Shabbat shalom kol beit Yisra'el and Mishpachah and welcome back to our third and last sermon on persecution on this the last day of the tenth month. Tomorrow there will be a special Rosh Chodesh assembly in which I have an important prophetic word to share with you concerning the present.

My task today is to prepare you for what is to come here in the West in particular. As I have already pointed out, what we are waiting for has already begun in countries like China, Nigeria, Pakistan, India, Iraq, South Africa, and many, many others. According to one statistic I saw, 300 million Christians worldwide are already raped, tortured, imprisoned and murdered. These people are living with the brutal reality of daily persecution while most Christians, insulated in their bubbles in the First World, are either in disbelief or are indifferent. Why are so many believers in the West indifferent? Because the Messianic Community or Church is in deep apostacy and either doesn't know it or doesn't want to know it. However, all of that is rapidly changing.

Never mind, for one moment, the theological controversies that we often talk about here. Instead, consider this. There are two 'gospel's' being preached in the West, one of which is false and the other mostly true. The false variety is the one drawing the crowds which are coming to define, in the eyes of most, what Christianity is when it isn't. The churches and preachers who are drawing the crowds are those who appeal to the carnal man, promising tons of money and a life free from concerns about illness, debt and the like. We call it the 'Health and Wealth Movement' otherwise known as the 'Prosperity Gospel'. Its evangelists preach that if you 'get saved' by repeating a prayer formula and send 'money seeds' to the preachers you're guaranteed automatic prosperity for your investment in just the same way as you would when buying stocks and shares in a company or corporation, only this company is heavenly and is said to never fail. In reality, it's a huge money scam playing off the gullibitlies and greed of poor people.

The evangelists of the true Besorah or Gospel teach and preach these three central truths so that the one making a choice for Messiah is in no doubt what his or her choice actually conists of, and why - it's the core message of the New Testament apostles and of the early Protestant Reformers, and it is the core message of true believers today. These core elements consist of:

• 1. The Offense of the Cross to unbelievers provoking persecution by unbelievers;
• 2. The Cost of Discipleship as the result of persecution; and
• 3. The Cost of the Cross to Christ Himself which led to Him being persecuted to death.

The evangelists of the false gospel preach none of these things. They're more concerned about prosperity in the here-and-now and having happy-clappy parties. Indeed their religion more resembles a mutation of New Age gnosticism coated with a layer of Christian terminology. Both gospels refer to their teaching as the path to 'freedom' but mean entirely different things by that word. What is the true Gospel teaching about freedom? Yah'shua (Jesus) told those Judeans who believed in Him:

"'If you abide in My davar (word), you are My talmidim (disciples) indeed. And you shall know the emet (truth), and the truth shall make you free. They answered Him, 'We are Abraham's descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can you say, 'You will be made free'?' Yah'shua (Jesus) answered them, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed'" (John 8:31-36, NKJV).

The freedom or liberty that Yah'shua (Jesus) gives isn't the world's idea of the 'freedom' to do whatever you want even if that means disobeying the mitzvot (commandments), but rather consists of the following:

• 1. Being set free from the mental, emotional and spiritual bondage that sin brings and the associated guilt that comes from not being in right relationship with Yahweh;
• 2. Being set free from Satan's controlling influence and power which is given to him by legal right when we sin by beaking the mitzvot (commandments) of Torah;
• 3. Being set free from the consequences of false belief that we need to somehow earn our salvation through legalistic observance of the Torah (law) instead of recognising that Torah-observance is the responsibility of the one already saved "by the grace (undeserved loving kindness) of Elohim (God)...through emunah (faith, trusting)" (Eph.2:8, NKJV);
• 4. Being set free from the terror of death apart from Elohim (God) in the knowledge that we shall be resurrected to be with Him and with the saved always; and finally,
• 5. Having the freedom to be set free from all of the above/aforementioned in order to make actual choices in life, called 'agency' or 'free agency' as part of the struggle to exist, to grow and mature, and to be useful on the earth, no better illustrated than in 1 Corinthians 9:1-27 where Paul discusses four specific freedoms relative to his own life which I think are very useful examples:

  • a. He is 'free' to marry, yet (at this point in his life) is called to singleness (vv.1-5);
  • b. He is 'free' to be supported economically for his apostolic work by the free-will offerings of the qodeshim (saints, set-apart ones), yet has chosen to be self-supporting when such offerings are not made (vv.6-18);
  • c. He is 'free' from obligations to do anything for anyone, to expect anything from anyone who isn't 'ready', and so tailors his way so as to avoid putting stumbling blocks in the way of his work with different groups (vv.19-23); and
  • d. He is 'free' absolutely to choose how to live, even lawlessly if he so wants, but he understands that the freedom granted by Messiah does not give hin the licence to do whatever he wants (antinomianism) - on the contrary, he understands that he has the 'freedom' of cation of an athlete in training, eager to win the prize (vv.34-27).

