Critique of Herbert Armstrong's The United States and Britain in Prophecy (Part 1)

In a series of posts, I plan to critique the logic of The United States and Britain in Prophecy (TUSBP) booklet by Herbert W. Armstrong (HWA).

Why do this?  
My reasons are several fold.

First, I grew up in his church, the Worldwide Church of God. As an adult, I am ready to challenge the rationale and beliefs.  This is spiritual and intellectually rewarding for me. Second, to assist those interested in TUSBP. Finally, in a weird way, it is fun to see just how crazy HWA was.


Anglo-Israelism
In this booklet, HWA argues that Europeans are descended from the Lost Tribes of Israel.  Specifically, the United States and Britain have special roles as being from Ephraim and Manasseh.  This theory of a connection between the English speaking world and ancient Israel is known as "Anglo-Israelism."

HWA was not the only one who believed in Anglo-Israelism. He probably was not the first to make the connection. It is beyond the scope of this analysis, but I suspect that Anglo-Israelism has its origins in the 1700s or 1800s as a byproduct of both Imperial Britain and American westward expansion. Notions of "Manifest Destiny" and "White Man's Burden" come to mind as well as the warped racial-religious rationales during the slave trade era and Indian wars.

So, I obviously have some biases against Anglo-Israelism.


TUBSP, Generally
In a nutshell, the logic is bad.  In fact, atrocious. I suspect that HWA had a conclusion in mind and scoured the Bible and history for support. Rather, he rearranged both.

Racism?
I cannot help but wonder if theories like this have a racist component. White people might want to believe that their race, in particular the English bloodlines, have a special blessing to God. This would justify racial self-entitlement.

That said, I cannot find a strong racial bias in this particular book. I read bizarre, racist statements by HWA in other places, but this specific book lacks them. However, given the racial undertones plus the racist statements elsewhere, I suspect a racist component underscored HWA's belief in Anglo-Israelism theories.

The End Times or Last Days
Much of the book is colored with language that we are living in the "End Times" and that Christ will return soon. The Bible uses these terms, but HWA seemed to believe that Christ's return would happen in his lifetime. Of course, he famously mis-predicted the return of Jesus in 1971 and in 1975, before he stopped vocalizing predictions.

However, he was not the only one of the era to make such predictions. A more famous example of HWA's era is actually Hal Lindsay in his Late Great Planet Earth.

It seems that the 1960-1970s America was filled with a deep-seated pessimism. This is understandable given the Cold War, possibility of nuclear war, and America's loss in Vietnam. Likewise, there was a major cultural shift so moral conservatives would indeed think America was deteriorating.

For the record, the "Last Days" as defined by the Apostle Peter, is anything after the first Pentecost about 2,000 years ago.  See, Acts 2:14-17.

This backdrop is important for understanding Armstrong's book because he weaves this deterioration of America-Britain as predicted in the Bible and hence, his proof of of Anglo-Israelism. An example of this appears below.

"We had pride in our power!" (TUSBP, p. 161-163)

In a section about the implications of Anglo-Israelism, HWA states that America, as predicted in the Bible, has lost "pride in our power." (Page 162). HWA states:


"Today even little nations dare to insult, trample on, or burn the United States flag - and the United States, still having power, does no more than issue a weak protest! What's happened to the pride of our power?
We have already lost it! God said, "I will break the pride of your power!" And HE DID!"

(Id., citing Leviticus 26:19, emphasis in original). 

The section of the Bible that HWA cites are the rewards for obedience and punishments for disobedience. 

But let us consider HWA's statement with the backdrop of history. From the perspective of the early 1970s, perhaps Anglo-America military deteriorated. In hindsight, we saw Reagan's military buildup in the 1980s and collapse of the Soviet Union (1990-1991). Further, we saw numerous military campaigns by the United States or Britain over the years. Some of these were part of international agreements, such as the United Nations.

1. Argentina (1982) (entirely the UK)
2. Grenada (1983) 
3. Panama (1989) 
4. Kuwait and Iraq (1990) 
5. No-fly areas imposed on Iraq (1991-2003)
6. Haiti (1994) 
7. Former Yugoslavia (mid-1990s) 
8. Serbia (1999) (NATO)
9. Afghanistan (2001-present)
10. Iraq (2003-?) 
11. ISIS in Syria (2014) 

This overlooks the covert and limited actions. A few high profile ones were the Navy Seal rescue of Captain Phillips (2009) and the death of Osama Bin Laden (2011). It also overlooks where America tried, but failed - Iran (1979) and Somalia (1993). Even the failures would indicate pride in the military.

In a nutshell, HWA was wrong. America's military had a set-back from Vietnam, but America's pride in the military was not completely broken.