Shabbat shalom kol beit Yisra'el and Mishpachah. Welcome back to this assembly and to our international audience following this sermon on livefeed. We are still swealtering here in Sweden and indeed the weather is even hotter than it was last week!

However, if you're an astronomy buff like myself, or simply enjoy watching special events in Yahweh's magnificent heaven, then as I am sure most of you know this evening will provide you with the perfect opportunity to see a blood-red moon, though I'm afraid those of you in North America will not be so blessed this time round. What makes this blood-red moon so special is that it will be of the longest duration this century - a full 1 hour and 43 minutes. And once again, this is a perfect opportunity for those of us living in reality to witness to those caught up in the flat-earth hoax by explaining to them the only scientific model that actually works to explain what a lunar eclipse really is, namely, the earth passing between the sun and the moon thereby casting its shadow on the moon. The orange and red wavelengths scatter more than blue and violet ones, making the moon look a 'bloody red' colour. Most flat-earthers insist that some invisible object passes between the earth and the sun in spite of there being no evidence whatsoever that such an object exists and in spite of the fact that an invisible object can't block light at all.

What this blood-red moon is not is a prophetic sign as YouTube preacher Paul Begley is claiming because, he says, this blood-red moon will be over Jerusalem which he claims is important because it is Israel's 70th birthday. We debunked previous blood-red moon prophecies back in 2013 and were shown to be correct back then. But this 'pop-prophesying' will keep on happening until accidentally a blood-red moon happens to coincide with some dramatic event. So I repeat, there are no Bible prophecies concerning lunar eclipses per se and even though there is one major blood-red moon prophecy it has nothing to do with the earth casting it's shadow on the moon but with atmospheric conditions such as one might expect when there is lots of volcanic ash in the sky lasting weeks, months or years. The big blood-red moon prophecy, mentioned in three places in Scripture (Joel 2:31; Ac.2:20; Rev.6:12) occurs alongside two other events, namely, the sun going dark and the stars falling out of the heavens. But that isn't something I want to go into today as we have more urgent matters to attend to.

Enjoy the eclipse tonight but don't go beliving all the false nevi'im (prophets) out there. Superstition has nothing to do with the Besorah (Gospel) of Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ). And for goodness sake, don't go heading for the Israeli Republic or to Petra in Jordan or one of those phoney gatherings. The super blue moon of 31 January came and went without the world ending, or anything substantial happening, and so it will be with this blood-red moon tonight. Continue to be vigilant but get your eyes on Yah'shua (Jesus) and the immediate things that really matter. Leave the pop preachers to their delusions and move on.

This has been a week of adjustments for my family and myself with the passing of our nearly-10-year-old Yorkshire Terrier, Fred. But in the midst of our grieving, Yahweh has been at work, in more ways than one. I know many people wonder what happens to their pets after they die. Of course, the soul-sleeping sect do not believe that they even exist after death - or human-beings, for that matter - because of their belief system. There are those who do not accept the soul-sleeping doctrine who believe that animals have 'no souls' and so are permanently extinct at death, a teaching inherited from Roman Catholicism. I myself had an out-of-body experience when I was a boy so early on I learned that we do have a spirit which contains our personality and is more than mere electricity-like 'breath' (as the soul-sleepers like the Jehovah's Witnesses maintain) and I have had a number of powerful experiences with pets who have died.

My very first experience occurred when I had a vision of my pet dog Josephine (or Yoyo for short), who died in Malaysia after we had left for the UK, and the loss of whom left a large hole in my heart for years. Then one day I saw her, and she saw me. She was standing there wagging her tail. There was communication going on between us and I knew at that moment that she was not only alive, and that she could see me as I could see her, but that we would one day be reunited. More recently, when our dog Vivaldi died, I likewise had a vision of him. His last year was a very distressing one as he developped kidney problems and from being a very active dog indeed, who liked to do nothing better than chase wild deer and elk, found himself virtually incapacitated. We had to have him put down to relieve him of his suffering. Shortly after he died I saw him in vision, as I had Josephine many years before, only this time he was running, and running, and running in this beautiful place with shere joy! I have written more about my experiences with these things in an article, All Creatures of Our Elohim: Are Animals Resurrected? so you can read more about them afterwards if you're interested.

