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Prophetic word for today Coming to America (Part 1) First posted: December 2, 2005 E-mailed: September 16, 2005 Word received by: Lauretta Weir
Revelation: America's Judgment Begins Scripture Refs: Jeremiah 8 & Isaiah 8
For denying God's sovereignty in His country, America must pay for embracing dark arts and other gods and idols. The devastation of New Orleans due to floodings and broken levees is nothing compared to God's coming wrath in this overflow of judgment. For the loss of God in schools, prayers, churches, meetings, the government and the courts, we will pay, and next is California [and] the South in general, a seat of sin and iniquity and injustice and intolerance as to the treatment of people of ethnicity other than Caucasian; and now, due to their dark practices of all the residents, practically, [it] is just the beginning. The devastation to come at [the] judgment of the Nations will stun all, more than New Orleans by Katrina.
They all return yearly for their pagan lusts and pretense at religiosity, religious pageantry, and nothing really to do with God and Lent other than the names. They have nothing to do with Me, saith the Lord. It is man who believes he is god that all this debauchery is really about, making money, and harlots out of everyone. I do not call for drunkenness and nudity; hedonists do. I do not call for public nudity, wantonness, adulteries and fornications; idolaters do. I do not call for sin, the devil does, and New Orleans was glad to participate, all in the name of FUN. It will NOT be fun in HELL, says the Lord.
The churches in New Orleans have all twisted God's Laws and Commandments, polluting His Gospel with outright lies and downright half-truths, just to make their congregations and the sinners not feel threatened and to feel GOOD. I will spew them all out of My Mouth, saith the Lord. They are worse than lukewarm; they are a foul stinking mass of pollution and maggots swimming in a pool of rotted flesh, the sick innards and guts of dead things, pretending to be holy and so full of sin and disgusting lies that I'll not tolerate it any longer. This is why New Orleans was flushed out like a toilet. The pollution of pretend catholic practices mixed in with black arts, voodoo and witchcraft, and then to call it "Lent" is an abomination and, not of Me, saith the Lord. This was the overflow of judgment for New Orleans and the start for America.
The churches in the area condoned this abomination, and, for not decrying their sins, they were judged along with them. The decay was done, and they did nothing, and they did not repent; confess and return to me with contrite hearts. They did not repent for their mishandling of these things from their pulpits and their lukewarm pretense at repentance not from contrite hearts. They are full of the black arts themselves, practicing it without a care or repentance, saith the Lord. Voodoo practiced openly and practically in the pulpits too, and they did nothing; it is an abomination. They are not even ashamed for their lack of doing anything and saying anything against it, so they all paid as well for their part in it.
God took away everything just as He said He would, this time by water, fire the next time. God didn't desert New Orleans; New Orleans deserted God and sought blackness for glory and reaped their just reward for choosing death and not life. Old and young alike, no one was spared death who were called to perish that day. Remember, says the Lord, you were given the choice, and you made yours, New Orleans; you were warned the last time and did not change. Your prayers came before Me, and I spared you. This time, you paid the price for disobedience. I Am coming soon, and for some, soon means today!!! Are you ready for eternity? Eternity is here, and it starts the moment you die.
God's weeping for the suffering of some but not for all, as some knew what to do and did not do it. Not the government, not FEMA, but the churches, the ministers, bishops, priests, ministers and pastors, etc. in the area knew what I warned them and told them to do and did not do it. They know what My Word says and chose to ignore it, and New Orleans paid. California is next. Los Angeles, Hollywood, the hedonists there and their day of judgment overflow is near as well. Be holy and sin not; stop the sinning. Seek Me, and My Face will shine upon you. Repent, confess to Me and return to Me, and I will stay My Hand against you too this time. Return to your wickedness, and you will pay as well, says the Lord, and I'll not forgive nor forget that you did not keep your pledge.
Mudslides, an earthquake, a wildfire, a tsunami, what can California, Los Angeles especially, expect?? With all the 'pollution' Hollywood puts out, the pornographers, the idolaters, the hedonists, the abominations of same-sex anything; a true lifestyle it is not; it is a death sentence that I will pay, saith the Lord God Almighty.
As repentance now is not a Hollywood lifestyle or 'thing', will California be separated from the rest of America by an earthquake of mighty proportions. San Francisco and its blatant 'seediness', plus San Diego and all their atheistic activities and abomination parades, will undoubtedly put pressure on the fault lines all the way down the state. And all the counties all through California ratifying same-sex marriages, the clues all point to California next to being judged, harshly but rightly so by God, and soon. I am praying for the piece of California to remain attached and unharmed, but also that every evil person here be touched and washed in the Blood of Jesus Christ to help stop this devastation coming soon to an area where I live.
