The Bulletin
of the
Church of Christ at New Georgia

Tim Johnson, editor

January 2, 2005

 
In This Issue:
Are Cherokee Indians Really Jews?
by Steve Klein

What is a Congregation?
by Glenn Melton

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Are Cherokee Indians Really Jews?

  I occasionally enjoy perusing the East Lauderdale News.  Our quaint hometown newspaper usually carries stories of local interest and Southern flavor that inform the mind and warm the heart.  But I read a piece this past week that went well beyond quaint, interesting and heartwarming, to the point that it approached bizarre, heretical and sadly humorous.  The article was headlined "Local Cherokee Proves Hebrew connection."  It was submitted by Joe "Sitting Owl" White, chief of the Cherokee of Lawrence County Tennessee.  The primary claim of the article was that the Cherokee Indians are direct descendents of Jews.  While many would regard such a claim as so outlandish that it does not merit any response, I've observed over the years that the more unbelievable something is, the more likely it is that many will accept it (or portions of it) as gospel.

  Among the proofs offered in the article to support the Jewish-Cherokee connection were the following:

    (1) Results of DNA tests done on members of the Cherokee tribe showed genetic markers for Ashkenazi Jews.

    (2) A book written by James Adair in 1775 offered evidence for the Cherokee-Hebrew connection. 

    (3) A stone inscribed with apparent Hebrew writing was found at a Cherokee Camp.

    (4) The Biblical prophecies foretelling the re-gathering of the Israelites are being fulfilled in assemblies of these Jewish-Cherokees.

 While the DNA claim was "news to me," I had heard the other claims made before. 

  In the 18th and 19th centuries in America, there was a good bit of speculation as to the origin of the Indians.  Some wondered if they could be descendents of the "lost tribes of Israel" (the ten tribes that were taken into Assyrian captivity).  Besides Adair's work, other books of fiction and non-fiction were written popularizing the idea.  Among these were Elias Boudinot's Star in the East (1816), Ethan Smith's View of the Hebrews (1823), and Josiah Priest's The Wonders of Nature and Providence (1824). By the time Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon Church, supposedly discovered the Book of Mormon, more than a few people had been exposed to the concept that American Indians descended from Jews.  It should have come as a surprise to no one that the central plot of the Book of Mormon was the story of how Palestinian Jews came to colonize what is now known as America.  Of course the Book of Mormon contains many factual inaccuracies and impossible claims, which are clear to anyone willing to compare it to historical, scientific and archeological facts.  It also contradicts the Bible and itself in numerous places.  When we understand the popular speculations and religious mindset that produced the Book of Mormon and the earlier similar books, it's easy to see that the notion that Jews settled America and became the American Indians is simply the product of human imagination.

  The other "proofs" offered to support the Jewish-Cherokee connection are also very weak. 

  • The supposed Hebrew inscription (known as the Bat Creek Stone) found at a Cherokee site, has long been regarded as a hoax by respected archaeologists.  Articles by scholars in prestigious journals, such as Biblical Archeological Review and American Antiquities have exposed the Bat Creek Stone as a forgery.  Supposedly discovered by John Emmert in 1889, the stone is inscribed with Hebrew lettering that appears to have been copied out of an earlier book on Freemasonry.

  • The fact that DNA markers of Cherokees match those found in Jews should be expected. It only proves that the Jews and the Cherokees had a common ancestor, not that one came from the other.  In Genesis 17:4 God told Abraham, "you shall be a father of many nations." Could some of the "many nations" Abraham sired have migrated across the earth during the nearly 4,000 years since Abraham lived? Certainly!  Rather than be surprised that Cherokees have some of the same genetic markers as Jews, we should be surprised if people from many other nations did not also share markers of the same common ancestor.

  • The prophecies regarding the "re-gathering" of God's people in the last days find their fulfillment in New Testament Christians, not in Jewish Cherokees. John 11:52 explains that Jesus death was "not for that (Jewish) nation only, but also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad."  Those who are not of the Jewish nation are "gathered in" and become God's children, spiritual Jews, through faith in Christ.  Romans 2:28-29 says, "For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart&ldots;"  "For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:26).

    The main lesson here is that the speculations and imaginations of men are no match for the truth of God's word.  We should be cautious about accepting ANY claims men make regarding spiritual truths. "Test all things; hold fast what is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21).

