House of David/House of Saul

April 3, 2025

Introduction

Hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble at His word: Your brothers who hate you, who exclude you for My name's sake, have said, "Let the Lord be glorified, that we may see your joy." But they will be put to shame (Isaiah 66:5).

When your brethren hate you and exclude you for the sake of the Lord's name, your life becomes difficult.

The Worst War

The book of Judges is a book about wars. It is Jews fighting Amalekites, Canaanites, Philistines. It gives all the statistics of how many were killed, how many were captured. The worst of those wars was the last war in Judges. And the worst war, the bloodiest war with the most fatalities, was not against Amalekites, Canaanites or Philistines, it involved Jews fighting other Jews.

What caused Paul the most consternation? Was it being dragged before the Roman authorities, flogged in the synagogue, attacked by mobs in Ephesus? Read his epistles, these things did not cause him the most grief. Persecution is not what distressed him. Rather, it was false brethren, false teachers and false prophets trying to seduce the churches that he planted.

I am not afraid of going against Freemasonry, or Rome, or Orthodox Rabbis, or Islam, or New Age, or the homosexuals. The kind of war I dread is when you have to fight against your brethren. In the last war in Judges, they had no choice. A woman's body was hacked into fragments and divided. And the Body of Christ in the Western world is being hacked to death and divided. We have no choice but to pick up the sword, the body is being hacked to death.

False Teachers, False Prophets

E. W. Kenyon was the patriarch of the "Jesus died spiritually" doctrines that are being taught today. He said that Jesus did not win the victory on the Cross. Jesus said, "It is finished," (John 19:30) but, according to Kenyon, that was not the victory. Jesus died and rose again, but Kenyon says that Jesus descended into hell and became of one nature with Satan. Jesus was born again in hell – that is the “gospel” of Frederick K. Price, Kenneth Copeland, Kenneth Hagin and Benny Hinn. They believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died on the Cross, but the victory over sin and death was not accomplished on the Cross.

The Body is being hacked to death. "You don't have to suffer, God wants you rich." By virtue of the fact that you live in a Western democracy, you are rich. You are better off than at least two thirds of the people in the world. The body is being hacked to death by a gospel of mammon which calls itself "Faith Prosperity." But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction.

For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith. ( Tim 6:9-10).

Hebrews 11, the ‘faith chapter,” talks more about faith than all the rest of the New Testament put together. It does not mention money once, only alluding to wealth to tell you about those who could have had it, but turned their backs on it for the sake of the kingdom (Heb 11:26).

The body is being hacked to death. It is very difficult when you have to lift your sword against your brother.

A Long War

Now there was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David; and David grew steadily stronger, but the House of Saul grew weaker continually (2 Sam 3:1).

David and Saul both had a common enemy, the Canaanites and Philistines who were over-running the land. The enemy prevailed because the leadership of Israel had become so corrupt. David could do nothing about it until the leadership was replaced. He could not replace the leadership because Saul was God's anointed. He was stuck in a situation where wickedness was prevailing and God's people were being defeated, just like today. God's people are being defeated and there is going to be a long war between the growing house of David and the failing house of Saul.

Believing a Lie

If you want to, you can have your ears tickled with blab-It-and-grab-it Western consumerism, which is all the “prosperity gospel” is, people trying to redefine the truth of the Bible in light of Western consumerism. The people who subscribe to these errors do so because they want to believe lies.

They did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. And for this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they might believe what is false (2 Thes 2:10-11).

But there is something much more difficult and much more painful than that here.

The Jonathan Tragedy

We all know the story of King David and how Saul hated him and tried to kill him. The one sticking point was Jonathan. Jonathan loved David. Jonathan knew that Saul had become corrupt and lost God's calling and blessing. Jonathan knew his father was no good. He knew the house of Saul was under the curse of God. He knew David was right. He knew David was an innocent victim who was being persecuted. He knew David was God's chosen. He knew it all, but Jonathan was too cemented to the house of Saul to make the break.

Jesus said, "He who loves father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me" (Math 10:37).

That alludes to the situation of Jonathan. Are you part of the house of David or the house of Saul? To be part of the house of Saul does not require you to believe false doctrine yourself. It just means that you are committed to established structures, churches and denominations that have gone into this error. Is your denomination more important to you than what God is saying?

Beginning in the Spirit

Then Samuel took the flask of oil, and poured it on his head, kissed him and said, "Has not the Lord anointed you a ruler over His inheritance?" (1 Sam 10:1).

Remember, different liquids represent the Holy Spirit in different aspects. In this case it is oil, which speaks of the anointing. The Holy Spirit really was poured out on the house of Saul. It was authentic, but if something ends in the flesh, it does not matter if it began in the Spirit or if it was always in error to begin with.

I do not doubt for one second that thirty years ago there was a genuine outpouring of God's Spirit.

I know that was true, but I am just as convinced that it went into the flesh a long time ago. Every single Charismatic movement in the history of the church has ended the same way. The Montanists, experiential theology, Muenster Anabaptists and early Pentecostals, crazy doctrines, Quakers, inner light – It is always the Spirit and the Truth. But they said, "Give us the Spirit, we don't want the Truth." The word of God tells us what is flesh and what is Spirit.

Ending in the Flesh

As you did not obey the Lord and did not execute His fierce wrath upon Amalek, so the Lord has done this thing to you this day. Moreover the Lord will also deliver Israel along with you into the hand of the Philistines, therefore tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. Indeed the Lord will give over the army of Israel into the hands of the Philistines (1 Samuel 28:18).

Saul lost his anointing. He started out with the calling, with the anointing, but God rejected him.

Go, Strike Amalek

Then Samuel said to Saul, "The Lord sent me to anoint you as king over His people, over Israel; now therefore, listen to the words of the Lord.

"Thus says the Lord of hosts, 'I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he set himself against him on the way while he was coming up from Egypt. Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him; but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey'" (1 Samuel 15:13).

But Saul did not do it.

But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were not willing to destroy them utterly; but everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed. Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying, "I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not carried out My commands." And Samuel was distressed and cried out to the Lord all night (1 Samuel 15:9-11).

The Ancient Enemy

Amalek, also known as Agag, was an ancient enemy. The enmity goes back to the time of Moses; it resurfaces in the person of Haman, a descendant of Agag, in the book of Esther. This enmity had persisted over hundreds of years, back to the Babylonian captivity. The old enemy remains the enemy. It does not change. Saul was told what Moses was told, what Joshua was told: These are your ancient enemies, get rid of them.

Who are our ancient enemies? We are told in the New Testament that we struggle not against flesh and blood. (Eph. 6:12) As Christians, we love our enemies.

There is a big difference between loving people in false religions, and loving the false religions. We are to hate idolatry, sin, and superstition. I hate Roman Catholicism because it is leading people to hell by the tens of millions.

Saul tried to keep the parts he thought were acceptable. Saul tried to make peace with the ancient enemy. When you try to make peace with your ancient enemy, the ancient enemy comes back and devours you, just like it did in the book of Esther.

You can look back and see in history that more Bible-believing Christians were killed by Papal Rome than were killed by pagan Rome. John Bunyan called it a "Two Headed Giant" – one called Pagan, and the other called Pope!

You may say, "They did that five hundred years ago, they did that sixteen hundred years ago, but they would not do that in the 20th century!" Hitler, Himmler and Goebbels were all Catholics, and most of Hitler's deputies were Jesuit educated. Franz von Papen, vice chancellor to Hitler and a privy chamberlain to Pope Pius 12th, said, "The Third Reich was the first power in the world not only to recognize but also to put into practice the high principles of the Roman Catholic Papacy."

Joachim von Ribbentropp, Hitler's advisor in foreign affairs and Papal Envoy, said, "Adolph Hitler is the envoy of God." Some believe that they would not do that in the 20th Century. Saul thought that Agag would not do what they did in the days of Moses. Esther did not think that Haman would have done it either.

The Roman Catholic Church condemns those who say the Church must not use violent force. There are pictures of nuns marching with Gestapo officers to get Jewish children and take them out to be killed.

The simple basic constitutional principle of Roman Catholicism is always the same. Rome has not changed; Agag has not changed.

