Herman Hoeh: Where Did the Twelve Apostles Go?

Where Did the TWELVE APOSTLES Go?

When Paul preached the gospel at Rome, where was Peter? Why is
the book of Acts strangely silent about the twelve apostles after
their departure from Palestine? Here, revealed at last, is one of
history's best-kept secrets!

By Herman L. Hoeh


WHY HAS the truth about the journeys of the twelve apostles been
kept from public knowledge?
You read plainly of Paul's travels through Cyprus, Asia
Minor, Greece, Italy. But the movements of the original twelve
apostles are cloaked in mystery.
Why?

Now It Can Be Told!

Did it ever seem strange to you that most of the New
Testament, following the book of Acts, was written by Paul, and
not by Peter?
Did you ever wonder why, after Peter initiated the preaching
of the gospel to the Gentiles at the house of Cornelius (Acts 10
and 11), he and others of the twelve apostles suddenly vanish
from view? And why only Peter and John reappear, for a fleeting
moment, in Jerusalem at the inspired conference recorded in Acts
15?
You read, after Acts 15, only of Paul's ministry to the
GENTILES.
Why? What happened to the twelve apostles?
Let's understand!
There is a reason why the journeys of the twelve apostles
have been cloaked in mystery until now!
You probably have been told that Jesus chose the twelve
disciples, ordained them apostles, sent them, first, to preach to
the Jews. When the Jews, as a nation, rejected that message, you
probably have supposed that they turned to the Gentiles. Nothing
could be further from the truth.
It was the apostle Paul, called years later as a special
apostle, who was commissioned to bear the gospel to the Gentiles.
To Ananias, who was sent to baptize Paul, Christ gave this
assurance: "Go thy way: for he" -- Saul, later named Paul -- "he
is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles,
and kings, and the children of Israel" (Acts 9:15).
It was Paul, not any of the twelve, who said: "From
henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles" (Acts 18:6).
Jesus would not have called Paul as a special apostle to
carry the gospel to the Gentiles, if the original twelve had been
commissioned to preach to the Gentiles.
Then to WHOM -- and where -- were the twelve apostles sent?

Jesus' Commission Tells

Notice the surprising answer -- in Matthew 10:5-6: "These
twelve Jesus sent forth, and COMMANDED them, saying, Go not into
the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans
enter ye not: but go rather to the LOST sheep of the house of
Israel."
Read it, from your Bible, with your own eyes: "Go NOT into
the way of the Gentiles, ... but go rather to the lost sheep of
the HOUSE OF ISRAEL!"
Jesus meant what He said! He "COMMANDED them." The twelve
were forbidden to spread the gospel among the Gentiles. It was
Paul who was commissioned to that work. The twelve were to go,
instead, to the "lost sheep of the house of Israel" -- the Lost
Ten Tribes!
Granted, Christ did send Peter to the home of Cornelius
(Acts 10 and 11) to open the gospel to the Gentiles, but Peter's
life mission was to carry the gospel to "the lost sheep of the
House of Israel." Peter merely opened the door, as the chief
apostle, for the Gentiles. It was Paul who went through the door
and brought the gospel to the nations.
Granted, Peter, in his capacity of chief apostle, made one
trip to the gentile Samaritans. But that was not to bring the
gospel to them. PHILIP HAD DONE THAT! Peter and John merely
prayed for the Samaritans that they would receive the Holy
Spirit. (See Acts 8, verses 5, and 14 through 17.)
Now we know TO WHOM the twelve apostles were sent. They were
not sent to the Gentiles, but to "the lost sheep of the House of
Israel." It was Paul who went to the Gentiles. It is the true
church today which, via radio, the printing press and TV, must
"go into all nations" to preach the gospel until the end of this
age comes (Mat. 28:19-20).
Now to discover WHERE Peter and others of the twelve went
after they left Palestine.
That has been one of the best-kept secrets of history! If
the world had known the lands to which the twelve apostles
journeyed, the House of Israel would never have been LOST from
view! But God intended, for a special purpose, which few
understand, that the identity of the lost House of Israel should
not be revealed until this pulsating twentieth century!

"House of Israel" Identified

From the sons of Jacob -- surnamed Israel -- sprang twelve
tribes. Under David they were united as one nation -- Israel.
After the death of Solomon, David's son, the twelve tribes were
divided into two nations. The tribe of Judah split off from the
nation Israel in order to retain the king, whom Israel had
rejected. Benjamin went with Judah. The new nation thus formed,
with its capital at Jerusalem, was known as the "House of Judah."
Its people were called Jews.
The northern ten tribes, who rejected Solomon's son, became
known as the "House of Israel." Its capital, later, was Samaria.
Whole books of the Old Testament are devoted to the power
struggles between the "House of Israel" and Judah. The first time
the word "Jews" appears in the Bible you will discover the king
of Israel, allied with Syria, driving the Jews from the Red Sea
port of Elath (II Kings 16:6-7).
The northern ten tribes, the House of Israel, were
overthrown in a three-year siege (721-718) by the mighty Assyrian
Empire. Its people were led into captivity beyond the Tigris
River and planted in Assyria and the cities of the Medes around
lake Urmia, southwest of the Caspian Sea. In the now-desolate
cities of the land of Samaria the Assyrians brought in Gentiles
from Babylonia. These Gentiles (II Kings 17) had become known as
Samaritans by the time of Christ.
The House of Israel never returned to Palestine. The nation
became known in history as the "Lost Ten Tribes." To them Jesus
sent the twelve apostles!

