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    ENOCHIAN ORDER
    TEMPLE LECTURES
    1. From Anarchism to the Trusting Bride


    Ever since the publication of Charles Darwin's, Origin of the Species, in the mid 19th century, whose values have become gradually imbued into the thinking of the Western mind, we have witnessed the demise of one of the most fundamental ingredients of relationship-building: trust. The 20th century in particular has seen not only two great and destructive wars, to be followed by a new form of warfare - the "citizens' war" characterised by terrorism and anarchy - wars which involve not just the pitching of armies against one another but of whole populations - wars for which there are no solutions because mankind has lost the both the will and the tools to solve them - wars which never end. We have reached the point now at the beginning of the 21st century where wars, once started, are never brought to a conclusion. We have entered the last and final stage in the destruction of the human condition, deliberately fostered by Satan and his demonic hosts, which for want of a better word I will call anarchism.

    In its simplest definition, anarchism is a political concept that advocates the abolition of government. It is a word that has entered the English language and used to describe that condition where general lawlessness and disorder prevails, invariably the result of the failure or absence of government. Those people who espouse anarchism and who call themselves 'anarchists' believe that society's evils are the result of government. They believe that people, left to organise themselves on a local level, will find peace and harmony on their own without the intervention of a central organising body. Anarchists as a political group had their heyday during the Bolshevik Revolution and the Spanish Civil War where they fought alongside communists during, respectively, the bloody uprisings against the Czar of Russia and in response to the fascist invasion of General Franco. Communist and Fascism, you will remember, are systems that, in many ways, are the diametric opposite of Anarchism, for both systems exalt the state and central government. Yet all three - Anarchism, Communism, and Fascism - have one thing in common: their belief in overturning existing systems by violence, destruction, and bloody revolution. And as you examine the successes of Communism and Fascism in the 20th century you will find, time and time again, that they always rode to power on the back of Anarchism. Unable, because they were never truly popular movements, to ever get into power by peaceful democratic means, the promoters of communism and fascism have always stirred up discontent and rebellion. By creating conditions of instability and chaos, both these totalitarian doctrines have exploited mankind's basic need for justice, peace and order by offering the victims of the chaos they themselves have created a quick and easy problem fix through the assertion of quick and decisive power.

    As an analysis of the history of revolutionary movements has shown, the anarchistic spirit is basically a reaction to failed or abused autocracy. What many people don't always realise is that our Protestant values were birthed in a milieu of anarchism. The Protestant ethic is a reaction to the abuse of power by an ecclesiastical and political authority which held sway in Europe for over a millennium, the Roman Catholic Church. Protestantism is, at its heart, a revolutionary movement - a reaction or protest against the tyranny of the Roman Pontiff. In those parts of Europe where it triumphed (mostly in the northern countries of Scandinavia, Great Britain, and northern Germany, to then be exported to America) it spawned, initially, four major Protestant movements (Lutheranism, Calvinism, Anglicanism, and the Reformed Movement), and then over the course of five centuries, thousands of new Protestant denominations. But Protestantism was not only responsible for the denominational chaos that we see in the 21st century, but a whole host of other secular movements that rallied around the concept of revolution as a means of achieving political ends, revolutions that have come to be hailed as decisive steps forward in the struggle for liberty and egalitarianism, whose echoes have now reached down to us and become incarnated as our daily political and ideological bread. For we are ourselves right now in the midst of a political revolution, a revolution whose covert purpose is to spread anarchism across the face of the globe. It is well organised, funded by big money, and operates in the shadows. Anarchism, the force behind communism and fascism, is also the force behind our liberal democracies which it is itself evolving into a new form of totalitarianism, this time of a religious breed combining witchcraft with politics.

    The men and women who occupy positions of power in governments today are the product of a generation of nascent anarchy. Beginning with the hippie generation in the 1960s, a loose affiliation of Marxists, anarchists, libertarians, socialists, occultists, and others, whose avowed aim was the destruction of the establishment - and from whom we added a tongue-twister to our dictionaries called 'antidisestablishmentarianism', we have watched a generation raised on a diet of rebellion, sexual permissiveness, drugs, suicide, and indiscriminate violence. The new society has bred, in its wake, not only false messiahs and radical cults offering a quick-and-easy solution to the hopelessness, superficiality, and banality of spiritual life within the secular liberal milieu, but has led the Protestant sects themselves to accommodate this anarchistic mindframe by opening themselves up to a whole range of so-called charismata, promising disillusioned youth an alternative 'kick' to the drug culture.

    As you look around at the spiritual condition of the West one is at once struck by the possibility that our culture has become one giant psychiatric clinic. So destructive has the modern mindset become that people have lost not only their identity but their genders too. For part of the anarchistic revolution has been the so-called 'equalisation' of the sexes and radical sexual inversion leading to the birth a new unisexual man and woman. Its ultimate end is a form of mass homosexuality and lesbianism. What is left of heterosexuality, itself in a pathological condition, is now an almost irreparably damaged relic of a distant paradisaical past which we remember as the Garden of Eden.

    Both Lenin and Hitler said that given one generation of youth they could change the world. Both dictators got their wish. Add their 'success' to that of the liberals and social democrats since 1960 who have taken a generation of youth and after 40 years of moulding have placed them into the seats of power everywhere, and you have the latent conditions of complete, world-wide anarchism. The next generation - the one which is being raised today - will have had no exposure to the generation before their parents and will know nothing of its spirit. It will be, for the first time, the first planet-wide generation of spiritual lawlessness. It will know little or nothing of the values of our Christian past because all that has either been removed from the school and university textbooks or disparaged as a philosophy of oppression. It will be the last generation, identical spiritually to the generation that was swept away by the Great Deluge and which was itself beyond redemption. Horrific though a thought this may be, we are seeing even now the birth of a thoroughly demonised society.

    Four centuries ago a group of Puritans fled religious persecution in England and settled the New World to form, as they supposed, a free and Christian society in what has become known as the United States. This brave experiment and hope was, of course, like all good ideas, subverted from the very beginning, as all human dreams of utopia have been. A revolution, fomented by the Catholic Church, led to the establishment of an independent state whose foundation was Masonic occultism mingled with Christianity, and out of which has sprung and evolved the culture which today we know as 'American'. And yet ironically, corrupt and perverse though the USA has become, it is the one guarantor of the remnant of world freedom that there is by virtue of its military power. Destroy it and you will see the power vacuum filled by the emerging European Union whose spiritual base is a curious and unlikely alliance of anarchism, fascism, liberal democracy and Catholicism, whose purpose is the reestablishment of the Holy Roman Empire with an agenda called world dominion under Catholic hegemony. Unfortunately for the Catholic Church, which has traditionally played the whore in order to attain its ambition for power, it will not, in this final resurrection of a once evil dominion, retain it for long, for the real power behind both the destructive forces in the USA and the forces bent on establishing a world dictatorship through the EU, is witchcraft.

