Early Mormon-Israelism
Early Mormons believed that they were the modern representation of ancient Israel, not just in a figurative sense, but by literal genealogical descent. While this notion was nebulous in the 1830s, it would become increasingly concrete over the following 150 years. During Joseph Smith’s lifetime, Mormons had different ideas about their relationship to Israel. These ideas included: 1) the belief that Mormons were Gentiles who would spread the gospel to scattered Israel and help prepare the world for the Second Coming of Christ, 2) the belief that some members of the Mormon elite were direct descendants of the ancient Israelites, 3) the belief that when people of Gentile ancestry converted to Mormonism, their blood was physically transformed into Israelite blood through the Holy Ghost, and 4) the belief that the majority of people who were open to Mormon teachings and accepted baptism were literal descendants of Israelites.
As early as 1829, The Book of Mormon revealed Joseph Smith to be a lineal descendant of the biblical Joseph (2 Nephi 3:6–15). An October 1831 revelation addressed to William E. McLellin stated that he was “a true descendant from Joseph who was sold into Egypt down through the loins of Ephraim his Son.” Revelations that same year indicate that Smith also believed that literal descendants of Aaron were to be found among his followers (D&C § 107:69–76), identified Smith’s followers gathering to build Zion as “the children of Ephraim” (D&C § 133:30–34), and declared that those too rebellious to participate in the Missouri Zion project were “not of the blood of Ephraim” (D&C § 64:36).
In September of 1832, Smith taught that the Holy Priesthood was passed between generations extending back to Adam through lineal descent, but also taught that those who are faithful unto obtaining the higher and lesser priesthoods “become the sons of Moses and Aaron and the seed of Abraham.” Only months later, Smith produced a revelation stating:
8 Therefore, thus saith the Lord unto you, with whom the priesthood hath continued through the lineage of your fathers— 9 For ye are lawful heirs, according to the flesh, and have been hid from the world with Christ in God— 10 Therefore your life and the priesthood have remained, and must needs remain through you and your lineage until the restoration of all things spoken by the mouths of all the holy prophets since the world began. Doctrine and Covenants § 86:8–10 (6 December 1832)
In 1834, Smith ordained his father as Patriarch to the Church, whose responsibility it was to pronounce patriarchal blessings. In his own blessing at the hands of his father, the lineage of the Smith family from the line of the biblical Joseph was again affirmed. As the elder Smith pronounced patriarchal blessings on more and more of the Latter-day Saints, he increasingly declared that they were lineal descendants of Abraham or “of the lineage of the priesthood.” Armand Mauss (2003) notes that of the early patriarchal blessings available for public scrutiny, given between the periods of 1834 and 1844, lineage was declared only one third to one half of the time. However, when lineage was declared it was nearly always to designate the recipient as a descendant of Abraham—particularly those in some way related to the Smith family or other prominent leaders in the Mormon ecclesiastical hierarchy.
Smith continued to further develop these ideas. In the spring of 1835, he reaffirmed his belief that among his followers were literal descendants of Aaron (D&C 107:13–17). The priesthood, he taught, was “handed down from father to son, and rightly belongs to the literal descendants of the chosen seed, to whom the promises were made” (D&C § 107:40). That same year, in his translation of the Book of Abraham, Smith made more explicit his ideas about lineage and the birthright of the priesthood. He introduced the idea that some lineages—namely those descended “from the loins of Ham” and “of the blood of the Canaanites by birth”—were “of that lineage by which [they] could not have the right of Priesthood” (Abraham 1:21–28). Regarding Abraham’s seed, by contrast, he taught:
10 And I will bless them through thy name; for as many as receive this Gospel shall be called after thy name, and shall be accounted thy seed, and shall rise up and bless thee, as their father; 11 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee; and in thee (that is, in thy Priesthood) and in thy seed (that is, thy Priesthood), for I give unto thee a promise that this right shall continue in thee, and in thy seed after thee (that is to say, the literal seed, or the seed of the body) shall all the families of the earth be blessed, even with the blessings of the Gospel, which are the blessings of salvation, even of life eternal. Abraham 2:10–11
In an 1839 sermon, Joseph Smith taught the office of church patriarch was to be held by “the oldest man of the blood of Joseph or of the seed of Abraham, wherever the Church of Christ is established in the earth.” Additionally, Smith drew connections between blood lineage and the capacity for spiritual enlightenment. He explained that the Holy Ghost “is more powerful in expanding the mind, enlightening the understanding, and storing the intellect with present knowledge, of a man who is of the literal seed of Abraham than one that is a Gentile.” For those of natural Abrahamic descent, the Holy Ghost would bring them a sense of tranquility and serenity, exercising their entire being with pure spiritual intelligence. Conversely, Smith taught that:
The effect of the Holy Ghost upon a Gentile is to purge out the old blood and make him actually of the seed of Abraham. That man that has none of the blood of Abraham (naturally) must have a new creation by the Holy Ghost, in such a case there may be more of a powerful effect upon the body and visible to the eye than upon an Israelite, while the Israelite at first might be far before the Gentile in pure intelligence.
Sometime in March of 1838, Joseph Smith sought by revelation answers to several questions regarding passages from the 11th chapter of Isaiah. These are now found in the first six verses of D&C § 113. Here, Smith identifies via “thus saith the Lord” revelation, a figure “who is partly a descendant of Jesse as well as of Ephraim, […] unto whom rightly belongs the priesthood, and the keys of the kingdom, for an ensign, and for the gathering of my people in the last days.” It is commonly understood that these refer to Joseph Smith himself, which is reinforced in many official LDS materials. Importantly, by designating this figure as “a descendant of Jesse as well as of Ephraim,” Smith would here be claiming to be both a descendant of Ephraim (as he had done via the Book of Mormon) and of the Davidic line of Judahite kings. Moreover, because he identifies this figure as coming from the “Stem of Jesse”—which he identifies as Christ—it is reasonable to interpret this as Smith claiming Davidic ancestry as a direct descendant of Jesus.
