Gabriel Prosser
1800 - A literate blacksmith named Gabriel Prosser taught the slaves through inspiration of the Bible that we were God’s people and should rebel against the tyranny of America.
1800 - A literate blacksmith named Gabriel Prosser taught the slaves through inspiration of the Bible that we were God’s people and should rebel against the tyranny of America.
1831 - A slave named Nat Turner was called The Prophet and raised a small slave rebellion based on Bible teachings and visions of war and blood he had. Many blacks today demonize this man who attempted to save them from oppression.
1896- William Saunders Crowdy in Lawrence, Kansas. He established “The Church of God and Saints of Christ.” Although he taught that Blacks were God’s people, he mixed a lot of Christianity into his teachings.
1907- Enoch Mgijima (1868 – 5 March 1928) was a Xhosa prophet and evangelist. He formed his own church, known as the Israelites, a breakaway from the Church of God and Saints of Christ, established by William Saunders Crowdy in 1896. He led them through a clash with the white Union of South Africa government, which left 163 Israelites dead, 129 wounded, and 95 taken prisoner, in what became known as the Bulhoek Massacre.
1915- Frank S. Cherry claimed to have had a vision that African Americans are the descendants of the ancient Israelites during his time abroad. He then established and led a congregation in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 1886, where he preached that white people were inherently evil and hated by God. He later attempted to spread this belief in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he established the Church of God in 1915.
1920 - Wentworth A. Matthews worked with Caucasian Hasidic Jewish people and was eager to join their organization to become a member of the New York Board of Rabbis, but he was consistently denied. Matthews believed that African Americans were the original Jews, descended from the Lost Tribes. Black Hebrews spoke of regaining or returning to Judaism. However, Caucasian Jews did not agree with this theory and believed that people either had to be descended directly from Caucasian Jewish mothers or undergo a recognized conversion under Jewish authorities to be considered Jews. Matthews eventually concluded that Black Jews, or Black Hebrews in his congregations, would not be accepted by the Caucasian Jewish community. He and his congregation became strongly influenced by the pan-African philosophy of Marcus Garvey from Jamaica, his black nationalist organization—the Universal Negro Improvement Association—and Rabbi Josiah Ford. Matthews established The Commandment Keepers Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation and taught from the Old Testament and the Kabbalah.
1929 - Israel Ben Newman and Mordecai Herman founded the Moorish Zionist Temple in Harlem in 1921, one of the earliest Hebrew Israelite congregations in New York City. The Congregation of the Moorish Zionist Temple of the Moorish Jews in Harlem blended the belief that Black people were the descendants of the Biblical Israelites with aspects of traditional Judaism, elements from Christianity, and influences from pan-Africanism. Herman was also a member of Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA).
1930 - Born in Barbados, Arnold Josiah Ford became a member of Marcus Garvey’s U.N.I.A. (Universal Negro Improvement Association). However, following Marcus Garvey’s arrest and conviction, Ford founded the Beth B’Nai Israel Synagogue in a Harlem storefront and declared himself a Rabbi.
Rabbi Arnold Josiah Ford was the spiritual advisor to Wentworth A. Matthews of the Commandment Keepers. He was never recognized as such by the Edomite Jewish community.
In 1930, he and a small group of Black Jews traveled to Ethiopia, where they participated in the coronation of Emperor Haile Selassie. They established a school and acquired 800 acres of land with the goal of uniting Black Jews of the Diaspora with their brethren in Ethiopia. Ford passed away there in 1935.
The Civil Rights Movement came to national prominence in the United States during the mid-1950s and continued to challenge racial segregation and discrimination through 1969.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Provisions of this act forbade discrimination based on sex as well as race in hiring, promoting, and firing.
Examples of civil rights include:
Some memorable figures and groups during this era include:
Jan. 21, 1969: New York Representative Shirley Chisholm is sworn in as the first Black woman elected to Congress.
1960 - Eber Ben Yamyan, also known as Abba Bivens, was initially taught that he was an Israelite by an ex-slave many years earlier in the South. Bivens believed in the Black Christ, and during his journey to New York, he visited many Native American reservations. Through scriptural study, he concluded that the so-called Indians were also Israelites.
