"In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen" (Gen.8:5, NKJV).

Chag sameach Rosh Chodesh on this the first day of the tenth month of the Creation Calendar which this year coincidentally falls on the pagan Roman Day of Janus or 'New Year'. The biblical New Year is still three months away on 31 March 2014. So while the rest of the world celebrates the Roman version and the fact that it has survived another year of sinning without being brought to judgment, we here proclaim from the outset that the Judgment of Yahweh against such men and women is at hand - not the Final Judgment of the world but a major judgment none-the-less against the nations and for their rebellious and blasphemous self- and false-god worship.

Hearing US President Obama's recent address you would think that all was well with the world and that things were getting better financially for everyone. And if you follow the corporate-controlled media you will likely believe the profligate liars that currently lead most of our nations with their relentless propaganda. There are a few lone voices who speak the emet (truth). like President Vaclav Klaus of the Czech Republic, but not many, and they are rarely reported, it at all. Once more the rich and powerful lie to the masses they are enslaving as all tyrants in the past have done. Israeli dissident Roi Tov sees it clearly:

"Point out to really free and truly democratic Western countries their own violence and illegitimate laws and you will become the next target of their violence."

There is no such thing as a free nation any longer even though the claim of the nations that they are free is pounded into our minds day in and day out as though speaking the words, 'I am free!' suddenly makes someone actually free. 'Freedom' (or at least, freedom from harrassment, imprisonment and murder) is in truth only available to those who submit to the powers-that-be but it is not real freedom at all. The world is brainwashed by a daily flood of Goebbelsian propaganda. Phil Robertson rightly said:

"Our culture has accepted two huge lies. The first is that if you disagree with someone's lifestyle, you must fear or hate them. The second thing they believe is that to love someone means you with agree with everything they believe or do. Both are nonsense. You don't have to compromise convictions to be compassionate."

We are not living in a rational or reasonable world any longer even though it purports, in the name of Science, to be the most rational and reasonable era in history. I know I have said this before but it needs repeating. You cannot do real philosophy let alone science anymore because words are having their meaning progressively stripped from then in the new Orwellian 'Newspeak' of the 21st Century. Finding the emet (truth) in a world of lies today is a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack unless you have the supernatural direction-finder, the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit). For all their pontificating, the creators and guardians of the Pink Marxist religion of 'Political Correctness' show scant respect for anyone who disagrees with them, they relish in distorting the emet (truth) and demonstrate throughout astonishing illogicality. Indeed they are, to quote a graduate school professor, "better at smelling rotten eggs than at laying good ones". The deconstructionists of our age know how to destroy civilisations but have no idea how to build them.

Meanwhile anarchy, lawlessness and mounting violence not only go unchecked but are approved of and financed by our corrupt governments. A refugee nun from Syria recently gave a presentation in a conference in Germany of an independent investigation she conducted of the treatment of Christians in Syria under the hands of Muslim fundamentalists. She revealed that Muslims are butchering Christians, draining their blood in bottles, and selling each bottle for $100,000 to Muslims in Saudi Arabia who take it to wash their hands believing that it atones for their sins. (Are they unwittingly confessing that believers' are pure and they are in sin?) Truly, Saudi Arabia has become part of that "woman drunken with the blood of the qodeshim (set-apart ones, saints), and with the blood of the martyrs of Yah'shua (Jesus)" (Rev.17:6) - and the kings (presidents, prime ministers) of the earth are fornicating with her, trading with this harlot for her wine (oil) for the extermination of believers. Make no mistake as to who's side our governments are on in the Final Conflict between good and evil.

Nigerian muslims believe that if they kill a Christian, Allah will give them salvation, and if they drink Christian blood it will give them power. Once you descend to that level, and certain lines or morality are crossed, demonisation is rapid and deliverance virtually impossible, leaving only the kind of judgment reserved for the Canaanites of Joshua's day. That is why I say that judgment is coming on the nations right now and over the coming months. Points of no return are being reached in many places and when that happens Yahweh has to step in.

When fundementalist Muslim Syrian rebels and their mercenary allies from other Muslim countries captured Mallulah, Syria, the oldest Catholic village in the world, they lined up some Christians and told them they would be beheaded if they did not convert to Islam. They took one man, slit his throat when he refused to convert to Islam, and then brought his fiancée and told her that Yah'shua (Jesus) did not save her fiancée. The rest were beheaded in a demonic blood-letting frenzy. And these 'executions' are usually recorded on video to make snuff movies for the perverse pleasure of their Muslim and Satanist overlords. That is the extent of their callousness and brutality. They are not even 'content' just to murder, they are driven by demons to brutally torture, maim and cannibalise believers too. Muslim terrorists ripping out their victims' hearts and eating them raw have been filmed and put up on YouTube making the SS death squads look tame by comparison.

Yes, a fearful judgment is coming on the world in our day and not in the distant future. That's what I have been trying to tell you to get ready for. This isn't just an attempt by the evil powers-that-be trying to get their New World Order but it's about sinful mankind reaping what he has sown in the fearsome judgments of El Elyon (the Most High). People shudder at the thought of ending up in the hands of some crazed extremist Muslim but in one way it is worse because of the eternal consequences of wickedness for "it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living Elohim (God)" (Heb.10:31, NKJV). You can only begin to imagine what is laid in store for those evil butchers when they have to face the judgment of a Righteous Elohim (God). They will be begging like Dives who cried out: "I am tormented in this flame!" (Luke 16:24, NKJV).

