IS BRITISH ISRAEL TOO MATERIALISTIC?
OVER the years, the British Israel movement has been accused of being too materialistic and even on a par with the Herrenvolk theory. If it were, I certainly would not be a part of it!
The accusation comes from a complete misunderstanding of God and His plan to redeem and save His Creation. A lot of well meaning Christians don’t even realise that He does have a plan. They completely disregard all the references in the Word of God to the physical fact of Creation and Israel, the fact that our Lord Jesus became physical in order to buy back His kingdom, which He never said was only spiritual.
Jesus answered:
“Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” – (JOHN 3:5 {AV})
That is physical and spiritual birth.
I can’t help wondering why they will not accept God at His word. What kind of faith is it that says “Oh yes I believe
in God, but I don’t believe what He said and did.”
If our God is not interested in this material/physical world, why did He create it? Why did He give us very physical laws by which to live in order that we may be healthy and materially provided for? Why did He give us very physical things such as Baptism and The Last supper? Why did He heal people and even bring them back from the dead, if He is not interested in this material world?
“… looking forward to Jesus, the Leader and Trainer of our faith …“ – (HEBREWS 12:2 {Ferrar Fenton version})
This world, this life, is a training ground for the greater world and kingdom to come, which at least in its early stages will be physical, (the thousand year reign), whilst the world is re-learning how to live by His Law. He created us in His image and likeness and gave us free will so that we may choose the good over evil to learn something about God Himself. He gave us physical things that we could understand, to point us in the right direction. That is why the Christ, was manifested in physical form in Jesus, as it is impossible at this stage for us to behold God in His natural state, which we know is Spirit.
Some say that the Identity teaching detracts from the essential message of Jesus and what He taught. But on the contrary, having a knowledge of where the House of Israel is today and who Israel really is, opens up a lot of what Jesus said, which is otherwise obscure: such as the Parable of the Buried Treasure and the term the Lost Sheep of the House of Israel. Jesus said the kingdom would be taken away from the Jews (House of Judah) in Palestine at that time and given to a Nation, not a church,
a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And since God has not dealt with any other nation in the same way as He has with Israel, He says so:
(PSALM 147:19, 20) – “To Jacob, He uttered His word; So, Israel, hear His Decrees; To all Nations, He did not thus; His decisions He taught not to them.” – (Ferrar Fenton.)
He will not deal with any except they come into contact with Israel, that nation bringing forth the fruits who must be Israel.
Knowing the Identity shows that God does indeed have a plan and that He is working that plan out. It will have a conclusion and that conclusion will be spiritual yes, but also physical.
My love of the Lord has only deepened with the understanding of the Full Gospel of the Kingdom, which is what the Identity is. Jesus said that we are in the world but not of it when we become Christians. That doesn’t mean that suddenly nothing in this world matters, it means that we now have extra power to deal with and cope with this material world. It doesn’t mean we are
never going to be ill or have accidents or tragedies to go through, but that we have an extra source of strength when we need it most. This sounds to me as if the physical world is very important to God and should not be considered worthless to Christians.
The teaching should not be judged by those who may get a little bogged down with the here and now to the exclusion of their spirituality, we all do that from time to time. The Identity movement is basically sound. I have met some wonderful Christian people within the fellowship. In fact for me the Identity groups have taken over from the Church of England, which has become so apostate that I had to stop attending. There was a time when one could go to any C of E church and feel at home because one knew the service; so could join inimmediately. But now, well I spend half the service trying to find which book they are using, then which Bible, and the other half trying to find which page I am supposed to be on! This does not help one’s spiritual karma and sounds very materialistic to me.
I admit that some Identity believers do have an over materialistic view of things. But I believe they are in the minority and the Truth should not be judged by them. There have been those who thought, during the Empire days that the British Empire was the Kingdom of God on Earth and this has lead to a lot of suspicion and criticism.
In fact in this day of the falling away from the Faith, we in the Identity movement speak of the Celto-Anglo-Saxon and kindred peoples as forming the nucleus of the Kingdom being the descendants of scattered Israel. This Kingdom is a servant nation, not a super race to dominate the rest of the world. It’s destiny God is to show the world how He demands we live. Not us, but God Himself.
