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God's Plan for America--Part 3

When Columbus first arrived at the island of Hispanola in North America, he did not understand the prophetic time cycles behind his discovery.

Having been commissioned by Spain, the Spanish were the first to explore the southern part of North America, as well as Central America. Their primary motive was to search for gold, although wherever they went, the priests came also to set up missionary stations for the conversion of people.

The French came later and explored the Mississippi River. They claimed a large chunk of the central part of North America, and they also explored the St. Lawrence River, claiming that part of what is now Canada. The English planted colonies on the East Coast.

Of the three, the Spanish were the most militant in their conquest. The French were probably the most liberal in their treatment of the native population, except perhaps for some of the Puritans and Quakers in New England and Pennsylvania. Certainly, there were many who treated the Indians with respect and kindness.

But getting back to Columbus, history notes that he arrived in 1492. Though he certainly was not the first European to come to North America, his arrival sparked the establishment of colonies and a mass migration of European people to this "New World." The importance of that date, then, can hardly be underestimated in the History of the World. So is that date important in biblical prophecy?

Yes, it certainly is. It was the endpoint of a very long time cycle that extended back to the time of Noah and also to the year that Joshua crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land. Upon discovering this time cycle, the prophetic parallel can be drawn between Israel's conquest of Canaan and the European conquest of America. In both cases, it was a conquest by immigration.

The story really begins as early as Noah's day in Genesis 9. If we study the chronology in Genesis, we see that the flood of Noah began in the year 1656 from Adam. It lasted a full year to the year 1657. After the flood,, Noah planted a vineyard. Genesis 9:21 says that Noah got drunk on the wine from his vineyard. This occurred three years later--the year 1660.

While Noah was drunk, his son Ham stole the garments that God had made for Adam, which had been passed down to each Birthright holder among his descendants. The story is told in greater detail in Jasher 7:25-27,

²⁵ For after the death of Adam and his wife, the garments were given to Enoch, the son of Jered, and when Enoch was taken up to God, he gave them to Methuselah, his son. ²⁶ And at the death of Methuselah, Noah took them and brought them to the Ark, and they were with him until he went out of the ark. ²⁷ And in their going out, Ham stole those garments from Noah, his father, and he took them and hid them from his brothers.

The Bible says only that "Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father" (Gen. 9:22). It gives no further details. But Jasher tells us the circumstances behind this. The next day Noah laid a curse upon Ham's son, Canaan. There is obviously more to this story than meets the eye, because otherwise it would seem that Ham should have been the one cursed. Even Jasher tells us that the garments were passed down to Ham's oldest son, Cush, who later passed the garments down to his son, Nimrod.

So why was Canaan cursed? We are not told, but I suspect that he knew what had happened but, when questioned and adjured to speak, he denied all knowledge of the crime. At any rate, whatever the circumstances, we are told plainly that God laid a curse upon Canaan.

²⁵ So he said, "Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants he shall be to his brothers." ²⁶ He also said, "Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem; and let Canaan be his servant. (27) May God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem; and let Canaan be his servant."

This put Canaan on Cursed Time (i.e., 414-year cycles). As I explained more fully in my book, Secrets of Time, the judgment (curse of the law) was spoken in the year 1660, but God gives sinners a grace period to give them time to contemplate their sin and to repent before the sentence is actually carried out.

In this case, God gave Canaan (and the Canaanites) 414 years in which to repent. Their time came due in the year 2074. By studying the 22nd chapter of Jasher, we see that this was the year that the servants of King Abimelech were stealing the wells of Abraham in the land of Canaan. When Abimelech heard of it, he came to apologize to Abraham and to make a covenant with him. This story is recorded in Genesis 21:22-34.

Abimelech was the Philistine king who represented the Canaanites at this time. He apologized for this theft precisely 414 years after Ham had committed theft. This repentance gave the Canaanites another cycle of 414 years. If Abimelech had actually recognized Abraham as the holder of the Birthright (and the true heir of the garments of Adam, which represented the Birthright), he might have brought Canaan out of Cursed Time altogether. Yet his act of making peace with Abraham gave Canaan itself an extension of grace, and judgment did not come at that time.

The second Cursed Time cycle ended in 2488, which was the year that Joshua crossed the Jordan and brought judgment upon the Canaanites. The Canaanites theoretically might have repented and submitted to Joshua (Yeshua), but they decided to fight. Joshua was of the tribe of Ephraim, son of Joseph, the heir of the Birthright (1 Chron. 5:1, 2). He was also a type of Christ.

Now the point of our discussion is to say that when we continue counting another 7 x 414-year cycles from the year 2488, we arrive at the year 5386 from Adam. We know it on our modern calendar as the year 1492 A.D., the year that Columbus arrived. (See chapter 16, Secrets of Time.)

This firmly establishes the parallel between Israel's conquest of Canaan and the modern Israelite (European) conquest of America. The early settlers sensed this, although they knew nothing of these divine time cycles. They also ran into the same problem that the Israelites had in biblical days, for they violated most of the treaties that they made with the Indians.

Recall that Noah's curse upon Canaan was that Canaan was to serve Shem (Gen. 9:25-27). Shem was the builder of Jerusalem (Ieru-Salem, "City of Salem"). He was the King of Salem who ruled under the title of Melchizedek, "King of Righteousness." He was the true Birthright holder, though the garments of Adam had been stolen by his brother, Ham, and passed down to Nimrod, the builder of the great rival city, Babylon.

Hence, Canaan's "curse" was to serve Melchizedek and the true Birthright holders. (Is that really a curse?)

When the Gibeonites made a peace treaty with Joshua, they fulfilled the terms of Noah's curse upon Canaan, for then they began to serve the descendants of Shem (Melchizedek). Under the Old Covenant, they were bondmen, but under the New Covenant, they ought to become bondservants of Jesus Christ (as the Apostle Paul was, Rom. 1:1). Such "bondage" is actually true freedom in Christ, and this "curse" is really a blessing in disguise.

Hence, when Saul, the Pentecostal type, persecuted the Gibeonites in his self-righteous manner, he brought all Israel under judgment (2 Sam. 21:1-2). We read that "Saul had sought to kill them in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah." God did not approve of this at all. The same "zeal" occurred in America, and God has again brought upon us a "famine" of hearing the word.