Chag haMatzah sameach kol beit Yisra'el and Mishpachah - may the grace and blessings of our Master Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) be upon us all this the seventh and final day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread and of the Passover Season as we seek a davar (word) to conclude these assemblies.

Uppermost in peoples' minds, I think, at present is how the present situation in the Ukraine is going to translate globally, and whether things are going to improve generally or not. I know that many of you are casting nervous eyes on your food and electricity bills and wondering when we're going to get back to the way we were before the Covid outbreak (or whatever it was, in fact, all about). I don't intend to put on the navi's (prophet's) hat or speculate today other than to definitively say that the whole world has changed, is changing, and will remain changed. We aren't ever going back to the way things were. The planet is on a new and, I realise for most, frightening trajectory. However, as believers, we ought to be the best equipped of all to handle these changes, adjust and adapt. Christians/Messianics have faced huge geopolitical, economic, social and religious changes many hundreds of times over the last two centuries. So how shall we not only make do, but thrive in what is on its way?

To answer that question, we need to get a proper focus and a proper perspective. Wherever we have come from - and I realise that many of us have come from radically different situations around the world - we have always been heading, and continue to head in, one single direction. Being static is not an option for a believer and never has been. We are neither to 'go along with the times', stay in the past, nor live in an imaginarty metaversal future. We're here, we're here to stay, and like the chameleon, we have to change our camoflage in new situations without changing who we are.

Yes, as we discussed the other day, we are, and will always remain, "peculiar" or different, not because we're deliberately choosing to 'stand out' for the sake of garnering attention or for whatever other wrong motive, but because we simply 'are'. We aren't here to say, 'Look how special we are!' but rather, 'Look how special Christ is!' That means we don't go round in distinctive clothes like the Hare Krishna who wear bright orange, or wear Victorian haircuts like the fundamentalist Mormon women, or put on the mediaeval garb of many of the orthodox Jews. We're not here to attract the eye but to draw the mind and heart whilst at the same time being modest in our comportment. Our lifestyle - what we do, how we behave, how we treat one another - are important doorways to enable the unbeliever to catch a glimpse of what the Kingdom of Heaven actually looks like. If we're trying to hide that away by being coarse, vulgar, rude, unkind - by, in short, being like the chametz or yeast of the world - then we will have specuacularly failed. We are to be unleavened matzah bread, in a world leavened by sin, and show unbelievers a better way. This is something we can never do (without being accused of being hypocritical) if we seek to imitate the world, for whatever reason - social acceptance perhaps being the strongest temptation we can ever face.

The world system has always been on that slippery slope to hell and those who think they can surf it without being harmed or eventually dragged into it are living a delusion. We are to be distinct for His sake, not ours. So I would like to start by reminding you who it is we are imitating and why, by inviting you to join together with me in turning to Paul's letter to the Colossians, to the first chapter and the 15th verse - I'll mostly be using NIV and NKJV today:

"He (Yah'shua the Messiah/Jesus Christ) is the image of the invisible Elohim (God), the firstborn over (of) all creation. For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. And He is the head of the Body, the Messianic Community (Church); He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For Elohim (God) was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making shalom (peace) through His blood, shed on the cross" (Col.1:15-20, NIV).

Though we down here face potentially a Third World War, or at any rate, something like it, we need to remember, in light of this scripture, that the spiritual contest has already been one. Our future collectively is already decided, so we don't have to worry about historical outcomes. The only thing that's not established is what we, individually, are going to choose with our freedom and agency because we don't get another go in another life, so do not be deceived by the false promises of those who teach reincarnation which holds much appeal for the flesh - for the lazy who think they can 'do their own thing' in this life and then 'make up' for their neglect in an other imaginary one by paying back their 'karma' debt then; and for the vain who want to believe they were someone big and important in a previous life and so advertise that in order to receive admiraction and validation as a person in this one. All our validation comes from the One whom Paul spoke of in that extract from his letter to Colossai that I just read out to you.

If I could briefly reflesh your memories about the locations of the congregations of Asia Minor in the Book of Revelation which we recently studied in chapters 2 and 3, Colossae (or Colosse) is a little inland from Ephesus, the capital of the region where the apostle John lived. It was destroyed in an earthquake in AD 64, within a decade of Paul writing this letter and was never again rebuilt.

You may be living in a city or town which in a very short time may not exist any more. It could be destroyed by an earthquake, as Colossae and so many other cities in Anatolia were, as many in such places as Calfornia will shortly be (a reason have urged people to leave the American, Canadian and Mexican west coast), or by war. Right now as I speak the city of Mariupol in the Ukraine is being flattened by modern warfare, albeit by conventional weapons. But that's not to say other cities, as Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan were in 1945, won't be incinerated in a second. That also why I have urged you to listen carefully and obediently to what Yahweh tells you to do and where to go or be at any one moment of time.

As I speak to you now, friends are moving, or may already have completed their move, from the west coast of Canada deep into the interior. They hadn't planned, or wanted, to leave their Pacific paradise but job necessities and social pressures forced them to. And they will be grateful at some point soon, I'm quite sure, that they did move, in spite of the harsh limate they're relocating to. I myself have been forced, by circumstances (my parents) and by choice through revelation, to move, first, from my tropical childhood home of Malaysia for the temperate climate of England, and thence - by a vision from Yahweh - to Norway and thence to Sweden. Like my Candian friends who prefer the milder climate and beautiful landscape of British Columbia to the freezing flatlands of Alberta, I too would prefer the sunny tropics to the cold lands of Sweden, but Yahweh has many reasons for my being called here. And yes, when He calls you to make a change in location, there are always multiple blessings tied to them if you're obedient. Only two days ago my wife and I were thankful for the medical facilities in this country, one of many blessings of security we enjoy here. Had we been living in the USA, for instance, we would have gone bankrupt what with all the operations we have had to have.

