Chapter 1: 1492 The Beginning

All of the major events in U.S. history have occurred on known biblical time cycles. Knowing these time cycles will help us to understand America itself, our national purpose, and our destiny. As we study this little-known topic, we will obtain a better understanding of where we are today in this progression of prophetic history. That is the purpose of this book.

We must begin with a study of the year 1492 and how it relates to biblical history. As most of you know, the year 1492 changed the course of world history. It was the year that Columbus sailed across the Atlantic Ocean and landed on an island of the Bahamas which he named El Salvador. He then proceeded to discover (and claim for Spain) many other islands of the Caribbean.

The expedition had two purposes: religious and economic. One was to convert the natives to the Roman Church; the other was to find gold for Spanish coffers. The result, whatever the original intent, was the extermination of the vast majority of the natives. In fact it was so bad that a century later, in the struggle between the Jesuits and King Henry IV, Antony Armaud of Paris used this sordid fact to show the true character of the Jesuits. Cormenin's 1850 History of the Popes, Vol. II, p. 275 records part of the speech:

" ‘It is time that the world had learned to know the Jesuits,’ exclaimed the eloquent advocate, in the warmth of his discourse; ‘it is time that the nations were doing justice on these sanguinary vampyres who hover over our heads and are making ready to devour us. People, learn that these execrable props of the pope wish to do in France as they have done in America, where twenty millions of men, women, and children have been polluted, burned, or murdered under the pretext of religion. Learn that their love for gold is as insatiable as their thirst for blood, and that they have depopulated whole islands to assuage their cupidity--forcing men to bury themselves alive in the mines, and constraining women to labour on the land red with the blood of their children.

" ‘Learn that they are the inventors of those new tortures which they have made four thousand men undergo at once, who remained exposed for whole months to all the inclemencies of the seasons, attached to each other by iron chains, entirely naked, and whipped three times a day until they shall point out the place where supposed treasures are concealed; and as these unfortunate men have nothing to discover, they become enraged at them and kill them by blows of clubs; so that these unfortunate Indians, in order to escape the barbarity of the Jesuits, fly to the mountains, where, in despair, they hang themselves in the trees of the forest with their wives and children’."

Cormenin himself comments on this:

"The Jesuits, unable to free themselves from all these charges, which had been sustained by incontestable witnesses and irresistible proofs, turned towards Rome and besought Clement the Eighth to interfere in the quarrel."

Our question, though, is how 1492 was significant in Bible prophecy. The roots of this date go back to Noah's curse upon Canaan in the year 1660 (years from Adam). This put Canaan on Cursed Time, as I explained in my book, Secrets of Time, chapter 4. Cursed Time is a period of 414 years (or a multiple of 414).

In this case, Canaan was brought into judgment 2 x 414 years after Noah’s curse in the year 2488 (from Adam). 1660 + 828 = 2488. This is when Joshua entered Canaan and brought judgment upon those people. Another 7 x 414 years brings us to the year 1492 A.D. That is the connecting link that ties Joshua’s conquest of Canaan to the European conquest of the American hemisphere.

The war against the Canaanites, though commanded by God, was not really the ultimate solution to the problem. As I showed in chapter 2 of my book, The Laws of Spiritual Warfare, Israel rejected the spiritual sword when they refused to hear the Holy Spirit at Mount Sinai. Exodus 20:18-21 says,

¹⁸ And all the people perceived the thunder and the lightning flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood at a distance. ¹⁹ Then they said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, lest we die.” ²⁰ And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid; for God has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may remain with you, so that you may not sin. ²¹ So the people stood at a distance, while Moses approached the thick cloud where God was.

This occurred on the day that later came to be known as Pentecost, when God spoke the Ten Commandments to the people. If they had been able to overcome their fear and hear His voice, they would have fulfilled the day of Pentecost as in Acts 2. But they did not, and so Pentecost was delayed another 1500 years, and they were left only with a physical sword with which to conquer Canaan.

