The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy Britain and the United States Inherit Josephs Birthright American nationhood blossoms The wars between France and England that culminated with the British victory over Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815 had an indirect influence on Americas rise to greatness. Napoleons need for ready cash to pay for the costs of impending war with England led him to sell Frances vast American territories to the United States as the Louisiana Purchase. The acquisition of the Louisiana territory in 1803 gave the American republic instant world-power status. The young country bought 828,000 square miles of the most fertile farmland in the world—the American Midwest—for less than 3 cents per acre! Overnight the size of the United States doubled, immeasurably strengthening the nation materially and strategically. After that 1803 transaction the country expanded across the continent in less than a generation, adding huge swaths of territory with vast natural resources. In 1867 the United States added almost 600,000 more square miles when it purchased Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million—about 2 cents per acre. Although no one realized it at the time, these great untapped blessings would allow Americas citizens to lead the world in per-capita wealth in the next century. Though detractors openly ridiculed the purchase of Alaska at the time, income from its resources—timber, minerals, oil and the like—today amounts to tens of billions of dollars each year. A commonwealth of nations The other fulfillment of Jacobs prediction—that Ephraim would become a multitude of nations (Genesis:48:19)—also slowly but quickly picked up steam. It began as a result of Britains victory over France in 1815. By the end of the Napoleonic Wars the Royal Navy ruled the oceans. The British economy, stimulated by this conflict, emerged with unparalleled economic supremacy. The French bid for world hegemony—more or less continual since the days of Louis XIV (1643-1715) and the opening rounds of the Second Hundred Years War—had decisively failed. Britain found herself free and in possession of the necessary political, economic and military power to build an empire that soon extended around the world. As modern Manasseh (the United States) began to build a nation that would soon extend from sea to shining sea, Ephraim (Britain) fell heir to lands around the world. The British built an empire on which the sun never set. Its imperial structure was almost infinite in its diversity, comprised as it was of people from virtually every ethnic group and governed by means as centralized as the raj (British rule) in India or the British agent-generals office in Egypt or as independent as the dominion status granted to Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. From a physical point of view, much of the Anglo-American dominance during the past two centuries came from the blessing of favorable geography and climate and the seemingly endless supply of natural resources accumulated during this time. British territories were concentrated in the most productive regions of the temperate zone. An abundant and dependable food supply enabled them to support steady population growth from the 18th through much of the 20th centuries. Certainly the modern descendants of Joseph have been a fruitful bough (Genesis:49:22-25; see also Leviticus:26:9; Deuteronomy:6:3; 7:13-14; 28:4-5). The British and American peoples inherited a treasure trove of natural resources. What the British lacked within their own isles, they drew from an empire encircling the globe. Americans found everything necessary for national economic greatness—vast expanses of fertile soil; seemingly endless forests; gold, silver and other precious metals waiting to be mined; and massive iron ore, coal, petroleum and other mineral deposits—within the confines of the continental United States and even more in Alaska. Both peoples possessed the best things of the ancient mountains—the precious things of the everlasting hills and the precious things of the earth and its fullness within the territories they exclusively controlled (Deuteronomy:8:9; 28:1, 6, 8, 13; 33:13-17). To be continued...
Posted on: Sun, 03 Aug 2014 11:41:45 +0000
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