Colossae was, as I said, never rebuilt and hasn't been excavated, unlike its neighbours Laodicea, about 11 miles away, and Hierapolis, 4 miles further again. You may perhaps remember that Hierapolis (the modern Turkish Pammukele) is where the hot springs, so popular with tourists, are. By the time the cold water of Colossae and the hot water of Hierapolis reach Laodicea, they are both lukewarm, which explains the famous 'lukewarm' passage in Revelation 3:14-20, as you all know. For that little town Colossae, and the tiny group of Christians/Messianics within it, Paul sent this stunning letter from prison, a letter in which the victory of Christ over the powers of the world become a central and vital theme. That is why we need reminding of this today, in the present situation, especially Ukrainians and Russians who suddenly find themselves thrust into a war that neither of them wants, and we, in our turn, find ourselves in the rest of the world experiencing economic hardships we could well do without. But as ever, we must adapt and survive, or remain as we were and perish.

I know a lot of you follow the news, and some follow in-depth analyses of both the war and the economic and social impact it is having on us all. We like trying to figure out what is actually a really complicated array of elements. Most people think in a black-and-white or binary mindset because they refuse to think deeply. They're either on the side of this country or that one, or this political party of that one, but we are required to hold a perspective more like Elohim's (God's) who sees not only the sum total of human thoughts, feelings and actions, but - even more importantly, perhaps - the designs of evil supernatural powers influencing, manipulating and steering the affairs of the world by means of the willing (though usually unconscious) compliance of their human servants. If you're not serving the Creator's agenda, you're serving the Enemy's, even if you're a 'neutral'...and it's worth seriously meditating on that for a while. And that challenge I make to both unbelievers and believers alike, for unsanctified, careless, thoughtless believers are just as likely to serve the Enemy team as those who already do by deliberate choice. Even Peter, the chided apostle, served the Enemy team once in trying to prevent Yah'shua (Jesus) from going to His appointment at Calvary (Mt.16:23; Mk.8:33).

So what exactly are the "powers" of which Paul speaks? And of what precisely does the "victory" consist? And how does knowing about these evidently important things help us in following Yah'shua (Jesus), in doing right, and in making the right decisions today especially in this extremely dangerous global environment?

As you also know, Paul's letters were meant to be read out aloud in the little congregation and be heard. Those listeners would have had no difficulty in answering the first of those questions, 'What exactly are the powers?' Africans [4] would have no problem today either, but modern Westerners would. Both the ancient Anatolians and contemporary rural Africans lived, and live, in a world of 'powers'. We here in the West, on the other hand, live in a world of confused thoughts and feelings whose origins are attributed to biochemicals like serotonin and testosterone and whose interactions are explained by behavioural psychologists and then 'treated' by psychiatrists. The pagan Colossians, by contrast, lived in a world of 'powers'. When things went wrong, people didn't blame each other or their adrenalin or norepinephrine levels but named supernatural culprits and traced their actions to conflicts in the invisible world. Artemis was hostile to Pan, Gaia (Earth) to Apollo and virgin Athena to the lover Aphrodite. Because they believed these 'gods' were manifest and therefore 'present', it seemed perfectly natural to them to ask them about those things which might concern them. They were therefore awestruck by these 'deities' as well as intimate with them.

Ancient pagans, like many animists to this day, view the world as peopled with hostile, or potentially hostile, forces. If you were going on a sea voyage, you had better propitiate (appease) the sea-god Poseidon or Neptune first. If you were fighting a war, you needed Mars on your side. And incredible though it may seem in our day, while the Russian forces are appealing, as you might expect, for help and blessings from the Eastern Orthodox Church and Buddhists in their prayers, the Ukrainians have been calling upon witches and satanists to curse the Russians on their radio! And I'm not making this up! If you were in love in ancient Colossai, you had better make sure you had the help of Aphrodite. And so on. You get the idea.

In fact, there were so many different gods, as there still are in Hindu India, that life became exceedingly complicated, and not a little threatening. Lots of ordinary folks went about their daily business in a climate of fear and uncertainty. So the ancients did their best to stay out of trouble by backing the right gods and their oracles such as the one in Corinth. Businessmen and politicians rarely make important financial and political decisions in India today without first consulting astrologers, but increasingly so do Westerners. Hitler certainly did. The elder President Bush's wife did. In Africa witchcraft is reaching epidemic proportions and Africans are known to consult witchdoctors before making important decisions. Tragically, 'Christian' Africans are known to do so too [2]. So all of this is nothing new. But though they, and moderns, try to stay out of trouble by appeasing the gods or astrological forces, it was rarely enough, and the demons that lurked behind every stone would get you anyway.

Now don't get me wrong. I am not denying the existence of demons, just the way the ancients thought their gods worked. Far from it. They are very real. But there is more than one way of being controlled by them. Sin is one but so is unwarranted fear of them, in the way the ancients - and far too many moderns - still fear their 'gods'. Then, as now, gods/demons acted through agency. If Rome won a victory over Britain, it was assumed that the goddess Roma was stronger than the goddess Britannia. The earthly battlefield and the heavenly battlefield were not separated by a great gulf in their minds. The 'heavenly', in their minds, was the hidden dimension of the 'earthly', that extra feature of ordinary reality that explained what was 'really' going on. The principalities and powers were not far away. They were, to the pagan, the inner dimension of exterior events.

There's a right and wrong way to look at the real demonic realm and unfortunately Western Christians still have a tendency to think the pagan way. They see demons under every rock when they're not usually there. You'll find entire Christian websites that catalogue demons and their attributes and by the time you have finished reading up on them you will either be convinced they're there and get not a little paranoid or just dismiss the whole business as primitive superstition. There are, for real, billions of demons or dark, malevolent spiritual entities, but unlike the pagan mindset, we are to have our eyes on Yah'shua (Jesus) and not the demons or the imaginary 'gods' they inhabit on the 'astral plane', their theatreland.

Yes, there may be special occasions when we need to deal with them head-on, when people need deliverance, for example, in which case you need to know what you're dealing with, but it isn't necessary to go hunting them as you might go on a safari or in the way the silly movie Ghostbusters portrayed it. That's putting your eyes on Satan rather than Yahweh. When they cause trouble, we deal with them there and then, but otherwise we get on with our Master's business and ignore them altogether. I had to deal with a handful this morning trying to trick their way into this building but the encounter was over in seconds (because I quickly discerned them) and I just got on with other things afterwards. To me they're like an annoying fly or mosquito that needs swatting from time-to-time. We shouldn't make a big drama out of them. They're really not that powerful. People who go on stage and throw demons out are just turning the whole business into theatre to make a name for themselves...and not usually succeeding. Little genuine deliverance occurs there.