On 11 April 1844, Smith was sustained in secret as “our Prophet, Priest, and King” as members of the Council of Fifty assented “to uphold him in that capacity in which God has anointed him.” Decades later, when John Taylor was anointed and ordained “a King over the House of Israel,” he recounted having participated in anointing and ordaining Joseph Smith to the same. A late reminiscence reports that four days prior, in the closing of his King Follett discourse, Smith opined, “Would to God, brethren, I could tell you who I am! Would to God I could tell you what I know! But you would call it blasphemy and want to take my life.”
Nine months later, in post-martyrdom Nauvoo, Brigham Young explained before a gathering of the Richards and Young families:
You have heard Joseph say that the people did not know him; he had his eyes on the relation to blood-relations. Some have supposed that he meant spirit, but it was the blood-relation. This is it that he referred to. His descent from Joseph that was sold into Egypt was direct, and the blood was pure in him. That is why the Lord chose him and we are pure when this blood-strain from Ephraim comes down pure. […] The union of various ancestors kept that blood pure. […] There is the same blood of Ephraim running in the veins of this family—and I know who has the blood and the Priesthood to carry the keys to the world. Brigham Young, 8 January 1845, Nauvoo Minutes of a Meeting of the Richards and Young Families
Early Anglo-Israelism
Contemporaneous with the Mormons in American developing their own ideas about Israelite identity via genealogical descent, the first exponents of “British-Israelism” were publishing the ideas that would become fundamental to their movement. The central foundational claim—that the ancestors of the Britons (and other northwestern Europeans) were the fabled lost tribes of Israel—was not a new one. These ideas circulated within the cultic milieu of western civilization since at least the 16th century. But it wasn’t until the 19th century that these ideas received the kind of elaboration and evangelism that enabled the emergence of a dedicated movement.
As early as 1794, Richard Brothers published the first British-Israelist text, A Revealed Knowledge of the Prophesies and Times. Brothers believed himself to be a literal descendant of King David, chosen to gather the Jews and restore them to their lands in Palestine—especially those Jews hidden among the population of Great Britain with no knowledge of their biological lineage. While Brothers mustered a small and dedicated following during his time, he never gained widespread popularity; perhaps, in part, because he was imprisoned for insanity as a result of prophesying the death of the King and collapse of the monarchy. He died in obscurity in 1824, having been left behind by those who absorbed his small following.
John Wilson
It wasn’t until 1840 that John Wilson published Our Israelitish Origins—the first British-Israelist text to achieve widespread recognition. By this time, Joseph Smith had already declared himself and several others in the Mormon hierarchy to be biological descendants of the biblical Joseph, and the practice of declaring Israelite lineage was becoming a regular feature of patriarchal blessings. In Our Israelitish Origins, Wilson attempted to empirically demonstrate that the lost tribes of Israel had migrated to Europe, relying principally upon drawing supposed linguistic parallels between English and Hebrew, and ascribing similarities in social institutions to genealogical descent. From these purported evidences, Wilson concluded that the lost tribes of Israel had demonstrable settled “in the north-west—in our own part of the world” (Barkun, 1997).
Regarding the Jews, Wilson claimed that while they were undoubtedly a part of “all-Israel,” they nevertheless held a religious status inferior to their Anglo-Israelite cousins. According to Wilson, Jews were only entitled to the birthright and blessings appertaining to Judah, whereas the descendants of the northern tribes—namely, the Anglo-Europeans—inherited the greater blessings and promises bestowed to the rest of Israel, especially Ephraim. Moreover, Wilson believed that Jewish claims of undiluted descent from Judah were untenable. He suggested that Jewish ancestry had been defiled through intermarriage with “the worst of the Gentiles,” bringing upon them a curse that could only be cleansed through conversion to Christianity. Wilson stopped short of full-throated antisemitism by promoting a patronizing supersessionism wherein Christian Anglo-Israelites were charged with the paternalistic care of their spiritually wayward, Jewish kin (Barkun, 1997).
In Wilson’s model, Britain was settled primarily by descendants of Ephraim, which gave them a place of spiritual distinction among “All-Israel.” Because Reuben had sex with one of his father’s concubines, Jacob stripped him of the birthright and bestowed it instead upon Joseph’s sons, but “put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh.” Therefore, inasmuch as Britain was understood to represent Ephraim’s descendants, the preeminent position of Britain in world affairs was divinely assured (Barkun, 1997).
Edward Hine
Edward Hine, a follower of Wilson, played a significant role in the further development of British-Israelism. While Wilson laid the initial groundwork and tirelessly promoted his ideas through lectures, it was not until after his death in 1871 that British-Israelism gained momentum as a social movement. Hine, an enthusiastic and effective publisher and pamphleteer, carried on Wilson’s work. He commenced delivering lectures in 1869, publishing pamphlets in 1870, and established his first magazine in 1873 (Barkun, 1997).
As Hine wrote and spoke, he began to deviate from Wilson’s views and promulgated an increasingly Anglo-centric doctrine. Whereas Wilson extended Israelite identity to others of northwestern European descent, Hine’s stance was congruent with an English public that was increasingly suspicious of Germany. Hine took strong exception to Wilson’s inclusion of all the modern Teutonic nations as parts of Israel. Rather, he believed that fulfillment of biblical prophecy required that “the whole Ten Tribes … become consolidated in an Island Nation.” Thus, the British-Israelites embodied “the Ten Tribes as a consolidated people” with only the “thirteenth tribe” of Manasseh laying outside and represented by the United States (Barkun, 1997).
