The Secret History of Two House Doctrine

Introduction: A recent article said the following-

There is a growing movement making inroads amongst Protestant churches and Christian homes called the “Hebrew Roots”. Akin to the Seventh Day Adventists and the Jehovah’s Witnesses, it teaches in fringe studies a salvation based on keeping the Torah where one sleeps through an afterlife until bodies are physically resurrected. The Hebrew Roots movement appeals to Christians who are drawn to studying Israel and the Jews, so much that they are swayed to believe they are Jewish! Taking Scriptures out of context, the movement bases itself an array of unique interpretations for Scripture, making for a new “Jew”, one that was formerly known as “Christian.” [i]

Like many commentators on “Hebrew Roots” this author senses –correctly- that there is linkage between Seventh Day Adventism (SDA) and the conglomeration of allegedly protestant judiasers known as “Hebrew Roots Movement”(HRM). While in no way denigrating the scholarship of this author- among others- the evidence supports the thesis that HRM is simply SDA by other means, that most HRM promoters are either denominationally SDA or of any of several SDA splinter groups. There is also evidence that at least some HRM promoters have received financial, material or organizational support from the SDA organization at some point in their careers.

However just as some HRM promoters have endorsed “soul sleep”- a uniquely SDA doctrine- as the above author later noted- SDA has in fact promoted the hallmark HRM doctrine, “Two House”, (also known as “Two Sticks” “Christian Idenity” or “House of Ephraim”) long before the Hebrew Roots Movement existed. HRM operatives characteristically promote Two House doctrine without footnotes, references or attribution. So if they are unique men of God as they all claim- then we are expected to take seriously the implied claim that they all were moved of God –independently mind you- an argument made previously by Ellen G. White in the 1880’s. Using the same terminology, and the same verses used out of context as proof texts, we are also expected to take seriously that these self-proclaimed prophets were given heavenly license to massively plagiarize previous texts on these subjects. Those familiar with SDA will have some knowledge of E.G. White’s plagurazations of biblical proportions and the subsequent lame excuses and lame spiritualizations of said excuses by SDA leadership since…

Above Scripture: Ellen G. White

No knowledge of SDA is complete without extensive biographical knowledge of E.G White. By way of introduction, SDA is today is almost exactly what E.G. White made it. It is exclusionist (The One True Church) with an emphasis on Old Testament legalism, which they DO consider necessary for salvation (although this intermittently denied, at other times they are confrontational about it). And in like manner SDA per White has post-tribulationist eschatology, which again it is openly confrontational. Numerous clear statements of the bible are arbitrarily allegorized, as in denying that Jesus was born of a virgin and in the denial of a literal hell. E.G. White was nontrinitarian, as are all HRM promoters. SDA only adopted the trinity as official doctrine in the 1980’s with extreme reluctance, (more than sixty years after the death of E.G. White) and is rarely taught in SDA fellowships.

E.G. White was a prominent 19^th century false prophet who predicted the return of Jesus in 1843, 1844, 1845, 1850, 1851and 1915. There are 39 documented cases of E.G. White uttering false prophecies and more are certainly to be found if White’s writings to be surveyed further. This tradition is continued by HRM teachers. Michael Rood, for example, has predicted the return of Jesus in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003. As one wag put it, the official HRM prophecy policy is if at first you don’t succeed, Fail! Fail Again!

E.G. White was a teenager in an Adventist church known for rather Pentecostal manifestations when she claimed to have a vision of God. In a rather out of body experience she was shown all “four moons of Jupiter” (later changed to eight). She got the number wrong, twice, but no matter, it suitably impressed a wealthy sea captain in the fellowship, whose donation was sought after at the time, and whose consuming hobby was astronomy.