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PHOTO CAPTION: This map illustrates where Lost Ten Tribes were in
apostolic days. From Assyria and Media, the lands of their exile,
they spread east into Parthia and northwest around Black Sea.
Others, meanwhile, fled from the Assyrians westward to North
Africa. Note the early migration to British Isles under Joshua
(1430 B.C.), who is known in Welsh history as "Hesus the Mighty"
(compare with Hebrews 4:8). The Hebrew name Joshua is Jesus in
Greek. In Welsh it was pronounced Hesus.
-------------------

The House of Judah -- the Jews -- remained in Palestine
until the Babylonian invasion, which commenced in 604 B.C. Judah
was deported to Mesopotamia. Seventy years later they returned to
Palestine. In history they now become commonly known as "Israel"
because they were the only descendants of Jacob -- or Israel --
now living in Palestine. The ten tribes -- the House of Israel --
became lost in the land of their exile.
Jesus "came to his own" -- the House of Judah, the Jews --
"and his own received him not" (John 1:11). Jesus was of the
lineage of David, of the House of Judah. When His own people --
the Jews -- rejected Him, He did not turn to the Gentiles. It was
Paul who did.
Instead, Jesus said to the Gentile woman: "I am not sent but
unto the lost sheep of the House of Israel" (Mat. 15:24).
To fulfill, later, that divine mission -- for Jesus was soon
slain on Golgotha to pay for the sins of the world -- He
commissioned His twelve disciples. THEY were commanded: "Go to
the lost sheep of the House of Israel."
They did go, but history has lost sight of where they went!
Their journeys have been shrouded in mystery -- until now!

What New Testament Reveals

The history of the early New Testament church is preserved
in the book of Acts. But have you ever noticed that Acts ends in
the middle of the story? Luke doesn't even finish the life of
Paul after his two-years' imprisonment ended!
Why?
You will find the answer in Christ's commission to Paul.
Even before Paul was baptized, Christ had planned the future work
he was to accomplish. First, Paul was to teach the Gentiles --
which he did in Cyprus, Asia Minor and Greece. Second, he was to
appear before kings -- an event brought about by a two-year
imprisonment at Rome. At the end of that two-year period, during
which no accusers had appeared, Paul would automatically have
been released according to Roman law. It is at this point that
Luke strangely breaks off the story of Paul's life. See Acts
28:31.
But Paul's third mission was not yet accomplished! Christ
had chosen Paul for a threefold purpose -- "to bear His name
before the Gentiles, and kings, AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL" (Acts
9:15). There is the answer. He, too, was to end his work among
the Lost Ten Tribes!
Luke was not permitted by Christ to include in Acts the
final journeys of Paul's life. It would have revealed the
whereabouts of the children of Israel!
It was not then God's time to make that known. But the
moment has now come, in this climactic "time of the end," to pull
back the shroud of history and reveal where the twelve apostles
went.

Three MISSING Words

Now turn to the book of James. To whom is it addressed? Read
it: "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, TO THE
TWELVE TRIBES WHICH ARE SCATTERED ABROAD, greeting" (first
verse).
You probably never noticed that before. This book is not
addressed to the Gentiles. It is not addressed exclusively to
Judah -- the Jews. It is addressed to ALL TWELVE TRIBES. To the
House of Judah and to the House of Israel -- the Lost Ten Tribes.
Have you ever noticed that the letter of James, like the
book of Acts, ends abruptly, without the normal salutations? Read
it -- James 5:20.
Compare it with Paul's epistles. In the original inspired
Greek New Testament everyone of Paul's letters ends vith an
"Amen." Everyone of the four gospels ends with an "Amen." The
book of Revelation ends with an "Amen."
This little word "Amen," of Hebrew derivation, signifies
completion. In the Authorized Version (most modern versions are
incorrect, and in several instances carelessly leave off the
proper ending found in the Greek) every one of the New Testament
books ends with an "Amen" except THREE -- Acts, James and III
John. In these three, and these three only, the word "Amen" is
not in the inspired original Greek. It is purposely missing. Why?
Each missing "Amen" is a special sign. It indicates God
wants us to understand that certain knowledge was not to be made
known to the world -- until now, when the gospel is being sent
around the world as a final witness before the end of this age.
God purposely excluded from the book of Acts the final
chapters in the history of the early true Church. If they had
been included, the identity and whereabouts of Israel and of the
true Church would have been revealed! It is part of God's plan
that the House of Israel should lose its identity and think
itself Gentile.
If the book of James had ended with the ordinary salutation,
the nations of Israel would have been disclosed. Paul often ends
his letters with names of places and people. See the last verses
of Romans, Colossians, Hebrews, for example. This is the very
part missing, purposely, from James!
And why was the short letter of III John missing an "Amen"?
Let John himself tell us, "I had many things to write: but I will
not with ink and pen write unto thee" (verse 13). John reveals,
in the letter, a pagan conspiracy. It was a diabolical attempt by
Simon Magus and his false apostles to seize the name of Christ,
gain control of the true Church, and masquerade as
"Christianity." God did not permit John to make known, in plain
language, the names of the leaders of that conspiracy, and the
city of their operation. That is why John cut his letter short.
The missing "Amen" is to tell us to look elsewhere in the Bible
for the answer. It is described, if you have eyes to see, in
Revelation 17, Acts 8 and many other chapters of the Bible. The
time to unmask that conspiracy is now (II Thessalonians 2), just
before the return of Christ.
But to return, for a moment, to the letter of James.

