant manJUPITR::MESSENGERThe discerning heart seeks knowledge PR 15:14Fri Sep 23 1994 16:1510
    brt         iysh
    covenant    man
    
      Saxon
    Isaac son
           
    
    Certainly not offered as conclusive proof, but interesting.
    
    Rich  
579.4Anglo-IsraelismMIMS::CASON_KFri Sep 23 1994 16:3416
    Rich,
    
    It is interesting but grammatically incorrect.  For anyone else
    reading, what I was looking for in my question was a more positive link
    between what Rich was reading/writing and the doctrine of Anglo-Israelism. 
    The most popular proponent of this doctrine that I know of being Herbert 
    W. Armstrong.  One of the 'proofs' that Mr. Armstrong points to is words
    like British = B'rith (covenant) + iysh (man), a gross grammatical
    misconstruction.  I am glad that you did not try to use this as a proof 
    but merely as interesting.  A chapter can be found on the Armstrong and 
    the doctrine of Anglo-Israelism in Walter Martin's, Kingdom of the Cults.
    
    More on Monday.
    
    Kent
    
579.5POWDML::SMCCONNELLNext year, in Jerusalem!Fri Sep 23 1994 17:3515
    HI,
    
    .3 sounds like HW Armstrong to me, and unfortunately for him, his
    theory doesn't hold up gramatically in Hebrew.
    
    On that premise (which is faulty) all that's built upon it is at best
    questionable.  There are some more scholarly sources you could research
    on the subject if you were interested.  Ancient sources like Philo and
    Josephus would be helpful, more modern writers such as Edersheim (19th
    century) and Dr. Daniel Juster, Dr. Keith Intrater, Dr. David Stern,
    etc. are all excellent, reliable sources for this type of information.
    
    Happy searching!
    
    Steve
579.6not a movement issueJUPITR::MESSENGERThe discerning heart seeks knowledge PR 15:14Fri Sep 23 1994 21:0326
    John,
    
    Did I detect a note of sarcasm there?  hmm :-\
    
    There are plenty of all the specifics in any number of publications.
    (which by the way DON'T come from Armstrong).  I'm not a good typist so
    I'll not enter them in here.  
    
    One of the specific ties has no bearing on movement of article vs.
    people.  The same people are referred to by different countries/
    languages by different names.  So sometimes it is difficult to make
    connections between people.  The Israelites taken captive were no
    exception.  They were specifically know to go by the name "x"(cant
    remember now).  Other people were known to be ancestors of Europeans. 
    Then a tablet was found that used both names to refer to the same
    people.  Thus a connection is established.  That is only one of many,
    many evidences, but it is convincing. 
    
      The best evidence come from scripture itself.  Most of the Biblical
    "marks of Israel" have been pushed off into a future fulfillment in
    Israel because they obviously don't fit the Jews.  But they DO fit the
    true Israel as described earlier NOW.  There are also fliers and
    sermons detailing the scriptural "marks of Israel".  The source listed
    can help you.
    
    Rich  
579.7Christendom to the rescueJUPITR::MESSENGERThe discerning heart seeks knowledge PR 15:14Fri Sep 23 1994 22:0519
    Christ's own words give us great evidence.
    
    "By their fruits ye shall know them"
    "I came not but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel"
    "My sheep hear my voice"
    
    These words are so obviously fulfilled ONLY in then nations of
    Christendom who even in the height of their disobedience still have
    these descendants as the majority of the population.
    
    Who prints the Bibles?  Chinese, Jews, Indians, Australian aboriginees
    
    Who comes to the rescue when anywhere in the world there is disaster? 
    The African nations?  I think not.
    
    Even in our extreme disobedience we fit the fruits of Israel better
    than anyone else on earth!  Simple enough.
    
    Rich
579.8MIMS::CASON_KMon Sep 26 1994 10:2217
    Rich,
    
    Please read Ezekial 37:15-25 and explain your interpretation of the
    meaning and timing of these verses.
    
    Also, who was James writing to.  See James 1:1.
    
    By the way the doctrine of Anglo-Israelism is not exclusively the
    property of Armstrong but he has capitalized on it.  There are pockets
    of Anglo-Israelism believers all over.
    
    Just to get started.  I have to run to a staff meeting.
    
    In Him,
    
    Kent
    
579.9POWDML::SMCCONNELLNext year, in Jerusalem!Mon Sep 26 1994 15:0928
    re: .7
    
    I disagree with your perception (for whatever that's worth ;-).
    
    The L-rd's covenant with Israel is unconditional; He will obey no
    matter how disobedient His people have been.  He has said through His
    prophet that unless someone could figure out how to change the order of
    the universe, He would never forsake His people.
    
    Much blood has been spilled in the name of "Christendom" - it's hardly
    been understood as rescuing much in this world, and rightly so - for He
    didn't come to give us religion - He came to give us Himself, to spill
    His own blood that ALL nations, Jewish and Gentile, could have
    fellowship with Him.
    
    "Christendom" as you call it is Anglicized from "Christos" in Greek -
    the work for 'annointed' or "Moshiach" in Hebrew.  Again, see Romans
    9-11 to see where your L-rd Messiah comes from, to see where the Word 
    of G-d came from, to see who it was that you were grafted into (if 
    the natural olive tree [Israel] is dead, then you [a grafted branch] are 
    too, friend).
    
