As we said above, the "Republic of Alabama's" flag featured the "goddess of liberty" holding an unsheathed sword in her right hand. As we have said before, "man" in Scripture is a figure of the spirit, and "woman" is a figure of the soul. Therefore, the defiant female "goddess of liberty" in Alabama's flag was a figure of the soul defiantly declaring to God:

I will not submit to the Spirit. I have ruled until now, and I shall continue to rule

It is no wonder, therefore, that the article posted on wikipedia.org takes the time to point out the fact that the Alabama flag was designed by a group of women from Montgomery, Alabama. The Republic of Alabama's flag was a figure of the soul matriarchy's defiant unwillingness to surrender.

As we have said before, these are the times of God's green horse of the Apocalypse, which comes to obliterate the soul matriarchy so that the spirit nature in all believers may be manifested. The American Church, however, chose not to welcome God's green horse, preferring instead to raise its sword in proud defiance of God's decrees. The American Church said to God:

We are willing to do many things for You. We want your presence. We want your love. And we even accept many of your judgments. However, don't you dare, God, to remove the soul from the throne!! Don't you dare, God, to remove the pastoral matriarchy from the Church, for we will fight you tooth and nail if you so much as try to take away the freedom of our soul!!

Cursed be the American idiots who have chosen to defy the God of Israel!!! Cursed be the exposed Korahs who are walking around like "emperors with no clothes". They have deceived themselves into thinking that they are still clothed with regal power, despite the fact that God has already exposed their vulnerability through His red-horse and black-horse riders.

One day, not many weeks ago, as I was walking down the street, the Lord reminded me of a 2003 song called "White Flag" by a British singer named Dido. These are the song's lyrics:

I know you think that I shouldn't still love you
Or tell you that
But, if I didn't say it, well, I'd still have felt it
Where's the sense in that?

I promise I'm not trying to make your life harder
Or return to where we were
 

I will go down with this ship
And I won't put my hands up and surrender
There will be no white flag above my door
I'm in love and always will be

I know I left too much mess and
destruction to come back again
And I caused nothing but trouble
I understand if you can't talk to me again
And if you live by the rules of "it's over"
then I'm sure that that makes sense

[REFRAIN]

And when we meet, which I'm sure we will
All that was there will be there still
I'll let it pass, and hold my tongue
And you will think that I've moved on....

///[REFRAIN]///

For some reason, whenever I heard this song, I would feel it tugging at my heart in a powerful way, and there were times when I would be driven to tears, even though I did not identify with the lyrics in a literal way. Some two and a half years later, I can now understand why I was so touched by this song. This is a song related to the "Penuel experience".

Jacob, the man that would later be known as "Israel", had been an ingenious man all of his life. He believed that, with some "help from God", he was clever enough to squirm his way out of any jam. Even though that had worked for a while, the time came when He was to encounter God Face to face. And, before the God of Israel, all the human ingeniousness in the world is as worthless as a pile of rubble. To see God's Face implies facing the Sun of Righteousness that irradiates judgment everywhere it shines. This means that God's Face comes with fiery wrath against those who stubbornly refuse to admit their mistakes (Romans 1:17-19). Therefore, when God came to see Jacob face to face, He came in the form of an Esau full of wrath against Jacob's conniving ways. Jacob had used human trickery to snatch his father Isaac's blessing away from his brother Esau (Genesis 27:1-41), and Esau was now coming to exact his revenge.