Wars Reveal Where

From James 4:1 we learn that WARS were being waged among the
lost tribes of Israel. "From whence come WARS and lightings among
you?" asks James.
What wars were these? No wars existed among the Jews until
the outbreak, several years later, of the revolt against the
Romans.
These wars absolutely identify the lost House of Israel --
the lands to which the twelve apostles journeyed. James wrote his
book about A.D. 60 (he was martyred about two years later
according to Josephus). The world was temporarily at peace --
cowed by the fear of Roman military might. Just prior to A.D. 60
ONLY TWO AREAS of the world were torn by wars and civil
lightings. When you discover which areas these were, you will
have located where the Lost Ten Tribes, addressed by James, were
then living! All one need do is search the records of military
history for the period immediately before and up to the year A.D.
60! The results will shock you! Those two lands were the BRITISH
ISLES AND THE PARTHIAN EMPIRE! (See the accompanying map for the
location of Parthia.)
But these were not the only lands to which the exiled House
of Israel journeyed. Turn, in your Bible, to I Peter.

To Whom Did Peter Write?

To whom did Peter address his letters?
Here it is. "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the
STRANGERS scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia,
and Bithynia" (I Peter 1:1).
These were not Gentiles. Peter was not the apostle to the
Gentiles (Galatians 2:8). Paul was. Peter was chief apostle to
the lost sheep of the House of Israel.
Notice the word "strangers." It does not mean Gentiles. The
original Greek is "parepidemos". It means "a resident foreigner,"
literally, "an alien alongside." It refers not to Gentiles, but
to non-Gentiles who dwelt among Gentiles, as foreigners and
aliens. Abraham, for example, was a stranger, an alien, when he
lived among the Canaanite Gentiles in Palestine.
Peter was addressing part of the lost ten tribes who dwelt
among the Gentiles as aliens or strangers. He was not writing
primarily to Jews. He would not have addressed them as
"strangers," for he was himself a Jew.
Now notice the regions to which Peter addressed his letter.
You may have to look at a Bible map to locate them. They are all
located in the NORTHERN HALF of Asia Minor, modern Turkey. These
lands lay immediately west of the Parthian Empire!

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PHOTO CAPTION: The Near East in New Testament times. This is the
region to which Peter addressed his letters. Here Andrew labored.
-------------------

Paul did not preach in these districts. Paul spent his years
in Asia Minor in the SOUTHERN, or Greek half. "Yea, so have I
strived," said Paul, "to preach the gospel, not where Christ was
named, lest I should build upon another man's foundation" (Romans
15:20). Paul did not preach in the areas where Peter and others
of the twelve apostles had carried the gospel.
Nowhere in your New Testament can you find Paul preaching in
Pontus, or Cappadocia, or Bithynia. These regions were under the
jurisdiction of Peter and certain of the twelve.
Paul did spread the gospel in the province of Asia -- but
only in the southern half, in the districts around Ephesus. Paul
was expressly forbidden to preach in Mysia, the northern district
of the Roman province of Asia. "After they" -- Paul and his
companions -- "were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into
Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered [permitted] them not. And they
passing by Mysia came down to Troas" (Acts 16:7, 8). Those were
the regions in which the lost sheep of the House of Israel dwelt
as strangers among the Gentiles!
Paul did preach, on his first journey, in SOUTHERN Galatia,
in the cities of Iconium, Lystra, Derbe (Acts 14). But nowhere in
the New Testament do you find Paul journeying into northern
Galatia -- the area to which Peter addresses his letter to the
tribes of Israel!

