Prophetic word for today
Katrina is hard on Big Easy (Part 1)

First posted: September 15, 2005
Word received: August & September 2005
Received by: Shamah-Elim Bible Studies

By Saturday August 27, 2005, it became evident that hurricane Katrina was on its way to strike the city of New Orleans, USA. The mayor of New Orleans ordered a "mandatory evacuation", which led to a hectic exodus during the quiet morning of Sunday, August 28. The next day, on Monday August 29, Katrina hit the Gulf Coast states of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, causing devastating damage.

Many breathed a sigh of relief in New Orleans on Tuesday morning. Katrina, a category-4 hurricane, had veered off to the east and did not impact New Orleans directly. However, as many in New Orleans celebrated their "good luck", bad news began to spread about breaches in the city's levees. Water from nearby Lake Pontchartrain began gushing into the city, and, as the hours went by, 80% of the city became flooded.

Tens of thousands did not leave the city, despite the mandatory evacuation order. Many went to the New Orleans Superdome as a last-minute resort, and most people there thought that they would only have to stay there for a few hours as the worst of the hurricane passed on through. Few thought, however, that the hurricane's passing was only the beginning of the disaster.

Hurricane Katrina affected oil production and refinement in the Gulf Coast. A large percentage of the oil drills and refineries in the U.S. were in Katrina's path, which led to another increase in the prices of oil and gasoline.

This is the prophetic interpretation of these events:

"Judgment Day is far away"

On Sunday, September 5, 2004, the Lord prompted us to post an article entitled "Easy like Sunday morning". This article was a follow-up to the article entitled "The rise of women during the Revival", which was posted on August 29, 2004, exactly one year before hurricane Katrina made landfall. In the "rise of women" article, we studied what Isaiah 32:9-12 did not mean, and, in the "easy" article, we studied what Isaiah 32:9-12 did mean. In that article, we shared on how Isaiah 32:9-12 speaks against the spirit of "pastoral ease" that denies judgments and prompts people to be permanently passive, to "take it easy", and to have a "good time".

Some days after we posted the "easy" article, hurricane Ivan was traveling up towards the U.S. Gulf Coast, and initial projections had it heading for New Orleans. When I heard that, I sensed in my spirit that the Lord was angry at New Orleans, and that He would unleash His judgments against the "easy spirit" in that city; this was prompted by the fact that New Orleans proudly calls itself "The Big Easy". I was personally getting ready to write a prophetic word about Ivan striking the city that personified the "easy spirit" in America. I was surprised, therefore, when Ivan veered to the east and hit Mobile, Alabama instead (on September 16, 2004, exactly 11 days after we posted the "easy" article).

In my inner being, I became convinced that some people in Louisiana (and Texas) had been praying to God to spare New Orleans from the wrath of Ivan, and I was certain that these people must have seen Ivan's turn east as a sign of victory and an example of "answered prayer". I was reminded in my inner being of the Columbine tragedy. Some years ago, I read a book where the author shared about a vision she had had of kids being shot in a school. Apparently, the vision pointed to the shooting taking place in a specific town in Colorado, USA. People in that town, therefore, responded to the vision by praying that God would save that town from such a shooting. A short time after that, the well-publicized school shooting in Columbine took place. The book's author cited this story as an example of "successful" prophetic intercession. Why? Because the shooting had taken place in a different town in Colorado. The town it was originally intended for had been spared. I was saddened and angered to read that the book's author (an internationally renowned prophetess) could be so spiritually stupid and senseless as to consider this a "success" story!!! This prophetess, along with the original Colorado town, had shown the selfishness of Hezekiah. As we have shared before, king Hezekiah had been a good and faithful servant of God, but, at the end of his life, he became so concerned about enjoying a "well-deserved" Hivite retirement that he didn't mind seeing others suffer as long as he was spared the suffering (Isaiah 39:5-8). In other words, he didn't mind the "bullet" bouncing off of him and hitting anyone else; all he wanted was that the bullet not hurt him.

Prophetic "intercession" such as the one described above has two basic problems:

1. It does not deal with the root issues (it is anti-apostolic)

   When people pray for a problem to "go away", they are generally motivated by the inconvenience and "unease" of the problem. It is as if the problem were a random event that inconveniently stumbled across their path. Most believers seem not to be interested in the root issues being exposed by the problem's appearance. They just want the problem to go away so that they may go on with their "regularly-scheduled programming". To most believers, we are trapped in a chaotic universe where we can be hit by random "meteorites" at any moment in time.