This doesn't, by the way, mean he believed in predestination the way Calvinists do. He could have said 'no' to singleness and married again, he could have insisted on a salary, he could have demanded vegetarians by virtue of his apostolic authority get over their weakness and start eating meat or ex-pagans to get over their superstition not to eat meat sacrificed to idols, and he could have lived a lawless life like so many Christians claim they have the right to which has persuaded many not to engage in spiritual training like a good athlete and overcome their carnal dispositions. So we have to be careful when we casually bandy words like 'freedom' about because an authentic believer has relinquished his freedom to do whatever he likes by choosing to be a servant of Messiah to exclusively do His will. Out only freedom as believers is:

• 1. Deny we are the bond-servants of Christ, do what we please, and so become unbelievers; and
• 2. Choose, for example, in matters that do not concern Elohim (God), like deciding to have chicken one day rather than beef, but not to eat pork which would be to disobey kashrut, or to paint our living room whatever colour we like but not cover it with satanic symbols - you get the idea.

Here, then, is the essence or core of the true Besorah: when you preach or teach true freedom in Christ purchased by blood sacrifice (the Atonement) on an old ruggèd cross, only those who understand that cross and what it means, admit their need, and submit to the Ruach (Spirit) and the Torah or Law of Mitzvot (Commandments) will come. These are the people we want, these are the people Yah'shua (Jesus) wants, these are the Bride, the children of the first resurrection. The rest either remain unconverted and lost to the world or they are disobedient believers and should expect to inherit a lesser glory in the resurrection to come.

Moderns are confusing revival with salvation. Being saved brings chayim (life), remaining saved brings continued chayim (life) because salvation is both a life-long commitment, a spiritual rebirthing, and a process of spiritual maturing called sanctification. As we discussed last week, the 'savedness' of the Saved consists of salvation past, present and future. It's an event and a process, which bring chayim (life) and ever more abundant chayim (life). We discussed all of this recently in our 7-part series on Spiritual Equipping. You can hear the sermons on video or read the transcripts in the eleventh or Malkut Collection of Sermons. The point being this: you can't get revival through a false gospel like that of the Prosperity Movement. All you can do is psych people up and try to reproduce the outward signs through the operation of the flesh with the assistance of demonic forces for the 'supernatural bit'. You can't revive or awaken a corpse through human effort. You can only transform it with the resurrection power of Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ).

America, the West, and indeed the whole world, has just been through an anno horribilis or a horrid year, 2020, the first, I'm afraid, of a few more to come. What we have today is, in reality, just the culmination of a gradual process of sinning and apostacy that has crossed a certain 'line' of no going back. It's a familiar cycle, repeated again and again in history. First comes prosperity and stability, then carelessness caused by a false sense of security, that leads to infiltration, apostacy, economic decline and finally chaos, and revolution or invasion. People like myself have been warning believers for decades to repent or perish, by turning to the Messiah of the World, Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ), to new or renewed chayim (life), instead of trusting in human messiahs modelled after Marvel Comic superheroes like 'Captain America' who are more like the gods of the pagans than the true Creator of the Universe and His Messiah. The trouble is, by trusting in such characters as these is what's going to enable the Anti-Messiah or Antichrist to present himself and be welcomed as a heroic liberator. We have had a few of those in the 20th century like Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot, and many, many others, all of whom offered utopias or paradises but instead usshered in different flavoured versions of hell. And they haven't stopped for a minute, nor will they until their controlling demons are finally cast into the pit when Yah'shua (Jesus) returns (Rev.20:1-3) and the guilty are brought to judgment. So there's a long haul ahead yet.

Biblical-type emunah or faith, as I have said ten thousand times, is not passive but active and as part of its equipping Christ said that those who exercise it must be "wise as serpents and harmless as doves" (Matt.10:16, NKJV). Does that sound at all passive to you? True faith is informed, it is prepared, and it is ready to respond instantly to any emergency. That is why you have been instructed by the nevi'im (prophets) to be prepared. Prepping is not showing a lack of faith, as some ignorant Christians accuse those who are doing it. On the contrary, it is showing authentic faith. Those who believe trouble is coming but do nothing, and tell others to do nothing, not only demonstrate a lack of authentic emunah (faith) but, in propagating their teaching, are leading others to destruction along with themselves. We are required to be doers of the Davar (Word), not passive observers, and part of the Davar (Word) is to be prepared in season and out of it (2 Tim.4:2).