Miss Harmon began a slow climb up the church hierarchy, aided by numerous visions. She later married Mr. White, a very prominent Adventist elder. They were known to be a dour couple, minutes of Adventist meetings reveal the participation of Mr. White largely limited to railing against individuals in the church hierarchy. Many of Mrs. White’s visions were happily of a content to humble various Adventists, mostly individuals Mr. White had previously mentioned…

Mrs. White’s personality quirks were legion. Alternative health ideas were much the rage in the late 19^th century; Mrs. White promoted them in a big way- nor did she see the need to keep such claims separate from church doctrine. Her promotion of vegetarianism was such that to this day two food companies exist to cater to Adventists who believe that they will go straight to hell if they ever eat meat. This in spite of the fact that Mrs. White’s personal correspondence –and numerous first-hand testimonies- reveal her quite anxious to obtain fresh meat in quantity for her own table. She was in particular known for her craving for fried chicken. Needless to say, the Adventist confession of faith says nothing about vegetarianism, and nothing is said about Mrs. White’s chronic obesity revealing her a hungry hypocrite.

Mrs. White’s correspondence spends much time bemoaning the penury working in the ministry, but alas the penury had it limits, as the numerous photos of the couple display numerous outfits of formal attire. The residence in the background is sumptuously decorated. They traveled overseas to fashionable destinations with balmy climate for years at a time when the relative cost of such travel was substantially more than it is today.

In like manner, nothing is said in the Adventist confession about observing a Saturday Sabbath being necessary for salvation. Yet no more repetitive claim ever issued from the lips of E.G. White whose lips positively smacked in anticipation of you being sent to hell for your not doing so. Certainly the idea had been floating around Adventist circles earlier, as evidenced by Independent Adventist churches who observe Saturday but whom in no way accept the infallible prophetess status of E.G. White. It comes as no surprise that the SDA organization today is not particularly forthcoming about just how divisive the prophetess claim was at the time. Nor is this basic article of SDA faith mentioned in the Adventist statement of Faith.

Suffice it to say that Mrs. White, who had an extremely rudimentary education, was not intellectually equipped to evaluate her famous, indeed signature, theological claim. Nor apparently are her followers since. As 1^st Timothy 1 says of judiazers:

They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.

How do I know, by using the Bible of course. The true Sabbath, it is rarely on our calendar Saturday. Because- surprise! Surprise! That’s the Gregorian calendar nowhere mentioned in the bible! Even Michael Rood, who claims to have an “amended and corrected” Hebrew Calendar, never turns his attention to the simple fact that the true Hebrew Sabbath- on the biblical calendar- falls on our Saturday no more than 15% of the time. Nor do the actual Jews of the western world, who understand the practical chaos such biblical observance. Hence observing Sabbath on our Saturday in no way constitutes obedience to the law.

Gal 2:16 not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.

Gal 3:11 clearly no one is justified before God by the law,E.G. White spent much time fervently excoriating spiritism, i.e. a familiar spirit. At that time spiritism was a byword for what is now known as the New Age. In this an issue must be raised, for scholarly papers have noted that E.G. White consistently used Freemasonry terminology and concepts, indicating that she extensively read- and accepted- such literature. Such literature is known to promote a novo ordo seculorum-widely mistranslated as new world order. Actually, according to Casell’s Latin Dictionary, ordo is not order but age. Hence it is properly translated New Age, Secular.Mrs. White’s theology neatly fits into the secularity of this concept in as much as she consistently denied Christ, conforming to the Adventist claim that Jesus was really the archangel Michael.

In like manner, Mrs. White quietly admitted that she had a familiar spirit. The many visions were attended by the appearance of a person, who never identified himself. This is in marked difference to biblical appearances, where even lesser angels at least identified themselves as angels. Thus like Mohammed before her, E.G. White markedly wandered in the identification of her familiar spirit. In her early years, she referred to him as “the young man”, in her middle years she referred to him as “the angel” by which she meant Christ/Michael, and in her latter years she referred to him as the “Spirit of Elijah”. As one cult researcher put it, the “Spirit of Elijah has deep meaning to Adventists”. You bet. Predictably, the “Spirit of Elijah” makes frequent appearances in the teachings of Hebraic Roots Teachers.

Lev 20:27 A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them.

I rather doubt that Mrs. White, who spent her career promoting Old Testament legalism, would care to have had this verse enforced in her personal presence. Today, Mrs. White visions are referred to by Adventists as the “Three Angels Messages”, supposing that the young man, the angel, and the Spirit of Elijah are all different angels.

