A need to recall

The believer who sent this question lives in Monmouth County, New Jersey, USA, and the whale appeared on the shore in Spring Lake, a borough in Monmouth County. When I read this email the first time, the word "Monmouth" impacted my spirit in a strong way. As early as January 29, 2006, the Lord had already directed our attention towards "Monmouth" as we were trying to discern the spiritual meaning of the name "Geoffrey", which we were meditating on due to an email that came in on January 27, 2006 (that email led to the posting titled "Wayne's world"). Therefore, it became evident that the key to understanding the spiritual message behind this dead whale was to understand the spiritual meaning behind the name "Monmouth". This requires a look back in history, for the Lord is saying,

"I am calling you to recall things from the past in order to understand what is happening today. I beached this whale at Monmouth to make you understand that what happened with Monmouth in the past has happened and is happening again. Let him who has ears hear what I have said in the past and am saying today."

A gated-bridge border town

Monmouth is a town in the county of Monmouthshire, south Wales, UK. As indicated on wikipedia.org, Monmouth sits at the confluence of the River Wye and the River Monnow. The name "Monmouth" is an abbreviation of the phrase "mouth of Monnow". According to wikipedia.org, the River Monnow flows through southwest Herefordshire, England and east Monmouthshire, Wales. For much of its short length, it marks the border between England and Wales. Its total length is 26 miles (42 km), which, "coincidentally", happens to be the official length of a marathon. According to wikipedia.org, there was no official marathon distance in the first 7 modern Olympics. In 1921, the official distance was set to the distance used for the 1908 London Olympics (the 5th Olympics).

According to wikipedia.org, the modern border between Wales and England is somewhat arbitrary. It was defined in 16th-century laws which have apparently never been confirmed by referendum or reviewed by any Boundary Commission, except to confirm in 1968 that Monmouthshire is indeed a part of Wales. This, along with the above, emphasizes the fact that Monmouth and Monmouthshire are a "border" region, i.e.- a region that signifies the crossing from one sphere of influence to another.

The town of Monmouth has a 13th-century stone gated bridge, called "Monnow Bridge", the only bridge of its kind remaining in Britain (only 3 such fortified bridges remain in all of Europe). This emphasizes Monmouth's "border" anointing, since bridges speak of a transition from one sphere to another. The fact that the bridge is gated speaks of an unusually difficult crossing, a "narrow-gate" crossing that not everyone is able to make because it cannot be made in a "casual" manner.

{You can see pictures of the Monmouth gated bridge on www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk and www.monmouth.gov.uk}

The fact that Monmouthshire was confirmed in 1968 as a border region of Wales has prophetic significance. That was a year of much social and political turmoil around the world. In 1968, Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy were assassinated, the Vietnam War intensified as the Tet Offensive was launched, Paris was engulfed in agitations and strikes, Chicago was engulfed in antiwar protests during the Democratic National Convention in the U.S., and Soviet troops overran Prague, Czechoslovakia to suppress the "Prague Spring". That was also the year when a B-52 Stratofortress plane crashed in Greenland, some 7 miles south of the Thule Air Force Base; the plane was carrying 4 hydrogen bombs, which were lost and never recovered after the accident. 1968 was indeed a turbulent year, a bridge year of Babel confusion.

{You can read about events in 1968 on wikipedia.org; you can read about the 1968 B-52 plane crash in Greenland on www.netipedia.com and news.bbc.co.uk}

A river town

The fact that Monmouth is at the confluence of 2 rivers (Wye & Monnow) has prophetic significance. According to wikipedia.org, "Monnow" means "fast flowing", and, as we have shared before, flowing waters speak of the prophetic anointing. This means that, once the "Monmouth" bridge is successfully crossed, the path is cleared for a mighty prophetic outpouring.