So when Fred died last Sunday I already had a strong witness and experience of what happens to animals after death. I wasn't sure whether Yahweh would permit me to see him or not and He has not shown me every pet that has passed on, so I wasn't expecting anything. Fred was more my 'wife's dog' than mine and so she was very much the 'pack-leader', plus he had a closer relationship with my children. Yet moments before he died, he gave me such an intense and longing look the likes of which I have never experienced with any pet before. It was deeply searching - he was looking for something...reassurance, comfort, an answer to what was going on...I wasn't sure but it arrested me in my spirit and quickened my heart. It was the deepest communion I have ever had with an animal. I shall never forget that look - it was so intense. Fred was looking for something from me but what it was at first eluded me.

Anyway, the next day after he died - early the following morning, in fact - as I awoke, there he was - just standing there his tail slightly wagging, and looking at me. He seemed to be suspended in the air as is not untypical of appearences of disembodied spirits. I knew that he was not in the final place to which he would eventually go, because I sensed he was tarrying for some reason, though I don't know what for.

The nearest experience I have had of 'tarrying' 'remaining behind a while', as I call it, was when a school and university friend of mine was killed in a motorcycle accident many years ago, when we were both undergraduate students - he at Cambridge studying languages, and I at Oxford University studying Biochemistry. He was a communist with no belief in Elohim (God), a spiritual self, or an afterlife at all. Shortly after his funeral, my friend appeared to me in vision at my home in Surrey, England - I sensed he was trying to get close and communicate with me. He was confused, he didn't know where he was or what state he was in, and didn't know what to 'do'. So he came to me, his best friend. I told him that he was alive than he needed to go where Elohim (God) wanted him to go, so I told him, in Yah'shua's (Jesus') Name, to go to the place that was appointed to him. He then disappeared and I never saw him again. I assumed that a malak (angel) had collected him and that he had departed.

So when I saw Fred in the same physical space as he had occupied when he was embodied, I wondered why he was still here. I didn't say anything as I didn't know what Yahweh wanted me to do, since I had never been in a position of having to deal with an animal like this before. I went back to sleep and thought no more about it. When evening came, and I flopped down onto my bed very tired at around 1 am, having been working late on a series of articles on universalism, I turned my head to the right where my bedside table is, and lo and behold, there was Fred once again.

This time he was not standing facing me but rather was lying parallel with me and facing in the same direction as myself. He wasn't looking at me but in the direction of the grotto where we had burried him earlier that morning. Again, he was suspended in the air, but much closer this time, and no more than foot away, and at the same level as my bed as though the bed were extended in his direction. He was lying down but with his head up and staring ahead, as if on watch.

As I looked at him I sensed that he was at peace and then the Ruach (Spirit) revealed something to me quite startling: he was at peace because he had realised that I was his pack-leader, his head, and it was that realisation he had had just before he died, amongst other things. He was at peace because he finally knew what his place was. I was in a lot of pain and so turned to my left side so that I could no longer see him. I prayed that Yahweh's will would be done, that if He required Fred to tarry longer, that I would be happy about that, but that if it was his time to go elsewhere, I would be happy with that too. I didn't see him again after that and he has not reappeared since.

Now I know that this kind of account spooks some people out because the world of the spirit is unfamiliar to them. Since for some reason Yahweh has given me the gift to see into it pretty frequently, it's not something I think twice about any more. It's as natural as going out into the garden. Of course, this can cause theological crises for some for whom such phenomena run against what they believe about the state of the spirit after death, especially if they are a soul-sleeper and do not believe that there are any spirits or incorporeal human beings at all. Such people live in fear that this is demonic trickery, since in their minds this can't be happening, and view it as soulish and psychic rather than spiritual. I do actually understand the fear. The possibility that such experiences could be deceptions has concerned me over the years too, even without the hang-up of soul-sleeping doctrine, which is why I have always vigorously tested such manifestations over the years. I do not seek them, nor should we ever do so, which I consider to be fraught with danger as this can amount to using forbidden occult arts.

