IUIC's "Captivity" Looks VERY Different From Captivity Everywhere Else
Present-day captivity for the 1West Hebrew Israelite faction Israel United in Christ looks DRASTICALLY different from present-day captivity everywhere else. Take, for instance, Cambodia.
“What is the one most important thing our society needs?”
“I would have to say world peace.”
“Definitely world peace.”
“That’s easy, world peace.”
“World peace.”
“That would be harsher punishment for parole violators, Stan.”
This humorous exchange is from the 2000 comedy/action film, “Miss Congeniality”. This scene represented an era when this (stereotypical) beauty pageant question was popular.
The humor arises from the surprising response of Sandra Bullock’s character, which was drastically different from the rest of her competition. In the real world back then and even now, world peace and justice is a common aspiration for many.
Not for Hebrew Israelites, though. At least not in this world.
To some (not all) Hebrew Israelites, more specifically those belonging to the group known as Israel United in Christ (IUIC), peace and justice will ensue in the Kingdom only. There, both these concepts will look MUCH different than most people would expect.
Oddly enough, these ideas about peace and justice are tethered to their perception of their supposed present-day status: being in captivity.
Although not a monolith in thought, teaching, or beliefs, Hebrew Israelism claims that if your ancestors are individuals who arrived to the Western Hemisphere via the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, then you’re a descendant of the Biblical Hebrews. Just as the Hebrews of the Bible did for a time in Egypt, they too are also living in the land of their captivity, America. In fact, according to the dictates of their doctrine, they are living in captivity presently.
This captivity is the result of disobedience to the laws, statutes and commandments of the Mosaic Covenant. Thus, Hebrew Israelites believe they’re living out the results of being cursed (see Deuteronomy 28: 15-68).
For them, peace can only occur once they’re no longer in captivity in “the land of bondage”. According to their eschatological understanding, this will only happen in the Kingdom.
The Cambridge Dictionary defines captivity as “the situation in which a person or animal is kept somewhere and is not allowed to leave”. It also means “the state of being kept in a place (such as a prison or a cage) and not being able to leave or be free: the state or condition of being captive”.
This understanding of captivity is mirrored in the King James Version, the preferred version of many Hebrew Israelites, as well. According to the Authorized Version 1611 website, captivity is ‘the state of being a prisoner, or of being in the power of an enemy by force or the fate of war’.
Despite IUIC being an unrestrained, prosperous, and successful global organization, its members are adamant in proclaiming that they – Black, Hispanic and Native Indians – are IN CAPTIVITY today; both individually and then collectively as an organization.
Behold, we are yet this day in our captivity, where thou hast scattered us, for a reproach and a curse, and to be subject to payments, according to all the iniquities of our fathers, which departed from the Lord our God. Baruch 3:8
So says the Apocrypha (above), and so says IUIC San Antonio (below):
Speaker: Nothing has changed today. When Paul wrote that he was in captivity, when Isaiah wrote he was in captivity, uh…Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, all the Prophets. Was nothing new today. Let's prove that.
Reader: The book of Baruch chapter 3 and verse 8: Behold we are yet this day in our captivity…
Speaker: We are what?
Reader: We are yet this day in our captivity!
Speaker: So the Bible says that we are yet this day in our captivity. Read!
Reader: Where thou hast scattered us, for a reproach and a curse, and to be subject to payments…
Speaker: So even today in 2020 the Israelites are still in captivity and it says, uh, we were scattered for what?
Reader: To, uh, where thou hast scattered us, for a reproach and a curse, and to be subject to payments.
Speaker: That's the key part - to be subject unto payment. So as long as you subject unto payments you're still in captivity. A lot of times like I said when we're in America we think because we have a driver's license, because we got a passport, we own a house, we make six figures, we think we are free. But that's not the case. Our forefathers are letting us letting us know that and it says, uh… when thou hast scattered us. Go to 1 Kings chapter 8 and verse 46. Even today America is another land of captivity.