Recall town

One of the most famous persons associated with Monmouth is Geoffrey of Monmouth, a 12th century clergyman who is one of the major figures in the development of British history. According to wikipedia.org, Geoffrey was consecrated as bishop of St. Asaph after being ordained a priest 10 days earlier. Geoffrey is famous for his writings. His earliest known work is titled "The Prophecies of Merlin", which he wrote (in Latin) before 1135. This was the first work written about Merlin in a language other than Welsh, and it helped to expose Merlin's prophecies to a wide audience. Even into the 15th century, many people in Europe, including people with a high education level, took the prophecies written in Geoffrey's book very seriously.

Geoffrey also wrote the "History of the Kings of Britain" in Latin, his most famous work. According to www.time-scapes.co.uk, this book stretches over 1900 years and 99 kings, from the (alleged) founding of Britain by the Trojan hero Brutus to the Saxon invasions and war. It is the earliest surviving written reference to King Lear. It is also one of the first writings that mentions King Arthur. It is widely agreed that most of the writings in this book are legends, yet the impact of this book upon popular culture is strong, even to this day. The book was translated and read throughout Europe, and it was instrumental in popularizing the legend of Merlin and King Arthur's Round Table. In the book, Geoffrey compiled British and Welsh folktales in an organized and brilliant way, enabling them to have an enduring historical impact. The book, therefore, serves as a gateway into the mindset and spiritual atmosphere of a historically distant past.

{We encourage you to read more about Geoffrey of Monmouth and the "History of the Kings of Britain" on www.bbc.co.uk}

After the "History of the Kings of Britain", Geoffrey wrote "The Life of Merlin" in Latin, which was his own retelling of the Merlin legend from Welsh tradition. As we have shared before, myths and legends are often distortions of realities in the spirit realm, meaning that there are many spiritual realities hidden behind them. This is what gives them their mass appeal, for they point to spiritual facts that man's subconscious is able to discern as real. The Merlin and King Arthur legends hide realities visible in the spirit realm, albeit in a figurative form that must be "filtered" in the prophetic discernment of the Spirit of God.

The key to understanding the basic spiritual significance of Geoffrey of Monmouth lies in the name "Asaph". As we said above, Geoffrey was consecrated as bishop of St. Asaph a mere 10 days after being ordained a priest. The first time the name "Asaph" appears in Scripture is in the following passage:

"And when they had called to the king, there came out to them Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder" (2 Kings 18:18)

The word "recorder" above was translated from the Hebrew word zakar, which means "to remember, recall, call to mind". In other words, Asaph was a "recaller" of things in the past. Out of the 150 psalms in the book of Psalms, 12 (8% of 150) are attributed to "Asaph", a Levite musician who lived during the days of king David; the Asaph psalms are Psalm 50 and Psalms 73 through 83. These 12 psalms combine to form a spiritual message regarding the nature of "the Asaph spirit". The fact that 11 of the psalms are contiguous (Psalms 73-83) and that the remaining psalm is Psalm 50 also has spiritual significance. As we have said before, the number "11" speaks of God's purifying judgments, and the number "50" speaks of Pentecost and the outpouring of the Spirit. Therefore, those with the spirit of Asaph are believers who are pregnant with the vision of God's latter-rain outpouring ("50") and who are willing to go through the judgment process ("11") required for that outpouring to come about. Those with the Asaph spirit understand that that judgment process involves their own suffering at the hands of unrighteousness. As unrighteousness rages against righteousness, those who hold on to righteousness shall pay a heavy price, but this is the only way for the Church to be restored and to enter into the latter-rain Promised Land (Isaiah 1:26-28, Amos 5:24). This is the reason why Psalm 50 says the following:

"⁷Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against thee: I am God, even thy God. ⁸I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me. ⁹I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds. ¹⁰For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. ¹¹I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine. ¹²If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof. ¹³Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? ¹⁴Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High: ¹⁵And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. ¹⁶But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? ¹⁷Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee. ¹⁸When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers. ¹⁹Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit." (Psalm 50:7-19)

The Church does not want to go through God's judgment process in order to reach the Promised Land. Therefore, to compensate, she constantly presents sacrifices of external religiosity before the Lord (v8, 9). The Lord God, however, does not care for such sacrifices, for they are like the "xmas" sacrifices of Cain; they are sacrifices given "out of the leftover excess", not sacrifices given out of the inner self (Luke 21:1-4).

