Could we be God's chosen people?

IT'S not where you would expect to find a cult. Not much more than a strip of a village, probably barely noticed by the motorists passing through as the road bounces over the top of Weardale, it is a far cry from visions of mass weddings and brainwashing.

But it is here that the British-Israel World Federation has its headquarters. In a converted 19th century literary institute, next to the rugby club and opposite the church, an organisation which could once fill the Albert Hall and boasts royalty among its past patrons has made its home.

The federation, or BIWF, has been in Low Etherley, near Bishop Auckland, for almost six years. It has mostly been a period of relative anonymity. Its relocation from London to the North-East was accomplished so discreetly that online encyclopaedia Wikipedia, admittedly not renowned for its accuracy, reported it as having disappeared from England.

Last year it featured in The Joy of Sects, a directory of strange religious societies. But BIWF secretary David Aimer politely points out that they are not a cult at all. "It is just a teaching," he says. "We're not a church because we're not a religion."

If it's irksome to be grouped with the mad and the dangerous, he doesn't show it. "Some people put us in a cult listing because they didn't like our message. A cult is saying you have got to do these things to get eternal life or something, but what we're saying is just a teaching, to unlock the Bible," he says.

"We have never been a cult or an -ism, if you like. We have always come from all denominations," adds Michael Clark, the federation's deputy president. "We're not an authoritarian organisation, it is a teaching."

This teaching, at its most essential, is that the British people are descended from the ten lost tribes of Israel, and are therefore the true party to God's covenant with Israel. They also believe that the Royal Family can trace its lineage back to King David.

Inside their headquarters, the downstairs offices give way to a staircase lined with portraits. At the top of the stairs is a cabinet holding models of four animals, or variations on animals. There is a four-headed leopard, a winged lion, a bear and something which can best be described as a rhinoceros with horns on its neck and back, as well as its nose. This, Mr Aimer says, is a "Great and Terrible Beast", and the models represent the four empires of the ancient Near East: Greek, Babylonian, Persian and Roman, the last being portrayed by the Great and Terrible Beast.

These, like much of the symbolism in the former temple to literacy, are derived from the Bible. There is the painting of Jacob blessing his two grandsons, Ephraim and Manasseh; postcards of the Zurburan paintings hanging in Auckland Castle, representing the 12 tribes of Israel; and the lion and the unicorn flanking the fireplace, the lion being the two tribes of the south, the unicorn the ten tribes of the north.

In what was once the library and is now the Great Hall, these jostle with more conventional symbols: the portrait of the Queen above the fireplace, the Union Jack crossed with the Stars and Stripes adorning the balcony. This medley seems to reflect BIWF's teachings, a mixture of the Biblical and the patriotic.

This is also a nod towards the origins of British-Israelism. The idea can be traced back to the Puritans' belief in the 17th century that they were the spiritual descendants of the Israelites, but it really took hold in the 19th century, coinciding with the flowering of the British Empire.

The federation itself was formed in 1919, bringing together a number of groups across the world. Its first patron was Princess Alice, Lord Gisborough was president from 1921-5, and in its heyday in the 1920s, when the Empire was still thriving, it could fill the Albert Hall.

"I suppose we look on that period as a kind of taste of what is to be, ultimately," says Mr Clark. "The Empire was a harbinger of the kingdom of God on Earth, righteousness exalting a nation."

Now, membership in the UK is down to about 280, although Mr Aimer reckons there are around 100,000 people in the world who are familiar with the BIWF's teachings, even if they're not followers themselves. Past donations provide a capital base which produces interest to pay for the federation's three salaries, and its publishing arm is self-financing.

The basis of their teaching is that when the Assyrians attacked the ten northern and two southern tribes of Israel in the 7th and 8th centuries BC, the northern tribes were dispersed from their homelands. Mainstream historians assert that these tribes were eventually absorbed into other nations, leaving the two southern tribes as the only ones who can claim direct descent from Abraham.

