Chag haMatzah sameach kol beit Yisra'el and Mishpachah! Welcome to this new year's Passover or Pesach Season. May the grace of our Master Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) be in abundance throughout the week as we bathe in the first three of the seven Ruachot (Spirits) at this time! Today's message will be a long one, tomorrow's shorter, just so you know!

Yesterday evening we recounted the story of the deliverance of our ancestors from Egyptian bondage while at the same time we anticipate a last or final Exodus of the end-time generation of this æon. Indeed may I remind you that in this Second Exodus yesterday marked its nineth year! And as oppressions against believers mount the world over and as war has once again returned to our own European continent, and as terrible wars continue to be fought in parts of Africa and Asia, we are ever more conscious of the need to be right with Yahweh so that we can respond to His instructions quickly and efficiently. For the days will come when, like Israel of old, when we will find a metaphorical 'Red Sea' behind us and an advancing 'Pharaoh's Army' in front of us with no apparent way of escape. It is then we must be prepared for, and have faith in, miraculous, supernatural deliverances as Yahweh parts waters and moves mountains.

Each year at Passover in the Old Covenant an unblemished firstborn male lamb was sacrificed and its blood poured on the altar. A lamb was selected for each family, and four days before the lamb was to be slain it was brought into the home for a four-day examination period. Those who were defiled or impure for the first Pesach, or were unable to attend owing to unforseen circumstances, were allowed to celebrate it a month later. If defilement caused by sinning was the reason, then these symbolically represent those of the second resurrection because they were not worthy of the first - these are they those who must wait until the end of the 1,000-year Millennial reign until they are raised from the dead along with the wicked for judgment. This is one reason we are given a Later Passover in a month's time, a warning we should never be careless about our initial salvation and remember that righteousness is a "work" - the work of Christ on the Cross and the working of responsiveness in Kingdom living. Ours is not an armchair religion!

I am frequently asked how New Covenant Christians/Messianic Evangelicals are supposed to observe the seven annual festivals now that the Aaronic or Levitical Priesthood and the ceremonial Torah (Law) have expired with the death and resurrection of our eternal Cohen Gadol or High Priest, the Master Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ). Is there some sort of liturgy or set form of worship? The answer is 'yes' and 'no'. Yes, there are things we are supposed to do, things we need to talk about at this time of the year, and a very real need to be living prophetically by every word that Yahweh sends in each season.

Beyond that we are pretty much free to structure assemblies the way we want, that's to say, in the way we are led to by the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit), and that is the key: if we are not being structured by Scripture and led by the very real presence of the Ruach (Spirit) and not simply by our own fallen, unredeemed psychic energy or feelings masqerading as the Ruach (Spirit), and not by one of the many counterfeit lawless spirits that inhabit the churches, then we are going to manufacture our own traditions which in time will fossilise, becoming lifeless; or we will become inhabited by the demonic in one form or another. And that is a reason there must always be an authentic, Torah faithful prophetic and apostolic presence. Once you start admitting false charismatic spirits inyo your life and assemblies, for instance, you have effectively sabotaged everything. And that, in part, is what Chag haMatzah or the Feast of Unleavened Bread is all about, which we'll get to in a minute.

In Old Covenant times, a lamb was ritually slaughtered, cooked in a prescribed way, and then eaten. This ritual, which may seem bizzare, brutal or even 'primitive' to some moderns, was densely packed with symbolism that pointed unerringly to a future messianic reality that came into being 2,000 years ago, replacing the old Levitical system. Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) is the Sacrificial Passover (Paschal) Lamb who died for our sins. On Aviv 14 at the exact time the lamb was to be slain, Yah'shua (Jesus) was Himself slain. Messianic Evangelicals traditionally, because of the divine tavnith or pattern, spend the four days before Pesach in our family devotions as Days of Examination or Study before Pesach in which we contemplate Yahweh's and Yah'shua's (Jesus') perfection and purity, reminding ourselves that we are called to be without blemish too in our character and behaviour.

This year we in particular devoted last sabbath to that activity by looking at the immaculate conception and virgin birth of our Messiah, the Incarnation, and His sinless life within then context of the spring season in which He was born. And as we unusually had snow last week, I took the opportunity to use that to remind you of the purity to which we are ourselves called, which is an essential ingredient of Chag haMatzah. Pesach (Passover), then, represents spiritual conception in Messiah, the beginning of our walk, the closed mem or womb of Messiah which I left notes on for you to read in last week's Appendix. I also briefly touched upon the symbolic importance of bread and light last week, a reason Pesach (Passover) takes place at the full moon when its radiance, when visible, is the brightest.

For a week starting today - though in reality extended to include Pesach (Passover) after sundown when we partake of the Seder or Passover Meal as we did last night - we stop eating leavened bread and eat only matzah or bread without biological leaven in it. This is the interesting week-long moed or divine appointment of Yahweh called Chag haMatzah or Feast of Unleavened Bread. Why a whole week dedicated to this? And why is the first day specifically commanded to take place on a sabbath day? Why is observation of Yom haBikkurium, the Day of Firstfruits or Resurrection Day, commanded on the second day of Chag haMatzah and not separately on a day wholly its own? All of these have important symbolic significance. And whilst it is not necessary to assemble on every day of the Chag, as we have assembled for sabbath today, on all of the days of Chag haMatzah, we are nevertheless to devote our spiritual meditations, and centre our discussions and fellowshipping, on the meaning of this week-long abstinence from yeast products (as opposed to artificial, inorganic raising agents).

