Jealousy Is Crueler Than the Grave: Helping People, Who've Been Victimized by Jealousy

By Clifton Edwards Jr.

The last of three siblings birthed by
Clifton and Frances Edwards Sr. on July
12th 1962, Clifton Edwards, Jr., entry
into this world was challenging. Born
with the German Measles coupled with
a temperature of 103 degrees, he entered
this world with a prophecy from an old
German Physician who proclaimed: This
is going to be a great man someday.
Clifton is a gifted songwriter, composer and producer. He currently pastors
Dunamis Temple Church in Jacksonville, Florida. He is a conference speaker and
an anointed teacher of Gods word. With his 20 years of pastoring, 35 years of
preaching and countless hours spent with parishioners who possessed a plethora
of wounds by the hands of others, Mr. Edwards shares with us something that
everyone deals with, but very few talk about, Jealousy. This book is packed
with spiritual incite and psychological axioms that will nourish the soul. May this
labor of love minister to all who have suffered at the hand of the people who were
infected with Jealousy. Let the healing began!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 29, 2013
• ISBN: 9781483660936

Book preview

Copyright © 2013 by Clifton Edwards Jr.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2013911604

ISBN:   Hardcover   978-1-4836-6092-9

             Softcover    978-1-4836-6091-2

             Ebook           978-1-4836-6093-6

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Rev. date: 11/20/2013

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris LLC

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

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CONTENTS

Foreword

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter I   The Origin of Jealousy

Chapter II   Old Testament Examples of Jealousy—Saul and David

Chapter III   Seven Qualities of an Excellent Leader

Chapter IV   Identity

Chapter V   The Cancer of the Soul

Chapter VI   Fear

Chapter VII   Freedom and Bondage

Chapter VIII   The Jacobs of the World

Chapter IX   As a Man Thinketh, So Is He

Chapter X   I Am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

Chapter XI   The Thin Line between Love and Hate

Epilogue

author.jpg

I would like to dedicate this book to my father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. Clifton and Frances Edwards Sr.

You two have been exemplary as Christian parents and have been a blessing, I am sure to a community of individuals who have benefitted from your words of wisdom and your passion for their personal growth. I would like to say thank you. Your love and mentoring was the difference between self implosion and spiritual evolution.

To my siblings, Charlene Long, Daphene Cowan and Pamela Edwards. Thank you for your prayers and the concern you have demonstrated to me all through the years. I love you all dearly.

To my beautiful children, Lamar and Jasmine. You are my inspiration and my life. I couldn’t be more proud of you both. You are sharing your gifts with the world and living your dreams. My heart aches because I miss you guys so much but I loved you enough to let you go and like the eagle, man have you two soared.

Lastly, to the key ingredient responsible for my dedication to ministry and showing me by example how patient love (agape’) can be. You have sacrificed so much for our success while being the silent hero and rock of our family. You are beautiful in every way. Thank you honey for being you. I love you Tracie Le’Shuane Edwards forever!

FOREWORD

What could be crueler than the grave? That’s the question and one we must investigate. For death scares us all because of its uncertainty and finality. What can be crueler than being lowered down into a six-foot pit and then being covered with dirt? Never to see or experience, supposedly, your loved ones again. The Bible declares jealousy is crueler than that. The reason being, when you are buried, your family, friends, and enemies cannot contact you or harm you anymore. When someone is jealous of you, their own fear turns them into the Taliban. They become personal terrorists to the ones they supposedly love. The problem with most who suffer from this malady is they don’t even realize what they are doing. When certain individuals are called on the carpet by a third party who has witnessed their jealousy, they will, 90 percent of the time, deny that they are jealous. That is equivalent to a person having a wine stain on a white garment and he is the only person who can’t see it.

I like the opening chapters of the book of Isaiah. Isaiah experienced God’s glory, and once he had that divine encounter, he immediately discovered he was a man of unclean lips. This is powerful. The text suggests when we really have a God encounter, it won’t be the type that makes you run around the church or perform spiritual dance-off competitions. No, true divine encounters should cause one to see himself for what he is—unclean. We all must become conscious of our own sin if we are to mature in God. Our futile attempts to cover our sin with our religious antics, God abhors. Amos 5:21, I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. The courage of Amos to prophesy what was on God’s heart to Israel was profound. This passage is the most famous verse in the book of Amos. During the time when Amos preached in Israel, justice and charity were a scarce commodity. God was simply saying that He was not going to participate in their holy convocations, no matter how much money they raised or how many livestock were sacrificed for them. You can burn them on the altar, but I don’t have to smell them. That is what God is saying.

I wonder, is He saying the same thing today? When our present-day church model is built on the popularity of pulpit personalities, is this not a form of idolatry? That is what infuriates God. In the twenty-sixth verse, Amos literally says, You have carried along with you your Idol images and your star gods. I may get in trouble, but I really am not afraid to say what may seem controversial to some, nevertheless necessary. Could it be this is why we have twenty thousand people who may attend a conference and nobody gets saved? The reason being, the people in our modern times, like Israel did of old, have fallen in love with idols that they have made. God will not smell our offerings. He will not participate in our festivals until we put away our stars and idols and start being charitable to those in need. That is what Tzedaka means in the Old Testament—righteousness that is marked by generosity. Our conferences are more about money than they are about serving and blessing those in need. The word judgment in this text is the Hebrew word Galal, which means to roll oneself upon the Lord, to commit one’s life unto the Lord. Galal is a derivative of the root word Galah, which means stark exposure, to make naked, to bring into exile. The prophet is saying to us today, take away the organ and piped music because God is not listening until we repent and recommit our lives to Him. If we don’t, He