WESTWARD--HO
BY BOB VERMAAT
"Westward-Ho" was a cry that resounded many a time at the
starting point to independ ence for Missouri, during the push of
the westward bound human tide of pioneers on their trek across
the plains and mountains to the new lands that lay on the western
shore of the North American continent.
It was a trip which would last up to four months and fraught with
danger every step of the way. It was a time of hardship and
perils that only the strongest of will were able to endure. All
this took place during the middle and latter part of the 19th
Century AD. It was, in fact, the last of a westward movement that
started way back down History-Lane.
Way back in Gen. 1:26 God mandated that man should have dominion
over all the earth. This was even before man was created. "And
God said let us make man in our own image, after our likeness;
and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the
fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth."
And also in Psa. 8:4-6 we find that man was to take dominion and
subdue all of God's creation upon this earth. "What is man, that
thou art mindful of him? For thou hast made him a little lower
than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor. Thou
madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou
hast put all things under his feet." These words of the Psalmist
are echoed basically word for word in Heb. 2:6-8. By these
passages we can see that God meant us, His people, to take
possession of and occupy the land, and thus you can see that
those hardy pioneers of the eighteen hundreds, were not merrily
following a dream for a better life, they were in fact, all be it
unknown to most of them, following the mandate of God. The one
fact that stands out in this people movement is that they went
willingly to establish a foothold in a new and largely unsettled
land until they were stopped by the vast waters of the great
Pacific Ocean, where the westward push finally came to an end.
Like I said, they went willingly, but it was not always so, for
if we look to the Scriptures we find that often times the people
needed to be pushed by acts of God to get them on the move. The
first example of this we find in the eleventh chapter of Genesis,
where we read the story about what happened at Babel. Here we
find that the people of that early time all seemed to live
together in one concentrated area until God in His wisdom
scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth. (Gen.
11:8). Then we can read the story as to how Moses on the command
of God brought the peoples of Israel out of the land of Egypt to
go to a land promised to their fathers. But it soon became
apparent when they had to face some of the hardships that they
encountered in the Sinai desert that they were really not willing
to go, but would rather return to their flesh-pots in Egypt and
continue to be slaves. You can read this story in Ex. 16:2,3.
This took place approximately 1450-1430 years before Christ. The
next time we find where God had to give the people an extra push
is about seven hundred years later, around 721 BC, when He, God,
sent the Assyrians to forcibly remove the Israel people from
their land, and send them on their way to the new lands waiting
for them, as per prophecy found in 2 Sam. 7:10.
It seems that in the old days the people were content to dwell
wherever they abode with out the need to move and expand and
explore, save for a few, such as the Danites and possibly some
Zebulonites, who early on already explored the sea lands and some
of the interior regions bordering the Mediterranean Sea. The
Zerah branch of the tribe of Judah is also believed to have left
for a new land even before the exodus from Egypt and to have gone
to settle in what today is known as Northern Ireland. But like I
said earlier, most of the rest seem to have been content with the
status-quo and had no need or desire to move or explore. So it
was not until after the Assyrians had deported the Israelites to
the land of the Medes (2 Kings 17:6) that we see a spirit of
migration and movement take hold.
According to 2 Edras 13:39-42, the Israelites decided to leave
the land that they had been deported to and go to a land where
yet no man dwelt and where they, the Israelites, became known to
secular history as Scythians. They later broke up into the
different tribes and peoples that moved across central Europe and
at last settled in north-west Europe and the British Isles and
there, except for some minor movements such as the Vikings and
the Norsemen, they stayed until in the seventeenth and eighteenth
century the spirit of colonization took hold in, especially, the
seafaring nations such as Spain, England, Holland and France. We
all know the story; Spain went to Central and South America to
plunder and to rape the land. England established a foothold in
the East Indies for the riches that were to be found there. The
Dutch did the same in Indonesia. Vast fortunes were amassed by
those involved in these enterprises, but no thought was made for
permanent settlement during this time. That did not occur until
well into the Reformation period, when folks came across the sea
with a Bible, a bag of seed and a desire to start a new life on
these western shores. Even at that time the people needed
somewhat of a Divine push, for if it had not been for the fact
that the Pilgrims and the Puritans were being suppressed in their
belief, they would probably never have left the shores of old
England and Holland. But when they came they made a Covenant with
God in the New World and God blessed their endeavor to such an
extent that in a little over two hundred years, the pioneers,
whom by and large were a God fearing Christian people, covered
this great North American continent from east to west, from sea
to shining sea.
(That is a very uneducated statement if you are reading all that
is on this section of this website. Many of those who came to the
New world were violent people, who plundered and raped the land,
stole and enacted laws that drove out the Indian population. You
need to read the studies called "What is America" in this section
and get the real truth of the matter, as to what European people
did to the USA and South America. The British in Canada did
somewhat better in dealing with the native population, but even
they ignored or broke many treaties with the Indians. Even until
now the First Nation Peoples [as they like to be known as in
Canada] are fighting in the courts to have the treaties honored
that were drawnup hundreds of years ago. Yes God was fulfilling
prophecy towards Joseph Israel, but He never wanted them to gain
the lands in ways that were and are shameful to contemplate -
Keith Hunt)
And so we have completed the mandate that God placed before us
some six thousand years ago. There is no farther that we can go,
for to go any farther west will return us to the east from whence
we came. So then where do we go from here, and what must we do?
The Lord said "Occupy till I come". We do not know when the Lord
will return, but return He will. So we must keep our lamps
trimmed so that when He comes we may be ready to receive Him as
Lord of Lords and King of Kings!
In the meanwhile we must do our utmost to advance the glorious
Gospel of God's Kingdom here on earth, by whatever means the Lord
has made available to us. Let's not be like the five foolish
virgins, but let us be like the five wise ones. For the Lord is
coming soon, for so He promised.
Even so come Lord Jesus, come quickly!
...........
From the July 2011 "Thy Kingdom Come" - a publication of The
Association of the Covenant People, Burnaby, Canada.
And what our Israel nations should be also doing before the Lord
returns is doing the right and honorable thing in honoring the
treaties made by those before us towards the First Nation
Peoples.
Keith Hunt
