Zac Poonen ~ THE WAY OF CAIN

Received the following this morning through Zac's ministry:http://www.poonen.org/zachttp://www.cfcindia.com/It is a bit long but well worth the read and expresses much of that which I wish I could express better on so many things that we discuss here. Everything keeps boiling down into a heart matter, in my opinion...~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"By this the children of God and the children of the devilare obvious: anyone who does not practicerighteousness is not of God, nor the one who does notlove his brother. For this is the message which youhave heard from the beginning, that we should loveone another; not as Cain, who was of the evil one, andslew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him?Because his deeds were evil, and his brother's wererighteous.. Do not marvel, brethren, if the world hatesyou. We know that we have passed out of death intolife, because we love the brethren. He who does notlove abides in death. Everyone who hates his brotheris a murderer; and you know that no murderer haseternal life abiding in him. We know love by this, thatHe laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay downour lives for the brethren. (1 John 3:10-16).The first epistle of John was written when John wasabout 95 years old. He was the only living apostle atthat time. All the others had been killed. John had seenthe day of Pentecost and the tremendous revival withwhich the Church of Jesus Christ had been born. Healso saw towards the end of his life, the decline ofmany of the churches that had started in great revival.Perhaps the other apostles who had died earlier hadnot seen this decline to the same extent as John did.By the end of the first century, many churches that hadbegun with great power had lost their first love (as weread in Revelation 2 and 3). But the elders(messengers) of those backslidden churches werestill sitting complacently on their thrones. One of theelders only had a name that he was alive, but wasactually dead.Another was so lukewarm that the Lord told him thatHe was ready to spit him out of His mouth. Yet anotherwas allowing the false prophetess Jezebel, to leadbelievers astray. Terrible things were happening inthese churches and yet those elders did nothing aboutit. Both churches and elders had lost their zeal.One can imagine how grieved John must have been tosee all this. It was with such a burden in his heart thathe wrote this first epistle. It is important to see whatJohn emphasizes in this letter - becauseChristendom's condition today is very similar to what Ihave just described.There have been great spiritual movements in the18th, 19th and 20th centuries, in different parts of theworld - mighty movements that God started throughmen who knew Him. These movements were born inrevival, but they are all in a backslidden state today.Compromise and corruption are rampant amongthem. Elders have gone the way of Balaam - seekingafter money like Balaam did and leading believers intoworldliness, like Ba-laam led Israel to compromisewith Moabite girls.Bearing the burden of the backslidden churches on hisheart, John writes much about loving one another. "Bythis, the children of God, and the children of the devilare obvious. Anyone who does not practice right-eousness is not of God. Nor the one who does not lovehis brother" (1 John 3:10).John divides all people in the world into two categorieshere - "children of God" and "children of the devil". Andhe says that the way to find out the difference is this:One who does not love his brother is not of God. Hemay perhaps have many reasons why he cannot lovehis brother, but he is not of God. If he belonged to God,he would love his brother at any cost.In verses 11 and 12, we read, "For this is themessage, which you have heard from the beginning,that we should love one another, and not be as Cain,who was of the evil one, and slew his brother Abel." When Jesus spoke about the righteous, he began with "righteous Abel" (Matt.23:35). But Cain, as we just read, belonged to the evil one. Therefore he killed his brother. 1 John 3:12 goes on to say, "And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brothers were righteous."Read that verse carefully. It does not say that Cain'sdeeds were evil after he slew Abel. No. It says that hisdeeds were evil even before he slew Abel. Why didCain slay his brother? Because Cain was an evil man.We have often heard it said that God accepted Abelbecause he offered a blood-sacrifice, and that Godrejected Cain because he didn't offer a blood-sacrifice.But there is more to it than that. See what it says hereabout Cain. "His deeds were evil; his brother's deedswere righteous." And John goes on to say in verse 13,"Don't marvel brethren if the world hates you." He'scomparing this with Cain's hatred of righteous Abel.Hatred is the mark of the sons of Cain, and of all whofollow "the way of Cain" (as Jude calls it in verse 11 ofhis letter).In verse 14 John says, "We know we have passed outof death into life" - not because we were baptized orbecause we partake of the bread and the wine, but"because we love the brethren. He who does not loveabides in death.".We are to love everyone. It doesn't matter which churchthey belong to. "He who hates his brother is amurderer - and you know that no murderer haseternal life abiding in him."