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WHY GOD SANK THE "INVINCIBLE" ARMADA “Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind.” (Psa. 48:7) Sometimes the Lord uses the military might of one nation to defeat another. Then sometimes He uses His own “military” as well. A splendid example is the defeat of the Spanish Armada in the year 1588. King Phillip II of Spain had big plans to convert Europe back to Roman Catholic idolatry, so he decided to sail his “Invincible Armada” up through the English Channel and whip up on England, thus paving the way for Spain as the next great superpower. There was just one problem: God liked King James Bibles more than Mary statues. The Armada left Spain with 130 ships, 8,000 seamen, and around 19,000 soldiers. It sailed up into the English Channel, then the “Protestant winds” (as they are now called) began to blow, and they completely confounded the efforts of the Spaniards as they found themselves being driven to and fro in the waters and being shot to pieces by the British. They then found themselves in a trap. Being prevented by the winds and by the British from sailing back the way they came, they had to sail all the way up around the northern tip of Scotland and then back home to Spain. When it was all over, Phillip II had only about 60 crippled ships remaining, many of which could not be repaired. About 15,000 men also perished. The rest is history, or HIS STORY, I should say. Spain went down and England was promoted to a superpower (Psa. 75:7), a superpower that would bless the world with the King James Bible and the likes of George Whitfield, John Wesley, Charles Wesley, Charles Spurgeon, Isaac Watts, Charles Dickens, Sir Isaac Newton, William Bradford and Queen Victoria. Apparently, God didn't like folks messin' with the Book . . . even before it was translated.