t is important to acknowledge that not everything Columbus did was inspired by God. Nephi only says the Spirit would inspire him to cross the many waters. He says nothing that endorses Columbus’s actions after he arrives in the promised land. Indeed, as Nephi prophesied, the arrival of this “man among the Gentiles” led to the tragic scattering and smiting of the Lamanites throughout the New World (1 Nephi 13:14). Some historians have all argued persuasively that Columbus was driven by a religious worldview in which he saw himself playing a crucial role as God’s instrument in the unfolding events of the end times.