First we must ask ourselves, why no biological chametz or yeast in our bread? The first practical thing we do at this festival is remove all yeast products from our homes as they did anciently. This becomes a spiritual exercise when once its purpose has been properly understood. The physical sweeping, dusting and vaccuum-cleaning away of bread and biscuit/cookie crumbs, which the whole family should join in doing, may appear on the surface to be anything but spiritual to the literalist; and, true, the activity in and of itself, does not result in some sort of miraculous spiritual transformation in the soul, any more than literal water baptism washes sins away.

The water, like the unleavened matzah bread, is supposed to teach us principles that do transform or sanctify the soul, namely, full immersion in Christ and complete abandonment of the world's way of being and doing things. In baptism, the washing away of sins is accomplished only by the personalisation and appropriation of the power released by the shed blood of Messiah at Calvary, by making appeal to it by emunah (faith), and so experiencing divine power released over the penitent soul. The very tangible result is inner shalom (peace) and the removal of the guilt and shame caused by sinning. Most people experience this before physical baptism which then becomes an outward confirmation of what has already supernaturally transpired in front of witnesses gathered to hold the new convert accountible to his covenant to follow Messiah always. Without Christ, guilt and shame are simply repressed or denied - buried deep in the soul - but there they remain, unaddressed, and exerting a powerful negative influence over our behaviour and character, usually unconsciously.

Similarly, in the physical act of removing leaven out of our homes we remind ourselves - both during the 'spring clean' as well as afterwards, for seven whole days - the importance Yahweh attaches to purity in our souls - body and spirit - in both the legal and literal sense. Never forget that there are always two aspects to salvation and sanctification: the legal, with Yahweh as our Judge in the form of a Decree, and the actual transformational justification" (to use the technical theological term) that comes from trusting in Christ which gives us access to the Holy of Holies and to the Father's Throne Room in real time and not in merely the legal sense. The actual 'living out' this jurisdictional (legal) act of salvation constitutes what Scripture describes as "working out your salvation" (Phil.2:12) for the rest of your life.

A criminal, granted parole, pardoned and released from prison must also demonstrate that he is trustworthy to enter society again. As far as time is concerned...and we are temporal beings for now...remember that your salvation has three aspects - past (when you were first saved), present (your continuing to work out your salvation in fear and trembling - I'll talk more about that tomorrow) and future - your final salvation status at the end of your probationary life on earth as a mortal - when you come before the Judgment Bar. As the released prisoner (the person jurisdictionally 'saved') must demonsrate he has been rehabilitated so as not to be returned to prison (loss of 'salvation' or freedom), so the one pronounced jurisdictionally acquitted and 'in the right' (i.e. righteous) must demonstrate the trust placed in him by Yah'shua (Jesus) in his acquittal by actually living righteously in the leaven-free Kingdom of Righteousness. We declare all of this symbolically by eating matzah bread for a week at Chag haMatzah.

It is the same with spiritual purity - and we are not here speaking of the ritual purity accomplished by doing various physical things like animal sacrifices per pro the Old Covenant. Spiritual purity is very tangible, just as clean, distilled water is noticeably different from dirty water. You know it's real when you see and taste it and not just hear about it as a report from someone else. At this time of the year specifically, then, leaven or chametz symbolises sin, which itself means 'missing the mark', offending Elohim (God) and reaping mental, emotional and physical distortion, dysfunction and illness. Unleavened Bread or Matzah speaks of sanctification and purification of the soul. Yahweh told the Israelites to cleanse all leaven from their homes and eat only unleavened bread, matzah, for seven days, symbolising a qadosh or holy (set-apart) walk with Him in preparation for the day when they would live in the Qadosh or Holy City of New Jerusalem.

Yah'shua (Jesus), as we saw last week, is the "Bread of Life" or the Lechem Chayim. He was without sin, a reason Yahweh selected the little town of Beit Lechem (Bethlehem), meaning 'house of bread' in Hebrew, for His Son to be born in. The spiritual symbolism of every divine action is always densely packed with emet (truth). We, too, are called to be reborn in the House of Bread, in spiritual Bethlehem. Just as matzah is striped and pierced in the tradition of some believers, so too was the Messiah whipped and pierced by the lacerations of whipping, thorns from a mocking crown, and finally by nails hammered into the executed's cross.

This Feast falls on the day after Yah'shua (Jesus) was buried. And so Chag haMatzah represents the old (Adamic, carnal) nature being completely purged (which is called sanctification) through repentance, forgiveness through the blood of Messiah, and subsequent yielding to Yahweh's divine tavnith (pattern) and lifestyle through obedience to the mitzvot (commandments):

"If you love Me, keep My mitzvot (commandments)" (John 14:15, NKJV).

Our obedience to Him, as He was obedient to His and our Heavenly Father, is the evidence that we truly love Him and our Heavenly Father, Yahweh. Every time we willfully engage in acts of disobedience, for whatever reason (and people are well-known for inventing excuses of every sort to justify such disobedience), you throw Chag haMatzah back into the Saviour's face and declare to all the world, 'No thank you! No lifestyle of the Redeemed for me, no citizenship in the Eternal Kingdom of the New Jersualem for me.' Every time we flaunt the mitzvot (commandments), we are facing in the direction of atheism and the Enemy's kingdom for he is the author of atheism and actively promotes it. Thus as rebels we first begin by declaring, first, we are interested in this dark world, and, given long enough time, our desire to embrace it and reject Elohim (God) just grows without our even noticing it. And if that offends anyone, it is because your allegience is divided between Heaven and Hell, and you have got to make your mind up, by covenant and by sacrifice, to cease being disobedient and get back on track. Obedience is one of the signs of true emunah (faith) and Yahweh considers it so important that He has given us a week-long feast to remind us about it as well as a week-long feast at Sukkot or the Feast of Tabernacles that is a forward projection of Chag haMaqtzah because those who attend that final Marriage Supper of the Lamb must be pure, the reason they wear white robes (Rev.7:13).

