Chag sameach Shavu'ot kol beit Yisra'el, Mishpachah Lev-Tsiyon and Chaverim! Welcome to this very special assembly on this high sabbath day, the culmination of the long Omer Count of exactly 7 sabbaths plus 50 days since we assembled to celebrate Yom haBikkurim, the Day of Firstfruits, which this year is a total of 101 days (51 + 50) which in Hebrew counting can be rounded off to 100, like 99. I make a point of underscoring the importance of the number 100 today for reasons you will understand presently. This is the first of a three part-long message which will continue into tomorrow regular Sabbath and the day after which is Rosh Chodesh.

Shavu'ot is one of those interesting divine moedim (appointmentments) or feasts of Yahweh that goes by several names. In English this properly traslates as the Feast of Weeks because of the Omer Count (Ex.34:22) but has also acquired the misleading Greek-derived designation, 'Pentecost' which is half of the count of 50 and not the full 100 which in Greek would be 'Ekatost'. And unfortunately the word 'Pentecost' has come to acquire additional meanings thanks to a modern branch of 20th century Protestantism that names itself after this Greek word and is now associated with 'speaking in tongues'.

Of course, nothing like the incoherent blabbering or gibberish (known in Greek by the word battalogeo) that one finds in modern charismatic meetings took place on this the better and properly-called 'Feast of Weeks'. What transpired on that day after the first believers were filled with the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit), along with tongues of fire resting on their heads, was the gift of speaking supernaturally in the known, coherent languages of the Roman Empire commonly spoken by the Yehudim (Judahites, Jews) scattered in its several provinces who had gathered together for this mandatory Pilgrim Festival in Jerusalem during the summer. You'll find them all carefully listed by Luke - there were, namely, the languages spoken by the "Parthians, Medes, Elamites, Mesopotamians, Judeans, Cappadocians, Pontians, Asians, Phrygians, Pamphilians, Egyptians, Libyan Cyrenes, Roman Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs" (Ac.2:9-11). A careful reading of Acts 2 therefore tells this truth, without any controversy - nobody, I repeat, nobody, spoke batalogean gibberish on that first Messianic Shavu'ot, Weeks or 'Pentecost'. The first 'Pentecostals', even we even have the right to call them that, only spoke the established languages of the day. Thus the denomination styling itself 'pentecostal' is a fraud for they do not do, except on very, very rare occasions when they speak the gospel message in a known modern language like Dutch or Mandarin to an unbeliever. A more true name for modern 'Pentecostals' would be 'Corinthians' for they too were lawless and undisciplined like modern Pentecostals, causing a major headache for Paul.

We therefore have a sacred obligation to restore the original meaning and intent of this ancient Israelite divine moed or appointment with Yahweh and to get ourselves well clear of the extra meanings superimposed upon it by Protestant charismatics. To do that properly we must consider other names by which Shavu'ot was also known, of which there are four or five that are named in Scripture. In Hebrew these are as follows:

• 1. Chag haAtzif or the Day of Ingathering (Ex.34:22);
• 2. Reshit Bikkurim or the Feast of Latter Fruits or Secondfruits (Ex.23:19; 34:26; Dt.26:2);
• 3. Chetzir Kittim/Chag haKazir or the Day of Congregation (Ex.23:16); and
• 4. Divrei haB'rit or the Giving of the Words of the Covenant (Ex.34:28).

These are profoundly significant, not least, prophetic nuances of Shavu'ot, the Feast of Weeks as we shall from now on accurately call it and not the distorted Greek translation of it. The Feast is arrived at, as we have seen, by the careful counting of 7 sabbaths after Yom haBikkurim or the Day of Firstfruits plus an additional 50 days, bringing us to the Day of Secondfruits. What 'fruits' are these? There are the Wheat Harvest at Shavu'ot which follow on from the Barley Harvest at Yom haBikkurim. The Day of Thirdfruits follows in the Autum with Sukkot or the Feast of Tabernacles and corresponds to the Grape Harvest. What this tells us, importantly - is something that is usually missed - and it is that Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ), who is the "firstfruits of the resurrection" (1 Cor.15:20), is also the second- and thirdfruits too. In other words, 'bearing fruit' - something all talmidim (disciples) are commanded to do (Jn.15:5) - occurs in three stages with three separate crop ripenings in the Israelite agricultural cycle, that correspond to the three Pilgrim Festivals of Israel:

• 1. Pesach (Passover) Season, which contains Yom haBikkurim (Firstfruits = Barley harvest);
• 2. Shavu'ot (Weeks or Secondfruits = Wheat harvest); and
• 3. Sukkot (Tabernacles/Booths or Thirdfruits = Grape harvest).

Yahweh commands:

"The choicest if the first fruits of your soil you shall bring to the House of Yahweh, your Elohim (God)" (Ex.23:19).

All good things around us are sent from heaven above,
O praise Yahweh, O praise Yahweh, and thank Him for His love.

That's why we have gathered here at Shavu'ot too. We are essentially here now to present ourselves, that is to say, what we have brought forth since the New Year (Aviv 1) and Yom haBikkurim, respectively - the fruits of our labours for the Kingdom, as an offering with thanks to Yahweh. We do this silently in prayer when we gather for Shavu'ot in preparation of that Great Day when we present our completed lives before our Creator at the Last Judgment represented by the moed called Yom haKippurim (or Yom Kippur for short) in readiness for the final Festival of Yahweh called Sukkot or the Feast of Tabernacles where we will celebrate with the Saviour physically one day having given an account of our stewardship at the last Yom haKippurim.

This same idea is contained within the famous Parable of the Talents told by Yah'shua (Jesus) (Mt.18:24; 25:14). There, you will recall, three men were each given a different number of bags, weight or talents of gold coins to invest while their Master was absent. Upon His return, when they give account, they are effectively presenting the fruits of their investment of those gifts they have received (Mt.25:14-30) and were rewarded with a different number of cities to rule. So what we do with our lives in service to the Master is our investment or consecration of our gifts and works. This is not something that you or I can possibly quantify, of course, nor should we ever attempt to, nor should we ever try to 'compete' with one another by reading our lists of what we have accomplished for the Kingdom. This is entirely between us indiviually and Yahweh, for judgment is something Almighty Elohim (God) does and then rewards His servants. You'll remember in the parable the man given 5 bags (each bag would have weighed somewhere between 35 to 45 kilograms) doubled them to 10 bags, the one given 2 bags doubled them to 4, and the one given 1 bag did nothing. His uninvested 1 bag was given to the one with 10, giving him 11 bags in all.

There are two phases to the Festival of Shavu'ot or Weeks, the first taking place at Mount Sinai under the leadership of Moses under the Old Covenant, and the second taking place under the New Covenant in Jerusalem under the leadership of the 12 Apostles:

• 1. The first was the giving of the Torah and is sometimes called Simchat Torah or the 'Joy of Torah', the commandments that form the Constitution of Israel; and

• 2. The second was the giving of the Ruach haQodesh or Holy Spirit at the first Messianic Shavu'ot traditionally called 'Pentecost', enabled by the resurrection of Christ which was the power to preach or share the Besorah, Gospel or the Good News of Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) to the convicting of souls to salvation.

To give further clarity on this I would like to spend a little time showing how the error of 'replacement theology' - the 'church' supposedly replacing Israel - crept into orthodoxy, so-called, when in truth the rulership of earthly Israel was visibly transferred to the legitimate heir, Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ), who became its Eternal King with a fulfilled or completed New Covenant Torah Constitution. That is why we now call Israel, 'Messianic Israel', for its King has come and will return again a second time - it is Messiah ruling Israel, not getting rid of it nor allegedly 'nailing its Constitution to the cross' and thus 'doing away with it', a massive error that has deceived millions, but rather bringing it under the rulership of the original Order of Melchizedek, replacing the temporary Levitical, Aaronic or Mosaic one. That is what the Epistle to the Hebrews explains, showing that the old Levitical system of mortal human High Priests has been replaced by the Eternal Cohen Gadol, the sinless High Priest, Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ), who Himself became the final sacrifice, thus eliminating the need for further animal sacrifices or an Old Covenant-type temple in which they were originally performed. The New Temple is the Body of Christ - all genuine, Messiah-trusting and commandment-keeping, spiritually regenerated believers. Today we gather, by command, to celebrate just that and to renew our own covenants of obedience to the Father.

To make that even clearer than before, I would like to correct a common error that is made by most Christians that claims the Old Covenant was given by inferior 'angels' and the New Covenant was given in its place by the superior Christ. To do that I am going to read three New Testament passages which seem to give this impression because of the way the Greek translator has rendered the original Hebrew or Aramaic. We'll use the New King James Version (NKJV) for this purpose as it is representative of what I mean:

• "Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. For if the word spoken through angels (Gk. aggelos) proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Master (Lord), and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, Elohim (God) also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit), according to His own will?" (Heb.2:1-4, NKJV - Evidence Bible, p.1753).

• "You stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit); as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the nevi'im (prophets) did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, who have received the Torah (law) by the direction of angels (Gk. aggelos) and have not kept it" (Ac.7:51-53, NKJV - Evidence Bible, p.1557).

• "What purpose then does the Torah (law) serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels (Gk. aggelos) by the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but Elohim (God) is one (echad)" (Gal.3:19-20, NKJV- Evidence Bible, p.1678).

Now there are lots of translation issues with these passages which you would expect given it has passed through the koine Greek language sieve. Remember that Greek words and the Tanakh (Old Testament) Semitic languages (Hebrew & Aramaic) are not always equivalent and had a prior use in a pagan context, which the Semitic laguages did not. For this reason we shall be going back to the Hebrew scriptures, especially when the Greek translator is rendering these as quotations into Greek. Three words in particular concern us in these passages, namely:

• 'angels';
• 'law'; &
• 'mediator'.

• 1. The Jewish New Testament by David H. Stern (based on Greek manuscripts - MSS); and
• 2. The Hebraic-Roots Version 'New Testament' by James S. Trimm (based on Aramaic MSS) or as an alternative (my second choice), the Aramaic New Testment by Gabriel Roth (also based on Aramaic MSS).

We don't today have the time today to get into the meaning of the partially misleading English word 'law' in the Bible which in the New Testament translates five different kinds of 'law' and not just the Hebrew commandments. Thus one Greek word, noumos, renders renders a whole swathe of different kinds of law, including Roman Law and the false "tradition of the elders" (today called the Talmud) thus, as I'm sure you'll agree, unintentionally obscuring some important distinctions. This is where the Aramaic MSS become important. Most of you in this congregation (MLT - Mishpachah Lev-Tsiyon) are blessed to have access to copies of the Jewish New Testament which brings out these differences and how Paul, in particular, uses them. It contains a very useful short explanation in the Preface (pp.xxii-xv) and/or you can go to our website on New Covenant Torah where you will find many useful in-depth articles on the subject.

