The British-Israel-World Federation

 

Life IN THE B.I.W.F.

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Welcome!

More news for you to read about events, projects and activities in the Federation.

BIWF SPECIAL EVENT

In this anniversary year there will be a rally at Headquarters on Saturday, 7 June to commemorate the centenary of the First World War. The programme for the “Remembering World War 1” Rally is being prepared and will be available from the end of March.

Put the date in your diary and come along to join in the memories and thanksgiving.

COVENANT PUBLISHING

The year has started well for CPC with a very large order of books from the manager of a bookshop in Wales. Having already ordered copies of Maelgwn of Llandaff and Joseph of Arimathea he was sent the CPC catalogue and responded with a request for many more titles.

There are also two more new editions for your collections – The Lost Tribes of Israel by Reader Harris (see The Covenant Nations, below) and The Covenants of the Bible by Rev. R G F Waddington. Both of them are excellent small books explaining the basics which everyone should know.

CAMELS IN THE BIBLE

There were reports in The Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail on Wednesday, 5 February casting doubt on the use of camels as domestic animals in the time of the Age of the Patriarchs. Martin Lightfoot wrote the following response which might be useful in discussion with anyone who does not believe the biblical record:

Having ‘hands on’ and lecturing experience in archaeology pertaining to the Holy Land I must contest the report that camels were not domesticated in Israel until centuries after the Age of the Patriarchs – when Abraham, Jacob and Isaac are said to have lived – between 2000 and 1500 BC. This report does not properly take into account the significance of numerous archaeological findings such as the petroglyph (rock carving) found at Wadi Nasib depicting camels walking caravan style and dated at least as far back as 1500 BC.

According to the Bible, Abraham came from Ancient Mesopotamia (modern Iraq). A picture of a camel, with a rider on its back was found in the ruins of Tall Halaf in Iraq dating back to 3000 BC. (Oppenheim, Der Tell Halaf,  p.140). Archaeologist Oded Borowski (my wife & I worked with him in Israel at Lehav) records the finding of a jar containing camel dung and camel hair fabric in Iran dated to 2600 BC. (‘Every Living Thing, The Daily Use of Animals in Ancient Israel’ 1998, p.130).

In Lebanon, small Egyptian figurines of camels have been found dated at 2500 BC together with a relief which depicted a kneeling camel suggesting its domestication, and camel bones were excavated in neighbouring Syria dated at 2400 BC.

The report in your paper admits that camel remains have been discovered earlier than the 9^th century BC in Canaan, but will not accept that they were domesticated. Why not? They were certainly used for transport elsewhere in the Middle East, and Canaan formed a crucial trading route!

This report will come unstuck like all previous attempts to discredit the Bible. The Bible account of Ur, the Hittite and Assyrian empires, the last king of Babylon etc. are all proved by archaeology to be entirely accurate and the critics disarmed.

As renowned archaeologist and former president of Hebrew Union College, Nelson Gluek pointed out: “it may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a Biblical reference. Scores of archaeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or in exact detail historical statements in the Bible” (‘Rivers in the Desert’ p. 31).

FUTURE EVENTS

Ulster Rally – on Saturday, 22 March.

Wigan Rally – on Good Friday, 18 April.

Morecambe Rally and AGM – from Friday, 25 April to Sunday, 27 April.

The Shaping of Scottish History at Stirling Castle – on Saturday, 17 May.

The History of the British Church at Whitby – on Saturday, 31 May.

Please refer to your booklet of Conferences, Rallies, Branch Meetings and The National Bible College Events 2014 for details.

THE COVENANT NATIONS

We are pleased to announce the beginning of Volume 3. The first issue will be with you in early March. There is a feature on The Lost Tribes of Israel and its author Richard Reader Harris who was a very important BI lecturer and writer. His book is an excellent explanation of the subject and provides many answers to the difficult questions which arise. Look out for the page on ‘Sharing the Israel Truth ... in less than a minute’!

FAMILY NEWS

Pastor James McElroy passed away on Thursday, 6 February, after a short illness. He visited the Summer Convention at Swanwick in 2005 with his wife Jenny. Since then he has been the mainstay of BIWF-USA and The Covenant Publishing Company of North America working most enthusiastically and faithfully to spread the Israel Truth far and wide. He will be greatly missed and we send our deepest sympathy to Jenny McElroy and all his family.

 

Philippa Clark, Publicity Officer

Contact:  BIWF, 121 Low Etherley, Bishop Auckland, County Durham, DL14 0HA

e-mail: admin@britishisrael.co.uk