Chag sameach Rosh Chodesh kol beit Yisra'el and Mishpachah. A new month is upon us, the spring festivals are over and a time of great fellowship was had by all. It has been a time to instruct and receive instruction, to have our faith strengthened and to prepare for the upcoming trials and battles, but also for good times. I hope your swords are sharp and your hope strong!

It's at times like these I am grateful for the discipline acquired from military training, and though there is much about army life that I disliked, and still dislike, there is much I now see, in retrospect, that was healthy for character development. In this world, with seemingly endless bad news greeting our eyes and ears, we need the fortitute of experienced soldiers. As the apostle Paul said:

"Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Messiah Yah'shua (Jesus). No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs - he wants to please his commanding officer" (2 Tim.2:3-4, NIV).

Two of the things human beings struggle with the most on this earth are coming under authority - the headship of a commanding officer - and dealing with hardship. Having a good leader is such a blessing! I had a pastor once and he was such a good man, so kindly and yet firm and solid. He was a real father figure and gave me confidence. He had had polio and so was handicapped but he bore with his limitations bravely. His wife was, I believe, a farmer's daughter, plump, rosey-cheeked, always cheerful and followed around by a string of children. There was something immensely simple and attractive about that family. He was a white-collar worker in the former British Leyland car factory in Cowley, Oxford. And he had a great sense of humour! He would have made a fantastic Dickensonian character in a novel. He cared for his flock like a true spiritual father. So in societies where individualism is stressed at the expense of community-mindedness to the point that people become egocentric and selfish, concern for the welfare of one's neighbour diminishes proportionately and rebellion against headship becomes the norm. You didn't want to rebel against this man, though. He was someone you would have willingly followed to the ends of the earth. A good military commander is like that too. That is the kind of relationship we're supposed to have with Yah'shua (Jesus).

When I was young we held police officers, school teachers, doctors, nurses, firemen, soldiers, and of course parents and our elders in general - basically all of those in vocational professions - in the highest regard and with deep respect because we recognised the very real sacrifices they had to make to look after the community and usually with comparitively low salaries as their reward. In other words, these people weren't in it for the money but out of a sense of duty to the community. And parents, of course, along with the extended network of the family, aren't 'in it' for any sort of pay whatsoever, nor do they want it. What they want above all else is faithfulness - they expected to give it and have it reciprocated. In other words, people did these things out of love for family, local community and country. It was out of such respect and love that the whole notion of loyalty was birthed and nurtured in each new generation, until the general rebellion of the 1960's and 1970's - at least in the West - destroyed the whole stable foundation of society and left us with the anarchy we have today. In Russia it was challenged by the Bolshevik Revolution in the 1910's. The 1940's and 1950's generation was really the last one to have any connection to the true Christian order that prevailed before anarchy stormed the battlements and began the irreversible collapse of society. I grieve whenever I look at Europe now and remember how it once was.

I saw a documentary recently about some middle-aged and older people who had been the youngsters - teens and those in the 20's - of the 1960's and 1970's hippie generation. These were white middle class people who were the driving force behind the hippie revolution of the 60's and 70's. They were still the same self-centred, whiney, self-entitled individuals they had been 50 years earlier. What astonished me was seeing how they had not only never grown up but that they were still embracing the same old failed left-wing ideas. They had learned absolutely nothing. These are the people who are now retiring from positions of responsibility in government and who have shaped our now totally dysfunctional world. Those born in this world have no idea what it was like and assume that what they see and experience is 'normal'. That is why Yahweh ensures that at any one time there are at least two or three generations alive so that the younger can learn from the older if they will choose to listen.