Remnant of Ten Tribes on Shores of Black Sea

Notice the historic proof -- confirming Peter's letters --
that a remnant of the House of Israel was settled on the shores
of the Black Sea in northern Asia Minor in early New Testament
times.
Greek writers, in the time of Christ, recognized that the
regions of northern Asia Minor were non-Greek (except for a few
Greek trading colonies in the port cities). New peoples, the
Greeks tell us were living in northern Asia Minor in New
Testament times. Here is the surprising account of Diodorus of
Sicily: "... many conquered peoples were removed to other homes,
and two of these became very great colonies: the one was composed
of Assyrians and was removed to the land between Paphlagonia and
Pontus, and the other was drawn from Media and planted along the
Tanais (the River Don in ancient Scythia -- the modern Ukraine,
north of the Black Sea, in southern Russia)." See book II, § 43.
Notice the areas from which these colonies came -- Assyria
and Media. The very areas to which the House of Israel was taken
captive! "So was Israel carried away out of their own land TO
ASSYRIA unto this day" (II Kings 17:23). "The king of Assyria
took Samaria, and carried Israel away INTO ASSYRIA and placed
them in Halah and in Habor by the River of Gozan, and in the
CITIES OF THE MEDES" (verse 6).
The House of Israel dwelt in captivity as aliens or
strangers among the Assyrians. When the Assyrians were later
removed from their homeland to northern Asia Minor, part of the
House of Israel migrated with them!
Here's the proof from Strabo, the geographer. Strabo named
the colonists in northern Asia Minor "White Syrians" (12, 3, 9),
instead of Assyrians. There were therefore, TWO peoples --
Assyrians and White Syrians. Who were these so-called "White
Syrians"? None other than the House of Israel which had been
carried into Assyrian captivity.
"Syria" was the Greek name for the whole eastern
Mediterranean coastal strip north of Judea. Because the House of
Israel lived in Palestine -- southern Syria in Greek terminology
-- the Greeks called them "White Syrians." By contrast, the
dark-complexioned Arameans remained in Syria and dwell there to
this day.
When the Assyrians were compelled to migrate to Northern
Asia Minor, their former slaves -- the "White Syrians" or
ten-tribed House of Israel -- migrated with them! We find them
still there in New Testarnent times. To these people -- the lost
sheep of the House of Israel -- the strangers among the Assyrians
(I Peter 1:1) -- the apostle Peter addresses his first letter!
Could anything be plainer? The chief apostle to the House of
Israel writing to a part of the ten lost tribes dwelling among
the Assyrians who originally carried them captive!
We shall see later WHEN and WHERE these "lost sheep"
migrated from Asia Minor to Northwest Europe.
Now to draw back the curtain of history. See where each of
the twelve apostles preached. You'll be amazed at the revelation.

What Greek Historians Report

Why is it that almost no one has thought of it before? If
multitudes of Greeks in Southern Asia Minor were being converted
to Christ by the ministry of Paul, and at the same time
multitudes among the lost ten tribes of the House of Israel were
being converted in northern Asia Minor, should not those Greeks
have left the record of which of the twelve apostles carried the
gospel there?
Consider this also. The Greeks have not lost the Greek New
Testament. They have handed it down from generation to
generation. Is it not just as likely that Greek scholars should
have preserved the we account of the ministry of the twelve
apostles?
They have done just that!
Yet almost no one has believed them!
What the Greeks report is not what most people expect to
find! Some, who do not understand the difference between the
House of Israel and the Jews imagine the apostles went
exclusively to Jews. Even some of those who know where the House
of Israel is today often cannot believe that several of the
tribes of Israel were not, in the apostles' day, where they are
today.
Scholars have long puzzled over the remarkable information
which the Greeks have handed down. These historical reports of
the apostles are altogether different from the spurious
apocryphal literature of the early Rornan Catholic Church. Greek
historians, in the early Middle Ages, have left us information
from original documents that apparently are no longer extant.
They had firsthand sources of information not now available to
the scholarly world. What do those Greek historians report?
One valuable source of information is the Greek and Latin
"Ecclesiasticae Historiae" of Nicephorus Callistus. Another, in
English, is "Antiqgitates Apostolicae" by William Cave.
Universal Greek tradition declares that the apostles did not
leave the SyroPalestinian region until the end of twelve years'
ministry. The number 12 symbolizes a new organized beginning.
Before those twelve years were up one of the apostles was already
dead -- James, the brother of John. He had been beheaded by Herod
(Acts 12). But where did the remaining apostles go?

Simon Peter in Britain!