As always, Jacob tried to squirm his way out of trouble through human ingeniousness. He tried to appease Esau's wrath through earthly gifts:

"¹³And he lodged there that same night; and took of that which came to his hand a present for Esau his brother; ¹⁴Two hundred she goats, and twenty he goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams, ¹⁵Thirty milch camels with their colts, forty kine, and ten bulls, twenty she asses, and ten foals. ¹⁶And he delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by themselves; and said unto his servants, Pass over before me, and put a space betwixt drove and drove. ¹⁷And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my brother meeteth thee, and asketh thee, saying, Whose art thou? and whither goest thou? and whose are these before thee? ¹⁸Then thou shalt say, They be thy servant Jacob’s; it is a present sent unto my lord Esau: and, behold, also he is behind us. ¹⁹And so commanded he the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying, On this manner shall ye speak unto Esau, when ye find him. ²⁰And say ye moreover, Behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the present that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face; peradventure he will accept of me." (Genesis 32:13-20)

Notice that Jacob gave Esau 9 different things:

1. 200 she-goats

2. 20 he-goats

3. 200 ewes

4. 20 rams

5. 30 nursing camels with their calves

6. 40 cows

7. 10 bulls

8. 20 she-asses

9. 10 he-asses

Despite these 9 gifts, Jacob became aware that God was asking for a 10th thing, and all these 9 gifts would be worthless without that 10th thing. That "10th thing" was himself:

"²¹So went the present over before him: and himself lodged that night in the company. ²²And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two womenservants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok. ²³And he took them, and sent them over the brook, and sent over that he had. ²⁴And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. ²⁵And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. ²⁶And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. ²⁷And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. ²⁸And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. ²⁹And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. ³⁰And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. ³¹And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh. ³²Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew that shrank." (Genesis 32:21-32)

Jacob was forced to risk his life as he fought the angel of the Lord. As shown by verse 29, Jacob understood that he would die if he saw the face of the angel. Yet, he chose not to let go of the angel until the angel blessed him, even when the day was breaking (v26). When it came to getting the favor of the Lord, there was no "ingenious scheme" that would work. There was no "inalienable right" he could claim. Jacob was totally at the mercy of God. When he surrendered himself to the mercy of God, when he surrendered control of his future to God, he gave the 10th thing that God was looking for. Jacob tithed with his own life, and he finally fulfilled the promise that he had made to God many years earlier at Bethel:

"²⁰And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, ²¹So that I come again to my father’s house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God: ²²And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee." (Genesis 28:20-22)

A surrender that refuses to surrender

Notice that Jacob's Penuel experience was a mixture of "surrender" and "unwillingness to surrender". It was "surrender" because he realized that he was now facing a circumstance that escaped the realm of his practical ingenuity; he could not scheme his way out of Esau's wrath. This meant that he had to swallow his pride and place himself at the mercy of someone else. On the other hand, Jacob also expressed an "unwillingness to surrender". Even though he was at the mercy of the angel's will, he fought with the angel all night, and he was unwilling to let go of the angel until He blessed him. Jacob knew that he was sacrificing his life, but, on that night, Jacob did not see any sense in remaining alive if that meant that he would not live out God's purpose for him, and he was going to beg, plead, and sacrifice until a breakthrough was reached.

If you revisit the "White flag" song lyrics included above, you will notice that it also expresses a mixture of "surrender" and "unwillingness to surrender". It expresses "surrender" when it declares the following:

I know I left too much mess and
destruction to come back again
And I caused nothing but trouble
I understand if you can't talk to me again
And if you live by the rules of "it's over"
then I'm sure that that makes sense

Instead of justifying herself, the singer admits her mistakes, and she recognizes that she has no right to "come back again". She admits that she is now at the mercy of the other person, who has the prerogative of deciding whether the relationship can continue or not. On the other hand, she also expresses an "unwillingness to surrender":

I will go down with this ship
And I won't put my hands up and surrender
There will be no white flag above my door
I'm in love and always will be

And when we meet, which I'm sure we will
All that was there will be there still
I'll let it pass, and hold my tongue
And you will think that I've moved on....

Notice that her unwillingness to surrender is predicated on love ("I'm in love, and always will be"), not on merit. It is a persistence that longs for the other person, not a persistence that demands from him.

