Anglo Saxon Christian World: The Vancouver Movement and the Making of Christian Identity

Anglo-Saxonism emerged in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as an ideological framework that interpreted the English-speaking peoples--particularly those of Britain and North America--as a divinely chosen race endowed with a unique historical destiny. Drawing on pseudo-historical readings of Scripture and selective archaeological, linguistic, and mythological materials, Anglo-Saxonist thinkers claimed that modern Anglo-Saxons were the literal descendants of the ancient Israelites. This narrative provided fertile ground for a range of political, racial, and religious movements, most notably British Israelism and, later, Christian Identity.

Building on these ideological currents, the Anglo-Saxon Christian World emerged in Vancouver in 1938 as one of the earliest attempts to formalize and coordinate Anglo-Saxonist theology within a North American religious framework.[1] Organized initially to unite various British Israelism and Christian Identity groups, the movement sought to standardize and disseminate the newly developing strands of Christian Identity doctrine[2] that had evolved from British Israelism across the continent. It was inaugurated during a three-day conference convened under the auspices of the British Israel Association of Greater Vancouver and quickly expanded into an international enterprise led by Edward F. Odlum, W. C. Elford, and J. G. Wright.[3] Although the organization publicly presented itself as "interdenominational and non-political,"[4] its programs centered on lectures drawing explicit connections between biblical prophecy and contemporary geopolitical developments.[5] By 1940, the rhetoric and teachings promoted by the Anglo-Saxon Christian World had become so radicalized that critics accused the movement of harboring sympathies toward Nazi ideology.[6]

From its inception, the Anglo-Saxon Christian World fused British Israelism with militaristic rhetoric and apocalyptic expectation,[7] cultivating a distinctly militant expression of Anglo-Saxonist Christianity. Central to this development was Col. J. G. Wright, the movement's general secretary, whose military background included command of the 163rd Battalion in Toronto during the First World War and later leadership of the 54th Battalion in France. The organization regularly featured military personnel as lecturers, including United States Army Reserve Col. H. M. Greene of Portland--director of the base hospital at Camp Lewis during WWI[8]--alongside Major F. T. Foort of the British Indian Army and Masonic lecturer Sergeant-Major Fred Johnson, a veteran of the Canadian Forces. Johnson and others instructed attendees in contemporary military tactics such as Blitzkrieg, the combined-arms strategy emphasizing rapid, concentrated assaults through armored, motorized, or mechanized units.[9]

The movement also maintained significant ties to white supremacist networks through figures such as Dr. Clem Davies. Davies--an antisemitic, right-wing activist who promoted several white supremacist organizations in Vancouver[10]--had participated in the 1937 Convention of the Anglo-Saxon Association of North America,[11] a gathering that brought together the western branches of two major Christian Identity groups. Held in Seattle, the convention united Howard Rand's Anglo-Saxon Federation of America with the British Israel Association of Greater Vancouver,[12] an alliance that became one of the formative catalysts in the emergence of Christian Identity as a coherent movement. Rand himself attended these conferences, as did Oregon Ku Klux Klan leader Rev. R. H. Sawyer,[13] the figure credited with introducing the Klan to Portland when he addressed an audience of six thousand at the Municipal Auditorium on December 22, 1921.[14] Davies worked closely with Sawyer and other members of the Anglo-Saxon Christian World, reinforcing the movement's ideological and organizational connections to white supremacist activism.[15]

In addition to Clem Davies — who had connections with William Branham through Branham's work with the Kardashian family and Demos Shakarian, founder of the Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship International, in a failed attempt to heal Vaughn Arakelian--several other leaders within the Anglo-Saxon Christian World were deeply involved in the emerging Latter Rain movement. Among the most influential was Gordon Lindsay, publicist for The Voice of Healing and founder of Christ for the Nations, who presented himself as an authority on British Israelism and served as both a leader and a principal lecturer within the Anglo-Saxon Christian World Movement. Through The Voice of Healing magazine and its associated revivalist networks, Lindsay played a pivotal role in launching the ministries of numerous evangelists and disseminating articles that reflected or openly supported the ideological aims of the Anglo-Saxon Christian World.

Rev. Mr. Lindsay, who is one of the main speakers at the conference and convention of the Anglo-Saxon Christian World Movement meeting in the city, is also a lecturer, Traveller, and author of note. He is an authority on the Israel interpretation of the prophetic Scriptures and will deliver a message on the destiny of the Anglo-Saxon peoples in the world.[16]
- The Province.

Herbert W. Armstrong, a pioneer of early televangelism whose influence helped pave the way for the later New Apostolic Reformation, also held a leadership role within the Anglo-Saxon Christian World Movement and employed his Radio Church of God as a platform for advancing the group's Christian Identity agenda. Armstrong's lectures were sponsored by the organization as early as 1941,[17] demonstrating the close alignment between his emerging ministry and the movement's ideological commitments. During the height of the Latter Rain revival--when the "Gospel of Divine Healing" became increasingly controversial--Armstrong published his widely disputed volume Does God Heal Today? The book not only affirmed divine healing but also urged a rejection of medical treatment, which Armstrong characterized as pagan in origin and fundamentally ineffective.[18] By the late 1960s, Armstrong rebranded the Radio Church of God as the Worldwide Church of God and launched a television adaptation of The World of Tomorrow,[19] a program whose rapid expansion to 382 stations in the United States and 36 outlets internationally positioned it far ahead of the broadcasts of Jerry Falwell, Jimmy Swaggart, Oral Roberts, and Jim Bakker.[20]