The liberal does not like the substance and heart of this festival. He loathes it. And if he claims to be a believer, then in reality he is a Nicolaitan, a dangerous, destructive, libertine heretical sect within the early Messianic Community (Church) that we encountered in Ephesus (Rev.2:1-7) and in Pergamum (Rev.2:12-17). You will remember we devoted a whole week to each of the congregations in Asia Minor precisely so we could see what their strengths and weaknesses were and to identify modern heresies which, in reality, are but variants of those that were around 2,000 years ago too.

Christ lived a sinless, Torah-obedient life not so that we could disdainfully go and ignore the Torah and break the mitzvot (commandments) whenever it suited our fickle feelings by perversely appealing to 'grace' as a licence to do whatever we want, but to enable us to live a pure life in His power and by granting remission of sins upon genuine (and not fake or contrived) repentance. His death on the cross was not so that you could become a Nicolaitan and do whatever your flesh fancies but to pay the penalty you derserve to receive every time you break a mitzvah or commandment. And this has nothing whatsoever with the false accusation evangelicals throw at messianics that we are somehow, in being obedient to the mitzvot (commandments), somehow trying to earn our salvation' through good works - O how the devil likes to use that excuse to persuade believers to sin by falling into the impure ways that disqualify them from citizenship in the Qadosh (Holy) City! This devilish accusation is merely an excuse to justify immoral behaviour and so destroy believers!

All true believers obtained their salvation at Pesach (Passover) and if doing that was all there was to the Gospel life, then we would not need the rest of the festivals and we could all go and join the lawless 'Once Saved, Always Saved' crowd, which is just another form of Nicolaitanism! Once you swallow that lie you straight away reject Chag haMatazah, Shavu'ot, Yom Teruah, Yom haKippurim and Sukkot. And if you do that, you cannot enter Shemini Atseret, the 'Last Great Day' of the autumn festivals and the first day of the Millennium!

When you embrace the Once Saved, Always Saved lie you are, in effect, signing up to the Second Resurrection brigade without ever knowing for sure whether you will be part of the disobedient believers' group or the unbelievers' contingent, because these two are at different end of the sliding scale into apostacy and Yahweh alone knows whether you have crossed that line into atheism or not. You see, once you start sliding down that slippery slope you will, unless you consciously change course and retrace your steps, eventually go all the way into unbelief. Only repentant and turning back can prevent that. That slide leads you out of salvation altogether eventually. And how will you know if you're sliding or are fully slid? By the evidence of your life, your lifestyle, your behaviour, your character, for disobedience without repentance, first, results in the Ruach (spirit) departing and is then followed by more and more of the Christ-nature disappearing out of your life and personhood.

What is the boundary between second resurrection 'Christians/Messianics' and second resurrection 'unlievers'? Like I said, I have no idea. Are you willing to gamble you salvation away by persistent disobedience, though, since you don't know exactly where that line is? All I know from Scripture is they are both bunched together in the Second Resurrection. The only reliable criteria you and I have to measure by are ultimately, Yahweh's Torot or Laws and how we have responded to them. Certainly, the way you treat other people is one pretty good index but it's still subjective, and that must always be linked to objectivity - your attitude toward mitzvot (commandments).

I often tell the true story of a teenage girl who got pregnant and went to a very liberal lady for counsel. The counsellor was soft-spoken, non-judgmental, kind...and advised the girl to get an abortion. She lived to bitterly regret doing that. You see, we do have tendency to act the benevolent god in our own finite wisdom and understanding. Lots of mitzvot (commandments) don't always make sense because we don't have the divine perspective. A 'nice' person isn't necessarily a godly one. Yes, there is leniency and more grace for those who don't know the mitzvot (commandments) but once you have been presented with them from the Davar Elohim, the Word of God or the Bible, you're accountable, whether you fully understand them or not! Only Yahweh knows where every soul is in that regard so we must leave judgment up to Him, but what we can and must do, is speak the emet (truth) in ahavah (love) and make sure people properly understand what they're rejecting.

I know, for instance, a lot of very kind, sweet believers who reject the Law of Tithing. They have all kinds of rationalisations, the most common one being that it's been 'abolished' or 'nailed to the cross' - no, it's the penalty or just punishment of the Torah (Law) that's been nailed to the cross upon genuine repentance and, whenever possible, restitution. They believe instead they are to share of their financuial substance only as they are moved by the 'Spirit', an attitude which contains a good mixture of the flesh in it, since what we claim to be 'Spirit' is often just our own fallible feelings. Some who are led by this false spirit can be very generous indeed but it is always (oftentimes shown for the praises of men) at the expense of emet (truth) and what Yahweh says we are to do. And He tells us we can be as generous as we wish after we have fulfilled our obligation to Him which is to pay a 10 percent tithe of our increase, wherever it may come from, be it a salary, a bequest, an inheritance, etc., and to divide that tithe into three parts:

• 1. A third for the ministry (your local assembly, a tenth of which is for use by the Bishopric and/or apostolic Centre);
• 2. A third for the poor (which you can administer privately or pool with others in your local congregation or elsewhere); and
• 3. A third for the Festivals (for travel, accommodation and food).

