The Darkness has Shifted

Something interesting happened in the month of June. The weather forecasters announced on a Monday that we would have the worst snowfall in Christchurch for the last twenty years. In the end, it did not happen. There was heavy snow in the high country, and lots of cold rain, but we did not get any snow in Christchurch. On the other hand, Wellington had terrible gales and rain that did considerable damage. Railway lines washed out and trees came down. 20,000 houses were without electricity overnight. Some did not get electricity back for a week. The inter-island ferry broke free from its moorings and spent the night sheltering in the harbour

I was in Wellington for a meeting for my work on the day of the storm, but it was cancelled, because half of the people from Wellington could not get to it. It was frustrating have travelled for a meeting that was cancelled, and then having difficulty getting home. The airport was closed until midday. The plane I flew home on took no luggage, because it was too windy to open the baggage doors on the plane.

When I was praying about what was going on, I felt the Lord saying, “The darkness has shifted”. That is why the expected storm did not come to Christchurch, whereas it unexpectedly did serious damage in Wellington. Whereas the enemy has really been attacking Christchurch over the last three or four years, I sense that he has now shifted his attentions to Wellington. It is not so much because of victory in prayer, it is just that he thinks that he can get better returns for his efforts there.

Nor is it that Wellington is worse than Christchurch. When the people of city or nation turn away from God, they lose their protection from evil (see Discerning Seasons). However, the enemy does not strike immediately, because he does not enough resources to attack every place that is vulnerable. The devil is not comparable to the Holy Spirit. He is just an angel, supported by a bunch of rebellious angels. He can only attack by concentrating his forces, because he cannot be everywhere at once, like the Holy Spirit. So when the spiritual protection of a city goes, he does not move in immediately, because he does not have sufficient resources at his disposal. He will only attack when he thinks he can get a good bang of his buck.

Christchurch has been hammered by the forces of evil over the last three or four years. It is not because this city is worse than every other spiritually unprotected city, but that he has chosen to concentrate his attacks, because he thinks he can achieve something there. Maybe, he had heard that God is wanting to do something big in Christchurch and he wanted to stop it. Now he has failed, he is going off somewhere else to be a nuisance.

The enemy seems to have done most of the physical damage in Christchurch that he is capable of doing, and is now seems to be turning the attention of his smashers to Wellington, where the pickings are easier. If I am right about this, we may see more disasters in Wellington, and less in Christchurch over the next few years. Christchurch will continue to have leadership problems, and as its flaws are exposed, financial problems will follow, but the smashers have moved on. The recent earthquakes off the coast of Wellington show where they have gone. The darkness has shifted from Christchurch to Wellington

The storm was a warning event for Wellington. The city was cut off from the rest of the nation. The Inter-islander ferry was seriously damaged and could not be moored. The railway line going north was seriously damaged. Homes were without electricity for several days, some for more than a week. Buildings were destroyed. People could not get to work. What happened during the storm is indicative of what will happen when, the real attack of evil comes.

• The city will be cut off from the rest of the nation.
• Ferries will not be able to sail.
• Rail traffic will not be able to move.
• Electricity supplies will be cut off
• Buildings will be damaged.
• Houses will be destroyed

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Spiritual Shift (12) Faith in Judgment

The warring violent spirit manifests among Christians as faith in the power of judgment. Many prophetic Christians believe in judgment. They have more faith in judgment than they have in the Holy Spirit. Many are prophesying that judgment will bring revival. This is a religious version of the spirit of domination and control.

There are two approaches to judgment.

1. Whack them Hard
until they repent. This is the common view. The problem is that it does not work. When people are hit by trouble and disaster, they just harden their hearts. This approach to judgment is a manifestation of the belief that domination and control can change a nation.

2. Shake Them
so the remnant can shine in the darkness. Judgment is more effective when a remnant has prepared itself. They will have built an alternative lifestyle that enables them to support each other through the tough times. They will have peace and joy in the power of the spirit, which mikes their lives attractive to those under judgment. They will have the resources to support those who join them. This allows a transformation of the future to begin

Most of the prophecies coming out of the United States describe a Whack them Hard type of judgment. They warn of disaster and trouble. However, there has been no call for a remnant to prepare, and very little guidance to Christians about what they should do to prepare.