We don't ever hear about such attrocities in the news media even though tens of thousands of believers are being butchered in this way in the Muslim world and elsewhere. And the reason we don't hear about it from the media is because it is a part of the world system and is aligned with the diabolical banksters who own the media and their 'liberal', 'social democrat' and 'conservative' political stooges. The same Marxists and Fascists (they belong to the same satanic death cult) who persecute believers in the West are the same people who enthusiastically support the persecution of believers in the Muslim world by extremist Muslims [1].

I think, were a magic wand to be waved over human affairs on this planet and we could see into the mind and heart of every man and women, the biggest shock we would have would not just be seeing the level of collective violence and suffering that is going on in the world but who is cooperating with who...and indeed have done so throughout history. We would see that left and right are mere illusion and that really the lines are drawn between righteousness and evil, between freedom and slavery, between Yah'shua (Jesus) and all the rest. We would be shocked to see that people we thought were 'good' were actually thoroughly reprobate and evil.

There are no coincidences, and human nature being what it is, and taking into account all the dumbing down and mental programming of civilians that has taken place over the decades, I'm afraid making people aware and convincing them of the emet (truth) still wouldn't be enough to get the necessary social and political changes to restore a semblance of order and decency again. Awareness is not, in any case, all that is required to stop the evil in the world - it's one of at least two components: zeal and enthusiasm to do something about it is also mandated. Just as emunah (faith) without works is dead (Jas.2:20,26), so awareness without action is dead. Both are useless. The world cannot be changed in the armchair.

I'm afraid that the need in the Besorah (Gospel) is much the same as in the political and social scene. You can labour hard to convince people that Yah'shua (Jesus) is the promised Messiah and Deliverer of the World and that Yahweh's standard of discipleship is the Torah but that isn't remotely enough. Indeed, arguably that's the easy part. There are many who know the emet (truth) who do nothing about it. They just sit around doing nothing useful. They are talkers and not doers of the Davar (Word). They have no zeal for the Besorah (Gospel), they have no fire for evangelism, they have no desire to work hard for the King and the Kingdom. They think that by just talking (for most it doesn't even get beyond thinking) they will create something out of nothing, like demi-gods. Indeed, did you know that it is out of this mindset that the magician's word abracadabra comes from? 'Abracadabra' is actually an Aramaic phrase 'ebra kidbara meaning "I create what I speak". This is actually an occult idea, borrowed by the 'name it and claim it' charismatic cult, that places within humankind a power belonging exclusively to Yahweh as revealed in the prologue to John's Gospel:

"In the Beginning was the Davar (Word, Logos, Mithla), and the Davar (Word, Logos, Mithla) was with Elohim (God), and the Davar (Word, Logos, Mithla) was Elohim (God)" (Jn.1:1, RSV).

The Davar (Word, Logos [Gk.], Mithla [Aram.]) here is Yah'shua (Jesus) the Creator of the Universe, and what He speaks comes into existence, so He could well claim of Himself, 'ebra kidbara, but only Him. It is how He multiplied the loaves and the fishes, how He healed the sick, and how He brought Lazarus's rotting corpse back to life, making anew or afresh by His Davar (Word). Though He can do the same through faithful talmidim (disciples), talmidim (disciples) cannot of themselves do anything like that, for we have no power to make something out of nothing. Our spoken words cannot create anything de novo. That is why our thoughts alone are useless. That is why our words alone are useless. The only power we have to create is with our deeds which is why James said that emunah (faith) without words is dead. In the absence of the works of our hands, emunah (faith, trusting) slowly dies unless it is backed up by a zeal and passion for people's souls. Unless we use the gifts Yahweh has given to us to point lost souls in the right direction and so pluck them from the flames of hell - unless we use the gifts Yahweh has given us to concretely build the Kingdom, our thoughts and words are in vain.

The other day my family and I watched the movie, Machine Gun Preacher [2]. The language is strong and there are scenes of violence so be aware of that before you show view it. It's a true story and the story line goes like this: In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, addicted gang biker Sam Childs is released from prison and learns that his wife Lynn is no longer a stripper but has converted to Yah'shua (Jesus). One night, Sam and his best friend Donnie give a ride to a hitchhiker who threatens Donnie with a pocketknife; however Sam reacts and turns the tables on the stranger. Sam is affected by the incident and is convinced by Lynn and his mother Daisy to join their church, and he is baptised. Sam finds a straight job in construction. When he meets a preacher from Africa, he decides to visit the continent. Sam travels to Northern Uganda and South Sudan many times and builds an orphanage for the victims of the cruel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). Further, he fights whenever necessary and becomes a legend known as 'The Machine Gun Preacher'.

The movie raised many questions about where the borders lie as far as taking up arms in defence of the helpless and your own families. Most of us believed it was right to do so in defence of small children who are abducted after their parents are tortured and murdered. Sometimes the terrorists force the children to kill their own family members. Then the girls are sexually abused and turned into whores and slaves for the terrorists and the boys made to become soldiers for the terrorists to abduct more children and murder their parents whilst fighting an insurgency against the Ugandan and South Sudan governments. Do you just stand by or do you take up arms as Sam Childs has done?

Most of us agreed that they would have done what Childs did. It is not an easy question because it's very hard at first glance to know where to draw the line given that Yah'shua (Jesus) said "all who take the sword will perish by the sword" (Matt.26:52, NKJV). Some say that means 100% non-resistance to violence in all situations. However we must always look in the context of every saying of the Master and the context was clearly Peter's attempt to prevent Yah'shua (Jesus) being arrested by the Temple Guard on the Mount of Olives after Judas betrayed Him. Peter sliced off the right ear of of the Cohen Gadol's (High Priest's) servant, Malchus, which Yah'shua (Jesus) had to restore, ordering Peter to put his sword back in its sheath (Jn.18:1-11).