What I mostly want to focus on today, before I share the prophetic word I have been given, is the confusing English word 'angel' which is borrowed indirectly from the Greek aggelos and directly from the Latin angelus (from which we get the English name 'Angela'). This is all thanks to the influence of the Roman Catholic Church over the centuries before the Reformation. There are two Hebrew words that commonly get translated into our English word angel (or Scandinavian engel)/ängel) both of which can mean other beings - divine and human - too, with only the context to show you which is being referred to:

Elohim
• 1. The first is 'elohim' (or El, Elah or Eloah in the singular) which literally translates to 'powers' or 'mighty ones' which can variously refer to:

  • a. The Heavenly Father, Yahweh;
  • b. The Son, Yah'shua (Jesus);
  • c. The Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit);
  • d. The whole Elohimhead/Godhead (Father, Son and Holy Spirit);
  • e. Faithful angels;
  • f. Unfaithful angels (demons);
  • g. Human Israelite rulers, judges or magistrates; or
  • h. Faithful believers in heaven in authority (the 'B'nai Elohim' and 'Council of Yah's elohim').

  to name but eight of them that I can think of off the top of my head.
  The Strange Origins of 'God' and 'LORD'

  Even the word 'God' is misleading because it's borrowed from the name of an Indo-European pagan deity called Ghodh which has sexual connotations, a reason why many messianics refuse to use it. (Many Messianic Jews tend to write it as 'G-d' but this is out of an old non-biblical Jewish superstition never to pronounce the name of deity out loud - hence they never speak His true name 'Yahweh' except at Yom Kippur. Instead they refer to Him by the Tetragrammaton consonants, YHWH or in modern Hebrew, YHVH). And though technically 'God' is just a title we tend to use it as a sort of quasi-name. That's why we are commanded to call upon Him using His Name - Yahweh. The substitution 'LORD' made in most English Bibles isn't a mame either but a title - do you see how our translations have depersonalised Him? Thus when the English Bible says "LORD God" it's just two impersonal titles strong together and makes no distinction between the Father and the Son. Were we translating "LORD God" properly it should read "Mighty One, Yahweh". That's quite a difference and much more personal. We don't even use the word 'lord' in everyday conversation now except when referring to some aristocrat, or the British 'House of Lords' or some Science Fiction character like 'Lord Vader'!

  Malak

• 2. The second Hebrew word is that we translate 'angel' is malak (or malakim in the plural) which literally translates as 'messenger' and can refer to two different classes of being:

  • i. Supernatural creatures (what we call 'angels'); or
  • ii. Human beings.

  Thus in the second and third chapters of the Book of Revelation, prophetic words are addressed to, for example, "the angel (aggelos) of the church at Ephesus" (Rev.2:1, NKJV) whereas the Aramaic reads, "to the messenger of the assembly at Ephesus" (HRV) - the JNT refers to it as the local 'messianic community', a term which we Messianic Evangelicals commonly use, but 'congregation' or 'assembly' or 'fellowship' (Gk. koinonia) or even the Hebrew kehilah will do too.
  Humans Don't Get Revelations from Yahweh for Angels!

  Since it makes no sense that a mortal - John the Revelator - would receive a revelation for a supernatural being or 'angel' in the traditional sese (they get their marching orders direct from Yahweh) a human messenger or agent can only be meant here, which more than likely would be the presiding elder or pastor of each local congregation to whom epistles from the apostles would be sent to then have read out in his congregation...or the actual messenger himself would read it with all the intonations and emphases of the original writer which he will have heard when it was read back to him before he left. From the Greek reading of aggelos as an 'angel' all sorts of speculative theologies have arisen, such as there being a 'guardian angel' of each congregation which is possible (because nations have ruling malakim/angels) though there is no direct evidence that this is the meaning here. Again, why would a divine being (a little higher in authority) receive a word from heaven from a moral (a little lower in authority)?

So hopefully you now better understand some of the problems translators have. In this ministry we tend to prefer to use the word malakim for supernatural messengers as the meaning is clearer. We don't use Hebrew words to 'show off', as some accuse, but to convey accurate meaning. It's for that reason in our writings we always reserve the Hebrew word Elohim (spelled with with a capital 'E') for members of the Godhead out of respect (as with the prepositions 'He' and 'Him' with a capital 'H') but write elohim (with a small 'e') for all of the rest, a simple but convenient rule even though there are no upper or lower case letters in Hebrew, Aramaic or Greek. By this means we can bring proper order to the biblical text, avoid diluting or confusing meanings. We must alays strive for accuracy because imprecision frequently leads to false traditions and heresy and enables us to recover important lost truths.

All of this brings us to another controversy between Evangelicals and Messianics which we now have the keys to resolve. Where did the Old Covenant, and in particular the mitzvot (commandments), come from? From a misunderstanding of what, or who, malakim, elohim or 'angels' are, there is a spectrum of belief that has contributed in a major way to the denominational divisions we see today, which does not please our Heavenly Father. Satan is the author of division and dissent (1 Cor.14:33) which he started by setting Adam and Eve against each other, and both of them against Yahweh. At the very beginning, the Messianic Community or 'Church' was echad or one or "of one accord" (Phil.2:2), united and harmonious. There were, as would be expected, disagreements and occasionally fleshy personality clashes in the beginning, as between Paul and Barnabas (Ac.15:36-41), but by and large these were resolved in a mature and pleasing way to Yahweh. By the time we come to the end of the New Testament, there are already some divisions, with some congregations separting themselves from the apostles (like that of Diotrephes - 3 Jn.1:9-10) which lead Paul early on to plead:

"Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Ruach (Spirit), if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others" (Phil.2:1-4, NKJV).

As we have seen one of the earliest clashes came between Gentile and Talmudist converts. Coming to a joint undertanding was not easy, as is true of any culture when it interfaces with another. We have seen what happened in Rome after Claudius expelled all the Jews and what happened when Jewish Christians returned to find an all-gentile Roman congregation. The ex-pagan Roman believers had had the congregation to themselves for seven years and during that time they had forged a separate idententity based on several doctrinal presuppositions that were not entirely correct. And as we have seen, the Talmudic converts were keen to hold onto their rabbinical traditions in additon to the Torah. One of the gentile justifications for being 'separate' from Judaism was a belief that must have arisen very early that not only was the whole Levitical System now fulfilled in Christ (as was true) but that the whole Torah was set aside too, leaving nothing from the Tanakh (Old Testament) not specifically reaffirmed in the emerging New Testament writings of the apostles, including many of the commandments.

This is the view of Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and the cluster of Protestant Churches that have since appeared on the stage of history over the past 500 years. All of them - and this is key - claim that the Old Covenant was established by 'angels' and was therefore inferior and imperfect (in some cases, they considered these angels to be downright evil - I speak of the gnostics here who taught that the angelic leader was someone called 'Yahweh' whom they mockingly called the 'Demiurge' who was imperfect in love and lesser in glory than Christ who had now 'supplanted' him in what ammouned to a coup d'état. Though you won't hear this language being used by modern Protestants, it's a 2,000 year-old assumption which they have lost sight of altogether. And as the old addage says, "cultural traditions are what remain after you have forgotten why you do the things you do in that culture". And though they would balk at the suggestion, there has been am overlap between Roman Christianity and Gnosticism.

Cast your minds back now to the three passages of scripture we began with today - Hebrews 2:1-4, Acts 7:51-53 and Galatians 3:3:19-20 and you will recall that these give the very distinct impression that 'angels' did indeed bring the Torah to Moses all by themselves, which respectively were, "the word spoken through angels", "the Torah (law) by the direction of angels" and "appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator". At first sight it does look as though angels introducted the First Covenant, leaving open the suspicious that this might have been flawed in some way and therefore lending justification to new pagan Christians to set-aside the mitzvot (commandments) to make way for their own 'Christianised' pagan traditions.

Now I am not necessarily saying that during those 7 Claudian years the gentile believers started introducing Christianised pagan practices to create Christmas, Easter and all the other trappings of European Christianity we are familiar with for this was a long, gradual process of little compromises over the first three centuries. We all know how quickly we tend to make compromises with the world and the surrounding culture, that maintaining 'set-apartness' or 'holiness' in such surroundings requires a major effort, especially when you are in the minority in a culture and the socially dominant voices around you drown out yours out. The pressure to conform to the world will always be there. This is, however, how all apostacy begins, and if you take the time to carefully examine your own life if you've been around a couple of generations and have grandchildren, you may be shocked to see how you have changed not only for the better but also for the worse in a bid to please neighbours and make peace with them. Unfortunately not everyone has the same vision of the 'common good' as we do.

A process of change something like the one I have been speaking about clearly took place in the sub-apostolic era so that the original intent that the Body of Christ be Torah-obedient as Messianic Israel gradually changed, as gentiles became the majority again and as Jewish believers became acculturated to the ways of the Romans, Greeks and others, led to what we now call the 'Church' system. The Hebrew kehilah became the Greek ekklesia and Bible translations reflected that change so that when you pick up an English translation of the Bible you would think that the 'church', and all the theological underpinnings of that word, had always been there from the the very beginning. Thus where the King James Version 'Jesus' said, "thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Mat.16:18, KJV), the antquity of the word 'church' would hardly be questioned. For, you see, the one instructed in his Sunday School class, hearing preachers and daily conversation in which the word 'church' is used exclusively, not having been informed of the historical changes made over the centuries, quite understandably comes to accept that 'Jesus' established his 'church' with all that the word 'church' implies to a Protestant or a Catholic.

So when you get your first copy of the Jewish New Testament (JNT) and read, "you are Kefa (Gk. Cephas) (which means 'Rock', and on this rock I will build my Community, and the gates of Sh'ol will not overcome it," or your first copy of the Hebraic Roots Version (HRV) or the Institute for Scripture Research Version (ISRV) which read, "you are Kefa, and upon this rock I will build my assembly", or another one I have which reads, "...I will restore my congregation" (RSTNE) you're not only going to get confused but assume that your KJV (or whatever version you use) is the 'original' and these versions have presumptuously changed things by somehow translating your KJV (or earlier version like the Geneva Bible if you use that) into modern Jewish or Hebrew words, when the truth is the other way round.

Just try inserting 'community', 'assembly', 'congregation' or 'kehilah' into a Catholic, Lutheran or Anglican catechism, and it will sound strange and disjunctive because of unfamiliarity and because there is a clash of concepts. If you're a Protestant you're unlikely to come across such terms unless you train in a Seminary and even then you may still come away with the idea that 'church' is the more ancient an correct term. What you'll never be told, unless per chance you attend a liberal seminary, is that our English word 'church' (like the German 'kirche', the Scottish 'kirk', and the Scandinavian 'kirke' and 'kyrka') comes from a pagan agricultural god called Circe from which we also get another related English word, 'circus'. You would be horrified to learn how many pagan deities have found their way both into our language and into our religious terminology - 'church' and 'angel' are just two of them.

