“Am I my brother's keeper?” Gen.4:9

     There are two prime directives the Scriptures have upheld throughout the generations:

1. Be a man of your word.
2. Never shed innocent blood.

     As history shows, men have always denied these maxims of virtue, even to this day. Man’s lust for power stands as the single greatest contributor to his cruel indifference to the dignity of life. Throughout history, hundreds of millions of men, women and children have been slaughtered on some two-bit tyrant’s altar of ambition, whether of war, religion, greed, hatred, jealousy, or the base passion of sadistic glee. Their victims’ cry out for the injustices done to them. The LORD warned the children of Israel on this: "Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. If thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry; And my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless. If thou lend money to any of my people that is poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him as an usurer, neither shalt thou lay upon him usury." Ex.22:21-25.

     Victimizing the innocent is always the result of unrestrained passion, as when the very first murder occurred on the Earth when the first born of Adam, Cain brutally murdered his little brother Abel: “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. And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper? And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.” Gen.4:8-10.

     This cry is not in vain. There is a judgment coming where the entire human race will stand before GOD. Through the victory of Jesus Christ the whole of mankind will be called forth from the grave to face one of two destinies: eternal life with all the rewards for holding fidelity to virtuous living; and eternal death: a death from which there will be no resurrection: never again to live, to love, or be loved. The latter is called the second resurrection judgment. “The first resurrection” (Rev.20:5) is for those who lived humble, GOD-fearing lives, who will receive the promised assurance of everlasting life and joy with the LORD Jesus Christ. Even those who never knew His Name will see His face because they followed the same Spirit that led Jesus Himself, in accordance with the light they had received in life (Zech.13:6; Rom.2:13-15). But of the second resurrection, this is the time when every injustice ever committed on Earth will receive its just reward. Paul warned of the scales of justice when he said, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Gal.6:7. Murderers, torturers, animal abusers, liars, thieves, adulterers—all who only looked to their own gain, never realizing their deeds were meticulously recorded, right down to every word that is spoken as Jesus said: “But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.” Matt.12:36. Men are so easily blinded by their own pride and base passions.

     But those who educate themselves from worthy sources of knowledge, from the grand lessons of the Holy Bible to the chronicles of the great men and women through history, quickly learn that these are sins that GOD has forgiven through christ. In a heartbeat, they are cast away—into the depths of the sea—for those who repent of these sins as Solomon said: “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” Prov.28:13.

     No matter how far down one is in the depths of discouragement and sin, Jesus knows that experience. He lived through that experience. For when it was time to complete His work of salvation He carried the guilt and the shame of every sin ever committed. He intimately understands them all. There is no experience in life that He has not shared. "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." Heb.4:9.

     We are called to compare our frailties with the perfection of Christ; and keeping our eyes on him, the frailties, one by one, will be removed. Not overnight! But GOD arranges His timing for every epiphany that the lessons learned will take hold in the heart.

     So as we witness the closing scenes that usher the 2nd Advent of Christ it is wise to understand something of the circumstances that fostered the first murder on the Earth. The motives behind Cain's murder of Abel are imperative for us to see in our generation. For as Satan marshaled his forces to bring about the first murder at the opening of the generations of men, so he is today marshaling his forces to bring about the final murder at the close of the generations of men. "There is nothing new under the sun." Eccl.1:9-11.

     Cain, the first born of Adam, refused GOD’S ordained method to remind him of GOD’S salvation—the sacrifice of innocent creatures, who were a type of the Creator who would leave heaven, come to Earth, and spill His own life’s blood unto death to redeem the family of Adam from sin’s dominion.

“And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. 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: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.” Gen.4:3-7.

     Cain fully understood what sin was. His conscience had convicted him. His outcome in life is identical to the steps Satan took leading to his full-blown rebellion against GOD'S Word. As Satan refused to hear the voice of GOD and the entreaties of faithful angels, trampling his own conscience, Cain also refused to hear GOD’S tender, encouraging Words. This was the unpardonable sin as Jesus said (Mk.3:29): shutting the door on the Holy Spirit's Voice in the heart forever.

     Believing that his hard work in tilling the ground should be sufficient for his salvation Cain demanded salvation according to his method: by his works and not GOD’S. All religions today carry the same banner of defiance, with the exception of one: Bible-obedient Christianity. It is just as Jesus said: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Matt.4:4.

"But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." Eph.2:4-10.

