The Prophecies of the Bible have been grievously misunderstood. And no wonder! For the vital KEY, needed to unlock prophetic doors to understanding, had become lost. That KEY is a definite knowledge of the true identity of the American and British peoples in biblical prophecy.
Here, condensed in a nut-shell, is the most fascinating story ever told. Whether skeptic, atheist, church member, or Sprint filled Christian, you will find here an amazing TRUTH, long hidden. It is plain, simple, understandable, and a truth that stands PROVED.
No story of fiction ever was so strange, so absorbing, so packed with suspense, as this gripping story of the Bible.
Where are the UNITED STATES, the BRITISH COMMONWEALTH of NATIONS, and such Northwesten European nations as Belgium, Holland, France, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, mentioned in Bible prophecies? Or are they mentioned at all?
We are the wealthiest nations. And potentially at least, the most powerful.
We possess almost three fourths of all the wealth and resources of the world. All other nations, combined, have little more than a fourth divided among them. And we have acquired nearly all of it since 1800.
Never has there been anything like it in history. Never did a nation or people spread out and grow so rapidly to wealth and power. Never was a nation or people so rich. WHY?
Could Prophecy Ignore Us?
Consider, too, our people today constitute the HOME — the last defense, of Christianity. It is our people who have sent missionaries into every land on earth — our people who have printed and distributed the Bible by unbelievable millions of copies in the languages of all peoples.
We know Bible prophecies definitely refer to Russia, Italy, Turkey, Ethiopia, Libya, Egypt, of today. Could they then ignore modem kingdoms like Britain and America? Is it reasonable?
Assuredly it is not, nor are we ignored. The fact is, we are mentioned more often than any other race. Yet our prophetic identity has remained hidden to the many. Modem nations are not spoken of in their modem names, except in few cases. Usually they are referred to by the names of the ancient ancestor from which they sprang. Thus Turkey is referred to in prophecy as Esau or Edom, because the Turks are the descendants of Esau. In like manner, the Arabs are spoken of as Ishmael, the Russians are Magog.
The Bible story of our ancestry, and our modern prophetic identity, is the most amazing — yes, astounding — the most fascinating and interesting story ever told. It is really the story — thread of the Bible itself, from Genesis to Revelation.
Our Wealth Promised Abraham
Centuries ago, this same wealth and power and national greatness was promised by the Almighty to Abraham. Yet few have ever noticed this astonishing fact of Scripture.
The promise of the Messiah, and of salvation thru Him is well known by the most superficial Bible student. But God made also another, entirely different, most amazing promise to Abraham.
Notice how God called Abraham, and the two — fold nature of His promise:
"Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee: and I will make of thee a GREAT NATION... and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed." (Genesis 12:1-3.)
Notice the TWO — fold nature of the promises:
1) the promise his flesh — born children should become a GREAT NATION — a promise of race;
2) the spiritual promise of GRACE: "In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed;" or, as the same promise is repeated in Gen. 22:18, "in thy seed shall all the nations of earth be blessed." This promise refers to GRACE, thru Christ, the "one seed," as clearly explained in Galatians 3:8,16. And Jesus of Nazareth was a son of Abraham.
RACE, as well as Grace
But that the "great nation" promise refers alone to race —not to the one seed, Christ, but to the plural, multiple seed of natural fleshly birth — is made certain by God's repetition of His promise in greater detail later.
"And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect, and I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly... thou shalt be a father of MANY NATIONS. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of MANY NATIONS have I made thee." (Gen. 17:1-5).
Notice, the promise is now CONDITIONAL upon Abraham's obedience and perfect living. Notice, the "great nation" now becomes MANY NATIONS more than one nation. This cannot refer to the "one seed," Christ. The following verses prove that.
"And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make NATIONS of thee, and KINGS" (more than one) "shall come out of thee." (Verse 6). Notice, these nations and kings shall come out of Abraham — physical generation — multiple seed, not just one descendant thru whom scattered individuals may become Abraham's children, by spiritual begettal through Christ. (Gal 3:29). The scattered individual Christians do not form NATIONS. This is speaking of Race, not grace.
"And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in THEIR generations." (Verse 7). The "seed" is PLURAL — "in their generations."
"And I will give unto thee, and to they seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan (Palestine) for an everlasting possession: and I will be THEIR God." (Verse 8).
Notice, the LAND — material possession — is promised to the PLURAL seed, of whom He is THEIR, not his, God. The plural pronoun "their" is used again in the 9th verse — "and thy seed after thee in their generations."
Not Fulfilled in Jews
Again, notice carefully, — the JEWS have never been more than one nation.. They are not — and never have been — MANY nations.
So here is an amazing prophecy — a solemn promise from Almighty God, that could not be fulfilled in Christ, in Christians, nor in the Jews. We must look for a number of NATIONS apart from either the Christians' or the Jews. Amazing as it is, we must do it or deny God's promise!
God put Abraham to the test, and Abraham, thru faith, OBEYED — even to being willing to sacrifice his only son, if need be. And after that the covenant no longer was conditional. Now it became UNCONDITIONAL.
"By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for BECAUSE thou hast done this thing, and has not withheld thy son, thine only son, 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 which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies." (so far the material, national promises of RACE,); "and in thy seed" (Christ) "shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;" (this promise is spiritual, of GRACE) "BECAUSE thou hast obeyed my voice." (Gen. 22:16-18).
The promise now is un-conditional. God has SWORN to make it good. Abraham already has performed his part of the agreement. Now God MUST perform His part, without fail.
Notice an additional detail of the promises — the nations who are Abraham's racial descendents are to "possess the gate of his enemies." A gate is a narrow passage of entrance or exit. When speaking nationally, a "gate" would be such a pass as the Panama Canal, the Suez Canal, the Strait of Gibraltar. This promise is repeated in Gen. 24:60.
A Nation and a Company of Nations
These tremendous promises were re-promised to Isaac and to Jacob. Ishmael, and Abraham's other sons were rejected from this birthright. Esau, Isaac's son and Jacob's twin brother, sold it and was rejected. The promise, as confirmed to Isaac is recorded in Gen. 26: 1-5. To Jacob in Gen. 27:26-29, where MATERIAL blessing of wealth in the things of the ground is added with the prophecy that heathen nations shall be ruled by the birthright nations of Israel. And again in Gen. 28:13-14, where the still added detail that these nations of Israel shall eventually spread around the world is recorded.
Still later, God appeared unto Jacob, whose name was changed to ISRAEL, still further defining?, the make — up of these "many nations' thus: "And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; A NATION and a COMPANY OF NATIONS shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins." (Gen. 35:9-12).
So the "many nations" are eventually to take shape as A NATION — one great, wealthy, powerful nation; and another COMPANY OF NATIONS — a group, or commonwealth of nations allied.
This promise never has been fulfilled in the Jews. It could not pertain to the Church, for there is but ONE true Church acknowledged in the Bible, and it is not a nation, or a group of nations, but a collection of called — out individuals scattered thru ALL nations. Yet this amazing promise MUST stand fulfilled, unless we are to deny the Bible and God's sacred Word!
The BIRTHRIGHT and the Sceptre
Now we come to a most vital distinction, and a bit of Bible truth, known to but very few. Note it carefully.
The spiritual promises — the promise of the "one seed,' Christ, and of salvation through Him — the Bible calls "the SCEPTRE." This promise as nearly everybody knows, was handed down through the Jews. Jesus Christ was of the tribe of Judah, and the House of David. "Salvation," Jesus said, "is of the JEWS." (John 4:22). "To the JEW first," explained Paul, "and also to the Greek." (Rom. 1:16).
This fact is confirmed in Genesis 49:10. "The SCEPTRE shall not depart from Judah."
BUT — and here is the astonishing vital fact so few ever seem to have noticed — "but the BIRTHRIGHT was Joseph's." Yes, Joseph who was sold by his brothers down into Egypt, where he became food administrator and prime minister — Joseph who was called "a prosperous man," even as his descendents were destined to become. "For Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him came the chief ruler" (Sceptre promise); "BUT, the birthright was Joseph's." (I Chronicles 5:2).
The birthright which Esau sold to Jacob — the promise of national greatness and material wealth — never was handed to the Jews who are of the tribe of JUDAH. So naturally we should not expect to find this promise fulfilled in the Jews today.
The Birthright is JOSEPH'S
And just what is a "birthright?" It is that which comes by right of birth. The term "grace" means un-deserved, un merited favor — something that is NOT one's right, NOT inherited by birth, but bestowed as a free gift. But a "birthright" is inherited, by birth, as one's RIGHT. Consequently, the term "birthright" includes only the inheritance of MATERIAL blessings, passed on from father to son — those blessings one cannot take with him, when he dies.
And what is a "Sceptre?" It is the badge of royal power, kingly office. The Sceptre was God's promise of a continuous dynasty of KINGS, culminating in Jesus Christ who shall be King of kings; and therefore the Sceptre included the promise of eternal salvation THRU Christ.
So notice carefully, please! The Sceptre, which is the spiritual promise of GRACE, thru which ALL nations may be blessed, went to JUDAH, while the BIRTHRIGHT went to Joseph. And the birthright includes possession of the land, Palestine, possessing the material "gate" of material enemies, inheriting the heathen for a possession and ruling over heathen peoples, spreading and colonizing around the world! The two phases of the promises to Abraham now are separated into two different tribes of Israel!
The interesting story of the passing on of this Birthright from the aged Israel to two sons of Joseph is found in the 48th chapter of Genesis. You should read it there, entirely.
Notice, Jacob adopted these two lads, Ephraim and Manasseh, as his own legal sons because they had an Egyptian mother. Notice, verse 16, he says, "let my name be named on them." Hence, THEY were to be called "The House of Israel." It is THEY who rightfully own the name of ISRAEL, not the Jews! "... and let THEM grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth," continues Jacob, administering the blessing. Let WHO grow into that promised multitude? Notice it, — NOT Judah, not the Jews, — but the sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh and THEIR descendents.
