Shabbat shalom and and greetings from this little Arctic Ephesus!

According to the Book of Kings, Solomon was a prodigious writer. "He composed three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered a thousand and five. He would speak of trees, from the cedar that is in the Lebanon to the hyssop that grows in the wall; he would speek of animals, and birds, and reptiles, and fish" (1 Ki.5:32-33, NRSV).

It's hard to believe that he wrote another 1,004 'songs' like the 'Song of Solomon' or as it is better known, the 'Song of Songs', as it was reputedly his best, though this comes across to me as more like a play than a song, or perhaps a Hebrew opera. I have always thought the New English Bible (NEB) was right in laying it out as a play. So that would make Solomon playwrite too.

A man of words, a playwrite, musician, botanist, zoologist, ornithologist and much else besides. Little wonder Solomon's reputation spread far and wide. For he not only had "great wisdom [and] discernment [but also] breadth of understandking as vast as the sand on the seashore, so that Solomon's wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the east, and all the wisdom of Egypt. He was wiser than anyone else, wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, children of Mahol...People came from all the nations to hear the wisdom of Solomon; they came from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom" (1 Ki.5:2931,34, NRSV). And in his day, "Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand by the sea; they ate, and drank and were happy" (1 Ki.4:20, NRSV).

I am reminded of Prime Minister Macmillan of my country when he said, following the Second World War and the great economic boom the eventually followed it, "You've never had it so good". I remember those days, back in the 1950's and 60's, when the United Kingdom was a good place to be. Little did we know that we were coming to the end of an era and that the good times would be fast eroded by wave after wave of immorality which has resulted in the chaos, decay and violence we have today. Within a generation of Solomon's death, Judah and Israel were in swift decline and the happiness which Solomon had bought them by his stable and wise rule as one of the greatest Philosopher-Kings in human history, soon evapourated.

I can't believe how much the world has changed in my life span. The modern generation has no idea what it was like before. How could it, especially when litlle or no effort has been made to preserve or instill pride in the natural heritage? Was it paradise in the 1950's and 1960's? By no means. Signs of decline were already in evidence, just as they were even in Solomon's day as the Philosopher-King flirted with paganism and married to ridiculous excess. All we can do is make comparisons and note that one era was overall much 'better' than another.

Britain of the 1950's and 1960's was in many ways grey and drab, especially in the industrial heartland. There was still poverty for many, but there was, overall, a healthy social and spiritual order which, though again far from perfect, made for safety, stability and wholesomeness. It was a robust society.

That's all gone now. Everywhere the former Christian world is plunging into deeper and deeper darkness and the afterglow of Christianity that sustained the "you've never had it so good" years, and the conscience that motivated the indidivual to be moral, is becoming harder and harder to find. It is a relic of a bygone era, tucked away in seclusion in this corner or that. Now hedonism must provide its own light what it has itself destroyed, and it has precious little to none of that to speak of. It cannot be sustained. All that's left to it is anarchy and the destruction of civilisation.

Since coming out of hospital I have found the news so utterly depressing that I almost cannot bear to read it any longer, let alone share it. There is little by which to be edified. Evil becomes more and more rapacious. The forces of good are in major retreat and once again I have to assess what I am doing and what the nature of my witness is to be. I think every Christian and Messianic seriously needs to do this. What are you doing? And what are your goals? What needs to come, what needs to go, and what needs to remain?

Yesterday I was listening to an interview with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Wellby, the head of the Anglican Church. Some of the remarks he made about his own Christian life were most telling. For one thing, he admitted he was a secret charismatic. Coming from a mildly Calvinistic, cessationist denomination which isn't radical in anything (except in not being radical), I was greatly surprised, though these days people seem to come from multiple backgrounds before settling into their denomination of choice, trailing all sorts of ideas and practices in their wake. Thus Anglican Canon Andrew White, the 'Vicar of Baghdad', had a Baptist and Pentecostal background. When pressed to tell more, Wellby said he would speak in 'tongues' very early in the morning while he was still only half awake as part of his 'communion with God'.

I mention this only to point out that most people are religious only in a semi-conscious state and don't always know what they are doing. They're no different from the secularists or anyone else. We stumble forwards, doing what we do because that's what we've always done. We do it because it's familiar not because it makes a lot of sense. Most of my readership knows what's coming to the world, assuming they believe my message, yet most stumble on as though talking about it will somehow postpone the inevitable or serve as a substituite for actually doing anything. Or perhaps they think because nothing has happened yet, and I now speak seldom of it, that it's all somehow been postponed or was just a figment of the imagination in the first place?

I wonder if Solomon knew what was coming? Likely not because he forfeited that discernment by turning to vanity and hedonism himself. Only at the end, when he penned his pessimistic book of Ecclesiastes did, I suspect, He see what was coming, and the former wisdom returned to him briefly, enough to serve as a warning to us and to all generations. What counsel did he give that we might profitably apply even now, even at this late hour?

"Go, eat your bread with enjoyment, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for Elohim (God) has long ago approved what you do. Let your garments always be white; do not let oil be lacking on your head. Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of uour vain life that are given to you under the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do with your might..." (Eccl.9:7-10a, NRSV).

Pick your companions wisely, especially your spouse, with whom you may enjoy a measure of enjoyment in the ever darkening world, because some cheer is necessary for a heart to be healthy. If your garments are white - if you are living a life of righteousness consecreated to Elohim (God), then you will enjoy prosperity in your own sphere even if everywhere else is falling apart. If you are not lacking in oil on your head - if you are living a life anointed by the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) - then you will not lack in either guidance from heaven or the authority to represent Elohim (God) in the work of the Kingdom. White garments and lots of oil are essential for everything else to go well.

Work hard - work industriously while you have your strength - in those things Yahweh has appointed to you. Provide for your family, gain as much self-sufficiency and independenmce from the world as you can, live discretely so that the covetous eyes of the wicked do not later come to despoil you after they themselves have become despoiled. Build little communities, as small paradises, which may serve as bases for witness and for raising a final godly generation. Above all, choose your companions wisely - better still, let Yahweh choose them - and allow no serpent to arise in your little Eden. If one appears, crush its head without pity else it will strike you all down. Learn to lead. And be prepared to move out at a moment's notice - there is no permanent resting place for the qodeshim (saints, set-apart ones) in this world. So cooperate with others who believe and do the same things.

Live prophetically, love generously, speak wisely, put your hope in the "one greater than Solomon" (Mt.12:42, NIV) who came as your sin-bearer and mine. Do all of this and you will both survive and thrive, and live to be useful and happy.