Notice that God is tired of those who speak of God's (new) "covenant" with their tongue (v16, 1 John 3:17-18) but who at the same time reject God's judgments by casting them behind them (v16, 17), as when they say, "The God of judgments is the God of the past, the God of the Old Testament; we believe in the God of the New Covenant, the God of love and kindness". In the restriction of the Old Covenant, all you were demanded was the sacrifice of an animal (v13). Under the New Covenant, the sacrifice asked for is yourself, and that sacrifice of self includes accepting God's judgments. Those who reject them are showing that they are not willing to give themselves in sacrifice, because they want to be the ones who determine what is right and what is wrong. They want to retain the "right" earned at the garden of Eden when man ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which, as we have seen before, gave man the ability to establish his own judgment system independently of God. To sacrifice that "right" is just too much for most, so they prefer to fashion a system of more lax spiritual judgments that is more in accordance with their "merciful soul" (v18), and they even devise new laws (not decreed by God) that reinforce their soulish interests (v19). The spirit of Asaph, however, comes to "recall" the God of righteous judgments that the Church has tried to bury in the "distant Old-Testament" past.

After Psalm 50, the next Psalm associated with Asaph is Psalm 73, which speaks about the apparent success of the unrighteous and about the righteous believer's commitment to stick to God no matter what. This means that those who have the "Asaph spirit" and whose heart is bent towards the New Covenant will be forced to suffer and fail as the Old-Covenant believers around them appear to thrive and prosper. The Old Covenant is one of external acts, while the New Covenant is one of internal acts. Therefore, those who live by the Old Covenant will be quick to judge the righteousness of a messenger by the external success of the messenger and the message. Those who live by the New Covenant, however, will see past the external fig leaves and discern the inner intentions and nature of the messenger and the message. As you cling to your commitment to the New Covenant, the Old-Covenant system (and the spirits that operate within it) will gang up on you, creating a sometimes excruciating pressure that will attempt to break your determination to abide in God, as was the case with Yeshua during His earthly ministry. Why? Because the Old-Covenant system and its spirits know that your faithfulness will lead to their collapse, so it "behooves" them to see you yield to them. They will make your life miserable, and you will be forced to see yourself demoted and denigrated as the unrighteous are promoted and garlanded. Those who abide in the New Covenant will at times feel compelled to pray Psalm 73 unto God.

As we said above, Psalm 73 is the first of 11 consecutive psalms attributed to Asaph, the last one being Psalm 83. Therefore, the "buckle" in this "Asaph belt of psalms" would be Psalm 78:

"¹Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth. ²I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old: ³Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. ⁴We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done. ⁵For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: ⁶That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: ⁷That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments: ⁸And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God." (Psalm 78:1-8)

Notice how the spirit of Asaph declares "I will utter dark sayings of old" (v2). The word "utter" was translated from the Hebrew word naba, which literally means "to flow, gush forth, spring"; the phrase "dark sayings" was translated from chiydah, which literally means "riddle, perplexing saying"; and the phrase "of old" was translated from qedem, which literally means "east" and can also mean "antiquity, that which is before". In other words, verse 2 above says that Asaph will gush forth "eastern riddles" that will pour out like an underground spring of water that had remained hidden in the dark and distant past. This correlates with the Asaph (and Geoffrey of Monmouth) "recall" anointing.

Psalm 78 then proceeds to recall the deeds of a rebellious generation of Israelites in the past so that the new generation may learn not to do the same (v6, 7).

"⁹The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle. ¹⁰They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law; ¹¹And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them." (Psalm 78:9-11)

Notice how the rebellious Israelites who came out of Egypt did not keep the covenant of God and refused to walk in His law (v10). This means that they rejected God's judgments, since all judgments emanate from a law system. By adopting their own law system (i.e.- judgment system), they forsook a covenant of intimacy with God.

