Dear Doves,
 
I was heartened to see that some Doves here have also come to realize the identity of the Lost Tribes of Israel, namely that they are Christians mainly in the Western Civilization countries.  There are of course, pockets of them everywhere else in the world.
 
I would like to thank Linda Semler and Stephen Coneglan for their input.  Each of them echoed my own experience when I discovered the vast and overwhelming body of evidence that, to me, proves the identity of the Lost Tribes as being us.  Scripture opened up to me in a major way also.  Difficult passages became clear, and entire concepts fell into place.  Prophecy makes a lot more sense now.
 
Linda Semler said,
"Oh there is so many more fascinating scriptures that answer all those
questions I had as a Bible student that traditional Christianity didn't
have answers for.  Now with these scriptures it is like a puzzle that is
finally coming together."
 
Stephen Coneglan said,
"It is my absolute conviction that it is impossible to gain a sound foothold on biblical prophecy without a solid grounding in the knowledge of who the 10 tribes are today since a greater portion of the prophets is directed at these people.
The faithfulness of God Almighty in keeping the promises he made to Israel
in such a wonderful saving way over such an enormous period of history is
one of those beautiful stories of Scripture..."
 
Stephen, I would be happy to receive any of your studies and I think publishing them on 5 Doves would benefit all.  Thank you Ellen, for the information on the gemstones, I hope to hear more from you.  I hope the curiosity of all the Doves is piqued.  The testimonies above should spark an interest for all.
 
The Camp of Israel in the wilderness is a great study with many interesting aspects that I believe relate to us today.  As Stephen mentioned, the compass points are important and I believe relate to how the tribes settled during immigrations and even now.  The Hebrew Zodiac also comes into play as well as the gemstones, Star of David, banners/coat of arms/heraldry/12 months in the year, etc. etc. etc...  It all ties together.  Not a word of God is wasted.  It is a huge subject, but well worth the time to look into.
 
If one looks at Europe before the migration to the New World (another good study), it is amazing to learn that the tribes generally ended up at the same compass directions as in the Camp of Israel.  Dan to the North in Scandanavia, Rueben in the South in France/Gaul, Joseph to the West in the BI, and Judah to the East in Eastern Europe.  This pattern stayed pretty true throughout the immigrations.
 
Even in the just the USA, you will see evidence of Dan (Scandanavian) in the Northern states, Reuben (French/Louisianna) in the Southern states, Judah in the Eastern states.  I'm not sure about the representation of Joseph in the West, but it wouldn't surprise me to find out this is true.  This is not to say that all tribes aren't represented all over the place, but that one tribe becomes dominate in an area.
 
For those of you who decide to look into this area you will find there is some disagreement of whether the USA is Mannaseh or Ephraim.  I tend to take a larger viewpoint and see us as Joseph.  Both.  The BI and the USA are pretty well mixed as far as I can tell and only God knows who is the dominate tribe in each area.  While searching my own genealogy (through coats of arms) I found evidence of 4 of the tribes with Judah being the dominate one.  You would all find a study on this for yourselves to be very interesting and exciting.
 
I thought I owed it to myself to see what the opponents say about the Christians being the Lost Tribes.  I found their arguments empty.  They usually resort to name calling and ridicule.  While agreeing with the facts, they dismiss them out of hand and usually have no reasonable alternative explanation for the facts.  Throughout history, the different peoples involved in the migrations of the Lost Tribes themselves claimed to be of the tribes of Israel, and this is reflected not only in their testimonies, but in the names of their tribes and geography.  This is an important aspect of this study.
 
This is not new information, it has just not spread into the general public.  With the advent of the Internet, it probably will.  Not only do we now have better access to previously known history, but have the benefit of newly discovered information in several areas that strengthen the evidence of the Lost Tribes being not lost anymore.  Areas of archeology, linguistics, DNA, ancient historical writings now being discovered are a few of the areas giving credence to Christians being the Lost Tribes.  The amount of available information is staggering, and new discoveries are being made constantly.
 
