(To my family and friends in Christian Israel: I wish to posthumously dedicate this article to my e-buddy and colleague, Arnold Kennedy, who was taken from us December 28, 2006. Arnold and I almost had personal contact when he visited the Eastern United States a couple of years ago. He made it as far west as Cincinnati and I made it as far east as Toledo (from Chicago); but we just couldn’t find the time for a face to face meeting. One thing we had in common was our belief in the Exclusiveness of True Israel, namely that the Anglo-Saxon/Caucasian peoples are the True Descendants of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, although Arnold was reluctant to call himself a 2-Seedliner.
Some of you may have followed our ongoing dispute as to whether ANY JEW can count as an Israelite or a Judahite. Arnold felt that the Bible could be understood even if we accept that some Jews were Judahites. I have taken the opposite point of view, saying that, under no circumstances, can any Jew be counted as an Israelite or as a Judahite. This article, in fact, was composed with Arnold’s perspective in mind. I’m sure that Yahweh – a name which Arnold also did not accept as the Name of Our Creator (one of our other disputes) — will arrange for him to read this article from some place in heaven.
In my last email to Arnold, I told him that every boxer needs a good sparring partner to practice against. He accepted the statement as a compliment, which is how it was intended. Arnold forced me to sharpen my arguments, so that we were not just arguing semantics but legitimate cultural differences between Jews and Israelites.
Aside from our Scriptural dispute, Arnold had given me, and us, every reason to believe that his surgery was a success , his health was improving and that he would be back with us at full strength. That was not to be, however. Despite our disagreements over Scriptural interpretation, I have only one thing to say: Arnold, you are a very gracious person in addition to being a gentleman and a scholar. See you in the Kingdom. – Eli)