Begin with Simon Peter. Peter was made by Christ the chief
among the twelve apostles to coordinate their work. Of necessity
Peter would be found traveling to many more regions than he would
personally be ministering to. The question is where did he spend
most of his time?
We know Peter was for a limited time at Babylon in
Mesopotamia, from which he wrote the letters to the churches in
Asia Minor (I Peter 5:13).
Babylon was the major city from which the apostles in the
east worked. Similarly Paul and the evangelists under him used
Antioch in Syria as their chief city (Acts 14:26). The order in
which Peter, in verse one of his first epistle, named the
provinces of Asia Minor -- from east to west and back -- clearly
proves that the letter was sent from Babylon in the east, not
Rome in the west. Rome did not become designated as "Modern
Babylon" until Christ revealed it, much later, after Peter's
death, in the book of Revelation, chapter 17.
Where did Peter spend most of his time after those first
twelve years in Palestine?
Metapirastes, the Greek historian, reports "that Peter was
not only in these WESTERN parts" -- the Western Mediterranean --
"but particularly that he was a long time" -- here we have
Peter's main life work to the Lost Ten Tribes -- "... a long time
in BRITAIN, where he converted many nations to the faith." (See
marginal note, p. 45, in Cave's "Antiquitates Apostolicae".)
Peter preached the gospel in Great Britain, not in Rome, the
capital of the Gentile world. Paul, not Peter, preached in Rome.
The true gospel had not been PUBLICLY preached in Rome before
Paul arrived in A.D. 59. Paul never once mentions Peter in his
epistle to the brethren in Rome, most of whom had been converted
on Pentecost in 31 A.D.
Not even the Jews at Rome had heard the gospel preached
before Paul arrived!
Here is Luke's inspired account of Paul's arrival in Rome:
"And it came to pass, that after three days Paul called the chief
of the Jews together." Continuing, Acts 28:21. "And they" -- the
Jews at Rome -- "said unto him, We neither received letters out
of Judaea concerning thee, neither any of the brethren that came
shewed or spake any harm of thee. But WE DESIRE TO HEAR OF THEE
WHAT THOU THINKEST: for as concerning this sect we know that
everywhere it is spoken against. And when they had appointed him
a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he
expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them
concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the
prophets, from morning till evening (verses 21-23).
Here is absolute proof the Jews at Rome had never heard the
apostle Peter preach.
Oh yes, there had been a "Peter" in Rome ever since the days
of Caudius Caesar. That Peter was in a high office. He was chief
of the Babylonian Mysteries. His office was that of a "Peter" --
meaning an Interpreter or Opener of Secrets. The word "peter", in
Babylonian and Hebrew, means "opener" -- hence it is used in the
original Hebrew of the Old Testament for "firstling" -- one that
first OPENS the womb.
THAT Peter of Rome was named Simon, too. Simon Magus (Acts
8). He was the leading conspirator in the plot hatched by the
priests of the pagan Babylonian-Samaritan mysteries.
These plotters sought to seize upon the name of Christ as a
cloak for their diabolical religion. These conspirators became
the founders of what today masquerades in the world as the
"Christian Religion." (See III John.)
But Simon Peter, Christ's apostle, was in Britain, preaching
the gospel of the Kingdom of God. The very fact that Peter
preached in Britain is proof in itself that part of the Lost
House of Israel was already there! Peter was commissioned to go
to the lost tribes.
And significantly, about A.D. 60 great wars overtook Britain
-- just as James warned (in the fourth chapter, verse 1) the
twelve tribes of Israel! Could history be any clearer? For the
full proof of the identity of Great Britain as chief tribe in
Israel write for the booklet "United States and British
Commonwealth in Prophecy". It makes history and the Bible plain.

Where Are Peter and Paul Buried?

For centuries the Christian world has taken for granted that
Peter and Paul are buried in Rome. No one, it seems, has thought
to question the tradition.
Granted, Paul was brought to Rome about A.D 67. He was
beheaded, then buried on the Ostian Way. But are his remains
still there?
Granted, too, that universal tradition declared the apostle
Peter was also brought to Rome in Nero's reign and martyred about
the same time.
Many pieces of ancient literature -- some spurious, some
factual -- confirm that both Simon Magus, the false apostle, who
masqueraded as Peter, and Simon Peter himself died at Rome. The
question is -- which Simon is buried today under the Vatican? Is
there proof that the bones of the apostles Peter and Paul were
moved from Rome, and are not there now?
YES!
There is a reason the Vatican has been hesitant to claim the
apostle Peter's tomb has been found! They know that it is Simon
Magus, the false Peter, who is buried there, not Simon Peter the
apostle. Here is what happened. In the year 656 Pope Vitalian
decided the Catholic Church was not interested in the remains of
the apostles Peter and Paul. THE POPE THEREFORE ORDERED THEM SENT
TO OSWY, KING OF BRITAIN! Here is part of his letter to the
British king:
"HOWEVER, WE HAVE ORDERED THE BLESSED GIFTS OF THE HOLY
MARTYRS, THAT IS, THE RELICS OF THE BLESSED APOSTLES, PETER AND
PAUL, AND OF THE HOLY MARTYRS LAURENTIUS, JOHN, AND PAUL, AND
GREGORY, AND PANCRATIUS, TO BE DELIVERED TO THE BEARERS OF THESE
OUR LETTERS, TO BE BY THEM DELIVERED TO YOU (Bedes
"Ecclesiastical History", bk. III, ch. 29).
Could anything be more astounding? The bones of Peter and
Paul (termed "relics" in the Pope's letter) sent by the Pope from
Rome to Britain -- to the land of Israel!
About a century and a half earlier Constantius of Lyons took
the relics of all the apostles and martyrs from Gaul and buried
them in a special tomb at ST. ALBANS IN BRITAIN. (Life of St.
Germanus.) Is it significant that the work of God and God's
College in Britain are in St. Albans? Think that over!

And Andrew His Brother?