Now I realise a lot of atheists and secularists may be smirking hearing me talk about these things because they think their worldview is so much more rational and superior, but really they're just as superstitious and gullible as the pagans, only they use different language and pretend they don't believe in the supernatural at all when they subconsciously do. Ask one of them the question, 'Who runs this world?' and listen to the answers they give you to see what I mean. The politicians? Nah, politicians profess themselves to be helpless and not to blame when things go wrong. How many politicians accept responsibility for their failures? Not many. What, then, do they typically blame? Demons? No, never, Other people? Quite often. But more often than not, because they don't want to alienate voters by attacking people, they blame 'forces' over which they have no control. And what exactly are these 'forces'? Well, 'economic forces' are pretty common, aren't they? Have you ever seen one of these? Has anyone ever been able to accurately map one of these? create a reliable mathematical formula like a law of physics such as Boyle's Law? or the Laws of Thermodynamics? Nope, and that's because no such 'force' exists. Never mind the fairly godmother of evolution, that 'force' or set of 'laws' (whose origins are unexplained by them) that supposedly 'made everything out of nothing'. Talk about superstition!

Yet we're told these 'forces' are so powerful that the politicians are helpless. 'They' (these imaginary forces) have thrown millions of people out of work. 'They' (these 'forces') have pushed thousands of businesses into bankruptcy. Go through any large Western city and you'll commonly find young homeless people begging. Who put them there? Ask the politicians. Ask the economists. And they'll tell you, 'Oh, it was the political climate that did it'. Or, 'It was the world economic situation'. However politicians and economists know what causes these problems and there's nothing mystical about it. They just don't want to be accountable and lose their jobs in government or economic institutions and universities. There's a reason socialism doesn't work and that's because redistributing wealth doesn't create new wealth or prosperity, plus people need self-interested motivation to work. There's a reason political tyranny results and that is because wicked, corrupt people do wicked, corrupt things. There are spiritual as well as physical causes and effects.

Admittedly, nature can seem terribly random at times, but in reality 'it' is the product of natural forces operating in complex systems that follow the courses of least resistance, as every physicist knows. The weather is the product of a series of chain reactions over centuries and millennia, much of it going back to the Flood and to cosmic catastrophes. But there is no 'Gaia' of the Roman pagans who needs appeasing. If you frack for oil, you will cause land to subside. I've seen the cracked walls of buildings caused by this. The causes are known but it's not because you have angered a Roman or a Greek goddess or a disgruntled dead ancestor. Which isn't to say, of course, that the true Elohim (God) doesn't use or steer natural forced from time to time for His own ends, as He did at the Battle of Jericho.

Now I fully believe there are supernatural elements involved in every aspect of life but not in the way the pagans, shamans and superstitious Westerners wish to portray them. Even so-called 'scientists' get into this game, the evolutionists in particular. They speak of 'natural selection' as a 'force' when it is no such thing, for they speak of it as though it were some kind of conscious, willful herd entity telling a whale to crawl on the beach and grow legs. They even use the language of supernatural creation because there is no alternative way of describing the phenomena of Creation. Thus they will also say that 'nature created' this or that as though it were a benevolent (or sometimes hostile) force - 'the hydra created/evolved a complicated nematocyst or sting-cell with a clever trigger to protect itself from predators' or 'the bombardier beetle developped compounds which on contact explode to scare away frogs (and managing somehow not to blow itself up in the process)'. And that's clearly because some kind of intelligent force must have been involved, but not the contradictory way they view 'evolution'. There is intelligent design in the universe and we are conscious beings independent of our biochemistry.

Demons - the real ones...the heavily disguised 'gods' of the pagans - can only move and act in nature though humans when the latter make sinful or wicked choices. They get into the earth itself when sexual immorality proliferates. We're told that such activity curses the literal ground. And they know it which is why demons authored fertility cults to allegedly make the land more fertile whilst all along getting their human followers to curse it more and more. Paganism, along with all false religion and, indeed, along with the superstitions of atheism's imaginary 'forces' as well, is the biggest racket or scam - the biggest deception - there is. We don't need any of them, we don't need horoscopes, palmistry, psychic readings, Darwin's fairy-godmother, or any of the hocus-pocus that masquerades as 'spirituality'. All we need is the One Reality, He who calls Himself, I AM WHO I AM, Yahweh-Elohim, the Creator of the Universe, who incarnated as a human being. It's so much simpler than stumbling around in the dark, placating unknown and unseed forces, both imaginery and hostile. The whole Green Movement, Climate Change and Extinction Rebellion are themselves good examples of modern earth-worshipping pagan religion. Not, of course, that there is anything wrong with ecological conservation, quite the contrary - it's the worship of nature, and nature spirits, that's the issue, not good stewardship of the earth and its resources. Even Karl Marx was religious - a satanist who pretended to be an atheist.

We need to get down to basics by throwing all the leaven of lies out of our lives. There are some things we can do something about and there are some that we can not because their resolution must await the end of the æon or age. We can, and should, do some things about the climate like not polluting it with actual poisons like heavy metals, for instance. That was one of the mandates given to Adam - to take care of nature. But regulating Carbon Dioxide, which is not a posion but the staff of life guaranteeing life on earth (the more the better if we want forests to flourish) because CO₂ levels are largely regulated by the activity of the sun over which we have zero control. That's one thing. But some situations are entirely beyond our ability to control politically because they are the product of the collective actions of human beings exercising their free agency in response to government mandates. The Besorah, Gospel or Good News of Christ is the only remedy for both individuals and society as a whole. No amount of law-making or the redistribution of wealth is going to change human behaviour or fix socio-economic problems.

