A visitor recently commented to me about this ministry and said that there were two things that she liked especially. The first was that we don't try to cram everything into a little box and expect everyone else to fit into it. The second (paraphrasing) was that we are always on the move and didn't sit still long enough to become fossilised.
I got to thinking about these remarks that since it's always nice to have a view from the outside in order to get perspective. One of the criticisms we have received over the years is that we are always changing as though this were some sin. And whilst it is perfectly true that Yahweh-Elohim never changes (Heb.13:8) in his moral attributes and laws, this is not true of sinful and ignorant man. Repentance and learning inevitably lead to change both individually and collectively as a ministry.
We can't afford to stand still let alone turn back. Lot's wife learned that lesson too late. The whole of this life is one of flight from and flight to - flight from error and flight to truth; flight from iniquity and flight to righteousness; flight from rebellion and flight to obedience. The fact that we are moving is always a sign of repentance provided it is in the right direction:
"Flee from the midst of Babylon, and every one save his life! Do not be cut off in her iniquity..." (Jer 51:6, NKJV).
Nearly everyone in the world is in the wrong place spiritually and not a few physically. Most are not fleeing from Babylon which is a metaphor for doing wrong in thoughts, feelings and deeds, but also for the wrong kind of environment. There is a good reason to flee from her:
"With violence the great city Babylon shall be thrown down, and shall not be found anymore" (Rev 18:21, NKJV).
The rest (the vast majority) walk through life aimlessly but this is in itself witness that they have no purpose because they have been conditioned by Darwinism to believe that life is ultimately purposeless. They're told this is a fact and don't get to question it.
However, the soul cannot long survive on such a starvation for truth diet and it will at some point rebel against this brainwashing and most especially when forced to be still and to contemplate life - as for example when calamity strikes. Otherwise the calendar is marked out with state-approved events and holidays such as the 'big one' that starts in some countries this evening and in others tomorrow: Christmas. Most people have no idea why they celebrate it and just as many couldn't care less. It's a time to get together and have a party...along with other state-sanctioned calendar markers such as New Year's Day.
Have you any idea what it is you are doing? Have you any idea why you are doing it? And do you even care? In my experience, most Christians and Messianics, in spite of what they think they know, are often as ignorant as unbelievers about these things.
I know I have been so very ignorant over the years and I am discovering new ignorance all the time. The journey into truth will continue into eternity for those who seek it so it is better to start right away. Truth is liberating (Jn.8:32) but it does require effort to get it. We can never earn it since it is given freely by the Author to all those whos eek after it with a right heart, namely, to build the Kingdom of Yahweh and so give glory to Him. The truth will set you free from your problems and issues, acting as medicine to spiritually diseased and dysfunctional souls.
The incompleteness of our knowledge of the truth ought to keep us humble. Anyone who says that they 'have the truth' is not being honest even when they are referring to Yah'shua for who has Him in His fullness save He who is perfect and has stopped sinning? There are always many rooms in our being that we have not fully yielded to Him that need surrendering. When we think we are fully yielded we soon, if we are honest enough, soon find parts of ourselves that there unyielded. Idf this is true of inddividuals then this is also inevitably true of congregations, churches, ministries and denomonation. None has it 'all' for if they did they would be bringing forth such wonders that they would be unstoppable. We nead a humble and realistic view of our finiteness and imperfection if we can ever hope to be vessels for more of Yah's gifts to us.
At the same time, this is never a licence for standing still. For myself, I keep on searching because I am aware that more keys of truth are needed to help people with various problems which mainstream Christians and Messianics have largely failed to address. I know for one how helpless those coming out of Satanic Ritual Abuse feel with so few to help them and even fewer who know how to help them. Do you ever feel overwhelmed? As though you are only able to help or do the tiniest fraction of what you see needs doing, even with those in your immediate sphere of influence? A feeling of spiritual impotence is not a bad thing if what results is your allowing Yah'shua to completely take over!