Our comments At the top of this prophetic word, sister Weir mentions Isaiah chapter 8. As one goes through that chapter, it becomes evident that it is spiritually related to what happened in New Orleans and the South as a result of Katrina and Rita.
"1Moreover the LORD said unto me, Take thee a great roll, and write in it with a man’s pen concerning Mahershalalhashbaz. 2And I took unto me faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah. 3And I went unto the prophetess; and she conceived, and bare a son. Then said the LORD to me, Call his name Mahershalalhashbaz. 4For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and my mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria." (Isaiah 8:1-4)
The word "man" in the phrase "man's pen" (v1) was translated from the Hebrew word enowsh, which is derived from the word anash meaning "weak, sick, frail". Therefore, enowsh has the connotation of "man" in his mortal weakness. As we have said before, the ministry most directly related to "human weakness" is the teaching ministry.
On the other hand, the word "pen" in the phrase "man's pen" (v1) was translated from the word cheret, which comes from another word meaning "to engrave". Therefore, it has the connotation of someone "engraving" or "laying down" new laws (notice that Isaiah was not transcribing words previously written by others; he was about to write "new" words -- 2 Corinthians 10:14-16). This is why verse 2 speaks of "faithful witnesses", which means that Isaiah was about to write a document that would serve as "legislation" in the spirit realm. As we have said before, the ministry most directly related to laws and judgments is the apostolic ministry.
From the above, we can see that the phrase "man's pen" is a spiritual reference to teacher-apostles, i.e.- red-horse riders who act as judges that look "mortal", "weak" and "irrelevant" to the eyes of "stubborn Cain". These weak-looking judges, despised and dismissed by man, shall write a "great tablet" of laws (v1), which means that they will decree great judgments in the spirit realm.
The word "roll" in verse 1 was mistranslated from the Hebrew word gillayown, which literally means "table, tablet, mirror". Therefore, the phrase "great roll" can also be translated as "great mirror". As we have seen before, God's judgments expose the hidden roots, which means that they act as a mirror that forces people to see themselves as they really are. And, when Cain sees his hideous self in the mirror, he prefers to break the mirror and pretend like he didn't see anything. That is why Cain prefers to kill Abel, because Abel is the mirror.
"23For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 24For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 25But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed." (James 1:23-25) [The word "word" in verse 23 was translated from the Greek word logos, which, as we have seen before, points to God's judgments. Therefore, this passage speaks of how God's judgment word acts as a "mirror" where we can see our condition, whether it be good or bad.
The word "forgetteth" in verse 24 was translated from the Greek word epilanthanomai, which is a combination of the prefix epi, meaning "upon, over", and the word lanthano, meaning "to be hidden". In other words, epilanthanomai speaks of someone who proactively buries a truth that he or she is unwilling to face. Therefore, it points to someone in denial.
The word "looketh" in verse 25 was translated from the Greek word parakupto, which is a combination of the prefix para, meaning "beside, near", and kupto, meaning "to stoop down, bow the head". Therefore, the word parakupto has the connotation of someone who stoops down to look at a small thing he saw on the ground. When Cain sees a "small, vulnerable thing" below him, he quickly swoops down upon it and stomps it. We, however, are called to stoop down and consider it. Those who belittle the small details in God's word cannot grow in Him. God wants us to stoop down and pay attention to His "small" words (whether they be written words or "walking words"), for, if we mistreat His "small" words, we mistreat Him.
Notice how we are called to "stoop down and look" into the "perfect law of liberty" (v25), meaning that God's perfect law of liberty cannot be seen by those who belittle and dismiss His "little" vessels. As we have said before, the ministry most directly related to "perfection" is the right-handed teaching ministry, which is a ministry of "vulnerability". As we have also said before, laws are intricately related to judgments (there can be no judgments where there are no laws, and vice versa). Therefore, laws point to the right-handed apostolic ministry, since it is the ministry most directly related to the making of judgments. This means that the phrase "perfect law" is speaking of teacher-apostles, which points again to God's pestilent "red-horse riders".
As we have shared before, "liberty" is a left-handed concept. Therefore, it is interesting to consider that two "right-handed" words such as "perfect" and "law" are followed by a left-handed word such as "liberty". Laws are supposed to create "limitation", not "liberty". Why, then, would the Lord speak of a "perfect law of liberty"? Because red-horse riders are called to fight spiritual Cains who believe that "rules and regulations" are incompatible with freedom. In other words, Cain believes that prophetic grace is incompatible with "law and order", and he is quick to "kill" any red-horse Abel who walks in that prophetic grace. Cain does not understand that God's judgments are unto freedom; they cause temporary death that leads to resurrection freedom. Cain cannot see the left-handed "liberty" hidden behind God's right-handed "perfect law".
