1 “Can you pull in Leviathan with a fishhook or tie down his tongue with a rope? 2 Can you put a cord through his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook? 3 Will he keep begging you for mercy? Will he speak to you with gentle words? 4 Will he make an agreement with you for you to take him as your slave for life? 5 Can you make a pet of him like a bird or put him on a leash for the young women in your house? 6 Will traders barter for him? Will they divide him up among the merchants?7 Can you fill his hide with harpoons or his head with fishing spears? 8 If you lay a hand on him, you will remember the struggle and never do it again! 9 Any hope of subduing him is false; the mere sight of him is overpowering. 10 No one is fierce enough to rouse him. Who then is able to stand against Me? 11 Who has preceded Me, that I should pay him? Everything under heaven is Mine.” Job 41:1-11 …

¹² I will not conceal his parts, nor his power, nor his comely proportion.

¹³ Who can discover the face of his garment? or who can come to him with his double bridle?

¹⁴ Who can open the doors of his face? his teeth are terrible round about.

¹⁵ His scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close seal.

¹⁶ One is so near to another, that no air can come between them.

¹⁷ They are joined one to another, they stick together, that they cannot be sundered.

¹⁸ By his neesings a light doth shine, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.

¹⁹ Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out.

²⁰ Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, as out of a seething pot or caldron.

²¹ His breath kindleth coals, and a flame goeth out of his mouth.

²² In his neck remaineth strength, and sorrow is turned into joy before him.

²³ The flakes of his flesh are joined together: they are firm in themselves; they cannot be moved.

²⁴ His heart is as firm as a stone; yea, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone.

²⁵ When he raiseth up himself, the mighty are afraid: by reason of breakings they purify themselves.

²⁶ The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold: the spear, the dart, nor the habergeon.

²⁷ He esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood.

²⁸ The arrow cannot make him flee: slingstones are turned with him into stubble.

²⁹ Darts are counted as stubble: he laugheth at the shaking of a spear.

³⁰ Sharp stones are under him: he spreadeth sharp pointed things upon the mire.

³¹ He maketh the deep to boil like a pot: he maketh the sea like a pot of ointment.

³² He maketh a path to shine after him; one would think the deep to be hoary.

³³ Upon earth there is not his like, who is made without fear.

³⁴ He beholdeth all high things: he is a king over all the children of pride.

In the above chapters, we see God revealing Leviathan to Job! No one had known or heard about Leviathan before. God spoke to Job about things, the secret things of the deep that he did not know about. God was speaking metaphorically about Satan. God was telling Job the source of his troubles!

Up to now Job had thought God was punishing him, even though he did not know what it was that he had done, to be punished. His friends who had come to comfort him did not offer much comfort, for they spoke against him and not for him; as if they were his enemies. This, in turn caused Job to long for a mediator, for someone to speak on his behalf, but none was found. He felt alone. We hear him utter these words in desperation for a mediator :

“He is not a mere mortal like me that I might answer him,
that we might confront each other in court.
If only there were someone to mediate between us,
someone to bring us together,
someone to remove God’s rod from me,
so that his terror would frighten me no more.
Then I would speak up without fear of him,
but as it now stands with me, I cannot.” Job 9:32-35

Job remained faithful despite all that he went through! He did not curse God as his wife had suggested but instead longed for Him, who was still to come. “For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; Job 19:25. Job was prophesying about Jesus!

For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. 1Timothy 2:5-6

“Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.” Hebrews 7:25. Hallelujah!

In that day the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea. Isaiah 27:1

Amen.

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When I was fourteen, Constance, who lived across the road from us, invited me to a local Teen-Time for a Saturday afternoon. I knew how my father regarded these type of events, that they were worldly, and that they did not serve any purpose. Nonetheless my heart wanted to go and be with other teenagers.

I prayed secretly and asked God if He would allow me to go, and He answered my prayer. Crazy as it might sound, I knew God had granted my request. From that day onwards I knew of a certainty that, I had two fathers. My Heavenly Father and my earthly father, and that my Heavenly Father knew me more for He always addressed me in my own language and in a tone which accorded with my ear. I became close to Him.

At home we were free from all the stifling ways of superstition and tradition which appear to have engulfed a lot of people all around us. We all know how people hold on tightly to culture and tradition lest they are said to have no roots and are seen as lost, and yet it was not so with us. Over all, we had a wholesome life of love, joy, peace and happiness which we found to be contagious to all, who we were blessed to be acquainted with. We loved and respected our parents very much and they loved us so much too. I consider myself blessed to have had a good upbringing and I hope to give my children and my grandchildren the same love for I have enough to pass on. One associate pastor that worked with my father mentioned this to me when we had met at a church service, long after my father had passed away that, “each time your father spoke about you, he had a tinkle in his eyes.” How that warmed my heart to know that my father loved me so dearly.

The day finally came for me to present my request to my father and I was so nervous, in case he said no. I knew God had granted my request and I was very interested to know what my father’s answer would be.

He wanted to know what time the event would start and finish and I mentioned it was from 1:00 to 5:00 pm. To my amazement he allowed me to go! My father allowed me to go to Teen-Time! I was so excited and I thanked him and left the room. Under normal circumstances, he would have said no but, he said yes!

When we got there, there were still a few people and gradually it started filling up.

People would dance to the music and took to their seats when the music had stopped. Others would be standing by the sides having conversations. There was laughter. Soft drinks were sold as at any such-like events, and it was pleasant. I was having a very good time but to my surprise Constance was not.

She had this look on her face as if she was puzzled about something, and I asked her what was the matter. She pointed out she was finding the place quite different that day. I asked her why she would say that as I was actually impressed with the whole set up. She answered saying that each weekend that she’d come, the place would be so wild such that some people came in through the windows to avoid paying for their tickets and that it was good fun. She couldn’t understand how everyone who was there that day would be so well behaved. She directed her finger to one boy from school, and said even he, was behaving well!

