NORTHERN STYLE NEWSWATCH No. 47 CREDO
` Save me, O God . . .'
It is generally accepted by all who deal with social issues that people soon form themselves into recognisable communities, the smallest component part being the family unit. Once established, such communities soon begin to formulate rules and regulations, taboos and customs, so as to protect the continued existence and protection of their species or group. It then follows that any enforcement of such regulations is entrusted to those whom the group recognise and accept as their peers. Once such communities become settled and secure religious ceremonies will very quickly be introduced, for there is in all mankind an unspoken knowledge of a Superior Being beyond their comprehension. Scripture puts it very succinctly: `He has set eternity in their hearts'. The key to the continuation of such a community obviously lies in its ability to reproduce itself, and in even the most primitive cultures the woman has been held in a place of honour for she represents the commonwealth of the community. There may well be some at this point who will contest such a statement, pointing to the oppression of women in certain Middle Eastern and Asian cultures, but we would sugget that even when this occurs it is from a perverted sense of honour as men seek to protect (through oppression) what they instinctively know is the only source of the continuation of their community. Even within certain Asian communities where what can only be called atrocities are committed against women, in many cases leading to death, such acts are committed from a perverted sense of protecting the purity of the `vessel' through which the reproduction of the community comes.

Within our western European cultures such veneration of womanhood has become more stylised and formal, but at its most primitive level it can be seen in the fundamental need to protect the `community womb' - the women upon whom the continuation of the community depends. Clearly our modern understanding of western customs has been handed down to us through countless numbers of books, films, and now videos and DVD's. These have mainly focused on Kings and Queens and powerful dynastic families, all power players in State and religious affairs. Such powerful people alone had the wealth and means to record their language in order to perpetuate their `Dynastic Houses', and although military conquest often extended their domain it was through inter-marriages that such domains became settled and made secure. Clearly at the heart of such activities can be seen the basic primitive urge to consolidate and continue the community unit - now stylised into a more courtly form of the dynastic heirarchical power - but at its centre was venerated womanhood who alone had the womb to produce the heirs needed for continuity. Such is the primitive power that undergirds all communities, and it is at its most potent when experienced in religious activities.

It is this understanding that provides the power of Roman Catholicism, the only universal religious system known to man with its power centred on the veneration of a woman. Throughout its long history Popes have from time to time gone to war or been involved in political power games which make our modern-day politicians appear mere amateurs, seeking always to extend their domains and, therefore, their power. However, if it had been left at that level such power could be taken away by more powerful kings, therefore the universal power of Popery which held sway over the kings and queens of western civilizations came through the developing cult of Mary, the Mother of God! As such, it touched the most primitive emotions of men, both those in the highest estate and the lowest. With the demise of temporal power and the loss of the Papal States it is this `Marian Cult' which today holds together the universal power of the Roman Catholic Church and is clearly imbedded in the emotions of its people. This could be seen powerfully outworking during the so-called Reformation of the 16th century when the universal power of the Popes was challenged by the political power of the Protestant Movement. In the British Isles the Tudor dynasty, which adopted the Protestant religion after the death of Henry the Eighth, was threatened until Elizabeth - recognising the unrest of the people at the potential loss of a `Spiritual Mother' who ensured continuity of the community - reinvented herself as the `Virgin Queen', married to her people. This calmed the people and averted civil war, and in more modern times the `Cult of Diana' the Princess of Hearts, showed that even in a more secular time this deep-seated need of venerated womanhood still runs deep as ever! We have often disputed the well-used suggestion that the western nations, and the British Isles in particular, have been founded on a `Judaic/Christian' heritage, arguing that it should more correctly be seen as a Judaic/Greco heritage, for a `Christian heritage' can only be established in a personal rebirth through the Lord Jesus into His Kingdom. If such a comment can be accepted as valid then this brief description of the primitive emotion that lies deep within all mankind will dispel the growing cry of many evangelical ministries for a return to our `Judaic/Christian' heritage, which can be seen for what it really is - a stylised form of the veneration of woman, seen especially in all Greek mythology and the basis of most if not all of Israel's idolatry.

