Last words hold weight. And even more when they are from the heart of God, dictated in weakness, and from a sick bed that will be the means of bringing a man home. The following post by Jay Ferris was the last cogent message offered to his blog readers before his death 7 years ago on this day, June 13th. It summarizes an answer to a question posed to him: “If you could give the people of God one last message or warning, what would it be?” May the importance of the words below sink in – while there’s still time. – Pamela
A growing awareness of spiritual deafness has made it clear to me that there are two subjects of utmost importance that I need to return to in these last days. They are things totally unacceptable to the Kingdom of God, and that is the merchandising of love and the devaluation of women.
First is the issue of merchants in the Kingdom. This is the definition of the name “Canaanite”, which is the number one targeted tribe when entering the promised land that Moses was instructed to wipe out in entirety.
If that is not clear enough, consider the last verse of Zechariah, “in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts”.
And if that isn’t clear enough, just look at Jesus in His Father’s house, and what He thought about merchants in the Kingdom. He got pretty exercised about that kind of agenda and that kind of occupancy.
The second point of foremost importance in these last days is gender. Paul goes after this issue of flesh in Galatians. “There is no longer jew nor gentile, slave nor free, male nor female.”
In short, in the Kingdom of God there are none of these things.
When thinking back over my blog, I found that I identified these issues early on, including this repost titled “Canaanites” from January 19th, 2012:
Canaanites
This is by way of the continuation of my last blog post. My impression is that The Lord is indeed willing. Over the years, I have discovered, (the hard way) why The Lord commanded that the children of God wipe out the Canaanites when they went in to possess the Promised Land. In those days the land was a geographical place. In our days, the Land is a Spiritual place. The Canaanite problem remains the same, however, and that is what I would like to touch on here.
Canaanite means “merchant.” Merchants are still with us today. Prostitutes are also merchants. Prostitutes do for money, what ought to be only done for love or in love. That’s the difference between the two women of the Book of Revelation. One woman is described in Revelation Chapter 17, and 18, and the other woman is described in Chapter 21.
That’s the situation as the end of the age approaches, but in the beginning of time we get to see what and how God is, and what he is after – what He is hoping for. This has to do with relational intimacy. In the first instance the intimacy of the Godhead before the World began. He made us male and female in that image, even before the woman was removed from the first Adam. Male and female is all about relationship – intimate relationship. This is not about sexual plumbing. It is about pure, uncluttered or uncomplicated relationship.
It is here, I have come to see that Romans 8:14-25 has it’s origins.
So here is the deal as I have come to understand it: The Creator in creating is hoping for an expanded intimacy in the Godhead, one that includes us. But for that intimacy to be compatible with the Godhead, it needs to be born of the same DNA as the only begotten Son of God. The availability of this seed had to wait for the crucifixion and resurrection of God’s Son, John 12 – “Except a kernel of wheat…”
He is described as “born of a woman,” and we are also born of a woman, Isaiah 54:1, and according to Galatians. For this purpose a woman was needed, and so the “female” was removed from the first Adam, and called “woman,” having been taken out of the man. In the fullness of time, again Galatians, God was intimate with this woman, and The Word became flesh and dwelt for a while among us.
As Long as the Son remained in the flesh there was only one SEED, again Galatians. That SEED was multiplied by death and resurrection and made available in and by the Spirit on the day of Pentecost and after.
Jesus prayed that all who shared Him and in Him would be one, John 17:21. As I understand it we were and are to be one in his love, free of any other agenda. It is right here that religious merchants do their terrible work. Like Satan, it is rooted in the “I will ascend” mentality, that got Lucifer kicked out of heaven. It is this agenda, not so hidden as it turns out, once we know what to look for, that is the reason for the last verse of Zechariah.
There is no room for hidden agenda on the “clear as glass,” street of GOLD in the New Jerusalem. If you understand this, and communicate it by word and lifestyle you will be rejected by the merchants because you are a threat to their business.
In the meantime, their professed desire for relationship, which is increasingly becoming a buzz word, and fueling the latest cutting edge religious dog and pony shows, makes it more difficult to discern the real thing. Relationships that come from God are the real thing. Relationships that merchants seek are rooted in a “let’s make a deal” mentality or agenda. The mercantile mentality does relationships in order to gain access to center stage, and the preeminence and financial support, which goes with it. They tend to like lectures rather than relationships, because it’s hard to take up an offering for a conversation.
In short, religious merchants strike right at the heart of what God, The Creator is hoping for!
Love!
P.S. Somebody had to say it!
Loving Like God 