There are rules, physical and material but also spiritual. For now the two go together, which makes it doubly hard for us to deal with. I understand people not liking what Identity believers say, for one thing it means we have a responsibility, it means we must do something. It is much easier to spiritualise Christianity altogether, because then no one can prove you are lying, or what
you really believe. (God can of course, but that’s a matter between Him and you.) I hear people say Christianity or religion is personal. Well other religions may be, but you know Christianity actually isn’t.
Oh yes there is the personal repentance and acknowledging the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour. But after that, it gets very public! We then as Christians have the responsibility and duty to proclaim the glorious Gospel, of what? OF THE KINGDOM! And that Kingdom has not changed from when it was first instituted at Mount Sinai although it is expanding to include all who will accept the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour no matter what their race.
Again, there are those who insist that the Kingdom is exclusive to ethnic Israel. My understanding of God’s Word says that just isn’t so. For, if we are to be witnesses, as the Bible tells us we are, to whom are we witnessing and why? To the rest of the World just to say, “Look what we’ve got, you can’t come in!” That sounds like the Lord is a very mean God and not the one I recognise.
No, we are witnesses to the rest of the World to show the wonderful things of God, that He is a God who loves us. As our Heavenly Father, He has provided for us in every need in this physical life. Look at the LAW laid out in Exodus and Deuteronomy to see this. Indeed He tells us so in MATTHEW 6:8. Check LEVITICUS 26 for some very physical blessings and warnings of chastisement in obeying or disobeying the law of the land!
“Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.” – (MATTHEW 6:8 {AV})
He is talking about clothes and food, AND THEY ARE MATERIAL! He is telling us not to worry about these things as He knows we need them and will provide them.
Of course there is a spiritual side to all this and without it the physical is just literally that, and will fade away when we die and that’s it! But is it? I cannot prove anything to you, and yet the proof is all around us. In nature, in incidents that happen to us all throughout our lives. We need to study the Word of God for ourselves, not just relying on the minister at our local church, because quite frankly he may not know enough to be able to show you the right way in which to go. Just because he has a dog collar doesn’t make him right all the time.
The Holy Spirit Himself tells us He will teach us if we will listen and every one of us can do that.
“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.” – (JOHN 16:13 {AV})
And again:
“But the Comforter, which Is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” – (JOHN 14:26 {AV})
He gave us very physical laws by which to live in order that we may be healthy, and materially provided for. Why would He do this if this material life was not important?
Identity believers are not the only ones who can become too concerned with this world. In fact I would say that today the Churches are far too concerned with this world to the neglect of their spiritual responsibilities. But I suspect it is easier to do a good deed, which can be seen, rather than to spend an hour or more on one’s knees in private (when no one knows) praying for all the ills and evils of the world to a God who to many does not exist as a personal God anyway that can be approached for help and understanding with this material world.
This is the problem, if the shepherds don’t believe how can they teach the sheep? And so we see religion these days as nothing better than glorified social workers and “do gooders”. So obviously people are going to say the Church has nothing more to offer if we are all doing the same thing.
The Identity, contrary to what some think is very spiritual. The Identity teaches us that God not only exists but that He has a plan and is working that plan out. Everything that has to be done is done in God’s good time, “at the appointed time” and nothing happens that He has not intended or allowed through His permissive will. The Identity shows us that we come from God, created by Him, not having evolved from a single cell by accident, that He interacts with us, if we let Him, and that the ultimate purpose of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him for ever. These are spiritual and physical things which cannot be separated. He made us physical beings in a physical world but without a spiritual life, this world has no meaning or purpose;
the two must go together for complete fulfilment.
I sometimes wonder what is must be like to believe that this life, this world is all there is – eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die! I cannot imagine a more desolate soul than one who really thinks that this is all there is. I have been fortunate in that all my life I have believed there is more beyond this physical world. Coming into the Identity teaching has only deepened my convictions. It has shown me a more personal Jesus and a more loving Father Creator God than I ever thought possible. And so I would say to anyone who dares to bring this charge of British Israel being too materialistic, you have no idea what you are talking about!