The West has been prosperous for the last two or three centuries because of the Christian faith of our forefathers and their industry, and the more so after World War II. Both of those now are in sharp decline. And not one of those formerly Christian nations like the USA, Great Britain, or Germany, for example, have shown any sign of repenting and returning even to the most basic tenets of the Besorah (Gospel), never mind the theologies that divide churches and their denominations. Not one nation has repented. The majority in each has, rather, sunk deeper into immorality and wickedness. Instead, the churches have come to progressively resemble the world more and more with true believers becoming scarcer and scarcer. So what is inevitably going to happen? You know the answer, so why were you trusting in a human messiah to save you in 2020? And why are you still hoping he will? Yahweh cannot - will not - bless or reward a lukewarm, increasingly lawless church. And the prayers of such, as we discussed last week, are an abomination to Him. No repentance, no lasting divine intervention. It's going to take more than a handfull of intercessors, most of whom are living in various states of lawlessness themselves. The rest are just concerned about keeping their incomes flowing in and their ministries afloat. If the Covid epidemic has caused thousands of churches to collapse, imagine what active persecution will do.

So what is Yahweh now looking for? And what should we, in turn, be doing?

"For a man indeed deserves praise, if, because of his continual consciousness that he is living in the presence of Elohim (God), he uncomplainingly bears pain, even when he is suffering underservedly. What credit is it to you if you get a beating for doing wrong, and bear it uncomplainingly? But to suffer when you have behaved well, and to bear it uncomplainingly, is something which is a credit to you in the sight of Elohim (God). This is the very situation to which you have been called, for Christ too suffered for you, and in so doing, He left you an example, for He wanted us to follow in His steps. 'For He committed no sin, and no one ever heard Him speak a twisted word.' He did not answer insult with insult. He did not answer ill-treatment with threats of revenge. No, He committed Himself and His cause to the Judge (Yahweh) whose verdict is just. In His own body He carried our sins to the cross, for He wanted to be able to die to sin and to live to goodness. It is by His wounds that you have been healed. Once you were straying away like sheep, but now you have turned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls" (1 Pet.2:19-23, Barclay).

The important thing now for believers is learning to maintain the freedom that matters in a world where the conventional forms of freedom are becoming scarcer and scarcer. We can no longer take for granted the Western values and liberties we had before. That means being a Christian/Messianic will start costing Westerners the same way it is costing millions of other believers in Africa and Asia. This does not, however, mean Christians are suddenly going to become powerless before the face of the Enemy. To the contrary, awesome power has always been available, only it's been out of reach to most because of a lack of submission and obedience. In the new age that's coming you will not be able to survive by your wits alone. The cunning of a snake is not enough, not without desperately resorting to the games the flesh plays and that is always self-defeating, dividing self against itself. The rebirth of the Elijah nevi'i, (prophets) is at hand but that subject is for another discussion.

Tomorrow, at Rosh Chodesh, we shall resume this conversation but with some fresh revelations which I hope will be edifying and reassuring. The Enemy is drunk with power right now, relishing what he supposes is his latest and greatest victory in recent times, the total subversion of Constitution-based America, but he is in for some rude awakenings as he will get careless. But so are the careless believers, I'm afraid, when they will bitterly regret not having prepped. To the faithful, trusting, Torah-obedient Remnant, Yahweh would say this, as He did to Joshua:

"No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and of good courage" (Josh.1:5-6, NKJV).

These words echoed those He had once spoken to Moses (Dt.31:6-7,23) which he fulfilled to the letter in the navi's (prophet's) life of faithful service. The same words were spoken out of heaven to the agèd Polycarp (a disciple of John the Apostle and Bishop of Smyrna, whom I mentioned to you recently) when as an old man he was arrested for his faith and sent to the Roman arena, as he was about to be burned to death for refusing to acknowledge that Caesar was god and lord, or make the expected ritual sacrifices: "Be strong, Polycarp, and have courage" [1].

So I say to you too, who have consecrated yourselves totally to Yah'shua (Jesus) and who are not just trying to share part of your life with the Master while retaining the other part for yourself under your own sovereignty, but voluntarily give all of it, Be strong and have courage in the face of adversity and persecution, whether your life is required of you or not, whether you are required to suffer for the sake of Christ or not. So, like the believers in Ptolemais, be willing with all your soul to declare - and cultivate that desire in much prayer if you have not arrived at that place in your heart yet - "The will of the Master (Lord) be done" (Ac.21:14, NKJV).

Until tomorrow, Yahweh be with you through our Master and Saviour Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ), Amen!

Endnotes

[1] Herbert Musurillo, The Acts of the Christian Martyrs - Oxford Early Christian Texts, The Martyrdom of St.Polycarp, ¶9 (OUP, Oxford: 1972), p.9

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