RIGHTEOUS
by
Dr. Gale A. Ragan-Reid (April 13, 2016)
“By faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith” (Hebrews 11:7, King James Version [Faith in the fathers of old]).
Greetings In The Blessed Name Of Jesus,
My sisters and brothers our parallel experiences in our relationship with God suffering in mankind let us see better as we reflect on the fathers of old, the polar opposites of our own decisions as God draws us to him to face the consequences of our thoughts perhaps first thought of as enlightenment only to bind us into the darkness of the very light that we thought we were in when we first faced truth [“Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all” Psalm 34:19, KJV, privileges of the righteous.] How many times did you challenge the dark thoughts of your municipality---the laws that govern your community---the corruption of those laws that levy out injustice---unfair consequences that force the people of the land, the children of God, the family of God to struggle in unmerciful sufferings? Did you stand to say in your heart, I wish they would try that with me, I would...? Were you in your moment of invincibility---feeling like you could conquer all, loose the shackles and chains, break them out of the lies that placed them in jails, escape the darkness and march all of God's children back into His marvelous light? Did you see the truth of your thoughts---what you said in your foolish or wise thoughts in your hearts that you would do to the evil that ruled the day of suffering, the hours of darkness, not recognizing that your flesh is weak?
In reflection, Jacob and his mother Rebecca tricked Isaac to bless Jacob instead of Esau then when Jacob went to live with his Uncle Laban, his mother's brother---Laban took the blessings that God gave him and kept switching the blessed livestock so that he received the blessings that came from God. Jacob's son, Joseph saw his brothers bowed down to him in a dream and shared what he saw in the dream with his brothers only to incite their anger and cause them to cast him out into slavery. Did not his brothers bow down to Egypt where God raised Joseph up in power next to the Pharaoh of Egypt to later become slaves for more than 400 year?. Did Job question the love of his children for God only for God to give Satan permission to test his love for God causing him to lose everything that he owned? Did David already anointed to become the next king of Israel slay the giant only for Jesus to slay the giant belief that used the law to resist faith?
Do you see the polar opposites and how out of the mouth comes life or death. In dreams that send darts of polar opposites to threaten me when good prevails? I remember seeing death on the faces of two men who fought to stand against harsh judgments in the deep south when their faces should have shone in the light, I saw their skeleton as if they were dead in darkness but Christ Jesus did not let them die. I remember seeing a favorite pet lying dead on my bed the same bed that the pet played and laid on. Yet another dart of darkness I saw incestuous love of dancing because another kin was holding the hips to teach how to seduce with the hips instead of God's love with kin.
I saw another favorite pet leaving the estate and a few days later he was taken away kidnapped stolen by a group of men hours before the thunder storm began when the pet should have been with his brothers and sisters out of harms way. I saw a man holding my pet chicken on his lap sitting down inside my house right next to my bed when an unknown man a stranger should not have been inside of the house and should not have been holding my pet stroking him with his hand as if he was threatening me then that he had the pet. So, many threatening darts come when goodness prevails and I am glad for the day that goodness prevails knowing that God says fear not for I am with you. That was what I thought, “Fear not,” when I saw a spirit stand behind me while I laid in my bed and I heard the spirit
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say, “Die,.” but I did not die. I knew that dart was in response to the movie The Bible when Jesus
stood behind Lazarus and whispered to him raised him up out of death for he was dead four days before Jesus came. I believe in the resurrection power of Christ Jesus and I did not let the false image in the dream state get away with calling the power of resurrection a lie. I did not fear and I continued to lay my head down to rest not behaving startled or in fear of the threatening false images coming to me in dreams.
Moreover, did Joseph see how long his brothers would bow down? Did Job see he would greatly suffer in spite of being one of the righteous men of his time? Did David see he had to slay the giant that resisted faith that the priests used the law to bind Jesus as a blasphemer? Do you see the polar opposites that prove God and the truth? When you dream and see yourself a hero of your people---a David in your own right able to choose your own punishment, able to choose your own repentance, given a choice from God, highly favored and blessed, chosen to be a great leader, do you see the total struggle that you will suffer in order to fight the good fight to save the people and yourself?