I have learned over the years that the spirit world occupies the same physical space as this physical one which is why it appears to be so close to those blessed with the sensitivity to see it. One of my problems has been to find language adequate to explain it because the spirit dimension is not like the physical one at all. The best way I can describe it is that there are many 'levels' all in the same physical space. The spirit world, and all its levels, is right here on - and in - planet earth. The Bible simply calls it Sheol, wrongly translated as 'hell' in the Tanakh (Old Testament) of older Bible translations like the King James Version, the world of disembodied spirits. It is divided into two principle areas:

• 1. Paradise or 'Heaven', the realm of the blessed; and
• 2. Prison or 'Hell', the realm of the unsaved and wicked.

The spirit world is best described as a 'holding station' where the spirits of the deceased await judgment and resurrection. It's, of course, a little more complex than this, because there is another realm, quite separated from Paradise and Spirit Prison, which occultists call the 'astral' or 'psychic plane' which is a dimension of non-physical illusion completely dominated and ruled by dark entities, the demons, where they are constantly putting on 'shows' in order to deceive those who do not know Yah'shua (Jesus) or who are walking in disobedience. I have seen into all three realms over the years and seen some of the people in them. I saw my mother once after she died. But that is a huge subject I don't have time to go into today.

What I learned from Fred is that unless we are walking in divine tavnith or pattern - both humans and creatures (remembering that Yahweh has given us dominion over all creatures), we can never find shalom or peace. Fred never understood, for whatever reason, that I was the 'pack-leader' when he was alive and because of that he could be a very nervous and stressed-out dog trying to be what he was not. He only realised the truth on death's door and that is why he looked at me the way he did. It's why on the second time I saw him he was lying next to me - at rest and content.

The experience underlined for me, once again, the importance of Yahweh's authority structures and the destruction we do both to ourselves and others when we try to better or dominate them by doing things our way. Do you want peace? Put yourself under proper headship and I guarantee you will find shalom (peace). Operate outside the headship structures He has put in place, and you will never find contentment - you will always be searching for that shalom (peace) in all the wrong places. And I have know people trying to circumvent or bypass the proper authority structures by going to Yahweh or Yah'shua (Jesus) directly! It can't be done and Yahweh won't accept it. That is disobedience and brings no simcha (joy), opening up the possibility of deception by the Enemy more than willing to step into the rôle as 'God' or the 'Spirit'. It weakens and ultimately destroys those precious relationships for which we were created - parents and children, husbands and wives, pastors and family heads, to name the three most important ones.

Fred just needed to know who was in charge of him and he found it moments before death and immediately afterwards. I don't know if he has gone or not - he might still be here but I may not be shown again. Those connections which we think are severed at death because we can no longer see our loved ones or pets do remain if they are in Messiah! That much I know without a shadow of a doubt. It is what irresistably draws us to them when we are reunited.

So this has been both a painful and a blessed time for the family. Indeed Yahweh used Fred's death as a teaching opportunity for my wife. She had an intense dream the night after Fred's burial in which she was in the little grotto we had made for him. (She did not know that I had dedicated it as an outdoor chapel). When, in the dream, she was in the grotto she felt tremendous peace but when she went outside it, she felt confused and distressed. She did not understand what to do so she asked Yahweh, and He said to her, "Reckon yourself as dead!" She knew at once that Yahweh was reminding her of what the apostle Paul taught about dying to self and the flesh - reckoning self as dead - so that Messiah could live in her. When she was in the grotto, she was dead to self and at peace; when she was outside it, self revived and she was in distress and disorientated.

Fred, even in dying and in death itself, continues to bless us. I myself have experienced the stirring of a new revival within myself as Yahweh has once again assured me of His tremendous ahavah (love), even in death, and how He loves every soul, even dogs, little sparrows and lilies of the field. He has affirmed to me that death truly is defeated, and that He will effect a complete restoration of this fallen world and universe with everyone in it one day. In the meantime we can experience and enjoy this quickening presence through the Ruach (Spirit).

Death is a horrible thing but we must all confront it sooner or later. When it is a death of a loved one, whether man or creature, it stirs up the depths of your soul. The deeper your heart-connection with that person or animal, the more traumatic the experience of death is.

We all know the effect the death of Lazarus had on Yah'shua (Jesus). But if you'll notice what affected Him principally, it was not so much the loss of his dear friend Lazarus (deep though that personal loss was) that stirred our Saviour the most, but the lack of consolation of Lazarus's sister Mary and others were experiencing, who loved Lazarus too:

"When Yah'shua (Jesus) saw her (Mary) weeping, and the Judeans who had come along with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled" (John 11:33, NIV).

We need to remember that Lazarus himself - that is, his disembodied spirit - was not in distress. He was a righteous man, a zadik, blessed and beloved of Elohim (God), what in Christian/Messianic parlance we would call 'saved'. Was Yah'shua (Jesus) weeping because of the state of the soul of Lazarus? By no means, He knew that Lazarus was saved and had a wonderful future and eternity to look forward to. Yet Yah'shua's (Jesus') reaction to the news was the same as anyone whose heart is open and connected:

"Yah'shua (Jesus) wept" (John 11:35, NIV).

Those present concluded the same as anyone would seeing a man weeping at a death scene:

"Then the Judeans said, 'See how he loved him!'" (John 11:36, NIV).

This reaction was quite natural. The ancient Isarelites were not as stoic as some of us in the West. One of the great curses of my own British people, at least in my parents' generation and before, was we were taught not to reveal our emotions - 'stiff upper lip and all that sort of thing'. It is deeply engrained in our culture to show comportment, to maintain an outer dignity, even if in our hearts we are being eaten up. We're not cold-hearted necessarily when we're like that, just hiding things.

In that time imemdiately before and after Fread's death the tears were flowing profusely - it's hard to control that, though some are better at it than others - but that old cultural restraining mechanism not to cry out kicked in. I guess I didn't want the vet and her assistsnt to see me blubbering like some child. Maybe it was pride. Maybe it was many different things. But Middle Easterners, as with many others around the world, don't hold back when they are mourning - they let loose with the tears and wails when they are grieving. They make a lot of noise!

Now it's true you can play-act. In those days, as today, they used to have 'professional mourners' at special events like funerals. These people were paid to wail at funerals and the like because you would be looked down on if you didn't have the appropriate emotional reaction. Often there was a prescribed period of time of mourning after which you could go on with life as though nothing had happened. Personally I think such fakery is disgusting. In some countries when a woman is to be married, she has to wail the day she leaves home to show her grief at leaving her parents. Sometimes its real, sometimes its fake. In some cultures she even has to fake 'resistance' by dragging her heels to those coming to take her to her husband! I don't doubt some can't wait to get away from a bad home or cruel parents. But it's fakery none-the-less.

Yah'shua's (Jesus) reaction was spontaneous. Even though He knew where Lazarus was - in Paradise and having a great time there (before being brought back to earth-life) - even though He knew He had nothing to worry about Lazarus' eternal fate, nevertheless He experienced the horror of death itself and its loss.

I knew where Fred was when he died so I was not grieving over his situation. I was grieving over having something very tangible, deep, meaningful, important and lovely cut off from me when he died. Not only that, I was grieving in anticipation of that, as well as seeing his suffering, of course. When we grieve is it our loss or anticipated loss that we experience down here, because like it or not, we invest a lot of ourselves that is of a psychic nature in this world, and that psychic, emotional bond is what is rudely and violently cut off in death.

The "silver cord" of the spirit to the physical body and the psychic body is what gets severed in death. Thus Solomon would write:

"Then man goes to his eternal (olam) home
and mourners go about the streets.

"Remember him - before the silver cord is severed,
or the golden bowl is broken;
before the pitcher is shattered at the spring,
or the wheel broken at the well, and the dust returns to the ground it came from,
and the spirit returns to Elohim (God) who gave it" (Eccl.12:5-7, NIV).

