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The rise of the saints, part 4

A few hours after finishing yesterday’s weblog, our heavenly Father gave me a nudge to count the days between the two Isaiah 61 declarations. The first, as I said, occurred on April 22, 2011, when Martha Barley led us in reading Isaiah 61:1-3 as a prophetic declaration at the Passover conference in Manassas, VA. The second declaration was made with just eight of us at a local meeting a few months ago on July 4, 2021.

The July 4 declaration came about unexpectedly after the Lord moved upon us, letting us know that He had gathered us together for a specific purpose. We inquired further and were told that we were to read Isaiah 61:1-3 as a declaration. It was simple but profound, and we knew that something had shifted in the spirit.

In that this declaration was made on July 4, our Independence Day in America, we connected it to the calling of Christ “to proclaim liberty to captives.” To us, this was good news, of course, but we hardly knew what to do with it. For this reason, I did not mention it in a weblog.

Anyway, after writing about Isaiah 61 yesterday, I was inspired to count the days between these two declarations. There were 3726 days between the two declarations. That number was quite meaningless, so I began to divide it by 3 and by 6. Then I divided 3726 by 9, and the calculator read, “414.” It was the factor of Cursed Time (coming to an end).

I have not been so stunned in a long time.

The Visitation

Nine is the biblical number of “visitation.” A visitation is an investigator who “visits” a person, city, or nation, to gather evidence and “see” firsthand the truth of a matter. A good example of this is found in Genesis 18:20, 21, where the two angels came to Sodom to investigate the validity of the complaint of its citizens.

²⁰ And the Lord said, “The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. ²¹ I will go down now and see if they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to Me; and if not, I will know.”

God was not ignorant of the full situation, of course, but He followed the legal protocol by investigating the matter personally. In doing this, He revealed to us the meaning of the word “visitation,” so we would recognize that God had done the same in the New Testament. John the Baptist was God’s agent investigating the fruitfulness of the fig tree of Judah (Luke 3:8, 9).

John conducted His investigation for just one year before he was executed. Jesus then continued the investigation for another three years (Luke 13:6-9) before issuing His verdict at the end of His ministry (Matthew 21:19, 33-46). Jerusalem was soon destroyed, not knowing why, due to the blindness of the people and “because you did not recognize the time of your visitation” (Luke 19:44). If they had known of this divine investigation, or visitation, they might have taken John’s ministry more seriously and sought God’s will more soberly.

The Fruit

As a Fruit Inspector, Jesus was looking for the fruit of the Spirit. There are 9 types of fruit, and these are listed in Galatians 5:22, 23.

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is (1) love, (2) joy, (3) peace, (4) patience, (5) kindness, (6) goodness, (7) faithfulness, (8) gentleness, (9) self-control; against such things there is no law.

There are also 9 gifts of the Spirit listed in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10. These gifts are the tools by which the “tree” can be made more fruitful. The fruit and the gifts have different functions. The gifts are a means to an end; the fruit itself is what God looks for. There are many who have spiritual gifts, but they do not necessarily use those tools to bring forth the fruit of the Spirit.

There are also 9 beatitudes in Matthew 5:3-11, which show how the fruit of the Spirit is manifested in the world.

(See my book, The Biblical Meaning of Numbers from One to Forty.)

Passing the Test

From April 22, 2011 until July 4, 2021, we unknowingly went through a time of visitation. Hence, the time was 9 x 414 days. At the end of this time, God gathered 8 people together to see if they would manifest the fruit of the Spirit (on behalf of the greater body). These were obedient to the leading of the Spirit and declared Isaiah 61:1-3 as instructed.

None of us knew the enormous significance of this. God often hides the importance of His instructions so that His people simply act naturally. Obedience ought to come naturally, rather than being an exception to one’s daily routine. Now that its significance has been revealed almost three months after the fact, it is clear that we passed the test, bore the fruit of the Spirit, and received the Inspection Certificate of Excellence.

