Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ

The Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ
Country United States
Website http://www.thecomforter.info/
Clergy
Priest in charge Holy Apostle and Chief High Priest Tazadaqyah

The Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ (ICGJC, also Israelite Church-God & Jesus), formerly known as the Israeli Church of Universal Practical Knowledge, is an organization of Black Hebrew Israelites (i.e. they teach that African Americans, not Jews, are the real descendants of the Hebrews of the Bible and God's chosen people). The Southern Poverty Law Center has designated the ICGJC as an active hate group.[1]

The ICGJC teaches that the descendants of the lost 12 tribes of Israel and true biblical Jews are the Black Americans/Negros, West Indians, and Native Americans of North and South America and those scattered throughout the whole planet, but not the Jewish people or the Africans. The group claims that the "Black Israelites" have divine favor and inspiration and are superior to "Edomites" (white people) and all other non-Israelite people. They also hold strong apocalyptic views regarding the end of the world.[2] The ICGJC believes that Yahawashi (Jesus) is God's divine Son and Messiah, and the redeemer for the sins of the Israelites and no other nation,[2] that the Old and New Testament and Apocrypha are inspired Scripture, but the group does not believe in the doctrine of the Trinity.[2]

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the group's leaders are "obsessed with hatred for Edomites", and it is one of several extremist/supremacist Hebrew Israelite groups that have expanded since 2000 from black inner-city neighborhoods on the East Coast to cities in 10 US States.[3] Its headquarters are in New York City,[4][5] and its leader is known as "Chief High Priest Tazadaqyah".[2][6]

Black Hebrew Israelite groups

Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ is the second largest Black Hebrew Israelite organization in the United States, the first being the Nation of Yahweh. While "most Hebrew Israelites are neither explicitly racist nor anti-Semitic and do not advocate violence", the ICGJC is and does.[2][3]

This Israelite church, like most others, believes that their purported Israelite identity is based on the Bible, history, and archaeology. According to some Black Hebrew Israelite Groups, the twelve tribes of Israel are Blacks only, and the understanding of the tribes is unknown. Those groups teach that according to Amos 9:7 "Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith the LORD. Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?" According to other groups, this means that all 12 tribes look like the Ethiopians which includes children of the slave-trade including all Africans. This belief has led some to ask who were the Hamites, Egyptians Canaanites, Jebusites, Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Perizzites, and the Hivites who were originally in Africa in the days of Moses.

This Hebrew Israelite Group and most others teach that some of the twelve tribes of Israel are made up of lighter non-Spaniard Latin Americans and Native American Indians conquered and enslaved years ago; they are the northern kingdom of Israel that migrated "over the waters" [they believe this means to the Americas] during the reign of Cyrus the Persian King according to 2 Esdras 13:40-45 and Deuteronomy 33:17. Some have mixed themselves among their captors which explains the lighter complexion and hair texture difference according to Hosea 7:8 "Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned." The Blacks who were enslaved in 1619 are the southern kingdom of Judah according to Joel 3:1-7. They base the list shown below on Genesis 49 and Deuteronomy 33.

The 12 tribes of Israel (Black Hebrew Israelite)

Poster outlining the Black Hebrew Israelite identification of the Twelve Tribes of Israel with modern peoples of color

According to the beliefs of the Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ, the twelve tribes of Israel have their order listing along with their respective national identities shown below:

Ranking system

There are a number of positions in the Israelite church which may only be filled by a high priest at the higher orders. Among these are Bishop, Chief Priest, Apostle, and/or Holy Apostle. These leaders are primarily responsible for the spiritual welfare of the members and the administration of local church units. But they have also subservient positions that are filled by other men when they are "elevated" by the "spirit". These are 13 shield generals, all the way down to 1 shield generals. Captains of 10,000 to Captains of 1,000. Top Officers of 5,000 down to Top Officers of 500. Officers of 100, and recruits.

Perhaps the most prominent leader of the church is Tazadaqyah, a man who rose in to power of the church in the late 90's. Tazadaqyah is proclaimed by many of his followers to be the God-sent "Comforter" of the Nation of Israel. Tazadaqyah also holds the titles Holy Apostle, Chief Priest.

The Israelite Church and its various splinter groups can be loosely grouped together as sects, which advocate a Hebrew and Authorized King James Version-only approach to the Bible (i.e. they only endorse the Hebrew/Greek and AKJV versions of the Bible), and the notion that Caucasians are Edomites.[7]

Lawsuit

In 2013, the Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ ordered action figures cast in the image of their leader (Chief High Priest Tazadaqyah) from a toymaker. When they received the dolls they sued the toymaker (Vicale Corp) because they didn't like the dolls. The church complained that the dolls didn't look like Tazadaqyah and weren't black enough, that the Connecticut toymaker put "pointed noses and faces" dolls. And half of them "were light brown" instead of "dark brown," according to the court papers.[6]

Enemies

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the group's enemies include white people, "who they preach are descended from a race of red, hairy beings, known as Edomites, who were spawned by Esau, the twin brother of Jacob" (later known as Israel) in the Old Testament. "Equally hated" are "fraudulent" Jews (i.e., the people known to the world today as Jews), "the synagogue of Satan," Asians, promiscuous black women, abortionists, continental Africans (who, according to ICGJC and other extremist Israelites, "sold the lost tribes of Israel, who were black, to European slave traders"), and gay people, who "according to extremist Israelites should all be put to death".[3]

Allegations of black supremacy and racism

In late 2008, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) described the ICGJC and other black supremacist Hebrew Israelite groups as "the extremist fringe" of the movement. It wrote that the members of such groups "believe that Jews are devilish impostors and ... openly condemn whites as evil personified, deserving only death or slavery". The SPLC also said that "most Hebrew Israelites are neither explicitly racist nor anti-Semitic and do not advocate violence".[2][3]

The Black Hebrew groups characterized as black supremacist by the SPLC include the Nation of Yahweh[8] and the Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ.[2] Also, the Anti-Defamation League has written that the "12 Tribes of Israel" website, maintained by a Black Hebrew group, promotes hatred and black supremacy.[9]

Fraud and tax evasion charges

In April 2018, the leader of ICGJC Jermaine Grant and ICGJC treasurer Lincoln Warrington were arrested on fraud and tax charges. The United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey alleged the men "used their positions to divert millions of dollars for Grant’s personal use and benefit." [10]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Andone, Dakin (17 August 2017). "Here are all the active hate groups where you live". CNN. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "'Ready for War'". Intelligence Report. Southern Poverty Law Center. Fall 2008. Retrieved 22 November 2008.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Racist Black Hebrew Israelites Becoming More Militant". Southern Poverty Law Center. 1 January 2003. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  4. ↑ Zurowski, Cory (20 May 2015). "Minnesota's Eight Active Hate Groups Are Struggling". City Pages. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  5. ↑ "Israelite Church-God & Jesus, 1 W 125th St New York, NY 10027". google.com. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  6. 1 2 Ross, Barbara; Siemaszko, Corky (25 April 2013). "Harlem church sues toymaker Emil Vicale after talking doll in leader's likeness is not black enough". New York Daily News. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  7. ↑ Black Hebrew Israelites (BHI) - Religious Tolerance. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
  8. ↑ Potok, Mark (Winter 2001). "Popularity and Populism". Intelligence Report. Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 16 November 2011.
  9. ↑ "Poisoning the Web: African-American Anti-Semitism". Anti-Defamation League. 2001. Retrieved 22 November 2008.
  10. ↑ "Two New Jersey Men Arrested For Evading Taxes On $5.3 Million Taken From New York Religious Organization". United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey. 2018. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
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