Furthermore, do you see the polar opposite in the Apostle Paul who asked for the commission from the high priest---Caiaphas so that he could persecute the Jews---harshly judge and condemn them, receive a charge from Christ Jesus to spread the good news for the saving of those lost who might be found and for the saving of those who were not chosen so that they might enter in the kingdom of God in the faith of Christ Jesus? Did you see the polar opposite of the antagonist Saul [Paul] who falsely accused the first Evangelist Stephen inciting the people to stone him to death changed to Apostle Paul who defended the fallen---man, woman and child throughout the lands placed on trial in Agrippa? Did you see the polar opposite of Saul who persecuted the followers of Christ at the home of the same disciple who would give him back his sight in the Name of Jesus and baptize him after Jesus blinded him on the road to Damascus so that he might see he was truly blind not in the Truth forsaking his brethren God's salvation? Do you see that same road to Damascus, today, in modern times, with the people fleeing persecution from the blinded terrorists carried away by the power of Jesus out of harm's way, escaping by day and night, the persecution set before them? For as much as have changed much remains the same for good and evil is of the same tree and we ate the fruit of the tree but God gave us in this many times referred to as God's forsaken world----Jesus his only begotten Son. Do you see how Apostle Paul even in the Church of Christ felt despised, homeless, hungry, thirsty, naked, buffeted, reviled, made to work with his own hands, persecuted---a suffering lot of instructors and followers of Christ to teach the gospel in every church in the power of the kingdom of God---witnessed the polar opposite from the priestly control over the people feeling dominant in sin to feeling like no more than a spectacle to the world, angels and men---weak fools for Christ's sake as he reflected that they should not be puffed up one against the other as an apostle, of the other workers of Jesus---feeling the apostles God set forth last as it were appointed to death (I Corinthians 4th chapter), were just given an incredible workload to make a difference getting the good news of faith---the Word of God the faith of Jesus spread out abroad near and far, to the people for the opportunity was present, s ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God? [Yet he knew man could aspire to be the highly favored and blessed, the apple of God's eye, precious, a higher love, a man of God's own heart, for righteousness sake].
Do you see how your own house will be turned inside out---right side out---Topsy turvy, bottom up, shaken apart, all in the Name of Jesus, to make a stand against the evil that rules the day? Do you see how your children will suffer---your family and those of your friends that God chose to suffer with you or bear witness to your sufferings? In reflection, I thought of the man that bore witness one day and said, “It's bad when they take the children.” I turned to face him and nodded my head feeling the pain of his words for this man had moved away from the old neighborhood and city we used to live in and decided to leave after the rage of Hurricane Andrew and after we both rebuilt our homes to sell them not leaving the neighborhood in a shambles of debris-filled lots. Now the new neighborhood and city 3
we lived in persecuted children unlike where we used to live---things had changed, it was a sign of the times. Now, I reflected on my next move to another state and the persecution of man, woman, child and animal especially women and animals unlike the neighborhood control systems where I used to live and the household order of men where I used to live or perhaps I was detached from the sufferings of my neighborhood because I was highly favored and blessed working hard in the makings of middle-class so much so I could not see until the day of Thanksgiving holiday (2003) my younger son and I visited my son who attended a university in Tallahassee, FL [later that university's students killed one of their drum majors in their music band who was from Atlanta, Georgia---the offenders beat him down to death with their hands on the bus to a game, since my son graduated in 2008 so evil was present] and the radio broadcaster kept speaking of the injustice of the area---the children cast down taken away from their families, their neighborhoods, their schools, their careers and without noticing really what I was saying so caught up in my reactions to the broadcast I wished against injustice and chose to make a stand in my heart not knowing how I would make a stand until God moved mountains and placed me in a position to fight a good fight so I leaned on God for he chose me to fight and did not let me stay out of the fray---he gave me the blood-stained banner to hold up high and I did fight and I still tell them about Jesus in the midst of evil doers and evil intentions I let the love of God reign supreme spreading the gospel Word of God.