I want you to first of all note that Peter was armed and that this is not portrayed negatively or with disapproval by anyone. Yah'shua (Jesus) did not tell Peter to get rid of His sword but to sheathe it, i.e. put it away. In a modern context he might have had a revolver and been told to put it back into its holster. There is no evidence that Messiah taught we had to be disarmed to be a true talmid (disciple). Indeed on one occasion when the talmidim (disciples) were preparing to go evangelising, He approved of them being armed, presumably for self-defence:

"So they said, 'Master, look, here are two swords.' And He said to them, 'It is enough'" (Luke 22:38, NKJV).

Had they been 'jihadists', as some Muslims claim this scripture means, they would have been armed to the teeth and gone around slaughtering unbelievers. The two swords, along with Peter's own, were intended for self-defence, not for offence. Thus this ministry's consistent teaching that no believer should take up arms except as a last resort and only in self-defence still remains. The Bible commentator Barnes notes:

"The apostles were not commonly armed. On this occasion they had provided "two swords," Luke 22:38. In seasons of danger, when traveling, they were under a necessity of providing means of defending themselves against the robbers that infested the country. This will account for their having ANY swords in their possession. ...Josephus informs us that the people were accustomed to carry swords under their garments as they went up to Jerusalem."

That Yah'shua (Jesus) regarded it as natural for a man to defend his property is proven by the fact that he uses such a defensive posture in a sermon:

"When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace" (Luke 11:21, NKJV).

Should we construe that as wrong? Or should the man have simply allowed himself to be robbed? Not at all. What Yah'shua (Jesus) said was consistent with Torah:

"If the thief is caught while breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there will be no bloodguiltiness on his account. But if the sun has risen on him, there will be bloodguiltiness on his account. He shall surely make restitution; if he owns nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft" (Ex.22:2-3, NKJV).

The parable of the Good Samaritan (Lk.10:30ff.) is evidence of the problem of bandits that existed at the time and of the necessity of carrying weapons for self-defence. Yah'shua (Jesus) clearly approved of believers being armed for this purpose only. One of the mitzvot (commandments) the Master has given us is to help widows and orphans and to stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves:

"Pure and undefiled religion before Elohim (God) and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world" (James 1:27, NKJV).

In other words, we are to defend those who cannot defend themselves, especially children, by whatever means are at hand. Now there is always a danger in taking up arms - Yah'shua (Jesus) warned about taking up arms for aggressive purposes. We recall King David who waged wars for the defence of his realm and for the acquisition of those lands given by Yahweh. Israel, when Torah-obedient, never waged unprovoked wars of aggression against neighbouring nations that were not a part of the Promised Land. So clearly David needed to wage war yet this 'friend of Elohim (God)' was judged unworthy to build the Temple because there was too much blood on his hands so there is a sacred tavnith or pattern to be noted here.

For believers there are obligations to defend the defenceless, and there are liberties as to how far one goes in their defence which means there are responsibilities too because once you take up a weapon you are acting in the capacity of an elohim or judge in Israel which can sometimes result in killing people in defence of innocent children (like those Ugandans and South Sudanese being turned into murderers or sex slaves). It is a terrible thing to kill any man and I can 100% understand and empathise with those who don't want any blood on their hands. At the same time in biblical times past Yahweh has not only carried out executions supernaturally, and has continued to do so to the present, but has called His servants like Joshua to do so in order to wipe out those so depraved in blood-letting, child-sacrifice, ritual child-abuse and every manner of wickedness because they have so ripened in iniquity that they are beyond the point of redemption and are beyond the point of being persuaded to change their lives, so completely demonically possessed are they. Thus they are beyond any appeal of the heart or of reason to show compassion or decency.

Another passage that is often quoted is the following saying of Yah'shua (Jesus):

"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away" (Matt.5:38-42, NKJV).

However, this has to do with revenge and forgiveness in respect of abuses to yourself, and revenge belongs to Yahweh alone (Dt.32:35; Rom.12:19; Heb.10:30). Yes, we have the right to legal redress for wrongs against us personally but the Master says there is a higher way if we will choose to take it. But what would your attitude be to someone doing violence to your own children? And what degree of violence would you permit? Why would you draw the line between someone slapping your child's face and raping them? Would you intervene using force or not? And does it make any difference whether they are your children or not? What is our responsibility to orphans who have no father or mother to defend them? These are questions that I am sure the Machine Gun Preacher must have asked himself a hundred times. I do not judge him. Rather, I respect and admire his decision to intervene on behalf of those poor children of Northern Uganda and Southern Sudan. I am honestly not sure what I would do in his situation but it might very well be similar. However, I have not been called into that situation (yet), he has, so I really can't speculate.

I have turned over many case scenarious in my mind over the years and tried to figure out what my response would be. The East African situation is the latest. A sister in Ireland came to this very persuasive conclusion:

"I remember when I was about 14 I found out that an area close to where I lived was used for human sacrifices and one of the coven members told me they sometimes abducted young toddlers. At the time, my little brother was the same age so I was deeply impacted by what I had learned. All of a sudden, I began imagining in my mind doing rescue missions to save whomever was going to be sacrificed...I thought violence and murder could be justified if I was saving a person. When I played the thing over in my mind, it just didn't feel right to plan a vigilante mission, and it wouldn't make me any better than any other worldly vigilante. I think the difference between Sam Childers and say Paul (for example) is that Paul wouldn't have used a machine gun, he would have used the Gospel and allowed Yahweh to work such a miracle that no one could imagine...vicious murderers convicted by the Ruach and turned away from their transgressions to in turn SAVE the people they've been murdering ... wouldn't that be a far greater testimony than some man with a machine gun? ...I think so."