    Satan has always used multiple and even antagonistic forces in his plan to subvert Yahweh's truth and attain world dominion. It is an extremely complicated and ingenious battle plan that has been in the making for millennia. It's unifying principle has, however, always been anarchism, or lawlessness. He has successfully played on the carnal human tendency to revolution and to be his own god. His goal is a form of fascism - a state which has absolute control with himself at the centre as its god - but his means have always been the very opposite of the final, desired result, namely, disorder. I read only the other day a very interesting article about what would happen in the world if the US government was suddenly destroyed in one blow, no doubt one of the aims of the fundamentalist Muslims when in September 2001 they tried to destroy the Pentagon. The US government would collapse leaving a power vacuum which the EU would at once seize in the interests of "order". The remaining objectors to a full-fledged "United States of Europe" would be swept away and a New Order would suddenly emerge. Satan has attempted to reconstitute the Holy Roman Empire many times through Napoleon, Hitler and Stalin in recent history.

    Whether Christians care to admit it or not, we are entering a time which directly parallels that which existed in Noah's day. And I suspect it is far more advanced than any of us would care to admit. At any time now we could witness the last vestiges of our freedoms removed forever. There are men and women in high places waiting to do just that - high level witches and Satanists just waiting to take their revenge on Christians (true and false alike) and to impose a totalitarianism far worse than nazism or Stalinism.

    We have every reason to be concerned about what is happening on the political scene. However, what concerns me even more than this, in many respects, is the way Satan is trying to destroy the last remnants of true Christianity from within. It is something that has occupied me for two decades at least, and it is an area where I have been tutored extensively by the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit). Our mission, if I can call it that -- the mission of the New Covenant Church of God (B'rit Chadashah Assembly of Yahweh) -- is a simple and yet very complex one. It is simple because our job is literally to create twelve arks of safety for the remnant Church - not arks that float in water but arks that literally 'float' in fire - for Yahweh's punishment in the days of Noah was water, but in ours is to be fire. The earth is going to be burned. The complex part -- and it is so complex that it cannot possibly be accomplished without the full range of divine, supernatural resources we call the "spiritual giftings" -- is bringing the survivors called to these arks, who reject the satanic world system, to complete inner healing and restoration. And that is what I have been leading up to in this lecture.

    Satan, as we know, wishes to see the destruction of the entire family of man. The subversion of man is not his ultimate goal, but complete extermination, an act of vengeance against Yahweh whom he deluded himself into believing he could topple. His goal is not just to fill the chambers of hell with souls who choose him instead of Yah'shua (Jesus) but the complete destruction of the human species on this planet, a planet that many believe was once his stewardship and domain before the Great Rebellion in Heaven, and which was populated by angels. For all their trouble, these fallen angels got to briefly share it with an array of creatures we have come to know as the dinosaurs, a curse not unlike that pronounced by Yahweh after Adam and Eve fell, and which led to their almost entire physical extinction and disembodiment as spirits before their world was itself destroyed and then recreated as a new world for mankind.

    21st Century human beings are spiritually traumatised. They are psychically out of balance and have been raised in homes where there are fewer and fewer sacred rôle models to imitate. Few know what true male and female are anymore. Fewer know what real family love and peace is. More and more are being fed a daily diet of violence. Gender rôles have been redefined and homosexuality vigorously promoted. The apostle Paul knew exactly what would happen in our day when he said:

      "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man -- and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonour their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen".

      "For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgement of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them." (Rom 1:18-32, NKJV).

    About three years ago we got rid of TV in our home because of the evil influence it is. For even if you do find good programs (and they are becoming fewer and fewer) you are in any case bombarded with evil in the numerous commercial breaks. Since that time I have tried to carefully control the input of our video library. Two or three weeks ago I bought a Science Fiction film for my eldest son who, like myself, enjoys this form of entertainment, but never having seen it before, was unprepared for the level of gratuitous violence it contained. My son, who is a young man now, was shocked, for he has never been exposed to such blood- thirstiness. I had naïvely supposed that because the box said it was suitable for 15 year-old children that it would be spiritually "safe" but I had momentarily forgotten that what was regarded as obscene and X-rated for teens in the 1960s is now considered "mild" in 2002. I allowed him to watch about half of the film and then explained to him what the real world outside, from which he has been spiritually sheltered, is actually like. His face was ashen from what he saw.

    But the trouble is - how many teenagers are there like him out there who still have family values and sensitivity who have not been spiritually subverted by the evil around them in the media and in relationships in general? He has been protected from such things. But how many others have been? Are you protecting your children as Noah protected his three sons? Or are you afraid to be seen as a "misfit" or "antisocial" because you will not allow your children to socialise with the kinds of people that Paul described? Is it worth permitting or encouraging your children to enter a milieu where their feelings will become hardened, their thinking perverted, and their behaviour absorbs violence so that they become immune to the Gospel of Salvation? Or should you not, in fact, be nurturing them in the ways of godliness amongst godly people where they can flower into sons and daughters of Christ? They will, in any case, be forced to enter the world at some point and to meet and interact with such people, which should not, of course, be prevented, but will you send them in vulnerable and unprepared or wearing the spiritual armour of a soldier of Christ?

    A member of our congregation once went on a school outing when she was a teenager which almost degenerated into a drunken orgy. That is social anarchism. And do you know what? These people have literally become "immune to the Gospel of Salvation", as Paul said. Their hostility to it has been deliberately and systematically cultivated by the powers that be in the world system because this is viewed by them as 'liberation' from a system where godly values once held sway. The old system was not perfect and it was abused, as all human systems are, but it did not, at least, inoculate people against the Gospel of Salvation.

    Liberalism justifies itself by claiming that people should be allowed the freedom to choose what they want to believe in for themselves, and on the surface this does indeed sound like a very reasonable proposition. However, there is no such thing as raising people morally and ethically neutral, and claims to the contrary, the liberal establishment indoctrinates children at school and the entire population through the heavily biased media with a whole philosophy of life which is anti-Christian. There is no such thing as freedom when it comes to education. Human beings cannot be raised morally and ethically neutral. This fact alone debunks the claim that there should be a total separation of church and state: remove the Church of Christ (in its broadest sense) and you at once replace it with the Church of Atheism, the Church of Liberalism, or any other Church. For a "Church" is not simply a religious organisation but a whole system of thought and behaviour. There is no such thing as separation of Church and State. At some point a decision has to be made as to what values are going to undergird an educational system and it just happens that currently that philosophy is liberal anarchism.

    Modern Western society has taken over more and more the rôles of home education as it has forced mothers into the workplace and infants into kindergartens where our little ones can be moulded by agents of the state. The practice gained a huge momentum after the Second World War in the communist eastern block where all children were sent to state-controlled kindergartens, a system subsequently imitated by the social democratic West, or the pink communists as I call them. Now the system is virtually universal and those mothers who choose to remain at home are heavily penalised by the tax system and find it difficult to make ends meet without a substantial lowering of the standard of living. Concurrently, many families are choosing to homeschool their children in order to regain control of the kind of ethical and moral input they receive, something which should be encouraged and supported until it is finally crushed under the coming world dictatorship. But by this time, if Yahweh's people have been obedient, they will have gathered out of the world system altogether, and will not face the agony of watching their children subverted by the system.

