Watchman's Teaching Letter #181 May 2013

This is my one hundred and eighty-first monthly teaching letter and starts my sixteenth year of publication. Since WTL #137, I have been continuing a series entitled The Greatest Love Story Ever Told, and have been expanding on its seven stages ever since: (1) the courtship, (2) the marriage, (3) the honeymoon, (4) the estrangement, (5) the divorce, (6) the reconciliation, and (7) the remarriage.

THE GREATEST LOVE STORY EVER TOLD, Part 40:

THE ESTRANGEMENT (of Benjamin) continued:

To fully understand this lesson, one will have to review or acquire WTL #’s 179 and 180, for they are fundamental to our story. As the reader will soon observe, this account of the history of the tribe of Benjamin is much broader in scope than most Bible students ever thought possible. We will now pick up where we left off in the last lesson with the 3-volume Cyclopædia of Universal History by John Clark Ridpath, vol. 2, pp. 295-296:

To this epoch belong the beginnings of art and learning in the Northern Empire. The works of the Greeks began to be translated into Slavic. Learned institutions were founded in various cities, and scholars were patronized and honored. The Russian customs and usages were compiled into a code of laws, and amicable relations were established with foreign states. Three of the daughters of Yaroslav were taken in marriage by the kings of Norway, Hungary, and France – a clear recognition of the rank of the new Russian Empire among the kingdoms of the earth.

In the year 1051 Yaroslav established the succession on his son Izaslav, but portions of the Empire were to go to the three brothers of the heir expectant. They were to acknowledge the eldest as their sovereign. In the same year the Emperor died, and the four brothers took the inheritance. The result was that the unity of the Empire was broken. Each of the rulers became independent; the feudal principle came in, and Russia was reduced to a confederation. Thus weakened, the frontiers were successfully assailed by the Poles, Lithuanians, Danes, and Teutonic barons. Such was the condition of affairs when Europe forgot her own turmoils and sorrows in a common animosity against the Infidels of the East.

In close ethnic affinity with the Russians were the primitive Slavic tribes of Poland. Of these peoples the most numerous and powerful were the Polans, who ultimately gave a name to the amalgamated race. The mythical hero of this branch of European population was Prince Lech, brother to Rus and Czech, so that tradition as well as history associates the Poles and the Russians. Another fabulous leader was Krakus, the reputed founder of Cracow. The first historical ruler of Poland was Ziemowit, who was elected king in 860.

But the annals of the first century of Poland are very obscure, and it is not until 962 that we reach the solid ground of authenticity with the accession of Miecislas I. This prince took in marriage a Bohemian princess, by whom he was induced to become a Christian and to urge upon his people the abandonment of paganism. In common with so many other rulers of his time he adopted the fatal policy of dividing his kingdom among his sons. Civil wars and turmoils ensued until what time Boleslas, the eldest of the claimants, subdued his brothers and regained the sovereignty of all Poland. He received the surname of the Brave, and vindicated his title by successful wars beyond the Oder, the Dneister, and the Carpathian mountains. His right to reign was acknowledged by the Emperor Otho III., but at a later date he engaged in war with Otho’s successor, Henry II. Afterwards he was called into Russia as arbiter between Novgorod and Kiev. In the civil administration he was still more successful than in war. He encouraged the industrial and commercial enterprises of the kingdom and promoted the cause of learning. He held his turbulent subjects with a strong hand and administered justice with impartiality. He assumed the state of a king, and had himself crowned by the Christian bishops. On his death, in the year 1025, the Polish crown descended peaceably to his son Miecislas II. whose brief reign was followed by the regency of his widow Rixa; for the Prince Casimir, her son, was not yet old enough to assume the duties of the government. The regency went badly, but when Casimir arrived at the regal age he took upon himself the crown and gained the sobriquet of the Restorer.

