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A Prophetic History of the United States: 1860--Part 1

In order to understand the prophetic significance of the year 1860, one must again go back to the ancient history of Israel, because U.S. history is inextricably bound to that of old Israel (as distinct from Jewish history per se).

In my book, Secrets of Time, I explained the meanings of Blessed Time (490), Cursed Time (414), and Judged Time (434). Blessed Time is for the obedient; Cursed Time is for the disobedient; and Judged Time is for the "late obedient."

Judged Time is relatively rare, but a good example of it is found in the story of King Saul and the Amalekites. Amalek was an Edomite tribe, since he was the grandson of Esau (Gen. 36:12). The people of Amalek had attacked Israel as they left Egypt, and after the battle, God put a curse upon Amalek (Ex. 17:14-16). This put Amalek on Cursed Time, which means that their judgment was to occur 414 years later. By the time 414 years had passed, King Saul was king in Israel. In fact, it was the 18th year of Saul. Thus, in 1 Samuel 15:2, 3 the prophet Samuel told Saul,

"Thus says the Lord of hosts, I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he set himself against him on the way while he was coming up from Egypt. Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has. . ."

In the story, Saul did a partial job, but spared King Agag, the Amalekite, who (as king) represented the heart of the problem of Amalek. Thus, by sparing him, Saul took upon himself the curse of Amalek and, I believe, would have died soon thereafter. But then Samuel took a sword and executed King Agag on behalf of Saul. This act took Saul out of Cursed Time and put him on Judged Time for "late obedience." Thus Saul was given another 20 years of life and died 434 years after Israel as a nation had refused to enter the land in the year 2450 from Adam. It is complex, but King Saul was representing Israel which itself had been involved in "late obedience" by refusing to enter Canaan at the appointed time. Thus, Saul led the armies of Israel into battle, and they were all judged with great loss of life.

This story is told more fully in Chapter 6 of Secrets of Time. I explain it here to give you a good example of how Judged Time works in prophecy. In the year 1860 A.D. the United States once again came to the end of a Judged Time cycle, and this is the real underlying cause of the Civil War from the long-term divine perspective.

In a nutshell, the Civil War was caused by late obedience. The American colonies should have resolved the slavery issue at the time they drew up the Constitution. However, they postponed the slavery issue, because South Carolina and Georgia refused to ratify it unless it protected their "right" to hold slaves. However, we should also take note that in Georgia, slavery had been outlawed until 1752, when it became a Royal Colony, and even by 1776 there were many Georgians who disavowed slavery.

It would be helpful for you to read or re-read my web logs dated Dec. 31, 2005 ("Leviticus v. Leviathan") and Jan. 11, 2006 ("Abortion and Slavery"), because these web logs were designed to lay the foundations for this present study. The great issue at the time of the early American colonies was whether or not certain men were privileged to rule over the "common" people. The right of kings and popes had long been established and assumed to be true. But the Protestant Reformation had sparked an entirely new look at the Bible, and this led to an entirely new theory of government based upon the concept of "equality."

Prior to 1776 the people focused primarily on the equality of the people as opposed to the privileged classes of the monarchy, aristocracy, and religious hierarchy. Yet there was also the growing concern about the black and Indian slaves, particularly among the Puritans in New England, who were the first to legislate against slavery of all forms.

By way of contrast, the Virginia Colony adopted slavery, though gradually. Their loyalty to the Stuart kings of England in the 1600's (who were Catholic at heart, if not in name) added to their acceptance of the philosophy of slavery (as did the Catholic Church itself). Thus, as Wayne Holstad points out in his book, Leviticus v. Leviathan, p. 95, "New England was fiercely fundamentalist and democratic. The South was traditional and aristocratic." Thus, it was inevitable that these two religious cultures would eventually clash over the application of "equality."

Thus, the Declaration of Independence (though admittedly vague on this subject) states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights." Though it does not enter the racial debate, it does set forth the root of Puritan-Reformation philosophy. Because the Declaration is vague as it was adopted on July 4, 1776, few realize that the issue of slavery had indeed been discussed and debated among the delegates. Wayne Holstad points out on page 97,

"In the first draft of the declaration, among the list of claims against King George, Jefferson had written:

" 'He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into slavery into another hemisphere.'

"Southern delegates to the Continental Congress demanded that this statement be deleted from the Declaration."

According to General John A. Logan's 1885 book, The Great Conspiracy, which is one of the great books showing the background and progression of the American Civil War, there was more that was deleted from the Declaration of Independence. He makes the point that the writers of the Declaration defined "men" (as in "all men are created equal") as being irrespective of race (p. 3):

"Determined to keep open a market where MEN should be bought and sold, he [King George] has prostituted his native for suppressing every Legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce [as per Georgia]."

After the Revolutionary War ended, Virginia ceded her claim to the western territory in 1784, recognizing them to be future United States territories, rather than simply a greater State of Virginia.  Logan also points out that the 1784 agreement stated. . .

". . . that 'after the year 1800 of the Christian era, there shall be neither Slavery nor involuntary servitude in any of the said States'--and that those fundamental conditions  were 'unalterable but by the joint consent of the United States in Congress assembled, and of the particular State within which such alteration is proposed to be made'.

Logan then explains how "a signal misfortune befell." Six States voted to for this resolution to ban slavery in all new territories and new States that would yet join the Union. Three states voted against it. North Carolina's two delegates split their votes. The delegate from New Jersey voted to retain it, but his vote was lost, because the rules required two delegates from each State, and one of them was absent. Thus, there were not enough votes to pass the resolution. Logan then concludes: "Thus was lost the great opportunity of restricting Slavery to the then existing Slave States, and of settling the question peaceably for all time" (p. 4).

The Ordinance of 1787, which dealt with the Northwest Territories (Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin), outlawed slavery there, but unfortunately, it did not legally apply to any new Southern territories.

"Thus it was, that instead of an immediate interdiction of the African Slave Trade, Congress was empowered to prohibit it after the lapse of twenty years" (p. 5).

To be continued.