So don't believe the lie which Mastercard promoted a few years ago to get you to use their credit card. They claimed that with one of their pieces of plastic with a magnetic strip or (now) a chip, that 'You've got the whole world in your hands', a lying parody of a famous Christian song. That was, in fact, a variation on the very promise that the serpent made to Eve: You will be like a god, 'knowing credit and debit'.

What's the solution to this global mess that's only getting worse? We need to go to the foot of Mount Cadmus in western Anatolia, and stand by the river Lycus, and hear the message the Colossians heard from Paul. And what was it that Paul, more than anything else, wanted to get across to them?

I think the answer may be found in two words, just as the answer to that Bolshevik commissar's atheism and communism last week at Yom haBikkurim was two words in Russia (three in English), 'HE IS RISEN!'. The letter to the Colossians is simple and can also be reduced to two words: 'THANK YOU!'. 'Thank you, Yahweh,' they were saying, ' that there is a congregation in Colossae' (Col.1:3). Thank you for Yah'shua (Jesus)! Thank you for the Cross! Thank you for the Incarnation, the Atonement; Thank you for the promise of Eternal Life in the future, and Thank You for Shalom (Peace, that sense of inner well-being) in this world now'. Paul's prayer for the Colossians, as it is for us, is that we focus on being able to give thanks to the Father (Col.1:12) by loving Him. And if we love Him, we will obey the mitzvot (commandments) (Jn.14:15). We can reduce the two words to one, even. It's all about GRATITUDE. And there is much to be thankful for. The central section of this letter (Col.2:7) begins with thanksgiving and when the apostle sums up the whole long argument of his text, this is how he concludes:

"...whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Master Yah'shua (Lord Jesus), giving thanks to Elohim (God) the Father through (Christ)" (Col.3:17, NIV).

"Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful" (Col.4:2, NIV).

What are we to be grateful for specifically? That Yahweh has rescued us, like the Colossian qodeshim (saints, set-apart ones), from the power of darkness, and has transferred us into the Kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (Col.1:13-14). And given that we are now in the 9th year of the Last or Final Exodus, let me draw your attention especially to the fact that these two verses of Colossians use EXODUS LANGUAGE. Just as the children of Israel were brought out of slavery under Pharaoh and were established as Yahweh's free people, so now, by the preaching of the Besorah (Gospel, Good News), people everywhere can be transformed and transferred into the Kingdom of our Messiah - because He is the image of the invisible Elohim (God), the firstborn of all creation. That is the first equipping of an Exoduseer in these the very last days too - we express daily gratitude for our salvation and share the Good News with whomsoever will hear it and join the Last Exodus too.

Everything you see in the unsaved political and social sphere has an interior meaning too, and it has a supernatural origin...but from the dark side. And it's often a threatening and disturbing one. It seems they're either trying to control us, poison us, steal our money, turn us into machines (transhumanism), or even kill us. The events of Yah'shua (Jesus) of Nazareth - His life, His death, His resurrection - also carry an inner meaning, a powerful and liberating one. He is the image of the invisible Elohim (God). And this Elohim (God) made the world, loves the world, and is in the business of rescuing the world, and calls us to follow His Son as the 'rescued' to be proxy rescuers ourselves - first of people and then of the planet.

So where do the 'principalities' and 'powers' come into Paul's equation in Colossians 1:15-20 that we read earlier? Paul has three things to say about them:

1 The starting point is verses 15-17:

"He is the image (demut - Gen.1:26-27; Phil.2:6) of the invisible Elohim (God), the Bechor (male Firstborn - Ps.89:27) over all creation (kol haNivrah). For by [1] Him (Aram. 'through His hands') all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible (nistar), whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him (Ps.33:6). And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist (Ps.8:23-27; 30:4)" (Col.1:15-17, NKJV).

The expression 'by' or 'through His hands' is an Aramic idiom meaning that as the Word - the Davar, Miltha or Logos, the Messiah crafted all things according to Yahweh's blueprint - this is not something He did wholly independently. He is not, as United Pentecotals and Unitarians maintain, simply one person swopping hats every now and then. Therefore Yah'shua (Jesus) emerges from Yahweh's ruach or breath and command and, as such, was with Him in the beginning (Jn.17:1-11). Everything, including the 'principalities' and 'powers' were created by Him, at least in their original pre-corrupted forms.

What this means, in effect, is the world is irreducubly divided into 'good bits' and 'bad bits' now. Everything, both invisible and visible, were made by the Creator through the agency of the eternal Son, whom we know as the man Yah'shua (Jesus). Yahweh intended His world to be ordered, not random - to be structured, not chaotic. He intended what came to be called 'principaltiies' and 'powers' - the 'forces' in operation in this world - become a part of the way the world worked. And this they were, until they rebelled, and effectively declared 'independence', yet they are still in their original places, in most cases, and at the conclusion of the age will be finally deposed. They act as rivals and opposers of the will of Yahweh-Elohim in the invisible by influencing humanity to do evil and overthrow Yahweh's Ordnung - His Holy Order.

So what went wrong? And what must we do to put things right in those 'territories' in earth, however small, that we control? The fallen malakim (angels) had great power and authority, but it was originally delegated to humans too. But when humans gave up their responsibilities in the Kingdom of Elohim (God) in His world, they handed over their delegated power back to the fallen malakim (angels) by default, giving them exclusive territorial power. That was a huge mistake and we have to take it back.

How did humans do that? To take a common example of human dereliction of their stewardship, they refused to use Yahweh's gift of sexuality responsibly within the parameters defined by His Torah or Law. So they handed over that sexual power to 'Aphrodite', and 'she' (in reality, a demon) took control and has demanded ever more and more promiscuity ever since. This is one huge chunk of chametz or leaven that believers must get out of their bodies, their families, their congregations, their clans and their nations, and you know how badly that has gone in the 21st century. It's always been bad, to varying degrees, but it went wild after the First World War, as people progressively threw off all restraint in the 20th century, indulging in fornication, adultery and perversion of every kind. And it has just got worse and worse. I feel sorry for those being born and growing up in this end time because they face a total tsunami of filth to which they must constantly say a resolute 'No!'