In the year 1058 the Polish king died, and was succeeded by his son Boleslas II., who reigned for twenty-three years. Soon after his accession he became involved in a war with the Bohemians, over whom he gained a decisive victory. Afterwards he was summoned into Hungary to decide a dispute relative to the crown of that country, and a like mission to Kiev was successfully accomplished. Returning from that city he acquired in his own government the reputation of a tyrant. At last he filled the cup of public indignation by slaying St. Stanislas, bishop of Cracow, who had reprimanded him for some of his acts. He was driven from the throne, and in 1081 died in exile. His half-imbecile brother, Ladislas Herman, succeeded to the crown of Poland, wore it for a season, and then abdicated to accept the less dangerous distinction of a dukedom. – Such was the condition of Polish affairs when Urban II., pursuing the policy of Gregory the Great, summoned the council of Clermont and exhorted all Christendom to lift the Cross against the Crescent.”

Not only did the tribe of Benjamin settle in Iceland, but they are also a major factor in the racial makeup of Russia. I will now quote from Russia, Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, edited by Victor Pavlenkov, Peter Pappas, pp. 24-30, subtitled “Chronology”, and this will be a critical review as the authors are addressing a subject similar to mine. I do, however (although their conclusions are excellent), reserve the option of criticizing their work where criticism is needed:



RUSSIAN CHRONOLOGY

862 AD – Viking family of Rurik takes over Novgorod, a northern Slavic city, establishing the dynasty which will last until the 16th century. Rus’, or Russia, as the country came to be known, was located on the way from Scandinavia to Byzantium (Constantinople), which at that point in time was a major economic and political power. The legend that Rurik was summoned to Novgorod to rule, persists in Russian mythology until today.

863-885 – Two Byzantine monks, Cyril and Methodius create the first Slavic written language (Cyrillic alphabet).

882 – Oleg, a Rurik-successor, captures Kiev and makes it the capital of Rus’.

907 – Oleg conducts an expedition, conquering Constantinople.

941 – Rurik’s son, Igor, who succeeded Oleg, conducts a raid on Constantinople.

957 – Olga, Igor’s wife, who succeeded him, is baptized.

989 – Conversion of the Russians from Slavonic paganism to Byzantine Christianity by Vladimir. Faced with the necessity of adopting a monotheistic religion for the unification of his people, Vladimir pondered Catholicism, Judaism, Islam and Byzantine Orthodoxy. According to the legend, Catholicism was rejected because of its ‘gloominess’, Judaism – because Jews had no home, Islam – because of its prohibition of alcohol. Churches in Byzantium were so magnificent that the ambassadors of Vladimir felt in Heaven inside them. Along with the new religion came Byzantine culture which the young Russian culture absorbed intensely. Churches and new houses were built. Many Greek books were translated. Chronicles were written.

1030 AD – First school is started in Novgorod by Yaroslav ‘The Wise’ (1019-1054).

1054-1073 – Russkaya Pravda (Russian Truth), first Russian code of laws, is written.

1147 – First mention of Moscow in a chronicle.

1221 – Nizhny Novgorod is founded.

1237-1240 – Mongolian invasion under the leadership of Baty Khan (grandson of Genghiz). Kiev falls in 1240.

1240 – Alexander Nevsky, prince of Novgorod, defeats invading Swedes on the Neva.

1242 – Alexander Nevsky defeats the German Order on Lake Peipus. He later travels to Mongolia to see the Khan and dies on the way back. His descendants were to become Muscovite princes.

1237-1480 – The Mongolian Yoke. Mongolian domination during this period separated Russia from the rest of the world and left its legacy forever in the formation of national character. A weakened Russia was also attacked on the West by Germans and Lithuanians, separating Kievan Rus’ into Western and Eastern parts. This period sees the emergence of Moscow as a major principality under the rule of Ivan I Kalita (1328-1340), who rose to prominence by collecting large tributes from the rest of Russia for the Mongols. It was his grandson, Dmitry Donskoy (1359-1389), who was able to achieve the first military victory over the Tartar/Mongol forces at Kulikov Field in command of unified Russian troops.

