to the flesh.”—Gal. 3:28; 2 Cor. 5:16, NW.

The Scriptures further show that Jesus proved to be a stone of stumbling and “a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel.” Jesus’ words, “Your house is abandoned to you,” apply to the temple of both the houses of Israel; all twelve tribes were rejected and not just the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin.—Isa. 8:14, AS; Matt. 23:38, NW.

The law arrangement was but a “shadow of the good things to come,” it was merely a “tutor leading to Christ.” (Heb. 10:1; Gal. 3:24, NW) As it was replaced by a “new system of things,” so natural Israel was replaced by spiritual Israel. The promised seed of Abraham is not the ten “lost” tribes any more than it is the two tribes. The inspired apostle Paul identifies the Seed as Christ, and says to Christians: “If you belong to Christ, you are really Abraham’s seed.” (Gal. 3:16, 29, NW) At Revelation, chapters 7 and 14, we see that this seed of Abraham consists of the Lamb of God and a spiritual Israel of 144,000 members. These “will be priests of God and of the Christ, and will rule as kings with him for the thousand years.”—Rev. 20:6, NW.

Anglo-Israelites may apply Isaiah 54 to English-speaking nations, but the apostle Paul under inspiration applies that prophecy to God’s wife or heavenly organization that brings forth so many spiritual children in God’s due time that she has to spread out her tents. (Gal. 4:26, 27) Anglo-Israelites may apply the prophecies regarding the “Rock” and “Stone” to Britain and the United States, but the inspired apostle Peter applies such prophecies solely to Christ Jesus. (Acts 4:11, 12; 1 Pet. 2:7, 8) Anglo-Israelites may arrogate to themselves Isaiah 43:10 (AS), but the facts show that no worldly nations but only the Christian witnesses of Jehovah are serving as Jehovah’s witnesses.

Today the English-speaking nations are losing the initiative to the Communist nations and the end of their domination of world affairs may be in sight. But even if such is not the case, the fact remains that the political corruption, the economic instability, the adult and juvenile delinquency and the religious hypocrisy and confusion of the English-speaking nations are glaring proof that by no stretch of the imagination can the marvelous prophecies telling of endless peace, great prosperity and happiness and the triumph of righteousness by means of the Messiah and spiritual Israel be applied to them.

No, the ten tribes of Israel were not lost to reappear as the English-speaking nations. Many of them were found right along with the two-tribe kingdom before, during and after the Babylonian exile down to the time of Jerusalem’s desolation of A.D. 70, since which time no descendant of Jacob can prove to which tribe he belongs. And God’s prophecies concerning Israel’s restoration and prosperity apply to his spiritual Israel, a heavenly organization whose head is Jesus Christ.

Echo of the Inquisition

● At the beginning of this century a priest named Harney of St. Peter’s Roman Catholic church in New Brunswick, New Jersey, made a statement that sounded like an echo of the Inquisition: “I do not doubt, if they were strong enough, that the Catholic people would hinder even by death if necessary the spread of heretical errors among the people, and I say rightly so.”—New York Herald, May 7, 1901, p. 5.