    

   Just before typing these very words, the Lord prompted me to turn to the TBN channel. At that precise moment, they were scrolling words from a world-famous evangelist who had a brief message regarding Katrina. In those words, this old evangelist said that "evil" was a mystery that we would never understand in this lifetime. How sad!!! How pathetic!!! How pitiful!!! A world-famous evangelist who has worked in the ministry for decades beholds the Katrina incident and finds himself having no answers. The sad thing is that he then proceeds to generalize his ignorance, as if to say, "If we, the big-time ministers, have no answers, it must mean that mankind was not meant to understand these mysteries". Compare the words of this man against the words of God:

    

   "2 It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter. 3 The heaven for height, and the earth for depth, and the heart of kings is unsearchable." (Proverbs 25:2-3)

    

   "And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." (Revelation 1:6)

    

   "Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not" (Jeremiah 33:3)

    

   Do these passages sound as if God wants to hide His wisdom behind a shroud of impenetrable mystery? The reason why most believers (including the big-time "ministers") remain in the dark about most things is because they are unwilling to pay the price required to penetrate into the truth behind these mysteries. These big-time "ministers" are trapped by the spirit of "ease" and are too comfortable with their limited spiritual understanding. Therefore, they resort to long-winded messages with no spiritual substance that hide their spiritual ignorance and lack of growth. Obviously, we cannot know all things at once, but God longs for us to have an attitude of constant growth in His apostolic, trailblazing wisdom. Those of you who are willing to pay the apostolic price of "desert" suffering will grow in His wisdom, and the deep spiritual secrets shall be a secret no more. God meant for His Church to be a Body of apostolic "secret revealers" that prophetically launch this revealed wisdom into the heavenlies in order to tear down principalities and powers and manifest His Glory:

    

   "10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, 11 According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: 12 In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. 13 Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory" (Ephesians 3:10-13)

   [Through his tribulations (v13), brother Paul acted as a trailblazer who broke new wisdom ground in the spirit realm so that God's purposes would be fulfilled on Earth. We are called to do the same (1 Corinthians 11:1).]

    

   Doesn't verse 12 above declare that we can confidently approach God by faith? Why do all these big-time ministers "confidently approach" God when they want a bigger building or a nicer car, and then turn around to say that we cannot "confidently approach" God to understand the deep things of the Spirit? When Solomon approached God in prayer, he asked for wisdom to make judgments (1 Kings 3:9). He did not ask for wealth and health. Instead of being spurned by God for doing this, Solomon found grace in the eyes of God, and he was freely given the wisdom he asked for (1 Kings 3:10-12).

    

   "10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? 12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?" (Luke 11:10-12)

   [God wants us to ask for "bread" (His prophetic impartation), "fish" (His evangelistic impartation - Luke 5:10), and "egg" (His apostolic impartation). In order to eat an egg, you must crack its hard shell to get to the soft inside, which is a figure of how the apostolic impartation allows us to act as trailblazers who break through difficult barriers in order to discover new territories for others.]

    

   "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." (James 1:5)

    

   "3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. 4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. 5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? 6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble." (James 4:3-6)

    

   Cursed be those who deny God's desire to impart His wisdom to His children!!! Cursed be those who want to keep God's people in the darkness of the Middleman Ages!!! Cursed be those who teach others to be "at ease" with spiritual darkness!!! The Lord Jesus did not die at Calvary to raise up a bunch of blind believers who bump into each other in utter ineptness and ignorance, like the Sodomites before their destruction (Genesis 19:10-11). The Lord Jesus died at Golgotha to raise up an apostolic, prophetic, and evangelistic people who would tear down giants and manifest God's Nature on Earth (Ezekiel 37:10, Joel 2:1-11, 2 Samuel 23:8-39, Isaiah 32:3-4).

    

   "33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! 34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? 35 Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?" (Romans 11:33-35)

    

   Many take the passage above as an excuse to justify spiritual ignorance. However, this passage is really declaring that, without the mind of the Lord, it is impossible to understand the underlying truths of the Spirit. However, we have been given the mind of the Lord so that we may grow in our understanding of these deep truths:

    

   "14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. 16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. 1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. 2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. 3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?" (1 Corinthians 2:14-3:3)

    

   According to verse 3 above, the only impediment to growing in the Lord's wisdom is carnality, not capability. Milk is OK when we are babies, but, just like any caring father, God wants to see us grow and eat "meat". God does not want us "walking like carnal, mortal men" (v3). He wants us to walk like spirit beings, like sons and daughters of God.

    

   The Lord does not get angry at us not knowing. He gets angry at us not caring to know. Therefore, when believers simply pray for the problem to "go away", they are not praying as spirit beings; they are praying as mortal men, and they are not praying according to God's will (James 4:3).

    

   According to Scripture, wisdom is for the making of judgments (2 Chronicles 1:10) , and judgments work righteousness. Therefore, those who hunger for wisdom are those who hunger for His righteousness. Wisdom seekers are those who use God's sword of judgment logos to cut through external appearances to get to the spiritual roots of problems. Righteousness seekers are not interested in just seeing the problem "go away". They are interested in plucking out the roots that drew the problem in in the first place, and they are not afraid to execute judgments to cut those roots out.

    

2. It is willing to hurt others out of selfishness (it is anti-prophetic)

   Out of Girgashite selfishness, the people in Louisiana who prayed for hurricane Ivan not to hit New Orleans last year were more concerned about New Orleans than about disintegrating Ivan altogether. The people in the Colorado town who prayed against the oncoming school shooting were more interested in that shooting not happening in their town than about destroying the shooting incident altogether. When the shooting happened at Columbine instead, it was seen as "successful" intercession. Shootings go on in America's ghettos everyday, but it seems as if most Christians in America only care about shootings when they are personally affected. If the bullet can be made to bounce off their chests and on to somebody else's, they see the operation as a spiritual success. The Church lacks a spirit of voluntary prophetic sacrifice for others.