The word "continueth" in verse 25 was translated from the Greek word parameno, which is a combination of the prefix para, meaning "beside, near", and the verb meno, meaning "to abide, remain". Therefore, a literal translation of parameno would be "to remain beside", which speaks of diehard persistence. Cain is a stubborn fellow, so God sends equally (if not more) stubborn vessels to confront him. A red-horse believer binds him or herself to God's teachings and apostolic judgments, and in that self-binding, he or she finds God's prophetic liberty and is blessed of Him (v25), for God achieves His purposes through those who don't retreat, but who "keep on trucking" till the end, despite all the opposition that Cain may shell out.]
The name "Maher-shalal-hash-baz" literally means "The spoil speeds, the prey hastens". Therefore, it speaks of a bird of prey speedily swooping down upon a prey that hastens to flee. As we have said before, Cain is like a bird of prey (a "vega") that likes to swoop down upon weaker vessels in order to humiliate and destroy them. Therefore, God has also sent His own birds of prey (His own "vegas") to swoop down upon Cain and destroy his world. Since Cain is a stubborn fellow, he prefers to flee rather than admit that he was wrong in any way. As he flees, Cain morphs into a wandering Balaam.
From all of the above, it becomes evident that Isaiah chapter 8 is a red-horse word of judgment against the spirit of Cain. The "weak man's pen", which Cain oppresses and disdains, shall declare great judgments against him, and that judgment shall act as a bird of prey that swoops down upon him. The victimizer shall become the victim, says the Lord, for the time of His restoration is here.
Notice that Isaiah writes the "great tablet" before two "faithful witnesses":
After writing the "great tablet" before the two witnesses (Isaiah 8:2), Isaiah approached the "prophetess", and "she conceived and bare a son" (Isaiah 8:3). This son is a figure of the fulfillment of God's prophetic purposes for the Church. Even though the Church does not know it, the latter-day prophetic remnant has already been born. It was conceived in the prophetic womb of "faithful witnesses" (Isaiah 8:2) who believe God's rhema word about the latter rain.
The soft-flowing waters of Shiloah Even though these believers have conceived a wonderful vision, the "spiritual child" they have given birth to is a "child of conflict", a "Maher-shalal-hash-baz" who comes like a swooping bird of prey to attack the religious system that has preyed upon God's people for centuries. Even though he comes like a violent eagle in the spirit realm, he is "weak" and "vulnerable" in appearance in the natural realm. This is why the Lord speaks of the "waters of Shiloah that go softly":
"5The LORD spake also unto me again, saying, 6Forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah’s son; 7Now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory: and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks: 8And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel." (Isaiah 8:5-8)
The name "Shiloah" in verse 6 literally means "sent", which points to the apostolic ministry, since the word "apostle" is derived from the Greek word apostolos, meaning "one sent". The reference to the waters flowing "softly" speaks of "weakness" and "vulnerability", which points to the teaching ministry. Therefore, the "waters of Shiloah that go softly" refer to God's teacher-apostles, i.e.- His red-horse riders who come clothed in weakness and who are therefore rejected by their brethren, because they prefer to rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah's son (v6).
The name "Rezin" is derived from the Hebrew word ratsown, which means "pleasure, goodwill, acceptance". Therefore, it is a spiritual figure of "soul communion" and "acceptance among the brethren". Many believers prefer to ignore God's red-horse shout because Canaanite soul communion and pleasing man is more important than pleasing God. Paul, who was a teacher (Acts 13:1-3, 1 Timothy 2:7) and an apostle (Romans 1:1) was a pestilent red-horse rider who always preferred to please God, even when it meant losing the acceptance or "goodwill" of the brethren:
"For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ." (Galatians 1:10) [The word "servant" was translated from the Greek word doulos, which literally means "slave"]
The "son of Remaliah" that Isaiah 8:6 refers to is Pekah, king of Israel at the time (Isaiah 7:1). Why, then, didn't the Holy Spirit simply say "Pekah" instead of "Remaliah's son"? Because God wanted to emphasize the fact that Pekah was followed by the people because of his human "lineage", not because of who he himself was.