A matriarchy-breaking tithe

As we have said before, "man" in Scripture is generally a figure of the spirit, while "woman" is a figure of the soul. Therefore, the fact that the song "White Flag" is sung by a woman is a prophetic figure of the soul surrendering her illegal matriarchal "rights" and placing herself at the mercy of the Spirit. The matriarchal soul is like Vashti, who thinks that she has a right to demand from the Spirit:

"⁵And when these days were expired, the king made a feast unto all the people that were present in Shushan the palace, both unto great and small, seven days, in the court of the garden of the king’s palace; ⁶Where were white, green, and blue, hangings, fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble: the beds were of gold and silver, upon a pavement of red, and blue, and white, and black, marble. ⁷And they gave them drink in vessels of gold, (the vessels being diverse one from another,) and royal wine in abundance, according to the state of the king. ⁸And the drinking was according to the law; none did compel: for so the king had appointed to all the officers of his house, that they should do according to every man’s pleasure. ⁹Also Vashti the queen made a feast for the women in the royal house which belonged to king Ahasuerus. ¹⁰On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven chamberlains that served in the presence of Ahasuerus the king, ¹¹To bring Vashti the queen before the king with the crown royal, to shew the people and the princes her beauty: for she was fair to look on. ¹²But the queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s commandment by his chamberlains: therefore was the king very wroth, and his anger burned in him." (Esther 1:5-12)

[The word "law" in verse 8 was translated from the Hebrew word dath, which literally means "decree, law, edict"; the phrase "none did compel" in verse 8 was mistranslated from the Hebrew text and should really say "No one compels". In other words, verse 8 should say, "And the drinking was according to the edict: 'No one compels'...".

The word "man" at the end of verse 8 was translated from the Hebrew word iysh, which literally means "male".]

Notice that the king's feast did not differentiate between "great" and "small". Therefore, this feast is a figure of the "Year of Jubilee" when believers can finally walk in the Spirit freedom of the New Covenant, a covenant in which there is no distinction between "great" and "small" (Jeremiah 31:31-34, Hebrews 10:16-17, 2 Corinthians 3:6-18). The "7 days" of the feast means that, in the Year of Jubilee, believers begin to receive a full impartation of the 7 Spirits of God. The fact that no one was compelled to drink and that the officers should do according to "every male's pleasure" (v8) is a figure of how, under the New Covenant, the "male" spirit nature in believers is no longer repressed by those who minister to them (i.e.- the "officers"). The "seventh day" mentioned in verse 10 represents the 7th Spirit of God: the Spirit of Laodicea, the Spirit of Prosperity. On the "7th day", the Lord tests the hearts of men to see how they handle His prosperity. Those who act like Vashti and who use their God-given prosperity to make a feast of their own shall be banned, and those who reciprocate their God-given prosperity with gratefulness shall be blessed. The "ministers" in the Church have used their God-given prosperity to build queendoms unto themselves. Like Vashti, they have chosen to exclude the Spirit from their feasts because they know that, if the Spirit is allowed to enter, He will automatically exert Lordship over the soul (2 Corinthians 3:17 --- the Lord is the Spirit) and the soul will not be able to govern.

Unlike Abraham, the Church's "ministers" do not return the "Isaacs" that are given to them. God gave Isaac to Abraham, and then He asked Abraham to give Isaac back. Abraham was not under a "law-style" obligation to give Isaac back, but he did, for he was a grateful believer. Like Abraham, the 10th leper in Luke 17:11-19 was not obligated under the Mosaic Law to return to Jesus and thank Him for what He had done, but he did, for he recognized the Melchizedek priest who was standing before him, and he understood that the Melchizedek priesthood is superior to the Aaronic priesthood (Hebrews 7:11-17). Like the 10th leper, Abraham was not obligated under "the Law" to give Melchizedek a tithe of everything (Genesis 14:17-20); Melchizedek was not "demanding" this tithe, neither was he "pressuring" Abraham to "sow into his ministry"; instead, he was waiting for the tithe to voluntarily flow from the grateful heart of a prospered Abraham. Like Abraham, prosperous Jacob was not "obligated under the Law" to wrestle with the angel of the Lord at Penuel. He had already given 9 gifts, but he voluntarily gave the 10th gift (himself), and that is what sealed God's blessing on his life. My heart is gripped with grief when I think about all the believers who have been blessed but who fall one step short of having their blessing sealed for eternity. In the midst of their prosperity, they become ungrateful Hivites whose blessing does not transcend the temporal realm and into eternity:

