Does A Great Finger (Lake Erie) Point At Rochester, NY?

 A Portion of Rochester, New York As Seen From Above

Geo Prophecy is a manufactured term made to suggest that there seems to be a possibility that certain geographic features, viewed from far above, such as we can in our modern day and age, have a shape that seems to be almost prophetic concerning the area they exist in, or in other cases, concerning the area that they 'point' at.  I certainly admit it is speculative, yet once you pursue the idea and investigate the indicated regions, time and again the regions seem to have a uniquely Christian or Jewish historical importance.   

Certainly, God foresaw all of human history.  Certainly, God and Jesus were together as the Father created all things through the Son.  So, it is a possibility that this is a real thing, that God built the geography of the planet, in certain areas, to point out the coming history and or movements of His people and those who would follow Jesus, His Son.  But it is a possibility that it is human imagination that there is something there to see....my imagination, unfortunately, if this is the case.  So, use your judgement, don't teach this as fact, but yet...there are some very interesting correlations taken all together.

This account is about a 'pointing finger'.  I have come to believe that when you find a geographical feature that looks quite a lot like a pointing finger, then you will quite often find something very significant to the people of God that sits pretty directly in the path of these pointing fingers.  Consider how Lake Erie in the north USA and southern Canada looks like an inverted pointing index finger to a degree.  At least to me it did.  So, I looked in the direction it 'pointed', and it seemed that Rochester, NY seemed a likely candidate.  That didn't seem right.  I knew of no reason to associate Rochester, NY with anything concerning the people of God.  But I also didn't know so much about Rochester, NY, so I looked into it a little.  Surprise! 

  Does Lake Erie look a little like an inverted index finger pointing, perhaps at Rochester, New York?

  I found out that among Rochester's early European inhabitants - founders, really - were a good-sized group of Puritans.  Puritans (called Pilgrims by others) had come over to the New World on the Mayflower at an earlier time.  And some had later made their way to Rochester.  Puritans were a group of English, belonging to the Church of England originally, who pressed hard in England for a 'purifying' of the way the mandatory state religion, named the Church of England, directed people to worship.  They wanted it all to be in full compliance with the teachings of the Bible and whatever worship customs or teachings didn't conform to those teachings they wanted to have eliminated. 

  Puritans were Christian zealots if you wish, or purists.  I think it a good thing, but in England they were not much appreciated.  Many chose to move to America in the 1600's and form Godly societies patterned after Biblical teachings.  The family was the basic unit.  Children were taught familiarity with the Lord's word every day.  It was believed a great defense against the wiles of Satan to know the teachings of God well.  A sensible and self-evident belief!  On Sunday the families would unite to worship together at church.  The laws of their communities were based on Godly teachings.  The unconverted could not vote in most cases.  This is a snapshot of the intended pattern of a Puritan community.  And early Rochester New York held many Puritans.  It was a town based very much upon Christian teachings in its early days, and for about a century the Puritans were a major component of the population.  

  But what did so Christian a culture also produce, this culture so rooted in the idea of freedom beneath the rules of God and Jesus?  In US history a principal early scourge of our society was slavery, the forcible bondage of one group of men beneath the yoke of another group of men.  This was opposed by some as time wore on, and the principal opponents of slavery came to be known as Abolitionists, for their belief that slavery must be abolished, that it was wrong, evil, not Christian! Some of the principal names associated with this were Frederick Douglas, and Susan B. Anthony who sometimes worked with Harriet Tubman in her lifetime.  Frederick and Susan both lived in Rochester New York during portions of their lives and knew each other well.  Frederick sometimes dwelt on the property of Susan's Father during her younger years.  And Susan B. Anthony worked extensively on women's rights as well during her life, becoming even more famous for her efforts to obtain women's suffrage (voting rights) than for her work in Abolition. 

Frederick Douglass :  Celebrated Abolitionist & Former Slave.  Susan B. Anthony:  Abolitionist & Suffragist.

  So, does a finger of God point at a great and important resting place for his people, those seeking to dwell according to His word?  Does it point at a dwelling place for some of American history's greatest Freedom Fighters, such as Anthony and Douglass?

  What if there is even more that happened in Rochester?  It turns out that there is.  One of the greatest religious revivals in American history experienced its most intense flowering there, and from there it spread to affect many other places, partly through the work of many Rochester area converts and strengthened believers.  Occurring in 1830, a great preacher named Charles Finney held a six-month revival in the Rochester area, bringing many of its principal citizens to either convert to Christianity, or else strengthen their convictions and deepen their faith and more fully live it out on a daily basis.  It is considered an important part of what is called the Second Great Awakening, a revival in Christian faith that began around 1790 A.D. and lasted past the 1850's.  And Finney also preached against slavery at this time, long before the American Civil War, and he endorsed greater women's roles in society and church.  He called for equal education opportunities for both women and African Americans.  It was a mighty work of God, this Second Great Awakening, and Finney, in the 1830's in the Rochester area, was perhaps as bright a star as any person involved. 

  Charles Finney, traveling evangelist, famous and moving preacher!

  Many social reforms sprang from this movement, and many new Christian churches were established throughout New York State during this time. It was a huge development in the kingdom of God, or so we might conjecture, because it had weighty effects here among us on this Earth. 

  So, while Lake Erie may or may not have been formed by our Maker to look something like a giant inverted pointing finger directed generally at the region of Rochester, it can at least be said that residents of Rochester appear to have had especially great involvement and surprisingly outsized effects among the American followers of Jesus, who are among those privileged to call themselves servants and children of God.  And the Rochester, New York area produced or hosted a great many persons who turned out to be pivotal in the history of the United States and beyond.   After all, the Second Great Awakening profoundly effected a number of nations during the years when it expanded and spread. 

  I hadn't realized Rochester's importance in United States and world history, but in the course of investigating what yet another 'finger' might be pointing at, I discovered yet another surprisingly important Christian location.  So who can say...maybe God does place 'fingers' to point out locations for various important Christian events He fore saw?