"For Yahweh takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the afflicted ones with salvation" (Ps.149:4, NASB).

Chag sameach Rosh Chodesh kol beit Yisra'el - a blessed New Moon to all the House of Israel! May you all enjoy the Father's shalom (peace), His revelation and His abiding emet (truth) that sets souls free.

As we gather here for Yahweh's Davar (Word) for the coming month may I remind you that we are not first of all here for ourselves, whatever our needs may be - great and small - but we are here for Him. It is an easy thing for sure to speak of our desire to do His will and yet if we are all brutally honest with ourselves we often fear His will, not trusting that it may be in our best interests, particularly when He ordains a derech or way that involves suffering.

Some of you are wondering what I think about the Obama victory in the US Presidential election the other day and what this means for believers. The Obama win is 'good news', relatively speaking, for those who have prepared because it means we will get this collapse over and done with a lot faster as the economy implosion accelerates. The Obama win is bad news for those who have not prepared - had Romney won, it would have meant a little more time for those without their food, water and medical supplies, but the end result would have been the same. As for the Romney loss, that must be a huge disappointment for the Mormons who I am sure were believing that this was the man Joseph Smith prophesied would save America when the Constitution was hanging on a string and become the country's benign dictator. But as far off theologically as the LDS are, the fact that they acknowledge Jesus Christ is too much for the Illuminists to stomach, since they hate our Messiah so intensely. But who knows what's actually been going on behind the scenes. It's interesting that Romney has not contested what is indisputably a massive election fraud.

I was also asked today what the timeline for collapse might be - I can only reitterate what I have said before, that it will likely occur anytime between now and the spring, though with Obama in charge, it will probably be over sooner. Each month will see rapid devaluation of our currencies as more and more fiat paper money is printed with inflation picking up momentum. The prediction of people like Celente is that people will be lucky to get one cent on the dollar when it's all over.

The aftermath of hurricane Sandy on the north-east coast of the USA was and still is a foretaste of what we can expect more or less globally as infrastructure breaks down. We have seen the consequences of electricity being knocked out, food stores being swept clean within a day, and the rise of the criminal element with all the looting that followed. We have seen how incompetent government agencies like FEMA were and how the only ones having any success were the 'preppers' - those who have prepared storage for themselves. Some of the preppers were even feeding FEMA officials! Those who were unprepared in New England will think differently when - and if - life ever gets back to normal, assuming they have any money to buy survival items with anyway. The Super Depression may well be in full swing by then and will probably last as long as a decade, just as the 20th century Great Depression did starting in 1929.

So for most people, if you haven't already prepared, it's probably already too late. Interestingly, someone phoned me up today who has just inherited a large sum of money and I did not waste time telling them to invest now before it's all worthless!

When I asked Yahweh for His Davar (Word) for this Rosh Chodesh He immediately answered with a vision early this morning, which I shared with my family. Within hours part of it was explained when I received an important telephone call signalling the penultimate step to the resolution or conclusion of a grave matter that has occuped many years, the approaching end of a major chapter in my life and that of this ministry, and the beginning of a new one. Though it concerns others who may well read this, I am sharing it as it was given and am giving only a very general interpretation.

I saw a vision of a circular, plastic laundry basket (as as most households own these days) whose diameter at the bottom was about 80% of the top. It was completely empty and looked spotlessly clean, and if it had ever held any dirty laundry, it was no longer there. I don't remember it's colour, which was presumably unimportant. The lid was off it and nowhere in sight. At the bottom, almost flush with the the floor, a rectangular-shaped piece (representing rectitude or moral and religious correctness, and the correctness ofn judgment as it relates to Yahweh especially) had been cleanly cut out that extended about a quarter of the way around the basket, leaving a rectantular hole or gap in the latticework. This was what obviously grabbed by attention, as ordinarily such a thing should not be there. It gave the appearance to me, at least, as being akin to an artificially-created 'exit' or 'entrance' of sorts (or both), to either allow any earlier contents to be removed and an entrance for the one removing it.

It is essential that we release all our 'dirty laundry' to Yahweh - those things representing embarrassing matters that people want hidden from the public, whether they be kosher or not. He wants these, or offenses that we may be harbouring against others, surrendered to Him. This is by no means easy, as I can, like everyone else who struggles with the flesh, testify with great shame, but Yahweh will break in with His rectitude or righteousness and fix this unwanted baggage if we will let Him. I believe Yahweh wants all this baggage released to Him now.

Getting our attention is, I suggest, one of the biggest problems because we do not want to admit to these things. And sometimes Yahweh can do desperate and painful things in our lives to wake us up. What has He been doing to garner our attention? How much must He shake us to get us to listen and respond?

For years I used to keep our 'deeper doctrines' hidden so as not to offend other believers and non-believers alike, but the Besorah (Gospel), the simple as well as the deep, is guaranteed to offend not only someone but the majority because there are few who want to know the emet (truth). I lived in fear of the disapproval, anger and violence of men. No longer. Though I have been revealing all of these things publically now for some years I thought I would just throw them out altogether last year in one devotional called 'Hot Potatoes' and let the chips fall where they may. Since, having abandoned the 'church system' some years ago, I am no longer in the business of building an 'organisation' or 'denomination' any longer [1], it really doesn't matter any longer whether people love or hate me since there is nothing external to 'leave' or 'attack'. It all reduces to each person's personal level and their relationship to Yahweh.