Come Out of Her, My People

The first mistake of the Charismatic Movement was experiential theology. The second was failing to drive out the enemies of God. When the Charismatic Renewal happened in the Roman Church, the Holy Spirit was calling God's people to come out of false religion.

"Ho there! Flee from the land of the north," declares the Lord, "for I have dispersed you as the four winds of the heavens, declares the Lord, "Ho Zion! Escape, you who are living with the daughter of Babylon" (Zech 2:67)

And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, "Come out of her, My people, that you may not participate in her sins and that you may not receive of her plagues; for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities (Rev 18:45).

It does not say they are not God's people. But to be His people and stay in a church that says you are going to burn in Purgatory for your own sins, when the Bible says that the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sins, is sin.

The Hebrew word for “to worship” is the same word as “prostrate, genuflect.” It is the same exact word. Praying to the dead and genuflecting before statues (practicing idolatry) is sin. Praying to the dead is contacting a familiar spirit. It is a sin. You cannot practice Roman Catholicism without sinning. Praying to the dead is sin. Idolatry – Mary worship, kissing statues – is sin. The Roman Catholic Church has a history of murdering true Christians and, if they get their chance, they will do it again. Babylon cannot be healed. (Jer 51:9).

You cannot practice Roman Catholicism without sinning

Inventing Doctrine

Saul's second mistake was his failure to go to the Word of God. The Torah showed clearly how to get rid of Amalek. But Saul invented his own doctrine and his own code of practice. As a result, he lost his anointing and calling.

The Charismatic movement has done the same thing. They did not go to the Word of God, but invented their own doctrine and code of practice. Thirty years ago the Charismatic movement happened in the United States and other places around the world. The Charismatic Renewal was supposed to bring spiritual and moral restoration to the British Isles and bring reconciliation between Catholics and Protestants. They were going to win the country back for Jesus. The Charismatic Renewal was going to bring spiritual and moral restoration to the USA.

Is there less crime, less divorce, less homosexuality, less substance, less racism now? No, there is more of all of it! The Charismatic movement has not been able to renew the church, let alone the country. It has not moved the church to repentance, let alone the nation.

Thirty years ago you would not have found Anglican Bishops denying the virgin birth or the resurrection of Jesus Christ, nor Hindu gods being worshiped in Anglican churches, nor professed homosexuals in a Methodist pulpit. Not only is society worse off than it was before the Charismatic Renewal, but the Church is worse off.

We Are All Priests

Every Christian is a priest. We are all supposed to bring a sacrifice of praise and lay our life down, not loving our life in this world.

"If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me" (Luke 9:23).

I have dropped my cross many times. I thank God for Jesus, who helps me pick it up again and keep following him. My old nature and my flesh do not want to. So far, seven bishops and hundreds of clergy have either walked out, or are planning to walk out, of the Church of England over the ordination of women priests. When the virgin birth was denied, no one walked out. When the resurrection of Jesus Christ was denied, no one walked out. When Bishops began laying hands on homosexuals and consecrating them for the ministry, no one walked out. When Hindu gods were worshipped in Canterbury Cathedral, no one walked out.

These people do not care about God's Word or God's Truth. They do not care about God's Son. They only care about their religion.

Self-Preservation

The house of Saul is always bent on one thing, self-preservation.

And he captured Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were not willing to destroy them utterly; but everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed. Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying, "I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not carried out My commands." And Samuel was distressed and cried out to the Lord all night.

And Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul; and it was told Samuel, saying, "Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself, then turned and proceeded on down to Gilgal (1 Sam 15:8-12).

Saul set up a monument for himself. The Sauls of the modern church are also busily engaged in setting up monuments for themselves.

And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, "Blessed are you of the Lord! I have carried out the command of the Lord." But Samuel said: What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?" (1 Sam 15:13-14).

The house of Saul thinks it is in God's grace, God's favor, God's blessing, until the real prophetic voice comes and tells them the truth.

And Saul said, "They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord your God; but the rest we have utterly destroyed"

"There are good things in the Roman Catholic Church that we can draw from," say some people. But if you knew something was part rotten, would you eat it?

Then Samuel said to Saul, "Wait and let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night." And he said to him, "Speak!" And Samuel said, "Is it not true, though you were little in your own eyes, you were made the head of the tribes of Israel? And the Lord anointed thee king over Israel.

The people asked for a King. They always want a flesh leader instead of looking to God. "Give us a leader, or give us a king." When people ask for a leader or king, there is always something wrong with their relationship with Jesus.

People refuse to understand that they can only follow a human leader as far as that person has a relationship with God, not one bit further. If that leader has no relationship with God, then you will be in the same confusion and doubt as the leader. What did Paul say? Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ (1 Cor 11:1). Follow me, agree with me, trust me to the exact extent that I am following Jesus. No more.

We have a King; we should not try to make other people into our king.

The Lord sent you on a mission, and said, "Go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are exterminated." Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord, but rushed upon the spoil and did what was evil in the sight of the Lord? (1 Sam 15:18-19).

We are showing our treasures to the king of Babylon. When you send converts back to the Roman Catholic Church, as Billy Graham is doing, you are showing your treasures to the king of Babylon (2 Kings 20:12-18). When you do this, it is only a matter of time before the king of Babylon will come and take the treasure.

And Saul said to Samuel, "I did obey the voice of the Lord, and went on the mission on which the Lord sent me." (1 Sam 15:20).

They always defend their actions. They insist they are obeying the Lord, they insist they are following him. But the Word of God says differently!

They say, "Do not talk to us about doctrine, doctrine divides." The New Testament contains twice as much exhortation to right doctrine as it does right conduct. Why? If we do not know right doctrine, we will not know right conduct. Jesus said it would divide. That is exactly the purpose of doctrine!

Bad Leaders Blame the People

"But the people took some of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the choicest of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God at Gilgal"

The bad leaders always blame the people. "The people took the spoil. We cannot control the people." Those in leadership were given a job to do and they are responsible. They are supposed to be God's authority in that relationship.

And Samuel said, "Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has also rejected you from being king." (1 Sam,15:22 23).

They will bring a sacrifice of praise, but they will not obey the Bible.

Return with Me

Then Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned; I have indeed transgressed the command of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and listened to their voice. Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me, that I may worship the Lord."

But Samuel said to Saul, "I will not return with you; for you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel" (1 Sam 15:24-26).

The basics of fellowship.

Can two walk together, except they be agreed? (Amos 3:3).

We are talking about basics – salvation, the authority of scripture, the person of Christ.

The Bible says if people predict things that do not happen, get away from them. When people prefer the teachings of Toronto/ Brownsville, despite knowing the contradiction between what the Bible says and what their leaders do, we should get away from them. People who will not listen to truth are in rebellion, and rebellion is as witchcraft. These movements openly defy the clear Word of God.

Rejecting the Word of Truth

There have been a number of predictions made by people like John Wimber, Paul Cain and Gerald Coates, predictions that did not happen. Their false predictions were published in newspapers and on secular television, resulting in brutal mocking of Christians when they failed to happen.

When Gerald Coates was challenged over his false prophecy, he refused to take any responsibility for his actions. Both Rick Joyner and John Kilpatrick have made major predictions that failed to happen and people still follow them. This is rebellion, the same sin as witchcraft. The people who follow Coates, Joyner and Kilpatrick cannot dispute that their leaders have predicted things that did not come to pass. They cannot dispute that the Word of God says we should not follow them. But they do not want to obey the Word of God. They prefer rebellion, witchcraft. Once they reject the Word of the Lord, there is no basis for Truth, no fellowship to be had with them.

Bible teaching in the Charismatic Movement has been so shallow that most of these people are doing it out of ignorance rather than willful rebellion. But it is different with the leaders. They should all be called to repentance. They should not be allowed any form of ministry. They have deceived and mislead so many people.

A Faithful Shepherd

So Samuel said to him, "The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to your neighbor who is better than you. And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind (1 Sam 15:28).

And He has still not changed his mind.

When the house of Saul goes wrong, God begins to build the house of David. God began teaching David from the time he was a little boy. God trains people for the extraordinary in the ordinary. How was David able to kill Goliath? When he was a shepherd boy, he went around with his slingshot killing wolves that attacked the sheep. A faithful shepherd (the same word in Hebrew as “pastor”), will be given more responsibility by God. For some of these men today, the sheep merely represent stepping stones for advancement on the speaking circuit.