America may face judgment, as many prophets are suggesting. Serious storms and internal turmoil may increase as they are predicting. However, this will not bring revival, because the remnant has not prepared, because the prophets are too busy worrying about getting the right president elected.

Disaster will strengthen the power of the federal government, but it will not destroy the American economy. Oil sufficiency and a petroleum gas surplus, and inshoring of manufacturing from China will reinvigorate the US economy. The European economy and political system will continue lurching from one crisis to another, as they try to implement global solutions, but cling to divided sovereignty. The Chinese economy will continue to grow, but will hit some judder bars along the way. The US economy will grow event stronger than its potential challengers. The strength of US military is already unmatched throughout the world. What other nation could simultaneously undertake two wars on the other side of the world, during a major economic crisis.

Economic supremacy will be a curse, not a blessing, because it will encourage even greater expansion of American military to undertake international adventures. Economic recovery will not restore personal wealth, but it will allow the federal government to greatly expand its powers.

Judgment will come in the form of loss of freedom, but many Christians will not see it, because they will be celebrating the enhancement of American power as a blessing.

More at Prophetic Events.

Spiritual Shift (11)

While the prophets were fretting about the election of Barack Obama, a huge shift in the principalities and power controlling the United States went unnoticed. A transition that has been progressing for several decades has now been cemented in place and will not be reversed. The principality and power that now dominates the nation is the spirit of domination and control through military force and intimidation.

This change was driven by the heart attitude of the people, especially those in positions of power. These principalities would be in control, regardless of who had the won the election.

The prophets in the United States seem to have missed this change, because they were distracted by the presidential election. The fact that prophetic people were obsessed with presidential power and control is a sign that the spirit of domination and control has established control of the nation.

The prophetic fascination with the presidential is a confirmation of this spiritual shift. This interest was not personal, because both candidates were mediocre. The prophets became besotted with presidential power because they have been blinded by the spirit of domination. They were looking for a president who can impose domination and control on the world.

The spiritual power that controlled the US for most of its history was a spirit of deal making and commercial gain. The militaristic spirit was there too, but it was always kept in second place. The US has been involved in many wars, but until Iraq, it always made sure that it made a buck along the way. The US was slow to get into WW1 and WW2, but its businesses really prospered from the war, before and after it got involved.

A number of events and political decisions signal this change.

1. An invasion of Iraq to impose control without any economic benefit.
2. Afghanistan was invaded to impose control and domination at a huge economic cost.
3. David Petraeus, a bully and a cheat, undertook ethnic cleansing in Baghdad and funded terrorist groups, yet he became an American hero.
4. President Obama uses drone attacks to kill political leaders in other countries and seems to be excited about the process.
5. The obsession of many Christians with assault weapons. Some Christians have more confidence in guns than in the gifts of the Spirit.

This spiritual shift was cemented in place by the financial crisis. The best way to identify the spirit that controls a nation is to look at what the people trust. Most Americans now trust in political government and military power for their security. That is why the presidential election was so important to them. Confidence that they can make their way in a free economy has gone. The collapse of the financial system has destroyed their confidence in their economic system.

America is now set on a path towards beasthood. It may become the greatest empire that the world has seen, and will ever see. Many Americans see this as their nation’s calling, so they will not be surprised.

Spiritual Shift (10) Islamic Spirit

Many American Christians are afraid of Islam. They are scared that sharia law will be established in the United States. This fear seems to be absurd at two levels. American military power far exceeds all of the Islamic nations combined, so they could never be a serious military threat even if they all joined together. The Christian gospel is far superior to the Islamic religion, so it should be winning the evangelism struggle hands down.

At the spiritual level the situation is much more dangerous. The main spirits that work through Islam are:

• rejection
• fear of death
• religious spirit
• good works
• spiritual deadness
• violence
• fighting and war

Several of these spirits have a stronghold in the United States, too.