Similarly, when humans refuse to use money responsibly, they are handing over their power to 'Mammon', and he will take control. Look at the global financial system today - it is utterly obscene. Hardly anybody pays tithes to Yahweh (and those that do usually do it wrongly) and nobody cancels all debts every 50 years at Yahweh's Jubilee as they're supposed to. Instead we find ever more rapacious millionnaires, billionnaires and trillionnaires leaving a vast swathe of the chronically poor in their wake. Yahweh never intended anyone should be so disgustingly rich because no man needs such money. Instead, he is almost always corrupted by it and tends to do with it what the Jeffrey Epsteins of the world do - enslave. Almost all of it is ill-gotten, acquired dishonestly using the fractional-reserve banking system devised by the élites to defraud the world, and, as always, at the expense of the already poor who become even more impoverished thereby. You can understand the appeal of socialism and its aim to put that right and yet today's socialists are, for the most part, stinking rich too and as corrupt as their 'centrist' and 'conservative' counterparts. Money, like power, corrupts, and fantastic amounts of money, like absolute power, corrupts absolutely, for the two are closely linked.

When the 'powers' - the fallen malakim (angels) or demons - take over, people get crushed, and because they are supernatural entities with whom corrupt human beings have entered into dark satanic contracts for personal gain and advantage over the honest and hardworking, they are almost powerless to stop. It's why Yahweh had to detroy the world in Noah's day (by water) and why He must do so again (but by fire this time) when His Son returns. So many lines of no-return have now been crossed that judgment and destruction on a massive scale is the only way to redeem mankind and the world because the dark supernatual powers have no intention of reliquishing their power and mean to go all the way to their bitter, destructive end, vengefully dragging as many people with them as they can.

2 The second point that Paul makes in his letter to the Colossians is the logical sequence to the one which comes midway through the second chapter. In most of Chapter 2, the apostle urges the Colossians that, since they are in Christ, they don't need to submit to the 'principalities' and 'powers' any longer. And specifically, he has in mind the 'powers' or forces that control the different nations and races of the world, and that will try to squeeze or force-fit the members of the young Messianic Community (Church) into their own categories and philosophies.

Pretty much every time I cross a frontier into a new country, usually within the first 24 hours and on my first night there, Yahweh shows me a vision of the ruling 'power' or 'principality' of that nation, state, or particular area. I am always surprised by what I see because they are all so different. If you're interested in an example of what I mean, take a look at my sermon Mississippi Tales in which I describe at great length the territorial 'spirit', 'power' or 'demon' that rules in that state of America.

So see what Paul does. What does he do? He goes back to the event of the Cross. Why was Yah'shua (Jesus) crucified? What was the 'meaning', the 'inside', as it were, of this event? To anyone in the ancient world, the question answers itself, as it still does today. Why did so many people die in World War I? in World War II? in the Bolshevik and Maoist Revolutions? in Sarajevo? In Tianmen Square? in Rwanda? in Iraq? in Libya? and now in the Ukraine? It'll tell you why - because they got in the way of forces, of 'powers', of 'principalities'. And it's going to happen again, and not just in wars.

We're told that Yah'shua (Jesus) took on these 'principalities' and 'powers' and defeated them on the Cross. They don't actually have the legal power to hang on to their original offices anymore which they have been holding for thousands of years. So why are they still there? Because we believe, falsely, in many cases, that they are a permanent part of earth's spiritual landscape when they're not. We just uncritically accept the status quo because we're either uninformed or can't be bothered. That's why we're able to build qadosh, holy, or set-apart territories right in their midst, in front of their noses, and there's not a thing they can do about it provided we do what Chag haMatzah tells us to do - get sin out of our lives, and keep it out. When the Enemy has tried to attack such divinely protected territories, to their great surprise, they get bloodied noses from supernatural opposition orders of magnitude greater than the 'principalities' and 'powers' they serve. And that is why we are, and must always be, strict about Torah-compliance, because it is our spiritual wall against their incursion.

Therefore the Enemy lays great temptations before Yahweh's people, hoping they will yield and fall. It's why churches and messianic synagogues that let the Enemy in by refusing to 'keep a clean house' and remove wickedness from amongst them, are overcome and get incorporated into the very domain of the 'powers' and 'principalities' they profess to oppose and to have conquered. When I was in Mississippi a number of years ago, the churches were the hunting grounds for pedophiles and child-rapists who kept hidden, and were kept hidden by their families, in order, one supposes, to save face. It's a heavy, crushing spirit, a suffocator of souls. I've seen it. And many of these monsters are deacons in their churches! Ultimately, the pastors are responsible for they have admitted a destructive force that either neuters, fossilises or demolishes whole congregations in the end. And the 'Once saved, Always Saved' doctrine doesn't help matters for as far as that doctrine's proponents are concerned, these unrepentant rapists are always saved no matter what they get up to, provided they've said the magical 'sinner's prayer'. And the effect of that is to degut a church and turn it into an unwitting cult even though outwardly it may look 'normal' and 'do' what other Christians do. It makes we want to vomit. But unless those churches do radical spiritual surgery and physically remove these wicked people from amongst them - handing them over to the law and excommunicating them - they will remain under demonic territorial dominion, or forever be fighting the equivalent of a 'Fifth Column' at home when their people could be better spending their energies evangelising and discipling. And, no, it's not OK to remain this way, and no, it's not just some Catholic priests that do this.

These 'powers' and 'principalities' operate on mutliple fronts simultanesously so unless you want your congregation engulfed in a spiritual avalanche, you have got to start the painful business of putting your houses in order. And that means rocking the boat and risking a backlash, because these devils, like parasites deep in their hosts' bodies, do not want to be flushed out into the open. There they can molest at will. And that, by the way, is one way satanic covens infiltrate too. Yah'shua (Jesus) says we must challenge these powers at every point - they do not have an absolute right to be here. So I take my hat off to those brave, courageous victims, like an in-law of mine (whose book, The Shackles are Broken, I recommend [2]) who dare to expose their tormentors and tell the story of how Yah'shua (Jesus) eventually healed them. We are commanded to "have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them" (Eph.5:11, NKJV) - there is nothing passive about that instruction.

