Catholicism has always been a huge religion, and has been in control of the world for previous ages. For that reason, they were the ones who could dictate when to start the timeline, and chose the birth of Christ as that starting point.
The farmers of northern alliance wanted a natural alliance to include African American members. It was a financial movement which came into existence in 1875. The farmers of the United States of America were part of this movement and several other political organizations also involve themselves in this organization.
The reason behind this movement was to abolish or end the negative effects of crop-lien system (a credit system) on farmers in the period after the American Civil War and save the rights of the American farmers.
The practice of foretelling the future is called Divination.
