In the early days of the Church,
there was some interest with "British Israelism" amongst some
Latter-day Saints (one notable example would be George Reynolds, Are we of Israel?
[1895]). However, the Church itself has moved away from such a theory. Bruce
McConkie, in his A New Witness for the
Articles of Faith, p. 517 wrote the following:
However, the theory is still accepted by a few Latter-day Saints, and some groups hold up as a doctrine. Ron Abel, a Christadelphian apologist, wrote a very good refutation of the main "go-to" biblical texts groups the Armstrong movement cite:
his
illusion postulates that the British people are identical with the Ten Tribes
of Israel; that Jeremiah, the prophet, brought Tephi; a daughter of Zedekiah,
to the north of Ireland; that she married into the royal line and her
descendants now sit upon the throne of England, thereby providing divine
continuity for the throne of David; and that--and this is the most important
part--all of the ancient prophecies relative to the restoration of Israel have
been or will be fulfilled in and through Great Britain as a nation. There is
not one chance in a million, or in ten thousand million, that any of the
historical assumptions are true; and if they were, it would not make one
particle of difference--the doctrinal view would still be false...This British
Israel concept, once so prevalent in the British Isles and elsewhere, has gone
pretty much out of vogue...
However, the theory is still accepted by a few Latter-day Saints, and some groups hold up as a doctrine. Ron Abel, a Christadelphian apologist, wrote a very good refutation of the main "go-to" biblical texts groups the Armstrong movement cite:
