BLOG

The rise of the house of Elisha, part 9

The Trail of Tears was a policy driven by carnally-minded politicians who probably claimed to be Christians and yet (at best) lived on the level of the Old Covenant. When the Christian Europeans came to America, the majority of them had lived under Old Covenant religious systems. For this reason, with only a few exceptions, they treated the Native Americans as Canaanites who had to be overcome by the physical sword and the arm of flesh.

Few of them truly understood that New Covenant believers were to conquer the world by the sword of the Spirit and by demonstrating the love of Christ. But the church had lost this spiritual sword a long time ago, and it would not be rediscovered easily.

They did not understand that the Israelites under Moses had rejected the sword of the Spirit when they refused to hear the word spoken at Mount Sinai (Exodus 20:18, 19, 20). They were too afraid of the presence of God to hear Him directly. So they sent Moses up the mount, preferring to have him tell them what God was saying. They did not realize that they were rejecting the feast of Pentecost. Even today, the majority of Christians do not even know that the feast of Pentecost is a commemoration of God’s voice when He spoke the Ten Commandments.

Whenever believers prefer to have a man (other than Christ Himself) tell them what God is saying to the church, they proclaim that they prefer an indirect relationship with God. This is the basis of the denominational spirit, where men prefer to be ruled by men, rather than by God.

The overcomers are distinguished from the rest of the church by going against the grain and in a different direction than that taken by the herd. They desire the promise of the Father, which is to make us His people and to be our God by the power of His own will. They want to hear God for themselves and to have a direct relationship with Him without having to go through a man in a church denomination.

Saul, too, was crowned on Pentecost, called the day of wheat harvest (1 Samuel 12:17). God gave the people the desire of their heart, even though He said, “they have rejected Me from being king over them” (1 Samuel 8:7). Saul was a type of the Pentecostal church, which has had this denominational spirit almost from the beginning. It is the core problem of Pentecost that must be overcome in order to be an overcomer.

It is in this context that God brought us to Sweetwater, TN for Tabernacles in 2008. We were to represent the overcomers—as distinct from the church as a whole—who could object to the Old Covenant policy that brought about the Trail of Tears. More broadly, we were to petition the Divine Court to restore the situation and reverse the curse that Old Covenant policies inevitably bring upon the nation and the people.

That is why, in 2008, God brought up the distinctions between barley and wheat. The Elisha company, by definition, is a New Covenant body of believers. Exactly how God defines this is up to Him, of course. We are all still in some level of mixture, but God knows our hearts. He does not judge us for where we are but by our growth and the direction we are going.

Reversing the Curse of the Trail of Tears

In June of 2008, I spoke at the United Tribes for Christ conference in Oklahoma. There it was revealed that we were to establish a reverse pattern for the Trail of Tears, going from Oklahoma to Sweetwater, TN. At the time, I did not know how this was to be accomplished, but it was clear that we were to appeal to the Divine Court to reverse this travesty on a prophetic level.

On August 7, while I was in Oklahoma City, we received the word of the Lord to declare in the Divine Court: “Reverse the curse!”

On August 17, “Operation Elijah” was launched. We will say more about that later, but on the same day we discerned that some witches had put a curse on the New Net of Prayer. We appealed to God for protection.

Planting Barley

The following weekend, we held a conference at Pine Haven, about 30 miles north of Minneapolis. On the last day of the conference, August 24, Bruce brought a tithe of his barley harvest and gave bags of it to whoever might want it.

Later, this was accomplished by certain brethren in October as they traveled to the Tabernacles meeting in Sweetwater to reverse the curse of the Trail of Tears. As they traveled east from Oklahoma and Texas, they planted Bruce’s barley, which they had been given on August 24.

When I arrived at the Tabernacles conference in Sweetwater, they told me what they had been led to do, and I immediately knew its meaning. First, the curse could be reversed only through the barley (overcomers). The problem had occurred under the authority of Pentecost (Saul), but it had to be resolved by the authority of Tabernacles (David).

The denominational spirit, which had divided the church under the rule of men, had manifested in a more sinister way in the treatment of the Cherokee (and other tribes). The same spirit that causes denominations to lay claim to the title of “the true church,” thereby excluding all others, applied also to the overall European view of the Indians.

In fact, most of the treaties made with the Indians used deception to give the US government the so-called right to break their word. The Indians did not know that in their legal terminology of the time, Indians were not classified as “men,” so therefore the treaties were legally non-binding. God Himself has no respect for men’s legalisms which are designed to allow men to sin with impunity. So He called the barley overcomers to reverse this curse through the divine law in the Divine Court, because the rulers of Pentecost were not qualified to do the work.

Two years earlier, when we met at Babylon, NY, one of our three stops was at a cemetery in Amityville, which was located among streets that were named for American presidents. There we prayed a prayer of repentance for the sins of the presidents—especially referencing the broken treaties with the Native Americans.

This prayer in 2006, I believe, laid the groundwork for the work two years later in 2008 to reverse the curse of the Trail of Tears. Of course, our work did not immediately bring justice or restitution to the victims of injustice. That must await the full manifestation of the barley company, when the overcomers’ spiritual authority is recognized by the nation itself.

The Elisha ministry has not yet reached its full manifestation as of this writing (2021), nor do I yet know how such major problems of injustice in the world will be resolved. This will take the wisdom of Christ Himself to rectify. Even so, I believe that this is part of the work of Elijah/Elisha, who is called to “restore all things.”

The Birth of Elijah/Elisha

When barley is planted in the autumn, it ripens in the springtime just before the feast of Passover. Therefore, the birth of Elijah/Elisha was to be postponed for a few more months.

In other words, Elijah (or really, Elisha) was to be brought to birth at Passover in April 2009, or perhaps specifically on April 12, 2009, which was the time of the Wave-sheaf offering that year. So as it turned out, it took about a year and a half to see the actual birth of the Elisha ministry on April 12, 2009.

John the Baptist, who was “Elijah” and Jesus’ forerunner, was born at Passover in his day. There was a tradition (actually, a revelation) among the Jews at the time that they should set a place at the table for Elijah during the Passover meal. They expected Elijah to come at Passover. Indeed, he was born at Passover, and when he reached the age of 30, he began his ministry at Passover as well.

The first half of the Elisha ministry manifested the single portion of Elijah, so it is not surprising that the timing of this new phase of ministry would be set by Elijah/John. More important is that the launching of this Elisha ministry was to occur after the barley ripened in the spring. Barley represents the overcomers, even as wheat represents the church. (See my books, The Barley Overcomers and The Wheat and Asses of Pentecost.)

Meanwhile, much more was happening.

Operation Elijah (2008)

The story began on August 17, when we found ourselves under spiritual attack from the witches. This gave us lawful cause against them for attacking us unjustly, and it aroused a latent revelation from the year 1984.

On August 17, 1984 I received a word from the Lord, saying,

“This is indeed a time of great importance, for as I lead you, so will you go out into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. You shall be My witnesses to all who hear you and to all who do not.”

On August 17, 2008—24 years later—we came under spiritual attack that triggered Operation Elijah.

Ye Shall Go Forth prayer campaign began on August 20, 1984 and ended on September 3. Twenty-four years later, in 2008, we discerned that we were under attack on the night of August 19, which, by Hebrew time, was the beginning of August 20. That is when we took steps to protect ourselves from the spiritual attack. This is how Operation Elijah actually began in 2008. Its roots dated back to 1984 and seemed to be a continuation of Ye Shall Go Forth.

Ye Shall Go forth had been fought in two stages: first was the domestic phase from August 20-29, 1984. Then we fought a world-wide campaign from August 29 to September 3, 1984. Twenty-four years later, in 2008, I flew to South Africa on September 4. It was as if the 1984 prayer battle had been the first part of a greater prayer campaign that was to conclude in 2008. Ye shall Go Forth ended on September 3, 1984 and then, after a 24-year lull, continued on September 4, 2008 when I flew to South Africa.

The foreign phase of Ye Shall Go Forth began on Aug. 29, 1984, and at that time I asked the Lord how the battle was going. I wrote in my notes,

“Lord, show me how the battle goes in Africa. I then see a map of Africa. Then a brilliant light set over SOUTH AFRICA. Not an explosion, but more like a light bulb. This light moves up the eastern coast of Africa [to Kenya]…

God said: “My Kingdom of Light shall be established, and the darkness shall be pushed back, never to reappear again…”

It can hardly be a coincidence that twenty-four years later I would be leaving on a trip to South Africa with a revelation of Operation Elijah. What was prophesied as part of the prayer battle in 1984 was actually fulfilled in 2008. The light over South Africa, which I saw in a vision, was not fulfilled in 1984 but in 2008.

This is a good example of something that I have seen many, many times. It is as if from year to year, each particular day is overlaid upon that day in succeeding years. It is as if there is a fold in time, where there is no time between those dates. For example, August 20 of one year is the same date as August 20 of all other years. It is part of the spiritual principle that all time is one.

While I was in South Africa, I met an impressive prophet from Georgia named John Boney. He was scheduled to preach or teach in Kenya afterward, and he invited me to come with him. I could not go, of course, because I was already committed to speak at our own Tabernacles conference in October. I needed to be part of the “Reverse the Curse of the Trail of Tears.” Nonetheless, I realized that I had met a man named John—an Elijah type—who had invited me to minister with him in Kenya.

My original vision of light in Africa back in 1984 did not tell me specifically the second country where the light had moved. John’s invitation confirmed to me that it was Kenya, a country that I have not yet visited. I am confident that I will be sent there some day, because years later, God wakened me from a sound sleep by calling me by name. It sounded very audible to me, and I woke up immediately. Before I had time to say or do anything, He said: “Go to Kenya first, then to South Africa.”

What? You woke me up from a sound sleep to tell me that?? It was the first time that I had ever heard God speak audibly to me. And yet, my wife remained sleeping, so I knew that it was not audible to her. It was a strange experience, but I have not yet gone to Kenya.

I wrote two trip reports after returning home from South Africa. They can be read here:

https://godskingdom.org/blog/2008/10/south-africa-ministry-trip-report

https://godskingdom.org/blog/2008/10/personal-observations-about-the-south-african-trip