It is hard to argue that position yet I wonder what you would have done if you had arrrived in the African bush, built an orphanage, filled it with orphans and then experienced a terrorist raid kidnapping all your children whom you had come to love as your own? What would you have done upon then learning their fate as either sex slaves or forced conscription as murderous terrorists? Was there an alternative way that Sam Childers could have taken? Don't you think he prayed for a miracle? What do you do in such circumstances when Yahweh elects not to do some supernatural miracle but instead requires the 'miracle' to be carried out by men of emunah (faith) and courage, like Joshua and Caleb taking the Promised Land?

Now I am not an advocate of liberation theology - I do not advocate the violent path of such liberation movements as the Zealots did. I absolutely do not believe that Barabbas' politics were right. We are not here to built a Utopia or Paradise on earth because with humans it is impossible. Many have tried and failed, many have been violent and bloody, especially in the 20th century. Yet it's a curious thing how many Christians and Messianics believe in going to war and often with blood-lust in their souls! Look at all the sabre-rattling with Iran, the willingness to shed both innocent and guilty Syrian and Persian blood for the Israeli Republic, and look at the bloody wars of aggression launched against Syria and Libya and what they have led do! The carnage and terror they have produced is a hundred times worse than any abuses that may have been perpetrated by Assad and Ghaddafi before those wars were waged! It is one thing to defend your country if it is attacked provided the army attacking is not actually doing Yahweh's bidding, as Babylonia did in attacking Judah as the tool of divine judgment. Jeremiah, as you know, told the King to submit to Babylon at command of Yahweh, and he refused. The cost of his refusal was terribly, terribly high. So we need to know whether wars are righteous or not. Most aren't. As an historian with a keen interest in the First and Second World Wars, and knowing what I do now about what really went on behind the scenes, I am becoming more and more convinced that most wars waged even by the supposed 'good guys' were never justified. We have been deceived and propagandised by our history books on behalf of the invisible government of the banksters and corporate heads.

I am not, of course, taking sides with Barabbas and the Zealots in this discussion. I do not believe in armed insurrection against properly constituted governmental authority. I believe in peaceful revolution against tyrannical governments using the tools employed Ghandi waged. The pen is mightier than the sword and it does not extinguish the lives of innocents. Romans 13 is the answer to this bigger question and it is unambiguous, telling us how to live wisely under alien rule. The Kingdom of Heaven is not of this world system. And whatever is about to befall America and Europe will be because of the Judgment of Yahweh on the evil that is being done in them and in their name. Knowing what NATO is being used for today in the waging of unjustified and wicked wars, I would not wish to be a part of it, any more than I would have wanted to be a part of the former Warsaw Pact forces before the collapse of European communism and transfer of its banner of hammer-and-sickle under its new 12 golden-starred guise to the European Union.

I am very, very concerned about the direction China and America are headed in because I forsee war between the countries unless wise rulers take the helm of the United States. And if the two countries do go to war, it will not go well for America. I have said many times before that China is to be the new world superpower for a while, the 'Babylonia' of the next phase of world history, and that the Israelite nations' attitude toward it ought to be the same as the attitude Jeremiah told Zedekiah to have toward ancient Babylonia. Zedekiah did not listen, refused to pay tribute, and ended up losing his nation, his own life and sacrificed the lives of tens of thousands of his countrymen.

There are heavenly punishments being enacted upon rebellious nations right now and if they value what little freedom remains, they need to listen to Yahweh and not to the bravado of the wicked who are perishing. There are those with horrific blood-lust and a desire for revenge for historical wrongs who seek every excuse to unleash a terror on the West for its sins of the past. Do not give them that excuse but swallow your pride and accept the gentler course. The Besorah (Gospel) will spread in either situation. My desire is that families should be spared unnecessary suffering.

I cannot give cast iron rules as to what you should be doing if you find yourself in a situation, say, like Sam Childers. In general, though, it is my belief that we won't have to make such difficult choices if we are closely listening to Yahweh, doing what He says, and making sure we are where we are supposed to be. If you are being obedient to His instructions as to your location and activity, then He will take care of your family. This I know from my own experiences. That is not to say we won't. That is not to say that some of you won't have experiences like the prophet Jeremiah who was commissioned to witness in the metaphorical 'lion's den' but it is to say that He will make all things right. I have witnessed His supernatural intervention on both those who have sought to do me violence and even to kill me...several times. He has exacted His own vengeance in His own time and in a way the enemy will not forget easily until it is his time to be struck down again if he foolishly tries again. I have never had to raise my hand in anger or violence against anybody and I mean to keep it that way for as long as I can.

But at the back of my mind remains Abraham who rescued his relative Lot and his family and also David who rescued the wives and children of his men (and himself) when the Amalekites kidnapped them all at Ziklag while he was out on a raid (1 Sam.30). Was Yahweh with them? Beyond question. For "David strengthened himself in Yahweh his Elohim (God)" (v.6) in this raid. And what happened next? Did he act in his own authority - in the arm of flesh?

