Unless you are a direct descendant of the indigenous, native Americans, your ancestors must have come from another part of the world. Have you ever stopped to wonder why you are here today?

The Lord knew you would be here today, and surely He has had His hand on your life ever since you were born. But let’s look for a moment back in time on just a few ways that He protected you, as His predestinated child, so that you might be here, reading this issue of Lifeline today.

In the 1300’s the pandemic known as the Black Plague is believed to have started in China, moved on to India, Egypt, and all of Asia Minor, killing 25 million people before it ever reached Europe.

By October of 1347, the plague had reached Italy, sweeping up into Europe and reaching England in the summer of 1348. Millions of people died. It was common for cities such as Paris to lose 800 people to this plague in a single day! Before it was over, Europe lost 40-60% of their population. It is estimated that the population of the world dropped by 100 million people during the plague.

But God looked down upon the people of Europe and He protected certain people—your ancestors! Yes, if you have come from European stock—Scotch, Irish, English, German, Scandinavian, Baltic, Mediterranean, Russian, etc.—you certainly descended from the survivors of the Black Plague.

Just think! Over six centuries ago, the Lord wanted you to be here today, and He protected your ancestors from that plague, so that you could be hearing and believing this Message today.

Now that you are here, have you ever wondered how you got here and why? The Spanish first settled in San Augustine FL in 1565, and in 1620 the Pilgrims arrived in Plymouth MA. The largest immigration of European people, however, occurred mostly from 1840 until 1900, and the largest group came from Germany—hard working people who homesteaded in the plains or settled in California and Texas.

Why did these people leave Europe? Crop failures, lack of available land, various inheritance practices, class distinctions, religious persecution, unstable politics, mandatory military service, and economic hardships all played a part in creating a desire to leave the “old country.” But, in addition, the idea to making a fresh start in the new world was propagated by newspaper writers and steamship lines.

Many times, a member of the family that had already immigrated to America would buy the ticket for his brother to come, which would be repaid by a year’s work on his farm in the new world. Of course, we know that the Lord had you in His plan before they set foot on the first ship.

The potato blight which destroyed the staple of the Irish diet produced the famine that drove hundreds of thousands of peasants from their cottages and forced to emigrate—most often to the U.S. and Canada.

This famine may well have brought about the greatest blessing of our lives outside of Salvation, for this may have been why the Branham and the Harvey families left Dublin, Ireland.

We know that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, and that is why God’s prophet had to come to this nation to bring this Message to the Bride of Christ.

What if you happened to be Hispanic? What is the background of the Mexican people? According to most authorities, 75% of the people of Mexico as well as most of Central and South America are considered to be Mezitos, ethnically a combination of Spanish and the indigenous Amerindians. Probably 17% of the people are European Spanish, and only 12% is purely Amerindian, comprising 62 indigenous groups in Mexico, each with a unique language.

Of course, your Spanish ancestors brought the Catholic religion with them, but they also brought something else. Since they did not arrive in Mexico until the 1500’s, like all other Europeans, they also had to be survivors of the Black Plague that killed so many other Spaniards.

What about the African-Americans whose ancestors did not come willingly, but were taken captive and brought as slaves to the new world. Some eight to eleven million are believed to have been brought to the United States.

The fact that most black Americans descended from slaves taken from the west coast of Africa is no surprise. Some people may not know, however, that many of these Africans were taken as captives of war by other tribes and sold to slave traders, often by their own people.

As far back as the 7th century, Muslim Arabs would also capture African people, and transport them from East Africa to Arabia and India. Many of these slaves were thus converted to the Muslim religion.

The Portuguese entered the slave trade in the 15th century, providing slaves to Europe as well as the Islamic Empire. Soon thereafter African slaves were brought to the New World, 90% of which ended up in Caribbean sugar colonies or in Brazil. History shows black slaves arriving in Virginia by 1619.

Christian missionaries began to take the Gospel to Africa in the 1800’s, but African traditional religions, including ancestral worship and Sangomas or witch doctors, still exist there today, just as they did when Brother Branham visited the African continent in 1951.

The customs and religions of their homeland were seldom passed on to the next generation of slaves in America. The austere rites of the formal protestant churches did not appeal to the slaves, but they readily accepted the practices and teachings of the evangelical movement of Baptists and Methodists in the south. In fact, it was the son of former slaves who is generally credited with being the preacher God used to bring the Pentecostal blessing to the Azusa Street Mission in Los Angeles in 1906, which ushered in the Laodicean Church age.

Yes, God’s chosen have come from the east, the west, the north and the south. As this Lifeline was being written, we thought it would be interesting to find out where each of our employees here at Voice Of God Recordings was born. So we began asking them. We found out that they were born from one side of this North American continent to the other, having been born in Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Saskatchewan, Texas, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

From eighteen states or provinces the Lord has brought these brothers and sisters, that they might have a part in this, the greatest work in the world today. Each of them was selected by God and brought to this area by His leading them or their parents, that they might play a role that He had planned for them.

There was a very special reason, my precious brother or sister, that you or your ancestors also arrived in North America, or wherever you find yourself today. You had to be at the right place at the right time, to hear and believe this Message.

Just think of how the Lord has brought you down the long path from when your ancestor, who believed what God had told him, walked out of the ark that brought him safely through the great flood. Yes, we all descended from Noah, who believed God’s Word.

Yes, we all also descended from people who so many times went astray from the Word of the Lord. But our merciful God knew before time began that you would be His child today.

Remember the time you were in a serious accident that almost took your life? Was it not His merciful Hand that protected you? What about an illness that might have caused your death? Was it not His healing Hand that brought you through? Time and time again, in both great and small incidents, we can see the Hand of the Lord keeping His precious child safe.