Together they were to grow to a multitude. But eventually, as indicated by another prophecy, Isaiah 49:20, to be explained later, the descendents of these two lads were to separate, and Ephraim would lose Manasseh, then to become a separate nation. So, continuing, speaking of Manasseh, Jacob said, "he also shall become a people, and he also shall be GREAT; but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude (or a company or commonwealth) of nations." (Verse 19).
And so EPHRAIM, the son of Joseph became the holder of the BIRTHRIGHT to be shared jointly with Manasseh.
WHO, today, are the descendents of Ephraim and of Manasseh? Somewhere, Ephraim must be a group, or Commonwealth of nations, while Manasseh must be the greatest single nation on earth! Either it is so, or the BIBLE is not true!
David Takes the Throne
After the death of Jacob and his twelve sons in Egypt, their children grew in two hundred odd years to a population of approximately three million in that land. Then God raised up MOSES, fitted him in a special way to lead these children of Israel out of the bondage that had come to them in Egypt.
When they reached Mt. Sinai, in the peninsula wilderness, God made a covenant with them establishing them as a NATION — His nation — among the kingdoms of the world. Their government was theocratic, with the civil, as well as the spiritual and religious laws, given direct from God. God Himself was their king and He ruled them by a system of Judges.
But soon the Israelites demanded a man for king, even as the Gentile nations around them. And so God gave them Saul as their first human king. Saul, however, was not a good king, nor was his heart right with God.
Saul was dethroned. His dynasty ended with him. Then God placed DAVID, a man after His own heart, of no relationship to Saul, upon the throne of Israel.
Because of his obedience and sincerity and honesty of heart, David, like Abraham, received a most astonishing UNCONDITIONAL promise from God, as little known as the Birthright promised to Abraham.
The Davidic Covenant
We have space to quote but briefly from the Scriptures setting forth this amazing Davidic Covenant. Like the covenant with Abraham, God made the Davidic Covenant un-conditional and unbreakable.
David wanted to build a great Temple, as God's house in Jerusalem. The Almighty replied, "... when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom." (II Samuel 7:12). This, of course, was his son Solomon, who succeeded David to the throne.
"He," God continued, "shall build an house for my name," — and it was Solomon who did build the Temple — "and I will establish the throne of his kingdom FOREVER." (Verse 13).
Notice it! The throne of David, occupied by Solomon, was to be established FOR EVER! If that throne ever ceased to exist, then God's promise has failed!
But some say the promise was conditioned upon the obedience of Solomon and the future line of kings or their people. Notice the Scriptural answer to this:
"I will be his father, and he shall be my son. IF he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men BUT" — yes, notice this BUT — "my mercy shall not depart from him AS I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee." (Verses 14-15). Saul's dynasty ceased. God promises He will never take away this throne from David's line in this manner. David's dynasty SHALL NEVER CEASE! Continuing, next verse, " And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established FOR EVER before thee: thy throne shall be established FOREVER."
Through ALL Generations
Not only was that throne established FOREVER, it was to exist continuously forever, — through ALL GENERATIONS!
"I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant, Thy Seed" (his dynasty) "will I establish forever, and build up thy throne to all generations." (Psalm 89: 3-4). That throne was to stand "forever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven." (Verses 28-37).
"For thus saith the Lord; David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel." (Jer. 33:17.) So far as is historically known, the last king of David's dynasty to sit upon that throne was King Zedekiah of Judah, who died shortly after 586 B.C., with the Jews a captive people, with all his sons, and all the nobles of Judah killed. There is no historic record of any continuance of that throne from that year. Did David want for a man to sit upon his throne, and continue his dynasty, from that day on?
Some say Christ took over the throne. But He didn't. Instead He was crucified, resurrected, and ascended to heaven. He SHALL come, and soon now, to sit upon that throne as the King of kings and Lord of lords. But HOW can Jesus Christ, when He returns again to earth, take over and sit upon a throne that long ago ceased to exist?
Will Christ Come to a Non-existent Throne?
IF the throne of David ceased with Zedekiah, then it does not exist today. And if it does not exist, how shall Christ the gathering sit upon a non-existent throne? See Luke (Gen. 49:10). 1:31-32. And, since it was to continue of the people be." through all generations, how about those many generations between Zedekiah and the birth of Jesus?
"Thus saith the Lord; If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season; then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne." (Jer. 33, verses 19-21). Day and night still continues. Does David's throne?
But what do the people say? "Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which the Lord hath chosen," (Israel and Judah), "he hath even cast them off? Thus they have despised my people, that they should be no more a nation before them." (Verse 24).
But what does GOD say? "Thus saith the Lord," (verse 25), "If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth; THEN will I cast away the seed of Jacob, and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."
Strong words, those! Unless you can stop this old earth from turning on its axis — unless you can remove the sun and the moon and stars from heaven, says the Almighty, you cannot prevent Him from keeping His covenant to maintain continuously, through all generations, FOREVER, from the time of David and Solomon, a descendant of David in one continuous dynasty on that throne!
Not necessarily ruling over ALL the House of Israel, or of the Jews — but at least some of them, and enough to form a nation.
Remember again, the SCEPTRE promise, which includes this line of kings until it culminates in CHRIST at His second coming: "The Sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver (margin, ruler's staff) from between his feet, UNTIL SHILOH (Christ) COME; and unto Him shall the gathering of the people be." (Gen. 49:10).
The Test of Bible Truth
Has the Sceptre departed from Judah?
Has the throne ceased? Or does it, as God so bindingly promised, exist today so that Christ can take over and sit upon a living, going, continuous throne when He comes?
The infallibility of the Bible is at stake! God's WORD is at stake!
PART TWO
THE HOUSE of ISRAEL is not Jewish! Those who constitute it are not JEWS, and never were! That fact we shall now see conclusively, beyond refute.
After David's death his son, Solomon, succeeded to the throne. Solomon taxed the people excessively, reigned in a gorgeous splendor probably never equaled before or since. And because he also married Gentile wives, sacrificed to their idols, and committed other sins God said, "I will surely rend the Kingdom from thee, and give it to thy servant... Howbeit, I will give one tribe to thy son for David my servant's sake." (I Kings 11:11-13).
ISRAEL Separates from David's Throne
Note it! It is THE KINGDOM, not part of it, which is to be rended away. It is the PART, one tribe, which is to remain. That tribe, Judah, must remain subject to the throne — why? "FOR DAVID'S SAKE!" David's dynasty must not be broken. God will not break His covenant!
When Solomon died, his son Rehoboam succeeded to David's throne. The people at once demanded the heavy taxes be reduced. Their spokesman Jeroboam (Solomon's servant), pleaded with Rehoboam: "Thy father made our yoke grievous; now, therefore, make thou the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, lighter, and we will serve thee." (I Kings 12:1-5).
"My father," came Rehoboam's reply, "chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions." (verses 6-14).
Israel rebelled.
The command to the people was, "To your tents, 0 Israel!" The challenge to the royal house was, "Now, see to thine own house!" (verse 16).
"So Israel rebelled against the House of David unto this day. And it came to pass, when all Israel heard that Jeroboam was come again, that they sent and called him unto the congregation, and made him king over ALL ISRAEL: there was none that followed the house of David, but the tribe of JUDAH only." (I Kings 12:19-20).
Then "Rehoboam... assembled all the HOUSE OF JUDAH, with the tribe of Benjamin." (verse 21). Rehoboam started to fight to subdue and bring back the House of Israel, but God said, "Ye shall not... fight against your brethren the children of Israel... for this thing is from me." (verse 24).
Israel Divided into TWO NATIONS
Notice it carefully! The House of Judah, now including the tribe of Benjamin, under King Rehoboam of David's dynasty, was about to fight against the other ten tribes, headed by Ephraim and Manasseh, DIFFERENT AND SEPARATE NATIONS. The term "Jew" is merely a nickname for "Judah." It applies to the one nation, or House of Judah ONLY — never to the House of ISRAEL.
The first place in all the Bible where the word "JEW" is used is in II Kings 16:6. Notice it!
Ahaz began to reign as king of JUDAH (verse 1). He sat on David s throne (verse 2). At this time, a man named Pekah was king of ISRAEL. With King Rezin of Syria as an ally, this king of Israel came against Jerusalem in war, and besieged King Ahaz of Judah, but could not overcome him (verse 5). "At that time, Rezin, king of Syria" — the ALLY of ISRAEL, fighting with ISRAEL, against Judah, — "recovered Elath to Syria and drove THE JEWS from Elath." (verse 6).
NOTE IT! The first place in the Bible where the word "JEW" is used, we find ISRAEL at war against THE JEWS! Israel's ally, Syria, drove THE JEWS out of the town of Elath!
Certainly this proves that the JEWS are a different nation altogether from ISRAEL. It is wrong to call the Jews of today "Israel." They are not Israel, — they are JUDAH! And wherever ISRAEL is today, remember that ISRAEL does not mean JEW! Whoever the lost ten tribes of ISRAEL are today, they are not Jews! Wherever you see the name "Israel," or "House of Israel," or "Samaria," or "Ephraim," used in prophecy, remember this — IT NEVER REFERS TO THE JEWS, but to Israel, who was at WAR against the Jews!