(1 Jn.3:15).Everyone who hates someone else is a murderer. Incontrast, John says that the proof of love is that in-stead of slaying your brother, you slay yourself (v.16)!You lay down your life. "We know love by this, that Helaid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down ourlives for the brethren".Notice that in both cases there is a death - in one, wekill our brothers and in the other, we slay ourselves!!Thus the children of God and the children of the devilare distinguished.Cain killed his brother. The children of the devilmanifest themselves by slaying their brothers andsisters. The children of God however put their own self-life to death.Cain smashed Abel's head in with a rock. But todaypeople are gentler - they don't use rocks, they use theirtongues! When you tear down your brothers andsisters with your tongue, speaking evil of them andmaking them look bad and small in the eyes of others,you're actually slaying them. In this the children of thedevil are made manifest - because they are murdererslike their father, the devil. Revelation 12: 9, 10 says that the devil accuses God'schildren day and night. He doesn't tell God false thingsabout the brothers and sisters, because God knowseverything! He tells God only the truth about the faultsand sins found in God's people. Like Satan, anaccuser may speak the absolute truth and still be anac-cuser. That's the way of Cain - and "no murdererhas eternal life abiding in hi" (1 Jn.3:15).Do you slay your brothers and sisters? Then listen towhat the Holy Spirit says: "No murderer has eternal lifeabiding in him." Even if you claim to be born again andbaptized in water and baptized in the Holy Spirit andspeaking in tongues and breaking bread every weekand have removed all your gold ornaments, andwhatever else, if you speak evil of your brothers andsisters, you are a murderer and you do NOT haveeternal life in you. When Ham told his brothers that their father Noah waslying down drunk and naked, he did not tell a lie. Whathe said was the absolute truth. Yet God cursed him forsaying that. Why did God curse him? For speaking thetruth in the spirit of the accuser. And that curse comestoday on all who accuse God's children.Continued...

Continued (Part 2)Satan accuses believers day and night. Jesus alsodoes something day and night. He prays for us dayand night (Heb.7:25).Most Christians accuse other believers for far lessercrimes than getting drunk and lying naked!! They ac-cuse them even for small faults that they see in them.Those faults may be there. Jesus sees them, Satansees them and we see them. But the reactions of eachare different. Satan accuses. Jesus intercedes. Whatdo we do?Both Satan and Jesus are looking for co-workers. Wecan work together with either. When you see a weak-ness or a sin in a brother, in that moment, you come toa fork in the road. There are only two ways at that fork -the way of intercession and the way of accusation.Jesus intercedes and Satan accuses. And you have tode-cide which of these two roads you're going to take.We all come to this fork in the road often. Somebelievers imagine that they are spiritual because theystand at the fork and don't take either road - they don'taccuse and they don't intercede. But that's notspirituality, be-cause Jesus has taken one road, and ifyou don't intercede you are not following Jesus.When we accuse, we get into fellowship with Satan.When we intercede, we enter into fellowship with Je-sus. By this the children of God and the children of thedevil are distinguished.In Genesis 4:3 we read that "Cain brought an offeringto the Lord and Abel also brought an offering to theLord." Cain was not an atheist. Cain was a deeplyreligious man. The children of the devil are not allatheists. Most of them, like the Pharisees, are deeplyreligious. The way of Cain is not the way of atheism;it's the way of religion. It's also the way bringingofferings to God. Cain brought an offering. Abel alsobrought an offering.But notice something here. We may have thought that itwas Abel's offering that the Lord accepted first. Butread carefully. It says in the last part of verse 4: "TheLord had regard for Abel, and (then) for his offering." Itwas Abel whom the Lord accepted first. That was whyHe accepted his offering. In Hebrews 11:4, we are toldthat by faith Abel offered a better sacrifice than Cain,and that God testified about Abel's gifts. Why wasAbel's sacrifice better and why did God testify aboutAbel's gifts? It must have been because of what Godsaw in Abel's heart - in the light of Genesis 4:4.Genesis 4:4 is clear: "The Lord had regard for Abel andfor his offering. But for Cain and His offering He had noregard." God didn't disregard Cain's offering first, butCain himself. That was why He rejected Cain'soffering.How does this apply to us today? If we have a wrongattitude in our hearts towards even a single brother,God will not accept our offering, even if we bring theblood of Christ as our plea for forgiveness - just likeGod did not accept Cain's offering. When we come toGod with our offering, and there remember that ourbrother has something against us, we must settlematters with that brother first, before God will acceptour offering. Je-sus said that if we don't forgive even asingle man, we cannot be forgiven by our heavenlyFather - even if God has already become our heavenlyFather (Matt.6:15). In the same way, if we have notasked for forgiveness from even a single brother(whom we have hurt), again we cannot be forgiven,because Jesus also said, "Go and settle things withyour brother first. Then bring your offering to God."