Sukkot: Rory & Hadassah Married

Hi there folks,
This feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) I feel like a bird released. This is just a quick personal update on my circumstances. Tabernacles are meant for more than one. And so this feast of joy is particularly meaningful. In this personal article I wish to talk about our marriage and feast of joy while still struggling with our post Christian Babylonian Anti Christ government that has overturned the very definition of marriage yet expects us to conform to it’s wickedness, to it’s beastial image.

A Sukkah for one – The Lonely Vigil

Hope deferred maketh the heart sick:
but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.

וחֶלֶת מְמֻשָּׁכָה מַחֲלָה־לֵב
וְעֵץ חַיִּים תַּאֲוָה בָאָה׃

Proverbs 13:12

It’s been a long wait, a lonely vigil. And long after hope had left my heart, the Lord has remembered me. I feel like those that returned to Zion because I too have been in a sort of captivity…

A Song of degrees.
When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion,
we were like them that dream.

 שִׁיר הַֽמַּעֲלֹות
בְּשׁוּב יְהוָה אֶת־שִׁיבַת צִיֹּון
הָיִינוּ כְּחֹלְמִים׃

Psalms 126:1

I am not so much a captive in a foreign land, although Australia did begin as a penal colony and I am originally from New Zealand. And on a deeper level my soul and blood are Israelite through and through. And on a higher level I am part of the Heavenly Mt Zion (Hebrews 12). So I am a stranger in a strange land on many levels. I am estranged from the earthly and heavenly Mt Zion’s.

But the captivity I have most keenly felt is one that goes into the depth of me in terms of the image of God. For He made Man in His image, male and female. Yet I have been in exile on this earth without my other half for so long it has hurt until I became numb to it all.  So although my body and soul have been in exile from the land of our fathers, and although my spirit is in exile from my home in heaven, there is another exile I too have experienced, another sort of imprisonment -I have been rather a prisoner of hope. A hope that had faded a long time ago. Why? because I had hoped and prayed for a wife from the Lord, and despite seeing His hand in every other way I saw that he persistently did not answer this request. I have been exiled from the possibility of having a companion.

Now I feel like I am dreaming. I come home from work and there is someone other than my cat waiting for me. I wake up and I am not alone.

I have just gotten married. I am 50 years old – it must be my Jubilee. My wife is 33, earthy like me, she is humble of heart and very good company. I struck Gold and I wasn’t even looking for Silver.

I had long since given up on finding someone, feeling like God would take care of every other part of my life except that one. I was resigned to live alone, except for Leon my cat and the neighbours dog named Hunter.

Jokingly I told my wife it is just the three of us, we already have a family, with Leon our first born. Sure he is a cat but a pet can be good company and I would recommend them, they have little souls, not eternal necessarily but they have little hearts and show affection. I jokingly call cats and dogs little people with fur. Leon may get a little less attention from me but he will get more from my wife and so he will still be spoiled (but never overfed -he is an efficient bunny hunter).

So I guess I should share my wife’s name.

About Susanne (Hadassah) Brachmann

My bride is from Germany, her name is Susanne (Brachmann) and she likes to be called Hadassah which is also a Hebrew name of course from the Book of Esther. She will be adding this as a middle name in the process of time, Susanne Hadassah Lindsay. She is from a believing Christian family and follows Torah.

Initially Hadassah trained as a teacher gaining a Masters in Primary School teaching earned over 4.5 years in Erfurt University in Germany and Portsmouth University in England as an exchange student for 2 semesters.

She found that teaching was not the right career for her and has retrained in massage therapy and aromatherapy (essential oils and so forth) spending 2 years study. On top of this she has just returned from Bad Elster, Saxony, Germany after completing 6 months of work training at the DEKIMED clinic.

She very much enjoys the outdoors and nature and a natural organic way of life away from the big cities. So she suits me in this way also as I very much want to build my own home in the countryside, home-school our children and live off the land.

She has visited Australia four times already, she likes the beaches and sunny days. We met on her fourth visit last year in December. There is a lot to tell right here, but that will have to wait.

The Wedding

Our wedding was simple and low key and at home, part indoors and part outdoors.

I gave a sermon on the meaning of the feast of Tabernacles.  Then there was the Jewish custom of drinking of a betrothal cup of wine. The Shofar was sounded by John McDougall.

Then we went outside for the signing of the Ketubah (Hebrew wedding contract), wedding vows and rings.