"¹²Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan. ¹³He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the waters to stand as an heap. ¹⁴In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire. ¹⁵He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths. ¹⁶He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers." (Psalm 78:12-16)

Notice how the spirit of Asaph speaks about God causing mighty rivers to gush forth out of the rocks in the wilderness. This speaks of the mighty rivers that will spring forth once we are able to "break on through to the other side". As we cross the Monmouth (Asaph) gated bridge, we are propelled into a dimension of supernatural outpouring that will flow from the eternity of God.

"Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein." (Jeremiah 6:16)

[The word "old" in "old paths" was translated from the Hebrew word olam, which literally means "everlasting, eternal, ancient"]

Despite all that God showed the Israelites who came out of Egypt, that generation betrayed God and turned away from a New-Covenant relationship with Him. When it was time for the remnant spirit to be manifested in them ("17"), they betrayed the Lord and surrendered their spiritual calling for some morsels of food.

"¹⁷And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the wilderness. ¹⁸And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust." (Psalm 78:17-18)

"³⁴When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned and enquired early after God. ³⁵And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer. ³⁶Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues. ³⁷For their heart was not right with him, neither were they stedfast in his covenant." (Psalm 78:34-37)

[Notice how the Holy Spirit once again emphasizes the fact that the Church is full of believers who "flatter" God (v36) and say "New Covenant" with their lips but not with their deeds. With Canaanite tongues, they twist God's judgments around until they turn their image of God into a kindly "grandpa satan claus", a "generous" and "merciful" santa who, oddly enough, morphs into a viciously vindictive and merciless rattlesnake that attacks anyone who dares to rattle man's faith in his ministerial structures.]

"⁵⁶Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his testimonies: ⁵⁷But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were turned aside like a deceitful bow." (Psalm 78:56-57)

[The phrase "dealt unfaithfully" in verse 57 was translated from the Hebrew verb bagad meaning "to act treacherously, deceitfully". The word "deceitful" at the end of verse 57 was translated from the word remiyah, which means "misleading" but can also be translated as "negligent, idle, slothful"; this is how remiyah is translated in Proverbs 10:4, Proverbs 12:24, Proverbs 12:27, and Proverbs 19:15. Therefore the "deceitfulness" mentioned in verse 57 above speaks of someone who says, "Yes, Lord, I will do it", but then turns around and does not do what he committed himself to do, thinking that saying "Yes" is enough (Matthew 21:28-32). Many "believers" say they wholeheartedly believe in Jesus, but, when Jesus speaks (through His people), they utterly reject His words, only to turn around and sing a "precious hymn" to the very Jesus whom they rejected a few minutes earlier. Many "believers" say they believe that Jesus was "God in the flesh", yet, when God speaks through the flesh of a lowly brother or sister, they slap him or her, saying, "Who do you think you are?". Many "believers" say they believe in the prophets, but, when a brother or sister speaks in the anointing of Jeremiah, they grab stones to kill him or her. The same "believers" who read the book of Isaiah with so much reverence would have labeled him a "delusional madman" had they known him in person, before his book's official admission into the "Holy Book". These "believers" call themselves "New Covenant" believers, but they are really "Old Covenant" peoples. They are the ones who build the tombs of the prophets and garnish the sepulchers of the righteous, but who at the same time are quick to kill those same prophets and righteous ones in a New Jersey minute (Matthew 23:29-33, Luke 11:47-52).]

