Trying Times – “I Don't Know Why You're Calling On The Name Of Jesus”
by
Dr. Gale A. Ragan-Reid (5/29/2013, 6/1/2013, 6/15/2013, 6/18/2013, 6/22/2013, 6/29/2013, 7/6/2013, 7/11/2013, 7/15/2013, 7/21/2013, 7/30/2013, 8/07/2013, 8/8/2013, 8/9/2013, 8/17/2013)
“For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:” (Exodus 34:14, King James Version, KJV [God's covenant with Israel]).
Glory be to His Holy Name!,
In the Name of Jesus! In the Name of Jesus! In the Name of Jesus! I don't know why you're calling your son? I don't know why you're asking your cousin for the family reunion brochure?
I don't know why... ? Have you ever lost all your patience when challenged on the front of faith? Has anyone tested you to call only him or her, to ask only him or her questions, to put all your faith only in him or her? The word of the LORD says, “For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:” (Exodus 34:14, KJV [God's covenant with Israel]).
What a testing ground? How about that faith! How about your faith! Most importantly, without reservation, that sort of interrogation easily sends you into a huffy; a fit of anger; piquing. A challenge of this nature, not only offended the God you serve, who is Jealous but it also offended your self-esteem, crushing you to nothing.
More importantly than crushing you, this sort of tinkering around with your mind, challenged your relationship with God, made it non-existent and the person, who used that strategy placed himself over you as your god, and considered you worthless, not fit to think or reason for yourself, which provoked your thought process, to consider the same blighted hopelessness in a weak conscious, which weakened even more, in the challenge to not only slight your God but also you. What an offense of slight? Do you remember when the joke was, “Where was, and a name was called out; someone's name was called out, who was right there yet they questioned, “Where was so and so? Now, they ask, “Where was your God? Where were you?”
I don't know why you're calling on ...? I heard this challenge twice in my lifetime; firstly, from a dying soul who practiced hate on me, so I could stand strong against those who stood against me, after she died; it was my sister; secondly, from a power player cousin desperately fearing the outcome of a family reunion, that I might slight her, crush her and slap her to the ground with my words, telling and revealing to the family her treacherous, deceitful nature, of hate, in order to take leadership from the founding-family; it was one of my first cousins. However, when she said, “I don't know why you're calling him to get the brochure about the family reunion?” She sought to outcast a second-cousin's sect from the family-at-large. Later, this same first-cousin, tried to power over me with false statements of my membership, with a family church, who my mother belonged to when she was a young girl. Of course, besides Sunday School, that same first-cousin's mother did not attend at the time my mother attended because my mother was able to attend church by going to her grandmother's house, to clean and gladly attended with her mother's sister, her aunt, who was the church's secretary.
What does this have to do, with God? What does it have to do with our relationship with God? What does it have to do with my relationship with God? What does it have to do with your relationship with God? Absolutely, nothing!
I would just like to say, that a strategy used in a leadership ploy, such as this, “I don't know why …?” was used to take over leadership from the founding-family, was just the sort of strategy that could easily goad you to leave your God by goading you to leave the church because
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of the malpractices of hatred; gossiping to spread false reports of membership in order to divide the church. If, it was not takeover from the founding-family, then, perhaps, it was takeover from a high-spirited leader, with vision for education, in an illiterate culture. Maybe, it was takeover
from a family member, who recently returned with good news from other associations and memberships, of the one body of Christ. This person, who sought to takeover all authority and power of the church, was a big-headed, power hungry beast of nature and sought to place her family sect, at head, cared no more about the one body of Christ and no less about the unity of her family church.
This first-cousin felt she had to head. She reasoned and said because she was the biggest in size. She continued that her family of all girls were the loudest ones. Quite frankly, I think any crack-a-mammy idea, she came up with, would do. She was possessed of a spirit of pride.
What astonished the onlookers even more, especially me, was, she cared less, that God was not with her, that God had not chosen her to lead the church? She wanted leadership for herself and her vain glory blinded her to see the Truth, right in her face. She lied and said her family sect did not get inheritance. They were the only ones who did not get inheritance.