I am not incorporating Jewish customs into our marriage to try to be Jewish. I am doing it because we both agree that it is nice, combining elements of the christian and Jewish wedding customs that feel most biblical and relevant.

We had not intended to break a glass as is Jewish custom. But we did so because it meant a lot to a certain someone… …We broke a glass cup at the request of our Jewish matchmaker named Fay (without whom we would not have met). The breaking of the cup represents sorrow at the Roman destruction of Jerusalem and by extension, the destruction of the temple.

It just so happens to be the feast of tabernacles (Hebrew: ‘Sukkot’) on the bible calendar, Leviticus 23. And so I built a little tabernacle (‘Sukkah’) – or my version of it with some Wattle trees that needed to be cut down. I think that they are called Wattle’s because we ask “What’ll we do with them”. They grow fast like weeds and fall over in the wind. I managed to find just enough to make a little hut. We have been having a meal there every night. I cut reinforcing rods to size and drove them into the Wattle posts after drilling them with an auger bit. I cut down some palm tree branches for someone and solved their problem and used them for a roof. I got some free pallets covered with rough plywood and used it to line the walls and floor as you can see below.

Amazing Grace Restaurant

A sign of the times…
                                  …an old church building turned into a restaurant. I liked the idea of getting married in a traditional church building with stained glass windows. Hadassah wanted it outdoors. I guess we both got what we wanted because we had our wedding reception meal at the ‘Amazing Grace’ Restaurant. It was good to eat together and have a laugh.

Honeymoon Cottage

We stayed in a lovely little cottage for the first three days of our honeymoon.

My sister Wendy who lives in Cairns in far north Queensland purchased a little holiday cottage where we spent the first 3 days of our honeymoon. Thank you Wendy, it was very nice and we really enjoyed it and the beach nearby.

Hadassah made her excellent salad’s. She did the healthy stuff and I did the unhealthy stuff for a ‘balanced meal’.

Camping Honeymoon

We spent our last 4 days camping on the beautiful Capel Sound camping area between Rye and Rosebud on the Mornington Peninsula. We had a powered tent site which was wonderful. Hadassah wanted it warm so I purchased a fan heater so we were quite comfortable. I finally got a chance to use my gas cooker. We had everything we needed.

I am writing this blog on the last full day (Friday) of our camping honey moon.

Marriage Celebrants

Here in Australia the person that marries you is called a celebrant. They can marry Muslims, Buddhists, Homosexuals, Pagans, Wiccans and even Christians.

We are now married in the eyes of God but we still have to fill in forms in order for the state to be happy. This is the same Australian government that recognises gay marriage (and who knows what else in the future).

We had to hunt around to find a marriage celebrant, the government sanctioned official that can officially marry us according to the state. We did this at the end of our honeymoon. We have to wait a month and meet again and sign some more forms with some witnesses and that is it for the civil state side of things. Thank goodness we found a real bible believing Christian to help us with this.

Visa’s & Our bondage in Babylon

Having our marriage recognised by the state should be a mere formality. But much more troublesome is obtaining a Visa for my German Wife to stay here in Australia.

So the next step is that we have to apply for a ‘Partnership Visa’ and pay $7000 for the rubber stamp. But it is a not clear cut and it can be denied or overly bureaucratic and time consuming, taking years. In the meantime we have to leave Australia every 3 months to renew Hadassah’s temporary tourist visa. Please pray that our Father in Heaven’s will is done in all this. 

We will be shuttling back and forth like a yo-yo until this is sorted out.

Personally I didn’t want a celebrant, someone that I didn’t know to officiate. In hindsight I should have organised the celebrant ahead of time to give us the government sanctioned marriage certificate. It takes one month to clear from the time you sit down and apply until the time we do the final signing.

Again it’s all just bureaucratic red tape and not too much of a big deal marriage wise. But the big deal is the ‘Partnership Visa’.

Most genuine bible believing Christians that have had something to do with marriage related issues see the time when the church will not be able to work with the government because it is completely Antichrist in it’s world view. We are there already now. If Christians marry it will be considered bigoted and and if they make their vows before God it will be considered intolerant and hate speech.

As if getting a wife from another country is not difficult enough for her. We have all of the Babylonian fetters and laws to deal with.

One thing that all this immigration and marriage Visa issues comes through. We have almost completely lost our Christian freedoms in this country.

God help us. The just shall live by faith.

God bless you all.

Praise the Lord ישוע יהוה,

Rory & Hadassah