(Matt.5:23,24).So we must not only forgive ALL, but also ask forforgiveness from ALL whom we have hurt. It is thus thatthe children of God are distinguished from the childrenof the devil.Don't live under the deception that because you havetrusted in the blood of Christ, you're all right. If youhave slain your brother with your tongue, you must goand settle that matter with him first. Only then will theLord have regard for you and therefore for yourofferings. James 5:16 makes it very clear that only theprayer of a righteous man has any value before God.We read in Genesis 4:5 that "Cain became very angry,and his countenance fell." One mark of those whosehearts are not right with God is that there is nocheerfulness in their lives or on their faces. Their facesare usu-ally fallen. The psalmist said, "The Lord is myglory, and the lifter of my head." When the Lord is ourglory He is also the lifter of our heads. So when ourface is fallen, we can be sure that something is wrong.The very first words that God ever asked a humanbeing, outside the garden of Eden were, "Why is yourface fallen? Why are you angry?" Cain had just comefrom a prayer-meeting where He had offeredsomething to God! Should a man's face be downcastjust after a prayer-meeting? Why then is your facefallen even though you go to prayer meetings everyweek! You are a deeply religious person. Then why isyour countenance clouded?I'm always suspicious of people who cannot look mestraight in the eye. When a person cannot look youstraight in the face and make eye contact with you, itinvariably indicates that something is wrong with him.That's what the Lord was asking Cain, "Why can't youmake eye contact with me, Cain? What's wrong? Whydo you have such a long face?" The Lord asks you thesame question.Then the Lord told Cain (and let me paraphrase Hiswords here), "If you intend well in your heart won't yourface be lifted up? You will certainly be accepted! I haveno partiality, Cain. All are the same to me."If your heart is clean and the intention of your hearttowards all your brothers and sisters is good, your facewill always be lifted up! When your face is fallen, itusually indicates that you have something againstsomeone. The way other people treat us can neveraffect the glory of God on our faces. It's only our attitudetowards oth-ers that can make us gloomy and ourfaces dark. "But if you don't intend well in your heart, then, (God said to Cain), sin is crouching at the door of your heart."Don't ever think that sin is far away from any of us.Jesus taught us to pray saying, "Our Father who art inheaven, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us fromevil." That means, "Oh God, please keep me far awayfrom temptation. Don't allow me to go along that way.Deliver me from evil." But if you don't intend well, sin isnot far away, but crouching at the door - like a lionwaiting outside your door, waiting for the slightestopening so that he can get his foot inside. Very soon,sin will come right in and occupy your heart. "Its desireis for you!" God warned Cain. Sin's desire, like a lion's,is to eat us up.But God told Cain, "You must master it." (Gen.4:7).Notice that in the very first message that God ever gaveman outside the garden of Eden He told him, "Youmust have victory over sin." That is God's message toman, not just under the new covenant in Romans 6:14,but at the very beginning of human history!You must master sin! The message of victory over sin was not anafterthought with God. On the contrary, it is there at thevery beginning of the Bible, one of the very first thingsthat God ever proclaimed to man.Inside the garden of Eden, God killed an animal andshed its blood (symbolizing the death of Christ on Cal-vary), threw away the fig leaves Adam and Eve werewearing (which symbolized human righteousness andre-ligious coverings) and clothed them with theanimal's skin (symbolizing Christ's righteousness).Fig leaves will wither up in time - and so will humanrighteousness and religious rituals. You can't wear figleaves forever! That's why Jesus cursed the fig tree,when he saw only leaves on it, because it was apicture of human righteousness! Humanrighteousness has been cursed from the day of Adam."All our righteous deeds are like a woman's menstrualcloth" in God's sight (Isa.64:6 - Literal translation ) - fitonly to be burnt or thrown away.Instead, God gave Adam and Eve something thatwould last forever - animal skins. That is how Heclothes us today - with the righteousness of Christ.So, those are the very first things we need to do to findour way back to God: Accept the shed blood of ourSubstitute, throw away our own human righteousnessand accept the righteousness of Christ to clothe us.But after that, the next message we need to hear isthis: You must have victory over sin.It's there in Genesis 4: You must master sin! You mustget rid of the wrong attitude towards your brother. Doyou have a right attitude towards all your brothers? Ifnot, then sin is crouching at your door, and you mustmaster it! God's voice of love pleads with you right now.Why should God plead with man? He could very wellhave rejected Cain without giving him a secondchance. But God pleaded with Cain and He pleadswith us. The father of the prodigal son pleaded with hiselder son saying, "Why do you have a wrong attitudetowards your younger brother? Why are you jealous ofmy hon-oring him. You too can come and sit at thesame table!" But the elder brother wouldn't listen to hisfather. It was the same with Cain. He didn't listen toGod, for he had no fear of God. Instead, he went fromGod's presence and killed his brother.Then the Lord asked Cain, "Where is Abel, yourbrother?" Cain replied, "I don't know." When your con-science is hardened, you can tell lies even to God?Cain asked God, "Am I my brother's keeper?" And Godsaid to Cain, "What have you done? The voice of yourbrother's blood is crying to me from the ground. Nowyou are cursed from the ground, which has opened itsmouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand."When Adam and Eve sinned, God never cursed them.He only cursed the ground. But here, we see for thefirst time God cursing a man. And it was when a manhad hurt his brother.Remember this : The first time God ever cursed a manwas when a man harmed his brother.Have you hurt your brother or your sister in any way?Then you are standing on dangerous ground. Repentbefore it is too late.Continued...