"The poor useth intreaties; but the rich answereth roughly" (Proverbs 18:23)

[The word "intreaties" was translated from the Hebrew word tachanuwn, which is derived from the word chanan, meaning "grace". In other words, the poor appeals to the other person's mercy to find grace from that other person. When Jacob was wrestling with the angel of the Lord, he was a "poor" man appealing to God's mercy in order to find "grace" before God (Genesis 32:26, Genesis 33:10).

The word "roughly" was translated from the Hebrew word az, which literally means "strong". In other words, the rich man replies from a position of "strength". Temporal prosperity gives Hivites a sense of false strength and invulnerability, from which they constantly make arrogant demands.]

"¹⁰When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he hath given thee. ¹¹Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day: ¹²Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; ¹³And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; ¹⁴Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; ¹⁵Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint; ¹⁶Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end; ¹⁷And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth. ¹⁸But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day. ¹⁹And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish. ²⁰As the nations which the LORD destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish; because ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the LORD your God." (Deuteronomy 8:10-20)

As we have said before, those with the Spirit-of-Laodicea endowment turn into Hivites when they stray from God's heart. Therefore, one of the keys that prevent prospered believers from turning Hivite is grateful tithing. We will share more on this in a future posting. As can be inferred from what we have studied so far, "tithing" refers to much more than just giving "money" to the "local congregation".

It is no coincidence that the book of Esther (from which we quoted earlier) mentions "India" in its verse (the country of India is only mentioned twice in Scripture, in Esther 1:1 and in Esther 8:9). The name "India" was translated from the word hoduw in the Hebrew text, and it literally means "flee away" or "give ye thanks". This is no coincidence. Once a spirit of sincere gratitude sets in, the soul matriarchy of the Vashti spirit is disintegrated, and the rising star of a soul surrendered to the Spirit can be manifested (Revelation 2:28). The name "Esther" literally means "star".

Mercy and gratitude

Gratefulness implies a "debt"; that is the reason why people speak of a "debt of gratitude". According to Scripture, indebtedness is a form of slavery:

"The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender" (Proverbs 22:7)

[The word "servant" was translated from the Hebrew word ebed, which literally means "slave". Notice that the chapter number is "22", which correlates with sister Shirley's vision, and the verse number ("7") points to the 7th Spirit of God, the Spirit of Laodicea. This is no coincidence.]

Therefore, we can safely say that gratitude turns you into a slave of the person you are grateful to, and when you are a slave to another person, you are at that person's mercy. It is not a coincidence, therefore, that the French word to express gratitude is merci (i.e.- "thank you").

Gratitude ==> Slavery ==> Mercy

When Esther approached the king to ask for the redemption of the Jews, she was at the complete mercy of the king. Had the king seen her approach as a sign of irreverence, he would have had the right to kill Esther, and neither Esther nor anyone else would have had a "right" to demand that the king be "impeached" (Esther 4:11). When you are at the mercy of another person's will, you have no right to make demands, and you will be grateful if the other person extends his scepter in mercy towards you (Esther 5:1-3).

"¹⁵For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. ¹⁶So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy." (Romans 9:15-16)

"¹Praise ye the LORD. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. ²Who can utter the mighty acts of the LORD? who can shew forth all his praise? ³Blessed are they that keep judgment, and he that doeth righteousness at all times." (Psalm 106:1-3)

[Notice how this passage speaks of "keeping judgment" and "doing righteousness", even in the midst of speaking of God's mercy. As we have studied before, God's mercy is poured upon those who seek after righteousness and who do not abhor His judgments. When we recognize our sin and repent in sincerity, we become seekers of righteousness, and we become candidates for God's mercy (Proverbs 28:13).]

