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him through the prophet Shemaiah that "this thing is Pope. Mary's death signalled a further part of Papal
from Me" (I Kings 12:24). strategy into operation: "God's obvious design" -- the
Spanish Armada.
That which was from God was a commencement of the
"Seven Times" chastisement of God's Israel people be- Philip II of Spain, "the acknowledged leader of a resur-
cause of their disobedience. It was a period that would gent Catholicism bent on destroying the monster of her-
last 2,520 years. By the time Elizabeth I came to the esy, began to devote all his time to destroying England
throne of England in 1558, the great chastisement pe- -- the Kingdom of Heretics." However, all through the
riod had begun to expire. From that time we see the Is- preparations for this assault on the Appointed Isles, a
rael people in the Appointed Isles progressively succession of foreboding events should have signalled
fulfilling the role ordained by God for His servant peo- to its perpetrators that God's blessings were obviously
ple in the world. Now they would expand to become a not with them. The sudden death of the Marquis of
great maritime, martial and missionary people and even- Santa Cruz, the Captain General of the Ocean, was a ter-
tually, a great company of Protestant Christian nations rible blow to Spanish morale. In place of Spain's great-
containing elements of God's true church. est admiral and naval hero, Philip gave the command of
his Invincible Armada to the Duke of Medina Sidonia, a
When that Israelite indeed, Sir Francis Drake, circum- grandee without experience afloat. To give due credit,
navigated the globe (1577-1580) he was, prophetically, he did prove himself to be brave and level-headed, even
heralding Israel-Britain's coming dominion over the in the face of persistent sea sickness.
oceans: the promise of God to His servant people that
they would possess the "gate" of their enemies (Gene- In the belief that the heretics could not win, Philip was
sis 22:17) and the "blessings of the deep" (Genesis confident that God would overrule all human deficien-
49:25). cies to bring about the return of England to the Papal
fold. Yet, when Medina Sidonia held his first review, he
In 1582, Richard Hakluyt, the English geographer found that five thousand of his soldiers were dead, sick
known to historians as the "Apostle of Empire," pub- or had deserted! Then in the Spring of 1587, Drake led a
lished his first book Divers Voyages touching the Dis- devastating raid on Cadiz and the Armada preparations,
covery of America to inspire his fellow countrymen to destroying 65 ships and taking much treasure. The
colonize. He received his vision as a schoolboy when "singeing of the King of Spain's beard" meant that the
he read Psalm 107:23-24: sailing of the Armada was postponed enabling England
to increase her preparations.

They that go down to the sea in ships, that do It is not unusual for the enemies of Israel to claim that
business in great waters; These see the works of the God will fight for them. The participants on the Spanish
Lord, and his wonders in the deep side took the sacrament at mass which they all at-
tended. Gambling, swearing and prostitution were for-
It was the unconditional promise to the seed of Israel bidden. Medina Sidonia himself carried the holy
that they would become a multitude of people in the standard of the fleet from the altar of Lisbon Cathedral.
earth and colonize on a global basis (Genesis 28). As "They were sailing against England in the confident
such, the Divine mandate was that Israel would obey hope of a private miracle which will send some strange
the Purpose of God upon the high seas to dominate and freak of weather or deprive the English of their wits!"
be victorious in His Name and for the extension of His
Kingdom upon earth (Psalm 89:25; Numbers 24:7). After several false starts, the greatest fleet ever assem-
bled sailed from Lisbon on 28th May, 1588. The Royal
The Gentile forces and the great power of paganized Navy of England then consisted of only 36 ships and
Christianity in Roman Catholicism have always sought these were of small size. But nobles, merchants and citi-
to overcome and destroy the destiny of the servant zens came with their money to the Queen and equipped
people and in 1587, an important part of the Papal strat- vessels at their own expense.
egy to regain Britain finally failed with the beheading of
Mary, Queen of the Scots. For 19 years, Elizabeth had At once the ecclesiastical origin of the conflict was for-
shown incredible patience with the woman who was de- gotten. English Roman Catholics united cordially with
termined to usurp her throne, backed as she was by the English Protestants in preparing to defend their shores.

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