I thank God for Jesus who interceded for I was an innocent lamb a baby foolish without the thoughts of the truth of how I would have to sacrifice everything and enter into the sufferings of those who I wished to make a stand for even become an example myself having to fight but there was a man named Jesus who said, You are free, indeed. You could not possibly see the totality of your sufferings---no one could for you would surely feel you would die for how could you live through it---how could Israel live through 400 or more years of slavery then 40 more years in the wilderness of Mount Sinai before they crossed over the Jordan River, which made me remember another man said to me as I stood next to a restaurant, “Is it over?' Yet, there was merely a woman who felt the strong hand of injustice press down upon her people and the other minorities in the land she lived so much so she made a stand in her heart uttering that if they did what they did to her children she would... in Tallahassee, Florida only to later have to fight with all her might when they took her child and when she heard the stories of how they took other children black and white and when she reflected on the now ghost stories of those who were taken in the days gone by now the secretly uttered wish of strength in defending the vulnerable against the giant persecutor that was much like the wickedness of the priests in Jerusalem during the Roman occupation as much as she was a woman she strongly fought against the darkness that brought in fear each night and awakened each day to save her child, her children, the children of her neighbors from the evil ones that sat in high places who did whatever they pleased against the law to mock the law and write their own laws placing the law in their hands while at the same time they persecuted and made examples of those who they felt they could champion their brand of evil over to keep the people of the State of Florida (third in the United States of America for their numbers in prison and in the top five for their numbers with death sentences) in awe of their power not over sin but in sin---letting sinners rule the day not the sinners of the world but the sinners of evil who worshiped the darkness not the way of Christ Jesus not God Almighty but God heard her and gave her the battle to wrestle them down a heartfelt wish to stand against injustice for that fleeting moment did not reveal the anguish and pain of the struggle of a deeply rooted corrupted system that had survived years of persecuting the people in the border town of the deep south---a diaspora of poverty and illiteracy for the vulnerable ones as the evil ones LORDED over them as their god and this desire that welled up in her was at the very time her family was in a good peaceful place of prosperity so in love with the gift of life that God gave them. Did she regret the fight and now wish for the peace of God and not want the children to suffer like that ever again at the hands of the wickedly unabashed workers of iniquity, for they sent hate after her and they used her own family against her just as they used capturing her children, for as they say all is fair
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in love and war but it was the love of God that brought them down for Christ Jesus walked with me and stayed with me through it all until the light returned? I wish I could tell you that I know what Christ
Jesus went through when he went into the darkness to save us all for as much as I suffered the wiles of the evil ones I still can not help but weep every time I hear the story of Christ Jesus and how his family sacrificed him and how the family of Caiaphas and Annas competed against the family of Jesus, the son of God and John the Baptist, the son of Zachariah, for it was a crying shame, a pitiful shame, a disgrace of mankind but that was what it took for God to save us through Christ Jesus, so I fear not for I know Jesus is with me, I know God is with me, I know my Holy Ghost Spirit comforts me and I know I am free, indeed by the power of Jesus. I will not say I am compelled to go down into the murkiness of the darkness of evil---down to hell as Jesus did even after his crucifixion only to rise up and ascend to sit at the right hand of God the Father but for those who feel they are in hell suffering the persecution of the darkness of sin under the power of darkness know that Jesus saved you, already and you, too shall rise up---resurrect up out of death for all hope is not lost be in good faith never give up for many are imprisoned in state facilities as well as in their own homes with friends, husbands, wives and family that practice hate with black hearts of evil and there are many in death sentences for the State of Georgia will execute another in this month of April making it five men executed so far this year for their wrongs against the State of Georgia, as Jesus was but those who lived many years suffering until put to death, unlike Jesus for Jesus was immediately crucified before Passover celebration but to say God gave them grace is to say Jesus saves, in prison and on death row that they should not die immediately as Jesus did [We thank you Lord for your saving grace]. We do not think how one person in our family could give a wife, a husband, a child a death sentence killing them dead in domestic violence when the court system---the laws of the land required more than the word of one person to kill you but that was the case for those dying in the hands of those who should love them that was and is given to many who are killed by the word of one person---the dastardly deeds of even a few conspirators planting the seed of death in the assassins or terrorists---sinners in our own homes and neighborhoods---our communities [We must continue in prayer, for righteousness sake]..
Soon, things began to happen, her family life was shaken up and the suffering began---where before she was not challenged, she began to get challenged on every front and the world no longer loved her or respected her, she had to struggle and fight for all the things that used to come to her because she was highly favored and blessed of God but now she had to fight---to prove truth--- time and time again she had to scratch in the soil to make a difference--- work hard and harder and harder---put her back in it as Israel had to make bricks to sacrifice a life of good living for the meager blessings of life but Jesus interceded and blessed her so her blessings came in but not from the bounty of her own hands as before but through the hands of others portioned out--- rationed out---it was her saving grace---the saving grace of Jesus that came in and made the moments of hardship bearable so that she did not die and so that her family did not die out for the evil ones sought to have power and authority over her and take all that she owned even her children. She fought the good fight ran her course every day without man trusting God leaning on the faith of Jesus. She stayed with Jesus---believing in His way---the way of God that He came to fulfill the law, deliver the children of God out of death---not smite the wicked as those who suffered wanted him to, for Jesus was the righteous of God with the power of God, now with a double-edged sword, a defender of the faith. She understood she would never be righteous as Jesus was---she would always fall short of God's righteous but she could fight the good fight in Jesus, in the righteousness of Jesus, to prevail and so she did and God blessed and those who held on to hope worked to make a better day than the day of darkness but the battles still go on for evil is still of the tree of good and evil and through Adam and Eve we ate the fruit of good and evil but God is a good God who made a way to escape through Christ Jesus.