Britain, after A.D. 449, was settled by hundreds of
thousands of new people not there in Peter's day. History knows
them as Angles and Saxons. They came originally from the shores
of the Black Sea -- where the House of Israel dwelt! In A.D. 256
they began to migrate from northern Asia Minor along the shores
of the Black Sea to the Cymbric Peninsula (Denmark) opposite
Britain. These were the people to whose ancestors Peter wrote his
epistles.
Which one of the twelve apostles preached to their ancestors
-- the so-called "White Syrians" -- while they abode by the
Bosporus and on the Black Sea? Listen to the answer from Greek
historians:
"In this division Andrew had SCYTHIA, and the neighboring
countries primarily alloted him for his province. First then he
travelled through Cappadocia, (Upper) Galatia and Bithynia, and
instructed them in the faith of Christ, passing all along the
EUXINE Sea" -- the old name for the Black Sea! -- "... and so
into the solitude of SCYTHIA."
One early Greek author gives these journeys in special
detail, just as if Luke had written an account of the other
apostles as he did of Paul. Andrew "went next to Trapezus, a
maritime city on the Euxine Sea, whence after many other places
he came to Nice, where he stayed two years, preaching and working
miracles with great success: thence to Nicomedia, and so to
Chalcedon; whence sailing through the Propontis he came by the
Euxine Sea to Heraclea, and from thence to Amastris .... He next
came to Sinope, a city situated upon the same sea, ... here he
met with his brother Peter, with whom he stayed a considerable
time .... Departing hence, he went again to Amynsus and then ...
he proposed to return to Jerusalem" -- the headquarters church.
"Whence after some time he betook himself ... to the country of
Abasgi [a land in the Caucasus] ... Hence he removed into ...
Asiatic Scythia or Sarmatia, but finding the inhabitants very
barbarous and intractable, he stayed not long among them, only at
Cherson, or Chersonesus, a great and populous city within the
Bosporus [this Bosporus is the modern Crimea], he continued for
some time, instructing them and confirming them in the faith.
Hence taking ship, he sailed across the sea to Sinope, situated
in Paphlagonia ..." (pp. 137-138 of Cave's "Antiquitates
Apostolicae".)
Here we find Andrew preaching to the very areas in Asia
Minor which Paul bypassed. From this region, and from Scythia
north of the Black Sea, migrated the ancestors of the Scots and
Anglo-Saxons, as we have already seen. They are of the House of
Israel -- or else Andrew disobeyed his commission!
And what of the modern Scottish tradition that Andrew
preached to their ancestors? Significant? Indeed!

And the Other Apostles?

And where did Simon the Zealot carry the gospel? Here, from
the Greek records, is the route of his journey:
Simon "directed his journey toward Egypt, then to Cyrene,
and Africa ... and throughout Mauritania and all Libya, preaching
the gospel .... Nor could the coldness of the climate benumb his
zeal, or hinder him from whipping himself and the Christian
doctrine over to the WESTERN Islands, yea, even to Britain
itself. Here he preached and wrought many miracles ...."
Nicephorus and Dorotheus both wrote "that he went at last into
BRITAIN, and ... was crucified ... and buried there" (p. 203 of
Cave's "Antiq. Apost.").
Think of it. Another of the twelve apostles is found
preaching to the Lost Tribes of Israel in Britain and the West.
But what is Simon the Zealot doing in North Africa? Were remnants
of the House of Israel there, too? Had some fled westward in 721
B.C. at the time of the Assyrian conquest of Palestine?
Here is Geoffrey of Monmouth's answer: "The Saxons ... went
unto Gormund, King of the Africans, IN IRELAND, wherein,
adventuring thither with a vast fleet, he had conquered the folk
of the country Thereupon, by the treachery of the Saxons, he
sailed across with a hundred and sixty thousand Africans into
Britain ... (and) laid waste, as hash been said, well-nigh the
whole island with his countless thousands of Africans" (bk. xi,
sect. 8, 10).
These countless thousands were not Negroes, or Arabs. They
were whites -- Nordics -- who came from North Africa and
Mauritania, where Simon preached. These Nordics, declares the
"Universal History" (1748-Vol. xviii, p. 194), "gave our, that
their ancestors were driven out of Asia by a powerful enemy, and
pursued into Greece; from whence they made their escape" to North
Africa. "But this ... was to be understood only of the WHITE
nations inhabiting some parts of western Barbary and Numidia."
What white nation was driven from the western shores of
western Asia? The House of Israel! Their powerful enemy? The
Assyrians!

-------------------
PHOTO CAPTION: The area to which Andrew journeyed. The region
about the Black Sea was settled by Israelites who migrated from
Assyria and Media, the lands of their exile. While on the shores
of the Black Sea they founded the powerful Kingdom of the
Cimmerian Bosporus and Pontus.
-------------------

For almost three centuries after the time of Simon Zelotes
they remained in Mauritania. But they are not in North Africa
today. They arrived in Britain shortly after A.D. 449 at the time
of the Anglo-Saxon invasion.
In A.D. 598, when the bishop of Rome sent Augustine to bring
Catholicism to England he found the inhabitants were already
professing Christians! Their ancestors had already heard the
message from one of the twelve apostles!

And Ireland Too!

Another of the apostles sent to the lost sheep of the House
of Israel was James, the son of Alphaeus. Some early writers were
confused by the fact that two of the twelve apostles were named
James. James, son of Alphaeus, was the one who left Palestine
after the first twelve years. The deeds of this apostle are
sometimes mistakenly assigned to James, John's brother. But THAT
James was already martyred by Herod (Acts 12:2).
Where did James, son of Alphaeus, preach?
"The Spanish writers generally contend, after the death of
Stephen he came to these WESTERN parts, and particularly into
SPAIN (some add BRITAIN and IRELAND) where he planted
Christianity" (p. 148 of Cave's work).
Note it. Yet another apostle sent to the lost sheep of the
House of Israel ends in the British Isles -- in IRELAND as well
as in Britain!
Eusebius, in his third book of "Evangelical Demonstrations",
chapter 7, admitted that the apostles "passed over to those which
are called the British Isles." Again he wrote: "Some of the
Apostles preached the Gospel in the British Isles." Could
anything be plainer?
Even in Spain James spent some time. Why Spain? From ancient
times Spain was the high road of migration from the eastern
Mediterranean Sea to the British Isles. The ancient royal House
of Ireland for a time dwelt in Spain. The prophet Jeremiah passed
through Spain into Ireland with Zedekiah's daughters (Jeremiah
41:10; 43:6). Even today a vital part of the Iberian Peninsula --
Gibraltar -- belongs to the birthright tribe of Ephraim -- the
British!

