Separating the Precious from the Vile: How to Recognize If You Have Trash or Treasure in Your Trunk

By Carol M. Henry

In her youth Carol thought people who went to church were automatically Christians and were different from regular people. She had a rude awakening and discovered how wrong she was. Being saved or born again is different from just going to church. Just as is religion is different from relationship. She soon discovered there’s a significant disparity between the two.

Separating the Precious from the Vile, helps you see things from a unique perspective regarding real life in Christendom. You may realize some things you thought were wrong are right or vice versa. Separating the precious from the vile isn’t always easy.She examines a number of subjects, helping you recognize some of the trash from the treasure.

Separating the Precious from the Vile encourages you to consider the mindset you’ve been holding on to. Accept that you may need to change it, to forgive and be forgiven. Let go, embrace and move on.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jan 12, 2023
• ISBN: 9781664286856

Carol M. Henry

Carol M. Henry was born and raised in Bronx New York. At seventeen she joined the US Army. Little did she know that the military would be the vehicle to transport her into the arms of her Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ. After being honorably discharged, she served in various capacities of ministry while pursuing a degree in Broadcasting and Mass Communications. She worked in broadcasting for several years until relocating to the Carolinas to care for her parents until the Lord called them home. Carol is a minister of the gospel and is especially passionate about those who serve in and out of the sanctuary.

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Copyright © 2023 Carol M. Henry.

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Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

ISBN: 978-1-6642-8684-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-8686-3 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-8685-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022923306

WestBow Press rev. date: 01/09/2023

CONTENTS

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1 Be Fully Persuaded

Chapter 2 Jesus Wasn’t a Yes-Man

Chapter 3 Lord, Help Me Not to Try to Be Nice

Chapter 4 Attitudes Are Spirits Manifested

Chapter 5 The Trial

Chapter 6 Wait! Don’t Bind That Devil!

Chapter 7 Walking Away Is Not Always a Sign of Failure

Chapter 8 How Long Will You Mourn for Saul?

Chapter 9 Aisle Nine

Chapter 10 Playing Dumb

Chapter 11 Obedience Does Not Always Require Understanding

Chapter 12 In Love with Obedience

Chapter 13 It’s Not Always the People You Like Who Can Help You

Chapter 14 Plowing with the Heifer

Chapter 15 Bringing Down the House

Chapter 16 It’s Not What You Think

Chapter 17 Hot Potatoes and Cold Showers

Chapter 18 Making Your Bed

Chapter 19 Wounded in the Stones

Chapter 20 No One Gets Away with Anything

Chapter 21 We Be Brethren

Chapter 22 Bondage or Blessing?

Chapter 23 Sowing Here, Reaping There

Chapter 24 Don’t Spill Your Seed on the Ground

Chapter 25 No Thanks Required

Chapter 26 My Sweat

Chapter 27 Your Friend Belongs to God

Chapter 28 Your Friend, My Enemy

Chapter 29 A Friend Becomes an Enemy and an Enemy a Friend

Chapter 30 Nothing but Love

Chapter 31 Who Told You That You Needed Hot Water?

Chapter 32 Can You Read?

Chapter 33 Leave That Stuff Alone

Chapter 34 People Can Change, and We Can Change Too

Chapter 35 Don’t Dog Me Out

PREFACE

The military was the vehicle the Lord used to draw me closer to him. I was raised going to church; I sang in the choir with all of the trappings of Christendom, but I was not all in. I was acquainted with different denominations but did not have a personal relationship with Jesus. I was searching.

Early on, I thought that people who went to church automatically were Christians and were different from regular people. I was a babe, a child, a freshman. I found out how wrong I was. I had a rude awakening. Being saved or born again is different from just going to church. I found out that there was a significant difference between the two.

Today, that difference is still prevalent and perhaps even more so, though it’s not surprising since the Word of God tells us that perilous times will come. The fear of God is not as prevalent as it was. There was a day when people who really loved God would be afraid to go to church with the wrong spirit or attitude, with unforgiveness in their hearts, or with wrong thoughts in their minds. The power of God was so strong; it was about impossible to stand in his presence and not be impacted in some way.

The encounters I have had and continue to have are a constant in my development and growth. Along the way, I discovered that I was not the only one having encounters of another kind. Salvation ain’t always sanctified. Different things bring people to the sanctuary. Some go because they are seeking, some to spy out the land, and others creep in unawares. And many just don’t go. There is a reason for that too. People, saved and unsaved, are looking for the real, for the truth. They have been to church, and for many of them, it looks like the place they want to get away from.

The church is not so different from our families, households, places of employment, businesses, or schools. A man’s enemies will be those of his own house. Look at Abel, Joseph, Esau, Moses, Job, and Jesus too. I am not talking about your mother, but … and your daddy! Rebecca was instrumental in bringing division between her sons Esau and Jacob, and their father didn’t help matters much. Stuff happens and will continue until that day. I learned a lot of hard lessons on the battlefield. Many of them quite painful but not without purpose. I bear in my body the marks.

This book began its journey in 1999. I did not know it was a book. I kept journals, and I would write things down on the back of receipts or anything available at the time the thoughts came. I gathered the fragments, and the book in your hand is the end result.

