Simply Put…Laws Kill Life

“Jesus did not come to start an institution. He never intended to buy a piece of land and build a headquarters. We have to ask the Spirit today how to meet the needs of today… Suppose the Lord tells me to me to eat an orange. So I eat the orange and sincerely believe that God has led me. Tomorrow, The Lord tells me to eat an orange again. So what happens? The next day I write down the rule to eat an orange every day. And do you see what that does? Now I don’t need the Spirit anymore. I have a law instead. Laws kill life. Laws stop growth. You end up staying with the concept, a principle, or a doctrine rather than life. What we did yesterday in the Spirit, we do today in the flesh.” (The Door Interviews, by Juan Carlos Ortiz*).

*A quote that Jay shared on his blog February 7, 2012, as a brief followup to last Tuesday’s post titled, Change in Covenants.


 

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Change in Covenants

rainbow scroll
The Old Covenant was ‘of the letter,’ and was made obsolete at, and by the cross.  And in either case, by the time the Spirit came in a new way at Pentecost, the New Covenant also came in.

The Old Covenant was of the letter – a matter of words.

The New Covenant was, and is, of the Spirit – a matter of the Spirit.

The problem comes when we try to reduce to words, what can only happen by the Spirit. This takes us back in time to the letters that kill, and away from the Spirit who gives life.

I believe this is what happened soon after Pentecost – within the first 100 years, in fact.  The self-appointed experts tried to reduce to words what had happened in the Spirit, and the result was the Dark Ages.  Then and now, our feeble attempts to reduce the work of The Spirit to words always takes us to the “Dark Side.”

If we can’t take the time needed to discern whether or not a person is in a spiritual place to receive our attempt to communicate where we might be in the Spirit, then it is better to wait until a more opportune time.  You know, kind of like what Jesus did at The Last Supper when He said, “I have more to say to you, but you are not yet ready to receive it…”

Love!

By Jay Ferris, originally published Feb. 5, 2012

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Canaanites

golden calf
This is by way of the continuation of my last blog. 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 – i.e. 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 according to Galatians. For this person 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 life style, 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!

By Jay Ferris, Originally posted January 19th, 2012

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