We now come to a paradox - and seek its answer. Many times we have set out the Scriptural basis for a fourty-year Probation Period - a time of testing of the character of the nation of Israel - which always commenced with an out-pouring of the Spirit of God upon His people, enabling them to return to Him. Such a commencement always started in a `Temple setting' - the only place where God has purposed to reveal Himself. Every Scriptural Probation Period concerning His people ends in failure as their character-flaw of self-will, their need to be satisfied rather than to do God's will, is revealed in their National character and always ends in a captivity where once again idolatry is dealt with in a `foreign land'. Such a Probation Period for the nation of Israel was clearly seen in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles: (chapter 2)

" When the day of Pentecost came, they were all with one accord in one place . . . (and) Peter stood up with the Eleven, lifted up his voice and said unto them . . . "

From the time of the Death, Resurrection and Ascension of the Lord Jesus in AD 29 to the rejection of Paul's message by the Leaders of Israel - as recorded in Acts 28 - there were 39 years, which culminated in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Roman armies under Titus in AD 70. The Probation Period for the nation of Israel started in a Temple setting where the visible Presence of God was seen as `tongues like fire', and ended with the destruction of the Temple and captivity for the people of Israel - such is the powerful testimony of Scripture to the Righteousness of God! Within the speech of Peter there was a clear reference to a prophecy spoken by Joel many centuries earlier: (Joel 2:28)

" `And it shall come to pass in the last days,' says the LORD, `that I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and daughters shall prophesy . . . . . "

We know that this event has been seized upon by many Christians, particularly those of a Pentecostal persuasion, to establish the doctrine of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit which over the years has caused much division within the Body of Christ. However, before we begin to answer our before-mentioned paradox we need to look briefly at this event recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, for it has a bearing on this. Peter's words in verse 16 of chapter 2 clearly say: `But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel' but within the context of the narrative Peter was merely refuting the accusation of the Jews that what was happening was because of drunkeness, for it was only nine in the morning: `This is that' which will only be seen in all its fulness `in the Last Days'. Peter does not say that the prophecy of Joel is now fulfilled, but that what is happening now is similar to what will be fulfilled in the Last Days - a time yet to come, and to come within contemporary history. Peter, now that he had refuted the accusation of drunkeness, speaks to the assembled people of the nation of Israel. `You men of Israel, hear these words'. And so in a Temple setting a Probation Period began to be unfolded. Its purpose? That the message of repentance unto salvation might be heard: `Then they that gladly received his words were baptized; and the same day there were added to them about three thousand souls'.

To further confirm these remarks we need to turn to the Book of Joel where the original words of this prophecy are recorded, for the words spoken by Peter need to be understood within the context of the words spoken by Joel. The prophecy starts with the words `And afterwards . . ' so we need to look at what was being said before that `afterwards'. Using the terrible destruction caused by locusts Joel is speaking of a total cleansing . . a total destruction of idolatry . . of the land which produces repentance, and of the LORD's reply:

(Joel 2: 19, 25, 30, 31 in part) KJV " And I will send you new corn, wine and oil . . . and I will restore to you the years that the locusts have eaten . . . and I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth . . . before the great and terrible Day of the LORD comes. "

As the words of Joel's prophecy, spoken so exactly by Peter, did not lead the nation of Israel into temporal blessings - indeed it finally led to destruction by the Roman armies - and did not lead to `wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood and fire and pillars of smoke', we cannot take the words of this prophecy as referring to the Christian `Doctrine' of Baptism in the Holy Spirit for it clearly refers to the nation of Israel, and to a coming time of temporal blessing for Israel, following repentance, and afterwards to a Spiritual Blessing for Israel. We can, however, use the words of Joel's prophecy to begin to answer our paradox, to which we now turn our thoughts.