The name "Remaliah" means "protected by Jehovah". Therefore, it speaks of people in the past in whose lives the "backing of the Lord" was evident. Many ministries begin with people who have this backing. But, as the ministry's initiator "passes away" (literally or figuratively), the ministry is continued by people who do not have the same spirit as the initiator. These ministries continue for generations, living off the glory and reputation of years past.
As we have said before, the Girgashite spirit prompts people to place their faith in human hierarchies and visible human titles, and it stifles the prophetic spirit, which is the one that allows for a true spiritual impartation from one person to another. Therefore, the Girgashite spirit creates a stagnant atmosphere where people follow traditions of the past and where people refuse to question the current structures simply because of their hierarchical nature and because of achievements that happened long, long ago. Under a Girgashite atmosphere, the spirit that led to those past successes can be long gone, without the people there realizing it, because they are deceived by all the external "leaves" (Mark 11:12-14).
From all of the above, we can see the two reasons why many believers disregard the "waters of Shiloah that go softly":
Notice how the distortions of the 2 "female" ministries (pastor and teacher) are essential in blocking out God's red-horse shout in the hearts of many believers.
"7Now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory: and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks: 8And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel." (Isaiah 8:7-8) [The word "Judah" means "praised", and "praise" is related to "sacrifice" (Hebrews 13:15). Therefore, when the name "Judah" is used in a negative sense, it generally refers to a spirit of legalistic sacrifice based on human effort, just like Cain's sacrifice in Genesis 4:3. This means that, in a negative sense, the name "Judah" is strongly related to both the Jebusite spirit of legalism and the Girgashite spirit of human traditions.]
Because Cain and his followers do not respect the authority of the soft-flowing Shiloah waters, God will turn those soft-flowing waters into giant tidal waves that will judge Cain's Jebusite-Girgashite dryness. Despite Cain's hardhearted unbelief and resistance, the River of God shall come, and it shall fill the Earth with God's Glory.
As we have said before, "flying" is spiritually related to the prophetic anointing. Therefore, the "stretching out of his wings" that fills the breadth of the land (v8) is a figure of how the prophetic anointing that Cain so abhors shall overwhelm Cain's dry land of Girgashite earthliness.
Notice that verse 8 ends with the phrase "O Immanuel". The name "Immanuel" means "God with us". Cain and his followers will reject the soft-flowing Shiloah waters because they will not recognize the invisible God inside those weak vessels. They will not realize that God Himself was the one speaking through them, and they will not understand that these weak vessels are a harbinger of an era in which the Church will be filled with Immanuel believers, i.e.- believers who will manifest God in the flesh, just like the Lord Jesus when He walked on this Earth. These Immanuel believers will not place their faith in human authority or structures. Instead, they will walk with no backing but the backing of God Himself.
In the next verses of Isaiah chapter 8, the Lord says the following:
"9Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces; and give ear, all ye of far countries: gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces. 10Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us." (Isaiah 8:9-10)
The word "associate" in verse 9 was mistranslated from the Hebrew word raa, which means "to be evil". This word is similar to the word ra, which means "evil" in the sense of "affliction" or "oppression" (Isaiah 32:7). Therefore, the word raa is speaking about the oppression of Girgashite methods. In verse 9, the Lord is daring Cain to stubbornly continue in the oppression of his Girgashite methods and traditions, and He is saying to him, "Even though you may persist in your ways, I have sent My red horse to create separation within your world. I shall shatter you and split you up, for the curse of disintegration that I have placed upon your earthly methods shall be fulfilled." As we have seen before, all Girgashite endeavors are under the curse of disintegration decreed by the Lord in Genesis 3:19. The Girgashite spirit has an internal curse of "division" within it, and God's red-horse riders come to manifest that division.
The word "word" in verse 10 was translated from the Hebrew word dabar, which is the Hebrew equivalent of the Greek word logos, and, as we have seen before, logos is related to judgments. Therefore, when the Lord challenges Cain to "speak the word" (v10), He is saying to Jebusite-Girgashite Cain: "Go ahead! Decree your human judgments; pronounce your earthly laws against the red-horse riders that I have sent against you. But be forewarned. When you declare your judgments against My little sent ones, you are declaring them against Me, and I shall repay, for your arrogance has reached My nostrils, and My wrath shall be seen in the heavens", says the Lord. "When you pit your word against Mine, Mine shall prevail, for My word is eternal and unshakeable, and your word is ephemeral and unstable."