My purpose today is to show you how words and meanings get changed over time and how easy it is to lose the original sense, thereby creating ever newer theologies and traditions which over the centuries can get quite multi-layered, making them hard to disentangle. It takes but one generation to make an important change, as we're seeing socially and politically today as the West goes 'woke'. Many of our people quite understandably and correctly interact a great deal with other Christians and Messianics and surprise themlseves at how quickly they slip into new habits when using the vocabulary of others. The problem is not so much the change of words themselves but the way others use them, thus giving them different meanings. An English word like 'salvation' means different things to different people - a Calvinist means something very different to Provisionists like oursevlves and most other Evangelicals. That is why I always go to great lengths to give the original Hebraic words when I write and speak even if it means my sermons and writings can be longer than I would like them to be. We have got to preserve original meanings by making the effort otherwise we will end up using the same vocabulary as other believers but have very different meanings.

For instance, I have noticed how Calvinists dominate the world of memes on social media and how much of their theology gets transmitted when non-Calvinists see a nice meme and share it not knowing they are inadvertantly spreading Calvinism. The Jehovah's Witnesses are in this 'game' too spreading their mutilated New World Translation (NWT) without those who share their memes knowing what they are doing. And both choose very beautiful artwork which is naturally attractive...just like the fruit the Serpent offered Eve which was "pleasant to the eyes" (Gen.3:6, NKJV). So before you know it, you find yourself regurgitating the doctrines of cults learned uncritically from online memes! Since we are online so much nowadays it is to be expected that we are going to be bombarded with subtle propaganda. Even the Seventh Day Adventists do it with quotations from their founder, Ellen G. White, without mentioning her name so that you get Adventist doctrine served you thinking you are listening to some Evangelical preacher.

So what of these 'angels' and their connection to the bringing forth of the Torah? Are the passages in Hebrews 2:1-4, Acts 7:51-53 and Gal.3:19-20 actually telling us that 'angels' are the authors of the Torah as though given some sort of autonomy to do as they saw fit to help mankind along the way a little further down the evolutionary road or were they part of something bigger? Or were they just part of an authority structure a little further down the chain of command? To answer that question, let's first go to Psalm 68:

"Why do you fume with envy, you mountains of many peaks?
This is the mountain which Elohim (God) desires to dwell in;
Yes, Yahweh will dwell in it forever.

"The chariots of Elohim (God) are twenty thousand,
Even thousands of thousands;
Yahweh is among them as in Sinai, in the Qadosh (Holy, Set-Apart) Place"
(Ps.68:16-17, NKJV).

Immediately we see that the malakim (angels) at Sinai were not alone! Yahweh was there! Now whether He was there representationally - in other words whether He wasn't actually there but being represented by the malakim (angels) - or whether He was actually present, in person, too is not so important as the fact that this was not some kind of 'independent angel project'. The idea of a malak (angel) representing Yahweh and even speaking as though he were Yahweh, is perfectly biblical. The malak (angel) who Jacob wrestled with at Peniel acted in that capacity such that Jacob could confess that he had actually wrestled with Yahweh, the Almighty Elohim (God) (Gen.32:22ff.)!

Likewise, when the Father gave all authority throughout the cosmos to the Son in the New Covenant (Mt.28:18) it didn't mean that Yahweh was stepping down or 'retiring' as 'God' and handing over everything to Yah'shua (Jesus) though you might think so given how little the Father is mentioned in some Protestant circles, though that is not surprising since nearly all our English Bibles have lost His name altogether and when He is called "LORD" no one knows whether it is the Father or Son being spoken of: rather, the Son received authority as a plenipotentiary, as an ambassadtr does when he goes abroad for a stint in another country representing his Sovereign, and what he says and does might then just as well be the Sovereign speaking and acting, so great is his authority. And as the ambassador ceases having that authority to independently act, according to his brief, in behalf of his King or President or Prime Minister, when he returns home from abroad, so we're told Christ Himself will return His authority to Father Yahweh when all of Yahweh's enemies have been subdued at the end of the æon or age:

"Then comes the end, when He (christ) delivers the kingdom to Elohim (God) the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet" (1 Cor.15:24-26, NKJV).

This at once demolishes a false Godhead doctrine espoused by Unitarians and United Pentecostal folks who insist that there is only one 'God' called 'Jesus' who changes 'hats' as Father, Son and Holy Ghost in different situation. In scholarly circles this teaching is known as 'Modalistic Monarchism' and is the doctrine of the Book of Mormon and the early Mormon Church before it became polytheistic during its Nauvoo phase. This is a perfect example of a man-made doctrine that rests on some mightly big false assumptions about the relationship between the members of the Elohimhead (Godhead).

What the Psalmist says in Psalm 68 is very important because the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible, itself also called the 'Torah' [1]) does not apparenly teach this doctrine of angels - it is a later understanding - and it is for this reason the Sadducees rejected everything that came after the Pentateuch (the Nevi'im (Prophets) and the Kethuvim (Writings)), as do their modern day successors, the Samaritans. So where did the Psalmist get this teaching - by direct inspiration or derived from the Pentateuch?

Turn with me now, if you would to Deuteronomy 33 - I shall be reading from the Aleph-Tav Old Testament translation (ATOT) of Gregory T. Richter which includes words and short phrases left untranslated by nearly all others because scholars don't know what they mean. Please note the Alef-Taw , the Divine Signiature of the Saviour (Rev.1:8; 21:6; 22:13) throughout the Tanakh (Old Testament), which appears in the first verse, marking the children of Israel as His, itself evidence (as we shall presently see) that the pre-incarnate Messiah was present at the First Shavu'ot (Feast of Weeks):

"This is the blessing with which Moses the man of Elohim (God) blessed the children of Israel before his death. He said:

"Yahweh came from Sinai, and rose from Seir to them.
He shone from Mount Paran. He came from the ten thousands [of holy ones ('saints' - NKJV)]. At His right hand was a fiery law (torah) for them.
Yes, He loves the people. All His saints (qodeshim, set-apart ones, holy ones) are in Your hand. They sat down at Your feet. Each receives Your devarim (words).
Moses commanded us a law (torah), an inheritance for the assembly of Jacob" (Dt.33:1-4, ATOT).

Therefore make a mental note of who is present during the Exodus and especially the Sinai Gathering at Shavu'ot (Weeks):

• 1. Yahweh, the Father (Psalm 68);
• 2. The Alef-Taw, the pre-incarnate Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ);
• 3. Moses; and
• 4. Ten thousands of 'holy ones', a term which we need to clarify.

Now you will notice in your NKJV (& KJV) that in both verses 2 and 3 the word 'saints' or qoedeshim is used, which means 'holy ones' or 'set-apart ones'. So why in the ATOT translation I read you is 'holy ones' is used in verse 2 whereas 'saints' is used in verse 3? They both essentially mean the same thing. Other versions make this distinction strange too...strange if they are essentriall the same. But they are apparently not for the New English Bible (NEB) adds the footnote, that this translates "myriads of holiness". To make things even more confusing, the NIV reads 'holy ones' in both verses as does the NRSV. So what on earth is going on here? Surely this can't be difficult to resolve. It's important because if 'saints' or qodeshim is right, then in both verses it is mortal human beings being spoken of. But if it is supernatural 'angels', as the Septuagint (LXX) claims, then something else is going on here.

Here's are the facts:

• 1. There is, actually, NO WORD AT ALL for 'saints', 'holy ones' or anothing else in the Hebrew original of verse 2, so most translators assume that it is pointing forward to verse 3 which reads 'qodeshim' or 'saints' (holy ones, set-apart ones);

• 2. This would not be a problem except that the Septuagint (LXX), the authorised Greek translation of the Tanakh or Old Testament, which is the Old Testament of the Eastern Orthodox Church (there is even a school of thought which claims Greek was the original language of the Hebrews, believe it or not, and that therefore Greek definitely is what Christ and the apostles spoke and therefore the New Testament was originally written in Greek as most orthodox Christians believe) - the LXX writes 'mighty ones', that is to say, it is translating the word elohim. Accordingly, the LXX traslates vs.2 as 'angels'!

  Why? Why, if there was no word there, didn't they do as nearly all English Bibles do and assume it's the same word as in verse 3, namely, qodeshim, that is to say, the sanctfified children of Israel gathered at Sinai? You see, in modern Eastern Orthodox translations of the Bible into English (I use the standard Orthodox Study Bible used throughout the English-speaking world) goes ahead and boldly writes "angels" in v.2 and "sanctified ones" in verse 3 (another was of translating the Hebrew qodeshim. So clearly the LXX is talking about two entirely different groups of being - one supernatural (v.2) and the other human (v.3).

  The only explanation that makes any sense of this deliberate choice of nouns is that the original Hebrew Tanakh, which the Greek scholars used to make their authorised translation of the Old Testament for Greek-speaking Jews throughout the Empire, was originally worded this way because there was originally a word in verse 2 and it was either elohim or malakim, but not qodeshim as in verse 3. And if that is true, then someone has later dropped a Hebrew word on purpose, and I am guessing it must have been the slippery Masoretes who went and changed verses that supported the claim that Yah'shua (Jesus) was the Messiah. If not them, then who? If this thesis is true then we would expect to find two main sets of Hebrew manuscripts (MSS) in circulation which different Bible translations make use of and this is actually the case. Messianic Evangelicals always defer to the oldest of these, the Dead Sea Scrools/Qumran version

Clearly the business of there being angels involved at Sinai was not liked by the later Jewish authorities for some reason. Was it solely because the writer of Hebrews and Luke and Paul or Acts and 1 Corithians, respectively, specifically mentioned 'angels' in the 3 passages in both Greek and Aramaic we have looked at and they wished to distance themselves from any and all Christian claims? But which original Hebrew word in the Tanakh (Old Testament) were these writers citing: elohim or malakim? And if it was elohim, how do we know 'angels' is the right translation into English? For you will recall that the word 'elohim' can be translated 8 different ways.

Now we can start by eliminating references to Father, Son and Holy Spirit, as well as to demons which don't fit Deuteronomy 33:2. That only leavs supernatural malakim or 'angels', the heavenly Council of Yah's Elohim, or the Israelites rulers and judges who were at Sinai? We can eliminate the latter because they would be numbered amongst the human 'saints' or 'qodeshim' of verse 3 so we are left with the intruiging throught that it was regular 'angels' or the entire Council of Yah's Elohim which would have included righteous malakim (angels) too and the spirits of the departed saints in heaven who were present at that amazing event at Sinai and Yahweh's pre-incarnate children. Either could be true. Importantly, though, what we are forced to come away with from this admittedly long and technical study is that the whole of the heavens were present at that event, whether literally or representationally, including you and me! Either way, the giving of Torah, one of the two things we celebrate today, wasn't just some private 'angel project' that was imperfect or (worse) deviant in some way (as the gnostics would have us believe) but had the whole approbation of heaven! The First Shavu'ot was witnessed by ALL of us, and that surely confers a very special status on Father's Torah!