But the BIWF believes these "lost" ten tribes migrated across Europe, eventually arriving in Great Britain. The rightful rulers of Israel ended up in Ireland, moving to Scotland and hence to Great Britain when the Scottish and English crowns were united in the 17th century.

Their evidence for this is based on an interpretation of assorted facts, beliefs and circumstances. For example, they claim a number of geographical names in Europe show the areas through which Daniel's tribe migrated: Denmark, the rivers Danube, Dnieper and Dniester. The Saxons took their name from Isaac, so Saxon means "son of Isaac".

A number of symbols of the British monarchy are also taken as evidence to support their beliefs. The lion and unicorn flanking the Royal coat of arms are also the emblems of the southern and northern tribes. The Coronation ceremony is held to be derived from that for the Kings of Israel. The Stone of Scone, used in the Coronation, is said to be the stone which Jacob used as a pillow.

And there is more. The way the British Empire expanded follows the order set out in the Bible: west, east, north then south. Abraham's name was to be called "Great", hence Great Britain, and British itself is said to mean "Covenant Man" in Hebrew, those chosen by God.

Naturally, many of these are disputed by mainstream scholars, who point out that Vietnam has the towns of Danang and Don Duong but there is no suggestion Daniel went via south-east Asia on his way across Europe; that there is no significant relationship between Hebrew and English; that the Stone of Scone has been identified as probably of Scottish origin; that Isaac is Yitschak in Hebrew, which is harder to turn into Saxon.

But the BIWF believes the evidence is too weighty to ignore. "Any one of the symbols probably doesn't stand by itself, but when you have 20, 40, 80 symbols you have to ask what is going on here," says Mr Aimer. "It is not like one scripture." He says Queen Victoria is believed to have traced her line back to the Kings of Israel, although efforts to obtain a record of this from Windsor Castle have so far drawn a blank.

The BIWF has been linked to some unsavoury groups in the past, principally because of the support, however unwitting, it seems to lend to anti-Semitism. After all, if the British are God's Chosen People, then the Jews, who claim that for themselves, are not. Nowadays, the federation prefers to stay out of such debates. "We don't speak against the Israeli state. We just try to point out what is the right way," says Mr Clark.

But even if Britain was home to the nation of Israel, the question remains: so what? Is it anything more than saying what has already happened, in their view. To some extent, of course, it is. "By looking at the labels you are getting the right prophecies to the right group of people," says Mr Clark. "And who turns their noses up at an inheritance?"

"Enoch Powell once said that nothing else matters except history, and Churchill said that it is only by looking backwards that we can go forward. It is getting a true sense of our purpose as a nation."

But there is also the hope that an understanding of this inheritance, and the role of the British as a blessing to other nations, will inspire young people to follow in the footsteps of their forebears, and become missionaries. "We would hope that the knowledge would be translated into all sorts of other work, and that young people can think they should go out into the world and do these things," says Mr Clark. "They do it anyway, but this puts everything in order."

The federation found itself in Weardale after the lease on its previous premises, gifted to them by George V, ran out. Their president was in Stokesley in North Yorkshire and saw an advert for the newly converted building, which is home to the BIWF and its publishing arm, Covenant Publishing, and the National Bible College, which will promote its teachings.

"In our building in London we couldn't expand and the college couldn't run as such, but we feel coming here has given us a new lease of life," says Mr Clark. "And with early Christianity being in the North-East we almost feel like it's an appointed move."

It also helps that the literary institute is number 121 Low Etherley, which is not only the same number as their address in London, but Psalm 121 talks of looking out at the hills and of one going out and one going in. "We went out of 121 and we came into 121," says Mr Clark.

He also points out that picked out on the front of the building are the three initial letters of Etherley Literary Institute, Eli, the teacher of the temple. Mr Aimer laughs. "We're not saying the Bible was written for us," he says, "but it is rather nice."

Mike Amos is away.