(Ver 1.2)  This is a very tricky complex subject.  In light of the events in America this weekend in Arizona, I thought it would be a good topic to discuss briefly.  I do not like evil and this is not my favorite subject in the Bible to study.  Clearly the murder of defenseless people is an evil action which should be viewed as an abomination to God and not the plan of God.  While it is possible for God to cause something positive to come from any evil negative, there is absolutely no way that God planned it, authorized it or was a party to it.  If you think that He was you are probably very ignorant!   People read stories in the Old Testament like how Joseph spent years in slavery and prison and think that it says God caused this injustice to happen to him so that Joseph could fulfill a greater plan of God, but this is just a religious philosophy to help explain away the existence of the devil who influences evil men in the world to do stupid things.  You see in the Bible it clearly teaches that Satan was a murderer from the beginning (John 8:44).  So if a man ever killed anybody, where would they have learned it from?  Was it God or Satan?  Let’s look at the first murder in the Bible and see what God says about it. 

Gen 4:3  And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.

Gen 4:4  And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:

I like verses like this in Genesis.  It says “in the process of time” which represents a scientific principle of creation.   In other words, before creation there was no time, but now we live within the designed process of time constraints.  Cain was the firstborn son of Adam and is said to be a farmer who grows things and his younger brother Abel as we are told is a shepherd of sheep.  Kind of sounds familiar doesn’t it?  Jesus was both a shepherd and the Lamb of God and his brother Satan killed him also.  Uh oh, maybe I shouldn’t have told you that already.  Here in these verses we are told that both men are attempting to do service to God and try to do the right thing, but one does it much better than the other.  Did you notice the difference?  It wasn’t the fact that one brought sheep and the other brought their crops from the field like I have heard some preachers try to teach.  What they brought was not the key difference being revealed to us.   God says that Abel brought the “firstlings” and this is not what Cain did at all.  So what does this word mean?  It basically means the “firstborn” or those who have the birthright of man or beast.   So God had respect for Abel’s offering because He gave the best and Cain only gave some of his crop and not necessarily the first fruits like Abel did.   Oh well that is not my subject today so I’ll move on.  Hopefully you understand what I just said because I will not explain it any further today.

Gen 4:5  But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.

So here is where Cain’s offering mistake hits the fan.  Since God did not respect Cain’s offering it made him very angry.  Emotions are one of the greatest blessings and the greatest curses that we have been given depending how we use them and where they directed.   Let’s think logically again and determine whose fault is it for God accepting Abel’s offering and not Cain’s?  In today’s society no one wants to accept responsibility or accountability for doing the wrong things.  You see in the news recently a young Mexican man was killed by a U.S. Government border agent because he started throwing rocks at the agent, so the agent had to defend himself and stop him.   Well, the news media interviewed the young man’s mother and she was very upset calling the shooting a crime against her son of major proportions.   Isn’t it funny how the mother ignored all of the crimes that the young man was guilty of only to say that an officer defending himself was the real problem.  You see the young man crossed into the U.S. illegally and was not supposed to be there to get shot.  Then if he hadn’t thrown any rocks at the officer he would have just been sent back to Mexico and not shot.  Does the young Mexican man have any responsibility for what happened to him?  I believe he holds all responsibility, whether you want to see the truth or not.  So it was in Cain’s day also.  Cain could have done the right things like Abel and God would have respected his offering also. 

So up until this point nobody has been killed, but yet the seeds are planted in the mind of Cain.  Here is where the story repeats in today’s murders also.  We have a man who has done wrong and has become emotionally unbalanced because of his past wrong thoughts, choices and actions.  Cain let’s jealousy overrule the love for his borther and doing right.  Since Cain has justified his actions as not being the problem it is now much easier for him to escalate his actions to a much greater sin level.  Are you learning anything about how people become murderers? 

Gen 4:7  If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

It is very clear to me that God tells Cain what I just taught you.  God says to Cain change and do the right thing and I will accept your offering.  However, Cain refuses to conclude that he has done anything wrong.  So a smaller insignificant sin is about to become the entrance door to a much greater path to sin.   This is exactly how murderers become murderers.  They hardly ever start out at the murderer level; it is usually always some smaller petty crimes that are committed first and then they grow into a harder more callous state of the hardness of their heart towards others.  It is a progressive build-up within an evil process over time to become a murderer.  These are the seeds of Satan being planted in the hearts of men that cause them to do progressively evil things.  It always starts with little things and then grows to the greater.  That is why God tells parents in the Bible to “train up a child in the way that they should go and when they are older they will not depart from it” (Prov 22:6).  That is the root to how children without any correct training are becoming murderers in our world.

Gen 4:8  And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.

So instead of Cain making corrections he became more hard-hearted towards God and took it out on his brother since God was unable to take the wrath that he wanted to display to him.  Here is another factor to why people murder; people will take out their anger towards God on whoever they see first.  Because God has mistreated them and not been fair in their minds, they have become mentally bent to relieve their frustrations on somebody and sometimes anybody.   God tells us that Cain began to talk to his brother and because his brother was the only one there at the time and of course God treated him differently then he became Cain’s solution.   Instead of talking to God, Cain thought that by getting rid of his brother that would solve his problem and now God would have to accept his offerings.   Isn’t it amazing how twisted the human mind can become when all it took was for Cain to take responsibility to do the right thing?   Believe it or not this is why the young man also killed those people in Arizona.  This man took out his misguided frustrations and anger upon the person who he thought would take away his responsibility for his own past bad choices and self-justified actions.  It’s craziness I know and borderline insanity, yet he clearly knew it was wrong based upon his notes that he left asking for forgiveness.   He was not insane, he was just deceived and took out his foolishness upon those who could not defend themselves.  It is extremely sad when this happens in the world, but yet I believe God says these things will happen more as the time of the end grows nearer.  It is important as Christians not to let murderers think that have won anything.

Heb 11:4  By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

Here is God’s commentary to the story of Cain and Abel.  You can clearly see that God honored Abel because of his faith.  You can assume that it was the lack of faith that caused God not to honor Cain’s offerings.  You see the Bible says that God is not a respecter of persons, but it does not ever say that God does not respect someone’s faith.  If you have been reading my lessons on Bible faith you understand this by now, I hope.  Here is the other major thing to see from this verse of scripture in Hebrews; God tells us that Abel was deemed righteous and you can assume Cain was not.  This is the difference between going to heaven and going to hell.  I will not be surprised when I meet Abel in heaven.   Abel’s righteous actions still speak the Bible says and they are profoundly greater than those of his brother, the murderer.   I would much rather be in Abel’s shoes than Cain’s shoes today so it is with the killer of those in Arizona also.   I’ll wrap today’s blog up with a statement from Jesus that you should take note of being a Christian.

Mat 10:28  And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Here we have a major revelation being presented to us.   Jesus is declaring the life in this world is only temporary so we should not be so afraid of anyone who could kill us physically.  Jesus is clearly saying that there is an eternity after this life that we better be concerned with.  Fear God who is able to save or throw you into hell forever.  This life is only a time of preparation; it is not a permanent lasting situation.  Jesus is clearly saying that just because someone kills your body, the real you (the spirit being) is not dead.  You are just not here in this world alive physically anymore.  Jesus is warning you that we should be eternity aware and not so much concerned with the natural realm where crazy evil men will try to take your life.  I guess that is enough for one lesson today and I pray that you at the least learned a little bit that helped you get through the events that happen daily on our news.   God Bless.