We said earlier that our understanding is that a Probation Period began in 1967 with the retaking of East Jerusalem by the Israeli army, thereby culminating in the retaking of the Temple Mount upon which once stood the Temple of the LORD, thus forging Jerusalem as `the eternal and undivided capital of Israel'. Those of us who heard the transcript of the voices of the Israeli soldiers as they approached the Temple Mount will not doubt that this was a Temple setting, and the beginning of a Probation Period in which some 38 years later we sadly see revealed the `charcter flaw' of Israel as it gives away land in search of worldly peace - to the point of even considering dividing again the eternal city of Jerusalem and delivering it into the hands of her avowed enemies! Something very significant occurred in the 1960's centered around historical events in Israel. But there was also a significant move within the Body of Christ - which in this Dispensation of Grace is the Temple of God - for it gave birth to what is known as the `Charismatic Movement'. Many leaders saw this as God renewing the Church, particuarly the denominational churches - such is the blinkered sight of men who seek to harness the Holy Spirit for their own devices! Because of such blinkered vision many failed to see that the Spirit of God had been poured out on more than just the people of the western culture for it was truly a world-wide outpouring, touching people of all religions, and none. Some 38 years later it has left us with renewed Christians rapidly falling away into `sensory experiences' and a remnant who tenaciously hold to their personal meeting with God through the Holy Spirit! It has left the world with so-called `moderate' members of other religions, and groups of `militants' seeking to impose their religion on others by violent means! It has left many Jews gathered into the Land, and growing Messianic groups many of whom are turning back to Torah and the Law of Moses as their creed! Within the Roman Catholic religion we will find the same situation occurring, with some largely indifferent people going through the motions of religious rites but with their own private interpretation of such activities, and a hard core of zealots who look for a renewed church to appear!

In simple terms, we see a world-wide classic Probation Period across all cultures coming to the end of its time! However, we will turn our thoughts back to the western cultures, for to widen it to other cultures about which we have only superficial knowledge would take us away from the answer to our paradox. As we have set out in our introduction our Judaic/Greco culture is centered on a stylized form of primitive veneration of woman as the reproductive commonwealth of a community. Certainly up to the 1960's this was the undergirding ethos of western culture - the virgin child, the modest maiden, the venerated mother, always set within a family unit and protected and provided for by the male. You may care to recall that much of classical literature, and even popular novels and magazines, would be mainly centered on a woman who was pure and chaste and the means of bringing the man through many hardships back to a religious way of life. It was always the man who fell away and the faithfulness of the woman who waited and who never doubted the man's ultimate redemption through her faithfulness. Such sentiment formed the bedrock of western culture, and formed the basis of what is mistakenly called our `Judiac/Christian' heritage based on the family unit and centered upon a faithful wife. Very dramatically, in the 1960's this cultural situation in the western countries fell apart as the `Swinging Sixties' burst upon the scene with promiscurity in all its fulness and in its many forms. This led to a rapid increase in divorce and broken families; delinquent children; abortions; single-parent families; the arrival of AIDS; the shrill cry of the populists insisting upon `alternative lifestyles' as the norm; civil marriages between same-sex people with Church `blessings' on such activities being insisted upon; euthanasia and the right-to-die lobbyists actively at work!

Indeed something very dramatic and significant occurred at the beginning of the Probation Period in 1967 and the paradox we are looking at is this: If this was indeed an Outpouring of the Spirit of God, why has it led to such depravity? And what was the significant occurrence at the commencement of the Probation Period that led so dramatically and quickly to the disintegration of western culture? To answer the paradox we need to see that the Outpouring was upon individuals in every nation of the world! It was the Response of God to earlier entreaties of His people, and He was requiring a personal relationship with those who responded to His Outpouring! God was wanting an end to the stupifying cloak of organized religion of whatever kind that had held people in its deadly grip for so long. Western Christianity sought to limit it to a narrow doctrine of Baptism of the Holy Spirit to its own particular devisive work. Amongst those who did not respond to God's enabling Spirit there was unleashed a latent spirit of lawlessness. This is seen in individualist expressions of carnality and, therefore, the de-feminisation of women who no longer are the objects of veneration in order the ensure the continuity of the community but objects of desire and lust to satify the individual need of the moment.