Predictably, devotion to the Three Angels Messages is nowhere mentioned in the Adventist confession of faith. Yet it absolutely defines Adventism. A recent brochure I obtained regarding the Adventist radio station network, Three Angels Broadcasting Network (3ABN). The program manager, whose photo is displayed on the front cover, affirmed his mission as “spreading the Three Angels Messages”. Whatever that is, it is not the gospel of Christ; there is no possibility of that. To be sure, such Adventists trot out the proof text of Rev. 16:6-12.

Wikipaedia said the following:

Three flames symbolizing the Holy Spirit are unbiblical, but that never stops Adventists. Wikipaedia continued:

Public VS Secret Doctrine

In the 1950s, a prominent professor of New Testament, Donald Grey Barnhose, together with graduate student Walter Martin, wrote a letter to the leadership of the SDA organization, asking to clarify what their doctrine was. It is clear by this very act that Barnhouse and Martin were entirely unaware of SDA’s bitter hatred and pronounced damnation to hell of all other Church organizations, and their continual fulminations of mainstream believers as having received the mark of the beast, and therefore unsaveable. The letter in reply was a paraphrase of the Nicean creed and mild-mannered exceedingly. No mention was made of any unique doctrines. Barnhouse and Martin concluded that the Seventh Day Adventists were a mainstream church. What they did not know was that production of letter very nearly created a palace revolt. The staff at world headquarters thought the leadership had gone apostate.

Doctrinal errors such as annihilationism, no hell, no virgin birth, denial of Christ, no substitonary atonement on the cross, soul sleep, misgenation race theory, 1844 investigative judgment, human self-perfectionism, Saturday Sabbath salvation, and many others reveal a deep hostility to the bible. Simply put, it was regarded by White as an assortment of verses to be pulled out of context for the most fanciful of interpretations. White was firm her denial of Christ:

"Wherefore the CHILDREN OF ISRAEL SHALL KEEP THE SABBATH, to observe the Sabbath throughout THEIR generations. It is a SIGN BETWEEN ME AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL." (Ex. 31:16,17).

"Speak thou also unto the CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, saying, Verily my SABBATHS YE SHALL KEEP: For it is a SIGN BETWEEN ME AND YOU." (Ex. 31:13).

"Moreover also I (God) gave them (Israel) my Sabbaths, to be a SIGN BETWEEN ME AND THEM." (Ezek. 20:12).

It is interesting that ancient rabbis advocated the death penalty for gentiles who kept the Sabbath. Needless to say, this ancient piece of rabbinical wisdom you are not likely hear from your Hebraic Roots Savant any time soon.

Advent of British Israelism

To understand how SDA originated “Two House” theology, one must first realize first and foremost that E.G. White was anything but an original thinker. All of “her” ideas, from soul sleep to Saturday Sabbath observance, were standard faire of at least a significant fraction of the Adventist movement at the time, and as such she was a populizer of such trends, not an originator. Secondly it must be understood that they were adopted piecemeal, or at very most for motives current then. The derivation of Two House from then-available Adventist fringe theology components for motives current in the mid-1880’s, when Mrs. White derived it, is a complex but easily supported chain of events.

In like manner, no knowledge of “Two House” is complete without some knowledge of its rather infamous predecessor British Israelism. Cult scholars agree that “Two House” is little more than a terminology repackaging of British Israelism. This is also now the official position of genuine Hebraic messianic groups such as the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America (MJAA), the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations (UMJC), and the International Messianic Jewish Alliance (IMJA).[i][i]

British Israelism is a classic ten lost tribe’s theory, much like Mormon founder Joseph Smith’s fanciful identification of the American Indians as the ten lost tribes, and about as well supported. Nevertheless we are told to focus on millions of lost “Israelites” on various continents descended from the scattered Northern Kingdom of Israel/Ephraim that was taken into Assyrian exile in 721 B.C.E. and after that, to imagine that we are the descendants of those missing Jews. Hence WE have title to the land of Israel.

As such, British Israelism functions as kind of spiritual identity theft. And as Dave Hunt of the Berean Call has noted, it is the most perniciously anti-Semitic of all cult doctrines, even as it professes great love for all things Jewish. It views Israel now in the land as 10/12ths incomplete, if not an outright fraud. Needless to say, it has spawned numerous armed supremacy groups, such as the Branch Davidians, who regarded themselves as the true Seventh Day Adventists. (And you wondered by what flight of fancy “David Koresh” claimed descendency from King David.)

