Stand to Reason

By Raday Leavy

In frustration, an anonymous Black man once said, If there are so many damn churches in this community, why aint we seein God?! That is a very compelling question with many explanations ranging from conspiracies to politics to the same ol tiring rants that most people are tired of hearing albeit true or not. This book will not dig into these assumptions nor place blame on anyone. The object of this book is to take a more spiritual approach to the question at hand and show by the bible why events are unfolding the way they are. In short, Black people do not fully know their relationship to the God of the bible, thus this book will serve as a definitive guide for Blacks in the bible. This guide is intended for the person who is earnestly searching for a deeper scriptural understanding of their spiritual position according to the bible. Hopefully this guide will lead one to search for deeper truths and follow up with actions that benefit themselves and those around them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jun 6, 2013
• ISBN: 9781477261422

Raday Leavy

Raday Leavy is an author, music artist, producer, motivator and entrepreneur. He has his own online based music production and literature promotion business.

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© 2013 by Raday Leavy. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse    05/23/2013

ISBN: 978-1-4772-6144-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4772-6143-9 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4772-6142-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012914850

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Section 1:   Baseline

Chapter 1:   In the Beginning

Garden of Eden

On that Grind

Good Eatin’

Birthday Suits

Adam and Eve

Ruddy

Little Ones

Chapter 2:   Noah and the Boys

Noah

Japheth

Ham

Off the Hook

Shem

Chapter 3:   The Royal Family

Abram and Sarai and Lot

Hagar and Ishmael

Isaac and Rebekah

Jacob and Esau

Jacob Sees God

Jacob’s Women

Joseph the Dreamer

The Dreamer’s Family

Israelite Death Bed

Chapter 4:   Moses on Deck

The Fam

A Growing Boy

Saved by an Egyptian

The Second Sign

Miriam’s Curse

Leprosy

Canaan’s Curse

Lit Up

Chapter 5:   Quotables from Other Notables

Samson

The R Word

David

Absalom

Solomon

Beautiful Black Woman

Jeroboam

Job

Jeremiah

Chapter 6:   New Testament Notables

Disciples

Simon the Cross Bearer

Philip and the Ethiopian

Paul

Simon the Niger and Lucius the Libyan

Angels

Chapter 7:   All about Jesus

The Great Escape

Made of Metal

Jesus the White

Average Joe

Chapter 8:   Jesus, the Nazirite?

Raising Dead

Jesus the Drinker

Nappy Mane

Section 2:   Real-Is-Rael

Chapter 9:   Israel’s Importance

Covenants

God of the Israelites

It’s all Israel’s

Chapter 10:   W.W.J.S.

Shepherd

King

Husband

Know the Role

Disciple Instructions

Chapter 11:   The Lost book of Judah

1) Bondage and Worldwide Dispersal

2) Lost Identity

3) Byword

4) Religious

Chapter 12:   5) Influence

The Power of Music

Bible Slang

Trendsetters

Stand Up for Your Rights

Weak Numbers… Strong Bodies

Future Confessions

Chapter 13:   Family Ties

6) Where’s My Mens At?

7) Locked Up

8) Women Kind

9) For the Children

10) Ill, Not Sick

Cast Away

Chapter 14:   The List

Where’s Joseph?

Simeon and Levi

Mutt

Obvious Question

America, the New Africa

Blurred Lines

Not Down for the Count

Section 3:   A Deeper Overstanding

Chapter 15:   Is-it-real-e an is-ra-el-ite

Super Breed

God’s People: Egyptians

Western Asian Persuasion

Good Pharaoh

God’s Anger: World Wide Dispersal

Same Tongue

Lost Identity

Proverb

Sick, Not Ill

Tail Not Head

Runners & Gunners

Restoration

Chapter 16:   Praise God(s)

