Our History: The Covenant Legacy

The foundational roots of our blessed heritage were firmly established at the special creation of Adam, the federal head of the race from which Israel was particularly chosen to be the Servant People of God. "This is the book of the generations of Adam . . . " begins the fifth chapter of the Bible book of Genesis, the Book of Beginnings. Adam's disobedience of God's Commandment tragically disqualified the entire race from God's favor, and yet God's plan for the Redemption of Adam's race was extended through the first Promise of The Messiah found at Genesis 3:15.

Through a successive series of Sovereign Covenants, Almighty God established a special relationship through Adam's descendants, in particular: Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob/Israel, just to name a select few.

The genealogy of Israel eventually results in the establishment of ". . . a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation . . ." (Exodus 19:6). The apostle Peter writes to our first-century AD ancestors: ". . . But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: . . ." (1 Peter 2:9)

This descendancy also resulted in the earthly appearance of Jesus Christ, "The Only-Begotten Son of God" (St. John's Gospel, especially Chapters 1 and 3). God Himself voluntarily stepped down from His Glorious Throne to become the Supreme Sacrifice for Adam's sin, completely fulfilling all of the multiple centuries of prophetic declarations concerning The Redeemer of Israel.

Although the Covenant People -- the spiritual and natural descendants of Adam, through Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob/Israel -- have largely continued in disobedience, there are those in every generation who have responded enthusiastically to the call of the Good Shepherd of Israel, the One Who came and declared ". . . I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel." (St. Matthew 15:26)

Until relatively recent times, the identification of True Israel was widely believed and taught throughout the entire western Christian world. The greatest civilizations were established in the Light of this Truth. However, beginning about the mid-1800's, this teaching has been progressively suppressed. The continuing decline of Western Christian civilization can be easily traced to the withdrawal of this body of Truth, having been largely displaced by ". . . false prophets . . ." ( St. Matthew 7:15, 24:11 & 24, St. Mark 13:22, 2 Peter 2:1 and 1 John 4:1) and ". . . cunningly devised fables . . ." (1 Peter 1:16).

What follows here is a capsule history of the founding of the British-Israel-World Federation, including a partial listing of accomplishments on behalf of Christian culture, as well as the Scriptural pillars which yet serve to uphold this vital Truth in our times:

In 1914, the thirty-fourth year of its publication, The Anglo-Israel Almanac listed details of a large number of Kingdom Identity Groups operating independently throughout the Britannic Isles and in the Overseas Dominions of Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada and in the United States of America. 

Out of these The British-Israel-World Federation was founded in 1919.  Some 80 Associations were affiliated and hundreds of individual members were enrolled.

Supported by many prominent people over the past nine decades this movement has been giving sound instruction on prophecy and related matters to the promotion of Christian-Israel teaching among the Covenant People in their great “company of nations” (Genesis 35:11). 

The objective has been, and remains, to protect them from individuals and subversive organizations trying to put an end to our Christian Constitution and Divine destiny, that of leading the nations in peace.

Although the knowledge of our Kingdom identity as Israel in the appointed British Isles (II Samuel 7:10) can be traced from earliest times, such as in the Declaration of Arbroath (1320), through the Reformation era and after, it was during the Victorian period from 1840 that the teaching began to take hold among the People of the Book, when people like John Wilson and Edward Hine became instrumental in bringing forth the “Elijah,” or Kingdom, message that was to turn the hearts of the children to the fathers, before the great and dreadful day of the Lord (Malachi 4:5-6), which Europe and the whole world was to witness from 1914 until the present time.   

The Banner of Israel, first published in 1877 by Robert Banks of Fleet Street, London, continued until its incorporation in The National Message in 1926. The National Message was first published in 1922 and continued until 1981.

These publications were made available to members of the public with a circulation in the tens of thousands.  The Federation now produces The Covenant Nations magazine, which is sent out on a free-will gift basis across the British-Israel-World, as well as other literature published by its Covenant Publishing Company. 

The Federation has had many ups and downs during its existence, particularly as the faith of many in the nation waned from the 1960s, but most important, it has survived and is now expanding again as the European Project exerts ever more pressure to the detriment of Britain’s unique Christian Constitution.

The integrity of the Covenant Nations has been undermined with the advent of globalization and multi-culturalism over the past half century.  This is leading to a materialistic and pagan world disorder which in Luke 21:25 is defined as causing the “distress of nations with perplexity” (Gk. aporia = “without a passage out”). 