One wonders how this can be supported with evidence. It is easier than you think, if one is wiling to be not too scrupulous with context. All languages on earth are related. For example the word for Korean for moon is moon. The word for mouse in Persian (Farsi) is mousche. Hence, having determined by their psychic power that 10/12ths of Jews are now English speaking gentiles, all one needs to do is promote links between Hebrew and English and quietly discard the tens of thousands of links to still other languages.

Scotsman John Wilson, who in 1840 published his theories in Our Israelitish Origins, is generally looked upon as the founder of the British Israelites. His appearance of scholarship and his oratorical abilities were enough to sell his notion to the public. Wilson was by no means the first to make the British-Israelite identification. The idea had been floating among eccentric British Mystics for some time.[ii][ii]

The basics of British Israelite theology are quite simple, although a working knowledge of the Old Testament is required to trace the intricacies of the logic. The basic premise is that Israel and Judah were two entities, the former comprising the northern 10 tribes, and the latter the two southern ones after 922 B.C.E. Members of the northern kingdom, after being freed from captivity, wandered into Europe and settled in northwest Europe, Scandinavia, and the British Isles. Jeremiah, the prophet, is believed to have transported Tea-Tephi, the daughter of King Zedekiah, to Ireland to marry Prince Herremon, thus continuing Israel’s royal lineage. James I was the first descendant of this union to reign in London.

Different countries of Europe are to be identified with the different tribes; Britain and the United States are descendants of Joseph’s two sons Ephraim and Manasseh, and, as such, are particularly blessed (Genesis 48). The tribe of Dan has, in fulfillment of prophecy (Genesis 49:17), left numerous signposts of its tribal meanderings–Dan River, Denmark, Danube River, and others. From this basic theology, other observations are made in correlating biblical quotes with isolated facts of archaeology, legendary materials, history, and philology. Wilson was the first to note the supposed correlation between the Hebrew word for covenant, "brith," and "Britain." The Stone of Scone is believed to have been from the throne in Jerusalem, brought to Ireland by Jeremiah. (Actually, it was quarried in Scotland.)

An Adventist author wrote the following:

“Adventists who refuse to assume the Jewish connection of the Sabbath have suggested instead a number of options: the Sabbath has come to them, not from the Jews, but from a “spiritual remnant” which survived throughout the ages; Adventists who consider themselves as the heirs of this remnant do not owe the Sabbath to the “rejected”Jews but rather to these faithful Christians.”[iii][iii]

It is ironic that the author can only mention British Israelism as some variant opinion of some (unnamed) Adventists, as if such a thing can occur in SDA without the suffrage of the SDA leadership, or contrary to the teachings of E.G. White. Neither is possible, and likewise its absence from the Adventist Confession of Faith is hardly surprising.

But Herbert W. Armstrong, who would go on to form the major Adventist splinter group, in 1929 stated the following: I am returning from the Arkansas[Adventist] conference… and have just finished the manuscript on the Third Angel’s Message and British Israel…. [iv][iv] Armstrong subsequently wrote an entire book on the third angel’s message, which was of course about British Israelism.

Adventist founder William Miller encouraged his followers to read British books on biblical prophecy. It seems there was some communication between American Millerites and various British prophecy buffs. Thus, Millerism helped set the stage for the introduction of Anglo-Israelism into the United States. That would explain how Adventist George Storrs, a former Millerite, came to recommend Our Israelitish Origins. It may also be one reason why the book sold so well in this country.

After the Great Disappointment, i.e. Miller’s failed prophecy, George Storrs continued working for the Adventist cause. Storrs’ most important contribution to Adventism came the day he started teaching that the dead were unconscious. Storrs believed the dead are not in heaven, nor are they in hell. They are asleep in their graves. People, he said, do not have immortal souls. They must be given eternal life through Jesus Christ at the resurrection of the saints.

In 1863 he helped found the smallest of the Adventist bodies, the Sunday-observing Life and Advent Union. In 1964 the Life and Advent Union merged with the larger Advent Christian Church. Although the Life and Advent Union represented an extremely small branch of Adventism, Storrs’ influence far exceeded its meager numbers. Every branch of Adventism, including the Seventh-day Adventists, the Church of God (Seventh Day), Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Worldwide Church of God owe their doctrines of conditional immortality (soul sleep) to him.

