Righteous Abel

Matthew 23:29-30 'Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  Because ye build the tombs of the prophets and garnish the sephulchres of the righteous, and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.'

Every day I read and hear more and more people trying very hard to justify their actions, behaviors and beliefs of today on their impressions of what their historical forefathers believed.  These assume they alone have a symbiotic relationship with their thoughts, and that George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and all the rest would share their view of things today.  Like the Pharisees, most do not see or believe they would have ever been partakers in the atrocities of the past - only exemplary pillars of righteousness. 

We all want to believe the best about ourselves.  Like the Pharisees, it is easy to commemorate the dead without ever blaming ourselves.

Of course, they didn't often times see the prophets as righteous back then.  They saw the prophets as troublemakers, rebellious, distruptive to the peace, different, often forestallers of doom and gloom.

Matthew 23:33-35 'Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?  Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synogogues, and persecute them from city to city: that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the Temple and the altar.'

Those that liked the way the government and priesthood were set up, spent a great deal of their time and energy upholding the traditions of their land.  They built memorials to the fallen men of the past and garnished their memories with speeches that made them sound implicit to their own beliefs.  They not only implied, they lied about what the dead would speak if they were there.  I grow so tired of hearing people now assume that the great names of the past would support their stance and cause for this is no way of ever knowing such a thing.  It is a terrible thing to defame their names in such a manner.

Look around you now.  How many truly righteous men and women, sent by the Lord, are being vilified, mocked, ridiculed, persecuted and even killed today by our government and its people?  We say we would not do the same evils our forefathers did, but that only means we don't see the evils we do today.

Psalms 36:1-2 'The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, That there is no fear of the Creator before his eyes, for he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful.'

At the creation of America, in a time when slavery was common, racism normal, theft of land and property from Native folks protected by law; the majority of our forefathers did such things. Many of us flatter ourselves today believing we would have some of the few - the very few, who opposed such manners. We idealy think we would have trumped the causes of the oppressed and gone against the legal customs of the day that gave no rights whatsoever to anyone who was not white.

And yet, what about our recent history?

At the start of World War II, did not many still feel Black Americans were wholly incapable of flying military aircraft? Were prisoners of Nazi Germay not brought to America and treated better in the South then the Black servicemen fighting against them? Were Japanese-Americans on the West Coast not rounded up, dispossesed of nearly all their lands and possessions, and sent to camps in ungodly wastelands? Although many were told it was for their safety, I ask as did they, Why were the guns trained inward and not outward?

In the 50s, in a land where Freedom of Speech and Religion is supposed to rule, how could a Republican Senator from Appleton, Wisconsin spark a reign of terror against countless Americans? How was it possible that mere accusation carried more weight than proof? Where did the hysteria come from?  How was it possible that free citizens could be legally blackballed, fired from their jobs and driven into hiding for their beliefs?

And now, even today, how is possible that America looked on passively without blinking an eye as citizens of Middle Eastern stock were routinely and somewhat legally spied upon, questioned and sequestered by government officials? Racial profiling became acceptable to the majority of whites in the West. People were suddenly afraid to get on planes with people who looked different.  Fear has a hold on many in this land and anything the government choose to do to balm it, is considered by many to be fine and justifiable.

Don't we see that this indifference to the persecution of others makes us exactly like those who broke the treaties with the Native Americans, with those who enslaved African-Americans and with those who dispossessed the Japanese-Americans.  If we agree to racial profiling for our security sake, we persecute the same as those who have persecuted before.

We flatter ourselves with righteous ideals until the sins of what we are doing truly appears as hateful. Then we act coy and pretend we knew better and were never really accomplices.  Our secret intents and latent fears were always obvious to Yahweh.

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

Abel did what was right in the sight of the Lord.  His obedience was acceptable to Yahweh.

Cain grew jealous of his brother.  It is a very odd and yet sinister jealousy when we really examine it.

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

We still live in a world that flatters itself.  Americans are notorious for this.  As far as we are concerned, we are the best at everything, and the way we do things is the most just and civilized way there is.

When things don't go our way and our way is suddenly not acceptable, profitable or controlling the ways of the world - our countenance changes.