No place in all the Bible does the term "ISRAEL" refer to the JEWS exclusively. The term "Israel" alone, or "children of Israel," may, and sometimes does, include the Jews, where all twelve tribes are included. Jews are Israelites, just as Californians are Americans. But MOST Israelites, are not Jews, just as most Americans are not Californians. The Jews are the House of Judah only, A PART of the Israelites. But when these people are spoken of as NATIONS rather than as collective individuals, the term "Israel" never refers to the Jews. "House of Israel" NEVER means "Jews." The two tribes at Jerusalem under the Davidic king are called, merely, the House of JUDAH. But of Ephraim and Manasseh, sons of Joseph, the dying Israel had said, "Let my name be named on them." And truly they now BEAR the name of ISRAEL. It is the TEN tribes that are called "ISRAEL."
From here on, the tribe of Judah, with Benjamin and a portion of the priests of the tribe of Levi, are called "JUDAH, not Israel. The TEN tribes, headed by Ephraim and Manasseh from this time on are called "ISRAEL." They are not Jews, and never were called Jews!
From this time on, the children of Israel, twelve tribes in all, are divided into TWO NATIONS!
And now, for the first time, the BIRTHRIGHT goes into one nation, ISRAEL, headed by Ephraim — Manasseh; while the SCEPTRE remains in another nation, called the "House of JUDAH." The two phases of the promises to Abraham now are separated into TWO ENTIRELY SEPARATE NATIONS!
For many generations Israel and Judah remained as separate nations, in adjoining territories, having their own separate kings. Why should ministers and professed Bible students be in ignorance of this, when four whole books of the Bible, I and II Kings, I and II Chronicles, are devoted to explaining it and recording the history of these separate, rival kingdoms? Look at the maps in the back of your Bible. There you will see the territory of each nation plainly shown.
Judah retained the City of Jerusalem, its capital, and the territory known as Judea. Israel occupied the territory north of Judea. Samaria became its capital city, and the House of Israel often is called "Samaria" in prophecy. This, too, is a vital "key" to understanding of prophecy. "Samaria" never refers to the Jews in prophecy — but always the TEN tribes, the House of ISRAEL.
House of Israel NOT Jews
We want to impress, here, that Israel and Judah are not two names for the same nation. They were, and still are, and shall be till the second coming of Christ, TWO SEPARATE NATIONS. The "House of Judah" ALWAYS means "Jew."
This distinction is vital, if we are to understand prophecy. Because most so called Bible students are in ignorance of this basic distinction, they are unable rightly to understand prophecy!
The next place where the term "Jew" is mentioned in the Bible, the House of Israel had been driven out in captivity, lost from view, and the term applies ONLY to those of the House of JUDAH. There are NO exceptions in the Bible!
ISRAEL Driven Out and LOST!
Immediately on becoming king over the House of Israel, Jeroboam (tribe of Ephraim) set up two golden calves, introducing idol worship in the kingdom. The account is found in I Kings 12:28-33.
This idolatry, with Sabbath — breaking (Ezek. 20:10-24), was the great national sin, which became such a curse to Israel. Generation after generation, God pleaded with the House of Israel to turn from tradition — from their fathers' ways, and to return to keeping God's commandments. But, through nine different dynasties under 19 kings, Israel continued these national sins — sins SO GREAT in GOD'S sight, that finally God caused them to become a conquered, captive nation.
And in the year 721 B.C., the House of Israel was conquered and its people were soon driven out of their own land — out of their homes and cities — and carried captives to Assyria, on the southern shores of the Caspian Sea!
"Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of His sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only." (II Kings 17:18).
In Leviticus 26 we find God's solemn warning to all the children of Israel. IF they would worship Him alone, avoiding idolatry, and keep His Sabbath, walk in His statutes and keep His commandments, they would inherit the national material promises to Abraham. They would become great, rich, and powerful — the dominant nation of all earth. But, if they refused and rebelled, they were to be punished SEVEN TIMES — a duration of 2520 years — in slavery, servitude, and want.
The House of Israel now entered — 721 B. C. — (remember this date) — upon their 2520 long years of national banishment, to last until 1800 A.D.!
And BECAUSE the House of Israel lost their identifying SIGN — the Sabbath — the sign which identified them as ISRAEL — they utterly LOST THEIR IDENTITY! They lost knowledge even of their national name. They came to be considered GENTILES!
In Exodus 31:12-17 it is recorded that God made the Sabbath the covenant SIGN between Him and Israel. A sign identifies. At creation God rested on, blessed, made holy, and set apart for man the one day for man's rest and worship which could keep him always in the true worship of the true God — the day that pointed back to CREATION. Creation is the PROOF of God. It identifies Him as the true God. It was intended to keep man in the true knowledge of the true God. When Israel threw aside God's Sabbath, Israel soon threw aside God Himself, and went into idolatry. The Sabbath identified Israel as God's own people because all other nations long since had departed from its observance and gone into idolatry. Israel was the only nation which kept it. Because they rejected this SIGN, they were driven out, and lost their identity. (Read Ezek. 20:10-24.)
Judah, too, went into captivity largely because of Sabbath — rejecting. (See Jer. 17.) But those Jews who returned 70 years later under Ezra and Nehemiah had learned their lesson. They became legalistically strict Sabbatarians —adding so many of their own restrictions to it that Jesus had to sweep aside this maze of man — made rules, saying "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." To this day orthodox Jews have retained the original Sabbath. And BECAUSE those Jewish people who descend from the Ezra — Nehemiah leader shi have retained God's covenant identifying SIGN, the world today looks upon them as ISRAEL! And yet they actually are only a part of JUDAH!
So "the Lord removed Israel out of His sight... So Israel was carried away out o their own land to Assyria" (II Kings 17: 23). They LEFT the land of Samaria, never yet to return! Gentiles were placed in their homes and cities, (v. 24), and it is these Gentiles who were known as Samaritans in the time of Christ.
A more detailed account of the captivity of Israel is found in II Kings 18: 9-12, and 17:5-18.
Now the House of Israel began to "abide many days without a king" (Hos. 3: 4). Since THEY were the people who carried the title "Israel," it is THEY, not Judah, who must become LOST in identity! Now they must lose their language, their religion, their land. (Isa. 8:17; Isa. 28: 11; Isa. 62: 2; Isa. 40:27; Hos. 2:5-6; Jer. 16:13; Hos. 1:8-10).
ISRAEL Never Returned
They did NOT return to Palestine with the Jews in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, as some erroneously believe. Those who returned to rebuild the temple and restore worship in Jerusalem at that time, 70 years after JUDAH'S captivity, were only those of the House of Judah whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried to Babylon.
Note well these facts.
1) In 721 B. C. ISRAEL was "carried away out of their own land to Assyria." (II Kings 17:23). They were soon ALL removed — completely. "There was none left but the tribe of Judah only," (II Kings 17:18). JUDAH, only, remained.
2) More than 130 years later, Nebuchfldnezzar of Babylon carried the Jews — JUDAH — who only remained in Palestine away to Babylon. So NONE of the House of Israel dwelt in Palestine at the time of this captivity of Judah.
3) Those who returned to Palestine to rebuild the temple and restore worship 70 years after Judah's captivity, were ALL of the House of Judah — all JEWS, — ALL of those whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away. They returned again "unto Jerusalem and Judah, every one unto his city. (Ezra 2:1).
ONLY those of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levi, who constituted the house of JUDAH returned at that time (Ezra 1:5). Consequently those in Jerusalem in the time of Christ were of these three tribes, NOT of the House of ISRAEL. And most, if not all, of those converted were of the tribe of Benjamin, as Paul said he was.
The House of Israel became known as the LOST Ten Tribes! Now known by ANOTHER name, speaking a different language!
By WHAT name are they known today? Whoever they are, wherever they are, it is THEY, and not the Jews, who are the BIRTHRIGHT possessors. It is THEY, not the Jews, who, after the ending of their punishment in 1800 A. D., must inherit the un-breakable promises to Abraham of national greatness, resources, wealth and power. It is MANASSEH who, after 1800 A.D., was to become the world's greatest single nation — Ephraim a great COMMONWEALTH of nations! Who can they be, today?
PART THREE
Jeremiah's Strange Commission
When Israel was driven out to Assyria, 721 B. C., Judah had not yet sinned as a nation. Through Hosea, God said, "Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend." (Hos. 4:15).
But later "her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also," and God finally said, "The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous sister Judah." (Jeremiah 3:8-11).
And so, about 130 years after Israel's captivity, the time came when God drove out the Jews, too, in national captivity, and banishment, for their 2520 years of national punishment.
For this purpose God raised up a very special prophet, whose real call and commission few, indeed, understand.
This prophet was Jeremiah. He was one of the three men, only, who were sanctified before they were born. The other two were John the baptist and Jesus Christ. (See Jer. 1:5).
Jeremiah, when first given his vital call and commission, was a young lad about 17. Before he fmally completed it, he was an aged white — haired patriarch. The commission is recorded in Jeremiah 1:10:
"See," God says to Jeremiah, "I have this day set thee over the nations and over kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, TO BUILD, AND TO PLANT."
There it is! Jeremiah was set over THE nations — more than one. He was a Jew, living in Judah. He was set a prophet over Judah — but not Judah alone. Over THE nations — Judah and ISRAEL! He was set over them to do two things: to tear down something, and then to build and to plant something.
Jeremiah was used of God as a prophet to warn Judah of their sins, and of the coming invasion and captivity at the hands of Nebuchadnezzer of Babylon unless they repented. He was used as a go - between, a mediary, between the kings of Judah and Nebuchadnezzer the Chaldean king. It is well known that Jeremiah was used in destroying the kingdom of Judah.
But — note it in your Bible! — he also was commissioned to PLANT and to BUILD! What was he to plant and build? Why, naturally, that which was pulled down and rooted out of Judah the THRONE OF DAVID. He was set over THE KINGDOMS — Israel as well as Judah. He was used in throwing down that throne from Judah. Then what was he commissioned to do in ISRAEL? Ah! Note it! The second half of his strange and little understood commission — to PLANT AND TO BUILD!
