Part 3 concludes our series on Jewish obsession in American cults by exposing the origins and theology of the Black Hebrew Israelites, showing how two ex-slaves in the 1890s independently claimed African Americans are the true Lost Ten Tribes of Israel. From Philadelphia—the historic hub of Rosicrucian mystics, Prince Hall Freemasonry, and religious tolerance—emerged William Saunders Crowdy (Church of God and Saints of Christ, 1896) and Frank Cherry (Church of the Living God, 1886). Fueled by visions, Masonic ritual influences, and Deuteronomy 28 “curse” interpretations of the slave trade, they taught that blacks alone are God’s chosen, salvation is ethnic rather than by faith, and (in extreme One West camps) whites and modern Jews are Edomites destined for destruction. We trace the Kabbalistic roots of their “Shekinah/Black Woman” doctrine and warn against reactionary racial myths on all sides. True Israel is defined by faith in Christ alone. Subscribe for more Sword & Staff: Revenant!
BHI:
“Black Hebrew Israelites in Kansas” – Jerry Singer (extended Crowdy vision quote source): https://www.amazon.com/African-American-Religious-Cultures-2/dp/157607727
“Chased Out of Palestine: Prophet Cherry’s Church and Early Black Judaisms in the United States” – Nora L. Rubel (2009 chapter): https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1t89c1j.12
Church of God and Saints of Christ official history (primary source for Crowdy’s visions & Seven Keys): https://cogasoc.net/church-history
Southern Poverty Law Center – “Hebrew Israelism” profile: https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/ideology/hebrew-israelism
Philadelphia & Freemasonry
Penn’s Charter of Privileges (1701): https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/pa07.asp
Sachse – The German Pietists of Provincial Pennsylvania (1895): https://archive.org/details/germanpietistsof00sach
“Cave of Kelpius” historical marker: https://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php%3FmarkerId=1-A-3E5.html
St. John’s Lodge history: https://www.freemason.com/st-johns-the-oldest-lodge-in-the-united-states/
“George Washington Lays the Cornerstone of the Capitol”: https://www.senate.gov/about/historic-buildings-spaces/capitol/washington-lays-capitol-cornerstone.htm
Mentioned in the show and other readings (Amazon Affiliate Links):
Chosen People: The Rise of American Black Israelite Religions – Jacob S. Dorman (2013): https://amzn.to/3KaUPNM
The New Black Gods (contains Nora Rubel’s chapter on Frank Cherry) – ed. Curtis & Sigler (2009): https://amzn.to/43YH5g3
Religion and the Racist Right: The Origins of the Christian Identity Movement – Michael Barkun (rev. ed. 1997): https://amzn.to/4o69dVD
Black Judaism: Story of an American Movement – James E. Landing (2002): https://amzn.to/49spSz8
New World A-Coming: Black Religion and Racial Identity during the Great Migration – Judith Weisenfeld (2017): https://amzn.to/49spSz8
Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry – Albert Pike: https://amzn.to/4o1qTBC
Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism – Gershom Scholem (1995): https://amzn.to/3JWvlDW
Black Zion: African American Religious Encounters with Judaism – Yvonne Chireau & Nathaniel Deutsch (2000): https://amzn.to/4plR3Aj
The Lost Tribes of Israel: The History of a Myth – Tudor Parfitt (2002): https://amzn.to/49sq41k
Bullock – Revolutionary Brotherhood (1996): https://amzn.to/47NK8K7
Tolles – Meeting House and Counting House (1948): https://amzn.to/4i6NECR
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