I was certainly attentive to the generations before my own and I can still vividly and fondly remember having conversations with those who had been around when Queen Victoria, Kaiser Wilhelm and Czar Nicholas were alive. They had real character. Strong family life, robust cultural life, and Christian values coupled with the hardships which are the lot of everyone in every age, had shaped them, and that character impacted me personally. Indeed, when I was young I deliberately sought out older people because I loved learning from them. I grew up hearing stories of the two world wars, of sufferings and deprivations, of comradeship, adventure and exotic places. Uncles who were prisoners-of-war of the Japanese, an uncle who was an RAF wing-commander with the bristling moustache and 'what-ho chaps' accent and everything. Of women topedoed in ships and surviving the ravages of the ocean or fleeing for cover in bombing raids in Coventry. Of tea planters in Ceylon, rubber planters in Malaya, diplomats in Republican China, of surviving on tiny rations, of friends and loved ones who never returned from the war. All of this surrounded my growing up.

So listening to those whiney liberals in their 50's and 60's made me sick at heart and I thought to myself, what can their children and grandchildren possibly learn from these self-entitled egotists spouting the same old snow-flakey nonsense that we find today only minus the aftergrow of Christianity that had at least kept them reasonably 'decent' human beings. You wouldn't have to worry about being mugged by them. Their mantra had been, 'make love, not war'; today's unspoken nihilistic mantra, on the other hand, is destroy everything, particularly the culture of your forefathers, the ones who had died and suffered for us whose conversations I keenly listened to, whose memory they want to eradicate. They are quick to find and condemn the faults in others whilst feeling no shame, nor taking any responsibility, for their own. They are not only destroying their own history, from which a society acquires its identity and stability, but are simultaneously destroying their future too. Destroy your history and you have no future because the ground you are standing on is sand.

To be whole and socially balanced, a person has to have a set of robust personal and communal ideals. Since human beings are of the Old Creation nature, and full of contradictions; and since multiple conflicting ideals effectively signal the death of that which we call a community, we have to have ideals that are greater and higher than our fallen natures, even if they 'appear' to be unreachable and therefore, in human terms, 'unrealistic'. You can only have that, of course, if you subscribe to belief in, and are loyal to, a Higher Power that is able to confer upon human beings the ability to rise above themselves for the greater good of mankind.

The larger-than-life communitarian philosophies of the 20th century, communism and fascism, attempted to create societies based on force, control, and oppression. Both of these left-wing ideologies of international and national socialism - were a monumental failure that resulted in more deaths in one century than in the whole of human history combined. The revolt of the 1960's, rooted in hyper-individualism, was actually instigated and stoked by the international socialists or communists not because these people loved individualism but because they saw this as the only realistic way of destroying Christian society and family values in that part of the world that was not poor enough - the West - to persuade the people to rebell. Communism has, in nearly every case, only ever succeeded where there has been war, economic collapse or great social deprivation and upheaval.

As countries get richer, their austere totalitarian economic ideology has lost its attraction to the deprived masses. Today the world is immeasurably wealthier than it was when I was young. I remember when nearly all of China was a third world country. More people have more money in their pockets and own homes than ever before. My own country of birth, Singapore, has arisen from being a third world country into becoming a first world one. When I was born in 1954 there was a communist insurgency there (which failed) but now the land is rich owing to far-sighted rulers like Lee Kwan-Yu who instilled traditional Asian family values and pursued a capitalistic path. So economic communism has no appeal there now. Why should it? Indeed, it has no appeal anywhere anymore which is why the last big openly communist countries like China, whilst retaining the social forms of communism, have abandoned Marxist economics with all its central planning and have combined their communism with corporate capitalism, with the state becoming the main corporation. And that, in case you were unaware, was how dictator Mussolini defined fascism: the power of the state combined with corporate capitalism. The world is becoming a hybrid of communism and fascism whilst pretending to be something else. We live in a neo-fascist world but under different labels.

It should be obvious what the world is slowly - though now at an increasingly pace - mutating into. The values that drive this political and economic monster are blatantly satanist and we're seeing that more and more as Christian individual, family and societal values become trampled to death. Hell was always here on earth in one form or another but we are seeing it extend its borders and deepen its roots on a scale never seen before. Now ordinary people are increasingly thinking and behaving like satanists without usually realising it. In a matter of only a few years, the famed Antichrist or Anti-Messiah has only to show himself in TV or their smartphones and people will instantly recognise him as being like themselves, as one of their own, possessing the same values, behaviours, and instincts. Not until they are confronted by the totalitity of his evilness and anti-humanness will they eventually realise they have been deceived by which time it will be too late unless they are willing to repent, embrace the true Messiah, and make the final sacrifice.