    What this means in the first instance is that Christian families should be gathering together into co-operatives where they can efficiently organise schooling along the lines that they want, where the last generation can be spared from the total system of brainwashing and control that Satan has planned in his final seven-year apocalyptic orgy.

    The question on many Christians' minds is: how should such co-operatives be organised? What is the system of government they should employ? Where are the lines between freedom and control to be drawn? For these are not mute questions: there has to be a system for any group of humans to function, otherwise you just recreate anarchy under a different label. Moreover, how is the system to be run? Who will lead it? How do you prevent such a gathering from degenerating into an autocratic cult or from becoming just another version of the world system from which one is fleeing?

    These questions cannot be answered in a single lecture, let alone a series of lectures. Moreover, for such a gathering to be workable, a system is required that is not only in harmony with what is revealed in the Bible but it must be endued with the same spirit too. It cannot be put together on an ad hoc basis but must revealed by heaven if it is going to receive the kind of anointing that will be required for such end-time colonies to escape all the sophisticated gadgetry which is in the hands of the rulers-that-be. For without a supernatural covering, such as that which Israel was blessed with when she left Egypt, any such colonies will be identified by spy satellites within minutes and destroyed in an equally sort time by mobile military task forces. There is no place to hide in this world anymore in the power of the flesh, unless you intend to live the life of a fugitive as the perpetrators of the World Trade Center suicide bombings do today.

    NCCG has been given a commission to establish 12 end-time cities of refuge. We are not, however, the only ones attempting to do this. This means that there are many different ideas as to how such gatherings should be organised and run, not all of which will work, especially when the 7 year tribulation period suddenly hits the world. NCCG has been given its own model and commission which we intend to pursue according to the blueprint revealed to us. It is not, moreover, a blueprint we intend to modify, though many people have come to us, both from within the Church and from without, to get us to change it. We know exactly where we are going and do not intend to deviate from it. Those who come to the Chavurat Bekorot or Holy Order will be expected to accept it as it is, just as Joshua insisted that his military leaders follow the plan Yahweh had revealed to him for the destruction of Jericho.

    Some weeks ago I was shown a vision of a number of such gatherings in the United States, one of which was ours. Of the many I saw, only two preparatory gatherings survived the period up to the Tribulation, one of which was run by the Holy Order and another by some other group. But of these two, only one actually made it into and through the Tribulation period, the successor colony of the preparatory colony we are about to build. All the rest were overwhelmed because they were not built on the proper foundation.

    The only reason the New Testament Church succeeded as it did before itself being overwhelmed by antichrist forces was because it had two things: (1) Firstly, it had the true spiritual anointing; and (2) Secondly, it was governed in the proper patriarchal way by an Apostolate consisting of 12 patriarch-apostles whose responsibility was evangelising and the appointment and training of the Pastors and Elders who had the watchcare of the local assemblies. In New Testament times it began with the anointing at Shavuot, on the Day of Pentecost, and thereafter the congregations were built up under the direction of the Spirit-anointed Patriarch-Apostles. This work was one of expansion and spreading out until the whole world heard the Gospel.

    The end-time work, however, is exactly the reverse. For as it was a gathering in the days of Noah, so it is to be a gathering in the last generation. The patterns that applied to the first Church do not necessarily apply to us, any more than they did in Noah's day. Noah preached repentance, and when he would not be heard anymore, he gathered his family onto the ark - a ship not built by democratic decision or by dialectic consensus, but by direct revelation from Yahweh, and whilst he was preaching.

    Our purpose is identical to Noah's. We are to preach repentance and faith in Yah'shua (Jesus) and then, when nobody will repent anymore, gather the faithful into the twelve prepared arks of safety, the firstborn colonies. These colonies are to be built, moreover, not by democratic decision or by dialectic consensus, but under the spiritual anointing of apostolic authority. The message we have been called to present is not therefore open to debate or negotiation any more than Noah's was, no matter what the ridicule that follows may be, no matter what accusations follow -- and they will always be many. I received only a couple of days ago a letter from a very influential and powerful charismatic Protestant leader in Europe condemning the work we are doing though not offering one single proof for his position. His ministry is worth millions of dollars, he has thousands of followers, and the backing of millions of other charismatics world-wide. And yet he felt threatened by microscopic and insignificant (from a worldly perspective) NCCG. Why? He is not the first. We have received the condemnation of many influential Christian leaders. We have been called a cult, non-Christian, heretical, apostate, and much else besides. But then so was Jeremiah when the Jews of his day, leaders and laity alike, did not wish to hear the plain truth.

    The truth, as I have said many times before, irritates spiritual wounds and jars against sin-natures idolatrously exalted into the place of Yahweh. The retorts and defences are many, depending what sin-position the accuser is coming from. The spiritually lazy accuse us of being too sophisticated, and the spiritually sophisticated accuse us of being simpletons. But like it or not, we live in an age, unlike previous ages, with many kinds of new and subtle approaches to undermining the Gospel. In the space of a century, human knowledge has expanded exponentially - indeed we have learned more in that space of time about the natural world than in the whole of human history. Our libraries are bulging with so many books that one person could not read, and understand, the tiniest fraction of them in a thousand lifetimes. One might say that we are drowning in knowledge. Not that knowledge is bad, but rather there is important and unimportant knowledge. Think of the tens of thousands of tomes on evolutionary theory from politics to natural science, most of which is entirely useless and adds nothing beneficial to those things which will further mankind's needs. And if that is not enough, consider the teeming masses of books on theology that promote speculations and false belief. It is possible for an individual to literally get lost in these and never see the light of spiritual day.

    My point is that Satan knows how to waste our times. There is a Gospel Path along which we are called to walk and tens of thousands of side roads that lead nowhere and which, whilst looking interesting and promising in the beginning, meander and go around in circles. They fill the insatiable human mind with ideas that puff him up with pride and self-worship, and take away from the living God.

    There is a backlash to all of this. Many Christians refuse to search anymore, afraid of all the false paths, and retreat to a world of childishness. Sometimes, certainly, it is necessary to do this to regain one's equilibrium especially if one has been led down one of those mesmerising though spiritually arid intellectual or spiritual primrose paths. But we cannot afford to remain indefinitely in that world of naïveté and innocence. To walk the Path of Christ, requires that we constantly shape new mental, emotional and spiritual tools both to help ourselves fulfil the measure of our own creation -- our callings both now and in eternity for which this difficult and sometimes painful life was in part created -- and to help others fulfil theirs. Even in a world of childishness there are ways to fall, for it is not Yahweh's intent that we should remain static. Unless we are moving in the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) we will stagnate and spiritually suffocate. This all too often happens, sadly, because Christians are taught that there is only alpha-salvation, and nothing else but alpha-salvation. There is a pseudo-gospel that has been around for some time which says that there is nothing substantially more than the new birth and that our mission is simply to receive it and teach others the same. Much of evangelical Christianity is plagued by it. It may not necessarily be a conscious thing but is rather a fruit of the kind of immature psychological thinking that is so characteristic of Western anarchism.