Continued (Part 3)One result of God's curse is described in verse 12.God said to Cain, "When you cultivate the ground, itshall not yield its strength to you. You shall be avagabond and a wanderer on the earth."You will preach, but there will be no eternal fruit in yourlabors. You will try to build the church and gatherpeople, but they will never be built up as the Body ofChrist. You may make converts, but you won't be ableto make disciples - because you are not a discipleyourself. Whatever you build will not last for eternity.You may preach the same messages that you read inour books that have produced fruit elsewhere. Butthose very same messages will not produce eternalfruit when you preach them. You will work hard andcultivate the ground, but there will still be no eternalfruit. You will be without true fellowship, and avagabond and a wanderer all your days. You willwander from one church to another. You will try onechurch and find something wrong there.You'll go to another church and there will be somethingwrong there too. You'll be a wanderer, a vagabond anda beggar all your days, unable and unwilling to submitto anyone's authority! I have seen many people likethat. They allowed the lion crouching at their door toenter in and swallow them up. And they imagined thatthey could still serve God. That's not just sad, it'stragic!And all because they have a wrong attitude towardssomeone in their hearts. God spoke to them often, butthey would not listen. They would not allow God tobreak them. They had plenty of knowledge. Theirdoctrines were all correct! But something was wrong intheir hearts. So when they sowed, their labours did notyield any eternal fruit. Are you like that?Jesus said, "I've chosen you and ordained you that youshould go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit shouldremain (for eternity). You prove to be My disciples bybearing much fruit." (John 15:16, 8).It is impossible for any branch to remain in Jesus theVine and to be fruitless. When the sap (the Holy Spirit)flows into the branches, it is impossible for it to befruitless! You will bear eternal fruit. But if you're awanderer like Cain, then of course you will be fruitless.To be a wanderer does not necessarily mean beingwithout a church-fellowship. I've seen many peoplewho have come to our conferences, who think that thesecret of God's blessing upon our work is found in thedoctrines we preach. So they get our books and ourtapes and preach the same messages to their groups.But nothing happens, because the anointing of God ismissing. Others think that the secret of blessing is inthe pat-tern of our meetings. So they duplicate thatpattern in their meetings. But there is still spiritualdeath in their midst. Why? Because the secret is not inany of these things.The secret of fruitfulness still lies, as Jesus said, infalling into the ground, and dying to our self-life (John12:24). The secret is not in a doctrine, it's not in apattern; it's in a life - the life of Jesus that God gives usthrough His Holy Spirit, as we choose the way of thecross.Cain then told the Lord, "My punishment is too great tobear. Thou hast driven me from the face of the groundand I shall be a vagrant and wanderer." I'm amazed atthe Lord's tremendous compassion, even towardsomeone like Cain. He told Cain, "I won't allowanybody to kill you." Then the Lord appointed a sign forCain so that no-one could slay him (verse 15).Cain could have repented and cried out saying, "OhGod, be merciful to me." But he didn't. He went outfrom the presence of the Lord and built a city for hisfamily to live in comfortably (verse 17). And his descen-dants began to produce musical instruments for theirown entertainment (verse 21). Comfort andentertainment became their gods thereafter - like theyare for many today.A lot of evil things begin to happen if you go away fromthe presence of the Lord. You lose your sense of di-rection and you become a wanderer; and comfort andentertainment become your gods. You live thereafter byyour human sense of what is right and wrong.But where did all this drift begin? It began withjealousy. When the fire of God fell on Abel's offering,and no fire fell on Cain's offering, Cain becamejealous. Everything started there.If Abel had been an older brother, Cain could havepossibly borne it. But Abel was younger! He thought,"How can God anoint someone younger than me?How can God put a fire on someone younger thanme?" That bothered him. And ever after, he wasdetermined to harm Abel.That was how King Saul reacted too when he heardthe women of Israel praise young David more than him(1 Sam.18:7). He became jealous of David and verysoon an evil spirit possessed him and he becamemad. This is how it will end up for all who like Saul,choose the way of Cain. Evil spirits will possess themsooner or later.Have you seen God bless someone's family or hisministry? And are