"So David inquired of Yahweh, saying, 'Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them?' And He answered him, 'Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all'" (1 Sam.30:7-9, NKJV).

None of the wives or children were harmed, including David's own two wives Ahinoam and Abigail. He then pursued the Amalekites and slew all but 400 of them. Remember, David was involved in a self-defensive war against King Saul and was attacked by others like the Amalekites for their own reasons. Therefore this raid was commanded by Yahweh and blessed by Him. Yahweh's hand was unmistakably in it. I would take care if you do not approve of Yahweh's clear support David's actions.

But that was one situation. What about the Romans 13 situation?

"Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from Elohim (God), and the authorities that exist are appointed by Elohim (God). Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of Elohim (God), and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is Elohim's (God's) minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is Elohim's (God's) minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience' sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are Elohim's (God's) ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honour to whom honour" (Rom.13:1-7, NKJV).

I'll be honest with you. This is one of those passages of Scripture I have struggled with over the years that only recently I have learned to come to terms with. There are those who claim that this only applies to Roman rule and that Paul might have said differently under alternative rulers but this is a hard position to defend. The instructions are basically to tell us how to live wisely under any unjust system - the passage is not claiming that governments are given carte blanche to do as they please. Indeed, our obligations to the government are clearly stated:

• 1. Paying taxes (however unjust);
• 2. Paying customs duties (however unjust);
• 3. Showing respect to those entitled to respect (however underseving); and
• 4. Giving honour to those entitled to honour (however underseving).

Aren't these more-or-less based on the same principle of honouring parents who may be dishonourable or sometimes showing respect to sometimes less-than-spiritual congregational leaders? (See my article, The Pastoral Office: A Guide to Pastoral Leadership). What we are not obliged to obey are laws that would require us to break Torah. Only the other day a woman asked for my counsel on what to do regarding a husband demanding ungodly behaviour from her and I told her that whilst she was required to obey him in righteousness she was under no circumstances to ever disobey Torah. Thus a government can create traffic laws but not tell me how to raise my children. It can charge me unfair taxes (and I recently received a shockingly outrageous and unfair tax bill) but it cannot forbid me from worshipping Elohim (God). So we here have to disagree (whilst sympathising) with Baptist minister and creationist teacher Kent Hovind who is in prison now for tax evasion, however unrighteous the system of taxation in America may be.

You will understandably find that those who once lived in Christian countries (like Victorian England) view Romans 13 with greater ease than those believers, for example, who live in Muslim or Communist lands today. In China today, as in the former Soviet Union, millions of Christians practice their faith underground and ignore laws requiring them to register. So I find reading the classical commentaries by Barnes, Matthew Henry, Wycliffe and others on Romans 13 somewhat unhelpful in the modern anti-Christian world where it is now less easy to be favourably disposed toward the authorities. Nicholas Wright makes this important observation:

"There are three things, however, we should notice about the passage. The first is that the command to obey the authorities balances the command to avoid private vengeance in 12:19-21 (Romans 13:1-7 has often suffered from being detatched from its context, but it means what it means precisely here). When Paul says in 12:19 (quoting Deuteronomy 32:35) that vengeance belongs to the one [Elohim/] God, and then so soon afterwards that this creator [Elohim/] God has given civic authorities the task of exercising vengeance (the same word) on wrongdoers, it is clear that the two go together. Anarchy encourages vigilante movements, as people take the law into their own hands, either from a general fear or from anger against perceived and unpunished offence or attack. The alternative is some kind of structure of authority; whether or not the authorities are doing their job, it is vital for normal human life, and particularly for normal Christian life, that they are there and carry out their responsibility. And, as with Daniel 6, the people of the one [Elohim/] God must be found without blame except for that unique allegiance." [3]

This is not, of course, music to the ears of liberation theologians who so often join Marxist terrorist groups and armed revolutionaries in the struggle again injustice, real or imagined...never mind that communists simply replace one fascist-type tyranny with another. That is why we can agree with Ghandi (India) but not with Mandela (South Africa). When we lend our support to armed struggle or terrorism we are both repudiating Scripture and denying the authority Yahweh gives to governments. And yes, I know, this may upset a few Americans who passionately believe their armed revolution against unjust taxes was right and justified - I do not, as much as I admire their Constitution. Barabbas's methods can never be right even if his goal might have been, though even that was contrary to Yahweh's Plan too, for Judah was slated for destruction and its people for exile and this had only been postponed to allow Messiah to be born and fulfil prophecy.

I suggest that our situation today is not at all unlike Jeremiah's day and that much profit is to be had in studying his book and the way Yahweh wanted the Judahite Kingdom to conduct itself relative to an aggressive and powerful pagan neighbour:

"Paul's essentially Jewish, almost Jeremiah-like, exposition of how to live under alien rule is radically transformed, here as elsewhere, by his eschatology [4]. When he says in [Romans] 13:11-14 (as in 1 Thessalonians 5) that the night is almost done and the day is at hand, this does not mean that one can or should therefore sit light to ordinary social life, as in 12:14-18, or to civic obligations, as in 13:1-7. If what is coming to birth in the [Elohim/-] God-given new day is a world of love and justice, then it behoves followers of [Yah'shua/] Jesus to live by and in accordance with, that love and justice in the present, so as to be ready for the day when it comes. And, just as 13:1-7 needs chapter 12 as one part of its proper context, so it also needs chapters 14 and 15. Paul declares emphatically in 14:4,7-12 that all will stand before the divine throne of judgment and in 15:7-13 that the risen Messiah is the rightful ruler of the nations. It is when 13:1-7 is detached from its context and elevated into being a complete statement of 'Paul's view of earthly rulers' or 'Paul's political philosophy' or some such that problems arise. Within the framework of chapters 12-15 as a whole it plays its limited rôle, just as it articulates the limited and temporary rôle of earthly rulers within the creator's purpose." [5]