The "silver cord" is a poetic picture of the connection between the physical-psychic body and the spirit of man. There are those who say it is literal, and that they have seen it and felt it tugging them at the back of their heads if they have had an out-of-body experience. I can't say for sure whether that's true as the testimony of those who say they have witnessed these things are usually occultists practicing such forbidden arts as 'astral projection'. The rest of the passage is full of metaphors - obviously no literal "golden bowl", "pitcher" or "wheel" is being spoken of here. The severing, breaking and shattering of these very physical man-made objects is simply an illustration of the 'breaking' or 'snapping' of life into death and how sudden it is. I am sure you have all broken crockery in the kitchen or elsewhere - it happens so quickly.

So, yes, Yah'shua (Jesus) had a deep personal reaction to the death of Lazarus even though He knew prophetically where He had been taken, to a good place. Two days before Fred's death I had another vision in which I saw the little dog lying dead. I had no emotional reaction at the time because it hadn't happened. Moreover, I didn't tell my family because I wasn't allowed to by Yahweh. My job was to prepare them and let them go through the natural grieving process in its proper order and timing. To have announced ahead of time the imminent death of the family's beloved pet would have been selfish and heartness. The heart has its own needs.

So Yah'shua's (Jesus) reaction upon hearing the news of Lazarus' death was perfectly natural and human. Indeed, He Himself taught to His talmidim (disciples):

"Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted" (Matt.5:4, NIV).

It is blessed to mourn because we have a very real need to mourn. Bottling grief away will negatively impact your psychic well-being and physical health. How you grieve and when you grieve is a very personal thing, and as my wife pointed out, we all grieve differently. Some go away and cry privately, some do it in public. I did both and part of my grieving was making the grotto. Some may not get their grief out for days or weeks. We must not judge but show loving-kindness and support, gently encouraging them to view mourning in the right, positive way.

So, yes, Yah'shua (Jesus) wept for His own loss but, as the Scripture tells us, He was mostly grieving for the other people who were mourning for Lazarus. And what specifically about the others was He grieving over? Their pain, and in some cases, no doubt, their lack of hope in the resurrection. I know when others grieve it acts like a catalyst to me because in part I am grieving for them but also their grieving may, if I am holding back, help me release those deep emotions of anguish which it is necessary for us to experience in a natural, unforced and unpretentious way, whether alone or with others present.

Grieving is therapeutic. Even secular psychologists acknowledge that. The vet was good enough to share a few words about that to us. Grieving together as one echad is also important. Grief has the effect of binding grievers together. It can dissolve unneccessary and sometimes harmful barriers. In His profoundly deep High Priestly prayer, Yah'shua (Jesus) wants us to be one (echad) - that is, after all, the consummate goal of the Besorah (Gospel), is it not, to be echad (one) with Him and echad with each other?

"My prayer is not for them (the talmidim/disciples) alone. I pray also for those who will believe in Me through their message, that all of them may be echad (one), Father, just as You are in Me and I am in You. May they also be in Us so that the world may believe that You have sent Me. I have given them the glory that You gave Me, that they may be echad (one) as We are echad (one): I in them and You in Me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that You sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me" (John 17:20-23, NIV).

The unity or echadness to which we have been called is not just mental assent. It's not just about doing the same kinds of things, living the same Torah lifestyle, partaking in the same kind of grace- and love-filled behaviour, it is to be of one heart. It is to have the kind of deep emotional connection that allows us to share both ahavah (love) and grief when, for example, we come face-to-face with death. We are not only to love and grieve privately but we are to do it together. Yes, it has to be spontaneous. No, it can never be forced. But equally we cannot believe the lie that we are to exclusively live the Besorah (Gospel) as independent and separated units of human beingness. That does not give glory to the Father and the Son! Our togetherness is how we testify to the world that Yah'shua (Jesus) is real!

"May they also be in Us so that the world may believe that You have sent Me".