The reason the old Christian order has disintegrated so fast and been replaced by the system we stand aghast at and complain about unceasingly today is because people have uncritically, and without much resistance, allowed themselves to flow with the social tide. To now avoid being completely swept up into this Beast system with its Artificial Intelligence into which it wishes to plug us, you have to actively resist it with your mind, heart and soul. To be passive about it is to be carried away by it like a giant mud slide or a swollen river of lava as it slowly engulfs everyone and everything around it. It will swallow all that is both familiar and precious into its bowels. In short, you have to become an enlisted soldier in Yahweh's army, not bearing literal arms but bringing spiritual weapons to bear through active and concerted discipleship. If you don't, the shere momentum of the Enemy will knock you over and carry you to a place where you do not want to go and from which it is nearly impossible to return.

So what is our Commander-in-Chief's battle plan, practically-speaking? He wants us to set up pockets of spiritual resistance so that when 'the Empire strikes back' it can be stopped both spiritually and physically in those pockets. Yahweh has promised places of refuge for His Remnant - physically and geographically - but this can only happen if their spiritual foundations are well and truly established. It begins personally with daily recommitment to Yah'shua (Jesus) and to corporate action with fellow believers who are of the same mind and heart. Like it or not, the Messianic Community (Church) has to go underground and become self-sufficient in everything. Learning to thus become independent takes time and practice which is why you can't afford not to learn now.

The Enemy never has, and never will have, complete control over every patch of mother earth, even with all his high tech and networking capabilities, save briefly during the final seven years of Great Tribulation at which time there will be only twelve patches of ground that he cannot touch because they will be supernaturally protected. And if he tries to attack or destroy them, he and his human minions will be destroyed in the attempt. These are the Final Gathering places. While the Enemy slaughters believers outside these divinely appointed locations, the Enemy will himself be destroyed attempting to take them, if he dares, in the same way he has already been destroyed on a small scale in his attempts to eradicate the rising Remnant, in the same way the Enemy was drowned in the Red Sea or swallowed up into the earth in historical times.

Where are these places? That will never be revealed to the public. How can the Remnant know where to find them? They have to be sufficiently close to Elohim (God) to be led to them supernaturally by personal revelation. They won't be able to look up their location on Google. How will they arrive? Individually, in families, and in smaller or larger groups of spiritual voortrekkers. Will the Enemy seek to infiltrate these families and groups? Absolutely. That is why its leaders have to be totally dead to self-will and the Old Creation nature, be fully alive to Messiah and the New Creation nature, and be showing the people how to do the same. They have to be willing to suffer for the sake of those they are called to take charge of. These are men (and women) who 'walk the walk' and not merely 'talk the talk'. If they don't, they will simply lead their misguided followers to destruction and earn for themselves an unenviable place in the Lake of Fire from which they will not emerge for a very long time.

Hundreds of preparatory gathering places are forming all over the world. Many, if not most, will not survive as they are poorly led group experiments. Those that do will go through a painful but necessary learning process cutting their teeth and sharpening their iron on the anivil which is their spiritual battlefield. This learning is never easy but absolutely necessary and if you have ever been a raw recruit in the military you will know what I mean. And the first lesson they must learn is coming under authority. I suspect this will be the hardest lesson for the current generation to learn, suspicious as it has become of all authority. They will not follow men in authority easily but only those who have proven themselves worthy of their trust. It's unfortunate that trust is only usually learned and developped that way but that is a part of the process of moving from the Old to New Creation spirit for both the followers and the leaders. So it's going to be a painful experience and a steep learning curve for both leaders and followers together.

Our first task is the training of leaders, all of whom are in proverbial 'Midian' right now learning some hard lessons. And one of the hardest they are learning is that they can't do this alone but must work cooperatively with other leaders and under a proper military-like headship structure as obtained amongst the apostles in the first century. Abuse at the hands of false leaders will have understandably made them wary and suspicious of any leadership over themselves, and will persuade them to rely on themselves and no one else for as long as they can manage to hold back the tide of spiritual opposition alone. The reality of the folly of trying to do it alone will in most cases be the motivating force in driving them to seek out other like-minded leaders.