In the light of these things, does not preparedness make a lot of sense? Is not moving to a location in the wilderness or even a new country, if Yahweh commands it, the sensible thing to do if we are to avoid violent scenarios? We obviously can't save all child victims. I am not saying that is what you have to do but I am asking you to at least mentally entertain the possibility that Yahweh wants this for you and your family - to be open to considering it prayerfully. Why do you think some influential bankers and corporate leaders are moving their homes and families out of the United States and into Central and South America? What do they know that the general public doesn't? I'll tell you what they are expecting - they are expecting the kind of anarchy and violence that erupts in a country when it economically collapses and law and order break down. And if you're wondering what that's like, just look at Libya and Syria today. Do you think that such will never happen in the USA or in any nation in the West? Think again. Study some history. You can discover the emet (truth) for yourself.

A financial collapse, with all social chaos and street violence of the cities that that implies, is coming to the USA and to the whole planet, and it's imminent. I don't care where you live, you will be impacted. Only those countries and individuals who are best prepared are going to come out of this relatively unscathed. Which country is the least prepared? The United States. Which country is the best prepared? China. So you have been forewarned - again. For more about this subject, see my recent sermon, The Financial Collapse: How and When It Will Happen.

Please believe me when I tell you that you don't want to find yourself in a situation where you need to defend yourselves and your families with firearms so be sensible and find out where Yahweh wants you to be until this terrible storm passes when erupts. But if you do find yourself in a situation where self-defence is imperative for survival, then hopefully what I have shared with you today will give you a clear scriptural perspective and mandate to do what is permitted and right. Ultimately, though, you are going to have to make the moral choices alone with Elohim (God). Please also understand that my advocacy of the right of individuals to bear arms in the USA (and elsewhere were it still allowed) is based in the principle of self-defence as a last resort only and not on any right to be involved in armed sedition against the state, however evil that state may be. I want to make that clear.

That is why being in the right place at the right time is so important to avoiding ethical and moral dilemmas. If the state is after your blood anyway then removing yourself from its sphere of power to harm you becomes a moral obligation for your family's sake, and a matter of practical common sense, does it not? Yah'shua's (Jesus') instruction holds good still:

"When they persecute you in this city (or country), flee to another" (Matt.10:23, NKJV).

Remember also the divine principle of expecting to reap what you sow. If you sow violence, you shall reap violence. If you sow shalom (peace), you shall reap shalom (peace). That's what Yah'shua (Jesus) meant when He said that "all who take the sword (or gun) will perish by the sword (or gun)" (Matt.26:52, NKJV). Don't get so focussed on being armed that you forget to be armed with, and led by, the Ruach (Spirit) and so lose your spiritual way.

My calling now is to adjust those people, who will listen, to the reality of what's happening and what's about to happen and to remind them of their conduct vis-à-vis the requirements of New Covenant Torah. I deliberately emphasise New Covenant because that is the covenant we are under, not the Old one. The secular year of 2014 is upon us, the year President Obama promised "action" but not the kind of action you might suppose - not the "action" of a righteous leader to make life better for American citizens, but rather the "action" required to realise the dastardly élite's agenda of collapse and total control. When he promised the American people that he would really be effecting "change" were he to be elected for a second term, he wasn't exactly 'lying' either...only it was not the "change" that his gullible and deceived supporters were expecting. It was not the kind of "change" that would benefit them or anyone else for that matter. He did what he meant to do when he took office the second time - to bring America to its knees and unfold the police state even more - and he means to continue until there's a communist dictatorship in the land. That is what he means by "action". And 1 January in the pagan calendar is the beginning of more Orwellian-type "action" and "change". Only ignorant fools celebrated at midnight last night while they partied and watched fireworks for they were unconsciously celebrating more slavery and more suffering for themselves.

So what's going to happen next? I have pretty much already told you but I'd like to highlight one or two more things if I may today. Let's begin with the outer world which is basically to reiterate what we already know:

• 1. China is to become the new engine of economic growth scheduled to replace the United States and European Union;

• 2. The Chinese Yuan will replace the US Dollar as the global reserve currency - this global reset is underway and will probably occur in two stages - an IMF-sponsored alignment of all national currencies leading to a devaluation of the US Dollar by around 30% in a few weeks' time, to be followed by the econmy's complete collapse in 2015 and the eventual issue of a global currency; and

• 3. China is planning to go to war with the USA by provoking a conflict with Japan over the uninhabited Senkauku islands but oil-rich off-shore resources, possibly drawing in the Koreas. This will be, in part, revenge for the Sino-Japanese war of the 1930's and 1940's waged by militaristic Japan on a weak China but will also be a pretext to bring the USA down while both the USA and Japan are collapsing economically. Whether Yahweh allows this to happen or not remains to be seen. He has already prevented a conflict with Iran and stopped the full invasion of Syria for now and forced the USA to step down through Russian muscle-flexing and Vladimir Putin outmanoeuvering Obama diplomatically. So this is not certain but neither should it be lightly dimissed [6].