Messianics, for the most part, are so busy trying to 'restore' external things (important though this is) that they have all but forgotten how to address spiritual issues, assuming they even knew. Christians are so buy advertising the Gospel that they have forgotten that they are supposed to be the living advertisements themselves. It is so easy to fool yourself into thinking that you are running after the Kingdom when in truth you are running away from the King. And some of those serving the hardest are often the most guilty of fleeing because in their busy-ness for the Kingdom they keep the King out.
Busy-ness is one of the commonest 'big escapes', isn't it? It certainly is for unbelievers who don't want to confront the reality of the supernatural or anything that would disturb their self-constructed box of defined reality. But it is no less hard for believers who have done the same, even if their boxes are religious ones. The effect is still the same. Certainly the Christmas season keeps people busy enough doing the things their forefathers have always done without really knowing why they are doing it and being content to simply copy everyone else. And when everyone is copying everyone else, you are simply going around in circles.
Consider the possibility that you believe in lies large and small, however ignorantly. Are you prepared to do that? And are you prepared to let Yahweh expose them for you so that you can make changes in the direction of your life? If you are too proud and dogmatic to do that then you only have one possibility: to stagnate and remain as you are to simply drift backwards under the pull of the lies you still believe in:
"If a ruler pays attention to lies, all his servants become wicked" (Prov.29:12, NKJV).
If that part of you which rules the rest of you believes in lies, then will not the whole of you become a lie too? Inevitably. Then there is the knock-on effect of the influence we have on others if we believe in lies:
"With lies you have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I (Yahweh) have not made sad; and you have strengthened the hands of the wicked, so that he does not turn from his wicked way to save his life" (Ezek.13:22, NKJV).
The choices we make for ourselves also influence those who look up to us or with whom we share fellowship. We therefore always have a dual responsibility.
The Roman new year will soon be over and I am going to suggest that it is time for us to be finished with Roman time-keeping altogether. It has kept us in bondage through its deception. It is a false time map.
I have been asked by a brother to review the different calendar systems in use by Christians and Messianics and make a statement on what the true one is. I shall not do that today, as this is a big subject, but I will be doing it very soon, because without it we will simply be missing valuable appointments with Yahweh as well as failing to be properly obedient. We must get into synchronisation with Yahweh on every level of being, including the physical. And I mean to have that done by the advent of the Biblical New Year in the spring.
A final word today about the End which was marked by October and to point out that 'endings' are not necessarily instantaneous, but are frequently processes. Take the destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem as an example. Yah'shua pronounced it's 'end' as a heavenly-sanctioned physical edifice with His death and resurrection. Yet it remained in place for another generation. It 'ended' both at a point in time as a spiritual reality as well as when it was knocked down by the Romans and ended physically. The spiritual and physical planes operate on different timescales. So some endings are processes:
"The form of this world is passing away" (1 Cor 7:31, NKJV).
Similarly Satan was defeated at the Cross by Yah'shua but his defeat is not completed until the end of this dispensation when Yah'shua returns. Thus his defeat is both an event and a process. The same is true of Babylon - Babylon was destroyed spiritually at the Cross too - 'in a day' - for all those who will receive Yah'shua and so be protected against it, but is still 'being destroyed' physically and will likewise end or disappear 'in a day'. Though it appears in the physical dimension to be going from irresistably strength to strength, it is but an illusion, rather like the beating heart of a dead frog or a baloon about to pop. It is already doomed even if it causes discomfort in the meantime.
This morning Yahweh gave me a vision of a salt shaker (see Salt Covenants and The Two Salts) - it suddenly exploded, the sound of which startled me. The shaker is us - the physical body - and the salt is the accumulating deposit of goodness that comes to us from Messiah as we trust in Him and multiply His Light within. But if anything else tries to share this space with His light it will create a conflict within which, if undealt with, will explode, losing all the carefully accumulated salt. Whatever is not pure or holy - whether it be general things like rage or jealousy, or specific things like observing pagan festivals or adhering to false teachings that lead the soul astray - all these must be removed before they build up into a crisis or they will simply 'explode', spilling valuable salt, which also represents our covenants with Yahweh.
As we approach the world's the main pagan festival of the year, I ask you - if you have not already abandoned it - to reconsider doing so one last time.