Whether you are a churchgoer or not, a Jesus-knower, having doubt, thinking about or need a way out, it is my prayer that this book will serve you. If you have pondered some of the things you have seen, heard, or encountered, this book will help you see things in another light or from a unique perspective. You may find out that some things you thought were wrong were right or vice versa.

Some of you will be relieved to find out it wasn’t just you. You may find out some things about yourself as well as about other people.

Separating the precious from the vile is not always easy. We have to examine, scrutinize, and do the smell-and-taste test. We have to hold it up to the light, just as jewelers look at stones with a loupe. Most important, this book will help you recognize some of the trash from the treasure. There may be fragments you discounted that you might want to go back and get.

As you read, I pray that the eyes of your understanding will be enlightened. I pray that you will hear the Lord in the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit. I pray for healing for wounded spirits and restoration where there have been breaches. I pray for the uprooting of whatever was not planted by the Lord and the separating of whatever the Lord has not joined, for the renewing and transformation of the mind by the Word of the Lord, for peace, for joy, and for the spirit of liberty. I pray that you will let go of the old and embrace the new, accept the power you have to forgive, move on, and experience the love and peace of God that surpasses all understanding.

In the event you are a person turned off by church, church people, or altercations on the way to the altar, give Jesus a chance. He is not guilty of making the mess, but he sure can help us sort it out if we allow him.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thank you, Jesus! It is finished! It has taken decades to get here. It was a long ride with many detours and traffic jams. I thank all who helped me author this book, directly and indirectly. Many had no idea that the Lord was using them to that end by words spoken or not, deeds done or not. The friends who were enemies in disguise, the enemies who proved to be friends in disguise. Thanks.

My parents—Ruth and the Duke—Dalton Earl and Vera Ruth Harris Dunk. They died in faith, not having received all the promises but having seen them from afar and embraced them. The Lord showed them some things. Being fully persuaded, they counted it as done. Nothing like having someone who loves you unconditionally.

My brother—Mr. Earl (Gen. Beauregard MacArthur) Dunk. Thank you for all your support. You have been a blessing is so many ways. Dad was right.

Karen Turner—here it is. You were there from the beginning. You saw it coming out of the printer. You didn’t know what it was; I didn’t either. Thank you for the work you put in. Thank you for your faithfulness. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. A friend loveth at all times. Iron sharpens iron. A brother is born for adversity. The Lord knows. Sometimes, that has to be sufficient. He declares the end from the beginning.

St. Croix Laurie—thank you, cous, Madam M. M., for all of the hats you put on in the process.

My children—Sir Walter and LBJ—take the baton and run. Don’t stop until you get there. Remember, you just deliver the mail. You are not responsible for the contents.

Ronnie—with God all things are possible. He is time.

Pastor Rick Garret—you are Mr. Garret now but were the pastor then. One plants, one waters, but God gives the increase. You got the fish into the boat. Thank you for being relentless.

In memory of Mother Bell—for ushering me into prayer. I couldn’t last five minutes. I didn’t know how you all could pray so long. Baby, when you run out of things to say, just tell him thank you, and he will give you more to say. And it was so.

Apostle R. L. Jackson—thank you for the introduction to Zoe, the God kind of life. I am what God says I am.

Pastor Malinda Brown—the Lord knows, doesn’t he? Sometimes, we have to take the detour. Thanks for talking me through the fire. I heard God. He made the way of escape. From the Bronx to the Breakthrough. Mr. Bell would be proud. He prayed for all of us.

Sis. Nelcina Solomon—no, I have not forgotten you and how instrumental you were. Thank you for the life-changing ride.

Pastor Elvira Kidd—God rewards you for all you did for me to your own hurt. I will never forget it. Neither will the Lord. Thank you so much.

Pastor Marcel y Junita Aguillion—gracias por abrirme tu corazon y tu hogar a mi y a mi familia. La vision aun vive. Continuar en la fe.

INTRODUCTION

Therefore thus saith the Lord if thou return then I will bring thee again and thou shall stand before me and thou take forth the precious from the vile thou shall be as my mouth. (Jeremiah 15:19 KJV)

Why and how would we need to survive church? Church and survival? Salvation and survival?

When I came to the Lord, things were much different in Christendom than they are now. People seemed to be more serious about their faith and their relationship with God and his work. Ministry was serious business. Prayer meetings were serious business. Things would happen when people prayed and sometimes instantly. It was common. Limbs would grow back, and people would be healed from all kinds of sickness and disease. The power of God would be so strong that unsaved people would come in off the street and run to the altar. People with addictions would instantly lose their taste for whatever held them bound and would leave the building sober and in their right minds. The Holy Spirit would fill people with no one touching them. If someone had a need, the whole congregation would rally to meet it. They had all things in common. The preachers were full of faith and demonstrated power. The people had the presence and the glow of God on them. Holiness was real. People lived clean (at least cleaner than they do now) after church.

It was evident that they were set apart, different from the world. They didn’t have to say anything. You just knew. Saved was saved—no middle ground. Were things perfect? No. Sure, there were issues, but nothing compared to what we deal with today. People really had the fear of God. Today, not so much, and it shows.

My first thought about being saved or born again was that everyone in church was nice, loving, and kind, people who didn’t hurt each other. It didn’t take long for me to find out how wrong I was. Nobody was perfect. Everyone who