Our Covenant system of government of “The Queen-in-Parliament under God” is in a state of unconstitutional eclipse to the European system which is dictated by the Will of Man, a direct product of the French Revolution.  So the present is a vital time in our history and with renewed support we can be influential in the lawful restoration of our constitutional democratic parliamentary monarchial government. 

During World Wars I and II the Federation had a large membership, with many distinguished patrons and supporters. Chief among the patrons, until her death in 1981 was HRH Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone. She was at the first Congress of The British-Israel-World Federation on 5th July, 1920 and we were honoured that her daughter, Lady May Abel Smith, continued the family link as a patron of the Federation until her own death. 

Among other notable patrons of that period were The Duke of Buccleuch Kt, The Rt. Hon. The Earl of Dysart, and The Rt. Hon. The Countess-Dowager of Radnor, The Rt. Hon. Lord Gisborough and The Rt. Hon. W F Massey, Prime Minister of New Zealand. 

The Forces of the Crown were well represented in the membership of the United Services Organization of the B.I.W.F., formed in 1931.  Included in this distinguished group were Major-General C.A. Hadfield, Col. J. Garnier RE, Col. C.E.R. Mackesy CMG, CBE, DSO, Major J.Knowles OBE, Admiral G Cuthbert Cayley C.B. and Admiral Sir Richard H Peirse KCB, KBE, MVO. 

Among Church representatives in the Federation were well-known clerics such as The Rt. Rev. Bishop Vaughan DD, The Rev. Dr. Wm. Pascoe Goard LLD, FRGS, FRES, The Rev. A.B. Grimaldi MA, The Rev. Arthur Pritchard MA, The Rev. E J Wemyss Whittaker MA and The Rev. Dinsdale T. Young DD. 

The Federation trained many of its lecturers in British Israel teaching at its National Bible College in Harrow Weald. Founded in 1932, it provided accommodation for residential students and faculty. The College lecturers included The Rev. Dr. Wm. Pascoe Goard, Dr. Courtney James, Dr. Norman James, Clifford F Parker, Rupert Thomas and the Rev. Alban Heath.  The National Bible College today is based at our Headquarters in Bishop Auckland from where it plans to re-activate in modern form. 

Without doubt, through cumulative evidence, the British peoples -- and the Anglo-Saxon, Celtic, Germanic, Scandanavian and kindred peoples, including those who colonized what has come to be known as the United States of America -- are descended from the House of Israel and a large proportion of the House of Judah and bear the marks – even in the present Age-end “time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jeremiah 30:7) – of God’s Servant People as defined in the Bible, irrespective of world Jewry, among whom we find only a residue of today’s Israel folk.  The Federation contends that the contrary view cannot be sustained. Those who maintain that the Old Testament Law and Prophets relate only to the people of the Jews contradict the words of our Lord: “Think not that I have come to destroy the law, or the prophets.  I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil … one jot or tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled” (Matthew 5:17-18).

The Law and the Prophets are to be found in the Old Testament.  The Federation upholds the Divine Law: the Commandments, the Statutes and the Judgments.  The Law of God itself is perfect (Psalm 19:7-8) and therefore cannot be the curse.  It is the penalty of the law which is the curse and which Christ paid to redeem and restore His Servant People (Galatians 3:13), that once again they might become the nation state Bride and wife of Jehovah.  This is the true Gospel (Good News) of the Kingdom of God upon Earth that constitutes the heart of British Israel teaching.  The new covenant is made with the House of Israel and with the House of Judah (Jeremiah 31:31 and Hebrews 8:8). 

English Common Law and the laws codified by Alfred the Great were based on the system of law which emanated from Jerusalem, via Greece.  The principles of these nation state laws were incorporated into the Magna Carta and later in the Declaration of Rights, the Bill of Rights and Habeas Corpus, whereas European, or Roman, Civil Law emanated from ancient Babylon, via Rome.

The British-Israel-World Federation is not and never has been a cult.  It is not an authoritarian organization, but is constituted to adduce the teaching that upholds the covenant promises of Almighty God to our forefathers.  It rejects what is known as Replacement Theology, a dogma which states that God replaced His Covenant People of ancient Israel with the Church, regardless of the fact that Israel itself was the “church in the wilderness” (Acts 7:38), the called out and separated servant nation in continuity which has formed the foundation of Western Civilization – the new “Jerusalem” the name which means “foundation of peace” or “civilization of peace.”

For additional information, documentation and details concerning our beliefs, may we suggest that you Contact Us, using the convenient link below. We also enthusiastically recommend "The Classic Series", a ten-volume collection of plainly written expositions of all the various aspects of the Biblical description and definition of Israel.