So in what other ways do these 'principalities' and 'powers' operate? Millions of deceived 'Christians' now say you should live for money and open up 'Prosperity Gospel' branches. There the demons can broadcast their corrupting message to poor and greedy people. But Yah'shua (Jesus) said you can not serve Elohim (God) and Mammon (Mt.6:24; Lk.16:3). You have to choose. They say you don't have to tithe your increase but you can keep it for yourself.

They said, in the past, that Israel's path to liberation would come through the sword. The liberation theologians, influenced by Marxism, are saying the same thing. Yah'shua (Jesus) said that those who take the sword will perish by the sword (Mt.26:52). The 'powers' and 'principalities' said that Caesar was Lord of the world. Yah'shua (Jesus) proclaimed the Kingdom of Elohim (God).

What happens to people who stand up to the 'principalities' and 'powers'? This is something you should remember, especially the more vocal among you. At first, nothing happens. Then the tanks roll in. And that's exactly what everyone thought had happened when they looked on the crucified Yah'shua (Jesus) and everything seemed lost for His talmidim (disciples). The 'powers' killed Him because that's what they do to people who challenge them and wont't relent. The 'powers' nailed up a notice above His head stating what he was charged of - His alleged guilt. He was denounced as a rebel. They stripped Him naked and publicly humiliated Him. They celebrated their triumph over Him. 'Nobody stands up to us like that,' they said, 'and gets away with it. You can't beat the system,' they arrogantly claim.

But that's not at all how it ended, was it? Listen carefully to Colossians 2:13-15 and see how Paul stands this on its head:

"You (Colossians) were dead because of your sins, that is, because of your 'foreskin', your old nature. But Elohim (God) made you alive along with the Messiah by forgiving you all your sins. He wiped away the bill of charges against us. Because of the regulations, it stood as a testimony against us; but He removed it by nailing it to the cross [3]. Stripping the rulers (principalities) and authorities (powers) of their power, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by means of the cross [3]" (Col.2:13-15, based on JNT/CJB).

What looked like an unmitigated disaster was turned around into a triumph by the resurrection - by Yom haBikkurim! The 'principalities' and 'powers' don't win - their brutality and tyranny is turned back on themselves and they are mercilessly crushed. And that, my friends, is the power of the end-time Messianic Melchizedek Priesthood of the Remnant.´

There is a great irony that stands at the heart of Colossians and this is the reason the Messianic Community (Church) has to learn gratitude. The Cross was not the defeat of Christ at the hands of the 'principalities' and 'powers' - it was the defeat of the 'principalities' and 'powers' at the hands - yes, at the bleeding hands - of Christ! And it is in this unlikely setting, from a military standpoint, that we are able to declare with the 6th century hymnist, Venantius Regis Prodeunt:

The royal banner forward go,
The Cross shines forth in mystic glow,
Where He in flesh, our flesh who made,
Our sentence bore, our ransom paid.

Where deep for us the spear was dyed,
Life's torrent rushing from His side,
To wash us in that precious flood,
Where mingled water flowed, and blood.

Fulfilled is all that David told
In true prophetic song of old,
The universal Lord is He,
Who reigns and triumphs from the tree.

O tree of beauty, tree of light,
O tree of with royal purple dight,
Elect on whose triumphal breast
Those hold limbs should find their rest!

On whose dear arms, so widely flung,
the weight of this world's ransom hung,
The price of humankind to pay
And spoil and spoiler of his prey.

O Cross, our one reliance hail!
So may thy power with us prevail
To give new virtue to the saint,
And pardon to the penitent.

To Thee, eternal three in one,
Let homage meet by all be done:
Whom by thy Cross Thou didst restore,
Preserve and govern evermore. Amen

This is real power and glory, the diametric opposite of the way the world sees it. This is an altogether and unexpected conquest and contains within it an eternal tavnith or pattern that is to be repeated by true believers on a human level in overcoming the flesh by means of tapping into this resurrection power. This is the heavenly power that subverts all earthly powers. The power of the bleeding love of Elohim (God) is stronger than the power of Caesar, of Mars, Mammon, Aphrodite, the Deep State and all the rest. That is the point that Paul grasped. And that is the reason for the Colossians' gratitude. The battle has been won.

3 And so we come to the third and final point that Paul makes about the 'principalities' and 'powers'...and this one is going to surprise, maybe even shock, some of you because it overturns a basket-full of different theologies out there in the religious marketplace. But first we need to clearly understand what he meant. For this Colossian passage is one of several key texts that demonstrate, not eternal salvation for some and eternal damnation for other, but, in the end, universal reconciliation or to give it its technical or theological term, Apocatastasis that literally means, 'reconstitution':

"For it pleased the Father that in Him (Messiah/Christ) all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made shalom (peace) through the blood of His cross" (Col.1:19-20, NKJV: cp. 1 Tim.4:10; 1 Cor.15:22,28).

In other words, though the 'principalities' and powers' have been in rebellion and have been misleading and misdirecting human beings for millennia, and though they were finally defeated at the Cross, they have been jurisdictionally reconciled in the prophetic sense to Elohim (God) along with mankind and the whole creation as we look into the future even though that has not taken place yet. Notice they are not annihilated but reconciled in this future scene (remembering that the atonement reaches both backwards and forwards in time).

I realise that this is a hard concept to grasp. It took me several years, in fact. That does not mean that wicked human beings and the 'principalities' and 'powers' escape divine justice, nor does it mean they will inherit the same rewards along with the righteous. That's all future. Right now they are bitter, irreconcilable enemies. However fantastic this may sound, however difficult it may be to grasp, what we are being told by Paul is that Elohim (God) in Messiah (Christ), is making a new world beginning with us, the redeemed, a word that will be inaugurated at the first Messianic Shemini Atseret or Last Great Day (right after Sukkot), but which starts with us within and manifests itself outwardly. A messianic world order is in-the-making under the authority of Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ).