Do you see what I am trying to say here? Do you see why someone (read, 'the devil') would want us to believe that Torah has been done away with as some second-rate angel project, as is believed by the vast bulk of Catholics, Protestants and Eastern Orthodox? This is why there are so many varient readings of verse 2 in the Syriac, Vulgate, Targum and Masoretic Text used by Judaism and most of Christianity, all of whom use something like the Jewish Publication Society's (JPS) English translation of the Old Testament in making our English Old Testaments. So I would like to suggest the missing (removed) word in verse two is actually elohim and that it is referring to the Council of Yah's Elohim which contains both the immortal Godhead of Father, Son and Holy Spirit as well as all the faithful malakim (angels) and all children of the first resurrection-to-come, both unincarnated still and formerly incarnated but now (because they have died) as spirit-beings.

Can we back this claim up elsewhere? Yes, with John's testimony in the Book of Revelation!

"And I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who have the victory over the beast, over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of Elohim (God). They sing the song of Moses, the servant of Elohim (God) (Dt.32), and the song of the Lamb, saying:

'Great and marvelous are Your works,
Yahweh-Elohim (Lord God) Almighty!
Just and true are Your ways,
O King of the qodeshim (saints), holy ones, set-apart ones, sanctified ones!
Who shall not fear You, O Yahweh, and glorify Your name?
For You alone are qadosh (holy, set-apart, sanctified).
For all nations shall come and worship before You,
For Your judgments have been manifested" (Rev.15:2-4, NKJV).

Please notice the order of the two parts of the Song of the Redeemed, reflecting (a) both the seniority of the members of the Elohimhead (Godhead) responsible for each (the Father, who gave the Torah to Moses, and the Son who is the Lamb and Incarnate Elohim), on the one hand, and (b) the historical or chronological order of events (first the giving of Torah at Sinai, and second, the First Coming of the Son), on the other:

• a. The Song of Moses; and
• b. The Song of the Lamb (Christ).

These are the two components of Shavu'ot which are seen to be eternal, not the latter replacing or substitutng for the former in the way the First (Old) Covenant replaced the Second (New):

• i. The giving of Israel's Constitution on Sinai, the Torah; and
• ii. The anointing of Israel with the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit), making it Messianic Israel (Acts 2).

What all of this means is that there are Five Levels of Authority and Chain if Command corresponding to four groups of being which is how we must visualise the Elohim in its completeness:

• 1. Yahweh (the Eternal Father & Mother Ruach/Spirit)
• 2. Yah'shua (the Eternal Son, Jesus, the 'Right Hand of Authority')
• 3. Malakim (Created Angels, faithful Supernatural Messengers of the Council of Yah's Elohim)
• 4. Moses (the Lawgiver, Created Navi/Prophet)
• 5. Humans (Created 1st resurrection saints of the Council of Yah's Elohim)

Now more research work needs to be done to fill this out more fully that I have neither the time nor energy to do that includes the 12 Apostles (who 'appear', as it were, at the head of the humans in category #5, and in connection with the Second or Messianic Shavu'ot. An in-depth study also needs to be made of Exodus 19-20 and Deuteronomy 5 which as they stand in our English translations mention no 'angels' either, so someone needs to hunt down any references to elohim in threse three chapters. A deeper study also needs to be made of the rôles of the various senior malakim (angels), and especially Michael (who is the Leader of the Heavenly Hosts) and Gabriel (who has the custodianship of Israel - both Old and New Covenant Messianic Israel - specifically for its defence and care).

Brethren and sisters, this has been a very long and detailed - but very necessary - study, and quite possible the last I make as my strength gives out - of the original or First Shavu'ot showing its its New Covenant context, the original one being the giving of Father's Eternal Kingdom Constitution to Israel. The Second Shavu'ot - the Messianic Shavu'ot as we like to call it - does not replace the first one (other than to replace the Levitical System with the Melchizedek one) but completes it with the infilling or baptism of the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit). You cannot have the latter without the former and any claimed 'anointing' without the former must, by definitition, therefore, be COUNTERFEIT and FALSE.

The very visible pseudo-anointing that took place in Azuza Street, Los Angeles, California led by preacher William J. Seymour in 1906, with all its demonic batalogian 'tongues' definitely was - and still is - a counterfeit but can make no legitimate claim to being anything to do with the corporate covenant of Shavu'ot as evidenced by the fact that it is splintered into thousands of denominations! Evangelical Christianity is, however - however much Messianics might balk at the idea - spiritually the authentic Spring Season Gospel represented by Pesach (Passover), Chag haMatzah (Feast of Unleavened Bread) and Yom haBikkurim (Day of Firstfruits). It is 'infant, personal Christianity', the 'milk gospel', if you will (1 Cor.3:1ff.). Orthodox Protestant Christianity in its basic, non-denominational elements as represented by the Apostles' Creed, is authentic foundational Christianity (a reason Yahweh was most certainly behind the Reformation), BUT (and this is where is is dengerous) it also contains an antinomian, lawless, anti-Shavuot layer of teaching that has resulted in the confusion of the tens of thousands of ever multiplying denominations we see in the world today. What Protestantism has done, in reaction to the corruption of the false, paganised and highly demonised Catholic and Eastern Orthodox 'meat' gospel , is to deny the meal gospel altogether. It has erected a steel wall between the personal one-to-one Christianity of the Spring Festivals and the corporate Summer/Autumn Festivals beginning at Shavu'ot, condemning all those who cross it as 'legalists' trying to earn their salvation through works. We aren't, of course. In place of the Corporate side of Messianic Israel, Protestantism has invented its own ever-changing rule-based system (even though it denies it has any rules, a silly notion if ever there was one) with all the bizzare theologies to justify it like Calvinism and Pentecostalism.

What happened at Azuza Street in 1906 is a perfect example of believers racing ahead wanting all the gifts of the Ruach (Spirit) but without the Father's Instructions, Kingdom Constitution of King Yah'shua (Jesus), the Torah. These first Pentecostals were right in sensing something was 'missing' from the stuffy, lifeless Christianity bequeathed by the Victorian Christendom of the day which had grown cold and stuffy. They knew they needed the gifts of the first Messianic Shavu'ot at Jerusalem - as is true, because we do - but they sought to do so by bypassing the First Shavu'ot at Sinai! They assumed, in common with all the other denominations of Protestantism, that because the Old Covenant represented by the Levitical Priesthood was at an end that so too was the Old Testament as a whole with all its mitzvot (commandments). And the more extreme elements of Protestantism shoved everything before Acts into that waiste bin/trash can too! Indeed, the most radical Protestant groups of them all only use the Book of Acts because, they say, everything else was for the 'Jews', that 'other' supposed 'people of God' who are to be saved after they have been 'raptured' to heaven which, they claim, is who the Book of Revelation is for, not them!

The Pentecostal Movement' spin-off, the Charismatic Movement, is not only lawless to the core but outright satanic now. It is deeply saturated with heresy, its worst mass manifestation being the 'Prosperity Gospel'. The supposed 'Azuza Street revival' was the inevitable consequence of Torahless believers eagerly pursuing the supernatural gifts without the necessary Torah framework. They shouldn't have gone further than the Baptists and other cessationists (those who think the supernatural gifts like prophecy and healing ended with the death of the apostles). The American city where Pentecostalism started (Los Angeles) has since become a veritable spiritual cesspit. Along with its twin, San Francisco, it has become the Sodom & Gemorah of the USA. Had the Pentecostal Movement been rooted in the Torah the history of the United States and the world might have been very different indeed and we might have been spared from the worst elements of the political and social turmoil we currently find ourselves in. Azuza Street's intention was right but it's ground or starting point - a Protest against Rome's abuses (Protestantism) - was wrong.

America, with its emphasis on individualism and its deep mistrust of religious systems, was in any case an unsuitable place for it to begin. As it is, it is now part of the problem and not the solution to Evangelical Christianity's predicament and in so many ways believers are safer in some crusty Baptist Church than with. I'm guessing that's why Yahweh led me to the Baptists as a 'resting station' while He showed me what was to come because that was as far as Protestantism could legitimately go. John MacArthur, who died last week, represented symbolically the end of the usefulness of the Cessationist Movement of Protestant Churches, being taken home right in the middle of the Penultimate Judgment that we find ourselves in the very midst of now. Though most probably don't realise it, his death was a prophetic marker, signalling the beginning of a new work and a new anointing that kicks off today and culminates at Sukkot (Tabernacles) in early October. Nothing is accidental.

Please don't think I am singling out the Pentecostals - I am merely using them collectively as an illustration of New Covenant Shavu'ot ('Pentecost') gone down a wrong road. Much of the Messianic Movement is similarly off the rails. It has enthusiastically sung the Song of Moses not realising that their particular denominational sector has been infected by Talmudic Judaism and this has led many of them to effectively crush the spirit of the Spring Festivals, and to in many tragic cases reject Paul and his teachings - including a fuller Pauline understanding of the Deity of Christ, with some even rejecting the physical resurrection as New Age 'Christians' and Jehovah's Witnesses do, Messiah's blood atonement and much else besides, effectively cancelling their salvation.

Paul was, in any case, largely focussed on 'Spring Festival Christianity', a reason Evangelicals love him so much to the point of unconsciously raising him above Christ sometimes. The nascent, inexperienced first century Gentile Community needed this milk teaching desperately but got so hooked on it, like Protestants, that it shunned the meat, spiritually starved, and went hunting for it in wrong places (essentially returning to pagan vomit to make up for the deficit). Satan has got many radical Messianics to oppose all Evangelical Christians and the essential truth they possess because orthodox Christians refuse, for example, to use the proper divine names, and reject their paganised festivals.

In making a blanket rejection of Evangelical Christianity, non-charismatic as well as charismatic, these 'ultra-messianics' have thrown the baby out with the bathwater and have ended up with a sterile gospel themselves, into which all kinds of mischievous occultic spirits like those behind Kabbalism have crept in, making them legalists like the Talmudists (and all other false religionists) whom Christ opposed while yet paying lip-service to the Saviour. They are practically gnostics. The Messianic Movement is in apostacy itself for its own set of reasons. The few Messianics who have sought the spiritual gifts have simply grafted on the false spirits of Pentecostalism and are 'away with the fairies' like the charismatic, anti-Torah Protestants they quietly despise. Many of these - both Protestant and Messianic - are claiming to be the 'Remnant' whilst clinging on to the very things that are preventing them receiving the Remnant anointing they need. They are seeking 'revival' the Protestant way which can never go far enough because of that Great Steel Wall I spoke about between Yom haBikkurim and Shavu'ot. It's a reason why all revivals eventually peter out. Satan has done a good job making the task we have been given very hard indeed. But we are getting there, little by little. It takes time and we must be patient. That's one of several reasons why more time is needed before the Second Coming. There is so much preparation work to be done still.