In other words, Israel might have had opportunity to conquer Canaan by the power of the Spirit, rather than by the power of the sword, if they had been able and willing to hear the voice of God at Sinai. Potentially, they could have had the power of God and the sword of the Spirit with which to conquer Canaan. That would have truly been the method that was in accordance with the heart and mind of God. But such a method of conquest was not within their reach at that time.

In the New Testament, the greater "Joshua" (Yeshua, or Jesus) foresaw the day of Pentecost when He told His disciples in Mark 16:15, 16,

¹⁵ . . . Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. ¹⁶ He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.

This command runs directly parallel to the Old Testament method of dealing with the Canaanites under the first Joshua. The difference is in the type of weapon used. A physical sword can only separate head from body; a spiritual sword, as described in Heb. 4:12, can do so much more in a bloodless manner:

¹² For the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

The Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, can separate soul and spirit and can discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Now THAT is a sharp sword. As Christians in the New Testament era, we have a much sharper sword than the people did under Joshua. Just read the book of Acts to see how this powerful Sword was implemented.

But after the first century the Church largely lost that Sword. They ceased to have the ability to hear the voice of God. Except for some individual believers, the Church itself (the institution and leaders) ceased to be truly led by the Holy Spirit.

The most glaring evidence of this is in the simple fact that, by the fourth century, they felt it necessary to take up the physical sword to convince men of the "orthodox truth." They were not alone, of course, for many religions and philosophies have done this throughout history. But Christians are without excuse, because their Founder taught no such thing. In fact, He clearly taught the very opposite. Their Founder gave them a spiritual sword and expected them to use it and not lose it.

Thus, by the time we came to the year 1492, the Roman Church was long settled in their opinion that the force of the sword was necessary when the power of the Spirit was lacking. In my opinion, if the Church had remained as vibrant and alive as in the first century, the physical sword would have been completely unnecessary. People would have been converted by the evidence of divine power, not by force or torture.

Religions with a sword can force people to join their church organization, but they cannot force them to join the true Church, whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of Life. They can force men to have a relationship with the Church, but they cannot force men to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The problem comes, however, when Christians assume that the religious organization is the Church and that one must become members of the organization to have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

And so in the year 1492 we saw the Church being given opportunity to preach the gospel to all creation, but they had long lost their New Testament swords. Thus, they used their physical swords, which brought massacres instead of genuine conversion by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Thus, while the year 1492 had the potential to begin a new era of bringing the Gospel of Peace to the rest of the world, man had largely lost the ability to do that work properly. Years later, when the United States became a nation, they improved somewhat on the Jesuit method of conversion, particularly among the Puritans, Quakers, and Mennonites, who were peace-loving people. Unfortunately, the United States government was not as Christian and broke countless treaties with the Indian population. Its generals were usually more skilled with physical swords than with spiritual swords, and blood flowed freely.

Thus, the settlement of this "New World" was a "mixed bag" at best. I believe that this nation had--and still has--a calling, but we will not be able to fulfill this destiny apart from the power of the Holy Spirit. I believe also that no nation can fulfill such a destiny unless it is ruled by the manifested sons of God, for without proper leadership, our efforts will always be in vain.

One of the most important requirements of the Sons of God is to know the proper use of the Sword of the Spirit, for only by this Sword can men truly be converted to Jesus Christ and not merely to a Christian religious organization.

So we see that in Joshua’s day the Israelites took up physical swords against the ungodly to establish that first Kingdom in the land of Canaan. In the Pentecostal Age, the Church reverted to the same Old Covenant method in establishing the Kingdom of God.

But there is another move of God coming, which will be the true establishment of the Kingdom of God. It will come by the power of the Sword of the Spirit, a fiery sword from the mouth of Jesus and the Sons of God. It will be the preaching of the Word with signs following. It will be irresistible, because when men see who Jesus really is—as manifested in His Sons—they will want to be part of His Kingdom. Love conquers all.