    Take the concept of freedom as an example. The world speaks as though there is only one kind of freedom, but there are, in reality, two. As philosopher Jonathan Rée of Middlesex University, England, observed, "there is freedom in the liberal, relaxed and easygoing sense of being able to do what you like without unnecessary interference -- and there is freedom in the romantic, demanding and totalitarian sense of realising your true or better self by doing what you should" (Talking Philosophy). To take his astute observation further, there is freedom such as the child enjoys, and there is freedom such as is expected of, and given to, the adult. To the child, adult freedom often means oppression, stuffiness, and control, and it reacts accordingly. And I speak of spiritual adulthood here, not merely biological, for many biological adults (the vast majority, in fact) are still behaving like spiritual infants. The fact that we are described in Scripture as "the children of God" does not mean, incidentally, that we are to remain children in the human sense, but that we shall always be children relative to the Most High One. A true child of God is not to remain a spiritual child in perpetuity. On the contrary, he is repeatedly admonished to put childish robes away and grow up. No Christian can remain in his initial spiritual rebirth without moving on to the perfection he is called to and not expect to spiritually die. A child left indefinitely on a milk diet will starve to death. A child bound in swaddling clothes will lose his blood circulation if they are not changed and more room given for him to grow. You cannot bind an infant to the cradle and expect him to grow normally. And yet there are many escape mechanisms within people - in Christians no less than unbelievers - who wish to retain that former carefree freedom of childhood for ever. They want a sugar daddy in heaven to do everything for them without taking responsibility for the growth impulse which our Heavenly Father has placed within us which relentlessly pushes us out of those swaddling clothes and into the robes of mature men and women.

    There are many men and women whose childhood was destroyed and who grow up into biological adults spiritually malformed. One of the miracles of the salvation of Christ is that such people can be healed and rebuilt. An adult who may, for instance, have the spirit of a small child (as is typical in abuse victims), and who receives the salvation of Christ, may experience such a joyful liberation that he wishes to remain in that state forever. And certainly, if he is an abuse victim and never known loving parents or a happy childhood, it is right that his spirit should be able to bathe in that and praise Yahweh for His goodness and loving kindness. Those who are spiritually more mature and have enjoyed the safety of a normal childhood may be tempted to try and push such souls into spiritual adulthood too quickly. This temptation must be avoided. Just as you cannot force a child to become an adult except under unnatural and harmful conditions (and I grieve when I think, for instance, of those children forced into lives of prostitution and who miss out on the innocence of being young), you cannot expect or force a new-born in Christ to suddenly "grow up" even if the adult body in which he is living may deceive you into thinking that you ought to do so for his own good.

    That is why Paul warns Christian leaders not to hastily ordain new converts to positions of responsibility. Time and time again I have seen men who have great charisma or intellectual ability ordained to positions of leadership when in their spirits they were in swaddling clothes. Such men quickly grow prideful and autocratic and can cause untold damage. We are not to judge by the outward appearance, the apostle John tells us, but by righteous judgement. Pastors and Elders are to look into people's souls by the Ruach (Spirit) and not their own flesh and see what truly needs to be done for them. If they cannot see into souls in this way then they are most certainly not qualified to be Elders at all.

    The level of spiritual maturity in people these days is abysmal when compared to a century or even half a century ago. People are stuffed full of intellectual knowledge but in their spirits they are babes. The trouble is they behave -- or try to behave -- in the very opposite way. But their whole way of being betrays where they are. They are afflicted by the anarchistic virus and think it is the Ruach (Spirit). They promote solo-Christianity -- ego-Christianity -- which exalts self and the first category of freedom I mentioned - the freedom to be carefree and easygoing. And the second freedom -- that adult freedom -- they label, with the applause of the secular society around them, as controlling, suppressive, stuffy, limiting, patriarchal, and immensely harmful. They promote a satanic lie. But because like a child they are easygoing and don't challenge sin, everybody heartily supports them. They want to be "everybody's man" (or woman), to be liked, adored, respected and worshipped. And does not every child? Does not every child want to be the centre of attention? Does not every child want to do what he wants to do and to tell with everybody else? To have the last word? Does not every child throw tantrums when he doesn't get his own way ... or sulk, or fight, or falsely accuse? Did we not all do these things when we were small? And did not our parents, if they were spiritually mature and wise, correct us, instructing us in the ways of spiritual adulthood in which direction they were gently and kindly pointing us through their discipline?

    Yes, that is how it ought to have been. But the contemporary generation of parents were all brought up in the anarchistic doctrine. They were told to let their children do what they wanted to instead of channelling them down a path. They were taught to show their youth the broad way that leads to destruction. And for their trouble they bred a generation of capricious, precocious, selfish, opinionated, aggressive and spiritually shallow malcontents, ever seeking to rebel, ever seeking to overturn whatever values of their grandparents still remain. And they took this poison into the churches, overturning discipleship, spiritual sensitivity to good music, and the wisdom of the ages. They substituted the knowledge that really matters with a pale, limp version hatched in the hell house of anarchism. And now they rule. Their spiritual anarchism they have glossed over with a veneer of respectability, they promote politically correct appealing catch-phrases, and appear most reasonable ... just as a child attempts to convince mother and father it is innocent when it knows it has done something wrong.

    The churches are full of these infants who love the alpha-salvation message of Christianity but who have been programmed to reflexly react against anything that suggests they must grow up. And the forces of this mandatory maturation or omega-salvation Gospel they disparage. The men and women who have a clear vision and see how Satan is binding Christians to the cradle they reflexly attack and in the process render themselves ineffective in spiritual warfare and open them up to spiritual seduction. The whole charismatic movement rests on this tidal wave of spiritual shallowness, offering emotional highs but lacking any real spiritual depth. They are waves that crash upon the shore and are no more. But they are not alone. Most of the non-charismatics are alike.

    "You shouldn't judge!" is another retort I hear from the infant brigade, but such is only a half truth - we shouldn't judge unless we want to be judged with the same rules and standards by which we judge others, that is true. However, we are most certainly admonished to judge, and are commanded to do so righteously (Jn.7:24). If we didn't, where would the spirit of prophecy be? Indeed, how could there be any Christians at all, since the spirit of prophecy is, the Bible tells us, the testimony of Yah'shua (Jesus) (Rev.19:10)? It is the calling of the Elders to be judges in Israel - they are elohim (Ex.21:6; 22:8-9), like the Elohim above. They must be careful, yes, and not run ahead, but they cannot at the same time allow themselves to fall behind.