As we have studied before, Moses "interceded" on behalf of the people (Exodus 32:7-14) to prevent them from being destroyed by God's wrath (not satan's). Even though most preachers see this as an example of successful intercession, the Lord clearly declared that Moses was only able to postpone His judgment, because the roots of unrighteousness in the people remained in place; the people did not repent of their sin:

"34 Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, mine Angel shall go before thee: nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them. 35 And the LORD plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made." (Exodus 32:34-35)

As we have said before, the "spirit of ease" causes people to believe that "Judgment Day" is "any day but today". When hurricane Ivan veered to the east last year (2004), it gave New Orleans a false sense of confidence about its anti-judgment "pastoral shield". Although I did not understand it at the time, the Lord was using Ivan as a snare, as a decoy for what He would send one year later.

When Katrina was gathering steam in the Gulf Coast, some forecasters predicted that Katrina would take the same path as Ivan. When I heard this, I was again puzzled. I wondered why New Orleans would be dodging the bullet again. However, my heart continued feeling God's desire to strike New Orleans, and, a short time later, forecasters began predicting that Katrina would hit New Orleans, and they warned of a massive catastrophe.

On Monday morning, I woke up and turned on the news, expecting to hear of great disaster in New Orleans. I was surprised, however, when Fox News reporter Shepard Smith (a Mississippi native), stood victoriously over a dry French quarter the next day, saying that New Orleans had "gotten lucky" once again. At the last minute, Katrina had veered to the east of New Orleans, and the city had not received the brunt of the storm's winds.

I wondered why New Orleans had been able to escape God's judgment once again. However, even though all the camera shots from New Orleans showed the city to be in relatively good shape, the silent text and ticker at the bottom of the screen spoke of water filtering through the levees. When I read that, I immediately knew, "It is done. God has done it. New Orleans has been destroyed. It is only a matter of time now.".

When people simply postpone God's judgments (as Moses did in Exodus 32:7-14), they do not cause the judgment to "go away". They simply allow it to accumulate all the more, making the eventual disaster worse than the one originally planned by God (Luke 11:26). You may put up a levee to hold off the flood of God's judgments for a while, but, unless you destroy the roots of unrighteousness that drew God's judgment "water" in the first place, that water will continue accumulating at the pastoral levee until the levee eventually breaks and a worse disaster takes place.

When Jonah announced the coming judgment on the city of Nineveh (Jonah 3:1-4), the judgment waters receded because the city sincerely repented. It held itself accountable for its own unrighteousness, and all the people in that city (both "great" and "small") repented in sackcloth and ashes before God (Jonah 3:5-10). Once Nineveh began dealing with its roots of unrighteousness, God's will (not man's) was to spare Nineveh from destruction. Ironically, Nineveh eventually regressed into sin once again, and the judgment waters came back. This second time, however, Nineveh was not spared. According to historians, all the peoples in the Middle East rejoiced when Nineveh was destroyed, because the Assyrians (who had Nineveh as their capital) had been an evil and oppressive people. Nineveh's eventual destruction (around 612 B.C.) was prophesied in the book of Nahum, over 100 years after Jonah's prophecy. Nahum's prophecy is not only about the destruction of Nineveh but about the destruction of the spirit of Assyria that promotes the pastoral matriarchy in the Church. The Church repented of its Babylon spirit during the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, but she quickly regressed into the Babylon spirit, like a dog that goes back to its vomit (2 Peter 2:22).

As we said at the beginning, the "Easy like Sunday morning" article was posted on the Sunday morning of September 5, 2004. Exactly 51 weeks later, on the Sunday morning of August 28, 2005, many New Orleans residents were not enjoying an "easy" Sunday morning but were, instead, hastily evacuating the city. This is no coincidence. As we have briefly said before, the number "51" is related to the "Hittite deceit of the pastoral matriarchy" (this can be discerned from Jeremiah chapter 51 and other passages). Therefore, the 51 weeks that elapsed speak of the deceit that God ensnared New Orleans into.

"I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against the LORD." (Jeremiah 50:24)

"39 In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the LORD. 40 I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he goats." (Jeremiah 51:39-40)

[Many people in the French Quarter were partying and listening to music even as Katrina approached]

Katrina hit New Orleans on August 29, 2005, exactly 358 days after the "Easy like Sunday morning" posting. This points to what we shared about the number "358" in a word that the Lord made us post 20 days before Katrina hit. In that word, the Lord prompted us to mention Isaiah 17:9, since 358 equals 179 times 2:

"9 In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough, and an uppermost branch, which they left because of the children of Israel: and there shall be desolation. 10 Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips: 11 In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow." (Isaiah 17:9-11)

Over a 51-week period, God lulled "Big Easy" into a false sense of "ease", and then He struck her down with the desolation of Isaiah 17:9. In the same way, God is lulling the anti-judgment Canaanites in the Church into a false sense of "ease". He has sent a spirit of deceit (2 Chronicles 18:22) that has convinced the judgment-hating believers that the God of Judgments died at Golgotha 2000 years ago and that His judgments against them (1 Peter 4:17) will never come. That way, God is setting them up for destruction as He did with New Orleans:

"11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12)

[As we have said before, truth and judgments are inextricably intertwined in Scripture. Therefore, those who believe in His truth will inevitably believe in (and long for) His judgments. Those who hate God's judgments are those who take pleasure in unrighteousness, since judgments come to destroy the unrighteousness which they protect. Judgment haters are "at ease" with unrighteousness, as long as that unrighteousness does not personally inconvenience them in some way.]

