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The work of the house of Joseph, part 25

As we were preparing to pour out the sixth bowl of wine and water at the feast of Tabernacles in 2005, a significant sign of the overthrow of Babylon occurred.

On August 29, 2005 the city of New Orleans was struck by Hurricane Katrina, breaking the levees and putting 80 percent of the city under water. The city became unbelievably polluted, and the authorities were finally forced to evacuate much of the population. In this, we see New Orleans as a type of Babylon, for Isaiah 13:20 says that Babylon would never again be inhabited. The old city is uninhabited to this day, but Mystery Babylon will likewise be uninhabited. All the citizens of Babylon will be converted in time and will become citizens of the New Jerusalem.

The overthrow of New Orleans is a major sign of the soon-coming overthrow of Mystery Babylon. President Bush and others repeatedly refer to New Orleans as “that great city,” quoting directly from Revelation 17:18 KJV about Babylon. However, at the same time, there is another called “that great city,” the holy Jerusalem (Revelation 21:10 KJV).

At our Tabernacles Conference in Denver, Colorado on Sept. 23-25, 2005, the Father showed us that the theme was to be centered around INHERITANCE. The revelation came that New Orleans was Babylon; Babylon is the world system (all nations); and God was giving us the nations as our inheritance. Psalm 2:8 says,

⁸ Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as your inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as your possession.

We did not know this until we arrived at the DoubleTree Hotel in Denver, where we held our Tabernacles conference. We then discovered that this hotel chain is based in New Orleans. When I saw the sign on their hotel restaurant, Lafitte’s Restaurant, that said, “Real New Orleans Food,” I knew immediately that we were in New Orleans, even though we were physically in Denver. We were there to receive our inheritance—the nations. Babylon was falling into the sea, and God is about to send His people as fishers of men.

Jean Lafitte was the pirate who assisted the American troops at the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. The restaurant in Denver was named in his honor and proudly announced that they served New Orleans food. When we went to Denver, we knew that we would see signs of Hurricane Katrina and that we may have to issue some divine court declarations about Babylon and New Orleans. But we were still surprised at the hotel’s connection to New Orleans.

New Orleans: A Type of Babylon Overthrown

The mayor of New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina struck the city was Ray Nagin. Naga is “snake” in Sanskrit, and Nagin is plural, “snakes.” In the south Asian language of Urdu, Nagin means a female snake. Babylon is ruled by a “snake” (spirit), and this is reflected in New Orleans, a type of Babylon.

Men will desert “Babylon” in the coming move of the Holy Spirit, as their citizenship is transferred to the Kingdom of God. Colossians 1:12-14 says,

¹² giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. ¹³ For He delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Philippians 3:20 says further,

²⁰ For our citizenship [politeuma] is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Because our citizenship is in the New Jerusalem, we are foreigners in Babylon. But when Babylonian-controlled nations are transferred to the Kingdom of God, and jurisdiction is given to the saints of the Most High, then will the New Jerusalem come to earth, and our citizenship can be said to be “in earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).

Chuck Pierce’s Prophecy: August 29, 2004

I have often said that people should date any word from God that they are given, because the date of a revelation always has something to do with its fulfillment. Many times I have seen His word fulfilled on the same date in a later year. And so when I saw Chuck Pierce’s prophecy about Katrina given precisely one year before the hurricane hit New Orleans, I knew that this was the true interpretation and meaning of the prophecy. The full prophecy can be viewed at:

www.elijahlist.com/words/display_word.html?ID=2459

After Chuck discussed traveling from Wisconsin directly to Louisiana, he prophesied this:

“From the North to the South I am ready to awaken two winds that will awake the nation. There are resisting forces in both states that will cause our nation to not move forward. Go up and down and decree the wind of God will awaken in both places. The states will shift in a new way or the nation will not shift and will go backwards.”

Later when addressing the Saul church structure in Baton Rouge, Chuck prophesied:

“How the Saul structure collapses will bring Baton Rouge again to national attention. That alignment within it will collapse. A new demonstration with a new blueprint will be seen. This will be known as a meeting house. This will be known as a place where the Ark of the Covenant has dwelt. This will be known as a refuge place. The WIND and WATER will rise in the midst of New Orleans. Many from the south will come north for refuge.

Prepare. Prepare now for winds and water that will surprise you. I will renew the pattern not fully seen before. Worship will be here, and birthed in a new way from here. Prepare! Prepare! Prepare! Shift! Saul will be no more. David will arise from this day forward.

The wind from the south will begin to blow. Watch for the effects. This will purify the land and bring great change."

Then in Alexandria that night Chuck shared from Song of Solomon 4:16 KJV ("Awake the north wind; come, thou south wind. Blow upon the garden of this nation"). He led the people to pray for the south wind to come. This south wind would be a purifying wind, cause corruption to be blown on, and cause corruption to shake and initiate a righteous move starting with the children, then moving to the youth. We were to watch the government and the Catholic Church shake, and watch New Orleans change.