Unfortunately, the “tree” of the overcomers does not include everyone, for not all are overcomers. Though we passed the test in this visitation, the nation as a whole has not borne fruit that is fit to eat. On behalf of the overcomers, we were able to avoid or overcome the Cursed Time cycles (9 x 414 days). As with Noah, we found grace/favor in the eyes of the Lord (Genesis 6:8), even while the earth as a whole was on Cursed Time from Adam to the flood (4 x 414 years).

But the nation itself (and many in the church) have yet to hear and obey the word of the Lord. Relatively few people actually bear fruit that is fit to eat. This fact alone shows that we are coming into a sobering time of judgment.

However, I have hope in the fact that today’s flood will not be the destructive one that was seen in Noah’s time. It will be a flood of the Holy Spirit. Nonetheless, the Holy Spirit comes as a baptism of fire (Matthew 3:11) to convict of sin. Jesus said in John 16:8 that the Holy Spirit comes not only to bless the believers but also to convict the world of “sin, and righteousness, and judgment.”

The Holy Spirit’s “baptism of fire” is designed to judge the flesh and to burn it with God’s “fiery law” (Deuteronomy 33:2 KJV). To the flesh, this is a painful experience, but yet it is necessary in order to transform us into the image of Christ. The world at large does not understand the judgment of the Holy Spirit, nor do they see its value, for they are slaves to sin (Romans 6:14).

We ourselves have already experienced God’s judgments upon the flesh, so we understand the fire of God. We know that the blessing of Abraham was not to make us rich and prosperous but to cause us to repent. Acts 3:26 says that Christ came “to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.”

As children of Abraham, our mission is to bless all families of the earth by causing them to repent. Repentance is a change of mind, purpose, and lifestyle to conform to the standard of Christ’s character and behavior.

The Call to Repentance

A few days ago I received a word from a prophet (overseas) to issue a call to repentance for America. In praying about this, God confirmed the word and said to issue this call on September 28. I am giving you advance notice of this here, but God has given me a few days to learn the details. God willing, I will post the call itself on September 28.

The revelation of our “visitation” from 2011-2021 (a ten-year “Hezekiah Factor”) should be seen as the backdrop to this call to repentance. Perhaps September 28 is the conclusion of America’s time of visitation, where the verdict of God is given. The verdict given to the overcomers was July 4, 2021. The overcomers bore fruit on their “tree.” I have less confidence in America as a whole, but we will see what God will do.

My present view is that America will indeed experience some divine judgment in the time ahead. Many will think that America itself has fallen, but in fact, God is setting America free from its Babylonian government. America is blind, but Babylon is being brought into accountability before God. Part of our Call to Repentance will be to overcome the blindness of the people and especially of the prophets.

Many do not realize that the people were blinded when they refused to hear God’s voice at Mount Sinai (Exodus 20:19). Years later, the prophets themselves came under a curse, which caused them to misunderstand prophecy (Isaiah 29:10, 11, 12). The context from the earlier verses suggests that the specific prophecies the prophets would misunderstand were about the destruction of Ariel/Jerusalem (Isaiah 29:1-8).

Those who followed my weblogs some months ago in our study of Isaiah already have some understanding of this Prophets’ Curse. But most prophets do not read my weblogs.

This is why so few prophets today—in spite of their gifting—understand that the earthly Jerusalem has been condemned to destruction. Though Paul makes it plain in Galatians 4:25 that the earthly Jerusalem is “Hagar,” and not “Sarah,” the prophets continually advocate for Hagar and her children of the flesh, hoping to make the city the capital of the Kingdom and Hagar’s children the chosen people. The prophets are speaking out of the blindness that was put upon them in the days of the prophet Isaiah.

This is an issue that we will be addressing in our call to repentance, for if the prophets remain under the Prophets’ Curse of Blindness, the people will remain in their bondage to the flesh. Therefore, this needs to be addressed.

In recent months I have had a growing sense within me that the Prophets’ Curse is reaching its end. Yet I had no instruction (until last night) to do anything specific about this, nor did I know any specific sense of timing. This clarified last night when God confirmed that we were to include this in the Call to Repentance on September 28.

So that is the latest revelation that I am to pass on to you. Begin to prepare your hearts for the Call to Repentance on September 28.