Further, with so much going against us, it seemed---we prayed like the fathers of old and the mothers of modern times---the prayer warriors who prayed in the morning, at noon, in the evening, at
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the midnight hour, unceasingly with prayers and supplications through Jesus to God for the nights---long and blinding gave way to the light of day never to render us hopeless without faith even in the
midst of death and destruction we go on as Israel in the more than 400 years in slavery and in the 40 years of repentance before crossing over the Jordan River and in the here and now during the modern
time of revolution and resistance to set in place power kingdoms whose factions of evil seek to topple over destroy for the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy as Nebuchadnezzar carried away the children of Israel to Babylon as the iron of Rome persecuted the children of Israel---the Jews, the family of Jesus. Now our children who were harshly judged---killed in the streets of the lands of the world, falsely accused beaten down in the corruption of the sinful systems of the world---persecuted for the survival of a generation, are taken back and carried on the shoulder of Christ [“But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” St. Matthew 9:13, KJV, Christ calleth Matthew], for our thoughts were purely in reflection of the love of God the redemptive power of Christ to save us, as He carries the little girl with her ruffled hemmed dress for all to see so that the woman of the earth who fought against Satan--- is not set apart brandished and outcast but held up high carried as a precious jewel up out of the dust for all to behold the wondrous working miracle power of God through Jesus, for us---to save us all, for she shall no longer be mired in the dust crushed down each and every time she rise up to fight the good fight, for our salvation---keeping us in Truth---a virtue that will not go away [Jesus said, “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” St. John 7:24, KJV , Jesus reproveth his kinsmen]. We struggle not with flesh and blood but with the municipalities around the world ---the rich against the poor, for now it is said that in certain towns there is no difference between the lifestyles of the poor and the middle class for the same philosophy work hard and harder than you did the day before instilled a love of faith that raised up the middle class and kept the poor abundantly blessed in Christ Jesus [“This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.” Psalm 34:6, KJV;”The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.” Psalm 34:17, KJV, privileges of the righteous]. For the town of Miami, Florida was named as one of those towns wherein the middle class and the poor are abundantly blessed with markedly no differences in lifestyles (NBC, 2016) . I remember a saying that the study reminded me of ringing still true proven still to be the resolve in today's world that the poor in some communities and in some towns did not know they were poor---just blessed and the middle class did not know they were not blessed and continued to work hard and harder than the day before thanking Jesus for the opportunities to give God the glory for their many blessings [“A poor man that oppresseth the poor is like a sweeping rain which leaveth no food.” Proverbs 28:3, KJV, maxims and observations].
In conclusion, I found myself without the patience of God, of Christ Jesus, for my thoughts were not dark thoughts but I no longer wanted my family to make the sacrifices that we had made for our generation to fight the good fight good versus evil anymore, no more standing up getting prison time, no more dying out from the spirit of afflictions: disease and weakness of the flesh from being constantly challenged on every front forcing the heart to weaken under the pressure of stress. I pleaded for us not to stand anymore, to let those whose families have not been in the fire of fighting the good fight enjoying the abundant life take up the blood-stained banner and fight and bear the pain of bringing peace to confusion but I know God will not let go of his own until he wants to. I think I was so whipped down in my heart that day for my flesh was weak and I could not bear to see another family member go into persecution, go to prison, and die. Now, in the deep south lands of no loyalty where 20 miles north of me, in the Dougherty County Justice system, in Albany, Georgia, in jail one in three suffer mental illness, I cried out that I did not want to ever see another family member sacrifice his own
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kin again as the Jews sacrificed Jesus, giving their kin to the powers of darkness---letting the dark forces persecute their own kin. Jesus told Peter, “You need to be strong.” I just got so tired of seeing those who do not fight prance around in their wealth denying the Truth of Christ Jesus who saved them and made all things possible, in faith. The Lord be with you always. Amen.