So far as the world knows, the last king to sit on that throne of David was Zedekiah of Judah. He was thrown down off it, and the throne rooted out of Judah in the year 586 B.C. — nearly 600 years before Christ!
What, then! Did God forget His covenant with David? Did the throne CEASE? True, the KINGDOM — the GOVERNMENT of Judah ceased, as had the kingdom of Israel more than 130 years before! But see what else Jeremiah was commissioned to do — to PLANT AND TO BUILD! To plant and re-build among the House of Israel, lo, these many days without a king — among LOST Israel, now supposing herself to be GENTILE! Therefore the identity and location of the re-planting must remain hidden to the world until this Time of the END in which we live today!
JUDAH Taken Captive to Babylon
If you will carefully re-read the important Book of Jeremiah, you will notice the first few chapters are devoted to his ministry in WARNING the Jews of their impending invasion and captivity unless they would repent. But they would not repent.
And so, finally, the invasion came. The first siege was in 604 B.C Nebuchadnezzar marched into Jerusalem, taking it captive. However, he did not at once drive out all the Jews. He did not even drive out their king, Jehoiakim, but made him a vassal king, the servant of Nebuchadnezzar. As such he continued on his throne, as did two more kings after him, Jehoiachin, his son, and Zedekiah, his brother, until the year 586 B. C. (Read IT Kings 24).
In that year, Zedekiah's 11th year as king, the Chaldean armies again besieged Jerusalem, entered it, the city was broken up, the palace and temple destroyed. ALL the sons of King Zedekiah were killed before his eyes. That there would be no man to carry on his dynasty, all the princes of Judah were killed. King Zedekiah's eyes were put out, and he was bound in chains and carried to Babylon where he died. You will read of all this captivity in II Kings 25, II Chronicles 36, Jeremiah
39, and 52.
Jeremiah's Mysterious Movements
And now the first part of Jeremiah's strange commission is accomplished! So far as the world could see, or has seen since, the dynasty of David had ENDED! No king remained on the throne. Judah's last king was dead. All his sons were dead. All other princes, who might be possible heirs to carry on the dynasty, had been killed. No possible heir to the throne, so the world then believed, remained alive.
But how about the SECOND part of Jeremiah's great commission? Was God able to keep His covenant with David? Was HE able to PLANT, and REBUILD that throne?
Jeremiah was among these captive Jews. Yet he must remain free to carry out the second part of his mission. So, "the captain of the guard took Jeremiah, and said unto him... behold, I loose thee this day from the chains which were upon thine hand. If it seem good to thee to come with me into Babylon, come; and I will look well unto thee: but if it seem ill unto thee to come with me into Babylon, forbear; behold all the land is before thee: whither it seemeth good and convenient for thee to go, thither go... So the captain of the guard gave him victuals and a reward (expense money) and let him go." (Jer. 40:1-5).
Jeremiah was left FREE, to perform the second half of his commission. Where did he go? We come now to an amazing, fascinating, thrilling part of the Book of Jeremiah which has been almost entirely overlooked.
"Then went Jeremiah unto Gedeliah.. to Mizpah; and dwelt with him among the people that were left in the land." (6th verse.)
Now this Gedeliah had been made governor over a remnant of Jews in the land by the king of Babylon, and since Jerusalem was destroyed, he had made Mizpah his headquarters. But the king of Ammon plotted with a Jew named Ishmael to assassinate Gedeliah. The plot was executed; the governor and part of the Jews, were slain. Jeremiah was among the survivors.
"Then Ishmael carried away captive all the residue of the people that were in Mizpah, even the king's daughters, and all the people that remained in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard (from Babylon) had committed to Gedeliah... and carried them away captives, and departed to go over to the Ammonites." (Jer. 41:10).
Ah! Did you catch it? Read that passage again. Among these Jews were the king's daughters! Daughters of Zedekiah, King of Judah and of David's dynasty!
King Zedekiah had died. All his sons had been killed. All the princes of Judah had been killed. All possible heirs to David's throne had been killed — except the king's daughters! Now we see why Jeremiah went to Mizpah!
Jeremiah, with Royal Seed for Replanting, Escapes
Soon a man named Johanan replaced Ishmael as leader. And in fear of reprisals from Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldean army, they appealed to the prophet, "and said unto Jeremiah the prophet, Let, we beseech thee, our supplication be accepted before thee, and pray for us unto the Lord thy God ... that the Lord thy God may show us the way wherein we may walk." (Jer. 42:2-3).
The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, and He told them not to fear, that He would protect and deliver them. But the people wanted to flee to Egypt. This the Lord warned them not to do. If they did, the sword of Nebuchadnezzar which they feared would overtake them there, and they would die. (Jer. 42:7-16).
But, as people usually do, they rejected God's warning.
"Thou speakest falsely," Johanan answered (Jer. 43:2-3).
And so Johanan "took all the remnant of Judah... even men, and women, and children, and the king' s daughters... and Jeremiah the prophet, and Baruch, the son of Neriah (Jeremiah's scribe, or secretary). So they came into the land of Egypt." (Jer. 43:5-7).
Baruch was Jeremiah's constant companion and secretary. It is important to note here God's promise of protection to him: "Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, unto thee, 0 Baruch... Behold, that which I have built I will break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up, even this whole land... but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest." (Jer. 45:2-5). His life, like Jeremiah's, was under divine protection!
On reaching Egypt, God warned these Jews again through Jeremiah that they should die there by the sword and famine, and "none shall return but such as shall escape!" (Jer. 44:12-14). Yes, a few in this company are under divine protection. A divine mission is to be performed. They shall ESCAPE! The Lord continues: "Yet a small number that escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah." (Jer. 44:28).
Jeremiah, Baruch, and the royal seed for replanting and rebuilding David's throne, all under divine protection, were to escape, and return to the land of Judah!
Then Jeremiah and his company were to journey to a strange land which they knew not (Jer.15:11-14).
Now let Isaiah complete this prophecy:
"For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of Mount Zion: the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this. And the remnant that escaped of the house of Judah shall AGAIN TAKE ROOT DOWNWARD, AND BEAR FRUIT UPWARD." (Isa. 37:32, 31).
This remnant with Jeremiah — at least one of the king's daughters — shall take root downward! That is, BE REPLANTED! And then bear fruit upward! Be BUILDED!
Has God failed in His solemn covenant to keep alive David's throne? Where was this planting and building? Can we find it in God's Word?
We can! The place and the people among whom the throne was re-established, are clearly identified!
PART FOUR
The Mysterious "Breach"
WHERE did Jeremiah go, with Baruch his secretary and one or more of the royal daughters of the king?
History stops short at this point. Enlightened students of Bible history have long known that the Ten Tribes — called by the name "House of ISRAEL" — have been lost, and exist today among the Gentile nations, unrecognized.
Their identity, and location, is one of the things God has hidden from the world. Yet, in this end — time, when knowledge is to increase, when the "wise" are to UNDERSTAND (Dan. 12:4, 10), we shall find the secret revealed thru PROPHECY which could not be understood until now.
But first, we must now consider a mysterious "breach" that occurred in the days of Judah, son of Jacob.
Judah was the father of twin sons. The first born was royal seed, for thru him the SCEPTRE promise was to be carried down. It seems the midwife knew twins were about to be born. It is recorded that just before birth one of the twins "put out his hand: and the midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread, saying 'This came out first.' " But the child drew back his hand, and the other was actually born first. The midwife exclaimed, "How hast thou broken forth? this breach be upon thee: (margin, wherefore hast thou made this breach against thee?) Therefore his name was called Pharez," meaning "Breach." (Gen. 38:27-30).
Why should this strange occurrence be recorded in Bible history, unless this breach was to be HEALED between the sons or their descendants at some future time? Yet it never occurred in their lifetime.
Zarah, of the scarlet thread, had five sons (I Chron. 2: 6). Did a descendant of Zarah finally get the throne, in a manner healing the breach?
David, Zedekiah, Christ, all were of the PHAREZ branch — none of Zarah. Now consider, 1) the fact of the breach means the transfer of the Sceptre from the Pharez to the Zarah line. 2) Such transfer never occurred before King Zedekiah of Judah, who was descended from Pharez. 3) Therefore it had to occur after Zedekiah's death. 4) Since David's line (Pharez) is to remain on the throne thru all generations forever, it could only occur at an overturn of the throne by a marriage between a Pharez heir to the throne and one of the Zarah line, thus healing the breach.
History shows the descendants of Zarah became wanderers, journeying to the northwest within the confines of the Scythian nations, their descendants joining the Ten Tribes.
But meanwhile, the Pharez — David — Zedekiah line possessed the Sceptre — was high-exalted. The Zarah line, feeling it rightfully should possess the Sceptre, and some day would, was low, abased — so far as royal power was concerned.
The Three Overturns
Now consider a much misunderstood passage of prophecy:
If you will begin reading at the 18th verse of the 21st chapter of Ezekiel, you will see plainly that the Eternal is here speaking of the captivity of Judah by the king of Babylon. And, beginning the 25th verse, He says: "And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel (Zedeklah), whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end, Thus saith the Lord God; 'Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: (As did happen, thru the first half of Jeremiah's commission.) This (the crown) shall not be the same ,exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high I will overturn, overturn, overturn it: and it shall be no more until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him.'"
Let us understand that clearly.
"Remove the diadem, and take off the crown." King Zedekiah, of David's dynasty, had the crown. This says it is to be removed. It was removed. He died in Babylon' his sons and all the nobles of Judah were killed.
"This shall not be the same. "The diadem is not to cease, but a change is to take place — the throne is to be overturned — another is to wear the crown. God's promise to David is not to go by default! "
Exhalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. "who is "high?" King Zedekiah of Judah. Now he is to be abased. He is to lose that crown. Judah has been "high," while Israel has been "low," lo, these many years without a king (Hos. 3:4). The Pharez line has been "high" the Zarah line has been "low."