There is a huge delusion in Protestantism, but chiefly in Pentecostalism whose driving spirit rests as much on subjectivity (and oftentimes more) as it does on the Davar (Word), which is a fruit of lawlessness, that is beautifully explained in the Kongsberg Revelation (Olive Branch 467) that I strongly recommend you to read again. And although the context if chiefly ecumenism with other religions, the principle is the same. The point being this: not every good feeling in your heart is from the Ruach (Spirit). Indeed, the heart is a most untrustworthy thing, we are told my Yahweh, that must become progressively purified if it is ever to be a reliable source of spiritual guidance. That is why we must begin with what Yahweh has already commanded! If we're willfully igoring or disobeying any of the mitzvot (commandments) we're going to lose a portion of the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) and the discernment that comes with that, and straight away our flesh will occupy the vacuum and not infrequently demons too. So be warned! King Saul thought he was being spiritual in offering sacrifices he wasn't intitled to do as a Benjamite and thought he thought was being kind and magnanimous in sparing the life of wicked king Agag whose execution Yahweh had ordered through His navi (prophet) Samuel, he was only thinking of himself. In the end Samuel was forced to do the job himself. And remember, Saul, for his presumption, was rejected as king - he had spectacularly failed in his stewardship (1 Sam.15). If that story upsets or offends your postmodernist sensibilities it's because you love your own heart more than Yahweh's!

So Chag haMatzah is a very serious business, brethren and sisters. It isn't just some quaint showy thing that we do. It's a divine instruction because it's a teaching tool accompanied by a very Real Presence that can be enjoyed by the faithful. He blesses the day with an abundance of the Ruach (Spirit). You may think that messianics getting on their knees and brushing up every last particle of leaven from the ground to be silly, superstitious, or even 'legalistic' but it isn't - it's to remind us, through dramatic enactment, not to treat sin and the mitzvot (commandments) that people break in a casual manner that Saul did. We don't have to atone for our own sins, which is what believers must do if they die unsaved walking in rebellion, which thing is impossible, but which they will not fully understand until they have been burned enough over a very long period of time until they can finally see and can finally be released in the Cosmic Jubilee.

Pray, rather, that that burning will take place while you are alive now if you have been stubbornly rebeling so that you can see and change direction while you are still a mortal and able to enjoy the contrast between right and wrong. Onloy mortal life on earth gives you that, you don't enjoy it in the spirit world. Yah'shua (Jesus) generously and freely forgives sin when we repent of it - He paid the terrible price we deserved to pay for ourselves in hell - but unless we are serious about meaning to stay on the straight and narrow path (Mt.7:14), ultimately that becomes an exercise in futility because the dog always returns to its own vomit (Prov.26:11; 2 Pet.2:22).

That is why the Saviour says at the end of the Book of Revelation - and why I have been saying the Book of Revelation is a fantastic doctrine sifter, sorting out the true from the false:

"Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city [of the New Jerusalem]. Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood" (Rev.22:14-15, NIV).

Now I hope there are none here who practitioners of the "magic arts (occultism), the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood", for such people are the unclean "dogs" that Yah'shua (Jesus) is speaking of here. There are no occultists among us (though there may be some seduced by the occultic charismatic spirit who may be under its power without realising it, like the false tongue-speakers), no sexually immoral, no murderers either....but idolatry isn't just worshipping images or statues as the Catholics do but can be anything we put ahead of Elohim (God) in our lives....and "practicing falsehood" is a pretty broad category of habitual behaviour. Remember also, that Yahweh Himself will send delusion to those who choose to be Torahless, who will themselves into not obeying the mitzvot (commandments) because it's a CHOICE. And just because they're 'nice' or outwardly 'humble' in mannerisms doesn't mean they aren't deluded necessarily - there will always be some area that triggers them into rage as I experienced once when I went to a Pentecostal meeting in Oslo and spoke with the pastor. When I mentioned a biblical doctrine Pentecostals reject, he flew into a rage and stormed out! So be warned!

Willful disobedience is very, very dangerous. Remember, remember, there is no commandment so apparently small that permits us to ignore it without consequences! It typically starts with small things but then the slippery slope takes the rebel into more and more serious sins and into a faster slide. Thus Paul warned:

"For the secret power of Torahlessness (lawlessness) is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. And then the Torahless (lawless) one will be revealed, whom the Master Yah'shua (Lord Jesus) will overthrow with the breath of His mouth and destroy by the splendour of His coming. The coming of the Torahless (lawless) one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the emet (truth) and so be saved. For this reason Elohim (God) sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the emet (truth) but have delighted in wickedness" (2 Thess.2:7-12, NIV).

We're not here simply to 'hang-out' to chat with old friends, have a sing-song and enjoy a week-long picnic of eating leaven-free sandwiches. We're here on the Master's business first and foremost to reorientate our lives away from Babylon and toward Zion, because every moed (appointment) is by divine command to enable us to continue (lest we forget, and we do if we let our attention be diverted by the world) to "work out (y)our salvation with fear and trembling" (Phil.2:12, NIV). For if, as so many Christians claim, the salvation issue was once-and-for-all decided the moment they chose to follow Yah'shua (Jesus), then why the need to continue 'working it out'? Well, I could give a lot of answers to that one, but the most important one is that we can and do walk away from our salvation, in smaller or greater steps (depending what we choose), once we make the conscious decision to start breaking the mitzvot (commandments). That ought to be common sense but how easy it is to be lulled into a false sense of security by the modern-day Nicolaitans who encourage believers to be careless with that precious salvation. OSAS (Once Saved, Always Saved) is one of those Nicolaitan doctrines because it's a licence to be careless with the mitzvot (commandments).

Now I am not saying - and I have never said - that we should either live our lives in terror or that the true believer does not, and cannot, have security. These days people are afraid even of righteous fear! We have security as long as we are being honest and genuine with ourselves and with Yahweh in seeking to do what's right. Some panic they will lose their salvation for every small transgression. That is almost as bad as lawlessness itself. Isaiah said that "the work of righteousness will be shalom (peace), and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever (le-olam-va-ed)" (Is.32:17, NKJV).