    The spirit of anarchism is in the churches, and it is there on a large scale. But to become a pure Church, it has to be extirpated through containment, education, prayer intercession, and finally - if all else fails - by cutting it out. It is the responsibility of the Elders to monitor this spirit carefully amongst the catechumens and to make sure that none are advanced to Chrism (confirmation) and the Lord's Supper until it has been clearly recognised by those who have been afflicted by it (and in this generation it will be the vast majority) and that they are consciously striving to expunge it. And certainly no man or woman should ever be ordained to the Eldership who has any trace of it.

    Beware of the many excuses offered by the spirit of anarchism, and be equally aware that there is often a demonic spirit behind it. Let the new born babes in Christ grow at their own pace but do not let them sit still. A child has to be taught and disciplined -- that is what the word "discipling" means, and that is why the Priesthood is described as an "Order" - the Holy Order or Chavurat Bekorot (Ps.110:4; Heb.5:10; 9:10-NIV). Whilst love must never be quenched, it must at the same time be channelled aright and not carelessly dispersed and lost by light-headed abandon. The initial salvation has to be translated into a continuing salvation, directed down the channel called Torah (Law) until it has been shaped and matured into a perfected image of the Elohim (God). That is the sacred stewardship of the Priesthood Orders. Children must be allowed to play and to enjoy the innocence and egotistical freedom of their youth, but they cannot be left there indefinitely. There must, at some point, be schooling, guidance, discipline and spiritual refinement.

    But what do you do with a generation which is so spoiled and listless in certain aspects of the spirit that it doesn't even know what true gender is anymore? One of the concentrated attacks of the spiritual of anarchism has been against the male man and the female woman. It has sought, as I have already mentioned, to feminise men and masculinise women until they are spiritually unisexual. But not content with that, the agenda of liberalism has sought to encourage men and women to not only meet at a unisexual mid-point but to keep on going so that men become female and women become male. This spiritual abnormality manifests in two conditions: either homosexuality (or lesbianism) or weak men and dominating women, depending on certain choices they make. Moreover, it often happens when they are very young, through brutalisation or other events and processes encouraged by the prevailing culture. But what do you do when the majority are like this and the few genuine rôle models are demonised by society? It is the tendency of people of seek others who are like them - like attracts like, even if the 'like' is sick. And when such people receive Christ, as spiritual infants, to what kinds of churches do they invariably go? To churches where the leaders are like themselves. Leaders who glory in money and power, leaders who yield to the relentless pressure of the surrounding culture by allowing the unisexual gender rôles to continue within the church uncorrected, leaders who bow to political pressure to let the status quo remain.

    None of these men should be holding any kind of position of authority in the Assembly of Yahweh anywhere. The preachers, evangelists and pastors who travel around in private jets and live in multi-million dollar mansions, who affirmatively nod to, or ignore the problem of, homosexuality and abortion, who compromise with false religions like Catholicism and who nestle up to antichrists and atheists in the ecumenical movement, who bow to the gods of feminism or go to the opposite extreme and tie women up in spiritual chains, who, through their cults, claim to be sole instruments of God, who worship at the feet of the antichristian Talmudic Khazar Republic called "Israel", or heap their praises and cash on the Muslim terrorists and mass-murderers fighting for the anarchist's vision of 'peace', who hide their sins behind patriotism and nation-worship, who dabble in the poisoned waters of politics, conveniently forgetting that the Kingdom of Heaven is not of this world (Jn.18:36), who hate Yahweh's Torah being as they are lawless, who turn worship into a theatrical performance, who hiss and crawl on the ground like snakes, and laugh like demented madmen, and speak gibberish and say if you don't do the same you have not been baptised in thee Holy Spirit, who offer useless signs and wonders like gold dust appearing on peoples' hands -- these men you should shun like the plague for the devil is in them! Run from them! Flee into the mountains of spiritual safety, the hill of our God, for these men will lead you to spiritual ruination. They are Titanics of the moment, proud and boastful, but doomed to destruction. But what shall we do with both those who have come out from the anarchistic world and are spoiled inside, let alone those who have been through the pseudo-Christian mirror image?

    Brethren and sisters, what you must do is this: patiently, lovingly, kindly but strictly guide them along the path that has been revealed. Do not be distracted by the protestations of the infant who accuses the guides along the path of being élitists interested only in promoting a gospel that nobody can live. Do not be deceived by that! For Yah'shua Himself said that the way into His Kingdom is narrow and that few there be who find it (Mt.7:14). It is difficult enough finding it, let along walking down it! And remember that the Saviour Himself said that the last days would be exactly like those in the days of Noah - will there be any faith (Mt.24:37), He asked? Not any old faith, but the faith. And recall also that he said that He had not come to abolish Torah but bring it to completion (Mt.5:17). He came to bring a sword, not an instant paradise (Mt.10:34). After the honeymoon of alpha-salvation comes the struggle .. for those who will not run away from it. Is this élitism? If you like, you could call it that, for surely Yahweh's people are an élite, for we are told it is these people who will govern as priests and kings when he returns (Rev.5:10). But not before they have had the carnal nature burned out of them, not before they have had their egos crushed and the pure nectar of heaven distils within their souls. We are not talking about privileged or power élites - we are talking about those who have been willing to embrace the ordeal of mortality with courage and to overcome, through Christ, their weaknesses. The élite of Christ, if you wish to call them that (not that that would be my choice, for the true élite are all servants) qualify for their reward just as a marine does who passes through the gruelling course required to join that élite military body.

    This path - the New Covenant Path - will always be vilified by those who are the devil's children or those who wish to remain as permanent new-born alpha-infants. As a former educator, I know the kind of resistance that youth puts up! And as a pastor, I see the same kind of resistance in the biological adults too!

    It is a battle just to get Christians to come to the point of understanding and accepting that there is a difference between alpha- and omega-salvation, that there is a difference between the new birth and complete spiritual maturity, that there is a difference between laid-back childish freedom and totalitarian adult freedom, that there is a scripturally well-defined difference between male and female, that there is a difference between equality of inheritance (the rewards and privileges of the faithful) and equality of opportunity (our equal footing before Christ in the gift of salvation), and all that runs counter to the philosophical current of our anarchistic world. Before people will embrace the truth, the picture of the counterfeit has to be clearly represented so that it can be communicated clearly. We live in a brainwashed and demonised world and whilst it is true only the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) can ultimately penetrate it and rip off all the illusions spun by the liberal anarchists, there is always a preparatory groundwork that we as Christ's followers have to do, for we all occupy to some extent the ministry of Elijah, preparing the path like John the Baptist through our witness and teaching so that Christ will be received and can take over the actual inner changing (Mt.11:14). We have to carve out windows in the illusion of all the occultism around us so that people can see that there is another world and that it is a desirable and workable world. And we have to be the living examples in our individual, family, and congregational lives that this path bears fruit. We are not here talking about intellectual proposition, but about the Messiah who lives triumphantly in living people who love and serve Him.

    So what, then, must we do once people see and accept? It is one thing to persuade. Next comes the discipling program. And lest we be tempted to hide behind a nice sounding word like "discipleship", let me remind you of its essential ingredients: education, covenant-taking, prayer, and fellowship.