The first lesson David learned was not to wear Saul's armor. Those who will be in the house of David have to learn the same lesson. You cannot wear Saul's armor, it is too cumbersome.

Hearing from God

Now it came about in those days that the Philistines gathered their armed camps for war to fight against Israel. And Achish said to David, "Know assuredly that you will go out with me in the camp, you and your men." And David said to Achish, "Very well, you shall know what your servant can do." So Achish said to David, "Very well, I will make you my bodyguard for life."

Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had lamented him and buried him in Ramah his own city. And Saul had removed from the land those who were mediums and spiritists. So the Philistines gathered together and came and camped in Shunem; and Saul gathered all Israel together and they camped in Gilboa. When Saul saw the camp of the Philistines, he was afraid and his heart trembled greatly. When Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim nor by prophets. Then Saul said to his servants, "Seek for me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her." And his servants said, "Behold, there is a woman who is a medium at Endor" (1 Sam 28:1-7).

Listening to Witches

Saul stopped hearing from the Lord. Today the Charismatic leaders are really afraid. Why were Wimber, Paul Cain and Gerald Coates wrong? They talk big, but they are afraid. They know their own track record. They know they have been around thirty years and things have gone from bad to worse, and from worse to worse yet. That is why they need one gimmick after another like the “laughing revival” to keep people unknowing as to what is really going on.

These people stopped hearing from the Lord a long time ago. Benny Hinn said that he goes to the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Los Angeles, California, to commune with the dead. He gets his “anointing” off the dead bodies of Aimee McPherson and Kathryn Kuhlman.

When you do not hear from the Lord, you go to witches. That is what happened then, and that is what is happening today.

The House of David

But the house of David grows stronger and stronger. How does it begin? “David’s” are shepherd boys.

He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much (Luke 16:10).

Christians who are already faithfully taking care of those God has already given them – good husbands, good fathers, good pastors, good house group leaders – are the kinds of people God is going to use to take care of the whole flock.

God trains people for the extraordinary in the ordinary. The last thing Goliath would have expected was a teenage boy who was a dead aim with a slingshot – the one thing that could have stopped him. The kinds of people God is going to raise up will be people that Islam, New Age, Rome, homosexuals and Free masons will never expect. These are going to be people God has been training for a long time. Dead shots with a sling. And then God will begin to build his house.

One gets stronger while one gets weaker. He takes his calling from the house of Saul, but it runs on inertia. It has lost the anointing, but God leaves it to run on for a time until the house of David is built.

When you see the present spiritual seduction taking place, you can be sure of three things:

God will raise up prophetic voices against it. They might not be listened to, but they will be heard, the same as with Samuel.
There will be a faithful remnant. The remnant will hear, they will listen and
God will build a new house.

The Outcasts of Israel

And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented, gathered to him; and he became captain over them. Now there were about four hundred men with him. (1 Sam 22:2).

The outcasts of Israel gathered to David.

I do not expect the pastors of the bigger churches or the members of Executives to join the house of David. Very few of them will join. At best, they will be Jonathans. It will be people like us – losers, outcasts, nobodies, the unfashionable. We are nothings now, but what were we before? We have nothing that is not the result of Jesus having saved us.

The Mighty Men of David

These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Joshebbasshebeth a Tahchemonite, chief of the captains, he was called Adino the Eznite; because of eight hundred slain by him at one time; and after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David when they defied the Philistines who were gathered there to battle and the men of Israel had withdrawn. He arose and struck the Philistines until his hand was weary and clung to the sword, and the Lord bought about a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to strip the slain.

Now after him was Shammah, the son of Agee the Hararite. And the Philistines were gathered into a troop, where there was a plot of ground full of lentils, and the people fled from the Philistines. But he took his stand in the midst of the plot, defended it and struck the Philistines; and the Lord brought about a great victory (1 Sam 23:8-12).

So the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines, and drew water from the well of Bethlehem which is by the gate, and took it and brought it to David (1 Sam 23:16).

The so-called mighty men of Israel today, the great Christian leaders, run away from homosexuals, run away from New Age, run away from Roman Catholicism; they run away from everything. They do not have the necessary courage to fight. God is going to raise up little boys with slingshots. God is going to gather the mighty men.

But who are these mighty men of David; who are these commanders? They are the same ones mentioned in 1 Sam 22:2 – those who were in distress, who were in debt, who were discontent, the nothings and the nobodies. God takes the losers and makes them winners. He takes the nobodies and makes them commanders.

Where did He do it? Where did He teach them how to become the great men? Where did they learn how to become generals.

In the Wilderness

Now David became aware that Saul had come out to seek his life while David was in the wilderness of Ziph, at Horesh (1 Sam 23:15).

There are two kinds of trials in the Bible: the valley and the wilderness. The valley is a short trial, but the wilderness is a long series of trials, like the Jews wandering in the wilderness for forty years. The wilderness, by nature, is a place of death. That is why the second generation entered the holy land. The first generation died in the wilderness.

Only the new creation could go to heaven and to the promised land, not the old one. God uses the wilderness to destroy the flesh, to burn off the old creation. It was a long war, David became stronger, Saul became weaker. But God did not remove the house of Saul altogether, until David was ready.

Those who are to be made into the mighty ones of Israel, whom God will use to rebuild the Body of Christ in this country, are already going through a long sojourn in the wilderness.

The Lord's Anointed?

"And the Lord will repay each man for his righteousness and his faithfulness; for the Lord delivered you into my hand today, but I refused to stretch out my hand against the Lord'sanointed”. (1 Sam 26:23).

So what that Benny Hinn communes with the dead? “Don't touch God's anointed!”

So what that Oral Roberts said God would kill him if he didn't raise seven or eight million? “Don't touch God's anointed!”

David did not touch Saul because he was God's anointed, but did God ever stopped Samuel or David from telling the truth about Saul? The verse is not even concerned with what they are talking about.

"Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him [Jesus] both Lord and Christ – this Jesus whom you crucified" (Acts 2:36).

“Christ” in Greek is ho christos, in Hebrew is hamashiach, and in both languages means literally “the anointed one”. There is only ONE “anointed one” in Scripture and that is Jesus.

Prophets, Priests, and Kings - Types of Christ

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brothers to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, Coming down upon the beard, Even Aaron's beard, Coming down upon the edge of his robes. (Psalm 133:1-2)

Aaron, the high priest, was an Old Testament type of Jesus. He was anointed – the oil was poured on his head, then it ran off onto his body.

For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church (Ephesians :23).
We are the Body of Christ. To be “anointed”, we must be attached to the body and under the head. Jesus is the anointed one. We have no anointing, except under his headship, as members of the body. These people proclaiming themselves to be “anointed” are not attached to the body and they are not under the headship of Christ.

Before Jesus was anointed for power, for dominion, for victory, Jesus was anointed for burial. Before anyone is anointed for ministry, they are first anointed for burial. Paul said the proof of his anointing was not that he did miracles, signs and wonders, or that he planted churches or that he wrote half the New Testament.

Rather, I bear on my body the brandmarks of Jesus (Gal :17)

Always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body (2 Cori. 4:10).

Because he was anointed for burial, God could anoint Paul for power.

Demonic Deception

Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. And Samuel arose and went to Ramah. Now the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord terrorized him. (1 Sam 16:13-14).

At best, much of the hyper-Charismatic phenomena you see today is soulish; some of it is demonic, evil. Healings claimed to be by Mary are not from God, who will not give His glory to another. There is no doubt that Saul came under some demonic deception and I am sure it is working again today.

Envy, Hatred, Murder

And David was prospering in all his ways for the Lord was with him. When Saul saw that he was prospering greatly, he dreaded him (1 Sam 18:14-15).

A time will come when the house of David will begin to emerge from the wilderness, and the house of Saul will become envious. They are going to despise you, hate you, and want to kill you. By that time you will be dealing with something openly Satanic, an evil spirit. Remember, the house of Saul is only concerned with one thing, self-preservation.