Do you want security and assurance of the "forever" kind? Well, that's how and where Yahweh says you will find it. Be linked to the righteousness of Christ by emunah (faith) and stay linked to it by developping habitual obedience to the truth that liberates you from bondage. Make it second nature by careful self-discipline in the Ruach (Spirit). He knows we trip and fall. He understands that and that is why He has provided a way into restoration of fellowship when we inadvertantly sin, as we all do every day. We are in constant need of His grace - His undeserved loving-kindness. Churches are very good at promoting that message but then, more often than not, simply leave it at that, which we may not. The real problems start when we deliberately choose not to do what is right, encouraging ourselves in that mindset by refusing to read the Scriptures or to pray, for by neglecting these we are not reminded nearly enough of what is right and how to maintain our salvation through daily application of godliness, something that ought to be happening unconsciously. We should not be in a perpetual fret.

Yahweh knows we are like sheep who have a tendency to wander away. It's why He gives us congregational fellowship and instruction. It's why we are given sabbaths, new moons and festivals because clearly we need constantly reminding of our tendency or wander off into dangerous places. And we deceive ourselves if we think we are so strong so as not to need these things, or that all that matters is good intentions and not outer behaviour too. Solitary sheep don't do well. Like an ember that falls out of the fire, it soon dies out and goes cold if not properly tended and put together with other burning logs in the hearth.

One of the reasons we have a Torah Portions tradition (which we have borrowed and adapted from the Jews, incidentally) is to remind us of the importance of the mitzvot (commandments). Some congregations centre their annual preaching and teaching program around these 'portions'. It's been a while since we did that formally as there have been other needs, principally attending and responding to the spirit of prophecy at a time of enormous change. Torah Portions are, in reality, a kind of abridged Bible Reading Program, that consist of weekly selections of Scripture from the Torah (the Pentateuch), the Haftorah (the rest of the Tanakh or Old Testament, but principally the nevi'im or prophets) and the B'rit Chadashah or New Testament Scriptures. But these are only small selections and serve mainly as a minimum guide to ensure that the basics always remain in sharp focus. It's also a great memorisation tool and the closest we have ever come to having a 'liturgical program' in this fellowship. As always, it is important to maintain a balance between formal liturgy (like the Pesach Haggadahn and the Master's/Lord's Supper) and that which is unplanned by us. We don't want to be crushed by too much liturgy (as this can so easily be rendered dead and lifeless) or become wild and reckless too by giving vent to hysterical emotionalism (as this can so easily be an invitation to false spirits to, as it were, 'crash the party'). We have plenty of sobering examples from the various denominations of what, and what not, to do.

I say all of this in part because this year we have been called to start replanting congregations again which means that all those who are a part of this work will be needed for that task. Whilst we are indeed called to go out and plant seeds in the Body as a whole, to do that exclusively tends to breed undisciplined mavericks. Remember, as members of the New Covenant Assemblies of Yahweh (NCAY) we have been given Five Commissions:

• 1. To make talmidim (disciples) of all nations for Yah'shua (Jesus);
• 2. To gather those called into the New Covenant Assemblies (NCAY);
• 3. To plant the keys of emet (truth) everywhere;
• 4. To prophetically lift a warning voice against all falsehood ; and
• 5. To gather the Ten Tribes of Israel into Cities of Refuge

The fifth and last commission - to gather the tribes - must first await the completion of the second commission - to gather those given a testimony of this work into congregations and to devote our efforts into discipling them preparatory to the Final Gathering. This will require a great deal of work that is a lot harder than simply going around other churches and planting snippets of truth here and there as an adjunct or supplementary work, even if that important work must continue as we reach out to the headless churches and messianic assemblies. It's easy to preach and then go away - the real task and challenge is working together in community, in the messianic family. This means calling pioneers again, people willing to selflessly dedicate themselves to the task to which we have been called. And that will mean, at least for the leadership, a re-acquaintance with the Olive Branch that shows us the content, the parameters, and indeed the flavour of our mission.

As we do this, the annual festivals like this one will become more and more important. To accomplish this, though, the labour must be fairly shared, for we are an unpaid lay ministry, and I myself and some of our long-serving members are far too old and sick to once again carry all the burdens we once did when we were younger. There must be commitment by all to building this spiritual family. We need, not just sowers, but builders. We need Joshua's and Caleb's, lots of them. But before that can happen, all the false doctrines and practices that may have stuck to any of us, like gathering dust, must be thrown out. NCAY is not a smörgåsbord of different beliefs. Back in the 1980's when we begun, we knew very little. Today we know a great deal. And now we are being sent out again.

There must be proper covenant-taking and accountability again - the renewal of Priesthood-specific covenants at Shavu'ot (Weeks, Ekatost) and annual Priesthood weighings in the autumn (fall) once more. This will not, moreover, be the same as it was in our earliest days, when we were spiritually young and immature. We have come far since then - very far. The mill of heaven has been grinding us exceeding fine, often through much adversity, to the point we have sometimes wondered if we would even survive the milling! But it seems Yahweh wants very fine heavenly flour indeed for His discipleship oven! So we are opening our doors again to the called and the honest willing to work for the King and the Kingdom...and I don't, by 'Kingdom', simply mean the 'Kingdom Within' (which is where it is conceived) but the 'Kingdom Without' also (where is is called to manifest in the correct divine tavnith or pattern) as domestic and congregational life. This is, as always, risky, as it always has been, people being what they are, both the 'friendlies' and the 'hostiles', but we are so much better equipped now than we were 35 years ago when this work first came to these Scandinavian shores and from where it must once again be re-launched. We were rejected once but I am determined that shall not happen again.

