Pope Nicholas V issued the Papal Bull Dum Diversas on 18 June, 1452. It authorised Alfonso V of Portugal to reduce any “Saracens (Muslims) and pagans and any other unbelievers” to perpetual slavery. This facilitated the Portuguese slave trade from West Africa.
The same pope wrote the bull Romanus Pontifex on January 5, 1455 to the same Alfonso. As a follow-up to the Dum diversas, it extended to the Catholic nations of Europe dominion over discovered lands during the Age of Discovery. Along with sanctifying the seizure of non-Christian lands, it encouraged the enslavement of native, non-Christian peoples in Africa and the New World.
In his book, Capitalism & Slavery, Eric Williams writes, “Portugal, which had initiated the movement of international expansion, claimed the new territories on the ground that they fell within the scope of a papal bull of 1455 authorizing her to servitude all infidel peoples. The two Powers (Portugal and Spain), to avoid controversy, sought arbitration and, as Catholics, turned to the Pope – a natural and logical step in an age when the universal claims of the Papacy were still unchallenged by individual governments.
After carefully sifting the rival claims, the Pope issued in 1493 a series of papal bulls which established a line of demarcation between the two states: the East went to Portugal and the West to Spain… England, France, and even Holland, began to challenge the Iberian Axis and claim their place in the sun. The Negro, too, was to have his place, though he did not ask for it: it was the broiling sun of the sugar, tobacco and cotton plantations of the new world.”
Pan-African Scholars discuss the role of the Catholic Church in the slave-trade:
It is important to understand that the majority of the men, women, and children that were sold to the Europeans during the trans-atlantic slave trade were the Biblical Israelites / Hebrews/ Jews.
Thus, the largest and most devastating coerced migration of all time fulfilled the the following biblical prophecy:
Deuteronomy 28:68
King James Version (KJV)
68 And the Lord shall bring thee into Egypt again with SHIPS, by the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy (redeem) you.
One may not understand why the God of Israel told the Israelites that they would be taken into Egypt again. It is simply because Egypt was the first place where the Israelites were in captivity. They were oppressed by the Egyptians for four hundred years according to the bible and history. Egypt simply represented bondage.
Hence:
Exodus 13:3
King James Version (KJV)
3 And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the Lord brought you out from this place
Exodus 1:11
King James Version (KJV)
11 Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they BUILT for Pharaoh TREASURE CITIES, Pithom and Raamses.
We must understand that black people are the only one’s that fit the historic conditions and curses of captivity, displacement, and oppression in time and space (Deuteronomy 28, Leviticus 26). This means that the true, biblical Israelites are a black people. Furthermore, this is why today people think that Africans sold their “own” people into slavery during the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. However, that is not biblically accurate.
Genesis 10 breaks down the “table of nations” and from this we understand, that Africans (Hamites) sold another nation, the black Israelites (Semites) into the hands of another nation, the Europeans (Japhetites). But since these black Israelites lost their identity and fled into Africa after 70 AD (discussed below), they were and still are categorized as “African”. This is no surprise, because people often say that “all black people look alike”.
This is true, because Israelites, like Joseph, Moses, and the apostle Paul got mistaken for Egyptians in the Old and New Testaments (e.g. Exodus 2:17-20, Acts 21:37-39). Once in Africa, the Israelites, with no homeland, were relegated to the lower echelons of African society and were more susceptible to being sold to the Europeans for guns, weapons, and other goods. Black people (Africans) selling other black people (Israelites) into slavery should not be a surprise, as it is no different to when the Egyptians enslaved the Israelites in times of old.
Thus, history has repeated itself! It was indeed the free labor and bitter bondage of the Israelites which made Egypt a super power as seen above. It is likely, that these Israelite slaves are the one’s that built the pyramids! The Lord said the Israelites would go into Egypt AGAIN “by way of ships” to be sold as “bondmen and bondwomen”.
So it should be to no surprise that the captives brought to these lands made the Americas a super power based on free labor and bitter bondage! These incredible prophetic events are a witness to us, that the God of the bible is the only true and living God, as he has told the end of all major world events, before the transpired (Isaiah 46:8-10).
We see that in the 1st century AD, Jesus – God manifested in the flesh (Philippians 2)- also foretold the captivity and dispersion of the biblical Jews, which would fulfill the (2500+ year old) prophecy, recorded in Deuteronomy 28, Leviticus 26 and Jeremiah 13:
Luke 21:24
King James Version (KJV)
24 And they (Jews) shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be LED AWAY CAPTIVE into ALL NATIONS: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
If you read Luke 21 in its entirety, you will see that “they” are referring to the three tribes (Judah, Benjamin, and Levi) known as Judah or Jews. According to Genesis 10, the Gentiles comprise of the offspring of Japheth, and today are know as “Europeans”. Jerusalem was “trodden down by the Gentiles” In 70 A.d. by the Roman emperor Titus and his campaign, when he besieged the city. This is a well known documented fact.