Hine also deviated from Wilson’s perspective on the Jewish people. Although Wilson recognized their involvement in “All-Israel,” he focused on their intermarriages with idolatrous Gentile peoples, which he considered contaminating. Conversely, Hine insisted on highlighting the Jews’ significance. Despite their subordination to the ten tribes, they remained valued and important within “All-Israel,” which comprised the House of Israel and the House of Judah. As a result, a statement frequently reiterated in British-Israel literature was that “the Jews are of Israel, but Israel is not of Judah”; “the people of the Ten Tribes were never Jews” (Barkun, 1997).
Despite his talents as an evangelist and pamphleteer, Hine had little interest in organizational tasks. In this regard, his influence was overshadowed by Edward Wheler Bird, an ex-civil servant from India who had embraced Wilson’s ideas. Bird established various organizations that amplified Hine’s message, such as the Anglo-Israel Association and its magazine, Banner of Israel. However, due to the intricate politics within Anglo-Israelism, Hine and Bird eventually became adversaries. After Hine’s own unsuccessful attempts at organizing, including the failure of the British-Israel Identity Corporation and his own magazine, he refocused primarily on delivering lectures and writing pamphlets. As Bird’s institutions increasingly dominated the movement in England, Hine turned his attention to engaging new audiences in North America (Barkun, 1997).
Mormon-Israelism in the Utah Territory
While Wilson, Hine, and others evangelized Anglo-Israelism in England, the Mormons in America rearticulated their Israelite identity doctrines in support of an expanding theology of polygamy and white supremacy. To further distinguish themselves from the Christian mainstream, Latter-day Saints sought to lay claim upon a Biblically significant racial and cultural identity. The principal directors of this identity work were respected and powerful figures within the LDS ecclesiastical hierarchy, including several members of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
As Mormons reshaped their cultural identity, they drew from, and expanded upon, ideas first articulated by their founder, Joseph Smith. Regardless of whatever influence the British-Israel movement may have had on Mormon thought during this time, Latter-day Saints developed distinctive notions about their Israelite identity that would set Mormon-Israelism apart. Among these are the concepts of “believing blood,” premortal assignment of mortal lineage, and the doctrine of convert adoption into the House of Israel.
Believing Blood
Several statements by Mormon leaders convey the notion that individuals of Israelite descent possess an innate receptiveness to the message of the Restoration due to their “believing blood.” As early as September 1831, Joseph Smith revealed that those who resisted participation in the Missouri Zion project were “not of the blood of Ephraim.” From an early stage of Mormonism’s development, the idea of gathering the scattered Israelites hidden among the Gentile nations became fairly prominent. The notable success of Mormon missionaries in England, which coincided with the early development of British-Israelism, contributed to the belief that the blood of Israel was especially prevalent in the British Isles.
In the April 1855 General Conference, Brigham Young taught that the principal goal of Mormon proselytizing efforts was to find and gather those hidden Israelites—Ephraim in particular—from among the Gentile nations.
It is Ephraim that I have been searching for all the days of my preaching, and that is the blood that ran my veins when I embraced the gospel. […] Though the Gentiles are cut off, do not suppose that we are not going to preach the Gospel among the Gentile nations, for they are mingled with the house of Israel, and when we send to the nations we do not seek for the Gentiles, because they are disobedient and rebellious. We want the blood of Jacob, and that of his father Isaac and Abraham, which runs in the veins of the people. […] You understand who we are; we are of the House of Israel, of the royal seed, of the royal blood. Brigham Young, 8 April 1855 Journal of Discourses 2:268–9
Young’s statements highlight several significant points. First, that the primary goal of preaching the gospel was not the conversion of the Gentiles but finding and gathering scattered Israelites. Second, Young expressed the belief that individuals with the blood of Jacob possess an innate receptiveness to the gospel, whereas Gentile blood is rebellious and recalcitrant. Finally, based on these assertions, Latter-day Saints were considered to be comprised of natural descendants of Ephraim, much like Joseph Smith and Brigham Young themselves.
Brigham Young reinforced these notions during the October 1862 General Conference when he stated, “This congregation I am looking upon are nine-tenths of them Ephraimites, yes, I will say 999 thousandths.” A year later, Young further expressed, “The sons of Ephraim are wild and uncultivated. The spirit in them is turbulent and resolute; they are the Anglo-Saxon race. I see a congregation of them before me today.”
In an 1884 sermon, President George Q. Cannon made a similar proclamation. He stated:
It is manifest that we are the descendants of the house of Israel, by the operations of the Gospel among us. […] God has saved to himself a seed among all nations; and when the Gospel came to the lands where this seed dwelt, there was, on their part, a natural affinity, a natural attraction to the principles of righteousness, and they received them gladly, and were gathered out by the wonderful power of God to this land, and are numbered now among His Saints.
Interestingly, President Cannon then invoked the concept of believing blood to argue for the necessity of prohibiting intermarriage with Gentiles. After asserting the distinctiveness of Latter-day Saints and their incompatibility with Gentiles—comparing them to oil and water—Cannon declared:
It should be the aim of every father in Israel to have his daughters married to those who are of the right lineage, who have a claim upon the blessings of God, through their descent. […] There are some men who have so much Gentile blood in them, that their offspring partake of it, and of the unbelief of the father, and in such cases it is impossible for a mother […] to instill into the minds of her children faith in the God of Israel, and faith in the covenant that He has restored. They seem to belong to another flock. It seems as though they have no susceptibility for the truth. There is no good soil in their hearts to receive the seeds of truth, the Gospel of the Son of God. […] Let the Gentile marry with the Gentile. […] I say we have no right to allow them to marry our daughters, and we should use every influence against it. George Q. Cannon, 16 November 1884 Journal of Discourses 25:361–70
Premortal Lineage
Another of the distinctive features of Mormon-Israelism developed during the early Utah Territorial period is the concept of premortal election to favored mortal lineages. Orson Pratt introduced this concept in August of 1852, which is ironic considering his previous opposition to the anti-Black temple and priesthood ban and to the Act in Relation to Service, which legalized race-based slavery in Utah. Nonetheless, Pratt later espoused the ideas that became one of the key justifications for the church’s anti-Black policies, purporting that the circumstances of one’s birth lineage are determined by individual characteristics or behavior in the premortal realm.