1326 – Seat of church Metropolitan transferred to Moscow.

1380 – The first major military defeat of Tartar/Mongol forces at Kulikov Field by Dmitry Donskoy.

1382 – Moscow is burned by Tokhtamysh, ensuring a century of continuing, if waning dominance by Mongols.

1453 – Capture of Byzantium (Constantinople) by the Ottoman Turks. Russia remains the major Orthodox power.

1472 – Marriage of Ivan III (1462-1505) to Sofia Palaeologa, niece of the last Byzantine emperor. The legacy of Byzantine Orthodox Christianity would lead towards the establishment of the idea of Moscow being ‘The Third Rome.’

1478 – Incorporation of Novgorod into Moscovy by Ivan III, marking the end of Novgorod as a democratic republic which had a general assembly – the Veche, and whose trade missions established Russian cities as far as the Urals.

1480 – Ivan III ends tributes to the Khans. Mongols come to Russia, but leave without engaging Russian troops at the river Ugra. At the beginning of the Mongol Yoke, Russia consisted of a large number of principalities often at war with one another, after the era of Mongol domination, Russia is a unified country under the leadership of Moscow.

1485-1516 – Construction of a new Kremlin in Moscow.

1547-1584 – Ivan IV (‘The Terrible’). The reign of Ivan IV saw Russia defeat its traditional enemies, the Tartars, on the Volga (Kazan and Astrakhan), wage wars against Poland and Sweden for possession of the Baltic, expand to the Urals and Siberia, and fortify its southern frontiers with establishment of the Cossacks. It was also a reign of terror and of the establishment of absolute power with the help of a special police force – oprichniki. In a fit of rage, Ivan IV killed his own son in 1582. The ‘Times of Troubles’ (Smuta) were to follow.

1558 - 1583 – Livonian War against Poland and Sweden.

1564 – First book printed in Moscow.

1565-1572 – The reign of terror (oprichnina).

1570 – Ivan ‘The Terrible’s’ pogrom of Novgorod.

1581 – Yermak’s expedition begins the conquest of Siberia.

1601-1613 – The ‘Times of Trouble’ (Smuta). Ivan IV’s last son, the feeble-minded Fyodor, inherited the crown in 1584. But it was his brother-in-law, Boris Godunov, who ruled until his death in 1598. Fyodor was the last Rurik on the Russian throne. Boris Godunov became a first elected tsar in 1598.

1598-1605 – Boris Godunov’s reign was marked by major famines and the appearances of the self-declared sons of Ivan with a claim to the throne supported by the Polish army, the Cossacks, and some nobility. Boris Godunov also institutes a system of serfdom, contributing to the unrest among peasants.

1601-1604 – Famines.

1606-1607 – Peasants revolt under the leadership of Bolotnikov.

1610-1612 – Poles occupy Moscow.

1612-1613 – Nizhny Novgorod’s popular militia headed by Minin and Pozharsky frees Moscow from Poles. Poles are defeated as Cossacks side with militia.

1613 – Mikhail Romanov is elected Tsar (Caesar) by Land Assembly. The Romanov dynasty would rule Russia for the next 304 years.

1649 – Ulozhenie, a Law Code which legalizes serfdom.

1652 – Nikon becomes church patriarch and immediately sets out to reform Russian Orthodoxy in order to bring Orthodox rituals to uniform code. While the reforms were mostly concerned with rituals, they were fanatically opposed by large parts of the population, who came to be known as ‘Old Believers’, and who viewed the reforms as a sign of foreign influence. They were severely persecuted, whole villages were burned. Their leader, the monk Avvakum was burned alive. This schism, known as Raskol (Split) alienated a large part of the Russian population and persists in the church today.