• religious spirit
• good works
• violence
• fighting and war

This leaves the nation spiritually vulnerable.

Spiritual Shift (9) Empire Split

Alexander the Great died in Babylon while still in his early thirties, before having a chance to develop a successor. Four of his generals, quickly split the Greek empire between them.

If Obama is America’s Alexander, he will bring a split in the Western Empire. Since the Second World War, the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany have tended to act in unison to achieve common goals. During his presidency, he might do something that brings intense hostility and disunity between the United States its European allies.

Daniel also warned that the power of the United States (represented by a Goat) would wane for a time.

The goat became very great, at the height of his power his large horn was broken off (Dan 8:8).

This temporary weakness will cause some other nations to flex their muscles.

In the place of the large horn, four prominent horns grew up towards the four winds of heaven (Dan 8:8).

These four nations are conspicuous and puffed up. One is probably the United States. Britain and France could be another two. They are pushing their powers all over the world (to the four winds). Germany might be the forth. German has become the major power in Europe and is leading the efforts to deal with the Euro crisis The ascendancy of the latter three nations will not last long, because, they are not real powers, but impostors. When the going gets tough, they will fade away.

Out of one of them came another horn, which started small but grew in power to the south and to the east (Dan 8:9).

The horn starts off small but grows extremely large. As the other three fade, the United States will recover its confidence and become the dominant power in the world. A new ruthless president might lead this change. The United States will stand alone, but grow to achieve enormous power.

Spiritual Shift (8) Return to Empire

Alexander the Great brought Israel back into the empire.

God sent the children of Israel into exile in Babylon in fulfilment of the prophecies of Jeremiah and friends. Babylon was eventually defeated by the King of Persia, which meant that Israel was in exile in the Persian Empire, although living in the same place. When Darius became king of the Persian Empire, he returned the Jews back to their land. Ezra and Nehemiah rebuilt the temple and the walls of Jerusalem.

A couple of hundred years later, Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire. While advancing towards Persia, he marched through Israel and made it part of his empire. When Alexander died, his empire was split between his generals. Ptolemy took control of Egypt, which included Jerusalem. When Rome took control of the Ptolemaic and Seleucid empires, they gained control of Jerusalem as part of the baggage. The Persians restored the Jews from exile, but Alexander the Great returned them to empire in their own land.

If "Obama is Alexander" as Robert Holmes prophesied, he will bring Israel back into the empire. Up until the first world war, it was part of the Ottoman empire. Between the wars it was controlled by the British empire. If Israel comes back under empire, it will be controlled by the American empire.

Watch for Obama establishing military bases in the Sinai desert or in the Golan, when the troops are brought out of Afghanistan. He will justify this as necessary for ensuring peace in a volatile region. However, in the future these troops could be used to bring Israel under American control.

Spiritual Shift (7) Babylon the Great

If Obama is America’s Alexander, he will be the pivot who releases the spirit of Babylonian Rome into America.

When Obama won his second presidential election, a spiritual shift took place. In his first election campaign, Obama was an outsider promising change. He was challenged by John McCain, a man strongly influenced by the violent warring spirit. He sang a song about bombing Iran to the tune of a Beach Boys song. Obama’s victory represented a loss for that principality.

Once he became President, Obama’s approach changed. He had opposed the war in Iraq, but he was persuaded to undertake a troop surge in Afghanistan. He sent more than hundred thousand troops, plus as many military contractors into this pointless war.

Obama has been heavily involved with the use of unmanned drones to kill military and political enemies. He claims to approve the kill lists himself. This fascination with killing and destruction seems to have corrupted his spirit and opened him up to the violent warring spirit that has been getting stronger in his nation.

The recent election was different. Obama defended his wars and Romney claimed he would do better. The election was partly a contest about who would be most capable at waging violent war. In this election, the warring violent spirit was standing on both sides, so 99 percent of American voters gave their support to a man under the influence of the warring violent spirit. This has opened the nation up to the Babylonian spirit in a new way. If the spiritual protection of the gospel and the spirit is not restored to America, Obama’s election could be a key step down the part towards becoming Babylon the Great.