I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it and it shall be no more until he come whose right it is." What was to be overturned? The diadem, and the throne. Not once. It is to be overturned three times. Overturned by abasing Zedekiah, the House of Judah, the Pharez line and exhalting, now , the House of Israel, and one of the Zarah line! The first of the three overturns was accomplishes the first half of Jeremiah's commission.
"And it shall be no more. " Does this mean the throne — the crown — is to cease to exist? Not at all! How could it be overturned three time — that is, TRANSFERRED FROM ONE TO ANOTHER, IF IT CEASED TO EXIT? How, after these three transfers of the crown, could it be given to him — Christ — whose right it is, at His second coming, if it ceased altogether to exist? How could he who was "low" be now exalted by the crown, if that crown was to be no more? No, the meaning is , "It shall be no more overturned until the Second Coming of Christ!" And then it shall be once again overturned, and given to Him! God will not break his unalterable promise made to David! Thru every generation David shall have a descendant wearing that crown! The SECOND half of Jeremiah's commission must now be performed. That throne must be transplanted and again BUILDED. The crown must be overturned — transferred to another!
But WHERE? To WHOM?
A "Riddle" and a "Parable" Tells!
The strange TRUTH of the PLANTING and the REBUILDING of David's throne is revealed in a "riddle and a parable," couched in symbolic language never understood until this latter day. Yet it stands, today, so clearly explained a little child could understand!
It fills the 17th chapter of Ezekiel's prophecy. The whole chapter should be carefully read. Notice, first, this prophetic message is addressed, NOT to Judah, the Jews, but to the House of Israel. It is a Message to give light to the lost Ten - Tribed House of ISRAEL in these latter days!
First, Ezekiel is told to speak a riddle, and then a parable. The riddle is found in verses 3 to 10. Then, beginning verse11, the Eternal explains its meaning.
"Say now to the rebellious house," God says, — the "rebellious house" being Ten — Tribed ISRAEL (Ezek. 12:9), to whom Ezekiel is set a prophet (Ezek. 2:3; 3:1, etc.), "Know ye not what these things mean? tell them... " and then the riddle is clearly explained. A great eagle came to Lebanon and took the highest branch of the cedar. This is explained to represent King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who came to Jerusalem, and took captive the king of Judah. The cropping off of the cedar's young twigs and carrying them to a land of traffic is explained to picture the captivity of the king's sons. "He took also of the seed of the land ,"means Nebuchadnezzar took also of the people, and the mighty of the land of Judah. "He set it as a willow tree. And it grew, and became a spreading vine of low stature," means the Jews were given a covenant whereby, altho they were ruled over by the Chaldeans, they might live in peace and grow. The other "great eagle" is explained to represent Pharoah of Egypt.
Thus the riddle covers the FIRST half of Jeremiah's commission. Now notice what is revealed concerning the SECOND part — the PLANTING of David's throne!
It comes in the parable, verses 22-24. "Thus saith the Lord God; I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar." From God's own explanation we have learned that the cedar tree represents the nation of Judah; its highest branch is Judah's king. The riddle told us Nebucbadnezzar took the highest branch — the King. The parable now tells us God — not Nebuchadnezzar, but God, will take of the highest branch. Not the branch, but OF the branch — of Zedekiah's children. But Nebuchadnezzar took, and killed, all his SONS.
God, thru his prophet Jeremiah, is now going to take OF this highest branch, and "SET IT." (Verse 22)
"I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and will plant it upon a high mountain and eminent," continues the Almighty! Ah! "A tender young twig!" The twigs of this highest branch represent the children of King Zedekiah! Certainly a tender young twig, then, represents a DAUGHTER!
"... and will PLANT it." Could symbolic language say plainer this young Jewish Princess is to become the royal seed for PLANTING again of David's throne? Where?
"... upon a high mountain and eminent," says the Eternal! A "mountain" in symbol always represents a NATION. But WHICH nation?
"In the mountain of the height of ISRAEL will I plant it," answers the Eternal! David's throne now is to be planted in ISRAEL, after being thrown down from JUDAH! Could language be PLAINER?
"... and it (the tender young twig — the king's daughter) shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar:" Did David's throne cease with Zedekiah of Judah? Did God forget His covenant? NO! Compare this language with the passage in Isaiah 37: 31-32: "the remnant that escaped of the House of Judah shall again take root downward (be planted) and BEAR FRUIT UPWARD." It was PLANTED in ISRAEL, who removed from Judah! After this Hebrew Princess is "planted" on the throne, now in ISRAEL — lost from view — that throne is to BEAR FRUIT. She is to marry, have children, and her sons are to continue David's dynasty!
"... and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell." (Verse 23). "Lost" Israel, now having acquired the throne and become again a self — ruling nation, shall, in time, spread around the earth gaining dominance and power. They shall inherit the unconditional promises of the BIRTHRIGHT, according to God's covenant with Abraham!
"And all the trees of the field" (verse 24). A "tree" in this riddle and parable is likened to a nation. In other words, "All the nations of the earth."
"... shall know that I the Lord have brought down the high tree." Judah, the high tree, having the throne 130 years after Israel had been taken captive, now is brought down to the low stature of slavery.
"... have exalted the low tree." For 130 years Israel had been a "low tree." Now Israel is exalted, becomes again a nation with a king.
"... have dried up the green tree" — JUDAH, " and have made the dry tree to flourish." ISRAEL, headed by the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, who possessed the BIRTHRIGHT, now shall flourish, become prosperous in due time. "I the Lord have spoken and have done it." Yes, that BIRTHRIGHT is in ISRAEL. The LOST, tho supposed to be a Gentile nation, they are the people who were to grow into the promised multitude — the great nation, and the company of nations, possessing the gates of their enemy nations, becoming a colonizing people spreading around the world, being blessed with national resources and wealth. And, when they become thus powerful and nationally dominant, remember David's throne will be found transplanted among them!
But WHERE did Jeremiah, with his royal seed for the transplanting, go to find the lost House of Israel? WHERE are they today? HOW was the "breach" healed, and how did a son of Zarah ascend the throne? Can we tell?
We CAN! The exact, precise location is revealed in Bible prophecy! We can pick up Jeremiah's trail in actual history, besides!
PART FIVE
Israel's New Land
We are ready, now, to search out the actual location of the lost tribes of the outcast House of Israel. We know they exist today as a nation, and a company of nations, powerful, looked upon as Gentiles. And when we find them, we shall find a king, still today occupying the throne of David!
Many passages of prophecy tell of these people in these latter days. Prophecies not to be understood until this "time of the end." Prophecies containing a Message to be carried to these people by those to whom God reveals it!
First it is necessary to fix in mind these facts:
The prophet Amos wrote, in the days of the 13th of the 19 kings of the House of Israel, (Amos 1:1): "Behold the eyes of the Lord are upon the sinful kingdom (House of Israel — Judah had not yet sinned), and I will destroy it (the kingdom, or government, not the people) from off the face of the earth. For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the House of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth." (Amos 9:8-9).
This prophecy usually is applied to the scattered condition of the Jews. But it has nothing to do with the Jews, or House of JUDAH, but refers to the ten tribed House of ISRAEL — driven to Assyrian captivity, then migrating from there and scattering among other nations BEFORE the Jews were taken to Babylon. This prophecy says that ISRAEL, (not Judah), was to be sifted among other nations — these Israelites losing their identy — yet God has protected and kept them — "not the least grain shall fall upon the earth."
It was during this time that the children of the House of Israel were to "abide many days without a king" — (Hos. 3: 4). That these people did sift thru all nations is clear. Many New Testament passages indicate this. Although many of them still were scattered among various nations in the first century, A.D., a portion of them had become established in a definite location of their own by Jeremiah's time — 140 years after their original captivity.
But these Israelites who possessed the Birthright eventually were to come to a new land of their own. The Eternal says, in II Samuel 7:10, and I Chron. 17: 9: "Moreover, I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will PLANT 11IEM," (Jeremiah was commissioned to do the PLANTING of the throne among them.) "that they may dwell in a place of their own and move no more." The context of the whole passage shows this refers, not to Palestine, but a different land where these scattered Israelites were to gather, after being removed from the promised land of Palestine, and while that land was lying idle and in possession of the Gentiles.
Notice carefully! After being removed from Palestine, being sifted among all nations, abiding many days without a king, losing their identity, they are to be "planted" in a far — away strange land now to become their own. And, NOTE IT! — after reaching this place, they are to move no more! That is, of course, during this present world.
While other prophecies indicate these Birthright holders were to become a colonizing people, spreading around the world, it is plain that the spreading out must be from this appointed place, which must remain the "home" seat of government for David's throne.
Mark this clearly! Once this "place of their own" was reached, and the throne of David planted there, THEY WERE TO MOVE NO MORE. Therefore, the location of this people TODAY is the place where Jeremiah planted David's throne more than 2500 years ago!
Therefore prophecies pertaining to this day, or to the location of this people just prior to Christ's return, will tell us the location of Jeremiah's planting. The House of Israel is yet to return, at Christ's coming, to Palestine — yet to plant grapes in Samaria their original country. Prophecies telling where they shall, in that future day, migrate FROM, will reveal the location of "lost" ten-tribed ISRAEL! The two succeeding "overturns" of the throne, too, must be located in this same place.
Lost ISRAEL Located
Without further suspense, let us see where prophecy locates these Birthright holders, now possessing the throne of David and earth's richest national blessings.
Remember they are distinguished from Judah — the Jews — by various names, "Ephraim," "Joseph," "Jacob," "Rachel," (the mother of Joseph), Samaria, (the former home) "Israel."