Normally at Rosh Chodesh I have shared visions and revelations Yahweh has given me. You'll have noticed my output in that department has progressively diminished. Obviously as the final gathering gets underway such things will be solely for the Remnant and not for the public gaze. As in conventional warfare, the Enemy has his 'spies' and there is a whole corps in the invisible realm which we call 'spotter demons' (you may know them by some other name). They observe both what goes on in the physical as well as what is going on inside which they can only do in proportion to your failure to kill off the Old Creation, carnal, Adamic nature. Are you maybe wondering why Yahweh isn't using you to the extent that you would like? It may be that you are a spiritual 'security risk' and that there is more overcoming to be done until you can be trustworthy enough to bear revelation requiring more circumspection. There's a reason successful nations employ spies in warfare that is true for the spiritual domain too. The question then becomes: are you reliable? Trustworthy? Loyal? Can you be depended on to keep your spiritual house clean and in order? Because if you can't be, you can't be used to handle that which is pure. The profane is good only for the profane. That means you have got to diligently get the leaven of impurity out of your life through consistent daily dying to self and immersion in the Ruach (Spirit).

The Enemy will not wait for you to catch up. He is relentless which is why you must be too. However, this is not something you should stress up over for this kind of operation has to be done in shalom (peace). The only way to "raise a harvest in righteousness" is to "sow in shalom (peace)" (Jas.3:18, NIV) so finding shalom (peace) in Yah'shua (Jesus) has to be one of your first priorities. That means that you must not only "seek peace" but "pursue it" it too! (1 Pet.3:11) That means we have to start not by beating war drums but in being "peaceable and considerate" and "show[ing] true humility toward all men" (Tit.3:2, NIV).

Moses the revolutionary who killed an Egyptian taskmaster in a fit of rage had to learn humility in the Midianite wilderness as a humble shepherd of flocks. Any fool can bark orders, show off his scriptural or theological prowess, or jump up and down making lots of noise and generating sparkling charisma, but real leadership requires a lot of humility and dying to self. Any fool can thump a puplit, prance on a stage or print giant colour posters of himself anouncing this revival or that. Wearing an Armani suit, driving a Mercedes Benz and owning a large house with a swimming pool does not makes you a successful minister. The Besorah (Gospel) is not a career! It's not a business and turning the Church into one is one of the worst things you can do. One day men and women will curse those who invented the lying 'prosperity gospel'. Those who lustfully pursue it, and especially those who preach it and fleece their flocks while getting wealthy at their expense, are "wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked" (Rev.3:17, NIV).

It was well said by Frank Viola that the Greeks turned the Messianic Community (Church) into a philosophy, the Romans into a government, the Europeans into a culture, and the Americans into a business. Today the 'church' is organised along the lines of General Motors and Microsoft and its ministers look more like CEO's in their suits and ties than spiritual leaders. At the other extreme, are the 'leaderless leaders' in their hippie jeans and T-shirts. Both are equally useless. Yes, the Messianic Community (Church) has to be organised; yes, it has a philosophy and a government, and sometimes it has to be financed but it is first and foremost a living organism that must be able to rapidly adapt to ever changing circumstances.

At root, the Messianic Community (Church) is none of those secondary things (philosophy, government, culture and business) that have been made primary. 21st century man - modern worldly preachers and society in general - have turned the tree upside down, planted the branches and leaves under the soil and put the roots sticking up above the ground, and they wonder why it is dead and unrecognisable. Someone from the First Century coming here in in that proverbial time machine I often speak of would cry out, "What is this hideous monster you call the 'church' or 'messianic synagogue? What is it??!" Back then it was alive - a living, multi-celled organism with every regenerated believer an active cell. Today it is a shopping mall or an entertainment centre. Today devilish pastors baptise new members in Pepsi Cola and make their parishoners eat grass, hold poisonous snakes, or swallow kerosine to show how 'Spirit-filled' they are. They are either busy showing off their wealth or virtue-signalling to the world demonstrating how politically correct and acceptable they are. They are openly collaborating with Babylon. And Babylon is rising ready to totally consume that compromised Kingdom.