Obama might be the pivot that allows the spirit of Babylonian Rome into the United States. Babylon the Great sat on a beast with ten horns.

I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns (Rev 17:3).

Babylon the Great may represent the principalities and powers that control the emerging Beast. If the Babylonian spirit were to gain control in the United States, the Beast would follow, and the American empire would become dangerous.

Spiritual Shift (6) Alliances

The Bible urges Christians to avoid being unequally yoked, in marriage and in business. Spiritual protection is one reason. Marriage partners and business partners have to submit to each other. When a person submits to another person their life is opened up to the spirits that have an influence in that person’s life. That is fine, if it is the Holy Spirit, but if the person is an unbeliever, the evils spirits influencing them get access to the life of the person submitting.

The same is true for nations. Israel was warned against entering into an alliance with Egypt. One reason was that relying on Egypt was refusing to trust in God. The other reason is spiritual protection. When a nation forms an alliance with another nation, it opens itself up to the evil spiritual forces that control the other nation. This is true even if one nation is more powerful than the other. The strong nation will have to submit to the week one on some issues. When the strong nation submits to its weaker ally, it opens itself up to the spirits that dominate it. Because evil spirits hunger for power, they will transfer to the more powerful nation whenever they get an opportunity.

In the last decade, the United States has engaged in some dangerous alliances.
In Afghanistan, it has an alliance with a motley group of warlords, who previous worked with the Soviet Union when it invaded Afghanistan. Many of these men have a record of violence, murder and rape. Many of the servicemen who have fought in Afghanistan will have carried violent spirits back to the Unites States with them. This is why some of those who are most strongly involved have engaged in violence against their families and communities.

When the United States invaded Iraq, it formed alliances with a variety of Sunni and Shia militant groups, opening up to their spiritual influence. This was particularly dangerous, because Iraq (Babylon) is the home of violence and domination. Many evil spirits that had missed Alexander’s bus, took the opportunity to take a plane ride to America, which is now the home of power.

The most dangerous alliance with is the one with Saudi Arabia. The United States has provided the Saudi rulers with a huge arsenal of military weapons and kept silent about their unjust treatment of their Shiite minority. In return for this generosity, the Saudis have pumped oil when the United States wants oil prices pushed down. Unfortunately, Saudi Arabia is the home of Wahhabi form of Islam, which is its most radical and violent stream. It is controlled by a warring violent culture. By submitting to this nation, the United States has opened its doors to violent warring spirits.

Spiritual Shift (5) Big Move

When the Roman Empire collapsed, the principality and powers that had controlled it lost their place and were dispersed throughout Europe. Here is what has probably happened. Some of the controlling spirits continued to exercise power through the Catholic Church, emerging in its dark periods through the inquisition and various political machinations. The principality rose again in the Holy Roman Empire based on Germany. Many of them would have been at work a thousand years later when Hitler tried to establish an empire in Europe.

Some of these spirits travelled to America with migrants escaping from the violence and poverty of Europe to the land of freedom. This land was only sparsely populated, so it had been largely ignored by the spiritual forces of evil. They always go where the people go. Despite wanting to make a new start, many of European migrants unwittingly took violent warring spirits with them to their new land.

The United States invaded Europe in 1917 and 1944. It won both of these wars, but as usually happens, it lost the spiritual wars. The victorious soldiers took thousands of warning violent spirits back to America with them as victor’s spoils. In 1917, they were divided, and some remained in Europe to have another go through Hitler. In 1945, most left Europe for America, switching to the new winner.

This explains the rapid change in Europe. After centuries of fighting, with some wars lasting for decades and millions of people killed. the Europeans suddenly lost interest in war. Armies have shrunk and spending on the military has declined rapidly. The reason for this change is that the violent warning principality and the spirits he controlled have joined their colleagues in the United. States.

The United States has always had a strong history of faith in Jesus, so the spiritual forces of wickedness had been forced underground and were biding their time. They have burst out from time to time in during wars and massacres, but they never gained control at the highest level. While some presidential candidates have been strongly influenced by the violent warring spirit, it has never gained supremacy in the United States, because there have always been more peaceful men standing against them.