There remain but two things left for me to do before we conclude this Sacred Assembly today. The first, as promised, is to share a prophetic word, and the second to do the main business of renewing our Torah covenant or entering into them for the first time. If the latter, then, following an interview to satisfy the elders that you are ready, you may become confirmed as a full member of the congregation which is your Bar- or Bat-Mitzvah if you are at least 12 years old and may thereafter partake of the Master's (Lord's) Supper.

Brethren and sisters, we shall end there for today and resume this important message on the regular sabbath day tomorrow. I look forward to seeing you then.

Shabbat shalom kol beit Yisra'el and Mishpachah, welcome to the second part of this important Shavu'ot Season Message which will conclude tomorrow on Rosh Chodesh. Yesterday we looked at the identity of angels to help us understand what this last Shavu'ot was so important this year. Today we are going to look at some prophetic signs Father has given me.

Putting aside the Scriptures which 'speak' to me all the time, as to all of us who believe them, I would estimate that about 90 per cent of the rest of the time Yahweh speaks to me through visions and the rest of the time through sudden moments of mental clarity, prophetic dreams, an audible voice and signs in the natural world. I don't know why it is this way but I assume it is either related to my specific giftedness or my maturity in those other spheres, or a mixture of both. Suffice to say that the gift of seership is something that I have been blessed with since I was a little boy, even before I became a born-again believer when I was 23. I admit to being very wary of seeing 'signs' in the visible world (my sceptical scientific side) even though I am quite sure they are there because I know Satan does the same thing. Of course, he injects himself into all spheres of life but I just happen to feel more confident in visions because I have learned how to test them better over a long period of time. But on this occasion Father spoke to me through the natural world in such a way that I had no choice but to pay close attention.

It really began this spring (2025) when we start planting our vegetable seeds. With my declining health, though, I have done less and less gardening where it's come to the point I just work in two raised beds which my elder son built for me last year and the previous one. Whilst others of my family devote themselves to various other vegetables, my focus has always been on varieties of lettuce. There has always been a bounteous crop since I started doing this but this year, for some reason, there was no crop whatsoever even though I planted and replanted about five times and with lots of different varieties. Not a single lettuce plant developped. Of course, the usual thoughts raced through my head about there being something wrong with me and that Yahweh was trying to 'tell' me something. So I gave up in the end, very disappointed indeed for I enjoy my lettuce during the summer. It took me a while to realise that Yahweh prevented any crop from growing so that I would be focussed on only one garden task because it was to be a prophetic sign. I would have to get lettuce from the shops this year. Fair enough.

Between the two beds is another which we have allowed to lay fallow as we didn't have the energy to cultivate it. To keep it weed-free I asked my elder daughter to pile up her soiled straw on it from her guinea pig cage and on another bed on the other side of the house to prevent weeds coming up there too. Now here's the strange thing: the straw was the same in both beds but only on the bed between my two raised barren beds did something extraordinary happen: exactly 100 stalks of barley grew tall and strong - I know, I counted and recounted them to be sure. Why did I count them? Because when I first noticed them, the Ruach (Spirit) very clearly told me to do so. 100 stalks! Yet nothing different had been added to that bed compared to the other which had no barley stalks. I paid attention, especially with such a round number. More on that in a minute.

So I watched these 100 stalks growing day by day knowing that Yahweh had a prophetic message for me in them. At the same time, just around the corner on the east side of our house, are three smallish square beds which I built a few years ago when I was in better health. These my wife has essentially taken over both to make compost (on one of them) and to sow herbs in the other two. For a couple of years I sowed sunflowers in one of them to grow seed for the chickens.

In the centre of these three beds something strange happened this year. Sixteen quite beautiful purple plants grew which we had never seen before. We didn't even know what they were. Then my wife remembered that a very dear friend of ours, a fellow homeschooler, who tragically died of cancer this year and who had great horticultural knowledge and experience, had given her a bag of seeds from a large patch of wild spinach which she had grown as an alternative to regular spinach. My wife had planted them in the spring but they never grew. Since they are annuals, she assumed that they had failed and thought nothing more about them. Until they suddenly spouted up this year and then we both got curious. Again, the Ruach (Spirit) told me to count them, and I did - 16 of various sizes but none of them had grown very tall on account of the shallowness soil as we hadn't planned to use that bed this year and so hadn't composted it. But then the Ruach (Spirit) spoken again: "Take the strongest and tallest of the wild spinach plants and replant it in the smallest of your two raised beds. Let the other raised bed go fallow." I obeyed. I watered it, protected it from pests, weeded the bed and covered it with a net, and looked after it like a newborn child. It is now three times the size of the other 15.

In the meantime, I started doing some research. You see, quite typically Father will give me a riddle to solve to show His glory. It might be through a vision or a single word, or just two words, and then He will unpack that through the Ruach (Spirit) and give me an astonishing revelation. Many of my sermons are built around such experiences. This has happened many, many times during my ministry so I am quite familiar with it. So for the last few weeks I have been investigating wild spinach. Let's start with that as it was a completely unknown symbol to me.

I knew nothing about this species of plant but was intrigued by its colour - stem and leaves. So I spoke with our late friend's husband and did some online research. The reason I had never heard of this plant is because it is little known in Western Europe but in Romania it is connected to traditional cuisine and is called Loboda by them where it was extensively used before the spinach we know well was introduced more extensively. Wild spinach is a traditional ingredient in soups and other dishes, connecting it to cultural identity and history. It is rich in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, symbolising natural health and vitality. It was a staple and for that reason came to be associated with the quality of resilience. So this plant's use as a spinach substitute, especially in warmer climates, represents a resourceful and adaptable approach to food cultivation. Remember, it's an annual, so you will need to collect seeds each year. They can be planted densely together to make shrubs. The one I cultivate is now flowering and will soon go to seed. Our family means to learn how to cultivate this each year.

That was my first and most important clue as to why Father wanted me to pay special attention to this species which He suddenly caused to spring forth in 2025 after a year of complete dormancy, itself as as unusual as the refusal of any lettuce to grow for me. Father was confirming that there would be food shortages ahead and that we would need to consider alternative sources of food. Regular food in the shops are likely to become unaffordable for most too. What with all the genetetic tampering going on thanks to Monsanto and its successor company, it's more than likely that genes have been inserted into our regular foodstuffs that have been programmed to 'turn everything off' at a certain time. What's special about this wild spinach is ability to thrive in diverse conditions and this was Yahweh's way of telling me, in a way I wouldn't forget, by using a symbol with a striking reddish-purple colour that was bound to grab my attention for its unusualness.

Red Orach, to use its better-known name, is known for its ability to thrive in various climates and conditions, making it a symbol for us in the hard times ahead of resilience and adaptability, qualities the Remnant must learn. We have to be innovative and tough. The West has grown lazy and decadent in its opulence since the 'you've never had it so good' times following the austerity of World War 2. A sudden increase in wealth has ultimately destroyed every culture historically causing people of turn away from Elohim (God) and abandon the skills of self-reliance their parents or grandparents knew when they were poor. Western civilisation is collapsing all around us as inflation grabs hold and wicked politicians and their handlers set about the destruction of Christianity as part of a power-grab by satanist élites. We are going to need the skills of our ancestors as we rapidly enter a neo-feudalistic, antichrist, end-time system. The way of life that we have enjoyed for the last 70 years or so is coming to an end and we must learn to do with less and with alternative foodstuffs. Red Orcha symbolised that.

But this is more than a new item to consider for prepping. There is a spiritual application to this symbolism. Why did Father cause 16 plants to sprout? I knew the number was significant because of the extraordinary 'coincidence' of the 100 barley plants. He caused one to be separated from the 16, leaving 15. The 1 symbolises the remaining 15 in much the same way that the Body of Christ is symbolised by a single woman who herself consists of millions of souls. They are two different levels of prophetic imagery. The number 15 has very clear biblical meanings. It often symbolises grace (Yahweh's underserved loving-kindness toward us and the way we are to love one another as believers), deliverance or rescue (salvation), and rest (represented by the Sabbath), particularly after a period of difficulty or bondage. 15 can also be associated with the concept of divine perfection and the manifestation of Elohim's (God's) grace because of that bondage. He's showing us through this plant what's coming very soon!

Now this is going to interest you. You see, the 15th day of the first month in the Hebrew calendar called Aviv (the only biblical month that has an actiual name) marks the beginning of Yom haBikkurim or the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which was a time of rest for the Israelites as also for modern Messianic Israelites. For the last 5 sabbaths and 50 days we have been 'counting the Omer' bringing us to Shavu'ot of the Feast of Weeks (called 'Pentecost' by most evangelicals)! Do you remember which crop Yom haBikkurium is represented by? BARLEY! Think back to the 100 barley plants which I am coming back to. But that's not all. Similarly, the 15th day of the seventh month begins Sukkot or the autumn/fall Feast of Tabernacles, another period of rest and celebration that this year we will be celebrating at the beginning of October. These feasts, occurring after significant events, highlight 15 as a symbol of rest after deliverance.

We have long known that the feasts of Shavu'ot and Sukkot would be highly significant times of endowment on the year of Penultimate Judgment which we are in the midst of and which is reaching a climax. Look around you at world events if you want evidence of that. Most believers, using the wrong prophetic markers (thanks to the smoke screen of Zionism amongst many false doctrines currently in circulation), are wildly proclaiming the Great Tribulation and the Second Coming are practically any day now as they always have done with every crisis. We have been telling you that that is not so. Indeed I have been prophesying for many years (and you can check this out on our website) that the current State of Israel would come to an end because it is a counterfeit prophetic marker. Even as I speak, the Israeli Republic (in reality, the Republic of Edom) is teetering on the edge of its very survival, having been dealt many severe below by the Yemenis and Iranians. I repeat - this counterfeit state has to be removed, along with the counterfeit Islamic religion on the territory before the 12 Tribes of Israel can be gathered and relocated to the Promised Land, and that Yahweh Himself is doing through its enemies who themselves will be removed.

So there are lots of things happening right now - in the world, in Christendom as a whole and - more importantly for us - in the Remnant itself. But first a little more about the number 15 and why Father drew my attention to the 15 Red Orach's. The number 15 is seen as a combination of 7 (representing covenant and completeness) and 8 (representing new beginnings and resurrection) as you all know. This combination suggests a perfect manifestation of Yahweh's grace and His ability to bring about new beginnings and restoration. And don't we need that right now. I have never know true believers so oppressed in all my life, many are struggling to keep going, some have traically given up. I hope to minister to both categories today and to offer hope. We are all of us called to perfection, not to become 'gods' or anything not remotely attainable like that, but to become perfectly human in Christ - by means of His empowerment and our yieldedness to Him.