    We have to teach the principles that mature and liberate, and to teach them systematically and in a way that everyone can understood. Then we have to convince the people to bind themselves to these true principles by covenant, which is another way of saying we have to put them under accountability. Every priesthood officer is under such covenants and accountability. In the first instance, those in whose presence we entered covenants into we are accountable to. And because every priesthood officer in his or her own Order enters identical covenants, we are accountable to them too - every one of them! We remind each other of our obligations when there are signs that we are straying. The apostles, evangelists, pastors, elders, deacons -- everyone -- enter covenants of accountability. Those of you have been through them know just how extensive and all-embracing they are. These are our vows, our 'yess's' and 'no's'. It is what binds us so tightly together in Christ. We all support one another in His Ruach (Spirit).

    If you think that training to be accepted as a marine is easy, wait until you see the discipling program of the Chavurat Bekorot! Unlike the marine program, however, the one that has been revealed to us takes a lifetime to complete. And everyone can, and potentially should, pass through it, because all are called to the same salvation. But because we are free agents, we can go as far as we want to. Indeed, nobody is pressed to go beyond what they are capable of. All must go at their own pace and according to their own free will. And it is a fact that some will never get beyond alpha-salvation because they don't want to.

    Everybody who is here in this work is here because they have been called. They have received an unmistakable witness through the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) that has been repeatedly confirmed through Bible study, prayer and personal revelation. The principle we operate on here is both simple and, for the anarchistic mind, terrifying. If you have been unmistakably called by Yahweh to this work, then three things are automatically expected of you: trust, submission and obedience. Not blind trust, submission, and obedience, but intelligent trust, submission and obedience. Trust, submission and obedience not to personalities but to godly principles. At every stage in the discipleship program in the Holy Order, there is a careful biblical unfolding which everyone can test. It begins with the Apostles' Creed for the investigator of NCCG/BCAY, and continues with various Bible study programs such as Foundational Studies of the Bible for those seeking Chrism (confirmation). If somebody hesitates at any one point in the program, they are given time to work it out for themselves. Nobody is pressed against their will. At the same time they cannot complete the course until they have, for every principle is a part of the whole.

    If you are not called, you should not join. This is not a cult claiming to be the "one and only true church". There are other similar though easier lanes for those who do not want to go the full way. Like a motorway there are many lanes at first but in time they narrow into a very tiny path indeed. NCCG/BCAY takes the fast lane, if you like, until a point is reached where everybody converges into one lane and one Ruach (Spirit). And if you subsequently decide to leave NCCG/BCAY, you will not be branded an "apostate" or a "heretic", nor will you be threatened with hellfire and damnation. Under no circumstances! Instead you will be blessed in Yah'shua's Name to be guided by Him outside the fellowship until, hopefully, we are all reunited at some distant point along the road. Leaving the Church is not necessarily leaving Christ but changing lanes. We work alongside other churches and ministries. Even though we believe their lanes are potholed and that some are dead-ends, we do believe we are serving the same Saviour even if we believe they are in error in certain important areas. We leave such in the capable hands of the Master.

    But what is life like inside NCCG/BCAY? An analogy I like to use is that it is like a rope, and that rope is the covenants. It is a rope that everyone attaches themselves to at one end and gradually move up it to the top end where the apostles are leading. They move up the rope of the covenants at their own pace. The rope itself is moving along the pathway and the aim is that everyone should be walking in the same spirit as the apostles even if they do not necessarily have the same office, calling or gifting. The rope is always moving so those who are in the Church are expected to keep moving. It moves at a pace that every new convert is able to move at though some will move faster than others along the rope. The rope is kept taut (stretched/tight) by the apostles to make sure that the Body of the Church does not slacken. At times it will appear as though one is being dragged for the carnal nature will resist as it, like the apostle Peter, is taken to place where it does not want to go. Some parts of the journey are sheer joy, others sheer hell. Many, especially those at the end who feel they have a "right" to be further along, will drop off and change lanes to other churches and ministries.

    The analogy is limited so I would not want you to take it too far. The point is, as a church we are moving in a single direction and at a pace set by the apostles. Our job is to keep the rope tight but without dragging people along. There is a fine balance here. When new congregations convert en masse we make allowances and allow them and their pastors to walk in parallel with us along their own rope until they feel able to join the main rope. This is currently happening now with our new congregations in India and Africa.

    Many have come along trying to slacken the rope or remove it altogether. They have all left us. Everyone who has ever taken part in a cross-country run knows how the body responds to long distance and fatigue. At first one sets off confidently and briskly but after a while the body starts to flag. There is a point where one feels one can't go on any longer. But those who stick out the difficulty know that the body is able to "change gear", as it was, and though the last part of the race isn't nearly as comfortable as the first, there is a strength and an elation that comes from crossing that "hump of resistance".

    It is exactly like that in the New Covenant. I'll not pretend that this path isn't easy but I will say that it is absolutely necessary for those who are honestly and sincerely seeking to fulfil Christ's mandate that we aspire to perfection, and there is no other way that people are going to be spiritually fit enough to qualify for the end-time cities of refuge.

    That is not to say, of course, that everyone to called to be in these gatherings. That is why you have to know whether you are called to this work or not. Many of those believers who are not, have missions to perform their duty elsewhere. We bless and support them in that endeavour. So we are not by any means saying, as some have accused us, that only those who come to these gatherings will become part of a super élite who will rule in the Millennium - God forbid! There are going to be hundreds of thousands of "rulers" in the Millennium of whom we will only be a tiny part. But we do have a specific calling which requires such a gathering. It hasn't all been revealed yet. We only know that this is what we must do and we have been given the keys to accomplish it, as others have been called and given the keys to accomplish their work elsewhere. I hope that is clearly understood so that nobody here misunderstands what we stand for and so don't go and misrepresent and so undermine our mission to the world.

    But I repeat - it is vitally important that you know whether you have been called to this work or not. If you are not sure, and join it, you will likely be unhappy in it, because it will demand everything of you. And there is no way you can give of your all if your heart isn't truly in it. There have been people who have come here for all the wrong reasons and who have departed. Many of them are resentful because they felt "excluded". But the fault lay with them for not double checking their call, though we did try to nurture them as best we could. Many of such a disposition will come to us and many will leave - there will always be "camp followers" whose motives for coming are not entirely honourable. Some are seduced by their own fantasies. Others are simply lazy. Those who are called fall away too because they did not do as they were supposed to. This path is no mere theorem - there are those who have walked it and are walking it today, and this Church was not launched publicly until those who were to be the pathfinders had walked sufficiently down the Way that people could see that it was no mere theorem. That is why we did not "go public" until 1996 and why we did not really launch until 2001. Ask these people - the three men and three women called to found NCCG/BCAY - ask them about the Way and they will happily share their experiences with you. As others take up the rope you will be able to ask them too.