you jealous? Since you can't bear tosee that brother so blessed, you determine to findsome fault with him. But if the anointing of God is uponthat brother, you should be humble enough toacknowledge it. You may not approve of him, but Goddoes. God has blessed him and accepted hisofferings. And your opinion of him is unimportant!Humble yourself!The anointing and support of God is everything. I havetold my fellow-elders that even if they have under-stoodevery doctrine correctly and are eloquent speakers,they must still check and see whether the anointing ofGod is upon their lives or not. If God doesn't send Hisfire from heaven upon their ministry, it would indicatethat He sees something in their hidden lives thathinders Him from supporting them. If God supportsthem, He will bear witness to their life, their family lifeand their ministry. Then I would gladly back them -even if I don't agree with them in many things!! But ifGod doesn't bear witness to their life, their family lifeand their ministry, then I will not support them. I want toapprove of those whom God approves of. And I will notapprove of those whom God does not approve of. Idon't want to know any man after the flesh. I want tosee if God bears witness to a man. I want to go behindGod, not ahead of Him. It's not enough that ourdoctrines and our pattern are Scriptural. We need thefire and the anointing of God more than anything else.To tell you quite honestly, many doctrines are, in asense, secondary to me. I don't care whether a manbe-lieves in the baptism in the Spirit the way I do, ornot, whether he speaks in tongues or not, whether hehas the gift of healing or not, or whether he belongs tothis denomination or that. Some doctrinaldisagreements, I've discovered, are because ourminds are limited in understanding the truth of God.We are often unable to ex-press matters of the Spirit inhuman words. But if the anointing of God is there, Godis there! And if the fire of God is not there, then God isnot there - whatever else a man may claim to have andhowever much noise he may make in his meetings. Ifan elder of a church has not been able to build abrotherhood and a fellowship in his local church evenafter ten years, then God is obviously not with him andhe is a wanderer.You can be a wanderer, even while sitting in a largechurch, because you may not have any fellowship withthose around you. A thousand people may sit in acinema-theatre, but they don't have fellowship witheach other. One person doesn't know anything aboutthe person sitting next to him. In the same way, even1,000 people sitting together in a church-building maynot be the Body of Christ. They may be just acongregation of lonely people.A husband and wife living under the same roof, but nothaving fellowship with each other, are lonely too. Thereare parents and children, living under the same roof,who have no fellowship with each other. Such peo-pleare lonely people, even though they live together dayafter day. All such people are vagabonds and wan-derers. You can sit in the best church in the world andbe a vagabond and a wanderer.The first sin of man described in detail, after he wasexpelled from Eden, is Cain's sin - jealousy that led tomurder. And it is significant that the apostle John wroteabout this sin of Cain when writing to the brothers andsisters in the churches in his time (1 John 3:12). Judealso mentions "the way of Cain" in his letter (Jude 11)..Cain is mentioned both at the beginning of the Bibleand at its end. So there must be a warning that HolySpirit wants to give us about the way Cain lived.What is "the way of Cain"? It is the way of jealousy, and it leads to loneliness andwandering. It destroys fellowship. The way of Cain is away in which you cannot bear to see God blessingsomeone else - especially if he is equal to you oryounger than you. It is a way in which you cannothumble yourself and say, "Lord, I acknowledge thatYou have borne witness to this brother. I have a wrongattitude towards him. Please forgive me, Lord. Help meto love him and respect him."Is there some brother or sister whom you cannot getalong with, but whom God still seems to anoint andbless? If God can get along well with him/her, but youcan't, who then is likely to be at fault - you or God??Whose opinion of him is likely to be more correct -yours or God's? Be honest!Wherever there is jealousy in a person's heart, itcertainly proves one thing clearly : That he hasn't seenthe body of Jesus Christ yet. Why do I say that? Think of this physical body. There isno jealousy among its members. My left hand is neverjealous that all the checks are signed by my right hand.It is not jealous that it doesn't get a single chance tosign a check! It doesn't say, "It's always the right hand!Always the right hand! He's always doing the impor-tant ministries and getting the honor!" No. Suppose myright hand gets hurt one day. Does