When Noah was building the ark on dry ground, the people of his day would laugh at him. They thought it ludicrous that God would ever rain judgment upon them. They did not see themselves as "deserving" of such treatment. So shall it again be before the parousia of the Son of Man:

"38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." (Matthew 24:38-39)

The people of Noah's days had no sense of urgency about an impending danger. While Noah was busy building a huge ark, people were going about their daily business because, to them, "Judgment Day" was always at least "a day away". In the same way, the city of New Orleans was impervious to the warnings of judgment that were in the air. As the Katrina story has unfolded, it has been disclosed that the "New Orleans Times-Picayune", the most important paper in New Orleans, had written the following on June 23, 2002:

"It is only a matter of time before south Louisiana takes a direct hit from a major hurricane. Billions have been spent to protect us, but we grow more vulnerable every day."

The next day, on June 24, 2002, it wrote:

"It is a matter of when, not if ... Some will be housed at the Superdome, the designated shelter in New Orleans for people too sick or infirm to leave the city. Others will end up in last-minute emergency refuges that will offer minimal safety. But many will simply be on their own ... Thousands will drown while trapped in homes or cars by rising water. Others will be washed away or crushed by debris. Survivors will end up trapped on roofs, in buildings or on high ground surrounded by water, with no means of escape and little food or fresh water, perhaps for several days."

Even so, neither the leaders nor the people of Louisiana in general became concerned. Despite prophetic warnings such as the ones quoted above, the people of New Orleans went on with business as usual. Despite the warning of Ivan in 2004 and despite the well-known fact that the city's levees were unable to withstand a Category-4 hurricane, no one thought that "Judgment Day" would come. To the people of New Orleans, life was about drinking, enjoying jazz music and watching women flashing their breasts during Mardi Gras. To them (as with most believers in the Church), the God of Judgments was nowhere to be seen.

When God's judgment was on its way, there was no sense of urgency in New Orleans. Many are angry at the U.S. Federal government for not helping the old and infirm to leave the city before Katrina struck. However, most of the people who took refuge in the Superdome at the last minute were neither "old" nor "infirm". Most of them were able-bodied men and women who thought that they needed to take refuge from the hurricane's winds for a few hours before returning to their regular lives. While many argue that the poor could not leave the city due to lack of transportation, you will notice that none of the poor interviewed on TV have said that they tried to leave the city but were unable to because of their finances. When you know that danger is on its way and you find yourself unable to get out of the way, you will kick and scream for help before it is too late. People who heed the warning of danger will proactively seek a way out. They will make calls. They will test alternatives. They will cry out for help and suffer through much frustration as they face uncooperative obstacles. In the case of New Orleans' poor, however, there was no such frustration. Their only frustration was at not getting help after the danger hit, not before, which shows that they were not too concerned about the danger of Katrina. It is as if they expected un-requested limousines that would appear in front of their homes, wait half-an-hour as they packed their things, and then take them to Las Vegas for a month of "maxing and relaxing" while Katrina did its damage! If a comfortable exit was not presented before them, they would not leave, because the cursed "spirit of ease" prompts people to eliminate any proactive option that involves too much effort, frustration, or sacrifice. When God took Lot out of Sodom, He told him to "flee to the mountain" (Genesis 19:17). Why didn't He magically "tele-transport" Lot and his family to the mountain? Because God places the onus of fleeing on the "flee-er". He will help those who want to flee, but the "flee-er" must show an urgent disposition to flee. This is how God distinguishes those who are worthy of escaping from those who are not.

"34 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. 35 For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man." (Luke 21:34-36)

[Notice the Lord's call to self-responsibility in the phrase "take heed to yourselves" (v34)]

Like the people of New Orleans, the Church is also expecting God to tele-transport them out of this world in the "Rapture". As we have said before, they expect God to establish His Kingdom on Earth independently of our actions, instead of understanding that He will establish it through us. The Kingdom of God does not come through idle observation; it comes as it is birthed from within us and into the world (Luke 17:20-21). Cursed be the "spirit of ease" inside the Church, and cursed be all the Canaanite pastors who promote this spirit!!! The God of Judgments is at the door, and He shall clean His House, for the time of His manifestation has come, and He shall shine through His people!!!

The spirit of ease leads to negligence and to a low sense of self-responsibility. If "Mommy Government" would not offer a quick and easy evacuation, the people of New Orleans would not find it for themselves. This is what set them up for the tragedy that God poured upon them.