This connection between gratitude and mercy explains why the singer of "White Flag" speaks of a "silent" unwillingness to surrender. She says that she is pretending like she has "moved on", but, on the inside, she is unwilling to surrender, and she is hopeful that the other person will accept her repentance, forgive her, and show love to her again. In the same way, Jacob understood that he could not "demand" that Esau's wrath be turned away. He understood that Esau's wrath was indeed God's wrath, and he understood that he was at the complete mercy of God. For once in his life, Jacob was not in control.

"And Jacob said, Nay, I pray thee, if now I have found grace in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand: for therefore I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me" (Genesis 33:10)

Notice that the verse above is verse "10", which correlates with Jacob's spiritual tithe to God. This tithe is what moved God to mercy and allowed for God to be pleased with Jacob. Without that tithe, the other 9 gifts would have been useless. When Jacob gave those 9 gifts, he gave them out of compulsion; he was trying to save his physical life. However, after voluntarily giving the "tithe", his attitude towards those gifts changed from "compulsion" to "a voluntary desire to bless his brother Esau". Esau had already forgiven him; yet Jacob felt the desire to give the gifts to Esau anyway:

"⁹And Esau said, I have enough, my brother; keep that thou hast unto thyself. ¹⁰And Jacob said, Nay, I pray thee, if now I have found grace in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand: for therefore I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me. ¹¹Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough. And he urged him, and he took it." (Genesis 33:9-11)

The 9 gifts that Jacob gave are a figure of the 9 spiritual gifts listed by the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10. God willing, we will post a future article on this:

According to Scripture, the spiritual gifts we are all endowed with are not designed to exalt us above our brethren. They are freely given by God at His prerogative; they are manifestations of God's grace given to us so that we may bless, enable, and exalt others (Ephesians 4:7-16). Our 9 gifts are made perfect when we add sacrificial love. This is the reason why 1 Corinthians chapter 12, which speaks about the 9 spiritual gifts is followed by 1 Corinthians chapter 13, the chapter on sacrificial love, and that is the reason why the passage on ministerial gifts in Ephesians 4 ends with the word "love" (Ephesians 4:16). The tithe that God requires of us under the New Covenant is love, which seeks to edify our neighbor rather than put him down. When you move in the love of God, you become aware that the Body is One. Those who use their gifts to exalt themselves above others are the ones who attempt to divide the Body of Christ into 2 bodies: the "ministerial" body and the "laymen" body. This is the reason why Jacob speaks of "two bands" at the beginning of Genesis 32:

"⁷Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed: and he divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and herds, and the camels, into two bands; ⁸And said, If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape. ⁹And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the LORD which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee: ¹⁰I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands." (Genesis 32:7-10)

[The word "servant" in verse 10 was translated from the Hebrew word ebed, which literally means "slave"]

Notice how Jacob bluntly declares in verse 10 (the "tithe" verse) that he is not worthy of the least of God's mercies, and he calls himself a "slave" of God. A weak soul begins to "tithe" when she recognizes that she has no rights before the spirit and when she recognizes that she is a slave at the mercy of the spirit. When the weak soul surrenders her matriarchy, the artificial "two-band" division of the Body is broken, and spiritual gifts become a means to voluntarily exalt others, rather than a means to impose an exalting of self. That is what tithing is all about.