Babling On

Ra Power

Te-Rah

Ab-Ra-Ham

God of Hagar

Gomor-Rah

Is-Ra-El and Ra-chel’s God

Zaphnath-Paaneah

Ra-Moses

Sol-omon

Jeroboam

Chapter 17:   Wonder Years

Close to Home

Family Man

Higher Learning

Bright Young Man

Jesus, the new Moses

Chapter 18:   Jesus: The God of Egypt

Zodiac

Orion

God of the Stars

The Amen

Mariam(en)

In Jesus name, Amen

Chapter 19:   Abraham’s Prophecy

The Prophecy

Strangers

Slaves

Promised Return

New Egypt

Return to Homeland

Section 4:   The Credits

Author’s Note

About the Title

Recommendations

Acknowledgements

What life you ’bout?

INTRODUCTION

Pick any social or economic statistic and see where people of color, mainly those whom would be considered Black people fall. Go into most any populated area and see the vastness in the difference to how such people are living as compared to other people. It is not hard to determine that such people are in dire need of most every type of positive assistance available. One could make a checklist of such needs ranging from financial and housing, to drug and gang prevention, proper role modeling and sexual education, the list goes on and on. Now go into the same neighborhoods and count how many places of worship, mainly churches there are to be found. Also count how many people know who Jesus is and have access to a bible. In all of the services that are needed it would appear that spiritual can be checked off as it would appear to be already covered and this can easily be seen as the most important need for a people. This raises a serious question; If the church is really the house of God, and the bible is really the word of God then why is it seemingly not working for the people who apparently need it the most?

This book will answer that question as many have their theories as to why that is. Of the people who believe in God as related to the bible, some speculate that God is trying to help but simply has not been able to find the proper human agents to work through. Others say that the bible is like life, one makes of it what they will and most people in those conditions do not make enough of it. There are certain others who contend that a vast majority live in those conditions are in one way or another cursed by God. Then there are vast numbers that go by the impression that this is all simply apart of God’s divine plan that no one can or will understand until or if God chooses to reveal it. While each would require a substantial amount of time to address and dismantle, the crux of it all boils down to one principal, knowledge. The bible records that God’s people parish for a lack of knowledge¹, not curses, nor people, nor any other reason. Essentially, if one has knowledge of the Most High and knows who he or she is in relation to God then subsequently there is no unwarranted curse, or group of people, etc. that can separate such a person from what is destined for them.

The bible is arguably the most powerful book in the world. It is the most purchased, printed, distributed, and oddly enough, stolen, book in the world. Its roots go back thousands of years, wars have been fought for it, it is well established in all inhabitable continents, courtrooms swear by it, and most every president in United States history has claimed to have knowledge of it. There is no other book that can bolster such claims. The situation boils down to this, there is a people that is in dire need of a real revelation of who they are and who they could be and it would prove imperative to do so by equating these people to the most powerful book in the world. Quite frankly, to not do so would be selfish and irresponsible as undoubtedly such a message is needed and this book will project this point in a way that has never been done before. Life is less about what is real and more about what a person tells themselves what is real. It is within the story that one finds clarity. It is within the narrative that one finds their place. If the bible, being the narrative of God through which a people see their lives through is seemingly failing them, one is down to two options. Those would be to do away with it or to reform one’s perception in the narrative. This book will attempt to do the latter in a new and inventive way.

As stated, the aim of this book is to help equate people of color, namely Black people to realize their significance to the bible by pointing out their connections with the ancients of the bible and how it relates to modern times. This book will discuss how the bible describes what the people in which is contained within its bindings looked like. It will also discuss what clues can be used to trace who the modern day people of this book could be as well as what biblically binds some of these people back to the heart of Africa itself. This book will accomplish it all by using only the same tools that any competent pastor uses:

1)   The Bible

2)   The Strong’s Concordance

3)   Dictionary

4)   Minimal internet access

Confusion might arise as to what exactly a Strong’s Concordance (SC) is as it is basically a dictionary for the bible but for the most part these should be materials that a great majority of people should be familiar with or have access to. That is why internet access is listed as there may be some assertions that are out of the realm of one’s awareness and could be easily looked up for more clarity. Plus it provides access to the other materials for free.