None of this is, however, possible without purity...without the spiritual substance and realisation of Chag haMatzah in each of us. The leaven of the world - and that means worldliness and its Babylonian ambitions - can have no part of us. It is a much more dangerous place too than it was when we first arrived in Norway in 1988. The world has completely changed. We will be tested in new ways. And as we have learned so far in our study of the Book of Revelation, headship must once again be restored - proper headship, not token, puppet headship subject to the whims of wives, children and congregations. The body must obey the head, not the other way round. Left to itself and to the flesh, everything soon disintegrates into an ugly multi-headed hydra.

Which brings me to an important vision I wish to share with you to end today's message. There have been many such visions of late, few of which I have shared, but this one must go out today on this first day of Chag haMatzah. This vision occurred on Monday 4 April, 12 days ago, at 8.46 pm. What prompted it was a lecture I had been listening to by a cessationist who was doing a good job in exposing what has come to be known as the 'New Apostolic Reformation'. This group, as the name suggests, believes in apostles like the original 12. But he ended up going too far in the other direction by denying that there is to be any apostolic ministry of any kind to be had in our day. We talked a lot recently about Bishops and Apostles so if you are unclear about leadership in the Messianic Community after the first apostles died and were replaced by Bishops, or how a new kind of apostles will start appearing under a single banner who are the patriarchal heads of the 12 tribes, then I would invite you to take a look at the most recent sermon in the Apocalypse series called, Book of Revelation XVI: Between the Present & the Future III - Syriac Ignatius, Polycarp & the Patriarch-Apostles.

So I had been listening to this man's lecture denying the need for any sort of apostles for the end-times when a vision suddenly exploded in front of me. I saw the upper torso of a headless man and where his head should have been, there was a roaring inferno, the flames rising high above his shoulders. It was a most bizzare sight but it was a picture of that deplorable and regrettable state of the Body of Christ today - and I don't speak of nominal believers, but actual born-again, spiritually-regenerated believers (the flames) who are, because of their lawlessness, essentially headless, and will remain so until they have repented of their rejection of the Torah. The Remnant Bride does not consist of the lawless! She is rather likened in Scripture to a fully submissive wife - a virgin bride (1 Pet.3:1-6), not going her own way but the Way of her Husband. So that when we call Yah'shua (Jesus) 'Master' or 'Lord' it isn't just in word, but in very deed, "as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him master (lord), whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror" (1 Peter 3:6, NKJV). We'll talk a little more about what godly fear of Yahweh is tomorrow as this is something little understood in our decadent, self-absorbed, anarchistic, postmodernist Western culture anymore.

Symbolically this vision means that most of those now called up to be a part of the Remnant, who are in the Body of Christ in the denominations still, have a burning passion for Yah'shua (Jesus) represented in the vision as flames ascending from quickened hearts. They want to do what's right, they love Yah'shua (Jesus) but their 'head' is missing. And this absent head means they have neither sound theology (head-teaching) nor, indeed, proper apostolic and prophetic headship in general, because they are seeking to establish the end-time Messianic Community along the lines of their Protestant traditions which can't, and won't, work, and any attempt to do so will fail.

Yet the divine scriptural tavnith or pattern is quite clear:

"And in the messianic community (church) Elohim (God) has appointed first of all shlich'im (apostles, emmisaries, ambassadors), second nevi'im (prophets), third morim (teachers), then misim (workers of miracles), also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others (helpers, assistants, servants), those with gifts of administration (leaders), and those speaking in different kinds of (diverse) languages (tongues)" (1 Cor.12:28, NIV).

As you look around the various groups claiming to be the Remnant, or proclaiming the necessity of a gathered Remnant, you will find they broadly speaking divide along denominational lines:

• 1. Pentecostal/Charismatic 'continuationists' who subdivide into Protestants and Messianics; and
• 2. Non-Pentecostal/Charismatic 'Cessationists' who also subdivide into Protestants & Messianics.

And they do so interpreting 1 Corinthians 12:28, which I just read out, according to their own traditions. Now on the face of it, the pentecostal/charismatic interpretation appears to more closely resemble the Corinthian formula, and indeed they can cite Ephesians 4:11-16 in support by pointing out they have ordained ministers who supposedly do all these things (as do the Mormons and some others, by the way):

"And He Himself gave some to be schlich'im (apostles), some nevi'im (prophets), some evangelists, and some rochim (pastors) and morim (teachers), for the equipping of the qodeshim (saints) for the work of [national, Israelite] ministry, for the edifying (rebuilding) of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge (da'at) of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the emet (truth) in ahavah (love), may grow up in all things into Him who is the head -- Messiah (Christ) -- from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in ahavah (love)" (Eph.4:11-16, NKJV).

The problem is that each of these essentially two major factions, each with their messianic sub-factions, are never going to agree. Cessationism is just plain wrong (because Yahweh never removed or diminished any of the gifts) but their problem is that their 'apostles' aren't apostles and their 'tongues' aren't proper tongues or contemporary languages. The end-time apostles aren't like the original apostles whom we know, from our study of the Book of Revelation, were replaced by Bishops and by, moreover, the purposeful, deliberate design of the original apostles! This they had planned from the very beginning. The end-time apostles are Melchizedek Patriarchs, heads over the 12 gathered tribes which aren't yet gathered which is meaningless to Pentecostals and other Protestants who still think 'Israel' and the 'Church' are two separate entities when they're not! (See our Ephaimite page for further orientation).

