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How God is overthrowing Babylon

At the end of the (Pentecostal) church age, after prophetic “Saul” died on May 30, 1993, we saw an immediate shift take place as God instructed us to conduct the Jubilee Prayer Campaign later that same year. The purpose of the prayer campaign was unlike previous prayer campaigns that we had done back in the 1980’s while I was being tutored in the art of spiritual warfare.

As we transitioned out of Pentecost into Tabernacles, our spiritual warfare tactics changed as well. In fact, I had never actually led a prayer campaign before 1993, so my leadership was also a new phenomenon. As we prepared ourselves, we still did not understand that this was to be a legal battle in a court case conducted in the divine court. Such a concept was still unclear to me.

The Jubilee Prayer Campaign began on November 1, 1993 and ended eight days later on the 29^th. On the last day of the prayer campaign, I discovered that we were not to view this as a pitched battle in the field, but as an appeal in the divine court. In other words, we did not do the battle ourselves. We appealed to God to issue a ruling and to make a decree which—if it came to it, could give us the ultimate victory on the spiritual field of battle.

This took all the work and sweat out of spiritual warfare, because it was God’s battle, and the entire project relied upon the sovereignty of God. We were able to enter into His rest, a concept not clearly understood by most Christians.

The Biblical Parallel

Nothing under the sun is new. We fight the same battles in the heavens that the prophets fought in ancient times. We are in the same timeless battle in the heavens that Daniel fought in the tenth chapter of Daniel, where the prophet was engaged in spiritual warfare through his “prince,” the archangel Michael (Daniel 10:21).

We all are caught up in this battle, through the angels assigned to us as well as through our spirit itself (which is a part of us). Some fight on one side, others on the side of the enemy.

All of the physical battles mentioned in Scripture were only earthly manifestations of spiritual conflicts. The outcome of such earthly wars established on earth the spiritual conditions in the heavens at any given moment. Hence, it makes no sense to go to war here on earth without first winning the battle in the heavens.

The particular Scripture applicable to our Jubilee Prayer Campaign was the story found in Daniel 4. It is the story of King Nebuchadnezzar’s prophetic dream about the massive “tree” that “the watchers” cut down after stripping it of its leaves. Daniel 4:14 (interesting number) says, “Chop down the tree and cut off its branches, strip off its foliage and scatter its fruit.”

The Babylonian king was witnessing an act of spiritual warfare without realizing it. He did not know the meaning of the dream until Daniel revealed it to him. But God gave him this dream, because the law of war in Deuteronomy 20:10 demands a warning before making war on a city. This dream was that warning and also terms of peace. God’s warnings are a call to repentance, saying, “If you continue doing what you are doing, you will be judged accordingly.”

Hence, we must view Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in the light of the divine law and as a warning given by the God of mercy and grace. In 1993 we were given this passage as our main revelation about this battle against the city of Mystery Babylon. So we understood that God was giving Babylon a 12-month warning/opportunity to repent.

Daniel 4:28-32 says,

²⁸ All this happened to Nebuchadnezzar the king. ²⁹ Twelve months later he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon. ³⁰ The king reflected and said, “Is not this Babylon the great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?” ³¹ While the word was in the king’s mouth, a voice came from heaven, saying, “King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is declared: sovereignty has been removed from you, ³² and you will be driven away from mankind, and your dwelling place will be with the beasts of the field. You will be given grass to eat like cattle, and seven periods of time will pass over you until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind, and bestows it on whomever He wishes.”

The overall message here is that the king thought he was sovereign and that all of his works were by his own power and for his own glory. That was the trigger for divine judgment. He was to be driven out for “seven periods of time,” eating grass (“all flesh is grass,” Isaiah 40:6). The time was to end only after the king recognized the sovereignty of God.

In 1993 we understood that we would have to wait 12 months to see the actual results of the court case against Babylon. We knew that we had won our case on November 29, 1993, but before God brought judgment upon Babylon, they were to be given a grace period of 12 months (until November 29, 1994).

Secondly, we understood that we would watch for a seven-year period, ending on November 29, 2000. We knew this date was important, because it was also 7½ years from May 30, 1993. It ran parallel to the 7½ year transition from Saul to David (2 Samuel 5:4, 5). Saul, the Pentecostal king, reigned 40 years, so we understood that the Saul/Pentecostal era extended 40 Jubilees from 33-1993, specifically beginning and ending on Pentecost of each year. Seven years and six months after the death of Saul came to November 30, 2000, and this nearly coincided with the end of the 7 “times” allotted to King Nebuchadnezzar.

