Chag sameach Rosh Chodesh as we together mark the beginning of the fourth month of the biblical creation year. It is also the 22nd day following the seven sabbaths since Yom haBikkurim (Day of Firstfruits) which means we are but four weeks away from Shavu'ot (Weeks, 'Pentecost'), the important hinge festival that marks the mid-point of the sacred calendar.

The whole world's eyes have been on the historic summit held in my country of birth, Singapore, between United States President Donald Trump and the North Korean communist leader Kim Jong-Un. Two days ago an historic agreement was signed between the two countries undertaking the imminent denuclearisation of North Korea and a signing of a peace treaty officially ending the nearly 70 year-long civil war between the Communist Chinese-backed north and the American-backed south.

I listened to President Trump's speech after the signing ceremony in which he proclaimed an era of peace. I heard, yesterday, that the Nobel Peace Prize Committee in Oslo has been making noises about awarding the prize to President Trump. Peace? I say to you, most soberly and with no pleasure whatsoever, PREPARE FOR WAR.

I feel almost guilty delivering this message to you today because only yesterday my sabbath message was that one of the pastor's chief rôles was to bring comfort to his congregation and help it get back on its feet. However, as one of you also pointed out to me, it's also his job to tell the truth so that his congregation can face and prepare for what is coming.

Do not envy those who have been given the prophetic gift in times of trouble. I did not want to give you this message today. I struggled against it last night but early this morning finally relented. To be honest, I would rather not give it at all. All I wanted to do last night was announce this morning that there would be no message, because Yahweh had given me none. But as you see, here I am.

The navi (prophet) Jeremiah, worn and weary with his calling, cried out in desperation:

"Why was I ever born? My entire life has been filled with trouble, sorrow, and shame" (Jer.20:18, NLT).

We do not desire to be the bearers of prophetic messages, but if Yahweh gives us one, we must relent and obey. It's as simple as that. Take it as a default that the vast majority of the people you encounter in your life do not want to hear the emet (truth). People prefer sin to chayim (life) because they believe the lie that sinning is chayim (life) and so much more fun. And they absolutely do not want to hear that sinning is death. The reason is that they love their fleshy appetites too much, having no emunah (faith) that there might be something better. Therefore true believers will be surrounded by adversaries, and their worst ones will often be those in their own families, a thing that breaks their hearts more than anything else.

What, then, shall we do? We shall do as Jeremiah did and for the reasons he gave:

"O Yahweh, you persuaded me, and I allowed myself to be persuaded. You are stronger than I am, and you overpowered me. Now I am mocked by everyone in the city. Whenever I speak, the words come out in a violent outburst. 'Violence and destruction!' I shout. So these messages from Yahweh have made me a household joke. And I can't stop! If I say I'll never mention Yahweh or speak in His Name, His Davar (Word) burns in my heart like a fire. It's like a fire in my bones! I am weary of holding it in!

"I have heard the many rumours about me. They call me, 'The Man Who Lives in Terror'. And they say, 'If you say anything, we will report it!' Even my old friends are watching me, waiting for a fatal slip. 'He will trap himself,' they say, 'and then we will get our revenge on him.'

"But Yahweh stands beside me like a great warrior. Before Him they will stumble. They cannot defeat me. They will be shamed and thoroughly humiliated. Their dishonour will never be forgotten. 'O Yahweh-Elohim! You know those who are righteous, and you examine the deepest thoughts of hearts and minds. Let me see Your vengeance against them, for I have committed my cause to You. Now I will sing my thanks to Yahweh! Praise Yahweh! For though I was poor and needy, He delivered me from my oppressors" (Jer.20:7-13, NLT).

And did you know that it was right after saying this, that the navi (prophet) complained bitterly in an ode of self-pity:

"Yet I curse the day I was born! May the day of my birth not be blessed. I curse the messenger who told my father, 'Good news - you have a son!' Let him be destroyed like the cities of old that Yahweh overthrew without mercy. Terrify him all day long with battle shouts, for he did not kill me at birth. O, that I had died in my mother's womb, that her body had been my grave! Why was I ever born? My entire life has been filled with trouble, sorrow, and shame" (Jer.20:14-18, NLT).