As I finished typing the words above, the Lord made me hear a song entitled "Wake me up when September ends" by the American group "Green Day". As we have said before, this song is a prophetic expression of America's regression from "11" back to "9", since September is the 9th month of the year. It is also a prophetic expression of how the American Church chose to remain at "9 gifts" without "tithing" in love. It is no spiritual coincidence that all of these words are being birthed out of a spiritual vision in which America is divided right down the middle. Since the American Church refused to end the artificial two-band separation in her, the Lord shall enforce a spiritual line of separation in America. To quote the people from Burger King, the Lord said to America,

Have it your way. If you want to preserve the earthly kings in you, if you want to remain divided between 'ministerial kings' and 'regular believers', I shall grant you your wish. I shall divide you, and I shall force you to pay the consequences of your artificial division. I shall treat you harshly, American idiot, and I shall shake the idiocy out of you. Once you see the consequences of your division, you shall repent and you shall come to Me begging for My mercy. When I see you tithing yourself in sacrificial love, I shall bind you up and heal you, and you shall stand as One Body before Me. September shall end, and when you enter into your October and your November, you shall see the Glory of My Face, says the Lord.

Shortly before hearing the song "Wake me up when September ends", the Lord made me hear a news report on the radio regarding the current state of things between Israel and the Palestinians. As I heard the report, the Lord said the following to my heart:

The division of Israel into 2 states is a reflection of the artificial two-band division that the American idiot has maintained in My Church. Just as the American idiot has dared to split My land between Palestinians and Jews, he has also dared to maintain his artificial division within My Church, and he refuses to tithe to Me. Just as the American idiot has been willing to compromise My land by pandering to the Palestinians in the midst of My land, he has also been willing to compromise My spiritual inheritance by pandering to the Ammonites in his midst. I shall therefore fill the American idiot with tribulation. He will strive to find tranquility, but he shall find none. He will strive to get his house in order and mind his own affairs, but he shall be unable to. He will strive to work with his own hands and progress, but he shall only find stagnation and regression, for I shall not promote a divided country, and I shall not ascend a divided Church. I shall force America to face the consequences of its division.

As we have said before, the only solution authorized by God for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a solution where Palestinians are absorbed into the Israeli state as law-abiding Israeli citizens with equal rights. In the same way, the only solution authorized by God for His Church is a Church that ends all division, both artificial and real, within its midst. The artificial division between "ministers" and "laymen" shall be destroyed, and the real division between the "sons of God" and the "sons of My people" must be destroyed through judgments that force the Ammonites to either conform or be banned.

"¹For the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob. ²And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the LORD for servants and handmaids: and they shall take them captives, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors. ³And it shall come to pass in the day that the LORD shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve" (Isaiah 14:1-3)

The green horse

When the green horse comes, it comes to end the matriarchy of the soul. The only response that the green horse will accept from the soul is a mixture of "surrender" and "unwillingness to surrender":

1. Prophetic surrender

   This implies admitting the evil and error of her ways, and recognizing that she has no right to make demands from the spirit. As the soul raises the "white flag" of surrender, she is admitting defeat and accepting death in prophetic sacrifice.

    

   As we said above, Esther was willing to stand in a position of surrender and weakness before the king when she spoke on behalf of the people. Interestingly enough, the name of the king -- "Ahasuerus" -- means "I will be silent and poor". This reveals the following principle:

   Only those who are willing to surrender shall be exalted and seated with the King; only those who are willing to stand as powerless (i.e.- poor) men and women shall be allowed to sit on the throne with God; only those who stand in silence without demanding any rights shall be told "Come up hither" and exalted unto God (Matthew 5:3, Revelation 3:20-21, Revelation 11:7-13).

    

2. Evangelistic/apostolic unwillingness to surrender

   Once the soul raises the white flag of defeat, she places herself at the mercy of the spirit, who has the complete prerogative to determine whether she will be forgiven or not. However, a soul that truly loves the spirit will be unwilling to accept rejection. It will cry, it will plead, it will struggle "all night" like Jacob. Just as it is described in the "White Flag" song, this struggle will be a silent struggle, a struggle that is not based on "rights" but on a request for mercy. When Esther stood before the king, she understood that the people of Israel had placed themselves in the precarious situation they were in because of their unrighteousness. It was that unrighteousness which prompted God to scatter them out of their homeland. Because they had walked after other gods and sought their protection, God scattered them and left them unprotected in order to make the Israelites understand how "good" the other gods' "protection" was. Esther could not plead for her people on the grounds of righteousness, for her people had no righteousness to stand on. All Esther and the Jews could do was to admit that they had sinned, that they had been the architects of their own precarious condition, and that it was up to the mercy of God as to whether or not they would live to see the next day.

