Rand was a Massachusetts lawyer who obtained a law degree at the University of Maine. He was raised as a British Israelite, and his father introduced him to J. H. Allen's work "Judah's Sceptre and Joseph's Birthright" (1902) at an early age. Around 1924, Rand began to claim that the Jews are descended from Esau or the Canaanites rather than the tribe of Judah. He never went so far as to advocate the "serpent seed" doctrine that modern-day Jews are descendants of Satan; he only claimed that they are not the lineal descendants of Judah. Rand is considered a 'transitional' figure from British Israelism to Christian Identity, rather than its actual founder.