After speaking about the generation that betrayed God, the spirit of Asaph speaks about God's vindicating vengeance:

"⁵⁸For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images. ⁵⁹When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel: ⁶⁰So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men; ⁶¹And delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy’s hand. ⁶²He gave his people over also unto the sword; and was wroth with his inheritance. ⁶³The fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were not given to marriage. ⁶⁴Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation." (Psalm 78:58-64)

In His vindicating vengeance is the awakening of the God of Israel:

"⁶⁵Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine. ⁶⁶And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts: he put them to a perpetual reproach." (Psalm 78:65-66)

[The fact that the Lord will smite His enemies in the "hinder parts" points to several things. For one, it speaks of God's revenge against the Korah spirit for attacking His green-horse riders from behind in their moments of vulnerability. However, it is also a prophetic reference to God's "massive recall" strategy. He will "dredge up" the Elisha anointing from the cloud of believers who died (literally or figuratively) in the past; He will recall their works out from the past and into the present day, and the anointing that was "buried" with those works shall come upon the land like a massive tidal wave of obliterating glory from the east. God's enemies will not know what hit them, for God's attack shall come "from behind" (from the supposedly buried past). Let him who has ears hear what the Lord is saying in these latter days.]

As this happens, there will be a "changing of the guard":

"⁶⁷Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim: ⁶⁸But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved. ⁶⁹And he built his sanctuary like high palaces, like the earth which he hath established for ever. ⁷⁰He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds: ⁷¹From following the ewes great with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance. ⁷²So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands." (Psalm 78:67-72)

Just as Judas was replaced by Matthias, God's green-horse riders from Sheol shall replace Korah on Earth. Korah will descend to the abyss, and the "Moses" believers who were slain by Korah shall rise up from that abyss to obliterate the soul matriarchy upon the Earth. The first shall be last, and the last shall be first. Those who resist or are indifferent to this changing of the guard shall not take part in the blessings of God's latter-rain glory.

The name "Joseph" means "addition". Therefore, when used in a negative context (as in v67 above), it speaks of "addition seekers", i.e.- believers who have sought God's "additions" rather than the kingdom of God and His righteousness:

"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matthew 6:33)

The Lord says the words above in the context of material needs. Therefore, the phrase "all these things" refers to material provision, meaning that the "tabernacle of Joseph" mentioned in Psalm 78:67 refers to those who are after "material additions". Believers under the "tent of Joseph" measure God's approval of them (and others) in terms of material success. Therefore, the spirit of Asaph is saying in Psalm 78 that God has already rejected those under the "tabernacle of Joseph", even when their external material success may seem to indicate otherwise.

According to Psalm 78:67, the Lord did not choose the tribe of Ephraim. The word "Ephraim" means "double fruitfulness". Therefore, when used in a negative sense, it speaks of believers who exhibit apparent "spiritual fruitfulness" as a result of their multiple pneumatikos (spiritual gifts). The fact that they move in "spiritual stuff", however, does not certify that their heart is right with God; Saul, for example, was able to prophesy, even after he had been rejected by God (1 Samuel 15:26) and even when he was in the very process of trying to kill God's chosen one (1 Samuel 19:18-24). Those who place their foundational trust in Ephraim's pneumatikos rather than in truth expose themselves to Hittite deceit (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12).

Instead of the tribe of "Ephraim", God has chosen the "tribe of Judah" (Psalm 78:68). The name "Judah" means "praised". Therefore, it speaks of believers who render "sacrifice of praise" unto God:

"By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name" (Hebrews 13:15)

The phrase "giving thanks" is a mistranslation of the Greek verb homologeo, which literally means "to confess, to say the same thing as another". As we have said before, homologeo speaks of someone who judges as God judges; therefore, Hebrews 13:15 speaks of believers who judge according to His Name (i.e.- according to His Righteous and Holy Nature). On the other hand, the word "continually" was translated from the Greek word diapantos, which is a combination of the words dia, meaning "through" and pantos meaning "all". Therefore, diapantos in Hebrews 13:15 speaks of a sacrifice of praise that spans "throughout", i.e.- a sacrifice that covers all spectrums of one's existence. It is more than the 30 minutes of praise during a service on Sunday morning; such praise amounts to offering the modern-day equivalent of an "animal sacrifice" to God at the Temple (Psalm 50:7-11), only to go back to your house to do "your thing".