1670-1671 – Revolt of Sten’ka Razin. Protesting the heavy taxes on his booty from the Caspian Sea, Sten’ka and his Cossacks deposed the governor of Astrakhan’. His revolt proved popular with the unhappy peasants but crumbled under the pressures of fighting the regular army. Sten’ka Razin was publicly beheaded on Red Square in Moscow.

1689-1725 – Peter The Great, grandson of Mikhail Romanov. Peter’s push toward progress and westernization was achieved through the creation of a military-industrial complex out of the country. Peter’s opening to the West was achieved by military victories in the Great Northern War (1700-1721) with Sweden, and by the establishment of a new capital in St. Petersburg. The creation of the Russian Navy (1695) and subsequent conquests in the Far East made Russia a world power. Peter brought education, the establishment of legal law, and encouraged contact with the West and the immigration of Europeans.

1725 – Academy of Science is founded.

1755 – Moscow University is founded by Mikhail Lomonosov, who is considered a founder of Russian science.

1762-1796 – Catherine The Great. A German princess on the Russian throne, she treated men as kings treat their mistresses and oversaw a major expansion of Russian borders, consolidating the western push by Peter. From colonization of Alaska (1784), to the incorporation of Crimea (1783) and Ukraine (1786), and through three partitions of Poland (1772-1795), Russia conducted many wars in their push to the West and South. At the same time Catherine continued a tradition of inviting the immigration of foreigners, and the development of science and education.

1772-1774 – Revolt of Pugachev.

1787-1792 – Wars with the Turks.

1801-1825 – Alexander I, grandson of Catherine. During his reign a proposal for constitutional monarchy and the reform of serfdom was drafted by his minister, Speransky, but never brought forward.

1812 – Napoleon’s failed invasion. Battle of Borodino. The burning of Moscow by Russians. Napoleon’s retreat which ends with Russian troops occupying Paris in 1814.

1817 – Nizhny Novgorod Fair is established.

1817-1864 – Caucasus War. Russia conquers Caucasus in a bloody and costly war as it battles for domination of the region.

1819 – University founded in St. Petersburg.

1825 – Decembrists’ uprising after the death of Alexander I by army officers and intellectuals. The Decembrists are considered the forefathers of the revolutionary movement.

1825-1855 – Considered a reactionary, Nicholas I saw his country undergo industrialization and the creation of the powerful social stratum of intelligentsia. The Crimean War (1853-1856) underscored the weaknesses of serfdom-based economy.

1855-1881 – Alexander II. This Tsar ended the unsuccessful Crimean War and completed the conquest of the Caucasus (1859). He also oversaw the abolition of serfdom (1861) and far-reaching judicial reforms, only to be assassinated by the revolutionaries who preached terrorism. (1881) While the abolition of serfdom released a peasant from a noble’s ownership, the peasants were left in communes (obshina) with no individual ownership of land. This period also sees a strong, organized revolutionary movement by part of the intelligentsia, expansion to the East, taking over Middle Asia, and the occupation of Manchuria.

1894-1917 – Nicholas II, the last tsar.

1904-1905 – Russo-Japanese War.

1905 – Revolution of 1905.

1906 – First Duma.

1906-1911 – Prime minister Stolypin puts down a revolution with hangings and institutes land reforms aimed at the dissolution of obshina and at populating Siberia and Kazakhstan. He is assassinated by a revolutionary and his reforms fail.

1914 – World War I starts.

1917 – February revolution. Abdication of Nicholas II. October revolution by Bolsheviks under the leadership of Lenin.

1917 – Establishment of Cheka (Secret Police).

1918 – Murder of Tsar and his family. Peace treaty between Russia and Germany.

1918-1920 – Civil War. Bolsheviks consolidate power, fighting peasant revolts, and White armies. They practice a policy of War Communism, resulting in famine and mass executions.

1921 – New Economic Policy (NEP) begins, as central government frees the restrictions on trade and gives peasants the land.

1924 – With Lenin’s death, Stalin slowly takes over the power.