Paul in Britain, Too?

Turn, now, to added proof of the apostles' mission to the
lost sheep of the House of Israel in the British Isles. From an
old volume, published in 1674, by William Camden, we read: "The
true Christian Religion was planted here most anciently by Joseph
of Arimathea, Simon Zelotes, Aristobulus, by St. Peter, and St.
Paul, as may be proved by Dorotheus, Theodoretus and Sophronius."
("Remains of Britain", page 5.)
Did you catch that?
Paul is now included! Had Paul planned to go from Italy into
Spain and then Britain? ... Here is his answer: "... I will come
by you into Spain" (Rom. 15:28). Clement of Rome, in his letter
to the Corinthians, confirms Paul's journey to the West. But did
that include Britain?
Listen to the words of the Greek church historian Theodoret.
He reports: "That St. Paul brought salvation TO THE ISLES THAT
LIE IN THE OCEAN" (book i, on Psalm cxvi. p. 870). The British
Isles!
But was that merely to preach to the Gentiles? Not at all.
Remember that the THIRD AND LAST PART of Paul's commission, after
he revealed Christ to the kings and rulers at Rome, was to bear
the name of Jesus to the "children of Israel" (Acts 9: 15) -- the
Lost Ten Tribes. This is not a prophecy concerning Jews, whom
Paul had previously reached in the Greek world of the eastern
Mediterranean. This is a prophecy of Paul's mission to the
British Isles! Could anything be more astounding?

On the Shores of the Caspian Sea

James referred to Israel as SCATTERED ABROAD. We have found
them in Northwest Europe. And in North Africa, from whence they
migrated into Britain in the fifth century. And in northern Asia
Minor, associated with the Assyrians. In 256 they began to
migrate from the regions of the Black Sea to Denmark, thence into
the British Isles in 449.
But remnants of the Ten Lost Tribes were yet in another vast
region beyond the confines of the Roman Empire. That region was
known as the Kingdom of Parthia.
Who the Parthians were has long remained a mystery. They
suddenly appear near the Caspian Sea around 700 B.C. as slaves of
the Assyrians. "According to Diodorus, who probably followed 5
Ctesias, they passed from the dominion of the Assyrians to that
of the Medes, and from dependence upon the Medes to a similar
position under the Persians." (Rawlinson's "Monarchies", Vol. IV,
p. 26, quoted from Diod. Sic., ii 2, § 3; 34, § 1 and § 6.)
The Parthians rose to power around 250 B.C. in the lands
along the southern shores of the Caspian Sea. That was the very
land into which Israel was EXILED! What puzzles historians is
that the Parthians were neither Persians, nor Medes, nor
Assyrians or any other known people. Even their name breathes
mystery -- until you understand the Bible.
The word PARTHIAN MEANS EXILE! (See Rawlinson's "The Sixth
Monarchy", page 19.) The only exiles in this land were the ten
tribes of Israel! The Parthians were none other than the exiled
Lost Ten Tribes who remained in the land of their captivity until
A.D. 226. That's when the Persians drove them into Europe.
Now consider this. James addressed his letter to the twelve
tribes of Israel scattered abroad. He warns the Israelites
against the wars being waged among themselves. When James wrote
his letter about A.D. 60 the world was at peace except for two
regions -- Britain and Parthia! There is no mistaking this.
Parthia and Britain were Israelite.
Which of the twelve apostles carried the gospel to the
Parthian Israelites?
The Greek historians reveal that Thomas brought the gospel
to "Parthia, after which Sophornius and others inform us, that he
preached the gospel to the Medes, Persians, Carmans, Hyrcani,
Bactrians, and the neighbor nations" (Cave's "Antiq. Apost.", p.
189).
These strange sounding names are the lands we know today as
Iran (or Persia) and Afghanistan. In apostolic days the whole
region was subject to the Parthians.
Though many Israelites had left the region already,
multitudes remained behind, spread over adjoining territory. They
lost their identity and became identified with the names of the
districts in which they lived.
Josephus, the Jewish historian, was familiar with Parthia as
a major dwelling place of the Ten Tribes. He declares: "But then
the entire body of the people of Israel (the Ten Tribes) REMAINED
IN THAT COUNTRY (they did not return to Palestine); wherefore
there are but two tribes in Asia and Europe subject to the
Romans, while the ten tribes are beyond Euphrates till now, and
are an immense multitude and not to be estimated by numbers"
("Antiq. of the Jews", bk. xi, ch. v, § 2).
There it is! The very area to which Thomas sojourned was,
reports Josephus, filled with uncounted multitudes of the Ten
Tribes! Josephus was, apparently, unaware of those who had
already migrated westward. But he does make it plain that only
the House of Judah ever returned to Palestine. The House of
Israel was "beyond Euphrates till now"!
Parthia was defeated by Persia in 226 A.D. Expelled from
Parthia, the Ten Tribes and the Medes moved north of the Black
Sea, into Scythia. (See R. G. Latham's "The Native Races of the
Russian Empire", page 216.) From there, around A.D. 256, the Ten
Tribes migrated with their brethren from Asia Minor into
Northwest Europe. This migration was occasioned by a concerted
Roman attack in the east. It backfired on the Romans, for hordes
of Israelites and Assyrians suddenly broke through the Roman
defenses in the West that same year!