This was not true. My first-cousin's family sect received land, next to her mother's siblings (her aunts and uncles) on the father's-side and next to her same mother's siblings, on the mother's side; her mother's, brothers' and sisters' inheritance land was landlocked, next to each other. Her mother did not receive from her brothers as two of her sisters received from their brothers because that was sister-to-brother relationships, not inheritance. Simply, it was just a gift or a purchase and no different than the world open market, a price of purchase was set forth, placed on the table. Those sisters who negotiated the price with their brothers, were willing to meet the price of purchase, and received the land purchase. Or, those sisters who accepted the gift from their brothers were willing to responsibly receive the land gift.
There was no stopping this first-cousin, she was bent, possessed and mentally impaired to the point she felt she had to take-out(destroy) her cousins, so she could lead and she had to overthrow the founding-family sect and any other sect that stood in her way. She was in war; not satisfied with doing good works, developing a stronger relationship with God than she had, and running her course in the faith of Christ Jesus. She was determined – hell bent on, conquering, dominating, and overthrowing her cousins, without God. She thought she could out-scream everyone and she would keep eating until everyone else looked so small and would have to let her lead; or, else she would bully them, outcast them, hate them, every time she spoke out. Was it the spirit of Christ, in you that made you bully, outcast, and practice hate, on your cousins, every time you spoke out?, was the question, she refused to hear, obviously, because at one time in her life her heart was broken or perhaps her heart was presently broken and she was hiding her own truth, so she hated others.
The “or, else” led the founding-family sect, the first-cousin sect, and a third-cousin sect, to take my fruits, oak wood (cut for winter months),pets, plants, and produce and also the founding-family's produce. There was a prevailing culture of taking, present, with those who cared less, taking from the different family sects' gardens. Since my third cousin used my chain saw to clear his land when I asked him to clear my land, now, I fear one of those cousins or neighbors just took my horse. Direct TV continuously passed by until my pet disappeared and the good news was members of the Catholic church/baptist church, a family worshiping in the catholic faith and in the protestant faith, like many neighbors, kept the pet in their pen. Lastly, Cagle's chicken processing plant worker picked up the pet from the pen of the Catholics/Baptists.
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Amazingly, the first-cousin sect and third-cousin sect that married into the same outside non-family sect worked together to take-out the founding-family sect while the third-cousin sect pretended loyalty and left another church association outside of the family churches to come back to the original founding-family church. Interestingly enough, the great aunt's grandchildren competed to take-out the great uncle's grandchildren, unbeknownst to most of the children because they subtly orchestrated their take-over while they befriended; brother and sister grandchildren, silently and engaged in warring factions, which schemed to overthrow each other, taking power and property because the brother's children progressed far more than the sister's children, in times gone by; now, those grandchildren that grew up with less, sought to overthrow those cousins whose parents did far better than their parents did in accumulating wealth, when they were children. Obviously, there was a whole lot going on in the hearts and minds of those, who secretly hated their relatives and on the streets, with neighbors, passing by, shopping in your property, with their eyes, waiting for the opportunity, to take. LORD GOD ALMIGHTY, when the ones, with jobs shopped your property, with covetous eyes, what could you expect of those without jobs; it seemed those holding on to the way of Christ Jesus, with charitable hearts might be the ones, taking without conscious, while they pray; so whom can you trust?
Personally, I did not recognize as a child, the haves and the have nots because my aunts and uncles helped each other so much and were such a strong support system for each other so much, just like their father, my grandfather, so I was amazed to hear, of recent, only, later in my life when I decided to live on the family estate that their was such a disparagement between the family sects. I recall visiting their homes and eating so much food 'til my belly was full. This same first-cousin's home was sufficiently stocked with foods, when we visited my aunt, we picked peas, okra, whatever she planted in her rather large kitchen garden, planted in rows in the back of her house and afterward, we bathed up and ate meals. Especially, I enjoyed, fried chicken, rice, field peas, okra, tomatoes, corn bread and homemade vanilla ice cream that we churned in their old-fashioned ice cream maker. Her parents did not have to rush out to town to buy groceries and we picked produce, with her children, in her backyard kitchen garden. Sensibly, I condone speaking false historical details to the children, to force them to hate each other and sow the seeds of division, instead of encouraging them to collaborate as their great-grandparents did; my cousin was teaching them to compete in hatred as they were doing, holding up false teachings, which did not help them to mentally mature in God's love.