According to Hosea 12:1, "Ephraim followeth after the east wind." An "east wind" travels west. Ephraim must have gone west from Assyria.
When the Eternal swore to David to perpetuate his throne, He said: "I will set his hand (sceptre) in the sea." (Psalm 89: 25). The throne is to be "set," planted, "in the sea."
Thru Jeremiah the Eternal said: "Backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah. Go and proclaim these words toward the NORTH and say, Return thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord." (Jer. 3:11-12). Israel is clearly distinguished from Judah. And in these last days messengers are to go "toward the NORTH" (of Jerusalem) in order to locate lost Israel and proclaim this warning. So the location, we now find, is toward the north, also west, and in the sea.
The 18th verse, same chapter, says: "In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, (margin, to the House of Israel), and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers." At the future Exodus, at Christ's coming, they are to return to Palestine out of the land of the NORTH!
After saying, "How shall I give thee up, Ephraim?" the Eternal, speaking thru Hosea, says: "then the children shall tremble from the WEST." (Hos. 11:8,10).
Again: "Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth." (Jer. 31:8). This prophecy is for consideration in the "latter days" (Jer. 30:24; 31:1), and is addressed to "Israel," (verses 2, 4, 9,) to "Ephraim," (verses 6, 9,) and "Samaria," (verse 5). Here is added another hint — "the coasts of the earth" — evidently they are dominant at sea.
Referring to the House of ISRAEL (not Judah) in Isaiah 49:3,6, God says: "Behold these shall come from far: and lo, these from the NORTH and from the WEST; and these from the land of Sinim." (lsa. 49: 12). In the Hebrew, the language in which this was originally inspired, there is no word for "NORTHWEST," but this term is designated by the phrase, " the north and the west." It means, literally, the NORTHWEST! The Vulgate renders "Sinim" as Australi," or "Australia." So we now have the location NORTHWEST of JERUSALEM!
Hence, Israel of TODAY — Israel of the day of Jeremiah's "planting" of David's throne — is located specifically as NORTHWEST of JERUSALEM, and IN THE SEA!
Let us locate this land more specifically!
The same 49th chapter of Isaiah begins with this: "Listen, O Isles, unto me." The people addressed, Israel, are called "O Isles" in the first verse and "O Israel" in the third verse
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The 31st chapter of Jeremiah, locating Israel in the "north country," says: "I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first born... Hear the word of the Lord, 0h ye nations" — (Ephraim, Manasseh) — "and declare it in the isles afar off." (Jer. 31:9-10).
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Again: "Keep silence before me, 0 islands... thou, Israel, art my servant Jacob whom I have chosen." (lsa. 41: 5,8).
In Jer. 31:7, the message to be declared "in the isles afar off" (verse 10) , is to be shouted in "the CHIEF OF THE NATIONS."
So, finally, today, as in Jeremiah's day, the House of ISRAEL is IN THE ISLES, which are "in the sea," the CHIEF of the nations, NORTHWEST of Jerusalem! A coast - dwelling, and therefore sea-dominant people.
Certainly there can be no mistaking that identity!
Take a map of Europe. Lay a line due NORTHWEST of Jerusalem across the continent of Europe, until you come to the sea, and then to the islands in the sea!
This line takes you direct to the BRITISH ISLES!
PART SIX
The "Serpent's Trail"
OF PROOF that our white, English — speaking peoples today — Britain and America — are actually and truly the Birthright tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh of the "lost" House of Israel, there is so much we shall have space for but a small portion of that proof in this booklet.
A most interesting fact is the Hebrew origin of the names of the British people.
Britain's Hebrew Names
The House of Israel is the Covenant People. The Hebrew word for "covenant" is "beriyth," or "berith." After Gideon's death, Israel followed the false pagan god Baal. In Judges 8:33, and 9:4, the word "covenant" is used as a proper name coupled with the name "Baal". This is quoted in the English text, Authorized Version, without being translated, as "Baalberith," meaning (margin) "idol of the covenant."
The Hebrew for "man" is "iysh," or "ish." In the original Hebrew language vowels were never given in the spelling. So, omitting the vowel "e" from "berith," but retaining the "i" in its Anglicised form to preserve the "y" sound, we have the Anglicised Hebrew word for covenant, "Brith."
The Hebrews, however, never pronounced their "h's." A Jew, even today, in pronouncing the name "Shem," will call it "Sem." Incidentally this ancient Hebrew trait is also a modern British trait. So the Hebrew word for "covenant" would be pronounced, in its Anglicised form, as "Brit."
And the word for "Covenant man," or "covenant people," would, therefore. be simply, "BRITISH." And so Lhe true covenant people today are called the "BRITISH." And they reside in the "BRITISH ISLES!"
The House of Israel not only was to lose its identity, but its name. It was to be called by a new name, since they no longer were to know their identity as Israel, as God said plainly in Isa. 62:2, referring to these latter days.
To Abraham, God said, "In ISAAC shall thy seed be called," and this name is repeated in Rom. 9:7 and Hebrews 11:18. In Amos 7:16 they are called "The House of ISAAC."
They were descended from Isaac, and therefore are Isaac's sons. Drop the "I" from "Isaac," (vowels are not used in Hebrew spelling,) and we have the modern name, "SAAC'S SONS," or, as we spell it in shorter manner, "SAXONS!"
Dr. W. Holt Yates, Yale University, says, "The word 'Saxons' is derived from 'sons of Isaac,' by dropping the prefix 'I'. "
Dan a Serpent's Trail
As the Eternal intended that "lost" Israel was to be located and found in these last days, we should expect some kind of signs or way-marks to have been left along the trail by which ancient Israel journeyed from Assyria, the land of their original captivity.
Speaking to Ephraim (verse 20), the Eternal says in Jer. 31:21, "Set thee up way-marks, make thee high heaps; set thine heart toward the highway, even the way which thou wentest." In Scripture we find the "waymarks," or highway signs which they set up along the road they travelled.
In Gen. 49:17, Jacob, foretelling what should befall each of the tribes, says, "Dan shall be a serpent by the way." Another and better translation of the original Hebrew is: "Dan shall be a serpent's trail." It is a significant fact that the tribe of Dan, one of the Ten Tribes, named every place they went after their father, Dan.
The tribe of Dan originally occupied a strip of coast country on the Mediterranean, west of Jerusalem. "And the coast of the children of Dan," we read in Joshua 19:47, "went out too little for them: therefore the children of Dan went up to fight against Leshem, and took it,... and called Leshem DAN, after the name of Dan their father."
In Judges 18: 11-12, it is recorded that Danites took Kirjath — jearim, "and called that place Mahanehdan unto this day."
A little later the same company of 600 armed Danites came to Laish, captured it, and "they called the name of the city DAN, after the name of Dan, their father." (verse 29).
So notice how these Danites left their "serpent's trail" by the way — set up way marks by which they may be traced today.
Remember, in the Hebrew, vowels were not written. The sound of the vowels had to be supplied in speaking. Thus, the word "Dan" in its English equivalent, would be spelled, simply, "Dn." It might be pronounced as "Dan," or "Den," or "Din," or "Don," or"Dun," — and still it is the same original Hebrew name.
The tribe of Dan occupied two different districts, or provinces, in the Holy Land before the Assyrian captivity. One colony lived on the sea — coast of Palestine. They were principally seamen, and it is recorded "Dan abode in ships."
When Assyria captured Israel, these Danites struck out in their ships and sailed west through the Mediterranean, and north to Ireland. Just before his death, Moses prophesied of Dan: "Dan is a lion's whelp; he shall leap from Bashan." (Deut. 33:22). And David declared of Dan, "He breaketh ( driveth) the ships of Tarshish with an east wind." An east wind travels west. Along the shores of the Mediterranean they left their trail in "Den," "Don," and "Din." In the peninsula of Spain their "way- mark" name "Me-din-a Si-don-ia" remains to this day.
Irish annals and history show that the new settlers of Ireland, at just this time, were the "Tuatha de Danaans," which means, translated, "Tribe of Dan." And in Ireland we find they left these "way marks" : "Dans-Laugh," "Dan-Sower," "Dun-dalke," "Dun-drum," "Don-egal Bay," "Donegal-City," "Dun-glow," "Lon-don-derry," "Dingle," "Dunsmore," (meaning "more Dans") , etc.
The name "Dunn" in the Irish language means the same as "Dan" in the Hebrew: "Judge."
The Overland Trail
But the northern colony of Danites were taken to Assyria in the captivity, and thence with the rest of the Ten Tribes they traveled from Assyria by the overland route.
After leaving Assyrian captivity, they inhabited for some time the land just west of the Black Sea. This we know from the fact this land is bounded on the south by Ma-ce-don-ia and the Dar-dan-elles, and on the north by the river Dan-ube. Then we find the rivers "Dnieper, Dniester, and the Don."
Then, in either ancient or later geography, we find these "waymarks": Danau, the Dan-inn, the Dan-aster, the Dandari, the Dan-ez, and Don, the Dan, and the U-don; the Eri-don, down to the Danes, and the Scan-din-navians."Denmark" means "Dan's Mark."
When they came to the British Isles, they set up the "waymark" names of Dundee, Dun-kirk, Dun-bar, Dunraven, in Scotland, and E-din-burgh is its capital. The British capital is London, and the Dans, Dons, and Duns are as prolific as in Ireland. And so the "serpent's trail" of Dan sets up waymarks that lead directly to the British Isles!
Ancient Annals of Ireland
Now briefly let us consider what is found in the ancient annals, legends, and history of Ireland, and we shall have the scene of Jeremiah's "planting," and the present location of "lost" Israel.
The real ancient history of Ireland is rather vague, now colored with some legend. But with the facts of Biblical history and prophecy in mind, one can easily sift out the legend from the true history in studying ancient Irish annals. Throwing out that which is obviously legendary, we glean from various histories of Ireland the following:
About, and prior to 700 B.C., a strong colony called "Tuatha de Danaan" (tribe of Dan) arrived in ships, drove out other tribes, and settled there.