There remains but one last truth that needs to be told about the number 15: it is a symbol of new beginnings and a fresh direction in life, potentially influenced by the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) if we will but yield everything to Yahweh. That is why Yahweh told me to select one of the red Orach's and plant it separately in its own bed where it could flourish and grow mightily. That represents the Remnant, the Final Gathering given the privielege to board the 'New Ark' and be a part of the Last Exodus - spiritually out of the Babylonian world system (which even now is gradually maturing into its final form) but also literally for the relocation of Yahweh's Torah-obedient, Christ-trusting qodeshim (saints, set-apart ones, holy ones) to the Holy Land and to the Holy City of New Jerusalem will will appear there. Everything that has happened since, and will happen until the Final Gathering, has been - and will be - spiritual and practical TRAINING. It's been a tough course, and will get tougher, a reason why "many are called, but few are chosen" (Mt.20:16; 22:14) because they refuse to be obedient and won't endure. So, this is a time of New Beginnings - you must leave the old behind, to some extent, and embrace the new.

I think we have covered the symbolism of the number 15, barring making my making quick mention of other usages in scripture, such as the height of the ark during the flood (15 cubits, symbolising divine protection), and in the sacrificial offerings mentioned in Numbers 7:15. This is not unimportant because we all need the assurance of divine protection - not total shielding from the vicissitudes of life, which are permitted to us to spiritually toughen us up, but equipping to overcome obstances, trials and trobulations. He equips us to navigate through troubles, not completely avoid them. There is much more that could be said about this sacred number but time forbids other than my also mentioning in passing that 15 is the product of 5 and 3 (5x3). 5 is grace but 3 is the number of divine perfection that I have already mentioned. Therefore 15 specifically refers to acts wrought by the power of Divine Grace! HalleluYah!

You might be wondering if the number 16 has either any prophetic meaning in Scripture or literal meaning for us. I am only speculating here, as I have no revelation on the matter, but it may be that there are 16 Remnant Groups like our own in the world or which we are one. Time will tell and besides Yahweh may not want this to be made generally known yet, for their own safety, especially if they are in nations currently persecuting and killing them. So does 16 mean anything? Yes, it does. It often symbolizes ahavah-love, particularly Yahweh's enduring love and faithfulness. It can also represent the continuity of Father's plans and a call to strive for spiritual purity or holiness. 16 is associated with Yahweh's steadfast love, particularly in how His name is written in Hebrew. Additionally, the phrase "the Father" appears 16 times in scripture, further emphasising the theme of divine love. 16 can also represent the continuity of Father's plans and a call to remain strong in faith. It also encourages believers to strive for spiritual purity and embody the qualities of divine love in their lives.

That, I think, is all I want to say about the wild spinach or Red Orach symolism which, you'll agree, runs deep. What I want to do now is talk to you about barley symbolism (which will be familiar to most of you already if you are a Torah-observant annual festival observer). And then we'll conclude with the great importance of the number 100 which is, amongst other things, a warning of an imminent event. But first the spiritual symbolism.

Now anybody familiar with the annual moedem or appointments of Israel knows that barley is associated with the spring festivals and with the Passover Season, but specifically with its associated Feast of Unleavened Bread or Chag haMatzah. Specifically, the first sheaf of the barley harvest was presented to the cohen (priest) on this day. This offering symbolised the dedication of the entire harvest to Yahweh. As we learned yesterday, barley is the firstfruits (bikkurim) whereas wheat is the second, and grapes, the third. Wheat is what marks out Shavu'ot which we observed yesterday. So barley is the grain or 'fruit' of beginnings and is associated with the entire period up to Shavu'ot. In the symbolism of this moment, barley represents the firstfruits of this Messianic Evangelical work. But today, wheat 'takes over', as it were. Everything that has happened since we began with our calling in 1984 and our formal organisation in 1986 up until yesterday is Phase 1 (barley) of this work though Phase 2 (wheat) has always been operating unobtrusively in the background. Today is 'the day after' our new work.

The general symbolism of of barley in Scripture is quite straighforward. It represents abundance, humility, and Yahweh's miraculous provision and who can deny that Father has taken care of us these last 40 years. It was a staple crop in ancient Israel, often associated with the common people and their daily sustenance. So its presence in biblical narratives highlights themes of Elohim's (God's) care for everyone, even the humble, and His ability to use ordinary things to achieve extraordinary outcomes. For the last 40 years we have lived close to the ground, often just scraping through, living from day to day rather like someone on a minimum wage living from paycheck to paycheck. Some years have been a little more abundant but on average we have had to live thriftily. There have been many 'last minute rescues', some of them hair-raising times of anxiety. Often we have had to do with out and exist on the bare minimum.

'Abundance' is a relative thing in Scripture and whilst Yahweh certainly blesses His people with wealth, that wealth typically has a negative, corrupting influence in the end, leading to cycles of apostacy, destitution, repentance and restoration. Accepting one's lot is therefore very important for believers. "Be content with what you have" (cp. Lk.3:14) is the oft repeated message and do not assume that physical abundance equates with spiritual abundance. Barley fields, then, are depicted as a sign of Father's blessing and provision for all His people, including the poor. "Blessed are the poor", said Yah'shua (Jesus) on one occasion, "for yours is the Kingdom of Elohim (God)" (Lk.6:20, NKJV). On another occasion He said almost the same thing but with a different emphasis:

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Mt.5:3, NKJV).

It's often wrongly assumed by somke that either Luke or Matthew misreported this saying, as if Christ only ever taught this truth once. But He must have taught similar truths in different parts of the country and/or on different occasions because He wanted to lay different emphases with different audiences. On the one occasion, reported by Luke, He's telling poor people that they're blessed because proverty brings unique spiritual opportunities when people are undistracted by the temptations presented by wealth and plenty. I have noticed, as I am sure every preacher has, that poor communities are often more receptive to the Gospel than rich ones. I noticed the different in oil-rich Stavanger compared to the rest of Norway where all the big oil companies have their headquarters and from which the oil rigs are sent out into the North Sea. We never did manage to raise a congregation there. The particular obstacle? The "the list of the flesh and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life" (1 Jn.2:16, NKJV).

Matthew, though, records another incident where Christ adds a qualifier - "poor in spirit", meaning those who are humble. Poverty in goods and wealth often leads to greater humility because of greater needs (though not always) so one might reasonably assume that those who are materially wealthy yet untypically humble are fewer in number. Whether there is any intended difference between "kingdom of Elohim (God)" and "kingdom of Heaven" I wouldn't care to say definitively as these two designations are often used interchangeably, though there is definitely the possibility a subtle or delicate difference or nuance in this particular example.

You see, sometimes the difference is one of location - whereas "kingdom of Heaven" is about divine origin, "kingdom of Elohim (God)" makes a specific contrast with earthly kingdoms. And how we like to compare or contrast with others which often leads to false conclusions. Because, you see, if Yahweh made Abraham and Solomon wealthy but not necessarily others like Joseph and Moses (at least latterly - he may have started wealthy in Pharaoh's Court but ended up as a poor shepherd in Midian for 40 years and then as a desert-wanderer in Sinai for another 40 years leading Israel out of captivity), Abraham and Solomon each reacted differently to their wealth - Abraham lived responsibily and generously and prospered spiritually whereas Solomon lived decadently and it was his downfall. So it is better for most people not to be wealthy because most do not know how to handle wealth responsibly and it is their undoing. That is why we should be satisfied with what we have. You see, the poor are forced to be humble by their circumstances whereas the wealthy may, if they so choose, choose to overcome the temptation to abuse wealth. This is one reason the 'Prosperity Movement' in charismatic Christianity is such a lie becaue its driving force is greed. So, yes, there is a subtle but important difference or nuance between the "poor" and the "poor in spirit". What's important is that both end up humble.

All of this is my way of saying that there is a difference symbolicall (and therefore spiritually) between barley and wheat. Barley is less expensive than wheat and was historically always the poor man's grain, being associated with those of lower status. And as we have already seen yesterday, barley is associated with the spring festivals and our personal relationship with Elohim (God). Wheat, though, is the 'bread' of those who live in corporate or communal covenant as Israel because it takes a definite choice and struggle to live as a people. Having a one-to-one releationship is the easier, personal, barley-type relationship. Wheat, on the other hand, is in the bread of the more spiritually wealthy - those who can get beyond 'personal Christianity' and into 'Body Christianity' because the latter requires considerably more sacrifice and selflessness. The difference between the barley and the wheat, between the personal and the coporate, is the difference between the boys and the men, and the girls and the women. It's also the difference between the Law of Tithing and the Law of All Things in Common (United Order) as well as the difference between simple (monogamous) marriage and the more challenging complex plural (polygynous) form. It has everything to do with differences in maturity and the willingness (or not) to grow up. That is why I call Shavu'ot the HINGE festival because it sorts out the mature adults from the immature youngsters in the faith. Don't get me wrong, we all need to be boys and girls but we're not supposed to stay that way. Accordingly, Shavu'ot is 'choosing' and 'sifting' time, a challenge to spiritually come of age. Every culture in history has 'coming of age' ceremonies that often include trials or tests of character and endurance.

Not only we Messianic Evangelicals but the whole of Christendom has arrived at such a point in history. It's not the separation of the wheat from the tares-time (Mt.13) or the separation of the sheep from the goats-time (Mt.25) but a time for spiritual children to finally become adults as a whole after nearly 2,000 years of pussyfooting. It is the time, historically, when purely personal Christianity has to decide whether it is going to become Messianic Israel or finally stagnate and whither away because merely personal Christianity will not be sufficient to weather the storms ahead. It is the time when Christians and Messianics of all denominations are going to have to choose to obey all of Father's mitzvot (commandments) and grow into becoming the B'nei Elohim - the matured Sons (and Daughters) of Elohim (God) eating gospel 'meat' or 'wheat' - or remain bound to the cradle drinking only gospel 'milk' and eating poor-man's 'barley'. This is not an inconsequential choice because a human drinking only milk like a baby will, in the end, become weakly, sick and retarded, perhaps even perishing early.

It is the same spiritually. People get scared of Yahweh's meat because they make the false assumption that it's somehow 'bad', that the loss of individual liberty that comes with assuming the responsibilities of an adult will somehow negatively impact them. This is the lie of the contemporary 'woke', postmodernist culture that has destroyed a generation, an evil fruit of socialism, that has produced a most repulsive egotistical and selfish generation of 'cry-bullies' who, like babies, consider themselves 'entitled' to live off others' labour and if necessary resort to violence to maintain that privilege. Christianity has got to learn that Yah'shua (Jesus) is not just our personal Saviour but also our coporate, community and national Israelite Saviour too; the change between the faith of the spring festivals (best represented by Protestantism) and the faith of the summer and autumn (fall) ones (best represenented by the Messianic movemenrt, in part) requires leaving childhood behind. In the words of Paul:

"For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things..." (1 Cor.13:9-11, NKJV).

