THOU SHALT NOT COVET
By
Dr. Gale A. Ragan-Reid (April 21, 2018)
“Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbour’s” [Exodus 20:17, King James Version, The Ten Commandments].
Greetings in the Holy Name of Jesus,
My sisters and brothers, the world is full of demons all aiming to hitch the ride of their life acting out inside of your holy vessel, unless you resist them as God asked you to do---all the emotions of envy will most certainly engulf you without fail, forcing you to hate your best friend---your mother and father and of course, your siblings, leaving you without fail all alone---a miserable individual, poison to those who thought they knew you, at one time, in your life. The snake will get in your tree. You’ve heard folks say anything he can do, I can do better. You’ve heard folks say anything she can do, I can do better. This awareness awakens the community-at-large to improve upon their status quo for the competition of neighbor’s is fierce with betrayal, for anything they can do; I can do better than that.
Let us not dwell in the confusion of whether this meant we should not or ought not to feel we could do better than before, for to improve oneself is good, however, to strive to condemn others---your fellow neighbor and take all that they have without the instructions of God to do so, is wrong even pretending that God told you to do it, is wrong---morally unsound in judgment. Covet means to desire enviously what belongs to another. The repercussions of covetousness could open the door for widespread, indirect or unforeseen effect visited upon what covetousness words were spoken or what covetousness acts were done---out of envy. With that said, some folks call it karma, others say, just desserts, even more say you get what you deserve, because the envy of coveting a neighbor is dark and gravely foreboding could cause death as the ripple of the tide floats fiercely against the water to bring back---right back to you, the bread that you cast upon the waters; obviously spoiled bread---a boomerang.
Most importantly, the Word of God tells us that we are not better than our fathers; in which this thought alone coupled with the thought of the slain prophets caused the only surviving prophet, Elijah great distress, as he sat under the juniper tree when he fled from Ahab and Jezebel, in the wilderness, on the back side of mount Horeb [“But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers” I Kings 19:4, KJV]. The
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angels comforted Elijah with cake and water; eventually, God spoke to him with a small voice [I Kings 19:2] to anoint Hazael King over Syria, anoint Jehu king over Israel, and anoint Elisha prophet in his room {I Kings 19:15-17]to bring down those who escaped the sword since the slaying of the prophets. This is but one bible story of man’s desire to be better than those before him, a byproduct of coveting his neighbor’s house even Ahab and Jezebel’s ruler ship which was a wicked ruler ship, indeed, of heavy darkness in a land that worshipped Baal [I Kings 16:31-33]. In modern times, we find further evidence in neighborly one-on one talks of demonic possession present in the neighborhood.
I spoke to one first cousin maybe one decade and on-half ago who spoke of a man named Punk visiting her in dreams who she felt was responsible for the death of her son who left with another cousin’s family sect for a one-night outing of entertainment but all returned except her son who they later found out was dragged by a car of strangers unto his death. Recently, another first cousin of another family sect spoke of a man named Punk who planted peppers and charged $5 per can. Could it be that the Punk in the cousin’s dreams is the Punk in the planter, demonic possession used to take life, now masquerading as a planter to mock the farming neighborhood when actually the demon is set up in the holy vessel of the planter just waiting to prevail again---just hanging around waiting, coveting everything the neighbors say and coveting everything the neighbors do---taking/killing pets---giving pets to whom he sees fit with little regard for the rights of the property owners; trapping pets in cages to starve them to death or placing snakes in the cages with the pets, unto death then lying them in the road, to say the pet was in the road? Punk was the name. Do you suppose this Punk is a demon?
More importantly, man is insane over better, hiding evil behind good deeds, frantically persuading the neighborhood that evil is not present just goodness---for examples: two better than one {Ecclesiastes 4:9]; better days [Ecclesiastes 7:10]; old wine is better [Luke 5:39]; man is better than animal [Matthew 12:12]; man in competition with others begs the question who is better than others [Philip. 2:3]; Jesus versus angels begs the question is the Son of man much better than angels [Heb. 1:4]; a better country begs the question which country is better than heaven [Heb. 11:16] better not know the truth begs the question on better not have known the way [2 Peter 2:2] even more what is better for a man begs the question of food, water, and work—Are the three all that is better for man [Eccl. 2:24]; love is better than wine questions the sweetness of a kiss compared to wine [Song of Solomon 1:2]; and Jonah, who felt it better to die out of anger over the people of Nineveh---the wickedness of such a great city so dark that it came up to God yet was spared death and destruction [Jonah 3:4-8, 10; 4:11]. For sure, the jealousy of Elijah retired him from the business of God. And, is the modern day demon, the neighbors called Punk set-up to provoke the neighbors against each other, promoting the agenda of Satan---hate and violence as was evident in
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Nineveh where Jonah did not want to go, to stand against the family of God and the sisters and brothers of Christ Jesus. My sisters and brothers, we must draw close to God. Jesus died to save us.