Does that sound familiar? Are you surprised? Or were you told that life on earth for believers was to be a giant party of health, wealth and prosperity? Of gathering up expensive cars, yachts, jet planes, mansions and the like? To be sure, there are fantastic times for Yahweh's people but always believers understand - those who are properly rooted in the emet (truth) of Scripture - that the endless good days are only for Eternity, that our being here is not for our own pleasure, but His, even though we will, if we are true and faithful, obtain a wonderful reward in terms of that everlasting legacy of a godly character which is itself the only means by which we can experience and process true simcha (joy), ahavah (love) and shalom (peace).

Therefore, without regard to anyone's flesh, I say to you listening to this message, in whatever country, but particularly in the West, PREPARE FOR WAR. Get ready. Make sure you have all you need to survive a conflagration in those places of safety that Yahweh has called you to prepare, and which I have been admonishing you to do now for years. Make sure you have enough to live on for a year or more, preferably two. Don't expect gourmet dinners either. This will be simplicity itself, the basics. You were given various countdowns in which to get ready so that you would be prepared ahead of time, because the more time you had, the greater the possibilities you had to do more, not just for yourself, but to help others to whom Yahweh will send to you. There aren't going to be any more countdowns.

Jeremiah's chief adversaries - his main opponents - were his own people, the people of Jerusalem and Judah! That is a crushingly hard burden to carry, knowing that they are bringing calamity on themselves, your own country! We all love our countries, and rightly so, and cannot readily believe that war and destruction are coming to them, yet we must be prepared for what we cannot easily accept because of our love for our countrymen's lives. Jeremiah was full of contradiction inside, wasn't he? That is ahavah (love) speaking. He had strength and simcha (joy) in Yahweh's presence but at the same time He lamented what was going to happen to his people, and finally bemoaned that he had ever been born.

But he was not suicidal. The rational, properly Yahweh-related part of him knew that was never an option. Yes, we love our countries and we love our own families too, and cannot believe that calamity will come upon those who do not know, or who do not want to know, Yahweh, because we love them, becauswe we don't want it to happen to them, and yet at the same time we must be prepared for what we cannot easily accept. That is all a part of the delicious and at the same time frustrating contradiction that it is to be human, as we ourselves become the arena for that great gladatorial contest between the flesh and the spirit.

In Jeremiah's day, the Cohen (Priest) in charge of the Temple - that is to say, one of the most important ministers in the land of Judah, a man called Pashhur - had the navi (prophet) arrested, "whipped and put in stocks at the Benjamin gate of Yahweh's Temple" (Jer.20:2, NLT). You need to know, so that you can be prepared for it, that our worst enemies are going to be those who call themselces 'Christians' and 'Messianics' as the hard times worsen and as threats mount against the safety of our nations. So you need to discern them, and early on at that!

I would never wish to be in the shoes of those ministers who turn against Yahweh. In many ways it will be worse for them than the outrightly evil pagans and atheists who seek the destruction of us and them. There are many believers playing the whore with Babylon in order to save their own necks, as they suppose, or because they have been seduced by the promise of power and safety. After Pashhur finally released Jeremiah from the stocks, the navi (prophet) Jeremiah said to him:

"From now on you are to be called, Magar-missaviv, 'The Man Who Lives in Terror'. For this is what Yahweh says: I weill send terror upon you and all your friends, and you will watch as they are slaughtered by the swords of the enemy. I will hand the people of Judah over to the king of Babylon. He will take them captive to Babylon or run them through with the sword. And I will let your enemies plunder Jerusalem. All the famed treasures of the city - the precious jewels and gold and silver from your kings - will be carried off to Babylon. As for you, Pashhur, you and your household will go as captives to Babylon. There you will die and be buried, you and all your friends to whom you promised that everything would be all right" (Jer.20:3b-6, NLT).