Portrait of a modern Sodom

New Orleans is known as a "party town", a place where people can go drink, party, and have a "good time". As most of you may know, New Orleans celebrates a "festival" known as "Mardi Gras", which is an event where people are given a license to engage in lewd practices. In New Orleans, the spirit of prostitution is strong, and it is famous for corruption in its police force and government officials. New Orleans is also known for its voodoo and other occult practices.

Architecturally speaking, New Orleans is an ugly and underdeveloped town; it is more of an "overgrown town" than a "small city". Yet, people from all over the world visit it because they are drawn by the sin this wicked city offers. This world recognition has made the city's people very proud of their city, and it has added to the emotional attachment to it. Since most of the people there are trapped in poverty and underdevelopment (due to the spirit of negligent ease), the city's fame becomes the people's main source of self-worth.

From all of the above, it becomes evident that the city of New Orleans has been dominated by 3 evil spirits:

1. The Canaanite spirit

   The word "Canaanite" literally means "lowlands", which correlates with the fact that New Orleans is a city below sea level. It also correlates with the low passions and carnal excesses that are an accepted part of New Orleans life.

    

2. The Hivite spirit

   New Orleans has sold itself as a "party destination", and it attracts Hivite "rich kids" who don't think twice about spending their parents' money. New Orleans has therefore become a Hivite stronghold in America that promotes the blasphemous Hivite spirit that abuses grace, the way that "rich boy" Shechem, son of Hamor the Hivite, did to Dinah (Genesis 34:1-2). 

    

3. The Amorite spirit

   Because of its tourist success and worldwide reputation, a spirit of Amorite pride has overtaken New Orleans. This may not be the primary spirit in New Orleans, but it is definitely there. Once the Canaanite and Hivite layers have been peeled off, New Orleans' Amorite pride comes into full view.

    

As you can see, New Orleans is by no means "your ordinary American city". It is a stronghold of Canaanite and Hivite excesses in America. It is surprising, however, that all the renowned "ministers" who have spoken about Katrina on TV fail to emphasize (or to even mention) this. Why? Because the cursed pastoral matriarchy has numbed the Church's sensitivity against unrighteousness. Because the Canaanite pastors are anti-judgment, they have allowed the Canaanite, Hivite, and Amorite spirits to flood the Church; that is why they subliminally identify themselves with the evil spirits in New Orleans. To criticize New Orleans would be to criticize themselves. That is the reason why they seem to see nothing wrong with the "Big Easy".

"1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. 2 The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. 3 They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one." (Psalm 14:1-3)

[The phrase "There is no God" (v1) is not referring to "atheists" per se. It is referring to people who look around and say, "Why should I feel accountable for my actions? Is there a God around who is looking at my actions? Is there a God of judgment who will hold me accountable for what I am about to do?" This has been the spirit prevalent in New Orleans.]

How can people feel "surprised" that this tragedy has befallen New Orleans? How can idiotic "ministers" appear on television and claim that satan did this to New Orleans? Why would satan destroy one of his most precious strongholds in America? Does satan cast out satan (Matthew 12:26)? God's wrath shall be upon all the "ministerial" fools who are speaking in His Holy Name, attributing this disaster to the unrighteous hands of satan. It was the Righteous and Holy hands of God that have unleashed justice upon the unrighteous spirits in New Orleans and upon all the "parishioners" who uphold these spirits!!!

Cajun frog pond

As we have said before, the "frog" spirit is a combination of the Canaanite and Amorite spirits. As we have also said before the black horse of the Apocalypse comes to expose the structures of unrighteousness and iniquity that are hidden in the spirit realm. Since New Orleans has been a city dominated by the Canaanite and Amorite spirits, it has been a city teeming with spiritual frogs. Therefore, it is not surprising that the black horse has come to turn New Orleans into a literal pond of contaminated fluid.

In various parts of New Orleans (including the Superdome and the Convention Center), the stench has been reported to be almost "unbearable". Therefore, the Lord has revealed New Orleans' "froggy stench". The stench of New Orleans' sinfulness, which has been reaching the Lord's nostrils for years and years, is now being manifested in the natural realm for all to "enjoy".

As we have said before, frog queens have a "Let them eat cake" attitude when it comes to "plebeians". Therefore, it is not surprising that, shortly after Katrina hit, Barbara Bush, George W. Bush's mother, said in an interview that the New Orleans evacuees were living in acceptable conditions in the refuges; she added that, since most of them were poor, the conditions there were not too different from their regular living conditions. Frog ponds breed frog queens. Therefore, Barbara Bush's impromptu comments are a reflection of the frog-queen carelessness that is bred when frog ponds are tolerated.