In the next verses of Isaiah 8, the Lord has the following word for His red-horse Abels:
"11For the LORD spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying, 12Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. 13Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread." (Isaiah 8:11-13)
With a strong hand, God admonishes His red-horse riders not to walk in "the way of this people" (v11). Again, the Lord is telling His remnant people to separate themselves from the ways of Cain. Despite the stubborn current around them, His remnant people are called to swim against that current and to become a troublesome impediment to all who are swimming with the current.
The word "confederacy" in verse 12 was translated from the Hebrew word qesher, which can also be translated as "conspiracy, treason". Therefore, the Lord is saying, "Don't call 'treason' what these people call 'treason'". Jebusite Cain is quick to denounce any criticism against his ways as "treason" against God, and those who follow Cain will be quick to repeat that denouncement. Many believers are intimidated into an unGodly submission to man's ways because they believe satan's lie that says that "to question the religious leadership is to question God". That is the lie that Jezebel used against Naboth for "daring" to question the king's wishes; through Jebusite followers who were quick to comply with the Amorite king's decrees, she accused Naboth of "treason", and Naboth was stoned to death (1 Kings 21:1-16).
In verse 12, the Lord also admonishes His red-horse riders not to "fear what they fear". As we have said before, Girgashites are gripped by the "fear of death". Unlike prophets, Girgashites are afraid to stand before Amorite kings and defy them, because they are not willing to shed their lives for a higher cause. Girgashites prefer to take refuge in the comfort of humanly visible structures and are afraid to venture out into the waters of the Spirit. Because of this, Girgashites are very hesitant about questioning the status quo, for fear that that might get them "expelled" from the structures around them. Girgashites are afraid to die, whether that death be literal or figurative, and they prefer to remain "alive" and "recognized" within the structures around them, without realizing that true life lies in the open-sky wilderness where there are no "coverings" above one's head but God Himself. Therefore, when God tells His remnant people not to "fear what they fear", He is telling them not to yield to the "fear of death" instilled by Girgashite Cain.
Girgashites are also hesitant to question the surrounding structures because their minds are deceived by the visible resources backing those structures. They reason within themselves, saying, "If all of this were false, why has it lasted for so many centuries? If our leader is in the wrong, why is he the one holding the office? If this organization is crooked, why does it have so many buildings? If those who are in opposition are in the right, why are they alone? Why aren't they the ones holding the office? Why aren't they the ones with all the buildings and the recognition?". Girgashites are afraid to believe in the invisible backing of God's eternal truth. Therefore, they never take the "quantum leap of light" into the next dimension of their relationship with God.
"18Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. 19Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. 20The beast of the field shall honour me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen. 21This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise." (Isaiah 43:18-21) [While Girgashites conformingly follow the ways of Cain, there is a "way" being made by God in the wilderness, and those who go after it shall be conformed unto His likeness (v21). Even though Girgashites fear the "newness" of this way, it is actually a way that "dates" from eternity.]
In short, the Lord is telling His remnant people not to believe in "sacred cows". Whenever anyone questions a "sacred cow", he or she will inevitably be accused of "treason" and "blasphemy" by the Jebusites. If he or she is afraid (like the Girgashites) of being ostracized, he or she will silence his or her questioning, choosing instead to conform to the environment rather than have the environment conform to the Truth. Instead of deeming the "cow" as "holy", we should deem God as holy. Instead of fearing the "cow", we should fear Him. This is what the Lord declares in Isaiah 8:13.
"27Thy first father hath sinned, and thy teachers have transgressed against me. 28Therefore I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary, and have given Jacob to the curse, and Israel to reproaches." (Isaiah 43:27-28)
The word "teachers" in verse 27 was mistranslated from the Hebrew word luwts, which is better translated in this passage as "mediator, ambassador, interpreter". Therefore, it speaks of Old-Covenant intermediaries who pretend to speak on God's behalf to the "regular folk" who are supposedly too "dumb" to understand God's "spirit-language" themselves. This means that God is indicting those who do not question the validity of what is said to them (Acts 17:10-11, Jeremiah 23:33-40). This is why God will send red-horse profaners who will not be afraid to defile the sacred-cow "princes of the sanctuary" in whom many believers have placed their trust (v28).
If we choose to revere God instead of revering "sacred cows", we shall become stumbling blocks for Cain and his followers:
"13Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. 14And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken." (Isaiah 8:13-15) [The word "offence" in verse 14 was translated from the Hebrew word mikshowl, which means "stumbling". Ironically, the word "stumbling" in verse 14 was mistranslated from another Hebrew word negeph, which means "blow, striking". In other words, the phrase "stone of stumbling" should really say, "striking stone". This means that we will become like living stones that God will hurl against the religious structures that are preventing His parousia (i.e.- His coming), and we will be the instruments through whom God will carry out the destruction of those structures. Those structures shall be cursed unto destruction through us (Isaiah 1:28) so that God's true prosperity may emerge.