Linda Semler is correct in her post that Jews are only part of Israel.  They are of the tribe of Judah and to be more specific, they are of the Pharez line of the tribe of Judah.  Most of Benjamin and Levi were absorbed into that tribe and they became known as Jews.  Members of those 3 tribes also went into captivity and became part of the Lost Tribes.  Some other members of the other 10 tribes also were absorbed into the tribe of the Jews.  There is mixing up of the tribes, but one tribe will usually dominate an area.  Like the Jews have.  Jews are of Israel, but are not all of it.  And I found the information from Linda that "the melo
goyim translated as the FULLNESS OF THE GENTILES" to be very exciting and worth further study.  How that crystalizes the scriptures!
 
Despite how mixed the tribes are, God has preserved the tribal identities.  I believe that DNA will be a key factor in this identification.  Work is already being done in this area.
 
It would be helpful for those of you who decide to look into this matter to keep the following in mind when you read scripture.  It will enlighten you immensely.  When you read "The House of Judah" think Jews.  When you read "The House of Israel" think Christians of the Lost Tribes.  This will clear up a lot of confusion that has permeated our faith for centuries.  God uses other names for these two houses so you want to study up on this more in order to have it be clear for you.  "Joseph" would be the House of Israel, and "Judah" the House of Judah/Jews.  But there are many more names for both houses.  And sometimes all 12 tribes are being addressed in the phrase "Israel."  Once you start understanding this concept, these things will become clearer to you.
 
Does it not make sense that both the New and the Old Testament would be chalk full of information about and for the Christians and the Lost Tribes?  They are one and the same.  If you can get that concept down, scripture will open up to you like never before.  The Old Testament is not for the Jews only, but for the whole House of Israel.
 
The question in my mind arose as to why God let us lose our identity.  Our fathers fell into idolatry and so this was a just punishment.  It also caused the dispersion with the resultant spreading of the Gospel.  But I think it was also to help protect us from Satan.  Does anyone have any ideas on this?  Since God and the angels know who we are, then Satan probably does also.  I don't think he wants us to know who we are though.  Should all of Christiandom know and understand they are the Lost Tribes, then that would cause a uniting of the tribes and this would be a powerful force in the world.  It would harm the cause of Satan I believe.
 
It would appear to me that at this point in time, God is starting to reveal the identity of the Lost Tribes, on a larger scale, for His purpose.  He is laying the groundwork.
 
Could it be that this knowledge is of great import to herald the return of our Lord Jesus?  All of us Doves know His return is imminent already, and this study bolsters my belief.  Will this knowledge, if understood on a global basis, not be a tremendous witness to the world of the truth of God?  Will it not cause many to choose sides?
 
And a word to those Christians that are not physically of the Lost Tribes.  You are.  God made it clear to Israel that those strangers who joined with Israel were to be considered Israel.  There is no distinction in God's eyes and should not be in our eyes.  Knowing we are of Israel should not ever cause our heads to swell but cause our hearts to break and our knees to buckle and praise God in humility.  God gave Israel the charge to be a witness to the world and turn all hearts toward Him, and once that heart is turned, that person is Israel with all the blessings and inheritance thereof.
 
I do hope and pray that more Doves will share information on this vast topic, and that all Doves will look into it.  It will unite us like never before.  Stephen, since you have been studying this for a long time, I am sure you can impart to all of us many things God has revealed to you.  I think we could all benefit from what you know especially in light of your obvious gift of clear and understandable writing.  Please do share.
 
This is off subject, but in regard to August 22 and the implied nuclear threat of President Ahmenijab (whatever his name is), I am considering to stock up on food and water to last a few months, just in case.  Most of you know about the letter he sent to President Bush inviting him to embrace Islam.  He (Pres of Iran) has now stated that since President Bush did not do so, he will pay a high price.  This is typical Islam historically before an attack.  We ought to heed it.
 
May God bless each of you.