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Part
4
The Founding of the Association, August 2nd, 1909 |
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“This
is pure nonsense!
We
learn from Alma Hetherington’s book “70 Years
Old” that this was the quick pronouncement by Professor
Edward Odlum in 1889 concerning the Israel Truth. He was
attending a small gathering of relatives and friends in Vancouver,
after having returned from Tokyo where he had spent several
years as principal of a college. Another guest at that gathering
asked him the question that was to forever change his direction
and purpose in life. She asked the professor if he had ever
considered the possibility of the Anglo-Saxon-Celtic peoples
being the modern day descendants of Israel of old. With his
quick response, the professor dismissed the possibility at
once. |
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Yet,
the question weighed heavily on the professor’s mind
as he traveled across the country by train to Toronto a few
days later. He did not realize it at the time but the Lord
God Almighty had touched him in a certain way and just as
the Apostle Paul was forced to change direction, Professor
Odlum was called to serve the Lord in the founding of
an organization dedicated to spreading the Israel Truth around
the world. The professor could not have done otherwise. God
chose him because the professor was a man of untiring energy
and both a student and teacher of history. Being a strict
disciplinarian let him concentrate on his studies and when
he disembarked from the train five days later, the professor’s
blindness was lifted. For years after that, he was dedicated
to the Israel Truth, that is, that the Anglo-Saxon, Celtic,
Scandinavian and kindred peoples are the Israel of the Bible.
Professor
Odlum was a highly educated person, after schooling at
a number of institutes, he graduated from Victoria University,
where he obtained his degrees, i.e., a B.A., a M.A. and a
B. Sc. He was affiliated with Toronto University for a time
and dedicated himself to research. This was a man, who in
conjunction with another man of science, a Dr. Hamel, built
the first telephones used for public purposes in Canada, the
same type of instrument that the professor later took to Japan
and installed in his college. What I am getting at is that
he was no mere man simply grasping on to a radical idea, the
professor was an astute, aware individual, who had the great
fortune of having his sight restored by the Lord God Almighty.
In Romans 11: 25, we learn about this blindness in part upon
Israel from the Apostle Paul. |
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Professor Odlum
wasn’t the only person selected by God to serve
in the restoration of sight to His servant people. When
he returned to take up residence in Vancouver, he continued
his studies and the circle of other students of the
Bible grew. One was the Reverend
Mark Jukes, one of the many Protestant ministers
who came to understand and accept the Israel message.
There were small groups of believers right across the
country but there was no formal organization. Professor
Odlum, Reverend
Mark Jukes and other Bible believing students changed
all this and on August 2nd, 1909 formed the British
Israel Association. The name was subsequently changed
three times, the last in 1968 to our present name, The
Association of the Covenant People. |
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The message fell on fertile ground. Community organizations
were established in many places and other organizations sprung
up in places like Toronto, London, England and many centers
in America. Numerous men of the cloth began to preach the
message in their churches. It didn’t matter what the
denomination, only that they were Israelites. Great leaders
came to the Association, men like Reverend
Dr. W.M. Pascoe Goard, Reverend Charles
E. Batzold, William
Savage, Joseph Sproule,
Jacob Parker, Lt.
Col. J.G. Wright, Rowland
Brelsford and Reverend
Herbert Aitchison. The message was growing like wildfire
and tens of thousands learned of it for the very first time.
The fact that so many ministers were coming to the realization
they were Israel created a confidence that the great revealing
was at the door.
With
all the optimism, no one could foresee the momentum slowing,
yet, it did. The waters were muddied by an event that took
place thousands of miles away, in the birthplace of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Part 5 covers that event.
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