Then David inquired of the Lord, saying, "Shall I go up against the Philistines? Wilt Thou give them into my hand?" And the Lord said to David, "Go up, for I will certainly give the Philistines into your hand" (2 Sam 5:19).

There will come a time when the house of David will do the things that Charismatics and Pentecostals cannot do. They cannot attack New Age, ecumenism, homosexuality, or Islam; they do not have the courage. They only care about preserving their positions, their little empires. When the house of David is built, there will be people that know how to slay eight hundred. They will know how to go up against New Age, homosexuals, Rome, Islam, and the Lord will give them the victory.

The Place of Fellowship

Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron [place of fellowship] and said, "Behold, we are your bone and your flesh. Previously, when Saul was king over us, you were the one who lead Israel out and in. And the Lord said to you, 'You will shepherd My people Israel, and you will be a ruler over Israel.'" So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them before the Lord at Hebron; then they anointed David king over Israel (2 Sam 5:1-3).

There will come a time that these people will arrive as refugees to the new house. They will come to the place of fellowship because the house of Saul will have been destroyed. The ones that have remained faithful are going to join themselves to the new house when the time comes.

The Jonathans

With one unfortunate and tragic exception. This will be the most difficult thing to come to pass in the next few years. They are the Jonathans.

And the Philistines overtook Saul and his sons; and the Philistines killed Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchishua the sons of Saul (1 Sam 31:2).

Then David took hold of his clothes and tore them, and so also did all the men who were with him. And they mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and for his son Jonathon and for the people of the Lord and the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword (2 Sam 1:11-120.

This will be the most difficult aspect – the Jonathans. Jonathan knew David was right. He knew David was commissioned by God, that he was innocent and righteous. Jonathan knew his father's house had gone wrong. He knew his father was corrupt. He knew the land was being overrun and they were losing everything because of his father's house. But Jonathan could not break with his father.

There are people out there today that know things are wrong, but they cannot leave. Those people who attach themselves to Saul and cannot leave will die on Mount Gilboa. That will be the most difficult thing to face.

There are people whom you know and love, who are fed up with what is going on, who can see all this error for what it is. But they do not have the courage of their convictions.

Which House Will You Join?

Which house are you going to join? You will be of the house of Saul or the house of David.

You will have to come into the wilderness, where God is building it.
You have to expect that the house of Saul is going to hate you and persecute you. You have to understand that you cannot wear Saul's armor.
You will have to understand that these people are still our brethren, for better or worse.
Touch not God's anointed. You can tell the truth about them, but only God can remove them.

We have to endure the pain and anguish that David experienced over Jonathan. A time will come when the house of Saul will fall. How much longer can it keep going? It lurches from one gimmick to another, one trend to another, one line of hype to another.

David's house will stand. It will stand at Hebron, the place of fellowship, and then others will join themselves to it. When that day comes, the Lord will give the victory over the Philistines, the Amalekites, the Canaanites, Islam, New Age, Freemasonry, Rome, and homosexual lobbying.

The house of David or the house of Saul? There is plenty of room in both. The choice is yours.

If you want to join the house of David, now is your opportunity.

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Staying the course amidst isolation

By David Passmore • May 30, 2026

Staying The Course Amidst Isolation Rubin Rothler LLB, LLM Living in Israel one gets the feeling that the metaphorical walls are closing in. Israel's reputation is being tarnished all over social media and the mainstream media, and this is reflected in massive public disdain towards this country. We are constantly told that there is near consensus amongst academics and commentators that a genocide was committed in Gaza. The very legitimacy of the state is brought into question. The majority of Americans are now hostile towards Israel. There is real fear that the next U.S. administration will turn against Israel. Even if this were to happen passively, by the U.S. refraining from exercising its veto power towards Security Council Resolutions condemning Israeli actions this could be catastrophic. Internally it is a fractured society leaning increasingly right wing which further alienates Israel from world opinion. An example in point is how Ben Gvir mocked the most recent participants of a global aid flotilla to Gaza. Such conduct further agitates outrage at Israel. The left-wing media presents the ruins of Gaza as a mortal wound in Israel's side. When the world observes this level of carnage no degree of public relations can ameliorate the sense of indignation towards Israel. We can liken the situation of Israel to that of a depressed person. All he sees is hopelessness and gloom. But this isn't the first time that the Jewish nation has been faced with such darkness. Things change and we don't know how the geo-political map will reconfigure in the future. We need to ride out this storm and keep going. On a historical note, the situation is reminiscent of what our ancestors faced when we returned from the Babylonian exile to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Nehemiah was faced with constant lies and conspiracies designed to entrap him by hostile actors: Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite and Geshem the Arab. They employed deception, slander and ridicule in order to maintain their political eminence. There was also a certain sense of abandonment amongst the Jews in Israel then as in our own day. We read in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah about the anguish of the leadership in Israel concerning the lack of assistance from the Babylonian diaspora towards the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem and the Temple. Only 20% of the exiles returned to the land. It was largely the poor who returned. Most of the affluent, established Jews remained in Exile. This is a continuing theme in Jewish history. It is also important to observe that from its very beginnings there were bible believing Christians who spearheaded the return of the Jews to their land. The idea of organizing a return of the Jews to Israel began as a Protestant Restorationist objective that can be traced to 17th century Puritan England. The protagonists of the Cromwellian Republic viewed themselves as the new Israel fighting the Papist forces of Satan. Alongside this, interest grew in the notion that biblical prophecies pertaining to the return of the Jews to Israel were a necessary precursor for the return of Christ. The growth of the British Empire in the 19th century lent political clout to Christian Restorationism with specific missions to the Jews established. Although there had been a longing to return to Israel as written in the thrice daily Amidah prayer, Jewish Zionism arose in the midst of mid nineteenth century nationalism and was further fermented by European antisemitism. It was an altogether secular enterprise. Although Israel's situation appears rather stark, we can draw strength from the Providence afforded to our ancestors in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah when they too were faced with defamation. This is also an opportunity to grow closer to our natural allies in the evangelical world who from the beginning of Zionism were steadfast supporters of the project to establish a Jewish homeland in Israel. (Author is an Israeli American lawyer academically qualified in British and in U.S.A. law, and a graduate of the School of Oriental & African Studies, London. He is a Jewish believer in Jesus and is currently based in Israel).