The spirits of men and women, all had a previous existence, thousands of years ago, in the heavens, in the presence of God; […] among them are many spirits that are more noble, more intelligent than others, that were called the great and mighty ones, reserved until the dispensation of the fullness of times, to come forth […] among the Saints […] through a just and righteous parentage. They are to be sent to that people that are the most righteous of any other people upon the earth. […] The Lord has not kept them in store for five or six thousand years past, and kept them waiting for their bodies all this time, to send them among the Hottentots, the African negroes, the idolatrous Hindoos, or any other of the fallen nations that dwell upon the face of this earth. Orson Pratt, 29 August 1852 Journal of Discourses 1:62–3
Parley P. Pratt, a fellow apostle and brother of Orson Pratt, expressed similar ideas during the April 1853 General Conference. He stated that, “No man can hold the keys of Priesthood or of Apostleship, to bless or administer salvation to the nations, unless he is a literal descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” Furthermore, those who were destined to hold leadership positions in the priesthood were specifically reserved by the Lord to be born at the appropriate time and from the correct lineage.
This doctrine of foreordination to the priesthood had very early roots. Joseph Smith introduced related ideas as early as 1829. In The Book of Mormon, the prophet Alma preaches that priests ordained after the order of Christ were “called and prepared from the foundation of the world according to the foreknowledge of God, on account of their exceeding faith and good works,” whereas others “would reject the Spirit of God on account of the hardness of their hearts and blindness of their minds” (Alma 13:1–5).
Smith expanded upon his ideas of foreordination via The Book of Abraham. In this text, Smith presented revelations received by the biblical patriarch Abraham as instructing that, in the premortal realm, not all spirits were created equal. Some were, in fact, more intelligent than others. Those of greatest intelligence—the noble and great ones—were foreordained to become rulers in the Kingdom of God. Abraham learns that he was among those handpicked by the Lord before his mortal birth (Abraham 3:19–23).
An evident illustration of Orson Pratt being influenced by these ideas has already been presented. Additionally, Brigham Young advocated for similar concepts, affirming the predetermined calling of all individuals who were born as descendants of the biblical figure Joseph, including the prophet Joseph Smith. During the 1859 General Conference, Young preached the following:
Joseph was foreordained to be the temporal Savior of his father's house, and the seed of Joseph are ordained to be the spiritual and temporal saviors of all the house of Israel in the latter days. Joseph's seed has mixed itself with all the seed of man upon the face of the whole earth. The great majority of those who are now before me are the descendants of that Joseph who was sold. Joseph Smith, Jr, was foreordained to come through the loins of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and so on down through the Prophets and Apostles. Brigham Young, 9 October 1859 Journal of Discourses 7:289–90
Adoptive Translation
Finally, the doctrine of adoption—in which persons of Gentile descent have their blood transmuted into the lineage of Israel upon conversion to the Gospel—represents another major development of Mormon-Israelism distinct from those of the British-Israel movement. Recall that in 1839, Joseph Smith taught that the effect of the Holy Ghost upon the Gentile “is to purge out the old blood and make him actually of the seed of Abraham.” Brigham Young echoed these teachings in General Conference addresses in 1855 and again in 1862. On the former occasion, Young taught:
If a pure Gentile firmly believes the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and yields obedience to it, […] Joseph said that the Gentile blood was actually cleansed out of their veins, and the blood of Jacob made to circulate in them; and the revolution and change in the system were so great that it caused the beholder to think they were going into fits. If any of the Gentiles will believe, we will lay our hands upon them that they may receive the Holy Ghost, and the Lord will make them of the house of Israel. Brigham Young, 8 April 1855 Journal of Discourses 2:268–9
Seven years later, Young commented that there were very few members of the church possessing the blood of Judah, and that “they could not stay in unless that was purged out; but if they were faithful, the Holy Ghost would come upon those of the Ishmaelitish blood as well as those of Judah, and it would purge that blood out of their systems.”
In the earlier discussed 1853 General Conference address by Parley P. Pratt, where he discussed the exclusive privilege of the lineage of Israel to hold the keys of the priesthood, Pratt also touched upon the concept of adoption. According to Pratt, individuals of non-Israelite descent who embrace the Gospel can be adopted into the family of Abraham. Through this adoption, they can partake in the associated blessings under the guidance of natural descendants of Israel who possess the presiding keys. Importantly, Pratt explains that while all people, regardless of their birth lineage, are made joint heirs with Abraham and his descendants through adoption, he suggests that these adoptees only receive these blessings through the ministry of the natural descendants who hold the presiding keys.
This concept of adoption, where individuals of non-Israelite descent are grafted into the House of Israel, allowing them to become literal descendants of Abraham, is nonetheless one of the unique aspects of Mormon-Israelism that distinguishes it from ordinary Anglo-Israelism. This notion challenges the significance placed on natural Israelite ancestry and highlights the transformative power of adoption within the Mormon-Israelite belief system.
American Anglo-Israelism
By the 1870s, both Mormon-Israel and British-Israel thought had developed into comprehensive, though largely distinct, worldviews. While British-Israel literature had certainly made its way across the Atlantic, it wasn’t until the end of the 19th century that an Anglo-Israel movement started to take shape in America. It is difficult to ascertain precisely the degree to which Mormons were influenced by British-Israel material before the 1870s, though they undoubtedly encountered it. Brigham Young’s 1863 statements regarding the Anglo-Saxon race definitely suggest some degree of crosspollination. What is certain is that a Mormon author was one of the earliest Anglo-Israel exponents in America.