Upon arriving in New York, he joined the Commandment Keepers under Wentworth Matthews but rejected Matthews' teachings of Old Testament-only doctrine and Kabbalah. Bivens later founded the Torah School of Knowledge and became the first to teach that Blacks, Latinos, and Native Americans of the Americas are Israelites.
While in New Jersey, he was assaulted by members of the Nation of Islam because he publicly and biblically denounced Islam as the false religion of the Arabs. As a result, he contracted a severe case of pneumonia. Before he passed away, he declared Masha and Yaiqab as the school leaders. However, jealousy led many members to reject the new leadership.
1963 - Ben Carter, also known as Ben Ammi, led 300 Israelites from Chicago to Liberia and then to Dimona, Israel. He established the “African Hebrew Israelites” in an attempt to deliver his people from the curses of Deuteronomy 28:15-68 and escape the oppressive hand of America. However, he soon discovered that oppression followed him to Dimona.
Due to their lack of Israeli citizenship, the group faced difficulties in obtaining proper medical and dental care. As a result, Ben Ammi agreed to support the Jewish Israeli military, allowing their young men to fight against the Palestinians in exchange for much-needed supplies for their community.
1970 - Hulon Mitchell Jr., also known as Yahweh ben Yahweh, established the “Nation of Yahweh” and proclaimed himself God, the Son of God.
He and many of his followers were arrested for crimes including murder, racketeering, and arson, which they committed to establish themselves in various states. In 1991, he was found guilty of these charges and later died of colon cancer while in prison.
Moshe ben Chareem, also known as Masha, founded the "Israelite School of Universal Practical Knowledge" and was chosen to continue the teachings of Abba Bivens alongside Peter Sherrod, also known as Yaiqab. Later in the 1970s, they were assisted by five other men, forming a group known as "The 7."
Ahrayah (Yaiqab's son), Lahab, Yashiyah, Shar, and Chaazaq taught from the KJV 1611 version of the Old and New Testament, including the Apocrypha, as well as the ancient Hebrew language known as Lashawan Qadash. They taught that Blacks, Latinos, and Native Americans are part of the 12 Tribes of Israel, and Ahrayah identified their modern-day locations.
They also proved that Caucasians descend from Esau/Edom based on Genesis 25:21-30, Malachi 1:1-4, and the book of Obadiah. They identified the Table of Nations and upheld God's high holy days according to Leviticus 23. A biblical dress code was also introduced.
The Rosicrucians offered them several million dollars to teach a more Christian-Jewish message of unity for all humanity and to alter their teachings on the identities of the 12 Tribes. Masha and Yaiqab refused, believing that a Christian/Jewish message would keep the Negro at the bottom of society and prevent the full truth from being taught.
In 1994, Lahab was excommunicated for accusations and heretical teachings.
Many years later, the Rosicrucians returned and again offered millions of dollars to alter and change their teachings. Masha and Yaiqab rejected the offer once more, but some higher-ranking men accepted it, causing a split in 1995. Confusion, hatred, and debates over the Rosicrucian money led Masha to leave and establish another school, House of David (HODC), in early 1996.
The remaining leaders established The Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ (ICGJC) at 1941 Madison Avenue in Harlem, New York.
Ahrayah, Yashiyah, Shar, and Chaazaq introduced the Twelve Kings Doctrine, later called The Apostolic Succession. This doctrine, which included several "generals" from the current UPK, proposed that the leaders of the Catholic Church had inherited authority from the original twelve apostles and sat in the Apostles’ seats, making them second to Christ.
The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception was also introduced. A young man named Jermaine Grant, also known as Tazadaqyah, was elevated to the role of The God-Sent Comforter / The Holy Spirit.
In 2018, Tazadaqyah and Tazapawan of the ICGJC were arrested for tax evasion involving $5.3 million.
Jermaine Grant passed away in April of 2020.
Matthew 13:31-32
“Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: 32: Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.”
The Mustard Tree represents the **Law and Testimony**, and the birds that lodge in its branches symbolize the **Israelites**.
Jeremiah 12:9
"Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird,…”