Signs of the Times - Tony Pearce

By David Passmore • May 25, 2026

Signs of the Times Tony Pearce ‍ ‍ Left, right or center – is our democracy in danger “Things fall apart, the center does not hold. Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.” W.B Yeats ‘The Second Coming. ’ ‍ ‍ Labour’s losses in the council elections and the battle for succession to their unpopular leader Kier Starmer have raised the possibility that we may soon have our seventh Prime Minister in ten years. Local elections saw Reform and the Greens make sweeping gains, leading Green Party leader, Zack Polanski to say that we are seeing ‘the end of the old two party system’. Maybe we are. In which case what comes next? Will we head to the far left, the far right or will the center hold on to power? Or will it end with ungovernable chaos as unqualified people take control of local and national government? Behind all this there are fundamental questions, ‘What is government for? Who does it represent and where is it going?’ ‍ ‍‍ ‍ According to the Bible (Romans 13) the purpose of government is to promote good and restrain evil. The government has the right to raise taxes for the common good of society and people should pay them. In 1 Timothy 2 Paul encourages us to pray for the government that ‘we may live a godly and peaceable life’. In other words, pray that the government will create an orderly and peaceful society and not interfere with our right to set up communities that teach and preach the Word of God. The situation becomes more difficult when we see government promoting things which are harmful and restraining things which are good and clamping down on freedom of speech with a threat to our ability to live a ‘godly and peaceable life’ ‍ Since becoming a Christian in my early twenties, I have wrestled with the question of how our faith applies to contemporary political issues. I started this quest on the left politically after leaving university and working as an English teacher with sympathies for Marxism. I then became a born again Christian in 1970, and joined my late wife Nikki in evangelizing the radical left, by handing out leaflets at their marches and demonstrations in London and attending their meetings to discuss matters of faith and politics with them. ‍ ‍‍ ‍ We had some good discussions with people and hope we made some consider the Christian alternative. However as we looked at Marxism from a Christian point of view and its practice in Communist countries, we understood that behind this ideology there is a strong anti-christian spirit. It denies the existence of God and promotes the idea of human perfectibility by our own effort. This is exemplified in the words of the Internationale, the socialist battle hymn, ‘No saviour from on high delivers, no faith have we in prince or peer, our own right hand the chains will shiver, chains of hatred, greed and fear.’ This Antichrist spirit led to the persecution of Christians in the Communist countries of eastern Europe, the Soviet Union and China. Far from creating the socialist paradise on earth that Lenin wrote about in ‘Socialism and Religion’, it created a society ruled by hatred, greed and fear, controlled by secret police, prison camps and responsible for the death of millions. ‍ ‍ In western society we have witnessed the growth of ‘cultural Marxism’ a movement aimed at infiltrating and changing society from within, rather than fomenting the workers’ revolution. Labour’s Fabian Society, with its (now discarded) logo of the wolf in sheep’s clothing, has been engaged in this process since the beginning of the 20th century. Social change really took off with the permissive society in the 1960s, which succeeded in changing traditional values, especially in the area of sex and the family. It replaced biblical values with a new ‘morality’ that is fundamentally anti Christian. These ideas have permeated large swathes of our society including the education system, the judiciary, the Civil Service, much of the media, mainstream political parties (including even the Conservative ‘wets’ and parts of the established church). ‍ ‍ Melanie Phillips describes the results of this in her book, ‘The Builder’s Stone.’ ‘Having decided that the West was rotten to the core, western elites set out to create a new culture that would usher in the brotherhood of man and eradicate hatred, prejudice, and war. Their Brave New World junked biblical religion with all its constraints on behaviour and revolved instead around self gratification. Everybody had the right to live as they wanted; nobody could say that their way of life was better or worse than anyone else’s; no one had the right to say that their culture was better than any other culture. That was ‘racism.’ At the heart of all this was the doctrine that there was no such thing as objective truth. Everything was relative; everything was a matter of opinion. Because there was no truth feelings became more important than facts. So the West abandoned the codes of morality, conscience, truth and lies, personal responsibility, and duty to others in favour of a culture of the self. In the process it junked its inherited traditions and biblical codes on which western culture was based.’ ‍ Britain changed from being a society that respected values based on the 10 Commandments and the teaching of Jesus Christ to one that discarded them for relative values. Ideas of ‘diversity, inclusion and equity’ became the norm, together with and a form of ‘tolerance’, that is really very intolerant if you oppose it. This ‘tolerance’ means accepting the virtues of multiculturalism and humanism and believing that all gods are equally valid or true (or none are). We must also accept that all lifestyles and family arrangements including homosexual and transsexual ones are just as valid as traditional two parent heterosexual families, with a father and mother committed to each other in lifelong matrimony looking after their own children. ‍ As society accepts this radical change in how we view culture, morality and religion, we are told not to criticize other cultures and world views or imply that they are anything less than equal to the culture, morality and faith derived from the Bible. ‍ All this has not improved society. Instead we have a collapse of values with no central idea to hold it together, just a group of competing ‘communities’ which are often only united in opposition to the traditional values and culture of Great Britain. A good example of this is the ‘red – green alliance’ of radical leftists and Islamists who come together to denounce Israel and campaign to ‘globalise the Intifada’. In practice this means a world wide war against Israel and Judaeo-Christian society and a desire to replace it with their version of either Islamism or Communism. However if one of them were to come to power, you can be sure that the Islamist’s would get rid of the leftists or vice versa. In fact that happened in Iran’s 1979 revolution, when Islamist supporters of Khomeini and Communists came together to get rid of the Shah. Then the Islamists seized power, turned on the Communists and wiped them out. ‍ Alisteir Heath wrote in the Daily Telegraph: ‘Ruined by decades of political vandalism, the Britain we knew and loved, a land of stability, pragmatism, and ancient freedoms, is no more. Today’s UK is uglier, impoverished, volatile and disorderly. We’ve lost our level-headedness. Anger and frustration have become our defining emotions. Our institutions have wasted away, and we have been taught to despise our history. The decline of family, community and faith have led to alienation, dependence on welfare and the rise of novel ideologies, mostly secular but also sectarian, turbocharged by social media. While the state becomes unnervingly authoritarian, the air reeks of insurrection and every variety of extremism. The British public’s sense of betrayal is as well-founded as it is dangerous. The machinery of state is incompetent and self-serving, a vehicle for social engineering in the global interest.’ ‍ ‍ ‍ Criticism of this process now risks being classed as ‘hate crime’ with a growing authoritarian society monitoring social media posts and public teaching of alternative ideas in ways which risk shutting down free speech in our society. A Christian teacher Enoch Burke is currently in prison in Dublin after he was suspended from his job and jailed after refusing to accept and teach transgenderism in the school. ‍ ‍ ‍ Nick Timothy, Shadow Secretary of State for Justice, got into trouble when he questioned mass Muslim prayer in Trafalgar Square. He wrote: ‘Mass ritual prayer in public places is an act of domination. The adhan – which declares there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger – is, when called in a public place, a declaration of domination. The domination of public places is straight from the Islamist playbook.” He is right in this. Allah hu Akhbar actually means Allah is greater, greater than your God, Muhammad is greater than Jesus and the Koran is greater than the Bible. ‍ ‍ ‍ Tim Dieppe of Christian Concern for our Nation wrote: “The fact that we have mass Islamic prayer in Trafalgar Square at all is indicative of the massive culture change that we have seen in the last few decades. A culture change that was not voted for or ever agreed to by the British people. And, a culture change that can hardly be described as having been entirely beneficial to our culture as a whole. I only need to mention grooming gangs involving mostly Pakistani Muslim men , sharia courts, honour crimes, terror attacks, the assassination of an MP, an attempt to blockade Parliament, mass antisemitic marches through London, a convicted terrorist standing for local elections, sectarianism, and many other examples to make the point. Earlier this month, the Government gave Muslims special protection with the adoption of an official definition of anti-Muslim hostility .” ‍ ‍ ‍ You are not really supposed to question this in public life today. A message circulating on social media is an apt commentary on all this. ‘First they overlook evil, then they permit evil, then they legalise evil, then they promote evil, then celebrate evil, then persecute those who call it evil.’ Soviet dissident Solzhenitsyn wrote: ‘A Communist system can be recognised by how it spares criminals and criminalises its opponents.’ ‍ ‍ ‍ The root cause of all this is the rejection of God and biblical values. The 18th-century French philosopher Joseph de Maistre coined the phrase "people get the government they deserve." David Pawson followed up on this idea, arguing that in democratic societies like ours, the moral and spiritual condition of a nation's citizens is directly reflected in the leaders they elect. If the general public abandons moral truths, they will inevitably vote for governments that reflect those same compromises. David Pawson taught that God may use governmental leadership to judge or bless a nation, depending on the people's obedience. He noted that Hebrew prophets saw wicked rulers as a form of divine judgement on a society that has strayed from God's laws. Therefore a nation's ultimate hope rests on repentance rather than just political change. His conclusion is that Christians should actively stand for moral truth in society. He believed that the church is meant to influence culture upward, and that a decline in national morality inevitably leads to deteriorating governance. ‍ ‍ ‍ Sadly much of the church today has become the ‘salt that has lost its savour’ through compromise with antichristian forces in society and government. It may be too late to save our country and western democracy as social and economic pressures create a collapse of democracy and push us either towards anarchy or dictatorship. ‍ ‍ ‍ Yeats’ poem quoted at the beginning of this article ends with the enigmatic line ‘Some rough beast slouches towards Bethlehem to be born.’ Most likely he is referring to the coming anti-Messiah who is labelled the Beast in the book of Revelation. Many believe his is now waiting in the wings to replace the true Messiah (born in Bethlehem) and bring in the dictatorship prophesied in Revelation 13. The Bible indicates that the Beast or Antichrist will have power for a moment, but it will be short lived and doomed to destruction at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to the earth. Then the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our God and of His Messiah and He shall reign forever and ever (Revelation 11.15) and the ‘government shall be on His shoulder’ (Isaiah 9.6). ‍ ‍ ‍ Maranatha come Lord Jesus. ‍ ‍ ‍ Water, water nowhere and not a drop to drink. (Apologies to the Ancient Mariner) ‍ ‍‍ ‍ While nations worry about supply of oil and gas as a result of the war in the Gulf and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a much more vital commodity for human survival is water. And it is in short supply in a growing number of nations. ‍ ‍ As of 2026, over 25 countries face extremely high water stress, with the most severe crises located in the Middle East and North Africa. This region is home to the world's most water-stressed nations, including Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Yemen, and Libya. India and Pakistan face critical water scarcity due to overexploitation of aquifers and population density. Much of Africa , Somalia and Ethiopia in particular are facing severe shortages due to drought and climate change. Mexico and parts of the United States (particularly Texas and the west coast) are experiencing significant water shortages and declining groundwater levels. ‍ ‍ ‍ Iran is facing a severe, multi-year water crisis as of May 2026, with major cities like Tehran, Mashhad, and Karaj approaching the point where taps could run dry due to depleted reservoirs. Groundwater is depleted across most of the country, and nineteen provinces are experiencing severe drought. The crisis is driven by a combination of climate change and decades of poor water management, including excessive dam construction and inefficient, water-intensive agriculture. China is facing a severe, multi-faceted water crisis defined by extreme scarcity in the north, widespread pollution, and mismanagement, threatening its food supply and economic growth. ‍ ‍ ‍ Several countries are significantly affected by upstream dam construction that reduces downstream water flow, causing, environmental, and diplomatic crises. These countries include Iraq, heavily impacted by dams built on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers by Turkey and Iran, leading to reduced water for agriculture, destruction of forests, and increased sandstorms. Egypt and Sudanface significant water security risks due to the Ethiopian Grand Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile. Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Laosare affected of dams built by China on the upper Mekong River ‍ ‍ One country which bucks this trend is Israel. Israel manages its water resources by transforming a chronic shortage into a surplus through large-scale desalination, extensive wastewater recycling, and a centralised national water carrier system. The agriculture sector has shifted away from freshwater, using treated effluent instead. Advanced drip irrigation technologies are widely used to minimise waste. Israel has exported its water technologies to countries around the world, particularly Africa where it has given advice on how to use limited water resources to great effect. ‍ ‍ ‍ Without water no society on earth can survive. Bible prophecies indicate that water shortage and pollution will be a global problem in the last days. Most obviously no water equals no food, so famine is an inevitable result of water shortages. Jesus warned of this as a sign of the last days in Matthew 24.7. Revelation 8.10-11 speaks of something called ‘Wormwood’ falling on rivers and springs of water causing it to become bitter and many to die from drinking it. ‍ ‍ Prophecy speaks of the two great rivers of the ancient world, the Nile and the Euphrates, being affected by a crisis causing the Euphrates to dry up (Revelation 16.12) and the Nile to become contaminated and its waters turn foul (Isaiah 19.5-11). Isaiah 24 speaks of a curse devouring the earth in the last days causing the earth to be ‘defiled (or polluted) under its inhabitants.’ ‍ ‍ ‍ According to the New Scientist, there are massive amounts of water hidden deep beneath the Earth's surface. Scientists have found evidence of a reservoir of water three times the volume of all surface oceans combined, located roughly 250–400 miles underground within the mantle. ‍ ‍ ‍ It may be that the Lord will release this water to replenish and clean up the earth in the Millennial kingdom when ‘waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert. The parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water.’ Isaiah 35. Zechariah 14.8-9 says, ‘In that day it shall be that living waters shall flow from Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and half of them toward the western sea; In both summer and winter it shall occur. And the Lord shall be King over all the earth.’ Zechariah 14.8-9. See also Ezekiel 47. ‍ Rethinking Russia ‍ Things are not going well for Vladimir Putin in his ‘special military operation’. Four years after invading Ukraine in February 2022, Russia is not making advances and actually losing ground. Russia is losing as many as 25,000- 35,000 casualties a month and over 1.2 million have been killed and wounded since the war began. Ukrainian skills in drone warfare have destroyed large quantities of Russian equipment, tanks, armoured personnel carriers, artillery and rocket systems, helicopters, and naval vessels. ‍ ‍ Russia is spending an estimated 40% of the entire federal budget on the war effort. As a result of this and western sanctions, Russia is increasingly unable to fix chronic infrastructure problems at home. During the bitter Russian winter thousands of people were left without heat, light, or even water. All forms of transport, trains, trucks and planes, are facing logistical problems, making it difficult to transport goods and people across the vast Russian regions. Russia is on the way to an infrastructure collapse that will likely take decades to recover. ‍ ‍ Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov warned the State Duma that Russia's faltering economy risks stoking a 1917-style revolution. He demanded urgent financial and economic measures by autumn to avert a potential economic collapse. This raises the danger of the Russian Federation fracturing. The Caucuses are restive, the far east is looking to China and Siberia is facing an acute problem as a result of melting permafrost, causing buildings, bridges and pipelines to collapse. ‍ ‍ In the present circumstances it is hard to see how Russia could lead the Gog and Magog invasion of Israel (Ezekiel 38-39). Some have said that it is more likely that Turkey is the lead power in the War of Gog and Magog. They say that Meshech and Tubal are not Moscow and Tobolsk, but regions of modern Turkey. Erdogan’s Turkey is backed by an Islamist world view hostile to Israel, seeking the recovery of its Ottoman Empire. He has his eyes on taking control of Jerusalem. Turkey is possession of a large land army already stationed in the region, some of it occupying part of Syria. ‍ ‍ The alternative is that the War of Gog and Magog is some way off, possibly part of Armageddon, giving time for Russia to recover from its present distress. We wait and see, but meanwhile spare a thought and a prayer for the people of Ukraine and Russia, suffering as a result of Putin’s futile war, oppressed by his corrupt dictatorship and facing an economic and social collapse caused by his failed policies. ‍ ‍

