He turned on the Tiffany lamp perched on the table next to the chair. “What does this mean for my ten million dollars?” Pastor Landris asked in a slow, deliberate voice.
“You need a lawyer to file a petition in court against Sammie. I’ve spoken with one already, and he said you have a good case for getting your money released, provided you can prove it was yours to begin with. It’s possible to have that part of the asset unfrozen and returned to you. It might be a bit expensive retaining the right lawyer, but that’s better than losing the whole amount.” Thomas paused.
“George, I’m sorry, man.” Thomas continued. “I know this is all my fault. If I could go back and change things, I promise you, I never would have gotten involved with Sammie or any of his little get-rich-quick schemes. That was my mistake. I’m 44 years old—I should know better by now. But I’ll tell you what. You and I are going to agree in the name of Jesus that Satan will not steal your money.” He waited; his brother didn’t utter a sound.
“George? I know you’re still there,” Thomas said. “Come on, George. Say something. Holler, scream, yell at me…just say something. Come on, man…”
Pastor Landris looked up at the ceiling. He knew God had called him to begin this work. It was a good work. But for some reason, he just couldn’t get anything started.
As he sat there and began to rock slightly in the chair, he heard a scripture in his spirit from Philippians 1:6. “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
Pastor Landris stopped rocking and became totally still. He knew one thing for certain: he would have to trust God—now, more than ever.
Now, more than ever.
Chapter 5
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
(Isaiah 14:12)
Pastor Landris had been angry when he learned he wouldn’t be able to purchase or lease the building he’d found for the church, but it bothered him even more when he realized Reverend Knight had been behind it.
“I just can’t believe it,” Pastor Landris said to Johnnie Mae as they stood in the kitchen. Johnnie Mae and Princess Rose had eaten while they were out, so he was searching the freezer for something to eat. “You remember that preacher I told you I met the other day named Reverend Knight?”
“You mean, ‘Poppa’ Knight,” Johnnie Mae said, teasing him. When she glanced at his face, she immediately wished she could take that joke back.
“Poppa is right. He must think he’s my daddy.” Pastor Landris took three crab cakes out of the freezer, placed them in foil on the metal tray, and put them into the toaster oven. “Well, he’s going to find out just how wrong he is. Somehow he blocked me from getting that building. I don’t know how or why he did it, but the building is suddenly no longer available. And he just happened to show up the day I was looking at it. I knew something fishy was going on. He was trying to be all nice, talking about how much he respects me. How he wanted us to work together…”
“Landris, I know you’re upset and disappointed, but I’m sure we’re going to find a place to start a congregation,” said Johnnie Mae. “The church is inside us, so it doesn’t matter about the building. Wherever we are, the church is.”
“It’s not about the building. That place was in bad shape. It was going to cost about $300,000 just to fix it up. But it would have been a great place to begin. And to think that man stood there and looked me in my face…” Pastor Landris grabbed a plate out of the cabinet and set it on the counter, “knowing that place was under his control. Johnnie Mae, he was actually acting like he wanted to adopt me as his spiritual son so he could pass his church on to me. His church.”
Johnnie Mae could see Pastor Landris was getting madder and madder. “Landris, just tell the realtor to keep looking. And if we can’t find what we’re looking for soon, we can begin services here in our home if we have to.”
Pastor Landris stopped and stared at her. “You don’t get this, do you? This man who calls himself a preacher is making a mockery of God—and he believes people are stupid. I see right through him. I’m sure other people can, too.”
“I don’t think people like Reverend Knight believe people are actually stupid,” Johnnie Mae said. She put water in the copper kettle and turned on the gas stove. “They may just believe nothing will really happen to them. You know, like Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden. When God told them they would surely die if they ate from or even touched The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. But the serpent told Eve they wouldn’t surely die. He then told her they would be as gods, knowing good and evil.”
“Does this have any relevance to what I’m trying to say here?” Pastor Landris flopped down on the bench at the kitchen table.
Johnnie Mae smiled; at least she was getting him to calm down a little. “Eve knew from Adam what God said. They both knew God really existed because He walked and talked with them in the garden. Can you imagine the intimacy they shared with God Almighty at that level?” She smiled at the thought of it. “To be able to spend that kind of time and have that kind of a relationship with the Lord? Everything you could possibly need or want, God having already provided it…in advance. They didn’t lack for food, because they had more than enough. Adam and Eve knew the good. They just never knew what bad was. Think about it—they couldn’t have had a clue.”
“Since you’re bringing this up,” Pastor Landris said, “you know what I’ve always found fascinating about Genesis 3:6? Adam was right there with Eve when she took the fruit off the tree.”
Johnnie Mae pulled out the Bible they kept on the bottom shelf of the bookcase in the kitchen and turned to Genesis 3:6. She smiled. Landris never ceased to amaze her when it came down to recalling where a scripture was in the Bible. He rarely got a scripture reference wrong.
“‘And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food,’” she read aloud, “‘and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat.’” Johnnie Mae set the opened Bible down on the counter when she finished.
The kettle began to whistle. She turned it off and placed a tea bag inside each of the two coffee mugs. She poured hot water into each cup.
“Before they ate from the tree,” Pastor Landris said, “they were naked and everything was good. Out of all the things God declared was good and very good, there was one thing he said that wasn’t. In Genesis 2:18, God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone.’ I used to ponder about that tree. What was so special about it? Why did God put it there in the first place? Theologians have their own thoughts and opinions, but I don’t necessarily buy what other people tell me. My thoughts are that God could have placed that tree anywhere else He wanted to, but He didn’t. He placed the tree right there in the garden with them. I’ve come up with what I believe about that.”
“You know, I would ask some of these same questions when I was growing up in the church, but no one ever wants to address them.” Johnnie Mae set a cup of green tea in front of Pastor Landris and sat down with her own cup in her hand. She blew a ripple over the top of the tea to cool it. “People try to guide you away from asking any hard questions they either don’t know the answers to or don’t want to face.
