page_title: Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ
section_title: The 12 tribes of Israel
hierarchical_section_title: Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ / Beliefs / The 12 tribes of Israel
caption_attribution_description: English: 12 Tribes of Israel according to the ICGJC
context_page_description: The Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ, formerly known as the Israeli Church of Universal Practical Knowledge, is an organization of Black Hebrew Israelites. The Southern Poverty Law Center has designated the ICGJC as an active hate group.
  The ICGJC teaches that the descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes and true biblical Jews are the Black Americans, West Indians, and Native Americans of North and South America and those scattered throughout the whole planet, but not the Jewish people or the Africans. The group claims that the "Black Israelites" have divine favor and inspiration and are superior to "Edomites" and all other non-Israelite people. They also hold strong apocalyptic views regarding the end of the world. The ICGJC believes that Yahawashi is God's divine Son and Messiah, and the redeemer for the sins of the Israelites and no other nation, that the Old and New Testament and Apocrypha are inspired Scripture, but the group does not believe in the doctrine of the Trinity.
  According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the group's leaders are "obsessed with hatred for Edomites", and in 2008 had churches in cities in 10 US states. Its headquarters are in New York City.
context_section_description: Unlike the majority of Black Hebrew Israelite groups which generally identify the biblical Israel with the continent of Africa, the Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ and its offshoots believe this only applies to African Americans and the African diaspora in the Americas, as well as to Native American and Latino peoples of the Western Hemisphere. According to the beliefs of the Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ and its offshoots on the popular "12 tribes chart", the twelve tribes of Israel have their order listing along with their respective national identities shown below:
  Judah: Negroes (African Americans)
  Benjamin: West Indian Blacks
  Levi: Haitians
  Simeon: Dominicans
  Zebulon: Guatemala to Panama
  Ephraim: Puerto Ricans
  Manasses: Cubans
  Gad: Native-American Indians
  Reuben: Seminole Indians
  Asher: Colombia to Uruguay
  Naphtali: Argentina/Chile
  Issachar: Mexicans
  This Hebrew Israelite group and most others teach that some of the twelve tribes of Israel are made up of lighter non-Spaniard Latin Americans and Native American Indians conquered and enslaved years ago; they are the northern Kingdom of Israel that migrated "over the waters" [they believe this means to the Americas] during the reign of Cyrus the Great according to 2 Esdras 13:40-45 and Deuteronomy 33:17. Some have mixed themselves among their captors which explains the lighter complexion and hair texture difference according to Hosea 7:8 "Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned." The Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ claims that blacks who were enslaved in 1619 are the southern Kingdom of Judah according to Joel 3:1-7. They base the list shown below on Genesis 49 and Deuteronomy 33.
caption: Poster outlining the Black Hebrew Israelite identification of the Twelve Tribes of Israel with modern peoples of color
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