-- Steve Klein

WHAT IS A CONGREGATION?

  A CONGREGATION IS A GROUP OF BELIEVERS WHO HAVE BEEN BAPTIZED IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST FOR THE REMISSION OF SINS (AC 2:38).

  WE READ IN OUR NEW TESTAMENT OF CHURCHES IN JERUSALEM, CORINTH, EPHESUS, PHILIPPI, ETC. THESE CHURCHES WERE GROUPS OF PEOPLE WHO MET IN THOSE LOCALITIES. THEY CONSISTED OF PEOPLE WHO HAD OBEYED THE GOSPEL: (1) INQUIRING BELIEVERS WERE TOLD TO "...REPENT AND BE BAPTIZED IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST FOR THE REMISSION OF SINS..." AND "&ldots;THEY THAT GLADLY RECEIVED HIS WORD WERE BAPTIZED" AND "....THERE WERE ADDED UNTO THEM ABOUT THREE THOUSAND SOULS" (ACTS 2:36,41), (2) "...AND MANY OF THE CORINTHIANS HEARING BELIEVED, AND WERE BAPTIZED  (AC  18:6), (3) "...PAUL. . .CAME TO EPHESUS: AND FINDING CERTAIN DISCIPLES&ldots; SAID UNTO THEM&ldots; JOHN VERILY BAPTIZED WITH THE BAPTISM OF REPENTANCE, SAYING UNTO THE PEOPLE, THAT THEY SHOULD BELIEVE ON HIM WHICH SHOULD COME AFTER HIM, THAT IS ON CHRIST JESUS. WHEN THEY HEARD THIS, THEY WERE BAPTIZED IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS (AC 1911-5), (4) "AND A CERTAIN WOMAN NAMED LYDIA...HEARD US&ldots; AND&ldots;SHE WAS BAPTIZED, AND HER HOUSEHOLD..." (AC 16:14,15). IN EVERY CASE, LOCAL CHURCHES WERE MADE UP OF BAPTIZED BELIEVERS.

  A CONGREGATION IS A GROUP OF BAPTIZED BELIEVERS WHO AGREE TO WORK TOGETHER.  THE PROPHET AMOS ASKED,  "CAN TWO WALK TOGETHER, EXCEPT THEY BE AGREED?"  (AMOS 3:3). BAPTIZED BELIEVERS WORK TOGETHER BY AGREEMENT.  CONSIDER THE CASE OF SAUL OF TARSUS. "AND WHEN SAUL WAS COME TO JERUSALEM, HE ASSAYED TO JOIN HIMSELF TO THE DISCIPLES: BUT THEY WERE ALL AFRAID OF HIM, AND BELIEVED NOT THAT HE WAS A DISCIPLE.  AND BARNABAS TOOK HIM, AND BROUGHT HIM TO THE APOSTLES, AND DECLARED UNTO THEM HOW HE HAD SEEN THE LORD IN THE WAY, AND THAT HE HAD SPOKEN TO HIM, AND HOW HE HAD PREACHED BOLDLY AT DAMASCUS IN THE NAME OF JESUS. AND HE WAS WITH THEM COMING IN AND GOING OUT AT JERUSALEM" (ACTS 2:26-28).

  WHEN AN ALIEN SINNER CONFESSES CHRIST AS LORD  (RM. 10:9,10), HE CONFESSES HIS WILLINGNESS TO OBEY CHRIST.  IN SO DOING, HE PROMISES TO HAVE FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD IN THE WORK OF SALVATION. WHEN HE IDENTIFIES HIMSELF WITH A CONGREGATION OF GOD'S PEOPLE, HE AND THEY AGREE TO WORK TOGETHER TO ACCOMPLISH THE PURPOSES FOR WHICH THE LOCAL CHURCH WAS DESIGNED.  HE HAS AGREED TO WORK WITH OTHERS OF LIKE PRECIOUS FAITH.

  AS MEMBERS OF A CONGREGATION, WE HAVE AN AGREEMENT WITH EVERY OTHER MEMBER, AN AGREEMENT TO WORK TOGETHER.  ARE WE KEEPING OUR PART OF THE AGREEMENT?

-- Glenn Melton