I'm amazed to still see on many so-called Christian discussion groups on the Internet dwelling on the widespread belief in "Christian Identity"; the school of thought that the physical descendants of the "Lost Ten Tribes" who were scattered after the Assyrian Conquest are still considered part of the House of Israel and that to this day, those who are of Northern European stock can still claim a birthright among God's people Israel.

   Below is a brief essay refuting this teaching. This subject has been covered
thoroughly by James Lloyd (see A Company Of Nations and Israel Inverted) time and again, but apparently people aren't listening.

   Against the Teaching of "Christian Identity" and its Lies About the Early
Church of Jesus Christ, I've tried to add below some verses that aren't often covered in this discussion, so hopefully this will still be edifying to the old members of this group as well as the new ones.

   The teachings of "Christian Identity" concerning the origin and mission of the
early church has been spread far and wide on the internet and they distort
important history about the early church that is little understood by modern
church-going Christians.

   I recently read an about the "Lost sheep of Israel" from a Christian Identity
perspective that tried to convince me that the mission of the apostles was to go
and save the "Lost Ten Tribes", who the author believes were the "lost sheep of
Israel". This is not so, but it is a complex topic that requires an
understanding of several key pieces of Israel's history that I will try to
briefly explain here:

   1) Jesus came for the lost sheep of the House of Israel, which at that time
were the remnants in Judea, not Samaria:

     a) After the Assyrian Conquest circa 720 BC the Israelites of the northern
Kingdom of Israel were cut off from the House of Israel:

"But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel . . . I
will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the
whole seed of Ephraim." - Jeremiah 7:12-15

     b) After the Babylonian exile, the exiles that returned to Jerusalem to
build the 2nd Temple, mostly members of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin as well as remnants of Asher and Levi, were the true remnant of the House of Israel, and the Bible refers to them as such in the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah (see Neh. 7:7 for example).

     c) Jesus first sent the Apostles to Judea for members of the House of Israel
and not Samaria:

"These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the
way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go
rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." - Matthew 10:5,6.

   NOTE: The Samaritans were largely made up of the physical descendants of the tribe of Ephraim, the most populous of the northern 10 tribes! The harvesting of the Gentiles (which would include physical remnants of the "Lost Ten Tribes")
was to come later, beginning during the time of the Book of Acts.

   Those of the House of Israel at the time of Messiah's ministry who made the
decision to follow Him remained part of the House of Israel, and those who
rejected Him were broken off (Rom. 11:20).

   2) After the birth of the church at Pentecost in the Book of Acts, the
Apostles were sent out to redeem and graft in the Gentiles, of which any
remnants of the physical "Lost Ten Tribes" were now a part. The church was not
built on the foundation of the physical remnants of the "Lost Ten Tribes", but
on the spiritual foundation of the Apostles and the prophets:

"Now therefore ye (the gentiles) are no more strangers and foreigners, but
fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon
the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the
chief corner stone" - Ephesians 2:19,20

   There is no verse in the Bible that indicates or implies that the physical
remnants of the "Lost Ten Tribes" have any special status or citizenship
subsequent to the Assyrian Conquest, and those who promote "Christian Identity" are simply trying to redefine who IS and IS NOT a member of the true "House of Israel", which after Jesus' resurrection is now Spiritual Israel:

   "They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God:
but the children of the promise are counted for the seed." - Romans 9:8. What
promise is this? It is the promise that was made to Abraham because of his
faith, and not his genes:

   "For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham,
or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith." -
Romans 4:13"
 

- Jeff Cross

For More On This Subject