Canaanite manifestations

As we have said before, the "undercover" black horse of the Apocalypse makes the invisible structures in the spirit realm evident in the natural realm. Therefore, Katrina has come to manifest the Canaanite nature of New Orleans in multiple ways:

	Water overflow The overflow of water from Lake Pontchartrain into low-lying New Orleans is a figure of how the Canaanite spirit causes the outpouring of emotional excesses for base purposes.
	Toxic swamp New Orleans was turned into a toxic swamp filled with human waste, human corpses, and dangerous chemicals. According to a September 9 report on Fox News Channel, the toxic New Orleans water had "stuff" that scientists were unable to recognize! Wherever the Canaanite spirit is allowed to fester, the place is turned into a deadly and repugnant cesspool that contaminates anyone who comes in contact with it.
	Violence After New Orleans became flooded, looters went out in force to steal TV sets, expensive sneakers, and electronic equipment. There were also reports of armed thugs that broke into the homes of the people who stayed behind to rob them and rape them. The U.S. National Guard was also forced to deal with snipers who began to shoot at rescuers in an effort to prevent law enforcement from intruding on their freedom to commit crimes in various sectors of the flooded city. As we have said before, Scripture reveals that the Canaanite spirit of "ease" breeds violence. Any place where the Canaanite spirit is allowed to fester will eventually have high levels of violence and the "breaking of enterings":   "8 Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof. 9 And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door. 10 But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door." (Genesis 19:8-10)
	Unhealthy emotional attachment As most of you may know, some 10,000 people were unwilling to leave their flooded homes, even when rescuers pleaded with them to leave. This reveals how the Canaanite spirit leads to emotional attachments that shut people's minds off and prevent them from making sane spiritual judgments.   There is also a hidden spiritual reason behind this reluctance to leave their homes. By leaving, they will be admitting that there is "something wrong" with New Orleans. They will have to admit that their beloved town is not all it is cracked up to be. Because of their "Cajun pride" (the Lord just whispered that phrase into my left ear), they are unwilling to accept that God has a judgment against them. This prideful rejection of God's judgment is a manifestation of the Canaanite-Amorite "frog" spirit (Canaanites hate God's judgments, and Amorites are proud people). Just like the Indian people, they do not want to admit that their current state of poverty and scarcity is caused by the sinful culture and practices they so dearly cherish.   In an NBC Nightly News broadcast (aired on September 8, 2005), a reporter ended his piece by saying, "10 days later, Katrina still has the power to separate families". This again reveals God's judgment against the Canaanite spirit of overzealous emotional attachment to other souls. Canaanites hate the emotional loneliness of wilderness judgments. Their low pain threshold prevents them from lasting too long when they are separated from their "loved ones". However, time and time again, Scripture shows that God's deepest work in people's lives is done when God apostolically deals with them one on one, amidst a prophetic privacy where there is no one to listen to but God Himself:   "21 So went the present over before him: and himself lodged that night in the company. 22 And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two womenservants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok. 23 And he took them, and sent them over the brook, and sent over that he had. 24 And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day." (Genesis 32:21-24)   Those who shall be found worthy of participating in God's spiritual rapture (not the rapture advertised by the eschatological parrots) are those who are able to relate directly with the Lord Himself, without depending on permanent intermediaries:   "15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17) [If you wait for the "shout" (v16) to come from a human leader, you will never hear it. You will only hear it if your interested in hearing from "the Lord Himself" (v16), because He Himself will be the One doing the shouting. If you are only interested in hearing man and religion (Revelation 2:9, 3:9), your ear will be deaf to His shout (Revelation 2:7, 2:11, 2:17, 2:29, 3:6, 3:13, 3:22). All that happened in August 2005 was caused by the invisible "voice of the archangel" (v16). Let him who has ears hear that voice!!!]

The black horse

Katrina was a continuation of the black-horse judgments God inflicted upon man during August 2005. Katrina flooded 80% of New Orleans, which means that only 20% of the city was not flooded. As we have shared before, the black horse comes to judge spiritual dependence on others, and it comes to demand the 20% of evangelistic grace that we must produce on our own. Our eternal and lasting inheritance is ultimately determined by the 20% that we produce (in Christ), and not on the 80% we receive thanks to the efforts of others. The 80% of evangelistic grace that we receive from others is to be invested in this life in order for us to produce evangelistic grace for others. In other words, the 80% from others does not "survive" past this life; only the other 20% endures forever. This is the reason why only 20% of New Orleans escaped Katrina's flooding.

As we have shared before, the black horse attacks regions in the "spiritual west" where Cain (turned into a wandering Balaam) flees to escape from God's laws (revealed through "pestilent" red-horse riders). Therefore, it is not surprising that New Orleans was to the west of Katrina as she made landfall. The fact that the black horse attacks "wandering Balaams" also explains the masses of people in New Orleans who were left to wander in the overpasses, with nowhere to go and no one to tell them where to go. This is what spiritually dependent people look like in the eyes of God. To be dependent upon man is equivalent to being an aimless wanderer in life. This spiritual wandering was also exposed as corpses aimlessly floated over the flood waters in New Orleans. Spiritually dependent people are like aimless gypsies, like aimless ships in the sea of life.

As we have said before, the black horse comes to reveal the emptiness of depending upon human leadership, and it comes to expose that leadership's frailties. This is the reason why Katrina made it evident that the local authorities in New Orleans and Louisiana were not prepared to deal with a major emergency. The New Orleans mayor, the New Orleans police, and the Louisiana governor were shown to be inept, negligent, and irresponsible in their handling of the Katrina disaster. Instead of helping and enabling, local authorities acted as roadblocks that impeded the arrival of outside help from the Red Cross and the federal government. The federal agency FEMA also showed itself to be encumbered by bureaucratic red tape that slowed the relief effort even more. 

