Church of Israel
| Church of Israel | |
|---|---|
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| Classification | Christian Identity |
| Headquarters | 38°01′54″N 94°12′42″W / 38.0316°N 94.2117°W |
| Founder | Dan Gayman |
| Origin | 1972 Schell City, Missouri |
| Separated from | Church of Christ at Zion's Retreat |
| Other name(s) | Church of Our Christian Heritage |
| Official website | http://www.churchofisrael.org/ |
The Church of Israel (formerly the Church of Our Christian Heritage) is a denomination that emerged from the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) in the Latter Day Saint movement.
The Church of Israel was first organized in 1972. Dan Gayman had deposed the leaders of the Church of Christ at Zion's Retreat and was then elected leader of that church. Most of the members of the church followed Gayman. However, the deposed leaders of the Zion's Retreat church sued Gayman, and the courts ordered that the church property and name be returned to the deposed leaders, and that the members of Gayman's congregation be barred from the premises. Gayman informally organized his congregation under the name "the Church of Our Christian Heritage". In 1977, Gayman and 10 other individuals were arrested for trespassing when they led a group back to the Church of Christ at Zion's Retreat in an attempted forcible takeover. In 1981, Gayman incorporated his church under the name Church of Israel. Little of the Latter Day Saint movement background of the church remains in its current teachings and practices, although the influence and beliefs of the Fettingite and the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) seem to be apparent in the rural and isolationist ("survivalist") settings for the church's headquarters and are practiced by many of its adherents. ("Message 18" in the Fettingite corpora urges believers to "go to the land" in order to "flee destruction" in or of, American cities.)
An investigative newspaper report about the Church of Israel was published in the Joplin Globe in January 2001. The report was mostly negative and suggested that the church had ties to the Christian Identity movement. The Anti-Defamation League includes the Church of Israel in its list of "extremist groups." The ADL report states that members of the church are said to have been involved at times with controversial figures such as Bo Gritz, Eric Rudolph, and Thomas Robb, a national leader of the Ku Klux Klan.
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