    

   The soul that loves God will not consider it worth living if it means living separated from God. Even though she has surrendered all rights to make demands, the soul that loves God will not give up, and she will wrestle with God, pleading for mercy. This wrestling requires an apostolic endurance that is willing to wrestle "all night". At a time of day when he was supposed to be "resting", Jacob fought and wrestled until he could draw from the well of God's mercy. Along with apostolic endurance, the soul that loves God will wrestle with evangelistic determination, with a strong-willed heart that will refuse to take "No" for an answer, begging and pleading until she is either killed by God or restored in God's mercy, for a soul that loves God prefers death rather than a life without the Only One for her.

    

   As we have said before, "angels" are apostolic-evangelistic in their nature. Therefore, when Jacob was unwilling to surrender as he struggled for God's mercy, he was acting like an angel. As he wrestled with the angel of the Lord that night, he was acting like an angel himself. That is the reason why the angel of the Lord did not "prevail against him" (Genesis 32:24). As an angel, Jacob was unwilling to "put a white flag above his door".

    

   While Jacob wrestled with the angel at Penuel, the angel touched Jacob's hip socket:

    

   "²⁵And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. ²⁶And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me." (Genesis 32:25-26)

    

   Even with a dislocated hip, Jacob continued to wrestle, and he staunchly declared that he would not let go of the angel until God blessed him (v26). This means that Jacob was "negotiating" from a position of weakness, but, even so, he was unwilling to surrender.

    

   "²⁹And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. ³⁰And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. ³¹And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh. ³²Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew that shrank." (Genesis 32:29-32)

    

   The phrase "that shrank" at the end of verse 32 was translated from the Hebrew word nasheh; Genesis 32:32 is the only verse in Scripture where this word appears. Interestingly enough, nasheh is derived from the word nashah, which means "to forget, deprive". Therefore, nashah has a connotation of "privation" or "poverty", and is related to nasheh in Hebrew in the context of failure. In other words, the word nasheh speaks of a poor person in a state of failure who is appealing to the mercy of a powerful man. As Jacob insisted with the angel, he was a failed man, a man who had admitted defeat and failure. He was a surrendered man insisting out of a call for mercy, not a strong man insisting out of a position of strength.

    

Any soul unwilling to react this way shall be utterly destroyed. The green horse is an exterminator that does not make compromises. The soul that wants to maintain its "queenship" and that refuses to recognize the Kingship of the Spirit shall be devastated. The soul that refuses to recognize the unrighteousness of her ways and that refuses to submit to the righteous judgments of the Spirit shall be abolished. Wherever the green horse appears, only the souls that seek after God's kingdom and righteousness shall stand. The green horse is already galloping, and the Earth is being filled with the judgments of the Lord:

"¹O give thanks unto the LORD; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people. ²Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk ye of all his wondrous works. ³Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the LORD. ⁴Seek the LORD, and his strength: seek his face evermore. ⁵Remember his marvellous works that he hath done; his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth; ⁶O ye seed of Abraham his servant, ye children of Jacob his chosen. ⁷He is the LORD our God: his judgments are in all the earth." (Psalm 105:1-7)

[Notice the reference to "Lord seekers" in verses 3 and 4. To seek the Lord is to seek His evangelistic kingdom and His apostolic judgments (which yield righteousness). Notice also the direct reference to "Jacob", His chosen one, in verse 6.]

Notice how this psalm begins with a call to gratitude, which correlates with the spirit of God's green-horse riders. They are men and women who are willing to be sent to Sheol for the sake of others. They are believers who are willing to bear the iniquity of others (Isaiah 53:5-6) so that others may be restored. As they voluntarily assume the unrighteousness of others, they become recipients of God's chastisement, are sent to Sheol prisons, and are left at the mercy of God. As they persistently cry out to God for mercy, God comes to set them free, and they become filled with gratitude over what God has done for them. Hallelujah!!! Merciful is the God of Israel, and glorious are His works!!!