Because of Storrs’ widespread influence, a recommendation by him of Our Israelitish Origins would have spread Anglo-Israelism among American Adventists. One can be reasonably certain that if George Storrs recommended a book, then others would have read it. One who may have followed Storrs’ alleged recommendation was the evangelist R.V. Lyon. Lyon believed Ezekiel 37:15–28 to be an important restorationist prophecy. It speaks of the reunification of Judah and Israel, and how they are again to be ruled by one king.

Accompanying Ezekiel’s message of doom is one of hope. In chapter 20 Ezekiel proclaims God as Israel’s king (20:33). As savior, God will deliver them from their tribulation. He will bring them within the bond of the covenant (v. 37). The nation will revive within this renewed relationship (vv. 40-44). In chapter 37 Ezekiel prophesies that God will revive Israel, a people described as dead dry bones lying in an open field. God will place his spirit within them, giving them life (Ezekiel 37:13–4).

Lyon, having started typologically, then applied a literalist hermeneutic to every other part of Ezekiel 37. So, although David was understood typologically, the reunification of Israel that David would bring about was thought to be literal. Lyon did not explain how he justified his inconsistency.

In his discussion, Lyon ignored the early chapters of Ezekiel, which speak of Israelites and Jews as already dwelling together (see Ezekiel chapters 3-4, 8-11). Missing also was Jesus’ claim that the Jews were "the lost sheep of the House of Israel" (Matthew 15:24). For Jesus, "House of Israel" and "Jews" were synonymous. Finally, Lyon did not discuss the New Testament’s witness that God has already made the new covenant with spiritual Israel — the church (Luke 22:20; 1 Corinthians 11:25; 2 Corinthians 3:6; Hebrews 8:6). Lyon argued that the church must look beyond the Jews to find Israel today. Yet to the question, Where is Israel today? Lyon offered no answer. Lyon cuddled up to Anglo-Israelism, but apparently did not embrace it.

Though not widely known among the general public, Lyon and his prophetic doctrines were known and welcomed among Adventists.[v][v]

Shortly after taking over an Adventist Church periodical, Advent and Sabbath Advocate, a Jacob Brinkerhoff reprinted Lyon’s tract about Israel. Though the question, Where are the lost tribes? Remained unanswered, it was not long before some Sabbatarian Adventists thought they knew the answer. In 1884 the paper reported that a Brother Ellsworth believed in Anglo-Israelism and had converted several to it. This is the earliest known statement unambiguously showing that some Sabbatarian Adventists had accepted Anglo-Israelism, though as we pointed out earlier, the belief had entered the Millerite movement in England before 1845.

At this point, we must point out that Mrs. White had unlimited confidence in Miller, despite his failed prophecy of 1844 for the return of Jesus. Likewise, she had not been shy about plagiarizing George Storrs conditional state of the dead, i.e. soul sleep. R.V. Lyon’s interpretation of Ezekiel has long since been SDA faire, and has since been replicated in books by Eddie Chumney other HRM savants.

The timing was provocative. E.G. White had her 28^th angel vision (now known as the third Elijah message, or simply THE Elijah message) in 1886 or so, when Jacob Brinkerhoff’s articles were still on the coffee table. Having painted herself into a corner over not observing Saturday rest being the Mark of the Beast, and now fielding much un-wanted questions as why the Old Testament specifies 7^th day Sabbath for the Jews and Jews alone, the outcome was a forgone conclusion. Although then focusing on Elijah, she now needed a portal to Ezekiel. It was not hard to find:

Mal 4:5-6: 5 "See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. 6 He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse." NIV

This was made to order for E.G. White reinterpretation; strike the land with a curse is obviously post-tribulationism. Mrs. White’s own familiar spirit was Elijah before the great and dreadful day. (Mrs. White may have changed the declared the identification of the familiar spirit shortly before for just this contingency.) And thus turning the hearts becomes the public realization that British Israelism is true. Add a suitable additions in interpreting the two sticks in Ezekiel 37 and you have Two House theology complete and entire.