Trumps visit with Xi

By David Passmore • May 25, 2026

Trump's Visit with Xi Rubin Rothler LLB, LLM The tempest path of Sino-U.S. tensions came to a head during Trump's first term in office with the outbreak of Covid. Many commentators believed that the deterioration in relations was in terminal decline and that a major confrontation in the straits of Taiwan was fast looming. Trump held China responsible for the spread of Covid, insisting that he would pursue reparations. The election of Biden halted this commitment. Biden sought a non-confrontational policy towards Beijing. In the aftermath of the disastrous premature withdrawal from Afghanistan handing that country over to the Taliban and the Russian invasion of Ukraine under his watch, Biden became too preoccupied to assertively engage with China. Chinese State media portrayed Trump's visit as being rather unremarkable in the context of other foreign dignitaries lining up to meet Xi, pointing out that just a week later Putin would arrive in Beijing. China manifests that it is winning the trade war that Trump began in 2018, beating America at its own game of capitalism. They frame the U.S. as being in a position of weakness because China is able to source whatever products they buy from the U.S. elsewhere like oil from Canada, and soybeans from Brazil. The oil, soybeans and 200 Boeing's Xi agreed to purchase from Trump were presented as a mere gesture to placate Trump as China has already bought 350 Air Buses in the last year. China would have the world believe that it is only semi-conductors where America has the edge. Here China hints that it is not likely to buy H200 Invidia Chips because it would mean that China will always lag behind the U.S. in building their AI tech. China's major contention and concern is that the U.S. may impose export controls to contain China. China's strategy instead is to invest massively on indigenous innovation. China wants to become an innovation powerhouse that will export its own Chips to the Global South. China is fast catching up with America's lead in AI with the launch of Deep Seek and they claim similar progress with Chip making. China is now ostensibly only eight months behind the U.S. on Large Language Models. Running contrary to this narrative Trump insists that China is desperate to trade with America. China's economy has now peaked. Emblematic of this stagnating growth is rising youth unemployment. China is no longer America's biggest trading partner. Trump has shifted manufacturing back to the U.S. and Trump believes that China can't revive its economy without America. Lined up to meet Xi with Trump were the heads of some of America's biggest Tech Corporations. Corporations like nvidia seek a relaxing of export controls for Chips as they want short term profits, ignoring the risk that China will reverse engineer this technology. More broadly, China and the U.S. are playing a geopolitical chess game spanning the globe. Trump outmaneuvered China in Latin America with the removal of Maduro from power in Venezuela. China is exploiting its influence on Iran in order to get Trump to refrain from taking more active steps towards the defense of Taiwan. Indeed, Trump didn't say anything about Taiwan during his visit. Trump's instincts are of a transactional approach towards alliances, where he is only willing to underwrite defense assistance if allies pay up as an insurer would. It is also important to note that saber rattling the Taiwan card also serves the CCP agenda to distract internal dissent concerning the state of the Chinese economy. Most imminently Trump needs China to pressure Iran to open the Straits of Hormuz and get oil prices down before the midterm elections. China has largely insulated itself from the Gulf energy impact due to stockpiles. Trump would also like China to stop providing Iran with GPS for its missiles. Other Chinese weapons systems and technology sold to Iran have failed to perform well against U.S. and Israeli military hardware. Matters boil down to a leverage between whatever Trump can do on Taiwan, China can do on the strait of Hormouz with Iran. Human Rights concerns, espionage and the alarming rate of Chinese acquisition of U.S. land have been placed on the back burner for the time being. (Author is an Israeli American lawyer academically qualified in British and in U.S.A. law, and a graduate of the School of Oriental & African Studies, London. He is a Jewish believer in Jesus and is currently based in Israel).