-------------------
PHOTO CAPTION: The final migrations of the House of Israel to
Northwest Europe. Notice the time element. Parthia was overthrown
in A.D. 226. The refugees settled mainly about the Black Sea.
From there they migrated between A.D. 256 to 300 under King Odin
of Denmark. Not until A.D. 449 did these Israelite exiles reach
the British Isles, where other tribes of Israel were already
dwelling since the days of Joshua. Note also that Assyrians and
Medes accompanied the Israelites part way into Europe.
-------------------

Thomas also journeyed into Northwest India, east of Persia,
where the "White Indians" dwelt. These "White Indians" -- that
is, whites living in India -- were also known as "Nephthalite
Huns", in later Greek records. Any connection with the tribe of
Naphthali? They were overthrown in the sixth century and migrated
into Scandinavia. The archaeology of Scandinavia confirms this
event.
BARTHOLOMEW shared, with Thomas, the same vast plains,
according to Nicephorus. Bartholomew also spent part of his time
in neighboring Armenia and a portion of Upper Phrygia in Asia
Minor. Nicephorus termed the area, in his history, the "Western
and Northern parts of Asia," by which he meant Upper Asia Minor,
modern Turkey today. This was the same district to which Andrew
carried the gospel, and to which Peter sent two of his letters.
JUDE, also named Libbaeus Thaddaeus, had part in the
ministry in Assyria and Mesopotamia. That is part of Parthia
which Josephus designated as still inhabited by the Ten Tribes.
The Parthian kingdom, which was composed of the Ten Tribes ruling
over Gentiles, possessed Assyria and Mesopotamia during most of
the New Testament period. From the famous city Babylon, in
Mesopotamia, Peter directed the work of all the apostles in the
East.
Scythia and Upper Asia (meaning Asia Minor) were the regions
assigned to Philip. (See Cave's "Antiq. Apost.", p. 168.) Scythia
was the name of the vast plain north of the Black and the Caspian
Seas. To this region a great colony of Israelites migrated after
the fall of the Persian Empire in 331. From Scythia migrated the
SCOTS. The word Scot is derived from the word Scyth. It means an
inhabitant of Scythia. The Scots are part of the House of Israel.
Interestingly, the word Scythia, in Celtic, has the same
meaning that HEBREW does in the Semitic language -- a migrant or
wanderer!

Where Did Matthew Go?

Matthew, Metaphrastes tells us, "went first into Parthia,
and having successfully planted Christianity in those parts,
thence travelled to Aethiopia, that is, the Asiatic Aethiopia,
lying near India."
For some centuries this region of the Hindu Kush, bordering
on Scythia and Parthia, was known as "White India." It lies
slightly east of the area where the Assyrians settled the
Israelite captives. A natural process of growth led the House of
Israel to these sparsely populated regions. From there they
migrated to Northwest Europe in the sixth century, long after the
Apostles' time. Dorotheus declares Matthew was buried at
Hierapolis in Parthia.
The Parthian kingdom was, in fact, a loose union of those
lost tribes of Israel who dwelt in Central Asia during this
period. The Persians finally drove them all out. Whenever Parthia
prospered, other nations prospered. Whenever the Parthians
suffered reverses, other nations suffered. Remember the
Scripture: "And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him
that curseth thee" (Genesis 12:3).
Ethiopic and Greek sources designate Dacia (modern Romania)
and Macedonia, north of Greece, as part of the ministry of
Matthias. Dacia was the extreme western part of Scythia. From
Dacia came the Normans who ultimately settled in France and
Britain.
The French tradition that Mary, the mother of Jesus,
journeyed into Gaul (modern France) lends heavy weight to John's
having been in Gaul in his earlier years. It was to John that
Jesus committed Mary's care. She would be where he was working.
Paul knew Gaul to be an area settled by the House of Israel. He
bypassed Gaul on his way from Italy to Spain (Romans 15:24, 28).
Gaul must have been reached by one of the twelve.
How plain! How can any misunderstand! Here is historic PROOF
to confirm, absolutely, the identity and location of "the House
of Israel." The identity of Israel, from secular sources, is
itself also independent and absolute proof of where the twelve
apostles carried out God's work.
How marvelous are the mysteries of God when we understand
them!

The Plain Truth
May, 1964


© 2004 Origins of Nations Research Project or original author
************************************


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