1929 – End of NEP. Industrialization and collectivization begins. Collectivization forces peasants into kolhoz (collective), over which the government has total control, using state enforced famine (1931-1933), which resulted in the loss of 9 million peasants. Industrialization was based on forced labor of prisoners.

1930-s – Mass terror practiced by Stalin’s secret police.

1934 – Nizhny Novgorod is renamed Gorky in honor of the revolutionary writer.

1936-1938 – Mass execution of Soviet Army commanders, show trials of Zinovyev, Bukharin, et al.

1939-1940 – Molotov-Ribentropp peace treaty between USSR and Germany. Russia occupies Eastern Poland and Baltic states.

1941-1945 – Great Patriotic War with Hitler’s Germany. USSR looses 27 million people. Victorious conclusion of the war allowed Stalin to occupy Eastern Europe as was agreed at the Yalta Conference (1945) with Roosevelt and Churchill.

1946 – Beginning of the Cold War. USSR sets up puppet governments in Eastern Europe and organizes Warsaw Pact.

1953 – Death of Stalin. Execution of Beria (Chief of Secret Police).

1954 – Process of amnesty for political prisoners and the beginning of political and cultural thaw.

1956 – 20th Party Congress. Khrushchev denounces Stalin’s cult of personality. Hungarian revolution quashed.

1959 – Khrushchev visits USA.

1961 – Yuri Gagarin is the first man in space.

1962 – Worker protest against price increases is put down in execution style in Novocherkassks.

1964 – Khrushchev ousted.

1964-1982 – Leonid Brezhnev rules the country in what later would be described as the ‘years of stagnation’.

1966 – Sinyavsky and Daniel political trial for publishing abroad is the beginning of the confrontation between the KGB and the dissident movement.

1968 – Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia.

1971 – Solzhenitsin, a writer who became known for his description of labor camps during Stalin’s time, is deported from USSR.

1975 – Sakharov, a nuclear scientist who became an outspoken human rights activist wins Nobel Peace Prize.

1979 – Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

1980 – Sakharov exiled to Gorky.

1985 – New leader, Gorbachev calls for perestroika.

1986 – US/Soviet summit in Reykjavik (Reagan and Gorbachev). Amnesty of political prisoners begins. Nuclear disaster at Chernobyl.

1987 – Sakharov released from exile.

1988 – Ethnic unrest begins in the Caucasus, the Baltics and Middle Asia.

1989 – Yeltsin and Sakharov elected to Parliament. Soviet troops pull out of Afghanistan. General strikes of miners. Berlin Wall comes down. Warsaw Pact is disbanded.

1990 – Yeltsin resigns from Communist Party.

1991 – Yeltsin becomes first democratically elected Russian President.

1991 – August Coup by Communist renegades. Yeltsin, a defiant Russian President, barricades himself in the Parliament building – the White House, with a leader of Parliament – Hazbulatov and Vice-President Rutskoy. Yeltsin emerges triumphant after three tense days. (One of the people who spend this time with Yeltsin is Boris Nemtsov, a representative from Gorky. He later becomes governor of the Nizhny region as the city is given its original name of Nizhny Novgorod.) Yeltsin disbands the Communist Party and retires Gorbachev. At a meeting with Ukrainian and Belorussian leaders, Yeltsin disbands the Soviet Union, and former Soviet republics become independent states.

1992 – Privatization begins with issues of vouchers. Prices are freed as inflation reaches 1000%. Treaties on the recognition and security with former republics are signed. Organized crime penetrates the economy as the Soviet management apparatus crumbles.

1993 – Yeltsin disbands Congress and orders troops to bomb and storm the White House, arresting Rutskoy and Hazbulatov. Election of the first State Duma. Referendum on reforms and new constitution passes and new Russian Constitution becomes law.

1994 – Russian troops are sent into Chechnya as Russia tries to maintain its hold on the Caucasus.