As you may know, the New Orleans mayor left hundreds of school buses unutilized. Instead of using them to evacuate the truly needy, the Big Easy mayor left the buses in their parking lots, and they were eventually flooded by the waters. In the meantime, the Big Easy mayor took his things and moved to a nice house in Dallas. He even enrolled one of his children in a Dallas school this year, and he was nowhere to be seen as the people of New Orleans were suffering in stinky refuges. When things got hard, the Big Easy mayor took off. The self-feeding wolves are not good at "hands-on" leadership. Getting their hands dirty to help "plebeian sheep" is just not their style!

Katrina's aftermath has caused people to focus a great deal of attention on the small children who were separated from their parents. This emphasizes the black horse's judgment against the spirit of dependence. In God's eyes, there is nothing wrong with being a "dependent child" for a time. However, He is against those who choose to remain as dependent children and who don't care to grow (1 Corinthians 3:1-2, Hebrews 5:11-14).

The conditions in the New Orleans Superdome refuge quickly became intolerable. Because of this, the people there had to be moved to the "Reliant Astrodome" in Houston, Texas. The name "Reliant" once again reveals God's judgment against people who have chosen to be spiritually dependent on others.

The Katrina disaster also revealed a major area of dependence in the American economy. A significant percentage of oil refineries and oil drills are located in the Gulf Coast area. Therefore, when Katrina hit, many refineries and drills had to be shut down, which only worsened the oil and gasoline scarcity caused by China's and India's massive consumption of oil. God is calling America to become less dependent on oil in general, especially foreign oil, but America has for the most part been oblivious to this call. After 4 years of effort on president Bush's part, the U.S. Congress finally passed an energy bill sponsored by him, but only after much "pork" spending was added to the bill. Even though the bill was passed, America has still not fully addressed its oil dependence. God is calling America to develop a much less centralized energy grid where consumers are able to produce their own solar and wind energy. A centralized energy source would then provide the additional energy that the consumer is unable to produce on his or her own. These centralized energy sources would produce atomic, solar, hydroelectric, and wind energy that is cleaner and not dependent on oil production. The idea would be to produce a hybrid network that is not dependent on a single type or physical source of energy. To do this, the American government would provide the necessary hardware required for each home to produce its own solar and wind energy, and each home would make reasonable, regular payments to buy this hardware off. Under this "freedom-from-oil" plan, the American government would also launch a massive and well-organized plan that would be geared towards filling America with hydrogen-fuel and "electricity" stations. The plan would provide loans and other resources to entrepreneurs interested in setting up such stations. This would provide a boom for the hydrogen and electric car industry, which would take off under the assurance that the country is committed to this mode of transportation.

The oil industry is corrupted by the spirit of Amorite-bear domination. OPEC is a cartel that manipulates oil production and prices, and the oil companies (including American companies) work in secretive collusion to control gas prices. Therefore, any attempt to free America from oil dependence will definitely lead to a huge spiritual battle by those interested in preserving the Amorite oil stronghold. Whereas airline companies (like Delta) are going bankrupt due to the free and overly competitive airline market, oil companies have for years enjoyed the benefit of an inelastic gasoline demand that operates in a market that is anything but "free" or "competitive". As long as America refuses to make its oil demand more "elastic", oil companies will continue with an oligopoly that they will never give up on their own, because Amorites must always be conquered by force (Luke 11:21).

The recent hike in oil prices is a manifestation of God's black-horse judgment against oil dependence. God's strike against the oil refineries and drills in the Gulf Coast is God's judgment against dependence on centralized sources of energy. Even so, most people, especially believers, refuse to understand.

When compared to other hurricanes, Katrina's relief effort was made particularly difficult by the infrastructure damage caused by Katrina. In an interview aired on the Fox News Channel, a person involved in the relief efforts said that they were being forced not only to provide the emergency relief, but also to build the infrastructure necessary to provide that relief. As we have said before, the black horse comes to attack the human structures in which people have placed their trust. This is the reason why the black horse generally causes "infrastructure damage" in the natural realm.

In one fell swoop, Katrina has led to the unemployment of hundreds of thousands, and it has led to people making long lines to purchase basic items in places such as Baton Rouge, Louisiana. As we have said before, the black horse brings scarcity, and the handprint of "temporal grace" scarcity can be seen in Katrina's actions.

Five for five

Those within the Church who have leadership positions have used their "ministerial grace" (i.e.- their grace to serve) as a way to create permanent spiritual dependence on them. This is why the black horse attacks temporal grace. Leaders have taken their God-given grace and used it to establish their own kingdoms independently of God. They may claim their work to be part of "God's kingdom", but, once they begin proclaiming themselves as members of a superior "ministerial" caste, they are returning God's people to the slavery of Egypt, and they are depriving them of the spiritual freedom that Yeshua died on the cross for. People submit under the rule of "ministers" because they allow themselves to be enthralled by the "minister's" God-given grace; that prevents them from receiving an impartation of that grace, and it turns them into permanent slaves of the "minister's" little kingdom.

