Does it seem like Louisiana is cursed? After Katrina and now the oil nightmare, stunned Americans are wondering what they could possibly have done to deserve this. Oceanic “dead zones,” freak weather, chemical spills: Why do so many disasters seem to plague this state? Will things get better?

The answers are found in Louisiana’s history.

The year is 1803 and Napoleon is in dire need of money to fund his conquest of Europe. So desperate is he for funds that he offers an incredible take-it-or-leave-it offer to sell New Orleans and the Louisiana territory for $15 million to the United States.

For the fledgling United States it was an opportunity of a lifetime. But it was also so much more. On a global level, it could be argued that the deal was one of the most important inflection points in world history.

Herbert W. Armstrong once said the Louisiana Purchase was the seminal event enabling the U.S. to suddenly rise from its status as a small nation of little geopolitical influence to that of the greatest single nation in history. “By 1804 London had become the financial hub of the world. The United States had exploded out of its swaddling clothes of the 13 original states and had acquired the expansive Louisiana Purchase. It was fast sprouting up to become the mightiest nation of all time” (The United States and Britain in Prophecy). At just 3 cents an acre, the Louisiana Purchase was probably the greatest real-estate deal ever. Thomas Jefferson called it “a transaction replete with blessings to unborn millions of men.” Henry Adams also wrote that this purchase was “an event so portentous as to defy measurement.”

As Trumpet columnist Ron Fraser wrote, “With the stroke of a quill in 1803, America—small and relatively unproven in affairs of state—nearly doubled in size overnight. It set this great nation on a course that would propel it into being the greatest single nation ever to exist.”

The Louisiana Purchase not only removed a competitor and potential enemy from America’s unprotected borders, but opened up the great river superhighways to American farmers, explorers and nation builders.

Take a look at a map of the U.S. The vast bulk of the nation’s road, rail and goods distribution infrastructure, the veins and arteries of commerce, are geared to one major clearing point—New Orleans—located on the southern end of the mighty Mississippi River.

Today, New Orleans houses the largest port complex in the U.S. (and the Western Hemisphere). It is the entrance and exit to a river network that stretches from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada. For 200 years, it has been the aorta of America’s economy.

As the analysts at Stratfor wrote, “[T]he New Orleans port complex … is where the bulk commodities of agriculture go out to the world and the bulk commodities of industrialism come in. The commodity chain of the global food industry starts here, as does that of American industrialism” (Sept. 2, 2005).

Thus in 1803, America took its first of many rapid steps toward superpower status.

No nation in the world—in terms of either agricultural, geographic, military or economic blessings—even comes close to rivaling America.

How is it that such a small, largely insignificant nation—surrounded by superpowers like Great Britain, France, Russia and Spain—so quickly grew to surpass them all?

It is a question that puzzles many scholars because there are so few precedents before it.

Yet, to those who know their Bible, there is a very clear explanation as to why America (and Great Britain before it) so quickly became a global superpower.

America’s prowess is a direct result of promises God made close to 4,000 years ago, and recorded in the Bible.

In the book of Genesis, God conferred upon the patriarch Abraham blessings that his descendants would receive—promises of national greatness and globe-encircling empire. These were promises that were never fulfilled in ancient Israel.

By 718 to 721 B.C., the 10 northern tribes of ancient Israel were conquered by the Assyrians and carted away into captivity, from where they began migrating into northern Europe. Yet long before the national captivity, through the Prophet Moses, God told the Israelites that unless they remained obedient, He would allow their captivity and punishment for a 2,520-year duration before conferring upon them the blessings of global greatness which were promised to their forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. (For more information on this prophecy and proof that it is specifically concerning the U.S., read the book The United States and Britain in Prophecy, especially Chapter 10.)

If you do the math, counting 2,520 years from 718 B.C. (remember to add a year because there is no year zero), it brings you to exactly 1803—and the Louisiana Purchase.

God’s promises cannot be broken. Yet God did not say that He would keep America a superpower forever. In fact, God specifically warns in His Word that disobedience will always result in curses.

It is these curses that America is experiencing today.

God has fulfilled His end of His promise to Abraham. National greatness began with Louisiana. But due to America’s disobedience to His law, national greatness is now ending there too.

The curses that have befallen Louisiana over the past few years are a warning to a nation that God loves but is now correcting. They are signs from a loving Father who wants a nation to know from whence its blessings come.

Hurricanes, flooded cities, racial tension, wrecked environment, ruined fishing industry, polluted environment, decimated tourist economy—oil spill—the disasters for disobedience are just starting. Just as prophesied.

Yet God provides protection for those who obey Him. Begin by reading The United States and Britain in Prophecy to learn what you should do.