This was the single but significant event of the 1960's that totally destroyed our `Judaic/Christian' heritage and so revealed a deep-seated inherent primitive paganism based on corrupted Judaic/Greco religions which centered upon fertility rites. Such a complete collapse of a western nation's cultural infrastructure, built as it was over many centuries, cannot be rebuilt unless there is a return to the social and political power structure on which it was forged - which is impossible! To use a very simple example: Our grandchildren may listen to stories of our early childhood, but unless they have lived through those times themselves they cannot emotionally, or even intellectually, understand what is being told them, and those circumstances cannot be repeated! Within a generation real emotional experiences of life become quaint stories listened to and then forgotten. In one generation the western cultural infrastructure has collapsed and today there is no common knowledge of a stylised form of the veneration of womanhood as the commonwealth of the community. However, we are not intending to present a social commentary on western culture in the 21st century but merely using the circumstances to seek understanding of what the Lord is saying in these times.

We saw that this was exactly what Peter was doing when he stood up in the Temple Compound in Jersualem after hearing the people's response to those who, `began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance'. Peter heard the mocking words, `These man are full of new wine' and he responded:

"For these are not drunken as you suppose, seeing it is but the third hour
of the day, but this is that . . . "
At the end of a Probation Period (for Peter spoke at a beginning) we need to also state `but this is that' regarding the circumstances in which we find ourselves.

This leads us back to the title of this Credo `Save me, O God' which forms the opening words of Psalm 69. The inscription in the Hebrew Scriptures merely says, `of David', which tells us that it is speaking of the True David, Israel's Redeemer, and it is the last of the three Messianic Psalms. Earlier, Psalm 22 speaks of the Messiah as the Sin Offering while Psalm 40 speaks of Him as the Burnt Offering, and now in Psalm 69 it speaks of the Messiah as the Trespass Offering (or as some translations put it, the Guilt Offering). The first two Messianic Psalms, Psalms 22 and 40, are to be found in the First Book of Psalms - the `Genesis Book' - whereas Psalm 69 is to be found in the Second Book of Psalms - the `Exodus Book. This clearly points to the purpose of God, determined before time began, that a Deliverer would come and through His finished work He would bring salvation to those who waited for Him. With this understanding of the three Messianic Psalms, as you read through the narrative you will hear `David' waiting for His redemption: 69:1-3)

"Save Me, O God, for the waters are come in unto My soul.
I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold;
I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow Me.
I am weary of My crying; My throat is dried;
Mine eyes fail while I wait for My God. "
As all Scripture is `God breathed' and a Living Word, we can also hold to the parallel of it not only being the Messiah waiting here for His deliverance, but linked to the fulness of these prophetic words Israel too is waiting for the two are intrinsically linked! Therefore, to understand the message of Psalm 69 we need to look at Leviticus 7 where we find the Trespass Offering recorded. Space limits us to all but a cursory glance at what is recorded, but the opening words give us an understanding of the holiness of this Offering so closely tied in with the Sin and Burnt Offerings, and of course it is conducted by the Priest making Atonement for the people: (Leviticus 7:1-2 and 7) KJV

" Likewise this is the law of the Trespass offering; it is most holy. In the place where they kill the Burnt Offering shall they kill the Trespass Offering . . . As the Sin Offering is, so is the Trespass Offering; there is one law for them; the Priest that makes Atonement therewith shall have it. "

The Hebrew Scriptures use a number of different words to give deeper meaning to the word `offering', and here in the Trespass Offering the word used has a meaning of `omission, a sin of negligence, of ignorance'. In this sense the Messiah's work, seen in the Sin, Burnt and Trespass Offerings - although complete and final - still waits for its completion of the Trespass Offering for the nation of Israel because of its sins of negligence and ignorance! The LORD still awaits the completion of His completed work when He will hear the cry of His ancient people: `Save me, O God'.

