Christopher Columbusand the fullfillment of prophey

The Night that Changed the World

“The night of October 11-12 was one big with destiny for

the human race, the most momentous ever

experienced aboard any ship in any sea.”

Samuel Eliot Morrison

The DiscoveryAs the sun sank below the western horizon of the Atlantic Ocean on the evening of October 11, 1492, it left three small wooden ships surrounded by the gathering darkness. The ships were located at latitude of 24 degrees, slightly south of Key West, Florida, and a longitude of about 73 degrees, about 3500 miles west of the Canary Islands. In all of recorded history, there was no known record of any ships sailing so far from land, certainly not in the broad Atlantic.

The DiscoveryThe two smaller ships, the Niña and the Pinta, were captained respectively by Vicente Yáñez Pinzón and Martin Alonso Pinzón, two brothers from Sevilla Spain who were experienced captains. The third and largest of the ships, sometimes known as La Gallega (having been constructed in Galicia) but named the Santa Maria by her devout captain, was under the command of a 45-year old Genoese seaman who used the Spanish version of his name, Cristóbal Colón. In English speaking countries he was – and is – known as Christopher Columbus.

The DiscoveryAs darkness set in, the ships were at full sail in gale force winds, traveling due west at about 9 knots. Their last landfall was 35 days before, as they sailed from San Sebastian in the Canary Islands where they had repaired a damaged rudder on the Niña. The voyage had already become the longest known journey through open ocean.

About 10:00 o’clock in the evening, an hour before moonrise, Columbus was standing on the sterncastle of the Santa Maria, scanning the dark horizon, when he thought he saw a faint light in the distance. Not certain in the darkness if it might be land, he did not inform his crew, but he mentioned it to an aide, Pedro Gutierrez, who thought he saw it too. The little fleet continued to sail due west under full sail.

The DiscoveryAt 2:00 a.m. on October 12, Rodrigo Triana, a 23-year old sailor from Sevilla, was atop the lookout on the Pinta. In the light of the moon, he saw “something like a white sand cliff gleaming in the moonlight on the western horizon, then another, and a dark line of land connecting them.” Recognizing land, he cried out to the deck below, “Tierra! Tierra!”

In that moment the world changed. One era – an era that covered nearly 4 millennia of recorded history – ended, and a new era began. The known world, which had consisted of Europe, Africa, and Asia, expanded to include a New World previously unknown, and the discovery would arguably have a more profound impact on the world than any discovery before or since. In the dim light of the moon on that fateful morning of October 12, 1492, Rodrigo Triana saw not just a slip of land on the horizon, but the dawn of a new age.

The DiscovererSelf-educated GenoeseBy about the age of 30, began to

develop a passion to sail west to the Indies

At age 33 widowed, left with 4-year old son, in debt

Denied by three royal commissions (one Portuguese, two Castilian)

The best scholars of the court concluded that the proposal was unsound, based on errors, and foolishness

The Voyage3 Aug – Sail from

Palos6 Sep – Sail from

San Sebastian

The Voyage3 Aug – Sail from

Palos6 Sep – Sail from

San Sebastian9-10 Oct - Crises

“The inevitable conflict between a man of one great, compelling idea and those who did not share it in anything like the same degree… Their issue with their commander was the eternal one between imagination and doubt, between the spirit that creates and the sprit that denies… There are tides in the affairs of men, and this was one of them.”

- Samuel Eliot Morrison

“And I looked and beheld a man among the Gentiles, who was separated from the seed of my brethren by the many waters; and I beheld the Spirit of God, that it came down and wrought upon the man; and he went forth upon the many waters, even unto the seed of my brethren, who were in the promised land.”

- 1 Nephi 13:12

The Prophecy

“And I looked and beheld a man among the Gentiles, who was separated from the seed of my brethren by the many waters; and I beheld the Spirit of God, that it came down and wrought upon the man; and he went forth upon the many waters, even unto the seed of my brethren, who were in the promised land.”

- 1 Nephi 13:12

The Prophecy

“And I looked and beheld a man among the Gentiles, who was separated from the seed of my brethren by the many waters; and I beheld the Spirit of God, that it came down and wrought upon the man; and he went forth upon the many waters, even unto the seed of my brethren, who were in the promised land.”

- 1 Nephi 13:12

The Prophecy

“All who found out about my project denounced it with laughter and ridiculed me. All the sciences which I mentioned above were of no use to me. Quotations of learned opinions were no help.”

The Testimony of Columbus

“With a hand that could be felt, the Lord opened my mind to the fact that it would be possible to sail from here to the Indies, and he opened my will to desire to accomplish the project. This was the fire that burned within me when I came to visit Your Highnesses.

Who can doubt that this fire was not merely mine, but also of the Holy Spirit who encouraged me …urging me to press forward?”

The Testimony of Columbus

“I prayed to the most merciful Lord concerning my desire, and he gave me the spirit and the intelligence for it. He gave me abundant skill in the mariner’s arts, an adequate understanding of the stars, and of geometry and arithmetic. He gave me the mental capacity and manual skill to draft spherical maps, and to draw the cities, rivers, mountains, islands and ports, all in their proper places.”

The Testimony of Columbus

“The Lord purposed that there should be something clearly miraculous in this matter of the voyage to the Indies…

“I spent seven years here in your royal court discussing this subject with the leading persons in all the learned arts, and their conclusion was that all was in vain. That was the end, and they gave it up.

“But afterwards it all turned out just as our redeemer Jesus Christ had said, and as he had spoken earlier by the mouth of his holy prophets.”

The Testimony of Columbus

“I was not aided by intelligence, by mathematics or by maps. It was simply the fulfillment of what Isaiah had prophesied…

“Much of the prophecies remain to be fulfilled, and I believe that these are great events for the world. I believe that there is evidence that our Lord is hastening these things. This evidence is the fact that the Gospel must now be proclaimed to so many lands in such a short time.”

The Testimony of Columbus

Modern Prophecy“What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my

word shall not pass away, but shall all be  fulfilled, whether by mine own  voice or by the 

voice of my  servants, it is the 

same.”D y C 1:38

“Peter stepped out upon the water, and to the extent that his faith remained firm, he walked upon it. Whoever finds so much faith as a grain of mustard seed will be obeyed by the mountains. Knock and it must be opened unto you.

“No one should be afraid to undertake any project in the name of our Savior, if it is a just cause.”

The Testimony of Columbus