    I want to end this lecture today by very briefly addressing one of the major obstacles which we, as a Church, face as people join us from the liberal anarchistic society without. This is more particularly a problem in Western countries but it is having its baneful influence everywhere else in our Global Village society. Each world region, whether it be America-Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia or Africa, has its unique problems in this area to be sure, so I will try to paint with as broad a brush as I can. And the obstacle in question is rediscovering the biblical genders of male and female. Until the destruction wrought by the liberal society has been righted within the Church, the Church will never make progress.

    What is a godly man, and what is a godly woman? These are the two parallel questions we must ask. We are not a bit interested how the genders are defined by Western secular, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist or any kind of society. This issue of right gender is central not only to our marriage relationships but our interpersonal relationships as Yahweh's people but, even more importantly than these even, our right relationship to the Elohim (God). Just how are we supposed to be? What if the way we are is all skewered? How do we become Yahweh's godly men and women? That has to be one of our very first exercises in corrective discipleship.

    The problem we face consists of two obstacles. The first, is demonic. Demons have long sought to pervert gender rôles and warp the human spirit. They have contented themselves into making men into oppressive macho brutes, women into rebellious Jezebelic feminists, causing the genders to converge into unisexuality by eroding the differences, and by perverting sexuality completely by twisting the spirits within us completely around so that men believe they are women inside (homosexuals) and women that they are men (lesbians). The final perversion has been to cause such people to have operations to change their outer genders too.

    The second obstacle is the actual mental, emotional and psychic damage caused by men and women rebelling against Yahweh and giving the demons the rights to cause this internal damage in the first place. You cannot just throw demons out: you have to retrain the whole psyche to become what it believes is "abnormal", and which it instinctively fervently reacts against, but which is really normal man. This takes time. Deliverance ministry (casting out demons) takes place at the same time as their psychic and spiritual strongholds are dismantled by patient discipling.

    The nature of the discipling program is that no matter what your problems or spiritual illnesses brought with you from the outside world, the education and covenants address them all at some point. If you have a particular problem, then specialist ministry is usually brought to bear at that point or earlier if it is detected sooner. These gender-related problems can be anything from an abusive male, to an unsubmissive female, to a butch lesbian or a transvestite. The problems facing the Church of God in the 21st century aren't anything like the ones it faced a century ago where gender rôles were far more in balance than they are today. We have a whole new range of pathological spiritual problems, and on a scale never before known, or at least not known since the antediluvian world, that require specialist ministry. Your contemporary minister operating in the Eldership requires a whole battery of skills. These skills are acquired as part of the discipling program whether they be passed from Elder to Elder or are acquired de novo through the Chavurat Bekorot temple education program.

    The first thing you observe as you read the writings of the New Covenant as compared to those of the Old is the emphasis laid on female principle. And the reason that this is so is that in order for men and woman to be in proper relationship to Yahweh, our Creator-Father, through Yah'shua (Jesus) the Son, they have to learn to trust, submit, and obey, all of which are inherently female characteristics. A man in proper relationship to the Elohim (God) may therefore be said to be in female position or female mode. This does not mean that he becomes a woman or a homosexual - his maleness remains - but his maleness is expressed not vertically (to heaven) but horizontally (on earth). In addition, however, Yahweh has appointed leaders over us whom we are to trust, submit to, and obey in righteousness and in harmony with Yahweh's Word. A Deacon, therefore, occupies a female position relative to his Pastor.

    A woman who is a leader over other women, like an Eldress, occupies, conversely, a male position relative to those she has charge over, and those women who are under her occupy a female position. Understanding the dynamics of male and female modes is vital to a proper understanding and functioning of the Gospel. These things have to be taught to new converts very early on.

    Let us be specific, shall we? Let us ask ourselves exactly what is expected of us. A long complicated treatise isn't required if we will just accept what the Bible says at face value and stop trying to explain it away or "readjust" it to suit our liberal anarchistic tendencies. Our relationship to the Elohim (God) is described as an allegorical marriage (Rev.21:2; 21:9;), so if we want to understand the basis of all relationships whether to God, to our church leaders, or to our spouses, then all we have to do is look at these. Predictably, when these passages are cited, the author is denigrated or ridiculed as being a product of his time and "out of touch" with the modern world. But let us remember that it is the modern world that is "out of touch" - you only have to go into the streets of any Western city and see that this is so.

      "Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Saviour of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything" (Eph.5:22-24, NKJV).
      "Wives, submit to your own husbands, as is fitting in the Lord" (Col.3:18-19, NKJV).
      "Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives, when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear" (1 Peter 3:1-3, NKJV).

    Here female principle is defined in a nutshell. The key principle is submission, a word which is rendered from the Greek hupotasso which literally means to "obey" or to "be in subjection". There can be no doubt as to what these words mean. When you subdue someone, you bring them under control by exerting ascendency. A subject is someone who is ruled, as when a government rules. And when a soldier obeys he does not question the authority which is over him. A woman in proper submission to her husband obeys him and submits to his will.

    The husband, in his turn, has an obligation. Paul continues:

      "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself" (Eph.5:25-29, NKJV).
      "Husbands, love your wives and do not be bitter toward them" (Col.3:19-20, NKJV).

    A wife's obligation to be obedient, submitted, and subjected does not mean the husband can do whatever he likes. He cannot abuse her or lead her down a path that would take her away from salvation. He is to love her as much as he loves his own body, as much as Christ loves the Church. He is to sacrificially love her and she is to respect him (v.28), meaning, to hold him in high esteem, with deference and regard, honouring him in her speech and actions to others, to her children, and in general, never speaking ill of him just as the believer is not to speak ill of Christ.

    This male-female interaction is not what we call quid pro quo or reciprocal exchange. A woman can't say: "I won't show you respect and obedience until you love me." And a man cannot in his turn say, "I won't love you until you obey me and show me respect". This is not a childish "I'll be your friend if you'll be mine" obligation. The obligation stands irrespective of whether the other behaves in the correct manner or not. Thus David showed deep respect for King Saul even though the latter was trying to kill him. And Paul tells a believing wife to win over her unbelieving husband by her spiritual character and not by pulling him up on his faults. We don't obey Yahweh until He gives us what we think He owes us -- our responsibility and duty is unilateral. That must not be forgotten. It is not for us to reprove God any more than it is a wife's business to reprove her husband for this is in violation of the order which He has established.

    This does, of course, require great trust and a willingness to be vulnerable. All relationships require this. And if the relationship is unequal, Yahweh will take care of it either through the channels of accountability (such as a Pastor if husband is being abusive) or through the apostles (if a pastor is acting out of line and leading the sheep astray).

    This conduct of the sexes towards one another in marriage, or of leaders and followers, or of the saints to Yahweh, is diametrically opposed to the liberal anarchistic paradigm of society. What this means in principle is that all of our upbringing, if we have been through the public schools, has to be unlearned. It has to be done as an act of will coupled with a plea for supernatural help from the Ruach (Spirit). And if this is difficult for you, Paul has some suggestions, reminding us that this was the way of the ancients and remains as eternally valid today as it did then. Speaking of wives (though this applies to other categories of female principle too) he says:

      "Do not let your adornment be merely outward -- arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel-- rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, being submissive to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror" (1 Peter 3:3-6, NKJV).

