Sabbatarians Who Deny Salvation to Most People
Who actually believes that Jews, Blacks, Asians, Hispanics, and other racial groups cannot have salvation? Is it only men with swastikas in military-like camps? Or could there be people with these beliefs in a congregation or conference which you have attended? One teacher of such erroneous doctrines is Dan Gayman, bishop of the Church of Israel, based in Missouri.
Dan Gayman has spoken at meetings held by Friends of the Sabbath, the Seventh Day Adventists, and other Sabbatarian Groups. He is a powerful speaker and has much good to say about the Sabbath, Holy Days, strong families, British Israelism, etc. He is clever enough to conceal his racial views when speaking outside of his congregation. He waits until he has gained people’s confidence and included them on his mailing list—then he tries to steer them to his unusual racial beliefs. So you may understand what he really teaches, we have included quotes from Gayman’s recent publications:
From Did You say You Were From the Church of Israel? by Dan Gayman:
“We believe that election is by race and salvation is by faith in Jesus Christ.”
“We believe that Biblical, genetic Israel in Jesus Christ is the Church, identified among the Anglo-Saxon, Celtic, Scandinavian, Germanic and kindred people of the world.”
“All genuine and Biblically certified Jews (Judeans or Judaites) are Israelites, but not all Israelites are Jews or Judeans. The distinction here is urgent because so many people now calling themselves Jews are not descended from Judah, the great-grandson of Abraham through Isaac. A majority of all contemporary Jews are not from the tribe of Judah, are not Israelites, and are not even Biblical Hebrews!
“For a complete historical review of the history of where almost all of the contemporary Jews originated, please consult three excellent works. Read The Thirteenth Tribe by Arthur Koestler, Random House Publishers, New York, 1976, The Iron Curtain Over America by John Beaty, Chestnut Mountain Books, 1963, and The International Jew [The World’s Foremost Problem] as originally published in the periodical The Dearborn Independent by the Ford Motor Company under the hand of Henry Ford Sr. All of these books demonstrate that a majority of all modern Jews are not Hebrew, not Israelites, and are not descended from Judah.”
Gayman is letting the above books do his dirty work for him. What do they say? That Jews are evil and less than human. Even though Ford was a respectable industrialist, notice this from a biography of Adolf Hitler:
“‘I regard Henry Ford as my inspiration,’ Adolf Hitler explained in 1931 when asked why a portrait of Ford hung on his office wall. Two years later, on his seventy-fifth birthday, Ford accepted in a pubic ceremony Hitler's gift—the Grand Cross of the German Eagle, the Nazi Government’s highest honor. Ford was one of only four men, including Benito Mussolini, to ever receive the award.”
From “Q&A” section of Gayman’s The Watchman magazine 1995:
“Q. Pastor Gayman, is there major variation in the hair, eye, and skin color of Israelites? If I have incomplete or scanty genealogical records, how can I be certain that I am a pure Israelite?”
“A. Israelites may vary somewhat in the fairness of skin color. Historically, if you could pass the blue blood test, you were considered white. That is, the blood veins had to be apparent to the eye, a test generally observed by rolling up the sleeve of the shirt and noting the blood veins showing through the skin. You may be assured that Israelites share many variations of eye color, hair color, and skin that ranges from very fair to a slightly more olive hue...”
“...Remember that not every Israelite will have blue eyes, blonde hair, and very fair skin. If it is obvious by skin color that someone is not Caucasian, appropriate steps can be taken by Church leadership to preserve the racial integrity of the congregation.
“...You may be certain that proper preaching and teaching of God’s Word will sift from the Body those who are not racially pure Israelites. God’s word will penetrate into the very genetics of a person’s body, soul, and spirit. People who are not pure will be sifted out through the faithful preaching of the Word. ‘ For the word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
From Gayman’s The Vision:
“Do we teach that all races except the Israelites were on the earth when Adam and Eve were created? YES! We believe the Bible teaches that no additional races (biped creatures) were created after Adam.... All the other races were created under the terms ‘living creature’... None of these races was made in the image and after the likeness of God, as was the man (#120 Awdawm) of Genesis 1;26-27 and 2:7... All of the races created before Adam were good... and each carries God’s mark of ownership in skin color and various physical characteristics. They can know God and worship Him as creator, but they cannot know Him in covenant relationship. That special relationship is reserved for saved Israelites.”
So there is Gayman’s teaching: only a small percentage of the people in the world can have a covenant relationship—which is necessary for Salvation; all Blacks, Orientals, Hispanics, Ethnic Jews, and every other non-white are essentially God’s most intelligent form of animal. If you feel the need to confirm these teachings, you may write him at PO Box 218 E, Schell City, Missouri 64783.
You could show Gayman the numerous scriptures that talk about the “mixed multitude” that went out of Egypt, the Gentiles in the lineage of Jesus, the Gentiles that received salvation in the New Testament. But he would tell you that Hebrew and Greek words for “Gentile” also refer to “nations” in general and that these are simply other white people who lived in other countries—people who are of the proper race to receive salvation. But then that begs the quesiton: if there is some large class of people who cannot be saved, what are the Hebrew and Greek words that designate such people?
The most obvious thing that proves the error of these theories is science: A species is a group of living things wherein any normal male and female can mate and produce a fertile offspring. For example, a horse and a donkey can mate and produce a mule, but the mule is not fertile (cannot reproduce), so horses and donkeys are a different species. Said another way, the Eternal made everything “according to its kind.” The truth of the matter is that all races or people are the same species or the “same kind”—they can procreate.
The silliness of trying to conclude that some people have the genetic ability to be saved and some do not is born out by these two very possible stories:
It is possible that there is a respectedcouple in Gayman’s church, both having some ancestry from other races, but being white enough to pass the blue blood test. It is also possible that they could bear a child that would genetically receive many of the characteristics from the other races and not be able to pass Gayman’s test. What do the parents do with that child? Use it as a slave? Put it up for adoption? If the Church of Israel casts out the couple for being racially impure, what do they say to others in their group who learned truth from a couple who “cannot even be saved?”
It is also possible for another couple who are both of a mixed racial background to bear a child who is white enough to pass the blue blood test. Suppose that this child is separated from his parents at birth, raised by white parents, and joins Gayman’s church. Later he finds out that neither one of his parents are eligible for salvation. How can a person eligible for salvation be born from creatures not eligible for salvation?
The ridiculousness of these situations should be obvious. If the message of the Bible were “salvation to a select race of people,” we would need extensive instruction on how to deal with situations like the above. The truth of the matter is that the people in the Bible continually lived and intermarried among other nations, and the Bible contains no instruction on how to determine if someone is enough of the right race for salvation. Furthermore, the real human capability should be obvious: There is no history of animals being concerned about eternal life, but every race of humans has spent much time and energy in its pursuit.
Believers do not need to return evil for evil and hate those with Gayman’s beliefs. The early apostles originally thought that Salvation was only for the Jews—it took a lot to change them (Acts 10, 11). There may be converted people who hold Gayman’s beliefs. However, we think it would be a mistake to invite those people to our services and meetings. How could anyone go to a meeting with a black or Jewish brother and say to him: “Dan Gayman is a really good speaker—he just has the minor fault of believing that, uh..., uh..., that you can never be saved!” No, this is one of the few cases where we need separation!
—Norman S. Edwards