Later, about 580 B.C., (date of Jeremiah's transplanting), an elderly white — haired patriarch, sometimes referred to as a "saint," came to the most northern province of Ireland, Ulster. With him was the princess daughter of an eastern king and a companion called "Simon Brach," spelled in different histories as "Breck," "Berech," "Brach," "Berach," etc. The princess had a Hebrew name "Tephi," — a pet — name, her full name being "Tea - Tephi."
This royal party brought with them some remarkable things, including the harp, an ark, and a wonderful stone called "Lia - Fail," or "stone of destiny." A peculiar coincidence (?) is that Hebrew reads from right to left, while English reads from left to right. Read this name either way — and it still is "La - fail."
Another strange coincidence — or is it just coincidence? — is that many kings in the history of Ireland, Scotland, and England has been coronated sitting over this stone, — including the present queen. The. stone rests, today, in Westminster Abbey in London, and the Coronation Chair is built over and around it. A sign beside it labels it "Jacob's pillar — stone." (Gen. 28:18.)
The Hebrew princess was married to a young prince named Herremon, after which he became King Herremon, of ancient Ireland. The son of this king and Hebrew princess continued on the throne of Ireland, and this same dynasty continued, unbroken; through all the kings of Ireland; was overturned and transplanted again in Scotland; again overturned and moved to London, England, where this same dynasty continues today in the reign of Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain!
The crown worn by King Herremon and the sovreigns of ancient Ireland had TWELVE POINTS!
Queen Elizabeth on David's Throne
In view of the linking together of Biblical history, prophecy, and Irish history, can anyone deny that this Hebrew princess was the daughter of King Zedekiah of Judah, and therefore heir to the throne of David? — That the aged patriarch was in fact Jeremiah, and his companion Jeremiah's scribe, or secretary, Baruch? — And that King Herremon was a decendant of Zara, here married to the daughter 'of Pharez, healing the ancient breach? — That when the throne of David was first overturned by Jeremiah, it was RE - PLANTED in Ireland, later overturned a second time and replanted in Scotland, overturned a third time and planted in London, from where it cannot be overturned or moved again UNTIL THE COMING OF CHRIST, when it once again shall be overturned and transplanted back in Jerusalem?
The Royal Family of the British Commonwealth possesses a chart showing its ancestry, every generation, back to Herremon and Tephi, to Zedekiah, on back to David, and thru the scriptural genealogy clear to Adam! The writer has a copy of this chart, and also his own genealogy for each generation back into the line of ancient British kings, and therefore has the complete record of his genealogy thru the House of David clear to Adam — believe it or not!
David's Throne Still Lives
When Christ returns to earth to sit on that throne, He shall take over a LIVE, existing throne, not a non-existant one.
God's Word still stands! Almighty God has kept all His promises!
PART SEVEN
THE MOST overwhelming modern fulfillment of Bible prophecy, in proof of Divine origin and inspiration, is the sudden sprouting forth of two nations — or, more properly, of a "nation," and "company of nations" — from comparative obscurity to positions of world dominance, unprecedented wealth and power, during the past 150 years.
Withheld 2520 Years
In the 26th chapter of Leviticus, Israel (then one nation of 12 tribes) was given the promise from the Eternal that if they followed His civil statutes, obeyed His Commandments and ordinances, they should immediately INHERIT the vast national promises of the Birthright. God promised to bless their land — give them rain — make them wealthy and prosperous. They were to become so powerful they could defeat every enemy — five of them chase a hundred; a hundred of them put ten thousand to flight.
But, beginning verse 14, if they disobeyed, God warned them they would become the slaves of other nations and go into national punishment — the Birthright blessings being withheld for a duration of 2520 long years! (verses 18, 21, 24, 28). For a while the Israelites went God's way — but not long. Soon they were adopting the customs and ways of the gentile nations around them. After Solomon's death Israel rejected her king, and Judah split off from Israel in loyalty to King Rehoboam, thus splitting the twelve tribes into two nations.
The House of Israel sinned first. And after nine dynasties beginning with Jeroboam, and the reigns of 19 kings (not David's dynasty, which was now in Judah), Israel was uprooted from its homeland of Samaria, and taken captive to Assyria. Then, in the year 721 B. C., began the 2520 long years of national banishment from the Birthright inheritance.
It must be emphasized that the Birthright promises, to be fulfilled only in Ephraim and Manasseh, could not be inherited until the end of their '2520 years' national punishment. By this 2520 year punishment, God punished the people for their sins, yet kept His promises to Abraham. The promises, then, must be fulfilled only AFTER the duration of this punishment. The House of Israel went into Assyrian captivity in 721 B. C. Therefore it could not come into the vast national wealth and resources of the Birthright until the period beginning 2520 years later, or 1800 A.D.
The "NATION," and "COMPANY of NATIONS"
Notice again the original promise: "A nation, and a company of nations shall be of thee." (Gen. 35: 9-12.)
Remember, in passing on the Birthright the dying Jacob (Israel) said of Ephraim and Manasseh, sons of Joseph, "let my name be named on them." (Gen. 48:16). Hence it is THEY, not the Jews, who rightfully own the name "House of ISRAEL."
Continuing, Jacob added, "and let them grow into a multitude."
Then, speaking of Manasseh and his descendants alone, Jacob said prophetically: "he also shall become a people (nation) , and he also shall be GREAT but truly his younger brother (Ephraim) shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a MULTITUDE (a company, or COMMONWEALTH) of NATIONS." (Gen. 48: 19).
In 1800 A.D. the United Kingdom and the United States were small and insignificant among the earth's nations. The United Kingdom consisted only of the British Isles, a very small part of India and of Canada and a few little islands. The United States consisted only of the original 13 colonies and three added states. Neither possessed any great wealth or power.
But beginning in 1800 these two little nations began to sprout and to grow into vast national riches and power such as no people ever grew. Soon the United States grew into the GREATEST single nation on earth. Britain's empire spread around the world, until the sun never sets upon her possessions. Canada, Australia, South Africa, were given dominion status — made free and independent nations ruling themselves independent of England — a company, or commonwealth of nations joined together, not by legal government, but solely by the throne of David!
And the British Commonwealth of Nations is the only COMPANY OF NATIONS in all earth's history. Could we so exactly fulfill the specifications of the Birthright, and not be the birthright people?
The United States Is Manasseh
Some will say, "I can believe that the British are Ephraim, but how can the United States be Manasseh?"
From the prophetic blessings passed on by the dying Jacob, it is apparent that Ephraim and Manasseh were in a large measure, to inherit the Birthright jointly; to remain together for a long time, finally separating. In Genesis 48 Jacob first passed the Birthright on to the two sons of Joseph jointly, speaking of them both together. Then, finally, he spoke of them separately — Manasseh was to become the single GREAT nation, Ephraim the COMPANY of nations.
And in his prophecy for these latter days Jacob said, "Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall." (Gen. 49:22). In other words, Joseph — Ephraim and Manasseh jointly and together — was to be a colonizing people in this latter day, their colonies branching out from the British Isles around the earth. Our people have fulfilled this prophecy.
Now turn again to the 49th chapter of Isaiah. It is addressed ( v. 1), "O Isles," and (v. 3), "O Israel." Begin now with the 19th verse: "Thy waste and thy desolate places and the land of thy destruction, shall even now be too narrow (crowded) by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up (Assyria) shall be far away." This is the time when they were to colonize and branch out — long after they had left, and now far away from Assyria.
"The children thou shalt have (colonies) after thou hast lost the other, (13 colonies which became the U. S. A.), shall say again in thine ears, The place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell." (20th verse).
Notice Israel in the Isles, far from Assyria, loses her first colony, and then her other children expand and colonize AFTER she has lost her first people. The first colony which she "lost" — which separated from her — as Manasseh was finally to separate from Ephraim — was called "NEW England," and now the United States. Together Ephraim and Manasseh grew into a multitude, then separated, according to Jacob's prophetic blessing of Genesis 48.
But, so many ask, how can we be Manasseh when a large part of our people have come from many nations besides England? The answer is this: A large part of Manasseh remained with Ephraim until the separation of NEW England. But our forefathers were to be sifted thru many nations, as corn thru a sieve, yet not a grain to fall to the earth, or be lost. (Amos 9: 9). Our people did filter thru many nations. Ephraim and much of Manasseh finally immigrated to England together, but many others of Manasseh who had filered into and thru other nations did not leave them until they came, as immigrants, to the United States AFTER the New England colony had become the separate nation. This does not mean that all foreigners who have immigrated into this country are of the stock of Manasseh, but undoubtedly many are. Israel, however, always did absorb Gentiles, who became Israelites thru living in Israel's land and intermarrying.
Thus we have become known as the "melting pot" of the world. Instead of refuting our Manasseh ancestry, this fact actually confirms it.
The proof that we are Manasseh is overwhelming. Manasseh was to separate from Ephraim and become the greatest, wealthiest single nation of earth's history. We alone have fulfilled this prophecy. Manasseh was, in fact a thirteenth tribe. There were twelve original tribes. Joseph was one of these twelve. But when Joseph divided into TWO tribes and Manasseh separated into an independent nation, it became a thirteenth tribe. It started with thirteen colonies.
But what about the other tribes of the so-called "Lost Ten Tribes"?
While the Birthright was Joseph's, and its blessings have come to the British Commonwealth of Nations and the United States of America, yet the other eight tribes of the House of Israel were also God's chosen people, and to a considerable extent to share in the material blessings.
We lack space for a detailed explanation of the specific identity of all these other tribes in the nations of our twentieth century.