These Gentiles, by way of the Balfour Declaration and United Nations, occupy Israel and are currently ruling the world as God has foretold (e.g. Daniel 7).
The Israelites, that were “led away captive” were the same ones that were shipped “into all nations” as prophesied in Deuteronomy 28:68. In the New World, they are known as “African-Americans.” Dr. Rudolph Windsor, scholar of African and Hebrew history, explains how these Israelites ended up in Africa before their coerced migration to the New World and abroad.
In his book From Babylon to Timbuktu, he writes:
‘In the year 65B.C. the Roman armies under General Pompey captured Jerusalem. In 70 A.D. General Vespasian and his son, Titus put an end to the Jewish state, with great slaughter. During the period of the military governors of Palestine, many outrages and atrocities were committed against the residue of the people. During the period of Pompey to Julius, it has been estimated that over 1,000,000 Jews (Israelites) fled into Africa, fleeing from Roman persecution and slavery. The slave markets were full of black Jewish slaves.’Millions of Israelites who escaped the persecution of the Roman-Jewish War fled into the interiors of Africa.
“Pressed under sweeping regional conflicts, Jews settled as traders and warriors in Yemen, the Horn of Africa, Egypt, the kingdom of Kush and Nubia, North African Punic settlements (Carthage and Velubilis), and areas now covered by Mauritania. More migrants followed these early Jewish settlers to Northern Africa…”
Rudolph Windsor in his book From Babylon to Timbuktu, p. 120, goes on to say :
“The black Jews who migrated to the Sudan from the North converged with the Jews migrating from the eastern Sudan to the countries of the Niger River…There is much proof, and still much more to be revealed by scholars, that there existed prior to the slave trade and subsequent to it many tribes, colonies, and kingdoms in West Africa’.
Taken from Rudolph Windsor’s book, “Judea Trembles Under Rome”
Approximately 1600 years later, the Israelites that were scattered into Africa were rounded up and captured by African and the Arabs slave traders and eventually sold to the Europeans to be shipped, objectified, and oppressed. These events fulfilled the curses that were written in Deuteronomy the 28th chapter!
The Europeans that are responsible for scattering the majority of the biblical Jews into the four corners of the earth are the Gentiles. Their rulership was prophesied of in Daniel 7. However, this rulership will come to an end at the second coming of the Lord. It is only once the Lord RETURNS, will he regather the children of Israel from the present bondage that they are in, all over the world:
The prophets of God and Jesus himself have told us about this regathering and relief of oppression for the scattered Israelites:
Joel 3:1-3,6-7,15-17
King James Version (KJV)
1 For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again (return/remove) the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat (Armageddon), and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
3 And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.
6 The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border.
7 Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompence upon your own head:
16 The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.
15 The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.
17 So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.
Jesus told us about the same thing:
Matthew 24:29-31
King James Version (KJV)
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his ELECT from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Who are the Lords’s ELECT?
Isaiah 45:4
King James Version (KJV)
4 For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine ELECT, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.
These Israelites are still scattered in the four corners of the earth and will remain dispersed until the Lord returns to regather them. These Israelites, scattered in the four corners of the earth, are now currently experiencing the worst forms of socioeconomic oppression in all their lands of captivity in fulfillment of prophecy.
They are also an astonishment to the other nations around them, and will continue to be oppressed and confined to the bottom rung of society until they return to their true identity and worship of their God. This is why it is important for the Israelites to know their history and understand that God is the one that orchestrated their enslavement because they broke the “everlasting covenant” (Deuteronomy 28). Ultimately, God is in control of their captivity, and we must understand that God allowed the pope to authorize their enslavement.
Therefore, no one, especially Israelites should “hate” or blame the “white man”, for their oppression, because the wicked will get their just reward.
Rather Israelites (and all who desire eternal life), need to find out about their history and realize why God allowed this to happen, and turn back to the true and living God, who has called the end from the beginning, by keeping his commandments through faith.
* Bibliographic Reference: This English translation of Romanus Pontifex is a reproduction of its publication in European Treaties bearing on the History of the United Statesand its Dependencies to 1648, Frances Gardiner Davenport, editor, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1917, Washington, D.C., at pp. 20-26. The original text in Latin is in the same volume, at pp. 13-20.
Joshua Lette
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