Violent warring spirits have been active in a America for a long time. Events have now given them a greater ascendancy. A warring violent spirit that builds an empire through military force and economic domination is becoming the principality that controls America.

Spiritual Shift (3) War

A war between two nations is also a spiritual war between two principalities and their followers. The outcome of the war will often be determined by which of the principalities has the strongest powers supporting it. The principalities mostly use deceit to achieve their goals, by blinding military leaders to opportunities and deceiving them into actions that will fail.

Anyone who participates in a physical war is also participating in a spiritual struggle, whether they recognise it or not. The outcome of the war will be influenced by the strength of the spiritual forces engaged on each side. Spiritual powers like to be on the winning side, so groups of them will often switch allegiance to join the winner. When the nation or empire that a principality controls is defeated, it may shift to the winning nation and attempt to gain a place of control in the winning empire.

The trauma and chaos of war provides great opportunities for evil spirits to shift from one person to another. The intense fear that pervade before and after battle leave soldiers open to spiritual attack. Anger in the battle also leaves them vulnerable. Soldiers rarely think about spiritual protection, because their officers are stirring them up with anger and hatred.

The spiritual side of war make it an extremely dangerous activity. The nation winning a war celebrates as if it has achieved something great. The hidden truth is that an army that successfully invades an evil nation and defeats it carries a great host of evil spirits and their controlling principalities and powers back to their homeland. The people who win the physical war usually lose the spiritual war. Principalities and powers often shift from one area to another by moving with the winning armies.

Spiritual Shift (2) Principalities

Paul reminded the Ephesians that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers in the spiritual realm. A principality is a spiritual being that controls the ruler/leader of a nation or city. These principalities do not work on their own. They control a hierarchy of evil spirits that work to influence the kings courtiers and the political leaders advisers and deputies. This is not demon possession. These spirits achieve their subtle influence by stirring up emotions and putting ideas into the minds of their victims. They achieve control by creating mental strongholds that the person things are their own.

The greater the authority of the political leader, the greater the power of the principality. The principality that controls an emperor has enormous power. When an empire collapses into hundreds of smaller entities, the power of the principality is diffused because the spiritual forces have to spread out in an attempt to control each one. This why the enemy loves empires. The greater the empire, the more he can concentrate and leverage his power.

An example of a principality is the Prince of Persia, a spiritual being who fought against the archangel Michael, preventing him from coming to speak to Daniel (Dan 10:13). The principality did not work on his own. He had a hierarchy of spirits working under him that influenced or controlled the powerful people in Persia.

The kingdom of darkness is a divided kingdom, so the spiritual powers are always falling out with each other and shifting allegiances. When a principality attains immense power, other spirits may try to undermine it, and seize some of the power. This contributes to the waxing and waning of nations and empires.

Principalities and powers do not remain with the same nation for ever. They move around with the rising and falling of nations. Wars and military invasions provide them with an opportunity to move from one area to another.

Spiritual Shift (1)

According to an article by Mario Liu on Storm Harvest, Robert Holmes has prophesied that Obama Barack is Alexander the Great for America. Robert is an Australia with a strong prophetic anointing. His word is good, but I am concerned about Mario’s interpretation, because he begins with an assumption that he the American Empire is coming to an end. This leads him to assume that Obama is the president who will destroy the American empire.

I do not agree with this assumption. The Unites States has hit a bit of speed bump, but announcements of the death of this empire are premature. The reality is that the United States is the strongest nation that has ever existed, and it will continue to be the most powerful for many more decades.

• The United States has been able to fight to wars on the other side of the world at the same.

• It has been able to fight a twelve-year war through a major depression without any restraint.

• Military spending by the US is five times greater than that of China, it closes competitor. US military spending is greater than the ten next largest combined.

• The United States is leads the world in research and development of new military technology.

• Unmanned drones have given the United States the ability to project power and destroy political leaders all over the world.

The American Empire is just getting started, so an assumption that its demise is close is unwise. To interpret the word that Robert Holmes received, we must understand the workings of principalities and powers.