Connie remained detached from what was going on around her and as I looked at her, when I returned from talking to someone I knew from school, it dawned on me.

It is God! His presence is here! I thought to myself. My Heavenly Father is here! The reason why Connie is behaving this way is because today, everything is different, and she is wrestling with the presence of God!

“In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” proverbs 3:6

“Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.” Deuteronomy 31:6

We stayed on until 5:00 pm.

I had had fun and wanted to go back the next weekend but Connie never came for me again after that. She would sneak out as she had made new friends from there, much to my disappointment. I know my father was relieved though, for I complained about Connie and her new friends to my mother.

I remember inviting Connie to a youth meeting at our church but her mother had an excuse for her not to attend. I never understood how her mother would allow her to go to Teen-Time but not to a Christian Youth Meeting! But that’s another chapter.

I always wondered how Connie knew not to bring me to Teen-Time again.

But I knew God had taken control of that situation for me and how much I thank him.

It must not go unsaid that Satan attacks the pastors’ children. More so these days as we are living in the last days. We must remember to lift them up in prayer. We need to pray for one another, always.

I will leave you with this song and I hope it blesses you too, for we serve a Mighty God. May His name be glorified. Amen.

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I skimmed over the case of Rayshard Brooks in my last blog as his name had not yet been released. The reason why the police were called on him was because he dozed off behind the wheel at a drive-thru. From what he had explained to the police, he was coming from celebrating his daughter’s birthday and had had a drink? He said he had had one and half measures of drink. I could see he was trembling as he said it because he knew his life was hanging in the balance. One cannot drive when they have had one too many, everyone understands that, but what I found odd was in the way the police officer was interrogating him. I could tell the police officer was making a big deal of something that could easily be sorted out. I am a human being, you are a human being, we are all human beings and we do make mistakes, sometimes, especially when excited. Obviously he was excited with his daughter’s birthday.

There is a word called mercy. That word has not gone out of fashion and could still be applied to our everyday dealings with people or even animals!

Everyone who watched the interrogation on camera could not fail to see that Rayshard was cooperating with the police. He did his numbers correctly, he stood on one leg perfectly. What more did the police officer want! My heart went to Rayshard but not to the police officer. The police officer was heartless and was acting so detached from Rayshard and was rather too official. He reminded me of a racist! A racist does not have a heart. I lived in Johannesburg South Africa during Apartheid, where racism was mwah! Where the creme de la creme of racism was! Excuse the sarcasm.

I went to a college in Rosebank and would commute to get there. Here I am, going back home after my college. The bus came and I went into the bus as usual and only to be told I should get off. The bus driver said his bus did not carry black people under any circumstances and that I happened to be one. He switched off the engine of his bus to make his point loud and clear. At first I was shocked because of the way he looked at me. As if I was inferior. Then I was embarrassed because of all the other college students who were there. I didn’t know what to say. I had to say something. Then I asked a stupid question for lack of words, “are you not going to Braamfontein?” He said, “yes, I am.”

Because it was not a college bus, there is nothing that the college could do but to apologise for the bus driver’s ignorance.

Anyway, I remember getting off the bus and walking a long way to get the “black bus” which unfortunately because of routing would still not take me to my destination but would only leave me in the city centre to catch another bus home. I can not forget the pain I felt as I got off the “white bus”. It was a different pain. I never knew that such a pain existed until that day. That day, I understood racism. I understood it for what it is. It is EVIL. I looked at my skin and I felt helpless. My eyes welled up and then I said in my heart as I was walking, “O God, why is the colour of my skin trouble for me? I cannot come out of this skin. I didn’t choose this skin and yet I stand accused of being black. How can this be? I don’t understand it Lord” I continued sobbing.

When I think of Rayshard, my heart hurts so much. Why the hatred of a black person? Why the belief that black people have low IQ and therefore are as good as monkeys and chimpanzees? Why do they feel black people are wasting space and so should be squashed? Sometimes I think blacks are hated so much that racists desire to see all black people wiped off the face of the earth. As if there is an unfinished story. A vendetta! What is it?

I am sure if it was a white person in the car dozing off, he would have been cautioned and then escorted home for fear that something might happen to him. After all that is the whole point of patrol officers. That’s what they are there for. But alas! The rule doesn’t apply for a black person! The police are terror in all its fury, for a black person.

I used to admire the United States of America and its people; very much, until lately. My brothers lived in USA, in Burbank LA years back but they returned to Africa. They had good things to say about USA. Very good things.

My heart goes to my fellow black people in the US. The burden they carry day in and day out. It feels like they are far from home and are going round and round in circles going nowhere. How can you be free in a place where if you dozed off at a drive-thru whilst you are behind the wheel, and stationary, will end up dead with bullets on your back? How can you feel free where you knew police officers are after your blood, your black blood?

Through all this, I have been trying to understand the real issue behind this hatred of a black person by the US police and I think I have unearthed it. Let’s go back to the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution. “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” Right there! That’s where it is. In black and white! Pun not intended. The Constitution should read, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” Whoever drafted that Constitution did not wish for slavery to end! I have said it before in my previous blog – https://corneroftheroof.com/2020/06/08/did-you-hear-me-crying-in-the-field/ – that it is by committing a crime that a black person is enslaved again. CRIME is the engine used to enslave a black person in the US.

The killing of Rayshard Brooks tells me if you resist an arrest and if you’re a black person in the US, you are saying NO to slavery and they will gun you down. I will leave you to watch this interview below. Please watch because it will confirm what I have been saying all along.

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