To that end, and looking at the times we are now entering into, we too need to look at the circumstances and be ready to say, `But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel'. We are not suggesting that these words spoken through Joel are being fulfilled in our present- day circumstances for they clearly concern the land and the people of Israel, and within the context of the whole prophecy it shows a total destruction and cleansing of the land and the people followed by:

" I will restore to you the years that the locusts have eaten . . . and afterwards I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh . . . I will show you wonders in heavens and in the earth . . . "

Clearly the fulness of these words is yet to come, `before the coming of the great and dreadful Day of the LORD'. But we have seen in the 1960's a great Outpouring of God's Spirit which was world-wide and touched the lives of countless numbers of individuals, many of whom were brought into the True Blessing of God through accepting Jesus, and we have seen signs in the heavens. We recorded in our study booklet `The Heavens Declare' one such sign in the heavens which appeared in 1996, and we quote:

" . . it continued on the movement of the constellation known by the sign Virgo. In its movements Virgo passed through a constellation of stars and appeared with 12 stars above `her' head, whilst at `her' feet a new moon was birthed in its own cycle of movement, which comes through its position to the sun . . . . What is of particular interest to us, however, is that the sign in the heavens, centered on this position of Virgo (the Virgin), occurred in 1996 on the day of the Feast of Trumpets which begins the last three of the Seven Feasts of Leviticus - all of which have been or will be fulfilled in the work of Jesus the Messiah. The Feast of Trumpets precedes the Awesome Days leading into the Day of Atonement and on into the Feast of Tabernacles . . . We must mention two other signs which appeared in 1996 during Levitical Feasts which are grounded in Scripture and worth noting. Both signs concerned eclipses of the moon which, as seen in Jerusalem, caused the moon to appear blood-red. The first eclipse occurred in March at the Feast of Passover and the other occurred at the end of September at the Feast of Tabernacles. "

As to signs on the earth, at the end of 2004 came the terrible tsunami - surely a warning of God, striking as it did at people from the four corners of the world as they gathered in the playground of the Indian Ocean. More recently there was the Hurricane Katrina which struck at the economic heart of America, so beginning the demise of the world's last super- power. The world's pundits may well put this down to global warming, but those who keep the truth of Scripture alone in their hearts and minds will surely recall the words of Peter, `But this is that' and know that the `afterwards' cannot be far away.

In drawing this credo to a close we would return to the signs in the heavens which occurred in 1996 and the dramatic positioning of the constellation Virgo (the Virgin) and bring it into our `social commentary' where we recorded the equally dramatic demise of western culture, based as it was on the veneration of woman. As is well known, many ministries, both secular and religious, work tirelessly in seeking to restore the moral structure of our western culture. And as we have said, this is impossible without a return to the conditions which forged that culture, and no politician in the western democracies would dare to alienate voters by bringing in laws restraining the excesses of today's `Swinging Britain'. However, as we have set out, there is in the `deep soul' of people this primitive spiritual commonwealth of the community, the veneration of womanhood, and the only universal religious system in the world that has this as its central unifying ethos is the Roman Catholic Church with its Marian Cult. Even now it is seen reaching out to all `faiths', and we have no doubt that it will be the means of chanelling the lawlessness of this destructive `permissive society' into a post-Christian culture as it offers the world the `Virgin Queen' to satisfy its deep primitive longings.

As we near the end of this Probation Period we will need more than ever before a true Anointing of God to be able to discern truth from error - true spiritual expression rather than sensory experience - and watch and pray for the fulness of the completion of the Trespass Offering to be seen in Israel and in the Church in repentance of the sins of negligence and ignorance. We will then truly understand and enter into the fulness of that `afterwards' when `I will pour out My Spirit on all people'.

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