Elder George Reynolds, a general authority seventy, wrote a series of essays published in the Millennial Star between August 19 and November 11, 1878, summarizing British Israel literature and synthesizing it with Mormon doctrine. Reynolds drew primarily from the ideas of John Wilson and Edward Hine. Reynolds’s essays were later compiled into a short booklet entitled “Are We of Israel?” and published in 1883 by Joseph Hyrum Parry, a twice-serving missionary to Britain. Later editions bore the copyright of the Deseret Sunday School Union. Other articles published in the Millennial Star in 1878 promoted pyramidology—the pseudoscientific enterprise of interpreting measurements of the Great Pyramid of Giza as a cipher for significant events in human history. Pyramidology was popular among British-Israel exponents during this time and for decades afterwards.
While George Reynolds’s writing was influential in introducing Mormons to British-Israel literature, others were instrumental in spreading the Anglo-Israel message in America more broadly. The most prolific of these early writers was Charles A. L. Totten, a retired military officer and friend to Edward Hine. Totten’s writings were to American Anglo-Israelism as Hine’s were to British-Israelism. They laid the foundation upon which later American exponents would build. Hine also traveled to America and spend the four years between 1884 and 1888 delivering lectures and spreading his ideas throughout the northeast (Barkun, 1997).
Another influential early figure in the American Anglo-Israel movement was J. H. Allen. A Methodist minister and pioneer of the Holiness movement, Allen authored one of the more influential Anglo-Israel works of the 20th century, Judah’s Sceptre and Joseph’s Birthright. In this work, Allen asserted that the right of succession to the Davidic throne was no longer held by the Jewish people as we know them today. Instead, he claimed that it was maintained by the British monarchy, as descendants of both Israelite and Judahite refugees. Allen’s writing was highly influential on later Anglo-Israel figures, and on later Mormon thought, especially by drawing distinctions between Israelite and Jewish identity and destiny (Barkun, 1997).
After moving to California, Allen was also responsible for spreading the Anglo-Israel message in the US West. There he was joined by other Anglo-Israel exponents, such as Charles Fox Parham—the founder of the Pentecostalist movement—and Reuben H. Sawyer, an Oregon clergyman who played a pivotal role in shaping American Anglo-Israelism. Sawyer’s influence stems from his ardent promotion of Anglo-Israelism and involvement in early community organizing, but no less important are his activities outside the movement. Sawyer was also an active lecturer and coordinator for the Oregon chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. Sawyer seemingly found a way to reconcile the ostensibly pro-Jewish perspective of Anglo-Israelism with the explicit antisemitism of the Klan by distinguishing between two imagined categories of Jews—those he believed to be genuinely descended from and faithful to their ancestor Judah, and those he regarded as imposters (Barkun, 1997).
Reuben Sawyer’s career foreshadowed the future trajectory of American Anglo-Israelism, which increasingly intertwined pseudohistorical biblical beliefs with far-right political causes and militant white supremacy. Two notable figures played significant roles in these developments—Howard Rand and William J. Cameron. Born into a British-Israelist family, Howard Rand was influenced by J. H. Allen’s writing as a youth. He dedicated himself to spreading the movement’s message and consolidating its disparate groups into a cohesive organization—the Anglo-Saxon Federation of America. Rand proved to be an exceptional organizer, and within just two years, the Federation had active branches in Illinois, Florida, California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, and Utah (Barkun, 1997).
While Rand tirelessly worked behind the scenes as a community organizer, William Cameron was the Anglo-Saxon Federation’s most public figure. Cameron was the first president of the Federation and held important leadership roles until 1937. However, he is primarily remembered for his connection to Henry Ford as the editor of the Dearborn Independent. Between May 1920 and January 1922, the Independent published a series of articles that would become the most notorious set of antisemitic writings in American history. A compilation of some of these articles were later published in four volumes titled “The International Jew.” The articles often supportively referenced The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a fabricated antisemitic text that claimed to reveal a Jewish plot for global domination (Barkun, 1997).
By the time Cameron assumed leadership of the Anglo-Saxon Federation, he was widely recognized as one of the foremost antisemitic writers in the country. As a leading figure in the Anglo-Saxon Federation, Cameron delivered numerous sermons and lectures to promote his Anglo-Israelist beliefs. He preached that the Bible was “a racial book”, the story of “the Anglo-Saxon race,” and “the only reliable racial guide that I know.” According to Cameron, the Bible chronicled the ongoing struggle between the Israelite race and “the Esau race,” which he claimed endures to this day. He alleged that the Jews and their religion had become corrupted from within as a product of intermarriage with the Edomites—an idea first proposed by John Wilson nearly 90 years earlier (Barkun, 1997).
In short, Cameron utilized the framework of Anglo-Israelism to support and propagate antisemitic conspiracy theories. By resurrecting dormant ideas within the movement, he demonstrated the rhetorical potential of Anglo-Israelism in promoting these harmful narratives. Specifically, he leveraged its capacity to seemingly prove that Jews are separate and distinct from Israel to undermine Jewish religious legitimacy, sever their cultural connection to Jesus, and depict them as part of a sinister conspiracy bent on subverting the work of God.
Genealogical Society of Utah
Mormons could not help but be influenced by the dramatic rise of Anglo-Israelism in America, with all its attendant literature. In 1894, the Genealogical Society of Utah was founded as a vehicle to promote genealogical research in support of LDS temple work. Today it remains the largest genealogical organization in the world and goes by the name FamilySearch. The Society’s first president, apostle Franklin D. Richards, was appointed by the First Presidency, indicating the church’s full institutional support. Supported by the LDS hierarchy, the Society played a significant role in shaping Mormon teachings on lineage and white supremacy throughout the early 20th century.
At the 2018 Sunstone summer symposium, Stirling Adams delivered a detailed history of the Genealogical Society of Utah and its promotion of Anglo-Israelism. I will not attempt to thoroughly summarize Stirling’s presentation here. I encourage everyone to listen to Stirling’s presentation, either in the Sunstone archives or via the video he recorded for Dialogue. It is excellent and well worth your time. But for our purposes today, I merely want to highlight a few salient points.