From the above, we can see that the "tribe-of-Judah" believers mentioned by the spirit of Asaph are those who prophetically sacrifice the entire spectrum of their lives unto God and who do not shy away from God's apostolic judgments. As the "tribe of Ephraim" believers exercise their pneumatikos (spiritual gifts), they may seem like the one in spiritual prosperity; however, God has chosen to pay attention to the weakly "tribe of Judah", who is more concerned about offering their very lives unto God than about offering Him spiritual manifestations that emanate from gifts that God adorned them with in the first place. Tribe-of-Judah believers know that God's pneumatikos are important and powerful, but, they are utterly useless in the long term if they are not done in a prophetic love sacrifice where you yield your very life unto God so that His purposes may be fulfilled in the lives of others (1 Corinthians 13:1-13). As we have said before, the 9 pneumatikos gifts of 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 are of zero eternal value without the 10th gift of 1 Corinthians 13.

According to the spirit of Asaph, God has rejected the tent of Joseph (Psalm 78:67), but He has chosen David (Psalm 78:70). The name "David" literally means "beloved". Therefore, it speaks of believers who have God's cloud of grace hovering over them. These are the believers whose hearts God has inspected and which have caused Him to smile with approving delight. God's cloud of grace hovers over these believers, because God has found a sincere and continuous bent towards His will and righteousness in their hearts (Romans 5:21, Ecclesiastes 10:2). Out of these beloved Davids flows a spring of grace of eternal dimensions. The natural eye may be more keen to perceive the "additions" of Joseph and the "spiritual gifts" of Ephraim, but it is the invisible grace of David and the tribe of Judah which overflows unto eternal life, regenerating and transforming everything that comes in contact with it. The invisible grace of David is to be eventually manifested, and, when it is, it will be overwhelmingly evident that it is (apostolically) deeper and more (prophetically) powerful than the ephemeral grace of "wheat-seeking" Ephraim or "barley-seeking" Joseph.

To accept God's judgments implies accepting His willingness to decree replacements. Those who harbor the so-called "ministers" from God's judgments are opposing the judgments of God, for, in His judgments, you cannot call what is right "wrong", or what is wrong "right". You will inevitably pronounce judgments against those who must be replaced, and your judgments will initiate that replacement (Luke 16:1-2).

The last Asaph psalm is Psalm 83, a psalm that cries out for revenge against the enemies of God and His people:

"¹Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God. ²For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head. ³They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones. ⁴They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance." (Psalm 83:1-4)

[The phrase "hidden ones" at the end of verse 3 was translated from the Hebrew verb tsaphan, which means "to hide, treasure, store up". Therefore, the phrase "hidden ones" refers to those who have chosen to take refuge in God and who are hidden in Him. These are the believers who have rejected the covering of man and who have sought the covering of God Himself. By conspiring against God's remnant, therefore, these people are conspiring against God Himself, because His remnant people are hidden in Him.]

"¹³O my God, make them like a wheel; as the stubble before the wind. ¹⁴As the fire burneth a wood, and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire; ¹⁵So persecute them with thy tempest, and make them afraid with thy storm. ¹⁶Fill their faces with shame; that they may seek thy name, O LORD. ¹⁷Let them be confounded and troubled for ever; yea, let them be put to shame, and perish: ¹⁸That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth." (Psalm 83:13-18)

Notice that this psalm does not cry out for "forgiveness" and "mutual understanding". It cries out for obliterating judgment against those who have deliberately set themselves against God's faithful people. Why? Because those who walk in the spirit of Asaph know that true redemption cannot come without vengeance (Isaiah 61:1-2). It is necessary that the vengeful wrath of God shine forth from God's Face so that the staunch enemies may seek His Name (v16) and so that man may know that His Name is the Most High over all the Earth (v18). The enemies of God must be put to shame and perish (v17) so that God's peace may issue forth and fill the Earth. The perishing of an enemy can happen in two ways: either through the willful repentance of that enemy or through his irremediable destruction. Those who are so stubborn that they are willing to fight against God's will until the bitter end do not deserve "mercy" or "forgiveness" (Isaiah 26:10, Luke 17:3). On the other hand, the stubborn enemies who have an opportunity of redemption need to be exposed to God's harsh judgments in order to break down their stubborn wall of resistance. If you truly love your enemies, you will pray for God's pressure to come upon them until their pride is broken. Through God's judgment pressure, those enemies are driven to a point of definition where they will decide whether to yield to God's will or perish in their own will.