As you may have noticed, this is the 5th prophetic word that we post relating to black-horse disasters around the world during the month of August 2005:

1. The famine in Niger

2. The drought in Spain

3. The flooding in Mumbai

4. The flooding in Eastern Europe

5. The Katrina disaster in the USA

August 2005 was definitely "Black Horse Month". The fact that 5 major black-horse disasters happened during August is no coincidence. As we have said before, the number "5" represents "ministerial grace" in Scripture. Therefore, the black horse has come to judge the "ministerial grace" that "ministers" have used to create a state of permanent dependence on them.

During August 2005, after many, many months of crash-free flying, 5 major commercial plane crashes took place. Again, this is no coincidence. Each crash reflects God's judgment against each of the 5 ministries (Ephesians 4:11) that man has distorted for his own benefit:

	As we shared in a previous word, the Flight 358 crash in Toronto was a judgment against the Girgashite spirit in France.
	The August-6 crash in Sicilian waters reflects a judgment against the Canaanite spirit, since Sicily is an Italian island to the south of Italy, and southern Italy is dominated by a strong spirit of Canaanite sentimentalism (the fact that the plane crashed in the water also emphasizes the connection to the Canaanite spirit).
	The August-16 crash in western Venezuela was the August crash with the highest casualty count, which means that it reflects a judgment against the Jebusite spirit, since Jebusites are murderers by nature.
	The August-23 Peruvian plane crash in the Amazon jungle is a judgment against the Amorite spirit, since Peru was the land from which the Incan empire spread throughout large parts of South America (Amorites are self-glorifying conquerors).
	The August-14 crash near Athens, Greece, was a judgment against the Hittite spirit. Why? Because this crash was "odd" and "unique" when compared to the other crashes, which points to the prophetic ministry (since the prophetic spirit emphasizes our uniqueness before God, and it causes us to act in and "odd" and "crazy" way). This crash's uniqueness can be seen, for example, in the fact that it was the only crash where the number of casualties was not a multiple of 8. It is also the only crash where the casualty count is the square of a number (121 = 11 squared). Also, it was in Greece, which is famous for the oracle at Delphi, which points to "prophesying". As we have said before, prophets who go astray turn into Hittites. This is why the August-14 crash near Athens was a reflection of God's judgment against the Hittite spirit.

The total number of dead in these 5 crashes was 337. As I meditated on this number, the Lord impressed "Isaiah 33:7" in my heart:

"7 Behold, their valiant ones shall cry without: the ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly. 8 The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth: he hath broken the covenant, he hath despised the cities, he regardeth no man. 9 The earth mourneth and languisheth: Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down: Sharon is like a wilderness; and Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits. 10 Now will I rise, saith the LORD; now will I be exalted; now will I lift up myself. 11 Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble: your breath, as fire, shall devour you. 12 And the people shall be as the burnings of lime: as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire." (Isaiah 33:7-12)

[Notice the reference to "travel" in verse 8. Notice also the reference to people and burning flames in verses 11 and 12, which correlates with planes bursting into fire when they crash.]

The reference to the Lord being exalted in verse 10 speaks of how God will strike down the pride and glory of the "ministers" so that He may be the One glorified. The "glorious ministers" shall be as the 5 planes that the Lord struck down (each plane represents a specific distorted ministry).

As we have said before, Perizzites are spiritually dependent people who appear at the lowest rung of the spiritual caste system established when Amorites are allowed to rule. The rung immediately above the Perizzites includes the Girgashites and Canaanites. The rung after that includes the Hittites and Jebusites, and at the top rung stand the Amorites. If you go back to the table of crashes (shown above), you will notice that the crashes attack the 5 evil spirits that oppress God's people, ordered by increasing authority, from the lower rung up! Therefore, the crashes reflect God's attack against the spiritual caste system in the Church and in the world; these crashes reflect God's systematic attack against the 5 "ministerial" spirits that systematically promote and enforce spiritual dependence.

The 5 August disasters (listed above) can also be linked to each of the 5 "ministerial" evil spirits. The famine in Niger can be linked to the Girgashite spirit in France (since Niger is a former French colony). The drought in Spain can be linked to Spain's Jebusite spirit. The flooding of Mumbai was a direct attack on India's Amorite pride. The flooding in Eastern Europe can be linked to Eastern Europe's Hittite spirit, and the Katrina disaster can be linked to New Orleans' Canaanite spirit.

If you revisit the "triangle of evil", you will notice that the table above lists the evil spirits "around the horn", from right to left, while the 5-crashes table lists the evil spirits from the bottom up, "zigzagging" as it goes up. Therefore, we can say that the Lord has launched a massive and comprehensive spiritual attack on the 5 distorted ministries. His black horse has come to challenge the spiritual legality of the Church's "ministers", for the time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. God is judging anyone who continues depending on the fading grace of mortal men.

There is much more to say regarding Katrina, but we will share it in the next prophetic word...