First, it is impossible to overstate the size and scope of the Genealogical Society of Utah’s extensive program aimed to instill a strong Mormon-Israelite identity in generations of Latter-day Saints. This encompassing program was executed through 30 years of official society literature, articles in church periodicals catering to readers of all ages, and books and lesson manuals written for Sunday School and the church’s genealogical home teaching program. In 1930, the same year the Anglo-Saxon Federation was established, the LDS church had over 670,000 members, easily making it the largest Anglo-Israel evangelizing organization in the world.
Second, materials produced by the Society and its prominent members extensively drew upon Anglo-Israelist literature for inspiration. Notably, they frequently referenced the works of John Wilson, Edward Hine, Charles Totten, J. H. Allen, Howard Rand, and William Cameron. For example, in 1937, Deseret News Press posthumously published, God’s Covenant Race, a collection of writings by James H. Anderson, a cofounder of the Society and its executive secretary over 40 years. The book provided a 240-page synthesis of Anglo-Israel literature with Mormon doctrine, covering topics such as “Racial Purity,” “Racial Destiny,” “Racial History of the Chosen Family,” and “Anglo-Saxon Supremacy.” Additionally, a 120-page addendum featured articles directly sourced from the official magazine of the Anglo-Saxon Federation of America. These articles included contributions by Howard Rand, C. R. Dickey, and 100 pages of writings by William Cameron.
Finally, several members of the LDS ecclesiastical hierarchy enthusiastically supported this synthesizing of Anglo-Israelism with Mormon doctrine. They actively participated in the endeavor or expressed their public approval, including via addresses in General Conference. Among these figures were Andrew Jenson, Melvin J. Ballard, Anthony Ivins, Charles Penrose, James Talmage, Nephi Pratt, John Widtsoe, and notably, Joseph Fielding Smith. Smith played a significant role in advancing this Anglo-Mormon-Israelism identity work. He not only contributed numerous articles to the Society but also served as its president from 1934 to 1962. His son-in-law, Bruce R. McConkie, published variations on his ideas well into the 1980s.
Christian Identity
During the same period that Latter-day Saints were most active in promoting Anglo-Israelism in support of Mormon identity, another theological variant was beginning to develop within the far-right wing of the Anglo-Israel movement. Known as Christian Identity, this particularly antisemitic and white supremacist elaboration of Anglo-Israelism began to take shape starting in the 1930s, primarily on the West Coast. Christian Identity amplified the already latent antisemitism of “mainstream” Anglo-Israelism, stemming from its fundamental distinction between Judah and Israel. Like William Cameron, the pioneers of Identity Christianity found in Anglo-Israelism a conducive rhetorical framework for generating new forms of conspiritualist antisemitism.
The development of Christian Identity can be attributed to three main catalysts: the influence of conspiratorial and antisemitic ideas within the Anglo-Israel community in Vancouver, the prevalence of countercultural religious experimentation in southern California during the 1920s and 30s, and the emergence of a network of far-right activists on the West Coast. Among this network were several of the key figures in the development of Identity Christianity, including Bertrand Comparet, William Potter Gale, and Wesley Swift. Among these, Wesley Swift stands out as the most influential figure in the early history of the Identity movement and his writings remain the most influential and widely disseminated within Identity circles (Barkun, 1997).
Wesley Swift was prolific in promoting a distinctive doctrine that became a hallmark of Identity theology—the belief that contemporary Jews are the literal offspring of Satan. Although Swift was influential in spreading this idea, he was not the originator of this doctrine—others within the milieu of American Anglo-Israelism had published similar without explicitly tying it to Jews. But for Swift and other Identity exponents, it became a central belief that Jews were the genetic offspring of a sexual liason in the Garden of Eden between Eve and the serpent, resulting in a corrupted Cainite seedline. They would synthesize this doctrine with other beliefs common in Anglo-Israelism regarding the racial impurity of modern Jews, the polygenesis of the races from Pre-Adamic peoples, and other pseudohistorical narratives delegitimizing Jewish identity and promoting white supremacy (Barkun, 1997).
Cain, an otherwise minor Biblical figure, occupies a place of particular prominence in Identity Christianity. Apart from being the first mortal in a demonic seedline, Identity literature often portrays Cain as the progenitor of an ancient secret society that has manifested in various forms throughout history. This ancient order is complete with an evil priesthood based on the worship of false gods, often through ritualized abuse and the consumption of human flesh or blood. Contemporary Jews—as the lineal descendants of Cain—are naturally assumed to be agents of this diabolic order, which clandestinely operates through the international banking system, the mainstream media, and world governments, to enact their dark work, persecute the faithful, and prevent their conspiracy from being detected.
Mormon-Identity Crosspollination
This theological prominence of Cainite evil marks a point of similarity between Mormon and Identity thought. In his peerless academic examination of the Identity movement, Michael Barkun (1997) observes that Mormon discourse represents “one of the most sustained discussions of Cainite evil” and predates Christian Identity in American religious thought by over a century. Cain’s prominence in the Bible is essentially fleeting, appearing in Genesis 4 and then only mentioned thrice in passing in the New Testament. In fact, Cain is featured far more prominently in Mormon extrabiblical scripture than in the entirety of the Christian canon.
In his revision of Genesis, Joseph Smith greatly expanded upon the Cain and Abel narrative by adding details regarding his covenant with Satan, his establishment of a diabolical secret society, and the perpetuation of that conspiratorial order through Cain’s descendants. Smith also made explicit the racial interpretation held by many of his contemporaries regarding the Curse of Cain as associated with blackness. The Book of Mormon also contains passages asserting that Cain was the father of a timeless and devilish conspiracy and Smith invoked this idea in an 1832 revelation dealing with priesthood lineage (D&C § 84). Smith’s successors only further increased Cain’s significance through sermons and publications.