From the "Asaph psalms", therefore, we can say that those with the Asaph spirit are believers who are pregnant with the vision of God's outpouring (Psalm 50) and who understand that that vision can only come about as we sacrifice our very lives unto Him. Because of this, they will face adversity as the righteous prosper (Psalm 73); that adversity will be produced by a system that is totally opposed to the spirit in them. Yet, in their sacrifice, and in the midst of their adversity, they will cause the resurfacing of "old things", of sacrifices such as their very own which remain buried in the sands of time, and they will point to the betrayals of the past generations who failed to see the value of those sacrifices (Psalm 78). As they perform this "recall" of sacrifices past, they will unleash the accumulated effect of those sacrifices (along with their own) upon the Earth, and they will trigger "the awakening of God", who will rise up through His remnant to unleash His redeeming vengeance, a vengeance that will restore the Earth unto Him (Psalm 83).

The spirit of Asaph is strong against the "wide-gate" spirit, which prompts believers to sacrifice eternal blessings for the sake of temporal ones. The Asaph spirit is quick to recall that the people of Israel's exit from Egypt was an uncomfortable "narrow-gate" exit through the Red Sea (Psalm 78:13), an exit that implied massive judgment against the enemies of God (Psalm 78:42-51). "Asaph" believers, therefore, understand that a difficult and narrow-gated "Monmouth" bridge must be crossed in order to enter into the fullness of God's calling. God's glory cannot "magically" come upon the Earth through wide-gate believers who clamor for "meat" (Psalm 78:27), instead of clamoring for His Face (Psalm 80:3). The opening of a porthole of God's glory into the Earth implies a hefty sacrifice, a voluntary sacrifice of self. It will not come by organizing a "prophetic conference" with many internationally-renowned "prophets". It will not come through the magical reciting of some intercessory-prayer text at church. Such sacrifices are useless if there is no willingness to sacrifice self. God wants your life, period. God wants complete and utter surrender of your entire life unto Him, a life where you pour yourself out as a libation before Him, reducing yourself to nothing so that His purposes may be fulfilled. This sacrifice, however, is voluntary, for there is no such thing as "forced love".

{It is worth noting that the visitor who emailed this question from Monmouth was under the Asaph "recall" anointing, as shown by the wording used in the question: "... When I saw it, I remembered that you had a post on the whale in London 1/20/06 ..."}

As we have said before, the name "Geoffrey" can be taken to mean "peace of God". Therefore, the poor "Geoffreys of Monmouth" who are endowed with the "recalling" spirit of Asaph are those who trigger the sequence of events that lead to the manifestation of God's shalom peace and prosperity on Earth. They become last-Adam bridges who enable others to enter into God's eternal righteousness.

"⁸By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true; ⁹As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; ¹⁰As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things." (2 Corinthians 6:8-10)

"For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich" (2 Corinthians 8:9)

"As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever" (2 Corinthians 9:9)

"³²But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions; ³³Partly, whilst ye were made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, whilst ye became companions of them that were so used. ³⁴For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance." (Hebrews 10:32-34)

The name "Asaph" literally means "gatherer". Therefore, it points to the "green-horse reaper" who comes to topple the soul matriarchy for good. There can be no peace while "Queen Soul" remains in town.

There is much more to say regarding Monmouth, England and the whale that appeared in Monmouth, New Jersey, USA in April 2006. God willing, we will do so in a future posting...