Next let us look at the inner world. Judging by the numerous visions and experiences I have been having over the past week, the demonic realm is feverishly trying to accelerate the NWO agenda as fast as it possibly can because it is hungry for blood. Some of the most disturbing visions I have seen were three days ago when I saw this frenzy in the demonic realm, and amongst the nefilim in particular, for human heads - for decapitation and, naturally, as much blood-letting as possible. Like sharks aroused to a frenzy at the whiff of blood, so the demonic world has become frantic since getting a 'taste' of what is happening in Syria and other places. The enemy is quite literally demented with devilish hunger for a flood of human blood. It was decidedly unpleasant seeing this yet helpful to know what's driving their human slaves at the moment - it is hard for the dark invisible world to then restrain itself because of what it has now got a taste of. Their intelligence notwithstanding, just picture sharks swarming around a kill and you'll have some idea what is possessing them. It's perhaps their greatest weakness. I saw visions of machines being used in public for the beheading of human beings - whether they were guillotines or something else I cannot tell but it was 'fast and furious' as though there was only a short window of 'opportunity' in which the enemy could do this and get away with it.

Now this is not a pleasant thing to talk about but you have to know the reality and what to prepare for at least in certain parts of the world. This mass beheading may, or may not, be limited to Muslim countries but given all the facilities set up by American 'Homeland Security' I wouldn't exclude the West either. Again, it will depend on what Yahweh permits and forbids. Like I have said before, whether this happens in your area, county, state, or country is besides the point if you are serious about protecting your families - the important thing is you're not in the cities when all of this breaks out. So make sure you have a safe place in the country to retreat to if you haven't already left.

Finally, if you live in Pacific Rim countries (Alaska, British Columbia, Washington State, Hawaii, Oregon, California, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, China, Taiwan, Siberia, and Philippines, and Panua-New Guinea you need to get inland away from the Pacific coastal areas because it looks as though that on top of all the radiation already killing off the Pacific Ocean that reactor 3 of Fukushima is about to melt down! And I wouldn't want to be anywhere in Polynesia at all! All of these areas with a Pacific shoreline are already heavily contaminated by radioactivity! In my view, it is madness to remain there. I would not want my family exposed to all that deadly radiation which will get worse.

If we are to experience a Third World War then I do not believe it will last 6 years as the last global conflagration did. I would imagine it to last no more than a few days, given the weaponry now available - and I don't just mean the conventional or nuclear weaponry that the public knows about. But the usage of hitherto hidden technology will depend on various circumstances which we don't have time to go into today. We're not even going to get into the whole UFO and aliens scenario.

Now you are probably wondering what all of this has to do with today's opening passage of Scripture:

"In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen" (Gen.8:5, NKJV).

The first day of the tenth month is mentioned only once in Scripture and in connection with the lowering of the flood waters during which the mountain-tops became visible. What do mountains symbolise in Scripture? Kingdoms, authority or rule. We read:

"Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of Yahweh's house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, 'Come, and let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh, to the house of the Elohim (God) of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.' For out of Zion shall go forth the Torah (Law), and the Davar (Word) of Yahweh from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many people; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore" (Isa.2:2-4, NKJV).

This prophecy covers a large span of time from the first advent of Messiah 2,000 years ago to His second coming and the Millennium when the His power and authority shall flow down on all the nations of the earth which shall be in submission to it. These nations of the earth shall be ruled by the King's Torah, Teaching and Law which shall be sent out from the New Jerusalem, just as the first missioinaries carried the Besorah (Gospel) or Good News out of the earthly Jerusalem and have taken it around the entire globe. The unrepentant nations have waged relentless war against the Kingdom of our Elohim (God) and tried to extinguish it but it has always arisen strong and fresh in spite of every murderous attempt to kill off its citizens or corrupt it from within with false teachings.

Back in the late 1980's when Yahweh commanded me to leave my British homeland and relocate to Norway, having recently lost my wife and who children, I was visiting the city of Bergen to establish our new congregations in that country. I was speaking with the brethren who were making suggestions as to people we could try to win over to the Besorah (Gospel) as we then understood it and when one man's name was mentioned, I knew instantly by a powerful witness of the Ruach (Spirit) that it was imperative we should visit him, and very soon at that. The weather was appalling. A violent storm was lashing Bergen from the North Sea and the radio and TV were advising people to stay indoors and not to go out unless they absolutely had to. The man in question lived outside the city in a place called Ytre Arna requiring a longish drive through tunnels running under the mountains that guard the city. But getting there was the trick because the winds were so strong. The brother who offered to drive me urged me to delay a day or two until the storm had died down but I insisted we visit immediately.

So we set out in his car, buffetted by the winds and the pouring rain, and having been bounced around finally made our destination. Having found the man's house, we went out into the storm and rang the door bell only to be greeted by a very suspicious wife who became even less friendly when she learned what our business was, as the family had only recently broken free of the Jehovah's Witnesses and were now investigating the Mormon Church. Unusually for me, I remained persistent and asked if we could wait for her husband's return. Reluctantly, she let us in. We sat uneasily in their living room. She asked who we were and who we represented. Our answers made her even more sceptical. At length her husband arrived and we were introduced to him, Like his wife, he was suspicious of us, more so as we represented a tiny, brand new ministry that nobody had ever heard about. I told him of our mission and he remained sceptical. At length he broke into what I was saying and told us he had had a dream which he could not udnerstand and that it was bothering him. I told him, under the influence of the Ruach (Spirit), that I knew what it meant and could interpret it for him. He was shocked, as was I, because I had no idea what the dream was, let alone its meaning! But I knew I was under the anointing. I will let the man relate the dream in his own words which I have translated from Norwegian:

"There was a time when I both fasted and I prayed to my Heavenly Father, and one night dreamed this dream (I have previously not had the habit of remembering dreams, but this dream came like a bolt from the blue):

"I dreamed that I was in a waiting room with a handful of other men and women. It was evening and quite dark inside and outside the room. Two of the walls consisted of several large window panes. We had coats on and sat on some benches waiting for something that would happen outside the windows, and although none of us at the time was looking out of them, we knew there was sea out there. I knew all the people in the room, although I didn't notice their faces. Suddenly, a man stood up, looked out the window and said, 'Now you can see!', and then we all got up and looked out.