Teachings regarding a spiritual premortal existence as the literal offspring of God are another point of convergence between Mormon and Identity thought. Wesley Swift and William Potter Gale strongly emphasized the celestial premortal origins of the Adamic race. Their theological framework was built upon a grand conflict between God and Lucifer, tracing its origins to a time before Earth’s existence. In his 1963 book, “The Faith of Our Fathers,” William Potter Gale describes a primordial conflict between Lucifer and his fallen angels, and the forces of God led by the archangel Michael. Following their defeat, Lucifer and his followers were cast down to Earth. According to Gale, these fallen angels are believed to be the non-white Pre-Adamites who, in his view, fathered inferior races that exhibit a predisposition towards rebellion and criminal behavior reflecting of their Luciferian parentage (Barkun, 1997).
Wesley Swift shared similar ideas. According to Swift, the white Adamic race was not created on Earth but originated as the direct spiritual offspring of God. Wesley Swift taught, “Being born of incorruptible seed, is a process of the Father, by which you were begotten in the beginning, before even these worlds were framed.” These spiritual children of God were subsequently sent to Earth, taking physical form as the Adamic race. In contrast, other races were inhabitants of other worlds mustered by Lucifer during the great angelic rebellion, before being defeated and cast down to Earth. Therefore, according to Swift, only the white Adamic race is regarded as the literal spiritual offspring of God, whereas the other races are wholly otherworldly in character (Barkun, 1997).
Other Identity figures have also advanced ideas regarding the premortal existence of the Adamic race. Pastor Dan Gayman claims that the Biblical patriarchs each had a spiritual existence before their mortal lives, stating: “Our Christian Fathers were strangers to this terrestrial place, having existed in spirit essence before time, to take on a flesh body in time.” Notably, Gayman’s group, Church of Israel, is an offshoot of the Church of Christ at Halley’s Bluff—one of many divisions within the Temple Lot branch of the Latter-day Saint movement, tracing their path through Otto Fetting and Granville Hendrick back to Joseph Smith (Barkun, 1997).
Dan Gayman was evangelized to Christian Identity in 1950s and 60s. He subsequently used his position as editor of the Zion’s Restorer—the Halley’s Bluff church periodical—to promote Identity ideas among the membership. By 1972, Gayman had converted enough followers to his perspective that he felt confident enough to attempt an ecclesiastical coup in 1972. The church eventually split, with the greater portion following Gayman and eventually evolving into the Church of Israel in Schell City, Missouri. Gayman has since distanced himself and the church from their Mormon origins and has become one of the most prolific exponents of Christian Identity theology (Miller, 1977; Barkun, 1997).
Dan Gayman is far from the only prominent Identity figure to come from Mormon roots. Before he founded Brüder Schweigen, more commonly known as The Order, Robert Jay Mathews had been baptized into the Mormon faith at the age of 13. He also formed an anti-communist militia group named the Sons of Liberty, which was mostly comprised of Mormon survivalists including many associates of Mormon fundamentalist, John Singer. In the 1980s, Mathews and the Order became notorious for a series of criminal acts including bank robbery, counterfeiting, and the murder of Jewish radio host, Alan Berg. Mathews ultimately died in a armed standoff with federal agents in 1984.
Additional notable Identity figures with a Mormon background include Vicki Weaver (who was raised RLDS and was killed in the Ruby Ridge standoff), Bo Gritz (the FBI’s negotiator in the standoff), and John Woods, who broke with Richard Butler and the Aryan Nations to form his own Identity church in Hayden Lake, Idaho. Woods reportedly claims that Mormonism spiritually prepared him for his eventual conversion of Identity Christianity. Patrick Watters, a Mormon associate of John Singer and the leader of the Utah Free Militia, may also have espoused Identity-compatible beliefs. Documentation is scant but Watters endorsed ideas promoted by William Potter Gale and tried to establish an Israelite micronation named Corterra, with himself as prime minister, among islands belonging to Kiribati. Intriguingly, the flag for Corterra is a British Blue Ensign with 13 stars, the foremost being a solid star of David, and Corterra postage stamps feature Book of Mormon currency.
Sociologist James Aho, who studied the prevalence of Christian Identity groups in Idaho during the 1980s, observed that although Mormon representation in Identity groups was lower than that of Pentecostal or Protestant Fundamentalist backgrounds, it was six to nine times higher than Mormon representation in the American population generally. Multiple observers have speculated that the prominence of Mormon teachings that affirm the inclusion of Jews as part of “All-Israel” has a protective effect that prevents devout Mormons from being converted to Identity beliefs. However, the same was also true of the mainstream Anglo-Israelism from which Identity emerged and through which many are introduced to Christian Identity today (Aho, 1990).
Much like Anglo-Israelism, Mormonism also features a latent antisemitism wrapped in a cloak of paternalistic benevolence. Mormon scripture contains a mixture of antisemitic and philosemitic rhetoric. On the one hand, The Book of Mormon frequently speaks of the intractable wickedness of the Jews, citing it as the reason why Lehi’s family had to flee Jerusalem in the first place. It describes the Jews as “the more wicked part of the world,” “transgressors from the womb,” murderers of the prophets and apostles, and “the only nation on earth that would crucify their God.” Conversely, it continually affirms their inclusion in the Abrahamic covenant and speaks of their eventual restoration, after they’ve been compelled to convert to Christianity through severe tribulations.
However, to the extent that Mormon teachings are philosemitic they are also inherently supersessionist—appropriating Jewish history and writings only to support Mormonism. Mormon teachings exhibit a unique form of supersessionism that goes beyond traditional Christian supersessionism. Mormon supersessionism retcons all of Judaism into not just proto-Christianity, but fully developed Christianity. It rewrites all of Judaic myth into Christianity starting with Adam and turns Judaism into an apostate Christian faith.