1995 – The war with Chechnya intensifies, as Chechens conduct raids into Russian territory and take hostages. Communists win in Duma elections.

1996 – Yeltsin narrowly wins elections, with Communists coming in a strong second place, as he promises the end of war in Chechnya. A strong third runner-up, Lebed, wins a place in the Yeltsin government. As Yeltsin suffers from serious health problems, Chechens retake the capital – Grozny. Lebed is sent as an emissary to Chechnya and brokers a peace plan.” (end of Russian timeline)

Notice that this uncritical timeline was presented so that a general chronology of Russian history may be understood. Among the diverse ethnicities found in Russia, any pure descendants of the tribe of Benjamin would be hard to determine. My evaluation is that a substantial portion of the White Ukrainian farmers were Benjamites, of whom 20,000,000 were murdered or starved to death by the Edomite-jewish Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks were mostly jews, especially in their leadership. Also, when the Soviet system was dismantled under Yeltsin, most of the state property also ended up in the hands of jews, who obtained it for a small fraction of its actual value. For more data on Benjamin, I will now reference the website:

 

 

http://www.ensignmessage.com/iceland.html







The Icelanders are the descendants of the Israelite tribe of Benjamin, God’s protected favourite. When Moses blessed the 12 tribes of Israel, we read:

And of Benjamin he said, The beloved of Yahweh shall dwell in safety by him; and Yahweh shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between his shoulders.” (Deut. 33:12) Iceland has thus not been invaded since the first Icelandic parliament (the Alting) was formed in 930 AD. The same can hardly be said of any other North-West European people!

The smallest of the tribes of Israel:

After the 12th century BC, the tribe of Benjamin was numerically the smallest of the tribes of Israel. The tribe’s territory was also one of the smallest, but also one of the most important. Likewise are the Icelanders one of the smallest North-West European peoples. They must, at least, be the smallest North-West European people with an independent country of their own. (The Faroe Islanders are numerically smaller, but do not have full independence.).

Icelandic men and women of different origins: In 874 AD the Norwegian chief Ingolfur Arnarson was the first to settle permanently on Iceland. The later Norse settlers were primarily Norwegians, but there were also Danes, Swedes, and Norse-Gaels among them. Geneticists from Oxford University have shown that the Icelanders, by and large, descend from Norse men and Celtic women. These geneticists write that: ‘numerous slaves were captured by the Vikings in their raids on the coastlines of the British Isles, and many of the slaves were taken to Iceland. The majority of these slaves seem likely to have been female’.”

Benjamite men and women of different origins: Like the modern Icelanders, the tribe of Benjamin’s men and women also descended from different tribes. In the 12th century BC, when the tribe of Benjamin was at war against the rest of the tribes of Israel, all the Benjamite women were killed, and only 600 Benjamite men survived (see Judges chapters 19-21). In order that the tribe of Benjamin would be able to survive, the 11 tribes fetched 400 young female virgins in Jabesh-Gilead, and let the Benjamite men take them for wives. Thus the tribe of Benjamin survived (see Judges chapter 21). When the patriarch Israel blessed his 12 sons, he said of Benjamin: ‘Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.’ (Genesis 49:27) This prophecy was both fulfilled in the tribe of Benjamin in the 12th century BC, and also in the formation of Icelandic people in the 10th century AD. because they are one and the same tribe!

Benjamin and Joseph: The patriarch Benjamin had only one full brother, Joseph. Their mother was Rachel. The other 10 patriarchs had the same father, but different mothers. Those that study the tribes of Israel almost all agree that Great Britain is of Joseph, and of the Ephraim branch of Joseph in particular. (Ephraim was Joseph’s son.)