A website called “Two-House News Network” (THNN) has taken umbrage at something called “The Ephraimite Error” white paper. This theological position paper is a co-production of the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America (MJAA) and the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations (UMJC), under the auspices of the International Messianic Jewish Alliance (IMJA). The white paper is an analysis of the Two-House (Two Sticks) teaching and basically says that it is in error, flawed, and even heretical. This august panel of genuine Hebraic scholars also identified the theology of Two House as British Israelism.

The Two House News Network website replied by stating the following:

They add: “The Two-House teaching, when compared to other doctrines and teachings of our faith, is relatively new”. As usual, no mention of when or where exactly this comes from. Strangely, the article, as we have seen, blandly rejects all Christianity and Judaism combined, yet it spends most of it’s time caterwauling how their unique, and recent, beliefs can’t get a fair hearing among same. Here as elsewhere, HRM is double-minded exceedingly. But very much one in mind with SDA. Now the THNN website has freely admitted that their religion is Christless, the bible is an unreliable document, and denies the beliefs of messianic Jews and orthodox Jews both, to boot. The remnant exclusivitism of E.G. White is now coming back to the surface.

“we advocate a belief in the reunion of all Israel, and a return of all Believers to the truths of God’s Torah and their Hebraic Roots” Note: since in Two House all elect of God are Jews genetically and nothing else, Hebraic Roots has by definition nothing to do with a better understanding of God’s word, as has been so often been claimed. They are now admitting that they have been liars and are on record that they have another gospel. Strangely, I recall a book somewhere that ALL LIARS will burn in a lake of fire. Hows that for Torah Observance!

Batya Batya Wootten and Marshall, a.k.a. Moshe, Koniuchowsky

Wootten gives contradictory claims as to how all believing Christians throughout history could be physically descended from the ancient northern Israelite exiles. At times, they argue that all people on earth are physically descended from Israel. At other times, they concede that there may indeed be "perhaps some true Gentiles" among the believers. Or call believing followers of Yeshua "another ‘sect’ of Judaism," without any explanation as to how they can be a sect of Judaism and not Jews!

Wootten further confuses things by declaring that Gentiles become Ephraimites only at the moment when they become "grafted in" to the olive tree of Israel and no sooner. Thus we see wild contradictions in the effort to explain how non-Jewish Christians today can be natural descendants of ancient Israelites.

Finally, Wootten protests repeatedly that their claims to Israelite heritage are physical and are not spiritual. Yet, the basis for their claims are often wholly subjective — when "you knew in your ‘knower,’" as Wootten claims. She cannot have it both ways. Either it is physical or it is spiritual. Wootten makes both contentions, but ultimately she rejects the spiritual angle and bases her argument on physical, race-based claims.

I will list several parallels that are striking in their agreement. Both groups (Anglo-Israelites and Ephraimites) build their theories on the mythic story of the ten "lost tribes" of the northern kingdom. Both groups put great store by suspect and contrived etymologies of English words based on Hebrew. Both groups claim pre-eminent, "first-born" status as purported heirs of Ephraim. Both share an innate hostility toward Roman Catholicism and Judaism. Both proclaim that the teaching they propound is a "mystery" revealed only through their teachers. Both argue that the lost tribes migrated to areas where they eventually became known as Saxons. Both groups make mention of the nobility of Anglo-Saxons as evidence for their biblical, Israelite heritage.

Wootten’s and Koniuchowsky’s words elicit the gravest concern in the images they construct for the future. For along with their claims to be physical Israel, they expect someday to wield territorial control over 10/12th of the ancient tribal boundaries of Israel. They create an "enemy" that includes Jews now living in regions once occupied by the ancient tribal groups, which, they contend, now belong to the Ephraimites. For the Palestinians they expect total eradication. In the pages of both Wootten’s and Koniuchowsky’s writings lies a strong assumption, sometimes stated implicitly, sometimes explicitly, that the land belongs to them (along with the Jewish people, whose portion, they contend, should be limited to 2/12ths of Israel’s territory). For the "Two House" proponents, the land of Israel is "their land”. Traditionally, Anglo-Israelite thinking has also included an expectation that the land would be theirs as physical Israel.[vii][i]