Prayer request for Phil Malone

By David Passmore • May 17, 2026

Moriel & Jacob Prasch request prayer for Phil Malone and family “Please keep me and my family in prayer. My mum passed away on 13th May at the age of 93. It's a time of mourning, but may it be a time for the Gospel of Christ to be preached to my unbelieving family, especially my brother.”

Please Pray for Joanne Rizzetto, Pastor Dave Rizzetto's wife

By Mea Fredrickson • May 13, 2026

Moriel & Jacob Prasch request prayer for Sister Joanne Rizzetto, wife of Pastor Dave Rizzetto of Church of The Open Door in New York City. Joanne has developed painful complications and adverse side effects from medications following knee surgery. May The Lord intervene for healing and give guidance to her physicians. Lord, we humbly ask you to intervene in the life of our dear sister. We know you can do all things and that you hear our prayers and consider your servants. Please put a stop to the adverse reaction. Restrain and reverse its effects and restore our sister so that she can continue to serve you in the ministry that you have called them to. We do glorify Your Name. We don't ask as those who treat you as our debtor, but as those who have tasted your goodness and found such mercy and compassion at your feet. Grace and peace and mercy be with Joanne and Pastor Dave.

Will Lebanon miss its golden opportunity?

By David Passmore • May 5, 2026

Will Lebanon miss its golden opportunity? Rubin Rothler LLB, LLM Converging new facts on the ground have transformed the political landscape in Lebanon. With Assad removed from power in Syria, a vital lifeline of arms supplies for Hezbollah originating in Iran has diminished. Hezbollah suffered considerable losses in its last round of fighting with Israel. The decapitation of its leadership with the targeted pager attack inflicted a severe blow. Hezbollah's new leader Naim Qassem is a weak substitute for the charismatic Nasrallah who was assassinated by Israel in 2024. Hezbollah in its frail state foolishly fell into line with Iran's instruction to join the fighting against Israel following the recent American-Israeli war with Iran. This was contrary to the wishes of the Lebanese government which was fearful of the inevitable destruction that would be wreaked by the Israeli response. The differing attitudes to Israel amongst Lebanon's population is reflective of its ethnic composition. The predominant groups in order of plurality are Christians, Shia Muslims and Sunni Muslims with a smaller minority of Druze. The major concern of most Christians in Lebanon is the dire state of their economy. They have no appetite to further their plight by invoking Israel's rage. During the colonial inter war period the French envisaged the demarcation between Lebanon and Syria as carving out enclaves for Christian and Druze control. Within Lebanon there would be a shared government that by convention would have the Executive power split between a Christian President, a Sunni Prime Minister and Shia Speaker of Parliament. The Christians in southern Lebanon (particularly Maronite Catholics) saw themselves as being anthropologically descendants of ancient Phoenicians as opposed to an Arab identity where the Arab Christians were largely Eastern Orthodox. The schism between the Maronites and the Arab Eastern Orthodox dates back to the time of the Crusades. The Maronites were culturally French, speaking French as their main language and held precedence in much of the Lebanese economy. The first threat to Lebanese stability and cohesion was settled by the U.S. Eisenhower administration in 1958 which landed Marines in an amphibious operation. A repeated attempt at this by the Reagan administration in 1983 ended in a military disaster for the U.S. due to suicide bombings by Iranian controlled terrorists. Israeli efforts to bring in stability during the Lebanese Civil War in conjunction with its Lebanese Christian allies led by Major Saad Haddad likewise came to calamity when the Sabra and Shatila revenge attacks took place following the assassination of Lebanese leader Bashir Gemayel. The ''Good Fence'' policy of an Israeli friendly free Lebanon zone in Southern Lebanon eventually ended badly following Menachem Begin's second incursion into Lebanon called ''Shalom HaGalil'' aimed at stopping the PLO rocket attacks on Israeli border communities like Metulla, Kiryat Shmona, Naharya, Rosh Hanikra, Tzfat and Carmiel. The proxy Israeli occupation from the Israeli border to the Litani river became an imbroglio that many in Israel viewed as Israel's Vietnam with widespread domestic protest and a collapse of morale within the IDF. Eventually Israel absorbed Christian war refugees from Lebanon, while the Vatican and most of the Christian world turned their backs on the Lebanese Christians. Lebanon was then saddled with two states within a state. The first was in the aftermath of Black September in 1970 when King Hussein of Jordan defended his Hashemite throne and government from Yasser Arafat's attempt to take over Jordan due to Jordan having a 70% Palestinian Arab demographic majority. The Jordanian legion drove tens of thousands of its pro Arafat Jordanian citizens into Lebanon, creating a population base for the first state within a state under Arafat. However the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and other factions had their niche interests. Courtesy of the Israeli Air Force Arafat relocated what he saw as his government in exile to Tunisia. This was a missed opportunity by the Lebanese government to assert its autonomy and full territorial control by making a Camp David type peace with Israel inclusive of economic and mutual security provisions. Instead an Iranian backed Syrian intervention replaced Arafat's state within a state with a new one that morphed into Hezbollah. The fall of the Assad regime and the Israeli counter-offensive against Hezbollah re-presents Lebanon with the opportunity that it once lost. The predominantly Christian controlled Lebanese military could and should operationally coordinate with the IDF, to obliterate and remove Hezbollah as the Israelis relieved Lebanon of Arafat's state within a state. Such a rapprochement would likely have strong American and possibly French and British support, allowing Lebanon to be at a non-combative peace with Israel along the lines of Egypt and Jordan, and now some of the Emirates. The natural comradery of the Lebanese Druze community with the Israeli Druze and the pro-Israeli Druze of Syria would additionally re-enforce a regional harmony, as would the Maronite Christian community in Israel with their co-coreligionists in Lebanon. (Author is an Israeli American lawyer academically qualified in British and in U.S.A. law, and a graduate of the School of Oriental & African Studies, London. He is a Jewish believer in Jesus and is currently based in Israel).