A Swiss DNA analysis institute which compares the DNA of modern indigenous European peoples with the DNA of antique people has shown that the United Kingdom is 75% Celtic, 13% Germanic and 12% Viking, while the Irish Republic is 88% Celtic and 12% Viking. The Icelanders, who, as mentioned above, are of Norse-Celtic ancestry, are thus closely related to the peoples of the British Isles. In fact Iceland seems to be genetically as closely related to the United Kingdom as to Norway (88% Viking and 12% Germanic) and Denmark (60% Viking and 40% Germanic).

Geography of Benjamin and Iceland: When the 12 tribes of Israel lived in the land of Israel, Benjamin’s territory was around Jerusalem, which was the main city in Benjamin’s territory. Benjamin shared borders with Ephraim, Dan, Judah, and Reuben. Like Benjamin shared borders with Ephraim, so is one of Iceland’s closest neighbours the United Kingdom, which is the tribe of Ephraim. Like Benjamin shared borders with Dan and Judah, so was Iceland a part of the Kingdom of Denmark between 1380 and 1944. Denmark consists of the tribe of Dan through the Danes, and the tribe of Judah through the Jutes.

Benjamin and Dan: Iceland was under the Crown of Denmark from 1380 to 1944. Not only were Benjamin and Dan neighbouring tribes, but in the Biblical lists of the tribes there sometimes is a special connection between Benjamin and Dan. When the 12 tribes are listed in the Bible, the tribes which have a common mother are usually listed together, i.e. Joseph & Benjamin, Dan & Naphtali, Gad & Asher, etc. But in some places Dan is mentioned together with Joseph and Benjamin. In Ezekiel’s description of the gates of the New Jerusalem, there are three gates on the east side: “... and three gates; and one gate of Joseph, one gate of Benjamin, one gate of Dan”. (Eze. 48:32) Here Gad, Asher and Naphtali are listed separately (Ezek. 48:34).

In 1st Chronicles, Dan is again listed along with Joseph and Benjamin, while Naphtali, Gad, and Asher are mentioned separately:

These are the sons of Israel; Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun, Dan, Joseph and Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.” (1 Chron. 2:1-2)

Adam Rutherford’s Iceland book: Adam Rutherford, a scholar on the tribes of Israel, wrote in May 1937 the book Iceland’s Great Inheritance, where he identified the Icelanders as the descendants of the tribe of Benjamin. By calculating ‘the seven times’, Rutherford calculated that Iceland would gain complete independence around 1941. The seven times are 2520 years (7 x 360 years) where Israel, after having sinned, was liable to be oppressed by other nations. Rutherford counted 2520 years from the fall of Jerusalem in 603 BC, and arrived at 1918 AD, and 2520 years from the final deportation of Benjamin in 580 BC, and arrived at 1941 AD. In 1918 Iceland gained independence within a personal union with Denmark ....”

Substantial evidence shows that John Wilson was a Benjaminite from The Youth Message, London, England. Reproduced from Destiny Magazine, January, 1948 by Marie King: “... His revered remains were accompanied by a large number of persons to the cemetery, where they were laid beside his wife’s. A well executed granite headstone was erected bearing these words: ‘Here Rest The Mortal Remains of John Wilson, Author of Our Israelitish Origin, And of His Faithful Helpmeet, Agnes Wallace Wilson. ‘In sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to Eternal Life Through our Lord Jesus Christ.’ His coat of arms is on the cover of Lights and Shadows by Elizabeth Wilson, 1881. It contains a wolf rampant, under three stars, with a demi-wolf for crest, and ‘Facta non Verba,’ (deeds not words) for the motto. The name Wilson is said to be derived from wolf, the zodiacal emblem of Benjamin; the stars are taken as referring to Ephraim, Manasseh and Benjamin.”

All we can say of this is: “Thank Yahweh for John Wilson, his mother & Miss Cummins!” Like the twelve light-bearing disciples chosen by Christ (Paul replacing Judas), all were Benjaminites. And as the Benjaminite disciples spread the light of the Gospel to the lost tribes of Israel, John Wilson the Benjaminite spread the light of the Elijah Message of Malachi 4:5-6 to our people today!