Because there are so many different translations of the bible it will be hard to determine which are more accurate especially as new ones are being printed up every year. For the sake of this argument this book will lean heavily on the King James Version (KJV) as this is what the vast majority of bibles in circulation are modeled after regardless of the translation. The New Living Translation (NLT) will also be used as it provides a well rounded up to date version of the scriptures and is easily accessible. The Net Bible (NETN) will also be used as this bible is also a very accurate up to date version of the KJV and is widely used in many bible apps and can be downloaded for free in app stores in most cases.

Three other requirements, although not materials, that are needed would be an open mind, common knowledge and common sense. This book will not require one to have any specialized knowledge about any observable science, nor will it go through exhaustive lists of people and /or extensive writings outside of the bible to prove points. Besides, even if such evidence was presented, it could easily be dismissed as not directly being relevant to the bible itself and in some cases it would be much too taxing to verify such sources. The goal of the book is to take the bible as it is and let the bible speak for itself as it were, while rejecting the use of anything else that would be used to super impose itself onto it. With this book, all that is needed to verify the source is essentially the bible itself and if one feels that more research is to be done then there is nothing that requires the need to escape from the first page of an internet search. This may take on more relevance later in the book. If one is a bible believing person then this book is perfectly suitable to fit this way of thinking as this book can be seen as an in depth bible study. After all, if the bible really is the word of God then what else is needed but itself, to prove itself?

This book is very beneficial to bible believing people as it would shed light on some puzzling questions such as where the garden of Eden really was and Jesus was during his 18 year absence, as well as on issues that one may have not even known were even there like the fact that the bible describes the Israelites and the Egyptians as being so similar that he essentially sees them as the same people. This book would also be helpful to people who subscribe to the Judaic and Islamic faiths as not only are these three religions so intertwined to its very roots but may help to shed light on certain aspects of their faiths as well. Even a person who does not subscribe to any of these faiths or even to a faith at all would be able to read this from a purely analytical standpoint and see what an overwhelming case this book presents.

There are some people that pose that this book is intended to muddy the waters such as to take a book that was intended for all and make it about a book for a few. Most any historical research into the assembling and use of the bible as it were to pertain to peoples of color all over the world would suggest differently. However, in a modern context, this book is designed to do the opposite as it would clear up the waters for the people’s who need such a clarification the most, thus aiding in the much needed unification and stability of a people and in turn humanity. If all people are to be united then there must be unity within each individual group of people first.

It all comes down to the spec and beam principal², how can a person claim to be one with humanity and thus the Kingdom of God, or better yet, learn to do so, if they are not even one with the people in which they share the most traits with and common ancestry with? How can a person learn to fully love and respect someone else’s household with their various decorations, beliefs and cultures, when their own household is chaotic and disorderly and their many wonderful decorations with vast cultural significance is locked in a dusty attic without the awareness of the person if it even being there?

Martin Luther King dreamed about a day when the sons of slaves and slave masters would come together at the table of brotherhood and that his children would not be judged by the color of their skin but the content of their character. As the United States has grown and the world has developed as a whole, the invitation to the table of brotherhood has been extended to all peoples on a much gander scale. If this table were seen as a type of pot luck in which each person presents themselves as best they can and brings their best dish then there would most likely be an empty seat where Black would be sitting based on the overall conditions of the people the seat would represent. A person who is unaware of who they really are and their place in this world is like a person who only sees the house clothes they have and is unaware of the clean pressed tux or dress they have in the closet and also only sees the sandwich spread in the refrigerator and not the prime duck in the freezer and spices in the cabinet. The bottom line is that if a person is not aware, comfortable and confident with how they can present themselves and with the wealth and richness they can bring to the table, then that person is not likely to want to show up to the table and mesh with other people. Add this to the possibility that they might feel that everyone else is bringing and presenting themselves in a more positive light than them. This book is designed to bring such awareness and thus confidence to a people that need it to better bond with others in their community and abroad.

