History Charles and Julia Lee

The North Star Press

Much of the printing equipment and supplies on display in this exhibit comes from the former North Star Press of Winnipeg. Begun in the 1930s, the press printed The Prophetic Light, a non-denominational Christian paper, written and published by North Star co-founder and Swedish immigrant, F.E. Linder. A prolific ethnic editor and publisher, Linder settled in Winnipeg in the 1920s. Through North Star Press, he also printed multilingual versions of biblical treatises and instructional pamphlets written by a Swedish-American couple, Charles and Julia Lee. North Star Press was also a general commercial printer. The business closed in 1995.

(source: https://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/hist/phase2/mod3e.html)

Charles Lee (1840-1926) and Julia Lee (1852-1927) (born Carl August Lindqvist and Ulrika Johansdotter respectively), Swedish preacher-couple who founded the movement Efraims Büdbärare (Ephraim's Messengers). Carl August Lindqvist was born 1840 in Stockholm. When the American Civil War broke out, he felt a deep call to help free the Negro slaves, and went to the United States, where he became a nursing aid in the Union Army, and changed his name to Charles Lee. He became a doctor in 1869 in Philadelphia, where he also began to preach. Ulrika Johansdotter was born 1852 in Östergötland, and emigrated with her family to the United States when she was three years old, where her name was changed to Julia. She heard Charles Lee preach while she was attending the Seventh-Day Adventists, who by the way benefitted by Charles Lee's preaching, as one of his beliefs was that he should not make a church or congregation. In 1874 Charles and Julia were married, and settled in Cambridge, Minnesota, where they published the magazine Sanningsrösten (The Voice of Truth). 1881-1886 the Lee couple preached in Sweden, and 1886-1892 in the United States. In 1892 they returned to Sweden, and from thence they concentrated on Sweden and Norway. 1897-1916 they published the magazine Betlehemsstjernan in Kristiania (today Oslo), Norway, and after 1916 it was published from Chicago, the United States, under the titles Stjernan and Spiran. 1921-1924 they returned to Sweden, and Charles Lee died in 1926, Julia Lee in 1927. The Lee couple had many odd teachings, one of them being that they should built no churches or congregations. They believed that the Lost Tribes of Israel basically were the European working class, and that the Jews were Judah. They still have disciples today who publish their numerous books in Swedish, Norwegian, English, German, and French. Together Charles and Julia Lee wrote their chief work Den Dubbla Planen (The Double Plan, app. 1917). Charles Lee also wrote among other works Harmageddon eller de Två Jättarna(Armageddon or the Two Giants, 1922). Julia Lee also wrote among other works Efraim i historiskt och profetiskt ljus (Ephraim in the Light of History and Prophecy), and Guds Verk och Rike (God's Work and Kingdom).

On the 10 Tribes of Israel, Charles and Julia Lee wrote: "From the above mentioned texts we see that the Tribes of Israel at the time of the gathering are dispersed among 'all peoples', and that they 'serve the nations', and that their gathering will take place from 'the northland', i.e. Europe. Knowing that the Ten Tribes do not constitute the House of Judah, or the common Jews who after the destruction of Jerusalem were dispersed among the nations, we now ask: Which and where are the Lost Ten Tribes? They are described so intimately in the Scripture that every thinking person who reads all these testimonies should understand it. They serve the nations. What class of people serve the European nations? The working class, of course. The class which plows, sows, and harvest the land, build the towns and work in various trades; in other words: the class which through the work of their hands support and build up the states. It creates capital, pay high taxes and rents and keep up the entire national force of development. The great mass of workers are according to the words of the prophecies mainly the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel." (Den Dubbla Planen, p. 29)

Julia Lee also wrote: "Let us now ask how these people of the Orient were able to come to the farthest north? History shows that the House of Israel, the Ten Tribes, emigrated from Asia to Europe after the fall of the Assyrian Empire. Chas. Rodosi, the editor of Hebrew-English Dictionary, shows that the Ten Tribes sailed across the Mediterranean and colonised the European countries such as Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Germany, England, Austria, Hungary, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, yes, even Russia." (Efraim i historiskt och profetiskt ljus, p. 23)