But there are problems too in what is meant by 'prophecy' nowadays. One honest continuationist (whom I am assuming is pentecostal) called Wayne Grudem attempts to 'explan away' all the false prophecies coming out of pentecostalism and charismatic dens which he says are to be expected. He argues for a two-level view of prophecy by claiming that Old Testament prophets and New Testament apostles spoke 'the very words of God' and therefore possessed absolute divine authority. He then goes on to make a distinction between this so-called 'canonical prophecy' and what he calls 'ordinary congregational prophecy and tongues'. However, no such distinction exists in Scripture that I can find.

He rightly points out that there is such a thing as conceptual revelation (though he doesn't call it that) which is basically the contemporary prophet translating into his own words and making mistakes of interpretation and that this kind of prophesying does not possess absolute authority but only 'relative authority' (whatever that means). He even has the gall to claim that some of the prophecies made by New Testament nevi'im (prophets) were wrong, and he cites Acts 21:4 and 10-11 as examples, though he seems unable to make the distinction between conditional prophecy and unconditional prophecy. Conditional prophecy is basically Yahweh putting conditions on a prophecy being fulfilled: 'If you do this, this will happen. If you don't, it won't, and something else will happen'. A good example of this is the conditional prophecy about Ezekiel's temple which religious Jews want to build today. That Davar (Word) was spoken to the exiles of Judah-in-Babylon and Israel-in-Assyria - if they would repent, Yahweh said, He would bring them back to the land of Israel and a fabulous new temple would be built. But they didn't repent and the temple was never built, and we certainly don't need it now in the New Covenant. And anything the Jews build will not be of Yahweh but serve a dark agenda (one of the reasons Zionism is such a dangerous teaching).

But this isn't what Grudem is talking about, is it? He's simply doing damage control, trying to justify all the false prophesying that pentecostals and charismatics engage in by 'demoting' it. In reality, this is just damage control - an attempt to justify the false spirits that Azuza Street welcomed to the world and which has been spreading like a cancer ever since. Prophecy is either true or it isn't, and if it isn't, it ought not be be spoken. And those that have spoken falsely need to admit they were led by false spirits and repent. But they don't, and they won't, they prefer to defend their lying and do more of the same. This is one of the fruits of 'tongues' and why what Pentecostalism calls 'tongues' is not the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit).

I fully understand a revelator explaining that what he's doing is a conceptual translation of a claimed revelation. I have done that myself. But it's very different thing to go and prophesy, as pentecostals and charismatics did in the last American election, and categorically state that Trump would be inaugurated as President for a second term. Those who made these predictions left no room for doubt. They were making absolute claims and people got disillusioned by their failure afterwards. That is why we have spent a great deal of effort over the years to explain how prophecy and revelation work. The Remnant must have a clear understanding of this and those who are not called to the prophetic must stop prophesying to the world and to the Messianic Community (Church) immediately. Just 'hearing voices', getting 'sudden impulses' or 'feelings' is not biblical prophecy, revelation or inspiration. If they are to be honest, they need to say, not 'Thus says the Lord' but 'It seems to me that the Lord is saying...' so that people don't get misled. To me, claiming that 'New Testament Prophecy' is a 'semi-revelational, fallible utterance' and therefore only 'relatively authoritative', such as Grudem does, is just sophisticated pseudo-intellectual nonsense-talk. It's dangerous talk and such people should either state they are just giving their opinion or shut up. So much damage has been done, and is still being done, by false prophesying. All they're doing is disillusioning the qodeshim (saints, set-apart ones) and giving ammunition to the cessationists and atheists whose scepticism is being legitimately justified.

And as for 'tongues', well, for pentecostals and charismatics at least, this is going to be their biggest obstacle to ever coming up to the Remnant because all the babbling is not - I repeat, NOT - the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit)! None of it. And it's such a massive idol. I won't even get into the 'prophetic' that is claimed because most of it is psychic mumbo-jumbo dressed up by their invisible demonic handlers to look like the real thing. The catastrophic number of failures in prophecy these last two to three years in particular ought to be red flags enough to warn off even a blind person! I have said this consistently throughout my ministry and I'll say it again: this is all the fruit and spirit of headless, reckless, immature anarchy and Yahweh is not - I repeat, NOT going to include any of this confusion in His genuineRemnant. It has to be left behind as they leave their traditions and come to the authentic Remnant. The heart and passion may be there but the discipline and full submission to emet (truth) is not.

This message isn't what the more impatient mong you is going to want to hear (and my goodness, we have had a lot of impatient folks over the years, unwilling to wait as Abraham had to) but it is important that you hear it loud and clear. It's going to take quite some time - some years, in fact - to bring around Western Christian thinking, be it continuationist or cessationist, to the Torah mindset...look how long it has taken us...but I am glad to say things are slowly changing - very slowly changing because people don't readily let go of their idols and rarely all at once. Like stripping paint off from a wall, it must come off one layer at a time. Indeed I was delighted to learn that the leader of a major Swedish revival prayer group - a pentecostal - understands that there is no pre- or mid-tribulation rapture and that the qodeshim (saints, set-apart ones) will not be whisked away off the earth to some other place but physically pass through the difficult and painful refinement of the Great Tribulation here on earth. It takes courage to come out with such a position. And from what I gather, he has had a lot of opposition from fellow pentecostals in maintaining that stance. So I take my hat off to him.

