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Label "Identity"A label is a descriptive or identifying word or phrase. People may say we need to avoid labels but in many ways, labels are necessary, unavoidable, and inevitable. The followers of Jesus Christ were labeled Christians: "...and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch," Acts 11:26. The label was an identifier, and it was descriptive in nature. Noah Webster defined the word Christian as "A real disciple of Christ; one who believes in the truth of the Christian religion, and studies to follow the example, and obey the precepts, of Christ; a believer in Christ who is characterized by real piety." [12] The anti-Christ Jews [13] who warred against the truth used propaganda to demonize the label Christian in the minds of the people, in order to bring about persecution of the Christians. So successful were they for a time, that the Roman government persecuted and prosecuted those who were so labeled. The following quotation from the eleventh edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica illustrates the point. Concerning persecution in the first century, the article reads, "They had already been classed as outlaws, and the name of Christian in itself entailed condemnation. There was also the question whether anyone should be punished simply for bearing the name Christian or only if he was found guilty of crimes associated with that name. Hitherto, in the case of those who were brought before him (Pliny the Younger) he had asked them three distinct times, whether they were Christians, and, if they persisted in the admission, had ordered them to be taken to be executed." [14] Labels are also applied to doctrines and newly-discovered (or rediscovered) truths. For example, the truth that God created the heavens and the earth has been labeled creationism, while the lie that an ameba crawled out of the mud and eventually evolved into a monkey and ultimately, into a man, has been labeled evolution. So today, those who believe in creationism call themselves creationists and those (including some Christians) who believe in evolution call themselves evolutionists. Today, many people--Christians and non-Christians alike--have discovered and are discovering a truth concerning the twelve tribes of Israel dispersed abroad. The truth is seen in many Bible passages. Consider the opening sentence of the book of James: "James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad, greetings." Christians in increasing numbers are coming to understand that the ten northern tribes--known as the "House of Israel"--have not gone out of existence, even though they ceased to exist as a nation about seven hundred years before Jesus Christ. In fact, Jesus himself said He came for these lost sheep! "But He answered and said I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," Matthew 15:24. Who are the people who make up the house of Israel and the twelve tribes of Israel? Some say it is the church, which they believe to be "spiritual" Israel. Some say it is the Jews; these believe the Jews are "God's chosen people." But most of those who have rationally and seriously looked into the matter from an archaeological, historical, and Biblical viewpoint have identified the twelve tribes of Israel as the Anglo-Saxon, Germanic, Celtic, Scandinavian, and kindred peoples--the peoples who comprise the white race which settled the North American continent, forming the bedrock population of the United States of America. This doctrinal belief--this newly-rediscovered truth--has been labeled "Identity," because it correctly identifies the lost sheep of the house of Israel. So just as it may be said that some Christians are "creationists" and others are "evolutionists," it may also be said some Christians are "Identity" and others are not. The term Identity may even be applied to non-Christians, just like the terms "creationist" and "evolutionist." In fact, some Jews are Identity, in that they believe the Identity truth (at least in part). Even the Jewish mayor of New York City, Ed Koch, stated his belief in Identity when, in 1987, he said, "The ten lost tribes of Israel we believe ended up in Ireland." [15] The Jewish author Harry Golden stated his belief in Identity when he wrote, "Isaiah, the prophet, wrote that the remnant of Yahweh's people would be found in the "isles of the sea.' Isn't it reasonable this remnant may be the people of the British Isles? As they made their way across Europe, they left indelible evidence of their journey... These were the fellows who emigrated to the next island and came to call themselves Scotsmen..." [16] The Identity belief has been around a long time. In 1879, the Jewish Chronicle professed it. [17] Whether the doctrine or belief labeled Identity is true or false, there is one thing which it definitely is not: the Identity belief is not a crime. It is not a crime for either the Jew or the Christian to believe in Identity, any more than it is a crime for the Jew or the Christian to believe in creationism or evolution. The Identity belief does not infringe upon anyone's life, liberty, or property. No man who chooses to believe the doctrine labeled Identity is a criminal for doing so. In like manner, believing that Jesus is the Christ does not make one a criminal, either. However, history records that, through the propaganda efforts of the early Jews, those who believed that Jesus is the Christ became criminals in the eyes of many of their countrymen.