The call to "be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect" (Mt.5:48, NKJV) is not only the mitzvah (commandment) to become a perfect human being in Christ (as we mentioned yesterday) but to become a perfect nation, something that Old Covenant Israel failed to do because it was selfish and fell into temptation and gross sin. To be a nation respresenting Yahweh cannot happen overnight but is part of a long maturation process. Does any of us here deny that we are still maturing? And I don't just mean as individuals but as marriages, as families, as congregations, as local communities and as nations? The imperfect isn't done away with completely all in one go - it is an ongoing process - so the sooner we cross over from personal to fully incorporate communal. Israelite Christianity, the better, else we shall starve and perish. That doesn't mean we will cease to be in personal relationships with Christ or with spouses and others, but it does mean that proportionately the communal will - if we are meant to take the seven annual festivals literally, as I believe we are - dominate the personal in a ratio of 4-to-3. Put another way, personal interest must be subtended to the communal. That is why Scripture tells us to treat others better than ourselves, getting the focus off self and onto others:

"Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves" (Phil.2:3).

All of which now brings me back to the symbolism of the 100 stalks of barley that I counted. Over the course of the last few weeks Yahweh has shown me so many symbols at play. Let's start with the number '100' itself, a nice round number that is an immediate eye-catcher. I think you will praise Elohim (God) when you see what He meant by it. In Scripture, 100 often symbolises completeness, fullness, or a large, abundant return - abundance. It can represent a full measure, a hundredfold return, or a state of being set apart for holiness. It is also used to signify the second person of the Elohimhead (Godhead) and the perfection of Christ's incarnation.

We see these truths represented over and over again in Scripture. We see 100 as a complete or full measure, as seen in the parable of the sower where a crop yields a hundredfold return. We see it in the context of receiving blessings or rewards, a hundredfold return signifying an abundant return on what was given or invested. We see it represented by the Hebrew letter qof which symbolises qodesh or holiness, sanctification, and being set apart for Yahweh's purposes in, for example, priestly service - in the New Covenant, Melchizedek Priesthood service. Many of you have wondered why we have not consecrated new Melchizedek Priests for many years and this is thre reason - we have been waiting for this day. We see 100 as representing perfection, particularly in the context of Christ's incarnation as a human being and the second person of the Elohimhead (Godhead), as I have already said. Yah'shua (Jesus) used the number 100 in parables like the parable of the lost sheep to illustrate God's love and the value of each individual. And finally, the number 100 is also associated with testing or a period of trial. And we have been under that, for last year was the 40th anniversary of the calling forth of this work and next year will be the 40th anniversary of the time we were formally organised in Oxford, England in 1986. It has been a long and gruelling road but also extraordinarily rich in blessings!

My very first task as a pastor in Scandinavia very much symbolises this first 40 years. I cleaned the toilets of our first meeting place in Oslo as they were in a deplorable state and then I helped served lunch after the sabbath services, making it clear what priestly service would look like in NCAY. Christianity is a servant ministry, not a career where ambition can be pursued. The Messianic Community (Church) does not exist to hand out salaries to ministers for we are all ministers in numerous callings.

I can still remember with a mixture of disbelief and horror when a Danish student of mine told me he planned to become a Lutheran priest. "Why?" I asked him, curious to know what his conversion experience had been like. "Because the Lutheran Church offers a stable salary," was his quite sincere answer. My jaw dropped. I could hardly believe my ears. But then so many view the ministry in that way. I remember several years ago a congregation in Kenya asked to become a part of NCAY. The first question the pastor asked me, upon my telling him that this would be possible if they fulfilled our criteria, "How much will you pay me? What will my salary be?" I was furious and sent him packing. So many groups and congregations have lost interest when the pastors are told that we do not pay salaris to anyone, that our ministers are expected to earn their daily keep like everyone else, and to train up the whole congregation to be servants like themselves! How many ministers of churches today would accept that?...and I don't just mean the 'prosperity' preachers. Most of Christendom have paid ministers!

Let's probe deeper for there are surely many more illustrations. The multiplication of barley loaves in the feeding of the five thousand (Mt.14:13-21) (and also in the Tanakh/Old Testament) is a powerful symbol of Father's ability to multiply resources and provide for His people beyond their expectations provided they are faithful and humble. Do I hope that you are discerning by now that barley bread can be seen as a type of Christ, the Lechem Chayim or Bread of Life, offering spiritual nourishment to all who believe, just as barley bread was accessible to the masses? And the masses, because they have to struggle to survive, further points us to barley's ability to thrive in various conditions that made it a reliable crop in ancient Israel, reflecting once again Yahweh's steadfastness and provision.

Finally, let's see what barley and wheat symbolise in the context of the Davidic phase of Israel's history. King David was a type of the Messiah and the Messianic Reign, as his would have been had he not fallen into the gross sins of adutery with Bathsheba who may have been a Hittite [2] like her husband Uriah whom he murdered. David, with his seven legitimate wives (excluding Bathesheba) was a signpost to what the Messianic Reign would look like with Christ and the true, sanctified believers as His allegorical Wife. But when it comes to barley, I think the story of Ruth the Moabitess is the best illustration, a model for mature, spiritual women. You will recall that she and her mother-in-law Noami were forced to leave Moab because Ruth's and Naomi's husbands had both died, and so they returned to Naomi's home town of Bethlehem, a picture of the believer coming to the place of new birth in Christ, at the beginning of the barley harvest. Naomi sent Ruth to go and work with the young women gleaning barley and wheat in Boaz's fields at both the end of the barley and wheat harvests, between Yom haBikkurim and, 100 days later, Shavu'ot (Ruth 1:22; 2:23). The life of Ruth is therefore a picture of us labouring between these two moedim (appointments) that results in betrothal (at Shavu'ot) and a full marriage at Sukkot. So we see, in outline, the kind if faith and faitfulness to the community of Israel resulting in the Marriage Feast of the Lamb, where Boaz is a type of our Messiah, who redeems Ruth from her desperate condition of alienation from Elohim (God) because of sin and dispossession.

In so many ways Elimelech, the husband of Ruth, is like orthodox Christendom represented by Catholicism, Protestantism and Eastern Orthodoxy who departed from Israelite ways and invented their own substitutes in Rome, Geneva and Byzantium. During a famine in Judea, Elimelech took his family to a pagan country, forsaking Israel. This contrasts with Jacob who, when there was a famine in Canaan, remained in the land and sent out his sons to Egypt to buy grain where Joseph, a type of the Saviour, was waiting to deliver them. There was no 'redeemer' for Elimelech or his family in Moab. There he and his two sons, Chilion and Mahlon, perished, leaving Noami and her two Moabite daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpah, both of whom were childless, to fend for themselves. This time the Saviour or Redeemer is back in Judea in the form of Boaz, another type of Christ, like Joseph. Noami's 'salvation' and that of her daughter-in-law Ruth who converted, came in the covenant land and specifically at Yom haBikkurim and Shavu'ot.

The story of Ruth is such a beautiful picture of salvation and how Yahweh saves in the most unlikely and unexpected ways. This is a picture of salvation for both 'Jew and Gentile', here represented by Naomi and Ruth, respectively. Notice the two elements of salvation: personal (in the person of Boaz) and corporate (in the nation of Israel). Ruth the gentile is 'saved' by marrying her redeemer-husband (spring festivals) which is only possible by going back to Israel (summer & authum festivals) which Elimelech should never have left in the first place, thereby risking the lives of his wife and sons. Now Ruth's sister Orpah rejects both the Redeemer and the Nation that would have been her salvation. Ruth forsakes Moab and, thanks to the Law of Levirate, is welcomed into Boaz's family on account of her late husband Mahlon being related. Though nothing further is said about Boaz's circumstances, it is more than likely that he was already married and that Ruth joined a pre-existening family. In other words, Boaz was neither a widow nor a batchelor, though he could have been. What's even more remarkable is that Ruth chose not to go hunting for a young man but chose an older, spiritual man of Elohim (God). Jewish tradition [3] holds that Boaz had a large family before meeting Ruth. As a landowner with large holdings, he must have been older. Mature men were expected to marry and have children so it is more than likely that he had done so. In one of these Jewish traditions Boaz is identified with the Judge Ibzan (Judg.12) who had 60 children and another says he was 80 years old when he married Ruth who was 40.

All of this is to remind you of the importance of the two aspects of the New Covenant which is both personal and communal. Yah'shua (Jesus) doesn't have lots of private one-to-one marriage feasts will all of us at Sukkot - it is an assembly of His whole Family. The celebration is altogether. And the process by which it is arrived at is best represented by the two Songs we spoke of yesterday - the Songs of Moses and the Lamb - of Covenant Israel and one-to-one Salvation in Messiah. These two are one.

So now you understand why Yahweh caused 100 barley plants to mysteriously grow in my garden. 100 symbolic days have lapsed since Yom haBikkurim, known as the Omer Count, today being the 101st day. But yesterday, Shavu'ot, was not the only day Father was pointing me to. He also told me to also count another 100 days forwards from Shavu'ot! I was shocked to discover it landed on one of the high satanic days, namely, the climax of the pagan Samhain (pronounced 'soween'), better known to us as 'Halloween'. So far he has not told me why, or what will happen on that day this year, just to be prepared on that day for anything. Part of today's message to you, therefore, is to likewise be aware, alert and pepared. In our unstable geopolitical world where we have been on the very edge of a nuclear holocaust now for some time with even some important political actors saying, insanely, they want nuclear war, we need to be engaged in much prayer for peace.

Whatever finally happens, our Heavenly Father will not allow the planet, and humanity, to be destroyed but until there is genuine repentance in the nations there will be tribulation and there will be no escaping it. This means every true believer must be in close relationship with Yahweh and to obediently be - or go to - the place he or she is supposed to be in, where there will be relative safety. Those who have swallowed the lie that they need not concern themselces with such matters, nor make material, mental and spiritual provision for such times, who think they are going to be 'raptured' away from trial and tribulation, need to wake up now, else they will in all likelihood perish. Become resilient like the Red Ochra and learn to make do with less, learning to live simply and more frugally as represented by the poor man's barley bread. And finally, those who are genuinely of the Remnant - those who are trusting in Christ, those who are pursuing holiness in earnest, those who obey all the mitzvot (commandments), need to join what is now the early stages of the Last Exodus, at least in spirit, and make preparations for the Final Gathering. And if these concepts are new to you, then you are invited to prayerfully study the materials which you will find linked in the written version of this sermon on our website.

We shall return again tomorrow at Rosh Chodesh for the final, short part of this season's message. Until then, may Yahweh our Heavenlt Father bless and guide you in the Name of His well-beloved Son, Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) through the power of the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) which is the fruit of the blessing of the first Messianic Shavu'ot (Festival of Weeks) and every annual repeat since. Amen.