I know of only one other prominent pentecostal minister here in Scandinavia, Hans Bratterud (whom I knew personally for a short while) who understood this truth back in the late 1980's and who interviewed me on his TV channel (which I have on video if anyone is interested in hearing and seeing it). He also understood, against the 'received wisdom' of his fellow pentecostals, that the 12 tribes were scattered throughout the gentile nations and were not primarily in the modern Republic of Israel. Indeed, he was willing to serve time in prison in Norway for standing against sexual immorality which then, as now, is a politically incorrect thing to do - we suppost to accept and defend it as a legitimate liberty. I have great respect for such people, whatever their denominational background. But we must publically stand against a lot of false doctrines these days, not just one or two, a reason so few like us and shun us. But pentecostals, if they still believe in the rapture myth, have a long way to go yet. Two of their biggest idols, which are held in place by demonic powers, are still so-called 'tongues' (which is a gift only for a few, and then only legitimate human languages) and Zionism and I guarantee most will refuse to let go of these in a hurry. That's why we need a lot more time because many of the Remnant are among the Pentecostals, never mind the hysteria occasioned by the full doctrine of biblical marriage which in some cases has provoked murderous outrage and hysteria in all those espousing orthodox Christianity. But that's something we can talk about another time as I don't want anyone having too many heart-attacks in one sitting.

And I'm afraid not a lot of Pentecostals are willing to let go of their defining doctrine and practice (tongues) because it's their pet idol, their Achillees Heel, just as in my experience Seventh Day Adventists can't bring themselves to let go of their pet Romanised 'Saturday Sabbath' even though their founder (Ellen White) and many of their leaders came close to doing so but either buckled under the pressure of the majority or were sidetracked by the last world war. That's the demon of 'majority rule' for you because the nevi'im (prophets) never bow to the popular will. That is one reason we must start congregation-building again, even if only on a very small scale initially so that there are temporary gathering points for intense discipling, where, as it were, we can be 'on display' for serious investigators, as it will not be very many years hence before we have to finally have go underground as they did in Soviet times and indeed as they are having to do in Putin's Russia all over again now and in other countries too. The Remnant will not arise until this is done and all other attempts to do so, whilst in a 'headless' condition, will be aborted, leading to unnnecessary disillusionment. It's no use us just talking about it any more - it must be done, there must be a model, a template, that others can witness and desire to be a part of.

This vision helped make sense of another vision I was shown two days before, on 2 April at 10.09 am in the morning, which I need to share with you too, so that you get the bigger picture of what's going on as far as the Final Gathering is concerned. In that earlier vision I saw a bright and burning flame in the centre of a number of concentric rings. Around this central flame were twelve other flames, as it were, on candlesticks but I could not see the candlesticks themselves. The central flame was much, much brighter than all the others combined, and redder. I knew that this was Yah'shua (Jesus) our Head surrounded by the 12 Patriarch-Apostle heads of the tribes of Messianic Israel yet to be gathered. Beyond this ring of patriarch-apostles were two other golden rings with a white space on either side of them, unoccupied and unlit as of yet, waiting for their hour to be occupied, and beyond the outer of the two golden rings were many other flames like the one on the centre, but much smaller. I could not count them but perhaps there were a couple of dozen or so of those larger flames resembling the very central ones. These are the various Remnant-proclaiming 'apostles' who have some of that central fire but are still very much 'for themselves' and have yet to move up into the central area by embracing Torah-submitted Messianic Israel and letting go of the the Illuminati counterfeit in the Middle East.

Of these, "many are called but few are chosen" (Mt.20:16; 22:14). Some of these will eventually become members of the Apostolate/Patriarchate in the second ring once they have been purified. Notice that their flame was the same in form as the central one because they were taking upon themselves the power and the authority of the central flame which neither they, nor any man, may ever have. Beyond that ring of flames, were countless others, too numerous to count, the flames resembling in appearance the inner ring of 12 too, but smaller. These extended as far as I could see and I presumed these were the rest of the as yet ungathered Remnant, the 900,000 elect. In other words, Yahweh is restoring bits and pieces of the true Messianic Israelite doctrine all over the world in different denominations but their current positioning in the various churches is only temporary. In the end the greater flames will have to yield to the central flame and place themselves, in their tribal homelands, under the 12 end-time Patriarch-Apostles and make ready for the Final Gathering of the Last Exodus. When this happens the two outer portions will move forward and occupy the presently two unoccupied golden rings. Bringing both the called, responsive apostles (and sifting out the false ones and those who will not respond but continue going their own way) is one of the big jobs that now faces us. So in addition to forming congregations our second immediate task is locating the rest of the Patriarch-Apostles.

I wanted to leave you with these visions to chew over before we meet again tomorrow for the second day of Chag haMatzah and for Yom haBikkurim. I realise this has been a lot of material to digest, and also one of my longer sermons, but we have many people coming from diverse backgrounds right now who need to see the bigger picture. A lot of decision-making needs to be made both by our own people and those elsewhere this year. It's been our experience that people come and go for a variety of reasons, with some just hanging on in the periphery - some are simply not ready for the meat of the Central Flame and would be burned by it and others simply continue to resist the truth about the many issues I have raised today. Many have tried to change us to their way of thinking and get us to abandon fundamental truths because they want to 'fit in' with larger numbers of people on the outside but we are not now, or ever, going to abandon our calling or the truths that have been revealed to us simply to be 'liked' and approved of by others who are yet contemptuous of Torah-truth. This has been a labour requiring enormous patience and tremendous opposition and only now are some of those who formerly opposed us finally beginning to listen. There are no spiritual 'Oscars' to be won here, this isn't a competition. If people want to go their own way, so be it - we bless them. Many thousands have gone out, a few have returned. And we expect this to continue until there is proper unity of the faith because the Kingdom is not a pot pourri of mixed and contradictory doctrines and practices. It has always been easy to leave us but very hard to get in [1], and so it will remain. May Yahweh bless you and bring fresh revelation and wisdom to you in the meantime. Until Yom haBikkurim tomorrow as we continue removing the chametz of sin out of our lives! Amen.

Endnotes

[1] The opposite of a cult, in fact