Genesis 4:6 'And Yahweh said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth?  And why is thy countenance fallen?'

Why is America so angry at the world?  Why are we out to take and control everything, enforce our methods on other people?  Why don't we let the Lord decide who is blessed and who is not?

I think its because in our heart of hearts, we know what Cain knew.

Genesis 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 (sins) desire, and thou (sin) shall rule over him.'

America now lives in fear of its own shadow.  We offer no sacrifice worthy of the Creator.  Instead of changing our ways, instead of trying to be acceptable, the nation as a whole has embraced the lion at the door and allowed sin to take control.  The lion no longer lieth at the door - it has come in and it is hungry.

Genesis 4:8 'And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that (Abel, having learned what Cain would do to him), rose up against (Cain his brother) and slew him.'

Of course, that is not what the Bible says, but I want you to look at it written this way and think about it.  This is exactly how many choose to justify violence in the name of peace, in the name of all the good things our flattering eyes believe about ourselves. 

This is what we say.  We say that we are the blessed ones, the accepted ones, the ones who should live.  We say that it is important we find out what our brothers around the world are planning on doing to us, and kill them before they kill us, destroy them before they destroy us.

If that is so, then where is the righteous blood in the earth, the blood that shall speak against sinners in the end times?

Revelation 12:10-11 'And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation and strength, and the kingdom of our Creator, and the power of His Messiyah: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our Creator day and night.  And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.'

A Christian does not overcome this world by winning in this world for that is the way of Cain.

Jude 1:11-12 'Woe unto them for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.  These are spots in your feast of charity. . .'

1John 3:11-12 'For this is the message that ye have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.  Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother.  And wherefore slew he him?  Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous.'

That is the crux of our lives.  It rests solely on us being righteous and allowing those who would do otherwise, to do otherwise - as hard as that may be.

1John 3:13 'Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.'

If you are like Abel, your brother Cain will hate you.  If you are unlike the world, the world will hate you.

Revelation 22:11 'He that is unjust, let him be unjust still:  and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still:  and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still:  and he that is holy, let him be holy still.'

Yahshua told us that there is a new order of things.  His righteous blood not only speaks louder than any other innocent blood ever shed - it has been heard and redeemed - justified!

Hebrews 12:24 'And to Yahshua the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel.'

Yahshua has overcome the world and defeated death.

1 Corinthians 15:55-57 'O death, where is thy sting?  O grave, where is thy victory?  The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.  But thanks be to our Creator, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Yahshua the Messiyah.'

As Passover weekend comes and goes, let us not forget what it represents to the true saints of Christ.  It is the glorious resurrection of the one who was vilified, ostracized, mocked, distrusted, alienated, condemned, tortured and crucified.  He was blackballed because the power of law allowed men to justify their sins against a certain man and those who believed Him and followed Him.

Matthew 7:13-14 'Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction and many there be which go in thereat:  Because strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leads to life, and few there be that find it.'

Don't flatter yourself or it may be to your own destruction.  The wide way is easy to walk and many go that way - most go that way.  It is not an easy thing to defy the laws of men.  It is not an easy thing to stand against slavery when the laws justify slavery.  It is not an easy thing to oppose racism when the laws justify racism.  It is not an easy thing to stand beside those who are being railroaded and crucified when the laws justify these actions.  It is not an easy thing to denounce profiling, and spying, and the loss of civil liberties, when the laws justify it.

Matthew 10:16-23 'Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves; be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves.  But beware of men for they will deliver you up to their councils. . .And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for My sake, for a testimony against them. . .But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak. . .For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.  And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child; and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.  And ye shall be hated of all men for My name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.'

You now know what they intend to do.  You are well aware of Cain and his seed in this earth.  You are hated by them and there never will be any peace with them.  Do not let that pollute you.  Be righteous still.

Luke 6:32 'For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye?  For sinners also love those that love them?'

You are a Christian and thus you are very different - one of the truly few.

Luke 6:35-36 'But love your enemies and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great and ye shall be the children of the light. . .Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.'

Don't let your intent ever be the same as Cain's intent.  Don't take pride in your way of doing things - for if your way is the way of the Lord - your blood with speak for you and your reward shall be great.

Amen