     It was in the knowledge that by shedding the blood of an innocent lamb could remind Cain of the condescension, humiliation and death GOD was willing to endure in the salvation of man. Fruits and vegetables were a vain oblation! The leading instigator Satan used to foment Cain's wrath is shown in the verse: "Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground." Gen.4:2. Herein lay the seed of Satan's spirit. Cain was called to go to his little brother to receive a spotless lamb for the sacrifice. As the eldest son, Cain felt himself entitled to a lordly position over Abel. To humble himself before Abel was to him unthinkable. It was in this spirit of monarchy that Cain's continued refusal to hear GOD’S Word led him to violently murder his little brother Abel: a man who dearly loved and cherished GOD’S Word.

     This act of religious tyranny against the righteous has been repeated all through history. This same tyranny dominated the nations of Europe during the Dark Ages by the religious monarchy of Rome's priesthood who stood mercilessly against anyone who withstood her supremacy. For many centuries the greatest threat against the supremacy of the church of Rome were the humble mountain Christians called the Waldenses [the apostolic Christians who never forced the will of anyone and who honored the Holy Law of GOD (Rev.12:6)]. And after Rome’s relentless pursuit of the Waldenses, working to secure their extinction (everything from papal armies destroying their homes and towns to lining the streets with their dead corpses mounted on wooden stakes for literally miles) the papacy then turned its attention to destroy the dissenting Catholic priests who became the Great Reformers of the Protestant Movement. This heavenly light came to the Reformers by none other than the great Waldensian missionaries: men such as Lollard and Olivetan who proved logically and ethically before these teachable men of the Catholic priesthood that the Vatican is at war with the Word of GOD. (Please note: nothing has changed to this day.) Thanks to the Waldenses the Protestant Reformation evangelized entire nations to read the Word of GOD for themselves, translating the Scriptures into the various native tongues. This revival restoring the Word of GOD into the hands of the common man was an absolute necessity, for Pope Gregory IX banned the Holy Bible from the common man in the year 1229 at the Council of Toulouse. And all who continued to share the Bible’s pages among the people were called "a plague" and "a blight." Stirring the masses to view them as servants of Satan the Waldenses were mercilessly hunted to secure their extinction.

     It is this monarchial spirit of supremacy of men over their fellow man that is pending for us in our generation. And as Cain would not humble himself before GOD'S Word admonishing repentance, so today's Christianity will not humble itself before those they view themselves superior to. Christ's maxim of "love thy neighbor as thyself" will be abandoned, and a posture of religious tyranny is about to be unleashed under the protestant banner. The nation of America, as the world's last superpower, is paving the way for the final apostasy against "Jesus Christ and him crucified." For as man refuses the laws that govern the safety of life's perpetuation his course to self destruction is inevitable, via the luciferian rulers who oversee and restrict the needed reforms that could turn the course of mankind from one of destruction to one of mutual safety. This is evidenced by the fact that the money needed to feed the hungry, stop the pollution of industry, the territorialism over borders, etc. is repeatedly declared on all levels of government to be unavailable. So, what are we to conclude? THERE'S NOT ENOUGH MONEY TO SAVE THE WORLD!

     In summation: As Cain and Abel represented two branches of the human race: one righteous, and one unrighteous, so the Christian church had two offspring, representing two branches of Christianity: one righteous, and one unrighteous. It is the civil war between these two views of Christianity that festers until the final battle of Armageddon.

     But within this financial stranglehold the faithful from all walks of life are provided an escape: one that promises to fulfill every dream of the human soul. We are simply given a choice. And the choice given to every man by the Creator of heaven and earth is simple: everlasting life for the obedient: eternal death for the disobedient. Obedient to what? Truth! The once ruler of Judea, Pontius Pilate, asked the question of Jesus Christ, "What is truth?" Jn.18:38. Jesus gave the answer to this question—to those who believe—in His Grand Prayer, "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." Jn.17:17. The Holy Bible will judge every man who has ever lived (Jn.12:48), whether they were aware of it or not (Zech.13:6), and the Bible gives allowances for every case (Eze.18:30). On this simple fact, the Savior has warned, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." Matt.7:21. The will of GOD is found in the Word of GOD. The greatest testament to this fact is found in the life of Christ. Jesus had to know Who He Was—by faith; believe the written testimony concerning what He was to accomplish on the behalf of man—by faith; and overcome the sinful nature He adopted when He became a man—by faith (Rev.3:21). What was His standard against ignorance? "It is written." Every aspect of the human condition, the flaws of human character, the destructive relationships between men and GOD, and with one another, are pinpointed to exact measurement. The Bible has omitted nothing that deals with the history and character of GOD’S people. Said the King of the redeemed, "But take ye heed, Behold, I have foretold you all things." Mk.13:23. When the whole of mankind stands before Jesus Christ in the end of time it will be seen who loves “truth” and who does not: "Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not." Mal.3:18.

“Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD'S side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.” Ex.32:26.