The reverberating message is this: Through Messiah, Elohim (God) reconciled, and is reconciling, and will reconcile, to Himself all things - things in earth and things in heaven. In other words, across the entire spectrum of Creation. He made shalom (peace) through His blood shed on the cross. The pagan must immediately cease worshipping Aphrodite and worship Yahweh alone, but that does not mean that we must become sexless beings. To say you cannot serve Elohim (God) and Mammon doesn't, by the same token, mean that we should give up using money. And to say that racial prejudice is wrong doesn't mean we can't celebrate the differences between us for there are a billion-and-one ways to express righteousness. Yahweh intends the powers to serve Him, and to serve and sustain His human creatures.

Put that way, we do therefore need to differentiate between the sterwardships of 'powers' exercised by fallen malakim (angels) and the malakim (angels) themselves as 'powers'. The 'principalities' and 'powers', in both senses, were originally created good, but like anything, we can become consumed by them and abuse them. I am sure you can think of plenty of examples, like nuclear power, for instance. On the cross Messiah defeated these rebel 'powers' and 'principalities', and stripped them of their ultimate power. Now He seeks to reconcile them, to create a new world and a new, completed and perfected order of being and living, ordered by the resurrection power of the ahavah/chesed/agapé-love of Elohim (God). That is the context in which the Colossians have now been set free - free from the 'principalties' and 'powers', free to follow Yah'shua (Jesus) who as one Divine, Supernatural Being, assumed all those fallen malakim (angel) rôles.

If the way I am expressing these concepts seems a little rough around the edges it is because they are relatively new. However we try to unpack this - and it's really big - one thing is clear: Paul urges us to thanksgiving and to what N.T.Wright rather charmingly and, I think, appropriately calls "thanksliving". He wants the Colossians to understand what the true Elohim (God) has achieved for them in Christ so that they will praise Him from the bottom of their hearts (Col.1:12-23). He wants them to know that they are in Christ, and that therefore no other philosophy or system has any claim on them, that they will celebrate their having died to the old world and come alive in the new (Col.2:5-3:4). It wants them to do grasp the truth of this new way of being human that they will live their lives on the basis of that gratitude, and so be able to put to death all the bits and pieces of the old way of life, and to discover the joy of the new way (Col.3:5-17).

In the third chapter Paul sets out a bracing ethical program of living in Christ, of following Yah'shua (Jesus): no sexual immorality, no anger and violence. But that programme does not stand by itself. If you try and live that way without recognising the defeat of the 'principalities' and 'powers', you will fail because the ethical program stands foursquare on the victory of the Cross.

The 'principalities' and 'powers' of lust, that tell you you can't resist them; the 'principalities' and 'powers' of fear, suspicion and greed, that tell you you must get angry and use violence - these 'principalities' and 'powers' were defeated on the cross, so why surrender to them? They have no rights over you. The battle has been won.

Let me give you a helpful illustration. In any war, there may be said to be a decisive battle and what follows afterwards is essentially a mopping-up operation. As far as the war against the 'principalities' and 'powers' is concerned, the decisive battle was won on Calvary 2,000 years ago and the batles we face today are essentially mopping-up operations leading to the full victory at the Second Coming. In nazi Germany's war against the Soviet Union, the decisive battle was Stalingrad bu the war did not end for couple or so years. The enemy may fight back desperately even after he knows he has lost and give the impression that he still has a chance of winning when all that's happening is a desperate and irrational attempt to forestall the inevitable. Malakim (angels) are emotional beings like us and when desperate can be just as irrational. For the last 2,000 years Yahweh's people have essentially been on a mopping-up operation. From our perspective, that may seem a very long time indeed, and at times difficult to believe that victory has, in fact, been won, because of the continuing violence and the apparent successes of the Enemy.

We can know the truth of his situation by putting into practice the resurrection power that has been released in advance to us. We have been given a foretaste of the fullness that is yet to come. Once you have experienced the Enemy being defeated - and you can do that in all sorts of ways - you can gain the confidence to walk daily in the Way of Victory. And that confidence will grow and grow. We are called - amazingly, perhaps, given the dreadful circumstances of war - to thanksgiving, where we stand at last in the truly human relationship to the Creator of the world, as opposed to the grostesquely disfigured one that sin renders us. And we are also called to thanksliving - and specifically, to Torah thanksliving, where we behave as responsible, considerate free subjects of the true king as we plough right through the territory of the false, usurper king. We owe the 'principalities' and 'powers' nothing whatsoever. There is now only one Principality and Power we are to follow, and that Principality and Power has a human face, a face once crowned with thorns but which now shines with radiant Light.

From a natural, unregenerated perspective, this does, of course, all look a bit crazy. And since I have been there as a former atheist, I can relate to it. And it would be were Resurrection Power a myth. But once you have seen that Power in action, both generating inner shalom (peace) in your life and slaying the Enemy when he has come for your throat, you will be in no doubt. And I have witnessed repentant human beings delivered from desperation to radiant peace as well as murderous, non-repentant ones reduced by heavenly fire to their natural elements, the cleaner and more rapid heavenly version of 'spontanesous combustion'. But first you must believe what Yah'shua (Jesus) and His apostolic witnesses say He accomplished on the Cross. And, I know, those very first steps are the big test, just as the big test of a soldier fresh out of training camp is his 'baptism of fire' on the battle field where he either holds his ground or abandons his post. There's no way you can avoid that, and that is where courage comes in.

The proof of the pudding is always in the eating, not in how persuasive or unpersuasive delivery of preachers like myself. So for those of you who are fresh out of boot camp who may be asking, 'How can I celebrate and practice this Victory today? How can I follow this Yah'shua (Jesus) into genuine and not just theoretical triumph?' the answer is surprisingly simple. Every time you kneel down to pray with real intent, especially when you pray the Prayer of the Kingdom (which we call the Master's or Lord's Prayer (Mt.6:9-13; Lk.11:2-4)), you are saying that Yah'shua is Master (Jesus is Lord) and that the 'principalities' and 'powers' aren't. Every time you say grace at a meal you are saying that Yah'shua is Master (Jesus is Lord), and that the world and all it offers is His, and has no independent authority. And every time we celebrate the annual Pesach or Passover Meal as families at this time of the year, and every time we take the Master's or Lord's Supper (Communition, the Eucharist) together as a congregation, we celebrate the Victory of Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) in a way which, by the power of symbolic action, resonates out, into the city, into the country, into the world, into our homes, into our marriages, into our bank accounts - it resonates out with the powerful message that Elohim (God) is Elohim (God) and in control, that Yah'shua (Jesus) is His visible image, and that this Elohim (God) has defeated the 'principalities' and 'powers' of evil that still enslave and crush human beings today who yet believe their lies.