Out of all of this, there is one important emet (truth) that I want you to glean and take onboard, and it is this: adversity does not always come as a result of sin, but it often does. Planting the seeds of sin will produce a crop of sinful actions. Sometimes the adversity is a natural result of our actions; at other times, it is discipline from Elohim (God) Himself. It is written:

"My child, do not regard lightly the discipline of Yahweh, or lose heart when you are punished by Him; for Yahweh disciplines those whom He loves, and chastises every child whom He accepts" (Heb.12:5-6, NRSV).

Know also that adversity does not always come as punishment, tempting though it is sometimes to see it that way in order to make quick sense of chaos and suffering. In these cases, we find ourslves - quite naturally - asking why. Why didn't Yahweh stop the train or car that crashed? Why didn't He redirect the forest fire that burned down our home? Why didn't He halt the tornado or hurricane? Why didn't He stop a spouse from abandoning the marriage, or a child from dying? And once you start asking such questions, you come up against one of the grand mysteries that surrounds Yahweh's Sovereignty.

Sometimes it can be because we weren't listening to Him. A friend of mine was driving down a California highway years ago with his family onboard and the Ruach (Spirit) told Him: 'Pull up'. He pulled up and waited, even though it was only legal to do this in an emergency, and nothing was wrong with his car or the people inside. Then, after a minute, the Ruach (Spirit) told him to drive on but very slowly. Ahead was a massive traffic pile up with much destruction, injury and death. He delivers us like that too, just as He is willing to deliver His people, who will listen, from the terrible judgment which is at our doorsteps.

But He doesn't do this always, again for reasons we will never fathom this side of eternity. Sometimes calamity is what is needed in someone's life to awaken them. Sometimes it is simply someone's homecoming time. I don't want you to think that we have all the answers because we don't. We don't know all the 'why's and wherefore's' in life. I have so many questions about personal tragedies that remain unanswered, and I know many of you do too. Every single living soul has deep sorrows they carry around with them and all we can do is give them a listening ear when they want it and lots of empathy.

The important thing is, as I was saying yesterday, we know how we can come to know who Elohim (God) is and what His nature is. Do you remember what was said yesterday about learning to fear Yahweh and what that means? I listed seven steps to coming to know Him:

• 1. Becoming aware of His presence;
• 2. Having a sense of awe of His Person;
• 3. Becoming attracted to His personality;
• 4. Adoring the perfection of His character;
• 5. Accepting His authority over our lives;
• 6. Seeking out His approval; and finally - sometimes the hardest part of all -
• 7. Accepting His will.

And we ended by examining the three devotional activities that will enable this to happen:

• 1. Prayer;
• 2. Scripture Study, and
• 3. Submission to human authorities placed over us by Him.

Like David in the Psalms, Jeremiah openly displays his humanity for all to see, his strengths and weaknesses. We all have them and must learn to live with them, because no one else will outside our own families and the Family of Yahweh, as we individually and collectively "work out []our salvation with fear and trembling" (Phil.2:12, NIV).

These are going to be very tough days ahead and Yahweh, in His mercy, is warning us so that we can adequately prepare, not just in terms of getting provisions and a place of safety organised, but getting us to prepare our minds and hearts too. For warnings such as these do help - they do soften the blow - if you're willing to receive them early enough and give them time to settle. There are going to be so many people who are not going to be prepared - not remotely - who will need those who are prepared to help them, if they will then listen. So you are also prepping to become ministers. If, by then, they will not listen, then there will be nothing you can do to help them other than to pray for them.

So our friend, the navi (prophet), was quite moody, wasn't he?! Remember that our moods, whether exalted or in the depths of darkness, never prove to be permanent. They wax and wane like the moon. We must just be sure that they don't rule us but make them subject to the will and presence of the Father so that they do not topple us or cause us to act rashly. And then, by the by, those moods will steady until we have become like Him in the ways of our mind and heart. We will have become images of the Ruach haMashiach (Spirit of Messiah).