So after the prayer campaign in 1993 we settled into other matters for the next seven years. But first we had to see what would happen on November 29, 1994.

Cutting Down the Tree

In November of 1994 the US Congress, led by Speaker of the House, Tom Foley, was debating a “free trade” bill known as GATT. This was a precursor to the World Trade Organization that would come later. Tom Foley had just lost the mid-term election in early November, so he was due to be replaced in January by George Nethercutt.

The GATT bill was passed by the House on November 29, 1994. After the final vote, Tom Foley got up and made a speech telling everyone what a great thing they had done. Then he resigned as Speaker of the House.

The meaning? We had been watching that date to see how Daniel 4:29 would be fulfilled. So it was easy to see that the Babylonian “tree” was being defoliated (de-Foley-ated). In fact, this was one of the earlier campaign memes from the Nethercutt camp. “We are going to De-Foley-ate Washington.”

Nethercutt means “a lower cut.” The original Babylonian tree had been cut down, but its stump was left (Daniel 4:23), in order to suggest that Babylon would return at a future time. But in 1994 the Babylonian tree was chopped down with “a lower cut” after being defoliated.

This sign told us that God was intending to bring down Mystery Babylon through “free trade.” That is why President Trump is now telling everyone that the world has been taking advantage of the US by imposing high tariffs on imports from the US, while receiving the benefits of low tariffs on goods that they export to the US. It is not really “free trade” at all. Trump has even suggested removing ALL tariffs as a possible remedy.

Trump is defending America’s best interests, but he does not recognize the hand of God in this. He does not know what was revealed to us in November of 1994. I knew in 1994 that the GATT bill would result in a tsunami of money flowing from West to East. I knew that this was going to bring us to the point of bankruptcy, and that this would result in the collapse of Babylon.

We appealed to the divine court, and this was God’s answer. Defoliating the tree and cutting it down is painful for all who dwell in its branches. But God has other trees and is able to protect His people during times of trouble.

So while I agree with Trump on one level, I also agree with God on a higher level. I see this trade war as a fundamental basis of Babylon’s overthrow. That is why we must watch current events to see how this develops.

Keep in mind also that the name of the prayer campaign was The Jubilee Prayer Campaign. Jubilees speak of the cancellation of debt. The unfair trade situation, agreed to by our own Babylonian officials, has brought about this current trade conflict. Trade is essential to Mystery Babylon, as we see in Revelation 18:10-19. When Babylon falls, the merchants of Babylon weep and mourn as they see their city burning down.

I believe that God has called Trump to do this very thing. So let us understand what God is doing and be less concerned about the instruments that God uses to accomplish His will.

The Outpouring of the Spirit

The prophecy to King Nebuchadnezzar was that he would be brought low, eating grass like a beast, until he recognized the sovereignty of God. At the end of seven years, the king regained his senses and was restored to the throne. Then he wrote the story of his new revelation, which was incorporated into the Bible (Daniel 4). The king’s account ends in Daniel 4:37,

³⁷ Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise, exalt, and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are true and His ways just, and He is able to humble those who walk in pride.

The problem is that the stump of Babylon remained, and the tree grew again into another beast entity known as Mystery Babylon. So there remains a greater fulfillment in our own time. The tree is being cut down and will never again grow, because the Kingdom of God will replace it fully. We are seeing Babylon humbled, and as it falls, its rulers, merchant-bankers, and other supporters among the people are screaming in fear and panic.

The bottom line is that in this time around, we are about to see an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that will reveal the sovereignty of God to all the citizens and rulers of Babylon. This humbling will affect everyone, not just the king. Their conversion will ensure that the Babylonian “tree” will never again bear fruit, nor even leaves.

Today’s “watchers” (Daniel 4:17) cut down this Babylonian tree on November 29, 1994. The sign of that was when Tom Foley bragged, resigned, and left the House. It has taken a long time for this tree to fall, but it is indeed falling. So the trade disruptions brought about by the Trump policy are actually an answer to prayer.

One final note: Daniel 4:14 says that the Babylonian tree was a fruit-bearing tree, because the judgment of the watchers was to “scatter its fruit.” Its fruit was unfit for consumption, however, and this is what made it lawful to chop it down as an act of spiritual warfare. Recall that under normal conditions, the law of God commanded that fruit-bearing trees were not to be chopped down (Deuteronomy 20:19, 20).

The manner in which God judged the Babylonian fruit-bearing tree shows us how to interpret the law of God. Many trees bear fruit that is poisonous and unfit for consumption. The fruit of Babylon is one of those trees. Therefore, it is not a violation of God’s law to cut it down.