The word "gin" was translated from the Hebrew word pach, which refers specifically to "bird traps".]
Notice how sanctifying and fearing the Lord (v13) will immediately turn us into "striking stones", "rocks of stumbling", "bird traps", and "snares" for the religious believers around us (v14).
The word "rock" in verse 13 was translated from the Hebrew word tsuwr, which is derived from an almost identical word meaning "to bind, besiege, cramp", and which can also mean "to be an adversary". In order to siege a city, the besieging army requires apostolic endurance and evangelistic determination until the besieged city caves in. Therefore, we are "rocks of stumbling" when we become dead set against the religious structures around us, unrelenting and unyielding until they come tumbling down.
An "effective" rock of stumbling requires two elements: a rock lying low on the ground and a person who is looking up, not down. When the Jews were waiting for the Messiah, they were expecting a warrior riding in on a white horse, a warrior leading a huge army as he set them free from Roman oppression. In a sense, they were looking up to the heavens, waiting for Messiah to almost literally come riding down from the sky. Therefore, they did not recognize the Messiah when He actually rode into Jerusalem on an ass, and not with the backing of a huge army, but, instead, with the shouted support of some children:
"5Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass. 6And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, 7And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon." (Matthew 21:5-7)
"15And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, 16And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise? 17And he left them, and went out of the city into Bethany; and he lodged there." (Matthew 21:15-17)
Just like the religious people during Jesus' first coming, the religious Church of today is "looking up to the sky" as they wait for Jesus' second coming, without understanding that Jesus shall be manifested through weak vessels, i.e.- believers like you and me. As we have studied before, the two men in white apparel found the disciples looking up at the sky as they thought about His second coming (Acts 1:9-11), and, instead of congratulating them, the two men confronted them, as if to say, "Your understanding of His parousia is too literal; you are expecting the Kingdom to be imposed from above, when it is actually intended to grow from inside of you and out into the world". The Lord Jesus compared His Kingdom to a seed that is first hidden in the ground and then grows from the ground up and from the inside out (Matthew 13:31-32, Luke 17:20-22).
Before the Lord physically ascended to Heaven, the disciples asked Him the following:
"6When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? 7And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. 8But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." (Acts 1:6-8)
The word "time" in verse 6 was translated from the Greek word chronos, which speaks of "chronological time". Therefore, the disciples were asking for the literal "date and time" when Jesus would manifest the Kingdom. This means that ...
This is why the Lord said to them:
As we can see from all of the above, Isaiah 8:1-15 is a prophetic word against the spirit of Cain. However, starting at verse 16, Isaiah 8 takes an interesting turn.
"16Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. 17And I will wait upon the LORD, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him." (Isaiah 8:16-17)
Notice how verse 16 is a call for the remnant disciples to "hunker down" and remain firm in the prophetic testimony and apostolic law that they have received from the Lord. In verse 17, the remnant is to wait upon the Lord, and not upon human leadership, knowing that God is hiding His Face from (i.e.- shunning) the Church and her religious ways. Therefore, the Lord is now speaking of the remnant that is out in the open wilderness, separated from Cain. As we have said before, when this separation occurs, Cain "flees west" and morphs into a wandering Balaam in an effort to preserve his ways. This means that, starting in verse 16, the Lord is speaking about the battle between His remnant and the spirit of Balaam.
As we have briefly shared before, the number "16" is strongly connected to the Columbia space shuttle disaster on February 1, 2003, and it speaks of a revival where the prophetic movement is relegated to a minor rule, allowing the pastoral matriarchy to remain in control of the Church. The space shuttle Columbia represents the Church's stubborn insistence on succeeding without yielding to God's way.
As I meditated on Isaiah 8, I began to perceive a "shift" in the chapter's flow starting in verse 16. When I looked at the verse number, I was gripped by a sense of angry indignation from God against America's stubbornness, and I was immediately reminded of the 4-year revival delay that America provoked. It was then that the words in sister Lauretta's prophecy came to life in my heart. God is upset with America, because, even after the devastation of Katrina and Rita, the Church in America is bent on doing things her pastoral way, and she has placed every possible stumbling block to prevent God's prophetic remnant from being manifested.