Then Chuck prophesied again,

"I will put a mantle on African Americans in this land. That which was brought in through parts of this state and held people captive will let go. I will send the wind up the Mississippi River and this wind will shake Missouri. You will see the land shake in Missouri because of the wind from Louisiana. . .Get ready, for the new is coming. Every place I blow on will shake. The wind is coming on Louisiana and it will shake the entire state. I will fill churches. The south purifying wind of My holiness will sweep across Louisiana. People will be on their faces in malls and shopping centers. Boldness will come upon My people in Louisiana. There is a worship call. Get ready - the wind is about to blow. The river is changing courses. You will be one of the first that changes."

Katrina means PURE. It is “the south purifying wind” that God sent up the Mississippi and put New Orleans under water. Historically speaking, New Orleans was one of the main cities known for its slave trade. To be “sold down the river” is an American idiom, referring to the worst thing that an African slave could think of—being sold to New Orleans down the Mississippi River.

There were to be two winds, one in the south and the other in the north. Hurricane Katrina was obviously “the south purifying wind,” since Katrina means pure. The north wind blew during our feast of Tabernacles in Minnesota. A huge cottonwood tree next to our house fell upon our house on the evening of September 21. We were in Denver at the time, so our son Ryan had to deal with the problem. We were essentially homeless for months and thus became intercessors for those who had been made homeless in New Orleans.

Chuck Pierce’s prophecy indicates that both winds signified “two winds that will awake the nation.” The great awakening is occurring even now from north to south, and the Spirit of God (the Wind of God) is collapsing Babylon, “that great city,” to prepare us for the establishment of the New Jerusalem. “The river is changing courses,” because on the old Spanish maps, the Mississippi River was called (in English) “The River of the Holy Spirit.” There is a new move of the Spirit coming, and I believe that time is now drawing near.

Southern Decadence

Until Katrina destroyed the city, it was scheduled to host a festival over Labor Day called Southern Decadence, advertised as a Mardi Gras party for gays and lesbians. It is a time of absolute moral decadence, with nakedness and open sex in the streets. The 34^th party was scheduled for August 31 to Sept. 5. God cancelled the event, and Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco (“Pure White”) ordered the city to be evacuated.

A year earlier (in 2004), the fifth bowl was poured out upon “the seat of the beast” (Revelation 16:10) in Washington D.C., as I explained in my recent series on the book of Revelation. I explained that this signified judgment upon witchcraft and sorcery (pharmakeia). We also knew that we would see signs of this judgment during the coming year leading to the Feast of Tabernacles in 2005.

New Orleans has long had a reputation for witchcraft and voodoo. It is the witchcraft center for America. Thus, it is not surprising to see New Orleans destroyed just a few weeks prior to the Feast of Tabernacles. The French city of Orleans is where Joan of Arc came from. She was burned at the stake on a charge of witchcraft. Whether she really was a witch or not, New Orleans was indeed guilty, and everyone knew it. In fact, the city was proud of it.

So Hurricane Katrina is to be viewed as the beginning of God’s judgment against the spirit of witchcraft in America. Its purpose is to “cause corruption to shake.”

Our Tabernacles conference was held on the weekend of September 23-25, 2005. In the middle of the conference, as I was eating at the Lafitte Restaurant with a group of friends, Lori walked into the restaurant and came to the table to tell me that the planning committee of the Southern Decadence festival was meeting on second floor of the DoubleTree.

I was stunned. What were the odds that we were meeting in the hotel in Denver where the planning committee for Southern Decadence was also meeting? But how could she know this? I needed verification on such a stunning piece of information. She said that she had recognized them, because she had been one of them prior to her recent conversion to Christ.

What?? Lori had told me many stories of her life as a demon-possessed woman, all of which were remarkable. But this was one story she had not mentioned until the Denver conference. As a lesbian until her healing in August of 2004, she had been part of the planning committee for Southern Decadence!

She told me that the planning committee had called her some months ago, wanting her to come to New Orleans to help coordinate the 2005 festival, but she refused, saying that she was now a Christian. In fact, the planning committee were in the DoubleTree hotel in New Orleans for the festival in late August 2005 at the time Hurricane Katrina disrupted their party. Lori told me that she would have died if she had gone to New Orleans at that time. That hotel was flooded and destroyed. (Lori was very overweight at the time, and she did not believe she would have survived the ordeal.)

But when she attended our conference in Denver, she discovered that her former friends were meeting that same weekend at the same hotel right above us on the second floor. She obviously recognized them and was surprised that they were meeting at the same hotel where we were holding our Tabernacles conference.

So that Sunday evening toward the end of the conference, we prayed a blessing upon them, which, as you know, is defined in Acts 3:25, 26 as meaning, “to bless you, in turning every one of you away from his iniquities.” We understood that the Southern Decadence festival and the spirit which it represented was that which was being purified by the Wind sent by God. So we prayed that God would set these people free from their bondage to the kingdom of Babylon. In explaining the situation to the people at the conference, I called Lori to the front to help me explain to the attendees the background of this prayer of blessing.

Our ability to bless and forgive made a huge impact on Lori’s friend Danny, who was also in the audience. We demolished her impression of judgmental Christians, and a year later she gave her heart to Christ.

Thus, Babylon lost one more citizen.