The rectangle also represents singularity, everything that you are or stand for. And if your mind and lev (heart) are single to the glory of Elohim (God), what need is there anyway of a 'laundry basket' since you committed to walking solely in emet (truth) and teshuvah (repentance). If we do that, then our vessels will become empty of offenses. It is very, very hard indeed, because it's the alef and taw, the alpha and omega, of authentic Besorah (Gospel) living. But like everything else that is Yahweh's divine lifestyle, practice makes perfect over time. We have to keep going and going until we have it perfectly right.

Pure Emet (Truth) will in any case give offense to those who do not love it fully and be viewed by them as 'dirty laundry' no matter how much we tell them it isn't. People will clutch onto their idols. They must make their choices, live by them, and accept the consequences of those choices. I, for one, have made mine.

The second vision I saw the following morning before sunrise and therefore still on Rosh Chodesh (which is why this message is late in being published) in which I found myself high above the northern Atlantic Ocean over open sea. Below me was a huge series of concentric rings made of cloud emanating from an invisible central point, and though a vast area of many hundreds of miles was covered, none of the rings of cloud touched or covered any land. I then heard a voice cry out: "Pappa!".

This vision, like the first one, had me baffled too, but for much longer. Clouds, of course, have no substance, and are easily blown away, the concentric circles reminding me of the symbolism of the earthquake of which we have been having a good deal in recent times (the latest with casualities being Nicaragua, I believe). How often we cry out to our Heavenly Father ('Pappa') in desperation because of the fear of imaginary calamities, when we feel 'out at sea', in the 'Atlantic' (from the Nahuatl, atl meaning 'war'), especially when He has already assured us, often many times, that all will be well. People have all kinds of phobias, don't they? And most of the things they fear turn out to be quite harmless. A lady I know suffers from agrophobia, the fear of being outdoors, and her life is a misery as people have to go and do her shopping for her. She rarely ventures out, and always in trepidation when she does. We are a lot like that - all of us - when it comes to Yahweh and His provision and care.

This leads me naturally to my third message, which is today's scripture, from the 149th psalm, which has been on my lev (heart) for some time now. Such is the depth and breath of Yahweh's revelation that there is no single way we can translate this passage into our own language. All the shades of meaning are, however, potent and pertinent. I particularly like the New American Standard rendering which I have elected to be the main translation today:

"For Yahweh takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the afflicted ones with salvation" (Ps.149:4, NASB).

"Yahweh takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify/crown the meek/humble/afflicted ones with Yah'shua/salvation/deliverance".

If our intent is the righteousness of Elohim (God) - if it is rectitude that we seek, and we are single in that determination and emunah (faith), then we can safely abandon ourselves to Him knowing that as a Father He will not fail us. But first we must have emunah (faith) that Yahweh can do what for men is impossible (Mt.19:26; Lk.1:37). When we are able to say that 'Elohim (God) is enough', then our emunah (faith) becomes active to the defeating of all adversaries.

For such an emunah (faith) to become active rather then remain passive or merely locked up in the words bouncing around our head, we have to be prepared to be led into impossible situations, just as Abraham was, or as Moses and the children of Israel were, or as the three Hebrew children were in the fiery furnace, or as Daniel was in the lions' den. Only then can emunah (faith) come alive and deliverance be actually seen and experienced. And once we have seen and experienced it, so we are given a live demonstration of Yahweh's faithfulness.

Yahweh did not permit Abraham to lose his son, or for the Israelites to be taken back into slavery, or for the three children to be consumed in the flames, or for Daniel to be eaten by wild beasts. Neither will He allow you to starve or perish before an adversary if you are throwing your lot into His care. When every human or carnal crutch has gone, and you stand without any further kind of support, when no other options are available to you, and you declare: "I will trust in Yahweh-Elohim through Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ)!" then expect extraordinary things to happen, because then emunah (faith) has been activated in every dimension - in your mind, in your heart and in your physical circumstances. But we really can't trust Yahweh's power fully until we experience it in the midst of our crisis. If Daniel had been pulled out of the lion's den, or the three children out of the furnace, or the Israelites whisked away from Pharaoh's descending army, they would never have experienced or known the full grace of Yahweh's miracle-working power. And just as importantly, Yahweh would not have been glorified before the heathen!

Why are we permitted to go through such things? Because Yahweh wants to change us, and unfortunately - regrettably - this tends to be the only way we can be changed until we have fully surrendered. Yahweh could, if He wanted, terminate our trials, but would we actually want that to happen with the hindsight as to the final results, which is to demonstrate to our lack of emunah (faith) His faithfulness? His desire is to raise us above our trials through emunah (faith) so that we can declare to ourselves and to the world that Elohim (God) can do the 'impossible', convincing both that He really is a Deliverer - a Saviour!

"Through Yahweh's mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. 'Yahweh is my portion,' says my soul, 'Therefore I hope in Him!'" (Lam.3:22-24, NKJV).