Where I Should Be
Have you ever wished for the proverbial 'magic lamp'? How about the 'crystal ball'?
People are often very diligent to remind me that those items are both dealing with witch craft, and I as a Christian should have nothing to do with those things.
A few years back I was telling the story of my Grandmother Magill and her term 'E-Gad'. I don't claim to know what it means good or bad.
I will say that my Grandmother did not curse, nor did she even use euphemisms. But that doesn't enlighten me on the phrase what-so-ever.
However, as I was telling my story, the gist was that many Christians in their haste to label things as euphemisms try to label the word Gad, as in this instance E-Gad, a substitute for the word God.
However, consider Genesis 30:10 "And Zilpah, Leah's handmaid, bare Jacob a son. 11) And Leah said, Fortunate! and she called his name Gad."
The footnote here says: "11. גד gād, Gad, “overcoming, victory.” בגד bāgād, “in victory or” =גד בא bā' gād, “victory cometh.” גוּד gûd, “press down.” גדוּד gedûd, “troop.”
So, the term E-Gad/ ba gad, means 'fortunate'. And as my Grandmother used it that's what she meant. Somewhat like, 'wow, unbelievable'.
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I do wish there was an all wise counselor that could tell me what the all wise decisions I should make are. More often than not I'm feeling my way through life like a blind person in a tunnel on a black night.
Just as I received a 'scolding' for my story (everyone knows Gad is another word for God, don't you know?) Our doctor a few weeks ago reprimanded me for not doing what he tells me to do, as in blindly follow, I may add.
"Whatever the little old doctor says is right." I would laugh here if it weren't serious. I wish I had adopted my current mind set thirty-five years ago.
I might still have my functioning thyroid, if I had not naively followed a dishonest doctor. But I had not come to the conclusion that a person must 'try the spirits to see if they be so'.
Not all who are in what is designated 'health care' are dishonest. There are those who are doing their best and are decent honest people. They believe what they've learned to be true.
That doesn't make it true. I did not know that most doctors don't take any courses on nutrition. I never stopped to consider why we have 'dietitians' as a sub-group. There are so many nuances in the human body it is a difficult science.
Deuteronomy 18:20 "But the prophet, that shall speak a word presumptuously in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.
21) And if thou say in thy heart, How shall we know the word which Jehovah hath not spoken? 22) when a prophet speaketh in the name of Jehovah, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which Jehovah hath not spoken: the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously, thou shalt not be afraid of him."