The word 'Eucharist', which many churches use to describe the Master's (Lord's) Supper, is actually a word that simply means 'thanksgiving'. It is a powerful and heavenly-blessed way of thanksgiving for the work of Messiah and is the most powerful thing we can ever do. The task of the Messianic Community (Church) is to get on with implementing the Victoty of the Cross - and if we could just grasp that vision and live by it, so many of our own problems that loom so large and which at times seem so intractable, would be resolved. I repeat: the battle has been won so let's get on and implement it. Let's follow our victorious Master wherever He goes.

Brethren and sisters, a great adventure lies ahead of us. Where two or more are gathered in Yah'shua's (Jesus') Name, united by a common purpose, there He is. As we come to the end of Chag haMatzah and the Passover season, we need, if we're new to this, to leave 'boot camp', and if we're old hands, leave our re-equipping stations once rekitted up again, and leave our rehabilitation stations if we were injured in the conflict but are now recovered, and get back out into the fray.

We have (as I have mentioned this last week) both very general and very specific orders in the form of the Five Commissions, all of which require us to get out into the field and get working. Making talmidim (disciples), planting the keys of emet (truth) and lifting a prophetic warning voice we have been doing now for a very long time; but now, with the Final Exodus well and truly underway, we have the equally important calling now to build congregations where we can do proper and complete discipling without having to fight rearwards actions opposing the false teachings and practices of fellow, headless believers whose hearts may be right but whose heads are in chaos. You cannot operate in a headless environment for long without either getting worn out or going crazy. Once that is underway, the gathering of the Tribes will take care of itself.

All we need are a handful of nucleus's - one or two here in Sweden and one or two across the border in Norway, and one or two in Africa, Asia and America where we have people waiting to respond to the call - to enable this to begin. And I dare say, never was a community so well prepared in advance as we are because we all know what to do if only we will dare to do it and trust in the One who has already defeated the Enemy. So please now make that the object of your prayers and step out in faith once again. Yahweh will send the Joshua's and Caleb's that we need to do what we, the founders, are now too old and infirm to do!

Chag haMatzah ends in a few hours' time at sunset and the season as a whole ends at sunrise tomorrow morning. We'll be gathering for a regular sabbath before you all go off back to your various homes, jobs or other activities. If there is one word which I believe attaches itself to these last seven-and-a-bit days it is this: COMMISSION. The call has been sent out. You're being sent out to build up the work in Norway, Africa, or wherever you come from. This coming Shavu'ot the renewal of long dormant Priesthood Covenants will resume once again, and new ministers be called. New commissions will be issued to those who have been called to various fields as we move out of the general and into the specific again. And though Shavu'ot is only one day long, I believe we shall need a week, or longer, to accomplish all that must be done this year. So come, if you are still on our continent, with expectation and commitment, and let us trust Yahweh in what He is going to do. Shavu'ot is the Day of Weeks, the end of the Omer Count that is already underway, the Day of the First Covenant at Mount Sinai when great and wonderful things happened to the children of Israel, as well as the anniversary of the first Messianic Shavu'ot or Ekatost, wrongly labelled 'Pentecost' by the churches and their Bible translations, when Yahweh first poured the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) upon the assembled believers in Jerusalem. Though in what form on this occasion I cannot say, but we definitely need that! I need that! 'John the Baptists', subsisting on a diet of 'locusts' and 'honey', must come out of their caves so that Messiah can send them out! "Yes, Father, please take over" as we prepare to fully yield at this unique overlapping zone of two generations.

Before I say adieu I do have one last direct word from Yahweh to encourage you. At around 6.30 am this morning, starting a whole chain of visions, I saw a vision of a rolled up scroll lying on the ground. There was something very out-of-this-world about it as well as being earthy and I believe this was a sunrise. Then the scroll began to unroll, at first slowly, and then at an accelerating speed, as if by means of invisible hands, and moved steadily westwards - I was standing in the north looking south-westwards. The scroll unravelled for miles and miles, seemingly unendingly, until at length it completely disappeared over the western horizon with its origin still laying near my feet. There was writing on it but it was too far away to read. The colour of the scroll was a yellowish colour with tints of red and white. When the vision closed I knew exactly what this meant: that this work was about to unroll throughout the world, for in Hebrew there are two words which may be translated 'west', the one, yam, which can also mean 'sea'; and the other, ma'arav which can either represent the sunset or a westerly direction. In other words, this Gospel of the End will travel a great distance, across the entire world, and this with the comforting assurance of Yahweh's mercy toward imperfect human beings:

"For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him;
as fas as the east is from the west, so far He removed our transgressions from us"
(Ps.103:11-12, NRSV).

With these thoughts we end out Spring Conference. May Yahweh prosper our labours and bless us as we seek to unfold the Kingdom of our Elohim (God) to the world, awakening the Tribes of Israel and at length commencing the Final Gathering is my prayer in Yah'shua's (Jesus') Name. Amen.

Endnotes

[1] The lteral Aramaic reads "by" whereas Greek and most English texts have 'for'
[2] Lynell Buekhalter Powell, The Shackles are Broken! (ISBN 978-0-578-22025-3)
[3] Like most messianic versions, Stern prefers 'execution stake' to 'cross' - I have resorted to the more familiar and symbolically potent 'cross'
[4] See the very excellent evangelical Africa Bible Commentary, 2nd edition, (Word Alive Publishers/Zondervan, Nairobi, Kenya: 2010), and the comments by Samuel Waje Kenhiyop on p.374