When God's red-horse remnant is forced to go into the open wilderness, Cain morphs into Balaam, and the remnant enters into its black-horse anointing. As it stands outside the religious structures, the remnant then launches invisible black-horse judgments into those structures, causing scarcity and a sense of emptiness for the people who chose to remain behind. This is why the Lord speaks of His children standing for "signs and wonders" in Israel:
"Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion." (Isaiah 8:18) [The "children whom the Lord has given" are the believers who have decided to adopt and walk in the nature of the Father, who are no longer willing to walk after the ways of men.
In verse 17 above, the Lord speaks of hiding His Face from the house of Jacob, and, here, in verse 18, He speaks of His children standing for wonders in Israel. In Genesis 4:14, Cain admits that God has hidden His Face from him. Therefore, the "Jacob" whom God has shunned (v17) refers to Cain in his old, rigid ways, and the "Israel" of verse 18 refers to Balaam, i.e.- to a "morphed" Cain who makes some "liberality concessions" to remain in control.]
In the next verse, the Lord speaks of believers combining the old ways of man with some "spiritual magic" in order not to admit that his ways have been decreed "dead" by God:
"And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?" (Isaiah 8:19)
The phrase "familiar spirits" in verse 19 was translated from the Hebrew word owb, which is very similar to the word ab, meaning "father". Therefore, consulting "familiar spirits" refers to people trying to stay in the traditions of their "forefathers", attributing special "spiritual" qualities to those traditions simply because they were practiced by their "ancestors" (whether literal or figurative). In a sense, to consult "familiar spirits" is man's effort to "eternalize" the ways of Cain.
The wizards that "chirp and mutter" refer to the Balaams who promote the enjoyment of temporary grace. The "chirpers" promote the search for "fleeting-bird" material prosperity of no eternal value ("barley"):
"Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom. 5Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven." (Proverbs 23:4)
The "mutterers", on the other hand, promote the search for emotional but vain "religious experiences" with no eternal value ("wheat"):
"Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?" (Psalm 2:1) [The word "imagine" was translated from the Hebrew word hagah, which is the same word translated as "mutter" in Isaiah 8:19]
Through the distribution of temporal grace (temporal "wheat" and "barley"), Balaam tries to assert his spirituality and his right to remain "alive", when God has already decreed his ministerial grace "dead" before Him. They are living off the remnants of a grace that once was. When believers go after these Balaams, they are going after the "dead" and forsaking the God of the living (Isaiah 8:19).
The Lord ends Isaiah 8 with the following words:
"20To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. 21And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry: and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward. 22And they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness." (Isaiah 8:20-22) [The original Hebrew text from which the phrase "curse their king and their God" was translated can be interpreted in two different ways. It can be taken to say, "curse against their king and their God", or it can be taken to mean, "curse by their king and their god". Based on the verse's context, we believe that the second interpretation is the correct one.
The word "look" near the end of verse 21 was translated from the Hebrew word panah, from which the Hebrew word for "face" (paniym) is derived. Because of this, the word panah is better translated as "to face, turn the face towards". Therefore, the end of verse 21 is better translated as "... and turn their faces upward".
The word "trouble" was translated from the Hebrew word tsarah, which is related to the verb tsarar meaning "to bind, be narrow, be in distress". Therefore, a somewhat better translation than "trouble" is "distress".]
The word "light" in verse 20 was mistranslated from the Hebrew word shachar, which actually means "dawn". In Malachi 4, the "day of the Lord" is the time when the Sun of Righteousness shall rise and shine. Therefore, the "dawn" of Isaiah 8:20 refers to the latter-day manifestation of God among His people. When God is declaring that "there is no dawn in them", He is saying that He shall in no way manifest Himself through them, and anyone who follows after them is following lost people who are after a lost cause. Those who reject His apostolic law and judgments shall in no way see God manifested in them, and those who reject His prophetic testimony about His latter-rain manifestation shall in no way be pleasing to the Lord of hosts.
As we have said before, black-horse riders are apostle-prophets who are prophetically launching apostolic judgments into the Church's structures from out in the "uncovered" wilderness. Therefore, these black-horse riders are the ones who chose not to reject God's apostolic law or His prophetic testimony. As they continue their spiritual bombardment against the Church, they will create a sense of emptiness and frustration in her. Why? Because those judgments will expose the emptiness that the Church has been trying to "fake out" all along. This is why Isaiah 8:21 speaks of the matriarchal Church being "bestead and hungry".
Even so, most of the Church will refuse to admit her mistake, and, instead of repenting under God's black-horse judgments, she will "fret herself", i.e.- get angrily frustrated, and she will curse by her king and her god (v21). In other words, she will reaffirm her belief in her Amorite kings and her Canaanite golden-calf gods, and she will defiantly "turn her face upward" (v21) against the God who is confronting her. She will be angry over the fact that the "human cover" above her has been blown and that she is being exposed for what she is, a Sheol of spiritual emptiness.