Bill Jacobson

His website purpose is "Introducing Seventh Day Adventists to the Original Hebraic Roots of Their Faith." Jacobson is a second generation Seventh Day Adventist and his wife is a third generation SDA. He believes that Messianism and YAHwism is compatible with SDA. His website is to help SDA’s get back to their Hebrew Roots and also remain in the SDA faith.[viii][ii]

Bill Cloud

For over three years, Bill served as chief researcher, writer and publications director for Perry Stone, another two house teacher; Bill’s ministry training is otherwise apocryphal. Bill claims great faculty in Hebrew, but unable to spell Hebrew names correctly. He will not disclose denominational background, also great friends with Eddie Chumney, another two house teacher. Denies any distinction between Church and Israel, and falsely claims some Old Testament prophets were Gentiles. Recently gave a talk at Koinonia Institute conference that constituted two-house pre-evangelism.

Brad Scott

Scott gives the impression, that there are over twenty-three thousand verses in the Old Testament that contain teaching on the word “repent,” and that all modern lexicons ignore this “teaching.” The fact is, there is only a handful of Old Testament verses that use the verb “repent,” or its noun form “repentance,” and not one of them supports Scott’s definition.

Brad Scott plays a “shell game” with the Hebrew words. He declares by fiat that the Hebrew equivalent of the Greek word “metanoew” (repent) is the Hebrew word, “shoov” (Strong’s #7725). He offers not one shred of linguistic or historical evidence in support of this claim, which is THE fundamental premise of his entire series of articles on repentance. While it is true that “shoov” (or “shoob”) does mean “return” in many cases, it does not always. Strong’s Hebrew lexicon states this very clearly.

Scott’s claim that his perverted “repentance” (return to the Law of Moses) is essential to salvation puts him and his movement in the same camp as the ancient Judaizers who “troubled” and “unsettled” the Gentile believers. Paul called that message “another gospel” and told the Galatians that those who embraced it were “estranged from Christ” and “fallen from grace” (Gal. 5:4).[ix][iii]

Eddie Chumney

Known for his book “Restoring the Two Houses of Israel” which has standard SDA artwork on the front cover. This book is widely used to teach Sunday school in SDA churches. The terminology and arguments used therein used displays considerable familiarity with the writings of E. G. White. Chumney will not disclose his denomational background.

Michael Rood

Rood’s ministry instability is infamous. He currently operates his ministry as a for-profit business rather than submit to a board of directors- even one composed of close friends.

Rood denies that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and actively seeks to turn Christians away from their faith. He uses certain titles like "Messianic" to lure folks into listening to him, – but he is not a Christian, he is not a Messianic Jew, and he is not Jewish. He is no scholar, either. Rood used to be a big-wig in The Way International (founder Victor Wierwille). This infamous 1960’s sex cult is for the most part an offshoot of Armstrong’s World Wide Church of God. As such, the baseline theology is SDA.

Some ex-Wayers have stated that Wierwille and other Way leaders taught that the Holocaust was a myth concocted by the Jews. Wierwille also taught that "Jews are actually an impostor tribe from Siberia, not the Bible’s chosen people." Wierville had an exceedingly high opinion of Yassir Arafat. The Way International also denied that Jesus was God. Weirville taught that the Old and New Testaments were originally written in Aramaic, Rood now claims the entire bible was written in Hebrew, again without evidence. The acorn has not fallen far from the tree. Rood has admitted that he has no ministry training outside of The Way, and claims it was still a great move of God.

As a result, Michael Rood claims to be living as a Torah Observant Levite, although he is not Jewish, nor of the Levitical lineage. Nonetheless Michael believes he can act as a Levite Priest. Given claimed belief in anglo-israelism, it is easy for him to imagine he has this license, an in like manner his bible reading has never gotten as far as the full-blooded Jewish king who was struck down with leprosy for acting as a Levite.

