Anglo-Israel Alliance: Our Mission
The Anglo-Israel or British-Israel mission is to encourage faith in the Bible and an impetus toward being used of God in fulfilling the prophetic promises. Our story is below!
WHO WE ARE
The genesis of this website was the coming together of a group of Anglo-Israel believers from differing backgrounds—some of them from a Worldwide Church Of God (Dr. Herbert A. Armstrong) background, some others from different denominations—who were concerned about the way our beliefs are portrayed on the worldwide web. We all believe that this teaching is a positive message to encourage and involve people in transforming the world for good. In fact, Genesis 12: 3 says, “…in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” Yet it can truly be said that the theology of some advocates of this teaching is not a blessing to all families of the earth, but one of anger and negativism. This is not our message, nor is it the theology given us in the Scriptures to proclaim.
In recent years the internet’s opportunity for outreach has been misused by some who we feel misunderstand Scripture truths and cause people to be repelled by what they are teaching. There is a wise old saying that one should not throw out the baby with the bathwater, and it certainly applies here. The basic foundational truths of the Anglo-Israel message, listed briefly and concisely on our homepage, are Scriptural and positive. Yet when Biblical truths are turned into an excuse to engage in verbal abuse, it often results in people turning against the entire belief, including the Biblical truths at their core.
Few critics—or advocates, either, for that matter—know the history of this belief. Although few writings have survived from ancient times, there is evidence of this teaching in the early Christian centuries. In the sixth century, A.D., British cleric Gildas the Wise wrote in his “Epistle” of the English as Israel. Centuries later came one of the most important events in Anglo-Israel history: In the seventeenth century, John Sadler, advisor to Oliver Cromwell, convinced the English protector to re-admit the Jews into England by asserting that they were our Israelite brethren. Sadler explained that the English were descended from the lost Ten Tribes of Israel, to be reunited to their Judah-Jewish brethren before the return of Christ. In fact, it is probable that John Sadler believed that encouraging the reuniting of Israel’s Two Houses—Judah and Ephraim-Israel—would hasten Christ’s return. Sadler would therefore understand himself as being in a unique position to be used of God in the fulfilling of prophecy.
The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia tells us, “John Sadler, a student of Oriental literature, published in 1649 his ‘Rights of the Kingdom,’ [or Customs Of Our Ancestors], in which he endeavored to show that the constitution of England had been derived from that of Israel, and in which he implied that the English are the descendants of Israelites.” (i:316)
In his book, Rights of the Kingdom, John Sadler says, “Abraham the High Father, had two sons in special. Ishmael a type of the carnal Jew… [and] Isaac (a real type of Christ) …After this shall Isaac come and seek his poor brother Ishmael…” (p.110) Sadler also compared the Christian nations to Ephraim and the Jews to Judah, and said, “Solomon did also pray that all the earth might come to know the Lord, and serve Him, as his people Israel did…And then Ephraim shall no longer envy Judah, nor Judah vex Ephraim.” (p.125) Sadler almost certainly was guided to this belief through his own study of the Scriptures, especially the important prophecy of the joining of the Two Sticks, Judah and Ephraim-Israel, as prophetically laid out in the Book of Ezekiel chapter 37.
To summarize what took place so long ago, John Sadler was a good friend and theological mentor to Oliver Cromwell, during the period of the British Commonwealth. The Jewish people had been expelled from England during the Middle Ages, and efforts to overturn that ban were unsuccessful until the time Oliver Cromwell ruled. As Lord Protector of England, Cromwell was approached on behalf of the Jewish people by a rabbi named Manasseh ben Israel. Little progress on Jewish issues was made until Sadler stepped forward on their behalf. Sadler believed that the Jewish people represented the House of Judah, and that the British were descended from the House of Israel, making the two groups brother Israelites. Sadler therefore advised Cromwell that the Jews are our Hebrew brethren. On the basis of Hebrew racial brotherhood with the English, the Jews were readmitted into England.
The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia states, “Sadler was a close friend of Oliver Cromwell…the former’s view that elements of the English population might be traced back to the Ten Tribes swayed the mind of the Protector to give a favorable reception to Manasseh ben Israel‘s plea for the readmission of the Jews.” (i:316) It is a little-known fact of history that the Anglo-Israel belief was responsible for the readmission of the Jews into England in the seventeenth century. In addition to that, Anglo-Israel Christians were the strongest friends the Jewish people ever had well into the twentieth century, as Anti-Jewish feeling was rampant in Europe for centuries. This tradition of brotherly feeling between the Two Houses of Israel, Judah and Ephraim, should definitely be built upon for the good of all.
The founders of the nineteenth century British-Israel movement were also philo-Jewish: John Wilson (1798-1870) and Edward Hine (1849-1893). The leading North American Anglo-Israel leader during this time was Dr. William Henry Poole, author of “Anglo-Israel in Nine Lessons.” His lead chapter, “The Jews” had this to say, “View the Jews, therefore, in any aspect you please, they at once arrest our attention, inspire our thoughts and command our admiration. There is no people so much talked about as the Jews…They are a mystery to us, indeed they are a mystery to themselves.” (Toronto, 1881, p.15)
How true this is even today, for one of the most talked about questions concerning them is ‘What is a Jew?’ We might add that an equal mystery of our day is the question, "Who are the Gentiles, and from where did they originate?" Even the scholars of our modern day argue whether the early European tribes originated in Scandinavia, in Central Asia, or in the Mideast. The answer to this is discussed in articles on this website.
We therefore have united under the name of the Anglo-Israel Alliance to advocate for a return to the historic teaching on this subject going back hundreds of years to its origins. For literally centuries, the Anglo-Israel believers were the best friends the Jewish people ever had. It is time to return to the historic positive thrust of this belief as based on the covenants and promises of the Holy Bible. We encourage you to tell others of this effort, and help promote this new but growing website and its teaching. Thanks for your interest and help!