    I hope you'll continue to search and dig - your personal_name seems to
    indicate you will.
    
    Steve
    
    
579.10Not a theory that makes sense to meKAHALA::JOHNSON_LLeslie Ann JohnsonTue Sep 27 1994 16:3836
    I've not got much time to write today, and couldn't access this
    file yesterday, but I did a little reading over the weekend on
    this subject so I thought I'd throw a few things in here.

    First, of all the references to British and Saxon don't really 
    make much sense to me.  English bears no real marks to having
    come from Hebrew.  Neither Issac nor Son are close to the Hebrew
    which would have been something like Bar or Ben Yitzach.  To make
    a connection to meanings of words that may bear some similarity of
    sound such as British and the Hebrew words for convenant and man
    makes no sense unless there are other signs of connection to Hebrew 
    in English, but the script, the alphabet, and other words are all 
    very, very different, they do not come from the same or even similar 
    sources.

    Second of all, to claim that the people of the British Isles are
    descendents of the "10 lost tribes" would seem to me to require that
    there would have carried down at least some remnant knowledge of Torah 
    and God, and yet it seems that not only the news of Yeshua had to brought
    to them, but the whole message of who God was also had to be brought
    to them.  No ways of dressing, no culture, nothing seems to have been
    handed down.  Yet you accuse the pockets of dispersed Jews throughout the 
    world who did retain aspects of the Hebrew language and culture, and 
    knowledge of God and Torah of not really being the descendents of the 
    Biblical people.  It seems to me that the people who have stood in the
    face of persecution and maintained at least some aspects of their beliefs,
    language, and culture are much more likely to be the real descendents
    than a people who bear no marks of being semitic in race or of having
    retained knowledge about Torah and God.
    
    Finally, there is much prophecy in the Old Testament regarding the
    breakup of Israel followed by the reunification of all the tribes into
    one people.  In the book mentioned in an earlier note, "Kingdom of the 
    Cults" the scripture references are given.  Its worth reading.
    
    Leslie
579.11The TalmudKAHALA::JOHNSON_LLeslie Ann JohnsonTue Sep 27 1994 16:456
       Oh, and about the Talmud.  This compendium of commentary and codified
       laws by Jewish sages was not written at the time a portion of the 
       captives returned to rebuild Jerusalem.  The Babalonian and Palestinian 
       Talmuds were not begun until the first century AD.

       Leslie
579.12books answer fullyJUPITR::MESSENGERThe discerning heart seeks knowledge PR 15:14Tue Sep 27 1994 17:0622
    Lord's Covenant Church
    Sandpoint, ID   (I'll get the rest of the address later)
    
    They have several books that answer the questions very thoroughly.
    
    The Ezekiel question.
    Info about the Talmud and its relation to Judaism and Christianity.
    The covenant question is answered well by one called "The Old Jerusalem
    is Not the New Jerusalem"
    
    The English language has over 2000 words that are directly from Hebrew. 
    Some say as many as 5000 words.  There was little change needed from
    the Druidism to Christianity as it was so close ancient Hebrew.  They
    still performed the sacrifices of lambs.  Druidism, by the way has been
    very misrepresented by the media, as has ancient England.  The Druid
    had many colleges.  Christianity was also brought to England much
    earlier than is widel known.  All this and much more is given in many
    works that have much documentary evidence.
    
    Rich
    
    
579.13Cross-referenceKAHALA::JOHNSON_LLeslie Ann JohnsonWed Sep 28 1994 12:495
    For those interested further in this subject, cross reference
    topic # 165 in CALDEC::ANTIQUITY.  Quite a few objections are
    raised to Rich's "facts" from many viewpoints.

    Leslie
579.14never heard of itFRETZ::HEISERGrace changes everythingWed Sep 28 1994 14:501
    Leslie, what is that conference about?
579.15just look at the evidenceJUPITR::MESSENGERThe discerning heart seeks knowledge PR 15:14Wed Sep 28 1994 17:0216
    Most of the objections raised in the antiquity(history) file are trying
    to refute Biblical facts.  Not historical.  Such as trying to say that
    the Kingdom of Judah could not handle the army that the Bible says they
    had. etc. etc.
    
    I simply want people to read the books, and make their own decision.  I
    have never seen anyone look at the evidence with an open mind who was
    not convinced.  Actually, even with a closed mind looking to refute it
    they are convinced - IF they read the evidence.  The only people I
    have even heard of that have "read" the evidence and not been convinced
    are those who actually only skimmed some material from which to extract
    quotes out of context to attempt to make them look bad.
    
    The antiquity note also refers to some other books that are good.
    
    Rich
579.16KAHALA::JOHNSON_LLeslie Ann JohnsonWed Sep 28 1994 18:327
    The antiquity conference is about ancient history, civilizations
    etcetera.  There was a much greater realm of responses than people
    saying that population figures in the O.T. shouldn't be taken 
    as exact statistics.  There were replies that did not hold the 
    Bible to be God's word, but there were also many other points raised.

    Leslie
579.17ooopsJUPITR::MESSENGERThe discerning heart seeks knowledge PR 15:14Sat Oct 01 1994 17:166
    Sorry, I forgot the address and today was my last chance.
    
    Sandpoint is a small town it would probably get there.  There is also
    the telephone(information.)
    
    Rich