This book is not intended to degrade people, or to say what a person is or is not. It is simply a perspective based on the biblical evidence given. If this evidence conflicts with a person’s prior assumptions and certain adjustments in thinking need to be made then so be it. This book will only deal in truth based on biblical scripture and would be better received if understood that the author’s personal views and beliefs are not relevant in the presentation of this evidence and does not necessarily refute nor indorse the findings within its covers.

SECTION 1

BASELINE

Can a shoe go on before a sock? Can a jacket go on before a shirt? Can a baby run before they crawl? When one answers these questions then he or she can understand why this section needs to be here. The bible provides an excellent model for complete comprehension of a subject and that is precept upon precept and line upon line³. Newer translations make this verse seem meaningless and to a small few it may be, but for the majority this section is the base for the message that this whole book will project. This section is dedicated to revealing the way that the bible describes the people that grace its bindings. Many people of color are used to seeing European centered (Eurocentric) depictions of most people in the bible. Although on a surface level there is nothing wrong with people depicting characters that they look up to as looking like themselves, there is a problem when certain groups of people fall out of alignment when all of the people that they are supposed to relate to look nothing like them.

This section will not attempt to force feed pictures of people in an attempt to counteract mainstream imagery. All this section will do is state what the bible says its’ characters looked like and leave one to one’s own imagination. As a warning, this biblical material may contain many contradictions relating to mainstream media, and may require a substantial mental imagery shift in the way the people in the bible are perceived. If anything in this section strikes someone as odd or untrue do not proceed without checking the source for assurance.

CHAPTER 1

IN THE BEGINNING

In the beginning there was darkness. Then came light, then atmosphere, land to produce vegetation, regular seasons, and other forms of life as we know it then God decided to make a creature in his own image and likeness. It is amazing how so many magnificent happenings had to transpire in order to make the Earth the way it is seen today. There are wetlands, dry lands, forests, plains, mountains, valleys, blistering cold climates and sweltering heat areas. What is more amazing is that like God’s diversity and ability to conform to and take over any condition, human beings have done much the same. With so many different types of people in this world, tracing humanities biological records back can prove daunting. The bible gives its own interpretation in story form. Just like the bible starts in the beginning so too must this book start its journey at the genesis of humanity.

Garden of Eden

Before Adam and Eve are discussed it is important to note the kind of environment they lived in. The exact location of the garden is uncertain but the bible does give clues. It says that it is a garden in the east with four rivers. The first was Pison, flowing through the land of Havilah or Saudi Arabia. The second was called Gihon and flowed throughout the land of Cush or Ethiopia. Interestingly enough, all sciences point to this place in Africa as being the birthplace of humanity with the first human skeletal remains found there so even the bible supports what science confirms. The third and fourth braches are called the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers, essentially flowing through Mesopotamia⁴. The bible also accounts for Lebanon being in Eden in many different places when it accounts for Tyre, a city in Lebanon being a part of the Eden⁵ for example. The bible also makes references to a beautiful African country named Egypt as being so beautiful that its splendor is synonymous with that of Eden’s. This is noted when Lot and Abraham left Egypt and Lot was given his pick of the land to raise his cattle peacefully and he chose the more beautiful land⁶, and it is noted again in Ezekiel when he compares the magnificence of Egypt with that of the garden⁷.

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The point is not necessarily to say where the Garden of Eden exactly was but is more about to give a general picture of the region. As evidenced by the bible it is shown that the general area for the most part is set in the region of what is now called the Middle East and northeast Africa. This means that whoever was able to live there had to be naturally inclined to live there moderately with little to few complications, and one thing that the bible