Plucking the Eagle's Wings

Plucking the Eagle's Wings

true God of the Bible. Many of these men died at the hands of the natives they hoped to convert. Fifteen hundred years earlier, Jesus said, "Verily, verily I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit" (John 12:24). I believe these men and others who followed in their footsteps were the "corns of wheat" or "seeds" that God used to sow His new vineyard. Columbus discovered the site for the new house, and the martyred missionaries built the foundation. Many would follow to build the house itself, and open the door for millions to enter into freedom and safety. The Naming of America For several years after Columbus' discovery, no one realized that a new continent had been discovered. Columbus sailed along the South American shore, never realizing the vastness of this land. In 1499, Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian who helped outfit Columbus' voyages, began making journeys across the Atlantic. Vespucci made a total of three journeys. The first of these followed the coast of what is now Venezuela, while the second and third voyages took him to the coastline of Brazil. It was on one of those journeys that Vespucci penned the words, "These regions, we may rightly call Mundus Novus, a new world, because our ancestors had no knowledge of them ... I have found a continent more densely peopled and abounding in animals than our Europe or Asia or Africa." Even though he never formally commanded an expedition, Vespucci was credited as being the first to recognize that Columbus' discovery was actually another land, previously unknown. At this time, a German mapmaker named Waldseemuller was about to publish a new map of the world. Having read Vespucci's letters, he decided that since Amerigo Vespucci had discovered a fourth part of the world, it should be called America, after him, since Europe and Asia got their names from women. In 1507, the name America appeared on a map for the first time. Soon after, the idea of calling the New World America spread. The name Amerigo in Italian means rich in wheat. English Colonization

"And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left ... from the islands of the sea. And

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