That is the primary witness, not the promulgation of theological head-knowledge. Theology and doctrine are an important and necessary tool but they are not the main thing or the goal. The main thing is ahavah (love) incarnated supernaturally in people which then becomes THE main witness of Messiah's work on earth. You see, when Yah'shua (Jesus) wept it was because He loved, and He was not ashamed for that ahavah (love) to spontaneously manifest outwardly for all to see. It was a part of His witness of who He was and is.

Therefore grieving is part and parcel of what it is to love. It's how we remain human, and it is Yah'shua (Jesus) who makes us perfectly human. It is part of that perfection to which we have been called.

"Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matt.5:48, NIV).

Is our Heavenly Father a human? No, but as humans we are made in His divine image. But Yah'shua (Jesus) is human - He is both human and divine, and that is from where perfection is obtained. Yahweh wants us to be the way for which we were created. And we were created to be fully human.

Satan wants to steal our humanity away from us and turn us into something like the cold-hearted and the dead, into his own image. Satan shuts hearts down, closes down minds, and shuts off spiritual things. Satan kills, whether all in one go or with ten thousand little cuts and wounds, one lie at a time, sometimes brutally, sometimes subtly, but always in the direction of death. Yah'shua (Jesus) moves us in the direction of chayim (life), sometimes one little step at a time, sometimes in leaps and bounds, but always towards chayim (life).

And it is in that daily movement towards chayim (life) that we have our security, not in some future destiny. We'll get there so long as we remain in Him. Do you remember what Solomon said?

"Then man goes to his eternal home and mourners go about the streets" (NIV).

"And as you near your everlasting home, the mourners will walk along the streets" (Eccl.11:5, NLT).

The word "everlasting" and "eternal" - indeed, you need to watch our for passages with those words for most of them translate the Hebrew olam or the Greek æon which do not mean "everlasting" or "eternal" except when applied to Elohim (God) [1]. They refer to a fixed period of time, of usually unknown length, and usually long.

My point is this: our security lies not in some distant time in the future, but in the living Messiah now. Because we have security in Him now, through being echad (one) with Him as redeemed human beings, our hope is assured. Might we fall and lose our salvation? Absolutely. We have that terrible choice if we so choose to make it, but why even go there? I'm not planning to let go of my Saviour. Are you? I do not fear the future because I am trusting in the I AM, the eternally present one. We live in the present or not at all. Those who live in the past or in the future are not really alive. And above all, Yah'shua (Jesus) wants us alive in Him now.

Death has a way of reminding us to be authentic, to be real, open, and genuine, just as ahavah (love) does. Ahavah (love) has an important place in the midst of death - a very important and necessary one! Yes, life is complicated but our relationship with Elohim (God) need not be. Life has love and life has pain. The thing is, do you know how to handle them?

I want everyone to know today that nothing is wasted in the divine economy. Our difficulties and sufferings all 'count' for something. The death of Fred was all a part of Yahweh's plan, as is every death of a loved person or pet.

The Afro-American Christian singer, Wintley Phipps, had this beautiful revelation from Yahweh that I wast to share with you in conclusion because it marries up with what Yahweh has been re-showing me these last few days following Fred's death. This is what he said:

"It is in the quiet crucible of your personal, private sufferings that your noblest dreams are born and Elohim's (God's) greatest gifts are given in compensation for what you've been through".

May our Heavenly father give us simcha (joy) and shalom (peace) even in the midst of our mourning. He is real and His Son Yah'shua (Jesus) is working if only we'll just swing wide the doors of our hearts and let Him continue to do His marvelous work. There are huge opportunities in the days ahead. But let us right now, here today, be echad (one) in Him. Amen.

Endnotes

[1] See the Time subsite

Comments from Readers

[1] "This absolutely confirms what I also believe. Thank you for your comforting writings. My daughter's connection with her horse is mindblowing, she also helps other people to really connect and understand their horses too. She has that gift from Abba from birth. Animals calm down just by being with her. And vice versa. God created horses, cats and dogs for instance, so extremely sensitive, they sense and help release pain and stress. And for instance: to see how these extremely sensitive horses are treated for sports, and "fun" and in the various services....it is so sad?? I always told my children that God holds us accountable for how we treatanimals" (HFB, Netherlands, 28 January 2022)