Yesterday I talked to you about the navi (prophet) Jonah. His personal issues aside, his message was at least received by his target audience, the people of Nineveh. The message of the other Bible nevi'im (prophets) was for the most part rejected. My message has been rejected, even by people sitting in this assembly this morning and who are listening abroad right now, people who think they know me well. Very, very few have listened, or are going to listen, to the prophetic words of imminent judgment I have been giving over the past few years simply because it hasn't happened soon enough for them to believe. The serpent has been very active indeed, playing on every weakness, every doubt, every unresolved issue. He always has done and he always will. Yahweh's authority structures have been, and are being, rejected and those who have not been given authority, thinking they know better, have seized authority and are acting on their own initiative and on the basis of their own fleshy wisdom.

Indeed, you must be sick to death hearing me say these things week after week, but you need not trouble yourselves for much longer. Fewer are listening now, convinced they have found a 'better' way, or a 'better' message', or that human 'saviours' have turned up - everyone thinks they are their own 'saviour' to some degree, which is both fine...because everyone must have their free will to believe or not to believe...and not fine because there are always consequences to unbelief and the usurpation of authority. Two months ago, on Aviv 1, I said this was the year of reackoning and judgment, and so it is. The cauldron which is the world is coming to the boil and is about to spill over.

What would Yahweh have you say to yourself? Arise from the grave!

"Awake, my soul! Awake...!" (Ps 57:8, NIV)

"Awake, awake! Clothe yourself with strength, O arm of Yahweh; awake, as in days gone by, as in generations of old" (Isa.51:9, NIV).

"Awake, awake! Rise up..., you who have drunk from the hand of Yahweh the cup of His wrath, you who have drained to its dregs the goblet that makes men stagger" (Isa.51:17, NIV).

"Awake, awake, O Zion, clothe yourself with strength" (Isa.52:1, NIV).

"'Awake, O sword, against my shepherd,
against the man who is close to me!'
declares Yahweh-Elohim.
'Strike the shepherd,
and the sheep will be scattered,
and I will turn My hand against the little ones.
In the whole land,' declares Yahweh,
'two-thirds will be struck down and perish;
yet one-third will be left in it.
This third I will bring into the fire;
I will refine them like silver
and test them like gold.
They will call on My Name
and I will answer them;
I will say, 'They are my people,'
and they will say, 'Yahweh is our Elohim (God)''"
(Zech.13:7-9, NIV)

I am finished, I am done, my message is over - completed. I have no more to say. I have delivered the warnings. The House of Yahweh is small - very small, smaller than I thought. I have seen it, I was shown it in vision yesterday. The white blossom-laden Tree of Life in its midst is small too, very small, but it is pure, it is beautiful, it is strong, it is full of glory, it is growing, and it is next to the Tabernacle of our Elohim (God). The Courtyard of the Remnant House of Yahweh is cleared of the invader. The boundary is established and those who are gathered are gathered, and those who are not, are not. Those who are within it, trusting in Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ), obeying His mitzvot (commandments) and properly subjected under the authorities given, are secure and safe, they are endowed with all they need, and have nothing to worry about. But those who are not, and have deceived themselves into believing that they are, will know by the by, and will continue to believe the lie until the storm hits them and sends them reeling. No words that I or anyone else says to them will now have any affect for they have made their choice not to believe. That is why there is an end to them.

O Yahweh, I have "trusted in your steadfast chesed (mercy, love); my heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to Yahweh because He has dealt bountifully with me" (Ps.13:5-6, NRSV). "You show me the derech (path) of chayim (life). In Your presence there is fullness of simcha (joy); in Your right hand are pleasures netsach [1]" (Ps.16:11, NRSV). Amen.

Endnotes

[1] Usually translated as "forever" or "eternally" but can also refer to the goal or to victory

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