White Flag

I now understand that the song "White Flag" is a prophetic expression of the UK's attitude towards God. Believers in the UK cannot boast of "large" congregations and ministries. They cannot boast of cities and towns where practically everyone goes to an evangelical church on Sunday. They cannot boast of a currency that says "In God we trust". They cannot boast of large congregations in so-called "Pentecostal revival". On the contrary, they are aware of the so-called "humanistic secularization" of the UK. They are aware of the "spiritual emptiness" in the atmosphere. There is a sense in the UK (conscious and subconscious) that there is something missing, that there is a spiritual well that remains untapped, of an outpouring and overflow that is imminent, but is nowhere to be found. Believers in the UK cannot point to a list of "religious feats" that can certify them as the "chosen nation" that "deserves" revival. They are aware that, as a nation, they have failed God, and they can only appeal to God's mercy for the UK to be restored. There is a remnant in the UK that is unwilling to surrender, that is unwilling to give up on the idea of God's Glory visiting that land. And, because of that, God's Glory shall be seen there, and His purposes shall be fulfilled in the "Blue Kingdom".

While the UK is already singing Dido's "White Flag", the USA is still too proud to sing such a song. The American Church has too many "religious credentials" to think that she is a pathetic group of believers in need of God's regenerating mercy. The American Church is too self-deceived about its "hotness" to realize its "coldness". On the one hand, she is a Church that longs to please God and is receptive to many things related to the remnant spirit. On the other hand, however, she is also a Church that is too patriotic, too "proud of America", to admit that she has been doing things the wrong way for over 300 years. She is too proud to understand that American fundamentalism is an abomination to the God of Israel and that she needs a deep regeneration that can only come as God is stirred to mercy. America's evangelical fundamentalism is a pile of worthless rubble in the eyes of God, and it sure does not award her any "points" in His eyes.

"¹⁴And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; ¹⁵I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. ¹⁶So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. ¹⁷Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: ¹⁸I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. ¹⁹As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. ²⁰Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. ²¹To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. ²²He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." (Revelation 3:14-22)

[Notice how the message to Laodicea ends in verse number 22, which points to the number shown to sister Shirley in the vision where the United States was split in two.]

The Republic of Alabama's flag mentioned above featured the words "Independent Now and Forever". This reflects the spirit of defiant pride that made the American Civil War necessary. There is an old song that I was taught as a young lad in music class that said the following (amazingly enough, I still remember some of the lyrics):

Hurrah, hurrah, for Southern rights, hurrah

Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star

The South seceded because it was not about to let anyone tell them what they could do with their lives. They were ready to claim and fight for their "Southern rights". They were unwilling to raise the "white flag" that surrenders the right to claim any "rights". Ironically, as they claimed their right to "freedom" and "independence", they were bent on preventing black slaves from living free and independent lives, even when the God of Israel had already decreed that the time for black slavery was over.

In the spirit realm, the American Church raised the Republic of Alabama's flag in the summer of 2005. She refused to surrender to God, and she refused to place herself in a vulnerable position where she would be compelled to plead for God's mercy. This is the reason why the Lord has decreed a spiritual civil war in America. This is the spiritual reason why talks of a "civil war" in Iraq became so common earlier this year. As we have said before, USA president George W. Bush is a Jehoshaphat who has shown a constant reluctance to go "all the way" on many issues. Interestingly enough, all these issues have to do with "overruns" across a given border. Because of his lack of discernment and his unwillingness to deal a decisive blow to Syria, the Syrian and Jordanian borders with Iraq were overrun with Hittite terrorists who are now wreaking havoc in Iraq. Because of his naive attitude towards Latin America, the U.S.-Mexico border continues to be overrun by Canaanite-Hittite Latin Americans who love the American dollar but who