When considering demographics that extend beyond IUIC, lived and experienced captivity looks much different than it does for IUIC. The burden of having to make regular monthly payments to the electric company wouldn’t be considered a captivity qualifier.
According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), as little as two years ago in 2021, 50 million people globally were living in modern day slavery, aka captivity.
“Of these people, 28 million were in forced labour and 22 million were trapped in forced marriage. The number of people in modern slavery has risen significantly in the last five years. 10 million more people were in modern slavery in 2021 compared to 2016 global estimates. Women and children remain disproportionately vulnerable.”
On February 9, 2023, World News reported on “Human Trafficking picks a new fight”, addressing this mounting problem in Cambodia.
The background of the report rested on Khmer Rouge – a communist movement that governed Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. Under the leadership of Pol Pot, this regime is responsible for one of the worst mass killings of the 20th century. Up to two million Cambodian citizens became captive, imprisoned, tortured, and executed for “offenses” seen as a threat to the regime. One of these threats was simply being educated/being intelligent. Even those who wore glasses were condemned (because it was assumed they could read).
Upon the eventual overthrow of the regime in 1979, there was a resultant gap of (formally) educated Cambodian citizens. This gap has since fostered fertile soil for the exploitation business. As a country, Cambodia has become a major origin point for slavery and human trafficking, which tend to go hand in hand.
There's really no other way to prevent all the things that exploit poor people in developing countries than education. That includes sex trafficking, that includes vocational exploitation for labor. It's just harder to exploit the educated, and parents don't sell their children who are educated.
Captivity and forced labour became the way of survival for many.
Sadly though, the trend is changing. World News detailed how the net is widening; exploitation is affecting even the educated more and more.
With Covid-19 social distancing, lockdown mandates, and widespread job loss being a precipitant, slavery is now being inflicted on young, educated and tech savvy people with the ability to traffic in the “online gambling space”. In other words, slavery is now being inflicted on online scammers.
These individuals, simply looking for employment, respond to ads which offer attractive wages and living conditions. Once they “go to where the job is”, before they know it their lives take a momentous turn for the worse. They’re forced to become slaves.
So once at the facility, the organized crime group will take the workers’ passports, their IDs, their cell phones, cut off communication with the outside and their ability to travel. Then recruited workers are locked inside buildings with security guards and not allowed to leave.
Once employed, employees who fail to meet daily quotas are even punished physically. According to the World News, The Justice Project ranks Cambodia in last place in the realm of being free of corruption. (However at the time of this article’s publishing they’re faring better - they now rank second last to the Democratic Republic of the Congo)
It's hard for folks in the States or elsewhere to imagine the sort of scenario by which they might find themselves locked in a compound and forced to rip people off. Right? But anytime someone is abused and held against their will and forced to work, regardless of what that work is, they are a victim, and they deserve our care and our empathy.
Captivity looks MUCH different in Cambodia than it does for “Bishop” Nathanyel’s Israel United in Christ organization.
As Christians, at the very least we ought to have empathy for people in [real-life] captivity. Both the Old and New Testaments testify of a Messiah who would come to set the captive free (Isaiah 61:1; Luke 4:18). 50 million people living in modern day slavery is 50 million people too many.
Asian Hope and World Help are Christian humanitarian organizations with boots on the ground in Cambodia. Given their fierce hostility towards Christianity (see thumbnail art from an IUIC Talahassee video below), IUIC would most likely not acknowledge it, but these organizations work faithfully as followers of Jesus the Messiah, in helping set captive people free.
I wonder, if you were to ask those in captivity - would they agree with IUIC [San Antonio] about what living in captivity looks like?
Would they consider IUIC’s ability to travel both far and near setting up chapters of their organization with freedom and without duress to be a sign of captivity?
Do individuals in captivity own houses?
Do individuals in captivity have the afforded opportunity make six figure incomes?
I wonder if the the ability to be AUTONOMOUS… would be a sign of “in captivity”?
The responses to my wonderment are probably obvious.
IUIC’s so-called “captivity” looks EXACTLY LIKE FREEDOM. Go figure.
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Beautifully written DNew