"I was filled with awe when I saw a giant mountain that towered up from the sea, and I knew it had come down from heaven. There was now only a small amount of water left in front of this black, frightening mountain, which was covered with snow on the top half. I was very scared and woke up immediately after the dream, and lay thinking about this mountain with awe, though I do not clearly understand why. But I knew that the mountain was placed there by El Elyon (Almighty God)." [7]

No sooner had he finished speaking than the Ruach (Spirit) placed clearly in my mind what the dream meant and I was expounding it to him, to his astonishment and to my own. He relates what I told him:

"'"The mountain you saw is the Kingdom of Elohim (God). The fact that it was night means there is little time left before Elohim (God) establishes His kingdom on earth (the Millennium). The waters means that you have been deeply emotionally involved in your quest for the true Messianic Community. The window pane that you saw through means that there has been a veil of understanding between you and Elohim (God). The people you were with in the waiting room you must find out for yourself.'

"I knew who the people in this room were, and met some of them again a few days later..." [8]

The man whom he met a few days later, and the man in the dream who said that he could look out the window, was myself. He met the rest of the Bergen congregation at that time too. The brother would soon become an enthusiastic member of the Bergen Branch of this work (then known as the Independent Church), later became its pastor, but regrettably fell away in part because of opposition from his wife, who has since sadly passed on. And interestingly, as far as our current work in Africa is concerned, he was told in a revelation round about 1990 that he would become an apostle in Zambia. That apostolic calling was confirmed to him in a prophetic dream he had about being given sandals by a heavenly malak (angel) for this very work. He is still called in spite of the fact that he would find this ministry is virtually unrecognisable from that early work he knew back in the 1980's and 1990's. Our calling remains the same [9] but now we are the bearers of freshly revealed and restored emet (truth) that would amaze that brother were he to see it now.

Brethren and sisters, the waters of concealment and cleansing are lowering slowly to reveal the mountain tops of that very Kingdom of Elohim (God). This is not going to be a sudden manifestation of the glory of El Elyon but a gradual one and that is the chief message I have for you today on this the first day of the tenth month. The world's 'New Year's Day' is also a 'big day' for satanists and the global élite who initiate their grandiose schemes of wickedness but today Yahweh wishes to remind us that this is His day - it is set-apart to Him at this Rosh Chodesh. He is reminding those of us who have laboured long and hard since this work first began in Norway in 1988, and who have waited so patiently in spite of the apparently endless storms that have battered us, that we are still very much in business and more so than at first. Now the Kingdom is manifesting in signs, miracles and numerous conversions amongst a people with the humility and emunah (faith) to receive it. This work began in England and Scandinavia where it was rejected but now it is being received by those currently of purer hearts and greater enmunah (faith). I invite you to follow the next three sabbath sermons which is for them and to support the work there in whatever way you can [10].

I am going to end today with the testimony of the brother from Bergen:

"With Elohim (God) speaking His words strongly in my heart and filling me with awe, and on the basis of other revelations that this Community has received, I could now get answers to my questions. Yes, I am now sure where the true messianic community of Elohim (God) is on the earth today, and great peace and happiness dwells in my soul - as long as the thirst for the water of life is in me, I will continue to stretch myself toward a greater light, in the hope that I never have to fall, but that humility would prevail in me. And I ask my Heavenly Father that this messianic community never falls, but grows in power to carry out His will in the last days .

"I know a man incessantly needs to sacrifice his ego if he wants to walk towards the Light source which reveals and cleanses. And to find Elohim (God) his love for love Him must always be greater than the fear of demons or of people, as one is willing to try all spirits. I know that many people have lost their freedom, as other people or forces have stood between them and Messiah, and have denied them the right to find a greater fullness of spiritual Light. I have managed to break these chains of darkness. And Elolhim (God) has healed my wounds and comforted my broken heart and filled me with the Ruach (Spirit), and I have found peace. This is my testimony in Yah'shua the Messiah's (Jesus Christ's) Name. Amen" [11].

Endnotes

[1] See, for example, Jamie Glazov, United in Hate: The Left's Romance with Tyranny and Terror (WND Books, Los Angeles, CA: 2009, that shows the Marxist-Fundamentalist Muslim connection
[2] See the Machine Gun Preacher Website and the movie, Machine Gun Preacher
[3] N.T.Wright, Paul and the Faithfulness of God (SPCK, London: 2013), p.1303
[4] Eschatology = doctrine of the end times
[5] N.T.Wright, Ibid., pp.1303-1304
[6] Global Economic Reset 2015 Website
[7] Trond Standnes, Et Syn om Guds Nye Pakts Kirke
[8] Trond Standnes, Ibid.
[9] See The Five Commissions
[10] Beyond the Rivers I: Revealing Yah's African Kingdom, Beyond the Rivers II: Philip, Apostle to the Africans and Beyond the Rivers III: An Appointment at Ashdod
[11] Trond Standnes, Ibid.