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E. Raymond Capt (August 14, 1914-March 11, 2008 [1] ) was an archaeologist and pyramidologist. Capt was an Anglo-Israel advocate and a promoter of Christian Identity in the 1960s and 1970s. [2] His father was San Jacinto Capt.
Capt received a M.A. in Christian History and Biblical Archaeology from Covenant College in Lake Wales, Florida. [3] He was a member of the Archaeological Institute of America. [3]
Capt was an instructor at the American Institute of Theology. [4] He was on the lecturing staff of the Institute of Pyramidology of Great Britain. [4]
Using the Gimira Tablets from ancient Nineveh, Capt supported his Anglo-Israelism. [5]
Capt taught that Jesus visited Britain in his youth, along with his great uncle, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a tin merchant with a fleet traveling between Rome and England. [6] He credits Joseph of Arimathea with later bringing Christianity to England. [6]
Capt was a strong influence on Christian Identity pastor Wesley Swift, [7] as was his father, San Jacinto Capt. [8]
In a February 8, 1992 letter to the editor of the Camarillo Star, Capt wrote that, "All our laws, until recently, were based on Biblical law. Today, our legislators are legislating immorality and many Christians are unwilttingly endorsing them with their silence. It is time to speak up." [9]
The history of ancient Israel and Judah spans from the early appearance of the Israelites in Canaan's hill country during the late second millennium BCE, to the establishment and subsequent downfall of the two Israelite kingdoms in the mid-first millennium BCE. This history unfolds within the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. The earliest documented mention of "Israel" as a people appears on the Merneptah Stele, an ancient Egyptian inscription dating back to around 1208 BCE. Archaeological evidence suggests that ancient Israelite culture evolved from the pre-existing Canaanite civilization. During the Iron Age II period, two Israelite kingdoms emerged, covering much of Canaan: the Kingdom of Israel in the north and the Kingdom of Judah in the south.
Joseph of Arimathea is a Biblical figure who assumed responsibility for the burial of Jesus after his crucifixion. Three of the four canonical Gospels identify him as a member of the Sanhedrin, while the Gospel of Matthew identifies him as a rich disciple of Jesus. The historical location of Arimathea is uncertain, although it has been identified with several towns. A number of stories about him developed during the Middle Ages.
The Israelites were a Hebrew-speaking ethnoreligious group consisting of tribes that inhabited much of Canaan during the Iron Age.
British Israelism is a pseudo-historical belief that the people of Great Britain are "genetically, racially, and linguistically the direct descendants" of the Ten Lost Tribes of ancient Israel. With roots in the 16th century, British Israelism was inspired by several 19th century English writings such as John Wilson's 1840 Our Israelitish Origin. From the 1870s onward, numerous independent British Israelite organizations were set up throughout the British Empire as well as in the United States; as of the early 21st century, a number of these organizations are still active. In the United States, the idea gave rise to the Christian Identity movement.
The historicity of the Bible is the question of the Bible's relationship to history—covering not just the Bible's acceptability as history but also the ability to understand the literary forms of biblical narrative. Questions on biblical historicity are typically separated into evaluations of whether the Old Testament and Hebrew Bible accurately record the history of ancient Israel and Judah and the second Temple period, and whether the Christian New Testament is an accurate record of the historical Jesus and of the Apostolic Age. This tends to vary depending upon the opinion of the scholar.
Christian Identity is an interpretation of Christianity which advocates the belief that only Celtic and Germanic peoples, such as the Anglo-Saxon, Nordic nations, or the Aryan race and kindred peoples, are the descendants of the ancient Israelites and are therefore God's "chosen people". It is a racial interpretation of Christianity and is not an organized religion, nor is it affiliated with specific Christian denominations. It emerged from British Israelism in the 1920s and developed during the 1940s–1970s. Today it is practiced by independent individuals, independent congregations, and some prison gangs.
Nicodemus is a New Testament figure venerated as a saint in a number of Christian traditions. He is depicted as a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin who is drawn to hear Jesus's teachings. As is the case with Lazarus, Nicodemus is not mentioned in the synoptic Gospels, and is mentioned only by John, who devotes more than half of Chapter 3 of his gospel and a few verses of Chapter 7 to Nicodemus, and lastly mentions him in Chapter 19.
The Two Babylons, subtitled Romanism and its Origins, is a book that started out as a religious pamphlet published in 1853 by the Presbyterian Free Church of Scotland theologian Alexander Hislop (1807–65).
The doctrine of the serpent seed, also known as the dual-seed or the two-seedline doctrine, is a controversial and fringe Christian religious belief which explains the biblical account of the fall of man by stating that the Serpent mated with Eve in the Garden of Eden, and the offspring of their union was Cain. This event resulted in the creation of two races of people: the wicked descendants of the Serpent who were destined for damnation, and the righteous descendants of Adam who were destined to have eternal life. The doctrine frames human history as a conflict between these two races in which the descendants of Adam will eventually triumph over the descendants of the Serpent.
Criticism of the Bible refers to a variety of criticisms of the Bible, the collection of religious texts held to be sacred by Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and other Abrahamic religions. Criticisms of the Bible often concern the text’s factual accuracy, moral tenability, and supposed inerrancy claimed by biblical literalists. There remain questions of biblical authorship and what material to include in the biblical canon.
Wesley A. Swift was an American minister from Southern California who was known for his white supremacist views and was a central figure in the Christian Identity movement from the 1940s until his death in 1970.
Edward Hine was an influential proponent of British Israelism in the 1870s and 1880s, drawing on the earlier work of Richard Brothers (1794) and John Wilson (1840). Hine went as far as to conclude that "It is an utter impossibility for England ever to be defeated. And this is another result arising entirely from the fact of our being Israel."
The Anglo-Saxon Federation of America is a British Israelite group founded by Howard Rand in 1930.
The burial of Jesus refers to the entombment of the body of Jesus after his crucifixion before the eve of the sabbath. This event is described in the New Testament. According to the canonical gospel narratives, he was placed in a tomb by a councillor of the Sanhedrin named Joseph of Arimathea; according to Acts 13:28–29, he was laid in a tomb by "the council as a whole". In art, it is often called the Entombment of Christ.
Howard Rand, also known as Howard B. Rand and Howard Benjamin Rand was a lawyer, inventor, and three-time candidate for Massachusetts state office on the Prohibition Party ticket, He headed the former Anglo-Saxon Federation of America, a British Israelist group. He served from 1937 to 1968 as editor of its affiliate Destiny Publishers, which put out Destiny magazine.
William Potter Gale (1916–1988) was an American political activist who was involved with several white supremacist groups, including Christian Identity and the Posse Comitatus. He had connections to the Church of Jesus Christ–Christian, Aryan Nations, the sovereign citizen movement, and the militia movement.
The Christian Defense League was founded as a white supremacist activist organization in California, and it later moved to Louisiana. According to the Anti-Defamation League, it also had a paramilitary function.
San Jacinto Capt was an influential figure in the formation of Christian Identity. He was a former klansman, pyramidologist, and an advocate of Anglo-Israelism.
Sheldon Emry was a Christian Identity minister and the founder of America's Promise ministries.
Conrad Gaard was an American minister and a key figure in the emergence of Christian Identity from British Israelism. He was one of the first to incorporate the serpent seed doctrine into Christian Identity teaching.