Chodesh tov, kol beit Yisrael and welcome to the third and last day of an unofficially extended Shavu'ot (Weeks) season. Ordinarily Shavu'ot only lasts one day but the message this year was so long and involved that it was impossible to fit it all into one assembly. As it was, we overran by a considerable amount of time on the first two days. Today, though, I will be very brief. I am late as I had to make a trip to the hospital to get remedicated owing to my worsening condition.

Even as I speak to you this evening, and a day late, events are so rapidly overtaking us that by tomorrow morning today's news will already be well and truly out-of-date. Reports are coming in, yet to be verified, that the Chinese Government is seizing all cash, something that could very well happen in the West's already-announced 'Reset'. So I won't even bother to look at the political scene any further. We are witnessing the slow, painful decline of one empire (the USA) and its allies (the EU etc.) and the rise of two new ones (Russia & China). Empires rarely die quietly and the current one is no exception. When I was born in 1954 in one of the previous one's last colonies in the Far East (Singapore), Great Britain had already begun to die, bankrupted by the Second World War. In its wake, two rival empires were born on the ashes of the Third Reich and Japanese Empire - the United States and USSR. In 1991 the Soviet Empire died, bankrupted by the economically more powerful USA which attempted to swallow up the remains of the Soviet carcass, which it seemed to be succeeding at at first, misjudging Russian resolve with its own unique historical experiences and long memories of how it was abused by other empires in its long story. Russians cannot easily be cowered and have learned firm resolve from numerous invasions of its vast territory. The modern American Empire is bankrupting itself through overspending just as once it had bankrupted Soviet Russia with its huge industrial capacity by outproducing the Red Army with its expensive Star Wars program. You are all familiar with what Yahweh told me would happen to the USA and is now happening to President Trump and President Putin so I need not rehearse that here.

For believers, accustomed to the protection of the West in the past, the challenges are enormous now. As Europe in particular, but also the wider Anglosphere, become more anti-Christian, more pro-Marxist, more pro-'Religion of Peace' and more pro-occult, we have had to learn more and more to rely on Yahweh alone. This is not a bad thing. We have entered a time not unlike that when the pre-Constantine Roman Empire was pagan and violently anti-Christian. And we have known such a dark time would come again because of the testimony of the Book of Revelation. Christians and Messianics have few friends in any government now, save perhaps to a limited extent in Hungary (Catholic) and Russia (Eastern Orthodox), gunboats are no longer despatched when we get into dire straits abroad (my mother was rescued by an American gunboat during the communist revolution in China). Nevertheless, religion still very much dominates the news, just not Christianity save to attack it. In spite of terrible persecution of Christians in many countries where thousands are being regularly butchered by adherents of the 'Religion of Peace' (as I euphemistically refer to them now) without so much as a passing mention in the mainstream media, others like Moslems in Gaza, Druze in Syria and Jews in the Israeli Republic are headline news all the time.

Any attempt to map out the complexity of the geopolitical situation would be futile. Our Father in Heaven has all these matters under His control and is in the business of steering the world towards all the important political and historical oucomes He wants. As political groups and religious factions (particularly in the Islamic Ummah or Community) fight it out amongst themselves, we need to instead have our attention focused on such matter as the Final Gathering and the Last Exodus which are picking up momentum. One of the two main tasks I have to do today is to simplify the complexity of what is happening in the Christian/Messianic world but paying attention to what matters now.

There are plenty of attention-getters to distract out attention from what matters which we must learn to ignore, like the new Pope's announcement that he has been studying ancient documents in the Vatican Library that he has discovered that the first 'pope' was not Peter and that one of Roman Catholicism's cardinal claims - to be in apostolic succession and therefore possessing legitimate authority over all of Christendom - is a whopping big lie lie. Protestants and Messianics have long known this for 500 years and for the rest knowing it is already too late because a long and protracted judgment is here now. Yes, it is very good that lies are being exposed (the Epstein pedophile ring coverup being another) but far more important lies need to be exposed first - lies that are deflecting people from salvation. We are right now supposed to be getting out of the Babylonian system but the question for those who know this is: how?

Most who believe in a Second, Final or Last Exodus still have a lot of wrong ideas about it, including some of our own people and others who call themselves 'messianic-evangelical'), and that is something I need to work on a bit today. The first bombshell I wish to explode before you in the short time I have is that for the greater part, the previous or First Exodus which happened somewhere between the 15th and 13th centuries BC, was not at all like the Second Exodus that has already begun. Understand this: the Second Exodus does not start from one place (Egypt) but from every place! And the Final Gathering is not one gathering (as it was previously in the Nile delta), at least not initially, but many gatherings all happening in multiple places all over the world with people coming from multiple directions. All these 'mini-gatherings' will at some point move togather into 12 gatherings around the world which will then later see 10 of these (the 'northern' 10 Tribes of Israel) coming together in one place in the northern Levant roughly where modern day Syria and Iraq are (a reason they are hotly contested territory right now), and the 2 remaining ones (Judah & Benjemin) will come together elsewhere in the south towards Africa. Then these two groups will assemble together in the Promised Land (Palestine), which will be empty upon their arrival save for a few Messianic Jews and Christian Arabs who will already be there - these in their turn will move to join their respective Tribes among the Twelve.

Another majot difference between the two Exoduses is that unlike the first, which lasted 40 years, the last could either be of shorter or longer duration, being in all likelihood a symbolic 40 years the second time round. My own view is that it will be longer, but not considerably so. All I know for certain is I will not be around to see this happen.

Finally, know this: both the Final Gathering and its several locations will not be announced online, in the newspapers, on TV or on the radio or by any other means that personal revelation to those involved because all the Remnant walk in the authentic Ruach (Spirit). It will be conducted unannounced, silently and unobtrusively in most cases but where it is visible to the rest of the world, there shall be some dramatic events that will rival even those that took place under Moses. So picture miracles greater than the parting of Yam Suf or the Red Sea and you will have some idea of scale involved in Round #2 because people will probably not be using regular transport, and especially not in the latter phases of the journeyings. Moreover, there won't even be a single leader at the beginning, but many, until the converging of groups takes place and the latter-day Twelve Apostles are revealed (not the fake ones in Mormonism, New Apostolic Church of God, Pentecostalism or elswhere), and from these three will chosen by Yahweh from the northern tribes of Joseph (Ephraim, West & East Manasseh) and with the one from the tribe of Ephraim being set-apart lead and presdide over the final journey into the Holy Land, there to meet the returning Saviour in the New Jerusalem descending in the air (the true 'rapture', not the one being taught by many evangelicals. That, more or less, is how it will happen.

So it will begin - and has already begun - with around 900,000 true believers making small steps and then larger ones as they relocate and coalesce under supernatural guidance. This is what the final Sukkot anointing is for, just as the original Shav'uot one was given 2,000 years ago to launch the work of evangelism into the world (Acts 2), an anointing that, as we have seen over the past two or three days, that has been counterfeited in a major way by the fake Azuza Street 'revival'. The True Anointing and Teaching (the fullness of New Covenant Torah) of the Remnant Bride is being restored and revealed in our own time in small groups here and there. That's my first message today, adding a little more meat to the bones to what you already know.

The second is a revelation that I received very early this morning (26 July 2025) in a vision. I do not fully understand it yet and hopefully I will understand more of it later. I am not even sure it is a general revelation for the whole Body of Remnant believers but may be for Chinese (and perhaps Japanese) speakers and others who use a similar one to the majority Mandarin Chinese who use the Hanzi script, is the oldest continuous writing system in the world. (In Japan it is called Kanji,in Korean, Hanja and in Vietnamese, Hán). These Chinese characters are properly called logograms which means they represent words or parts of words rather than sounds like the letters in our Roman alphabet. There are over 100,000 different characters, making it a tough language to learn, though you can get a basic knowledge of Mandarin (or one of the other dialects like Cantonese) knowing 2,000 to 3,000 of these. The characters contain components that indicate pronunciation (the phonetic components) and meaning (the symbolic components).

Why am I telling you this? There are over 1.3 billion Chinese speakers and readers worldwide making this the most spoken language globally. Add to these the Japanese, Koreans and Vietnames I spoke about (though the modern Korean and Vietnamese alphabets are completely different now, both being phoenitic like ours). Again, why is this important for us? Because, as I have told you over the last 40 years, China will be the last global super-power and empire. Chinese is becoming a growing language of trade amongst non-Chinese speakers in Africa and elsewhere throughout the world. It may well be the last linga franca or universal language before the Millennium much as English is now, French was before that, and Latin before that, at least in Europe.

The vision I saw earlier this morning (26 July 2025) took me completely by surprise. Believers were sharing the Gospel using an entirely new system of communication that reminded me a little of the revolution started by Jack Chick in America back in the 1960s and 70s when he wrote tracts in the form of tiny booklets in cartoon form that you could easily put in your pocket. The first was called Why No Revival?. Millions were converted and influenced through them. I think I have the whole set of them. They were, of course, written within a Protestant, Calvinist, anti-Catholic, King James-Only framework and are a little outdated now besides having a some unhelpful false doctrines in them like the 'rapture'. What I saw was completely different because it combined the idea of a cartoon with the Chinese character system - not Chinese bubbles in regular cartoons but a synthesis that would have been perfectly understandable to a speaker of Chinese. I understood what I saw when in vision but since the vision closed, as hard as I have tried to visualise it or draw it, I no longer can! I know about half-a-dozen characters only and used to speak a little Cantonese when I was a boy which I have largely forgotten except for the opening line of a popular tune of the 1960s called 'The Ding-Dong Song'.

Except for one detail. There was a vertical rectangular character open at the bottom, resembling the Chinese character kôu though more elongated, looking like the outline of a face. What's interesting (and I never knew this before today), though kôu has four sides (like a square) it is made by means of only three brush strokes!

Though there was almost no detail, it was clearly a face, and it was speaking. There was a single mark inside, like a squiggle, on the inside and lots of other similar characters in different windows apparently in conversation. Some sort of Gospel message was being shared. In the vision the evangelist or witness was holding out a piece of paper with these drawings for someone to read. That's all Father showed me. Needless to say, I have never had a vision remotely like this before nor would I have ever dreamed up such an idea. Two of my sons are good cartoonists and perhaps it was for them. I don't know.

That concludes my message for Rosh Chodesh and the rather extended Shavu'ot period. Until next time, Yahweh bless you all, in Yah'shua's (Jesus') Name. Amen.

End Notes

[1] The original Torah (Law, Teaching, Doctrine) consists of the first five books of the Bible (Genesis to Deuteronomy), the original revelation to Moses. However, the Torah (as Yahweh's ongoing revelation to mankind) also consists of the rest of the Tanakh (Old Testament) and the Messianic Scriptures (New Testament) too and finds its completion in Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) who is the Davar or Word (Jn.1:1), which is another way of describing the Torah in its wider, messianic sense.

[2] Lord Edwin E. Hitti, Bathsheba, the King's Mother, a Hittite?