    The tendency to be loud, noisy, belligerent and argumentative has to disappear if this female spirit is to arise and be justified by the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit), Herself female. The cultivation of gentleness and quietness are prime goals. Also, the tendency to rebel has to be quashed and obedience put in its place, and as an aid to this, wives are admonished to use the title "lord" to their husbands. This translates the Hebrew kurios which means "lord", "master" or "sir" and is exactly the same term used by the disciples of Christ. It is derived from the word kuros meaning 'supremacy' or 'supreme in authority', one who 'controls' (Strong's NT 2962). It is identical in meaning to the Hebrew adon, a word similarly used of deity, masters/rulers and husbands.

    The Ruach (Spirit) cannot flow properly in the Church, let alone in a marriage, until this kind of order is in place. The Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit), who is in subjection to Yahweh the Father and to the Son by virtue of His designated authority from the Father, Herself operates in exactly the same way. Read, if you will, the fruits of the Ruach (Spirit) and you will be in little doubt (Gal.5:22; Eph.5:9). Take care that you do not compromise these principles or dilute them in any way. I know of some women who call their husbands 'sir' but who then proceed to call any male, even small boys, 'sir' which defeats the whole purpose of the use of such a word. But kurios and adon are not used in such a far-reaching way but are limited to those who literally rule.

    Learning to love and submit, respectively, takes place on two planes simultaneously. The first is habit and may initially come about through willpower alone, through a conscious decision to be obedient. The heart may take a while to follow after, but will do with willingness to be obedient coupled with trust. There are risks to be sure. Those in positions of authority may let such things go to their heads and fall into the sin of pride, but if those holding them to accountability are doing their jobs properly, they will learn to submit themselves in female position too. For whilst not everyone is called to be in male position, everyone is in female position to someone. That is why we are all deacons and deaconesses, ministering as 'female' servants.

    You would be surprised how marriages and church relationships suddenly change for the better when everyone is behaving as they are supposed to with respect to those in authority. When this happens, all the 'pals with Jesus' nonsense we hear so much of in many of the churches disappears, for Yah'shua (Jesus) is not our 'pal'. Yes, He is the friend of those who are truly submitted to Him, but that is something earned and not immediately granted. Indeed, we are not His friends until we do everything He tells us (Jn.15:14)! He remains our Lord, Master, and King too. Did the apostles cease calling Him 'Lord' after He told them that they were His friends? (Jn.15:15)

    As most of you know, we are not very fond of titles in this Church. We try to call each other 'brother' and 'sister' no matter what our office or station. However, there is a point where this can become unhealthy especially if it becomes too familiar, disrespectful or insolent. The principle we adopt is that we expect those in authority to be held in respect by the use of some different title until they themselves ask or give permission to be called 'brother'. Calling a man in authority 'sir' or a woman in authority 'ma'am' is not therefore discouraged by us, especially when addressing Elders and Eldresses.

    Some have made a great fuss over the fact that we are told in the New Covenant to address Yahweh not only as 'Lord' (Adon) but also as 'Abba' (Father), claiming that 'abba' is better translated as 'Daddy'. I think we need to be careful here. I remember going into an Anglican Church in London many years ago and hearing the worshippers addressing Yahweh as 'Pops'. I was most offended by what I heard for the spirit was disrespectful. But this is not what 'Abba' means (e.g. Mk.14:36), for this is merely the vocative of 'dear Father' (literally, "O dear Father"). We do not call Yahweh 'Dad', 'Daddy', 'Papa', or 'Pops' in NCCG/BCAY but "father". When we address Yahweh as "dear Father" we are saying "Abba". The Roman Catholic tradition of calling their priests 'father' is by far the most accurate designation and quite possibly a genuine apostolic tradition. Paul describes himself in this fashion (1 Cor.4:15), for a father is a patriarch or 'father-ruler', which apostles and pastors are. Similarly, the designation 'mother' would not at all be inappropriate for female Apostles and Pastresses, with the designations 'sir' and 'ma'am' being reserved for the other Elders and Eldresses. It is my fond wish that similar titles should eventually come into use when children, young and adult, address their parents as once was indeed the common practice, along with 'father', 'mother' and similar usages. The calling of those in authority by their first names, so common in our liberal society, must stop.

    You will be amazed by the spiritual changes that start taking place when we start addressing each other in the proper fashion and in the right spirit. Of course, titles can be vacuous. Be careful of those who abuse scriptures like Matthew 23:8-12 where Yah'shua (Jesus) says:

      "But you, do not be called 'Rabbi'; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted" (Matt.23:8-12, NKJV).

    A literalistic approach here is completely inappropriate since these are terms that everybody uses. The context, the pompous and self-righteous rabbinical leaders of the day, leads us to understand, as David Stern rightly points out in his Jewish New Testament Commentary, that Yah'shua (Jesus) is forbidding believers from accepting unearned honours, rather than outlawing three titles. A leader is to be humble, a servant (Mt.20:25-28). If he is given a title, he is not to be puffed up by it, and members of the congregation are to guard against making invidious distinctions between 'clergy' and 'laity', remembering that everyone is called into Priesthood. Titles are supposed to reflect the created order and divinely sanctioned callings, and not ranks or positions of self-exaltation.

    When wives start calling their husbands 'my lord', the saints the apostles and pastors 'father' and 'mother', and Elders and Eldresses 'sir' and 'ma'am' in a spirit of humility, respect and love, wonderful things start happening. It creates within us a female, receptive heart that the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) can at once begin to fill. Bridges are made. And if those being respected receive this in a spirit of humility, deep bonds begin to be formed, because the Ruach (Spirit) will always affirm what is true and godly. But more importantly than any of this we must discover what it is to have a Father-son and Father-daughter relationship with Yahweh and His Son Yah'shua (Jesus). There is nothing quite as beautiful and tender as a proper paternal relationship with the Father and Son and a maternal relationship with the Ruach (Spirit). There is a wonderful balance and harmony in it that at once delights and refreshes the soul. It is reassuringly safe and protective. And we at length become the trusting Bride instead of the rebellious anarchist.

    Let us reflect the attitude of that great apostle, one of the fathers of our faith, who once said in all humility:

      "Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ (Yah'shua the Messiah), To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God (Eloah) and Saviour Jesus Christ (Yah'shua the Messiah): Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God (Eloah) and of Jesus (Yah'shua) our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust" (2 Peter 1:1-4, NKJV).

    Let us daily partake of that divine nature so wonderfully promised and escape the world and its deathly ways. I invite you all, brethren and sisters, to join with me in renewing our covenants before each other to walk this Way to which he has so graciously called us, upholding one another's callings as priests and priestesses to the Most High, to be servants of the Body in grace, peace and love. Amen.

    Given in Kadesh-biyqah, 16 June 2002


    First created on 16 June 2002
    Last updated on 16 June 2002

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