Rood’s overarching argument is basically this: the NT and Christianity were hopelessly corrupted by paganism. From there, He mostly rehashes Dan Brown’s claims in The Da Vinci Code. Rood even makes the wildly inaccurate claim that the Greeks “called all their gods, from Adonis to Zeus, Christos” (p. 76), while in reality, in the Greek, Gentile world, christos as word was very obscure, so much so that it often mistaken for a proper name. [x][iv]

Conclusion

First, the point needs to be made that Two-House is anti-historical. Recent archaeological discovery of cuneiform documents regarding Assyrian exile in 721 B.C.E., enumerate less than 28,000 deportees, at time when Israel “Ephraim” had a population in excess of two million. Hence there were never ten lost tribes. The book of Acts and John’s letters both mentioned the ten tribes as still being in the land. Thus Two-House (British Israelism) is anachronistic nonsense.

Eastern European Jews, for example, are far more genetically similar to North African and Middle Eastern Jews than to non-Jewish eastern Europeans, while Jews in Russia are six times more genetically distinct from Russians than Russians are from Germans. MacDonald also reveals that although there are some slight differences between Ashkenazic (eastern European) and Sephardic (Mediterranean) Jews, all the Jewish populations of the world essentially constitute a single genetic population.[xi][v]

Genetic researchers Sachs and Bat-Miriam discovered amazing similarity between the Jewish populations of nine countries of North Africa, the Middle East, and Central Europe. Conversely, they found sharp differences between Jews and non-Jews from those same countries. In studying blood group data, Mourant, Kopec, and Domaniewska-Sobczak wrote in a book called The Genetics of the Jews that it may be said that, in general, blood group data … support the relative homogeneity of the main historical Jewish communities.

Another study compared modern Jews and those of 3,000-yearold Jewish skeletons discovered in the Middle East. Sofaer, Smith, and Kaye studied dental morphology from Morocco, Kurdish Iraq, and Eastern European countries. They found more likeness between the widely scattered Jewish populations than for the Gentile groups living near them. The ancient Jewish skeletal group turned out to be far more similar to the three Jewish populations than for every non-Jewish group studied except for one, an Arab Druse group from the 11th century.

Another statistical genetics study, of European Caucasians in the U.S. stated that “Using a principal components analysis, we found that the individuals with full Jewish ancestry formed a clearly distinct cluster from those individuals with no [known] Jewish ancestry. Using the position on the first principal component axis, every single individual with self-reported full Jewish ancestry had a higher score than any individual with no (known) Jewish ancestry.[xii][vi]

As such the claims of “Two Sticks”/“Two House”/British Israelism are revealed as simply the pseudo-Historical nonsense that it always was. Even Klu Klux Klan racist David Duke admits that the gene evidence is conclusive and that Racist groups who go for Anglo-Israelism are basing their claims on quicksand.

HRM has little theological function than to promote Two-House and any other wacknut idea that strikes the various promoters as a potential profit center. That most HRM promoters habitually refuse to disclose their denominational background or the exact nature of their theology training ought to seen as a warning sign. Although HRM operatives claim that they have great fluency in Hebrew, their inability to spell Hebrew proper names correctly is somewhat suspicious…

Whether Two-House is SDA or not makes little difference in the broader theological perspective. The Denial of Christ, the Old Testament legalism, and the deliberate mucking-up of distinctions between Israel and the Church are the same in any case. However, the numerous theological links, sameness of terminology, same proof texts, organizational links, and other connections, combined with the simple fact that HRM and Two-House in no way predates SDA, places an excessive strain on credulity.

One need to keep in mind that Revelation 2 speaks of those “the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not”. Here from Jesus’ own testimony is the firm statement that the church age will be marked by false claims to Jewish ancestry, inspired by Satan himself. The key word is Blasfhmi (Strong’s 988) which means to speak evil of God. But what is missing from our use of Blasphemy is that a harangue is implied. One cannot miss the railing nature of speech from HRM teachers. And not in the Greek is an absolute negative. One should not miss that one has only two sets of genes, an allele inherited from your mother and from your father. Thus, from eight great-grandparents, you can only be descended from two.

Savants like Batya Wooton and Michael Rood simply must have prodigious amounts of psychic power to evangelize only those who have inherited a crypto-Jewish allele, despite all odds to the contrary. At that only from your mother mind you, since only that counts towards Jewish nationality. Absent such preternatural psychic power, such individuals are now demanding that people blaspheme God en masse.

2 John 9-11:9Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him. 11 Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work.

 

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