Suffice it to say here, that there is ample evidence that these other eight tribes have descended into such northwestern European nations as Holland, Belgium, Denmark, Northern France, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and at least portions of western Germany. The people of Iceland are also of Viking stock.
The political boundaries of Europe, as they exist today, do not necessarily show lines of division between descendants of these original tribes of Israel.
The Birthright WEALTH
Read again the prophetic promises of Genesis 22:17, and 24:60. Since the Birthright pertains to NATIONS, the "GATE" of our enemies would be such passes as Gibraltar, Suez, Singapore, Panama Canal, etc. Britain and America came into possession of every such major "gate" m this world! So we MUST be modem Israel. World War II hinged on these "gates." They have become not only strategic passes, but the world's greatest fortifications.
Notice Genesis 39:3-23: "The Etemal was with Joseph, and he was a PROSPEROUS man... The Etemal was with him, and that which he did the Etemal made to PROSPER." And God has continued to be with, and to PROSPER Joseph through us, his descendants.
Consider now Moses' dying, prophetic blessing, foretelling what would happen to each of the tribes in these latter days.
"And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the Lord be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that croucheth beneath, and for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon, and for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills, and for the precious things of the earth and the fullness thereof,... let the blessings come upon the head of Joseph (Ephraim and Manasseh both)... His glory is like the firstling (first-horn-birthright holder) of the bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns (Great Britain's national seal today): with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten, thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh." (Deut. 33: 13-17).
Whoever is Ephraim and Manasseh today must be in possession of the earth's choicest agricultural, mineral, and other wealth — the great gold and silver mines; iron, oil, and coal, timber and other resources.
What nations fulfill these prophecies? Why, only Great Britain and America!
More than half of all tillable, cultivatable temperate — zone lands of this earth are in the possession of our two gret powers alone! The rich agricultural lands of the Mississippi Valley; the vast wheat and grain fields of the Northwest, of Canada and Australia; the great forest lands of the Pacific Northwest and many other parts of the world; the gold fields of South Africa, Australia, Alaska and the United States; the great coal mines of the United States and British Isles; the natural waterfalls and means of power and motivation, and consequent prosperous industrial and manufacturing districts of England and eastem United States; the choicest fruit lands of our Pacific Coast and Florida. What other nations combined ever possessed such material wealth?
And nearly all this wealth has come to us since 1800 A. D!
The Actual Statistics [from 1980 Edition]
Just to what extent has Almighty God fulfilled His promises in us to the descendants of Joseph in these latter years since A.D. 1800 — promises of "the precious fruits brought forth by the sun ... the chief things of the ancient mountains ... and the precious things of the earth"?
Said Charles M. Schwab, steel magnate, before the Massachusetts Bankers Association, January 5, 1921: "Our United States has been endowed by God with everything to make it and keep it the foremost industrial and commercial nation of the world."
World petroleum output in 1950 was almost 3,800 million barrels. Of this total the United States alone produced more than one-half — nearly 52%. Together, the British Commonwealth and the United States produced 60% of the crude petroleum, not including our vast foreign investments. But by 1966 — the fateful year in which the British Colonial Office in London closed its doors, marking the official death of the British Empire — that 60% of all the world's crude petroleum output had been reduced to 32%.
Britain and America mined 1 1/2 times as much coal as all other nations combined. But by 1966 our portion had shrunk to less than one-third of the world production — 30.9%!
Together, the British Commonwealth and America produced, in 1950, three-fourths of the world's steel — the United States alone producing almost 60% or 105,200,000 short tons in 1951. We produced 1 1/3 times as much pig iron as all other nations combined.
By 1966, this basic index of wealth had skidded down to one - third (33.6%) of steel production and only 17.8% (one-sixth) of the pig iron.
We possessed nearly 95% of the world's nickel (chiefly from Canada); 80% of the world's aluminum; 75% of the zinc. But where did we rate in 1966? Only 3.6% of the world's nickel; 40.2% of its aluminum (aluminium); 12.4% of its zinc.
In 1950, the British Commonwealth completely dominated the production of chromite (from South Africa). Together Britain and America produced two-thirds of the world's rubber, and dominated the world's copper, lead, tin, bauxite and other precious metal outputs. But by 1966, we produced only 2.3% of the world's chromite, 23.4% of its copper, 9.9% of its lead, no tin, and 6.3% of its bauxite.
The British Commonwealth produced two-thirds of the world's gold — about 266,000,000 British pounds ($642 million) in 1950 — while the United States had three times as much gold reserve as the total for the rest of the world. But by 1966 the U.S. gold supply had been drained so much that the dollar was in serious jeopardy.
We produced and utilized two-thirds of the world's output of electricity — the United States producing 283 thousand million kilowatt-hours in 1948, and the United Kingdom and Canada outstripping Russia, Germany and France combined. But by 1966 we produced only 20.1%!
Great Britain and the United States did possess well over half of the world's merchant fleet tonnage. But by 1966 the figure was only 32.5%. The British Isles constructed more vessels than any other place on earth. But less than two decades later two or three Gentile nations had already outstripped Britain and America. In 1950, we also possessed about one-half of the world's railroad mileage. By 1966 our combined railway freight shipping was only 26% of the world total.
Whereas the United States alone once produced 73% of the automobiles, by 1966 the U.S. combined with the U.K. produced 55% — 44% from the U.S. alone. Japan, Germany, France, and Italy are making huge gains.
How Did We Get It?
Now how did we come into possession of all this vast wealth of the earth? Did we acquire it thru our own human wisdom, forsight, energy, ability and power?
Let Abraham Lincoln answer:
"We find ourselves," he said, "in the peaceful possession of the fairest portion of the earth, as regards fertility of soil, extent of territory, and salubrity of climate... We... find ourselves the legal inheritors of these fundamental blessings. We toiled not in the acquirement or the establishment of them."
Again, in his proclamation of April 30, 1863, for a nation-wide day of fasting and prayer, this great president said: "It is the duty of nations, as well as of men, to own their defendence upon the overruling power o God... and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord:... We have been the recipients of the choicest blessings of heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation ever has grown; BUT WE HAVE FORGOTTEN GOD! We have forgotten the gracious Hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own."
And because Lincoln saw a nation who had forgotten God, — a nation drunk with a success not due to its own efforts — a nation taking all the credit and glory to itself, this great president called upon the nation for a day of FASTING and PRAYER to confess this national sin before God. The fate of the nation hung in the balance when he issued that proclamation. But God heard and answered that great national PRAYER OFFENSIVE — and the nation was preserved!
Abraham Lincoln KNEW these great material blessings had not been earned, but had been GIVEN to our people by the GOD of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel.
And we should face the facts today and KNOW that we have been given all this vast unprecedented material wealth because God PROMISED it, unconditionally, to ABRAHAM. And He promised it to Abraham BECAUSE ABRAHAM OBEYED GOD, KEPT GOD'S LAWS AND COMMANDMENTS.
The Birthright blessing was denied our forefathers after Moses' day because they REFUSED to live by God's laws and ways.
And today God warns us, through many prophecies in Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Micah, and many others, that unless we of this generation REPENT of our sins, and turn to Him with fastings, and with weeping, and earnest PRAYER, He will destroy our cities, all our fortresses, by the hand of the foreign sword; that He will punish us at the hand of a CRUEL ONE; that we shall be invaded, defeated, reduced to SLAVES! GOD HELP OUR NATIONS TO HEED THAT WARNING!
In conclusion, we ask: If we are not national Israel — so called "lost" Ten Tribes — prosperous Joseph — Israel — Birthright Israel — actual inheritors of the Birthright blessings which were to be bestowed beginning 1800 A. D., then WHO ELSE CAN BE?
No other nation or combination of nations do or can possess these blessings of the Birthright — for we hold more than two thirds — nearly three fourths — of all the raw materials, resources, and wealth of this entire round earth, and all other nations combined share among them only a small part.
Do you know of stronger proof of the divine inspiration of the Holy Bible as the revealed Word of the living God? Could mortal men have written, without divine inspiration, those prophecies we have considered in this booklet — made those PROMISES to Joseph — Israel, and, after a lapse of 2520 years, beginning the exact year of 1800, have had power to bring them about in fulfillment? These are no small or trifling promises. They involve possession of the great wealth and vast natural resources of the whole earth on which we live!
Present these facts as a challenge to your atheist and agnostic friends. Ask them to answer, if they can, whether any but the power of the Etemal CREATOR Himself could have made and had committed to writing such promises thousands of years ago, and, at precisely the promised time thousands of years later, brought about their fulfillment!
How any American — any English — speaking inheritor of God's choicest material blessings — can, in face of such stupendous overwhelming fulfillment of prophecy — such awe — inspiring demonstration of the power and might and faithfulness of Almighty God — accept and partake of these blessings, and then carelessly ignore God's WARNING that our sins today are INCREASING, or fail to get to his knees before the great Almighty, and repent, and INTERCEDE in heart — rending PRAYER for all Israelite nations, and HELP in every way he can to warn our people now of their impending PERIL, seems impossible to conceive.
God warns us thru prophecy that our sins are fast increasing. And now the day of RECKONING is here! The foreign sword already has attacked us. In this fearful awe-some atomic age, World War III will start with atomic bombs dropped on London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, New York, Washington, Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, Pittsburgh, without warning!
God HELP our nations to wake up before it's too late!
Yes, we are God's chosen people ISRAEL! Think what that means! Chosen, not for favors while we defy our God, but chosen for SERVICE we have failed to perform.
We should shout for joy at the discovery of our true identity — and we should be brought to REPENT — and to TURN TO GOD — and to get back of this crusade by radio and by printed word to WARN our people, and to call upon God in REAL HEART-RENDING PRAYER for Divine deliverance.
Published By Radio Church of God — 1954 — "Actual Statistics" from 1980 Edition
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