The Church will then "look unto the earth" (v22) to find solutions in her earthly methods, but she shall find nothing but apostolic "distress" and prophetic "darkness" caused by God's black-horse apostle-prophets. They will find "dimness of anguish" (v22) as God's black-horse cloud hovers over them, and they will be "thrust into darkness" (v22). This process is going on even as we speak.
The word "darkness" in Isaiah 8:22 was translated from the Hebrew word aphelah, which is derived from another word meaning "to set as the sun". As we said above, God declares that there is no "dawn" in those who cling to their faith in the matriarchal Church. They may try to "tweak" a thing here and a thing there in order to pretend like they are improving and growing, but they will never see the dawn of resurrection unless they die first.
Around the month of July 2005, a month or two before the Katrina disaster, the Lord was constantly reminding me of a song from 1982 called "New Year's Day" by an Irish group called "U2". The song would play in my heart constantly, and, now, as I have been typing these words, the song has been playing again in my heart. These are the song's lyrics:
All is quiet on New Year's Day ///Oh, oh///
Oh, maybe the time is right A close look at these lyrics reveals that it is Yeshua singing to the world about His return ("I'll be with you again"). At the beginning of the song, the singer speaks about "a world in white" getting underway on New Year's Day. This speaks of a Church (and a world) that goes on with "business as usual", without realizing that God is longing to start a brand new spiritual day. The Church is "in white" because it is like a whited sepulcher covered in external piety and religiosity, when it is actually dead on the inside (because, like a corpse, it is going nowhere fast). The temporal chronos years go by quickly, but the spiritual kairos years are being stalled. While the Church racks up meaningless chronological years, it is hindering the Year of Jubilee that God is longing to start. This is why the song says, "Nothing changes on New Year's Day". Even so, Yeshua continues to sing "I will be with you again", for God has determined it, and no man will be able to stop it.
Notice how the singer then speaks about a "crowd" of "chosen few" gathering under a blood-red sky. This prophetically refers to the believers who have heeded God's red-horse shout and who have come out from the structures of man and onto the lonely, uncovered wilderness. As the crowd gathers outside, the red-horse shout turns into blood-red wrath against those who choose to ignore His shout. This is when the black horse of "famines" is manifested.
The "newspaper" that the singer refers to is the Gospel, the "Good News" of spiritual liberation that God has prophesied in Scripture. When the newspaper says "It is true, it is true", it is saying, "The revival and the liberation of My people shall come to pass, for My word is true; heaven and earth may pass away, but My word shall remain forever".
The phrase "We can break through" is a prophetic reference to the breaker of Micah 2:12-13, to the spiritual Pharez that will not yield until God's purposes are fulfilled.
"12I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold: they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men. 13The breaker is come up before them: they have broken up, and have passed through the gate, and are gone out by it: and their king shall pass before them, and the LORD on the head of them." (Micah 2:12-13)
The matriarchal Church has worked to keep God's people separated from God, but God shall be One with His people once again. This is why the song declares that, "though torn in two, we can be one".
Notice how the singer ends the song with a complaint about "gold", which refers to man's search for human glory. God's manifestation has been hindered by man's desire to shine over others. Instead of promoting and enabling the Kingship of God, the Church's "ministers" have been struggling to promote their own kingship by turning the brethren into spiritual "goldfish" who are not aware of their own spiritual potential and who, therefore, are content to swim and swim inside the minister's little fishbowl kingdom. So, despite the Lord's constant desire to be with us, nothing changes on New Year's Day.
The Church wants the "dawning of the Age of Aquarius" without dying to its pastoral, soul matriarchy, but no one can resurrect if he does not die first. The only true dawn is a Post-Mortem dawn, a "P.M. Dawn", but the Church wants an Amorite-Mastery dawn, an "A.M. Dawn" in which the Church's Amorites remain in charge as the Sun comes up. But, an "A.M. Dawn" shall never happen, for God shall share His Glory with no one, and cursed be the "ministers" who are hindering His manifestation!!!
In the next prophetic word, we will study Jeremiah 8, the other chapter referred to by sister Lauretta at the top of her prophetic word. We will then see how both Isaiah 8 and Jeremiah 8 apply to Katrina's & Rita's attack on New Orleans and the American South, and we will also see how Isaiah 8 and Jeremiah 8 relate to sister Lauretta's prophetic word about what is coming to America and why. |