In these trying times, there was so much taking-out of family sects by family sects and
family members by family members; internal strife within each family until it was quite difficult
to see how they gave God worship even when they were in church, the walls of partition were erected as strongholds between them and created aggression, combatant plays of competition, outright lies and rebellion, and division. Praise dances were not praise, at all, just in your face competitive street dance. If, the families' sects understood, God is Jealous, then, they did not show fear of God's jealousy because they were so locked in the madness of competition between the different family sects, mostly for decisions made by their forefathers (mothers); ancestors, they could not see Truth (Christ Jesus). They only wanted to re-live their parents' and grandparents' lives and call the decisions they made back on the table, so they could make the decisions. Memorably, my experiences lacked spending time with children, who were extremely adamant about vicariously living their lives through the memories of their parents' decisions, basically it was parents living the lives they wanted and could not live, vicariously through the lives of their children, so, here, I found the parents (grand parents, uncles, aunts, cousins) were stronger in their faith and lived more abundantly than their children (grandchildren, nephews, nieces, cousins).
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Of course, the first-cousin accused the same member of the founding-family of not only being unqualified for leadership in the church but downright lazy yet she came to his family sect's garden to pick produce, to stock up her pantry, to feed her family. She did not get attacked by ants because the same cousin she called lazy kept the grass cut and treated. Her reasoning for
needing to overthrow them became so blurry and gray, subjective to meaning she wanted to possess and take all, she could, in the guise she was in authority and power over them, just because she felt she could, do it, even though, they permitted her to do works in church, without sabotage, she still practiced hate against them and their children. Obviously, the trying time, that we lived, at this time, was a time of upheaval, in leadership - a time of change, which meant, not only were the ones who held the positions of authority and power as the founding family called on
the carpet but also those who they permitted to do works, in leadership, right now, in the church. All leaders in leadership works in the church were called in question to qualifications and evaluation of performance, beyond attendance because the church showed high attendance
seasonally at church events.
So, often, when you do a total overhaul of church operations, in leadership, when you dig a ditch or go after one, you might as well dig a ditch, for the rest to fall into the pit of hell. Figuratively speaking, many folks were falling into sink holes, all over the country while lying in bed, sink holes were opening up and swallowing folks alive, while driving on public streets, sink holes were opening up and swallowing folks up, while on holiday in hotels sink holes were opening up, swallowing folks up, while at the beach sink holes were opening up swallowing folks up. Some folks could not escape and others did escape the fate of falling into their graves, alive. We must be careful, of nothing, for God is able to heal and protect:
“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by
prayer and supplication in thanksgiving let your
requests be made known unto God.
And the peace of God, which passeth all
understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds
through Christ Jesus.
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true,
whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are
just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things
are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if
there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think
on these things.
Those things, which ye have both learned,
and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the
God of peace shall be with you.
But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at
the last your care of me hath flourished again;
wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked
opportunity.
Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have
learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be
content.
I know both how to be abased,, and I know
how to abound: every where and in all things I am
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instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to
abound and to suffer need.
I can do all things through Christ which
strengtheneth me.”(Philippians 4:6-13, KJV
[Paul thanketh God for faith])
However, you would think, the falling into sink holes transferred to fear of going down to hell yet folks lived in the world, out of faith and chose to bargain their time, with God, whenever they were called on the carpet to explain why they lived as they did or reason why they made the decisions they made.
We must not overwhelm ourselves with worry over division, just heal those, in need of healing, heal the church and continue to do God's business, of greater works than those done in
the time of Christ Jesus. The task of healing seems impossible and made us think, “We'll never get this done.” God is able. We should be able to overcome, the most trying time. We should be ready; we must be ready.