Recently, we find women in possession, a matter of art imitating real life and real life imitating art. A film director of an exorcism movie wherein a 12-year-old girl was possessed of a demon spirit so much so her head turned around 360 degrees and she spewed out green vomit, all to bring about an effect of possession that was not real. Yet, this same director decided to film a real life priest performing an exorcism of an adult woman in which only the sounds of her voice changed to depict demonic possession---the words that she said. We find envy---a part of coveting obviously opens up the emotions for the flesh is weak---vulnerable, to feel such a strong emotion as envy. I strongly believe that God sees the injustice and unkindness of the human condition, for it was because Leah was hated by Jacob [Gen. 29:31] for he loved Rachel more than Leah {Gen. 29:30] that God blessed Leah with more children [Gen. 29: 31-35].
So, Rachel coveted Leah having more children---she envied her [Gen.30:1]. It was Leah’s sons, Levi and Simeon, who killed and destroyed a distant cousins’ sect-Canaan- because the distant cousin dealt with Dinah as a harlot---laid with her before asking for her hand in marriage. Is this an example of envy, for Jacob---Dinah’s father accepted the marriage proposal? Howbeit, Rachel’s son, the most loved son, Joseph with a coat of many colors was cast down in a pit instead of killed, only to be sold into slavery in Egypt by his own brothers [Gen.37:3, 10,27] but as the right-hand man of Pharaoh had the power and authority to save his people during a time of famine in the land. However, it took Leah’s grandson, Moses of the tribe of Levi, to lead the children of Israel out of slavery in Egypt [Gen. 35:23-26]. Favorably, Rachel’s grandson--- out of Benjamin came the first king ship of Israel---King Saul [I Samuel 9:1-2, 21, KJV] but God did not let his lineage continue because King Saul would not follow God’s instructions delivered to him by Prophet Samuel [I Samuel 7:15-17, KJV] who was a Levi [I Chronicles 6:1,27-28, KJV, Leah’s grandson, --- therefore God gave the lineage of king ship to King Saul’s neighbor [I Samuel 28:17-18, KJV, the woman with a familiar spirit of Endor raised Prophet Samuel from his grave to speak to King Saul since God did not answer him, neither by dreams nor by prophets 28:6-7, 11, KJV]---Leah’s grandson, David was anointed by Prophet Samuel long before he died to kingship---out of the House of Judah came King David the first King of both Israel and Judah, whose children reigned after his death---for King David’s lineage continued.
Our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus, came from Leah’s son, Judah, for the scepter shall remain in Judah [Gen. 49:10; Numbers 24:17; Psalm 60:7; Is. 11:1; Luke 2:30-32] because a virtuous woman is a crown to her husband… [Proverbs 12:4] even though she
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was hated by Jacob for he loved Rachel more than Leah. Laban searched everywhere, he thought, Jacob vindicated Rachel from taking her father’s statute of their pagan God [Gen.31:1-2, 25-27, 25-31, 34], but he accepted Leah’s daughter Dinah’s marriage proposal even though the distant cousin dealt with her as a harlot. It took Leah’s sons, Levi and Simeon to vindicate their sister Dinah’s honor [Gen.34: 25-31]. And Jacob spoke against the two of them being together concerning any future matter. God said, “Gilead is mine; and Manasseh is mine; Ephraim also is the strength of mine head; Judah is my lawgiver [Psalm 60:7]. The scepter shall not depart out of Judah [Gen. 49:10] even though the Jews call the law, the Law of Moses; truly it is the Law of Jesus, coming out of the House of Judah, coming out of the House of David.
In closing, thou shalt not covet demands attention to the neighborhood and attention to neighbors, for the green-eyed monster of envy is a deadly sin. Envy destroys and kills. Christ be with you. Walk with us, Lord. Amen.
