FALSE RELIGION AND GOD'S PEOPLE

Genesis 4:1-10 is the story of Cain killing his brother Abel and also the beginning of the relationship between false religion and God's people. Cain represents all false religion Abel represents all that have been accepted by God. Every human being falls into one of these two groups. Cain has a jealousy and anger toward Abel because Cain's sacrifice is not accepted by God while Abel's is accepted.

God accepts or rejects people based on the condition of their heart as they offer the fruit of their lives to him. God's desire is to reject no one but every human has the right to choose the actions which produces the fruit of their lives, and more importantly, the condition of their heart.

The warning to Cain in Verse 7 of our scripture should be heard by all of us. "If you will do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it." Doing well or not doing well was not based on the offering or how it was offered but on the heart of the giver. There is no indication that Abel worked harder than Cain or that the fact that Abel's offering involved blood sacrifice made it superior to Cain's offering. The question here is the question every human being must answer. Is the fruit of my life a sign of my true surrender to the living God or is it just another way to raise my own status and show that I am good enough for God to accept me. The first way is the way of God's people the second way is the way of the enemy. The first way is the tree of life the second the tree of the knowledge of good and evil as stated in the previous message; "Adam's Other Choice".

When we follow the way of Abel we are concerned with what pleases God. When we follow the way of Cain we our concerned with what pleases our own notion of what is good and evil and has little to do with what God actually says or wants. The way of Cain is false religion that is fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The way of Cain may look identical to the way of Abel on the outside for Cain will do everything that Abel does to be religious except give God his whole heart.

Throughout history and scripture we see Cain and Abel's two different ways off approaching God. In the Old Testament we see God's prophets being opposed by false prophets from within and without Israel. In Jesus day we see the majority of the Pharisee and Sadducee's apposing and prosecuting Jesus. In the New Testament we are warned again and again about false teachers. The jealousy of Cain toward his brother Abel will always be with us as long as there are people willing to live according to their own humanistic philosophy instead of God's word.

Religion apart from Christ is an important tool of the enemy. It is a way to get people to destroy God's people through a spiritual jealousy that they may not even be aware of. It is a way of getting people to destroy other people whose version of false religion is different from theirs. It is also a way to get people to destroy themselves by rejecting the life that God has for them.

God through his Love has given us a way to escape the trap of the enemy by choosing the way of Abel and rejecting the way of Cain.

NEXT WEEK: AM I MY BROTHER'S KEEPER?

Poet Ntwadumela's Voice