Pastor John Angliss

By David Passmore • May 5, 2026

PASTOR JOHN ANGLISS It is with profound sadness that we learned of the temporary separation from our friend and brother Pastor John Angliss. We look forward to being reunited with John in the millennial reign of Christ and indeed in God's Eternal Kingdom. Jacob Prasch visited John a few weeks ago in the UK while John was in hospice care having been diagnosed preterminal in his illness. While medically correct, it was of course a misdiagnosis. John is now cancer free and is alive and well in the presence of Jesus awaiting us in glory while his mortal body is being renewed for resurrection and immortality. In the meanwhile, during this temporary season of bereavement we do request prayer for his beloved wife Mary and for his congregation, The Ark Fellowship in England near Reading, England. Because he has recently arrived in the USA and is scheduled to address the Moriel Canada branch conference in Winnipeg, Jacob Prasch will regrettably not be able to attend the memorial service in Britain. Our condolences however are very much with Mary and our brethren in the UK who like us knew and loved Pastor Angliss. John was one of a minority of faithful voices who upheld a traditional biblically based Pentecostalism in the era of counterfeit revivals and apostasy that overtook most of British Pentecostalism. John was a faithful friend of Israel & The Jews standing on the prophetic purposes of God for Israel and the salvation of the Jews. John was a loyal friend to Moriel and Jacob Prasch and a colleague of David Pawson and Derek Prince, both of whom likewise stood by God's promises to Israel. John was also a founding leader of CMFI - the Christian Ministerial Fellowship International, former pastor of Three Mile Cross fellowship , and former board member of Focus On Israel (a Pentecostal Ministry to the Jews). While this separation is temporary, John's eternal gain will be our temporary loss. O GRAVE - WHERE IS THEY VICTORY, O DEATH WHERE IS THY STING ? Hosea 13:14 / 1 Corinthians 15: 55-57

We made it this far: Israel at 78

By David Passmore • April 28, 2026

We made it this far: Israel at 78 Rubin Rothler LLB, LLM Since the last anniversary milestone of Israel at 75, we have been embroiled in relentless wars. Citizens had little respite to enjoy this year's festivities, coming on the heels of a lull in fighting on the Iranian and Lebanese fronts. We are constantly waiting for a breakthrough on the horizon that will normalize our relations with our neighbors and secure our position on the world stage. It is acutely exhausting to be the focus of the world's attention. But also there is a sense of inevitability accompanying the Zionist project. Specifically that Israel is destined to be central in the wider region and global affairs. Why is this? Is it due to it being a western transplant? Being geographically positioned on the crossroads of three continents? Religious believers would point to prophetic fulfillment. It is short sighted to only look at how our problems are rooted in today’s' reality. Greater forces are at work that will dictate the direction that Israel is heading. The Jewish diaspora will likely find itself in a growing precarious position that will lead to increasing Aliyah (immigration to Israel) and will perhaps ferment the emergence of a second Jewish commonwealth that will not need to heed international pressure in the same way that todays' polity finds itself doing. In this light it is interesting to ponder how our posterity would view our predicament and gains. And I frame matters in these terms with intentionality. We are enmeshed in a seemingly intractable conflict with the Palestinians, and yet Israel has made great gains particularly in the technological fields. There is a current of thinking that perceives Israel's way out of its quagmire is by making itself indispensable to technological advancements. We don't know how tomorrows' world will be shaped by the rapidly advancing AI revolution but so far Israel has proven to be uniquely adaptable and innovative to technological change. This has proved to be a boon to Israel's economy, as have offshore natural gas discoveries being developed in concert with Greece, Greek Cypriot and American energy interests that are geographically and strategically removed from any Straits of Hormuz shipping impediments that strangle the Persian Gulf deposits shared by Qatar and Iran. On another note we should contextualize the situation. How different are Israel's challenges from other nations? Is Israel any less stable than other countries (particularly in the region)? Israel doesn't find itself uniquely challenged to define its identity (most European countries do also, particularly in light of immigration). Nor does the government experience any more volatility than other comparable democracies. Israel's real problems lay in the nature of how its Jewish citizens desire to govern themselves. It is arguable whether the judicial reform protests that occupied public discourse in pre-October 7th Israel would have led to serious civil strife. But it is without doubt that this impasse was allayed by the external attack. The underlying tensions remain unresolved and there are many ways that they could play out. It has been framed as a battle for Israel's soul. Israel's enemies predict that Zionism is imploding and that the State won't survive another 5-10 years. Supporting this claim, they point to Israel's increasing alienation and growing pariah status on the international stage. Our Prime Minister has been indicted for war crimes at the International Criminal Court. Even public opinion in our staunchest ally the U.S. has turned sharply against Israel. With 80% of the Democratic Party being anti-Israel in a growing climate of anti-semitism we have even witnessed the shift of Alan Dershowitz to the Republican Party which must be seen as emblematic of a trend. There is apprehension in Israel of a post-Trump America dominated by the Democrats. However, these seeming incontrovertible facts may be offset by other measures of fortitude. This may be partially countered by the high investment by Silicon Valley in the Israeli Hi-tech sector, making Israel an asset for purposes of Research and Development in America's AI race against China. New opportunities for economic relations have also been opened with Arab nations through the Abraham Accords and with the powerhouse India. Furthermore, it is difficult to imagine a world in which Israel's technological prowess will not carry the sway of western decision makers in the long run. Israel's 78th anniversary is a moment to take pause and not catastrophize what the future may behold. The entire world is currently in a state of transformation and Israel is not an outlier in this context. (Author is an Israeli American lawyer academically qualified in British and in U.S.A. law, and a graduate of the School of Oriental & African Studies, London. He is a Jewish believer in Jesus and is currently based in Israel).

Council attempts to shut down and censor local church’s evangelism efforts.

By David Passmore • April 23, 2026

Please click this link:https://mailchi.mp/christianconcern.com/action-alert-street-preaching-22-04-26?e=f1df30be3f

A critical juncture in NATO's future

By David Passmore • April 14, 2026

A critical juncture in NATO'S future Rubin Rothler LLB, LLM NATO was originally established in 1949 to keep the Russian hordes at bay from toppling those European countries not forked over to the Soviet sphere of influence at the Potsdam conference. Europe lay in ruins. Britain had passed on the torch of global hegemony to the U.S. by tacitly acquiescing to the decolonization of its Empire when Churchill and Roosevelt agreed terms of the Atlantic Charter for the post-war new world order in 1941. So from its start NATO was very much an American driven endeavor. American money with the Marshall plan was propping up western European economies and its military might was forming the bulk of their defensive capabilities. The lopsided nature of this dynamic has informed how tensions have persisted and recently erupted in the Alliance. During the Cold War the U.S. felt obligated to shoulder the costs of underwriting Europe's security in light of the broader interests to keep the Soviet's in check. Following the fall of the Iron Curtain European complacency became a sticking point with the 'peace dividend' further exploiting American largesse. European NATO allies spent ever smaller percentages of their GDP on defense expenditure at U.S. expense. Now in a multi-polar world U.S. and European perceived threats are less aligned. This was first tested in the aftermath of September 11th when for the first time NATO elected to trigger its article 5 collective defense protocol. And since then the U.S. has sought to continue to expand the traditional theatre of operations beyond Europe's borders. No longer is Russia perceived by America as being a proximate existential threat to its interests, but rather containing Chinese expansion in the Pacific arena. Parallel to NATO a discrete 'five eyes' intelligence sharing alliance comprising the Anglo-sphere (the U.S., U.K., Canada and New Zealand) emerged. This stands at the center of the U.S. – U.K. 'special relationship'. A relevant question would be can this signals intelligence (NSA-GCHQ) partnership persist should the U.S. withdraw from NATO? Conventional thinking would have led one to believe that with Brexit the U.K. would naturally pivot towards closer U.S. relations but under Starmer the U.K. is distancing itself. European powers misrepresent the present conflict as an aggressive, rather than defensive U.S. adventure while they themselves are more likely to be at risk. In this the Starmer government resembles the Labor party led committee for nuclear disarmament in the 1980's. It opposed the Thatcher supported deployment of U.S. cruise missiles in response to the Soviet SS20's pointed at Britain's cities. The British left branded their response to Soviet strategic escalation to U.S. aggression. This time however there is for the moment no Thatcher to bring common sense into an equation dominated by emotionally driven ideologies in the face of an aggressor with definite aims. In terms of the Russian-Ukraine conflict we are reverting to the old question dating back to the Napoleonic war era: to what extent is London happy with the European nations fighting it out alone for dominance of the continent. Britain was never willing to accept a single power in control. Many variables will dictate what kind of world emerges from the current conflicts in Ukraine and Iran. How will power be extracted from potential gains? What will be the strategic impact of this? What is sure, in the age of Trump this pattern of reliance on U.S. muscle is becoming quickly exhausted. Dating back to the Roman Empire, a factor in the decline of major powers has always been astronomical military spending, a budgetary demand that the U.S. under Trump is no longer willing to shoulder alone. (Author is an Israeli American lawyer academically qualified in British and in U.S.A. law, and a graduate of the School of Oriental & African Studies, London. He is a Jewish believer in Jesus and is currently based in Israel).