The Book of Moses presents itself as a vision delivered to the founding figure of Judaism, wherein he is shown the beginnings of Christianity in the Garden of Eden. Similarly, the Book of Mormon portrays the prophet Abinadi—centuries before the Gospels were written—teaching that the Law of Moses is a lesser law given to Israel on account of their stubborn disobedience, and that salvation cannot be found in it as it is only a foreshadowing of Christ. From a Mormon perspective, Rabbinic Judaism is anti-Christ, resulting from Israel’s constant apostatizing from the Christian tradition culminated in the explicit rejection of their own Messiah.
Although, in recent decades, the LDS church has quietly de-emphasized the Mormon-Israelite teachings of their past, these ideas linger and are still taught among segments of Latter-day Saints. Moreover, they remain especially prominent among many Mormon Fundamentalists. At times, we still see glimpses of their continuance even among the top of the LDS hierarchy. For instance, during a visit to the British Isles in October 2021, Elder Holland encouraged members to continue their missionary proselytizing efforts and assured his audience that “the great days of Great Britain are not behind us […] and we’re foolish and unwise, and I think a little blind, if we somehow think that we have already gleaned all the blood of Israel from these sacred lands.” One can also hear the echoes of Mormon-Israelism in President Nelson’s frequent emphasis of “the gathering of Israel” and his admonitions to young Latter-day Saints to primarily identify as a “child of the covenant.”
Among fundamentalist-leaning LDS traditionalists, such as the FIRM and Joseph Smith Foundations, we observe an especially fervent embrace of Mormon-Israelism. At times, we also catch glimpses of crosspollination from Christian Identity literature. For example, in his 2006 publication The Dynasty of the Holy Grail, Vern Swanson synthesizes Anglo-Israelism and Jesus bloodline conspiracy beliefs with Mormon doctrine. In his bibliography of recommended sources, Swanson includes references to “British-Israelism,” and among them is Robert Alan Balacius, a Christian Identity pastor who leads Sacred Truth Ministries in Tennessee. On his website, Balacius describes the book as positing that the only legitimate descendants of the Israelites are the Anglo-Saxon, Celtic, and related peoples, distinct from the Canaanite “Jews” who allegedly took Israel’s name and language after true Israel was expelled from their land.
Similarly, an article on the Joseph Smith Foundation website promoting American-Israelism twice references and hyperlinks to the website for Mission to Israel, a Christian Identity group led by pastor Ted Weiland in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. Weiland is among that subset of Identity pastors who reject the Satanic seedline doctrine but nonetheless promote a host of alternative antisemitic narratives regarding the racial impurity and illegitimacy of modern Jews. He claims that the seedline doctrine should be rejected in part because it is actually a Jewish invention. Intriguingly, Weiland also espouses the idea that true Israelites can be identified by their believing blood which leads them to naturally embrace the Christian Identity message.
The FIRM Foundation, along with the Joseph Smith Foundation, is one of the most active proponents of Mormon-Anglo-Israelism within Latter-day Saint circles. However, their website articles reveal indications of crosspollination from Christian Identity literature. One article extensively discusses the concept of “illegitimate sons of Aaron,” which the author links to the Jewish leadership during Jesus’s time, arguing that they falsely claimed priestly authority they were not entitled to by lineage.
Another article suggests that “Master Mahan, Gadianton Robbers, Satanists, Cabals, and Illuminati” control the top echelons of governments, sports teams, Hollywood, education, religion, Wall Street, big Pharma, and more. When transitioning to discuss the location of the Seat of Satan, described as a place where evil plans are devised, the author attributes the term “Goyim” to “fake Jewish people.” Moreover, the article identifies Geneva, Switzerland, as the probable headquarters of the Satanic conspiracy and makes a point to emphasize that the World Jewish Congress was founded there.
However, the writings of Val Brinkerhoff are unquestionably the most glaring example of crosspollination from Identity Christianity into Mormon literature that I have seen in recent years. Brinkerhoff is a sometimes participant in FIRM events and has written prolifically on Israelite lineage, Mormon eschatology, supposed Mormon-Hebraic parallelisms. His book, “The Secret Chamber,” which denies Joseph Smith’s polygamy and proposes a conspiracy within the early church to usurp his authority, is popular among many in the Denver Snuffer adjacent Remnant movement. Brinkerhoff’s essay entitled “The War of Worship Between Two Opposing Bloodlines” combines the Satanic seedline doctrine, a hallmark of Identity Christianity, with Mormon scripture and anti-vaccination conspiracism. While he does not explicitly state that modern Jews are the offspring of Satan through Cain, the implication is ever-present. He also asserts that “Many of the ‘fake Jews’ are thought to be Edomite Jews of Canaanite lineage.”
Conclusion
Mormonism and Christian Identity are distinct new religious movements that emerged from the periphery of the Protestant American cultic milieu. Despite being the products of unique cultural streams, the currents of ideas within those streams often draw from a common source, briefly intersect, or run along a parallel course. This presentation has explored in detail how a shared heritage of pseudohistorical Israelite identity beliefs, particularly Anglo-Israelism, has influenced both Mormonism and Identity Christianity. It is essential to clarify that highlighting this cultural link does not aim to establish equivalence between these religious movements. Instead, the intention is to gain a better understanding of their workings and characteristics by examining their similarities and differences with an eye toward the historical contexts in which each developed.
This examination holds significant importance due to the prevalence of crosspollination of ideas within the cultic milieu of countercultural religion. Within the cultic milieu, it is especially common for individuals to fluidly move between disparate communities representing distinct traditions, or to participate in multiple groups simultaneously. We have examined multiple examples in this presentation. Considering the virulent expressions of antisemitism, white supremacy, and propensity towards militant extremism within Identity Christianity, the potential for further Mormon-Identity crossover should cause us concern.