my left hand thenrejoice and say, "Ah! Now at last I'll get a chance tosign some checks"? No. If my left hand did sign acheck, the bank wouldn't accept it, because the bankwouldn't recognize the signature!! There is no jealousyin the body! The left hand rejoices when the right handsigns the check and even when the right hand collectsthe money from the bank. What the left hand says is,"That's my money too, for we are all part of one body."When we have "seen" the body of Christ, that will beour attitude to the more prominent ministry of anotherbrother.The foot could easily complain and say, "I never get achance to be seen publicly. I'm always at the lowestend of the body, and hardly ever noticed by anyone. Iwish I could get a promotion and move higher up in thebody and become like the hand or the tongue someday!" But no foot ever thinks like that! On the contrary, itsays, "If God has decided to keep me down here at thebottom of the body forever, that's perfectly all right withme. I'm perfectly happy. I rejoice with the othermembers of the body in their ministry and carry themwhere they want to go! My joy is to do the task Godappointed for me!" That is also the language of onewho has "seen" the Body of Christ.If a soul is saved through another brother's ministry,praise the Lord, for we are all part of the same Body.When we see God's blessing upon another brother'sministry somewhere, and churches being establishedthrough his labors, we can rejoice and say, "Praise theLord! That's for my Lord's kingdom! I'm excited! I hadnothing to do with it, but praise God that another part ofthe Body went there and established the church." Canyou rejoice like that? If you're humble, you will be ableto.Continued...

Continued (Part 4)Jealousy comes in only when we haven't seen that itwas God Who gave each of us a particular ministry inChrist's Body. 1 Corinthians 12:18 says, "God hasplaced the members, each one of them in the body,just as He desired." That is what many Christianshave not seen.God chose the right place for you in Christ's Body! AndGod chose the right place for me. So if you have acomplaint about that, your complaints are actuallyagainst God.Don't ever say, "That brother does not give me achance to preach." That's a lot of nonsense! How canany brother hinder you from fulfilling the ministry Godhas appointed for you in Christ's Body. If Almighty GodHim-self has decided to give you a particular task inthe Body, who can ever hinder you? No-one.In my younger days, I was in an assembly where it wasplain to me (and to others) that the elders were jealousof my ministry. They wouldn't let me preach in thechurch-meetings. So I preached on the streets. No-body could stop me there! And that's where I learned topreach - on the streets. I stood in almost every streetcorner of the town where I lived, and preached thegospel. None of the elders were interested inpreaching on the streets. And when I came to thechurch-meetings, the Lord would tell me to humblemyself, submit to the elders, love them, keep a goodrelationship with them and keep my mouth shut!! Andthat's what I did. Even today, after nearly forty years,when I see any of those men, I have a goodrelationship with them. God broke me and crushed methrough such experiences.Those elders made me sit in the back of the assemblybecause they were jealous. But it was obviously notGod's time for me to have a ministry then. So they justfulfilled God's will for my life by what they did! And Iwaited.I have often thought of Jesus sitting in the synagoguein Nazareth, listening to all the boring sermons that thePharisees preached there, year after year. He knew theScriptures and He knew His Father when He was 12!Yet He sat in the synagogue, listening to the rubbishpreached every Saturday!! He kept quiet for 30 longyears. Can you imagine all the boring sermons thatJesus heard there? He went to the synagogueregularly - 52 Saturdays every year - from childhood tothe age of 30. So He must have listened to more than1000 boring sermons in His life! Yet He sat throughthem all, waiting silently - because He knew that Hishour had not yet come. The Father's time for Him topreach had not yet come.But today I see young people who are impatient. Theythink they're ready to preach, but they are not! Theyhaven't been broken! They're seeking honour. They'venever submitted to authority. They are jealous! And Godcan never bear witness to them.God allowed such experiences to happen to me notjust once, but again and again - first in one assembly,then in another and many years later, in yet another.And He always told me to keep my mouth shut and towait for His time. So I kept my mouth shut. He alwaystold me to keep a good relationship with the elders inthose churches and to submit to them. And I did that.Thus God crushed my self-life again and again - andset me free from myself!God cannot commit spiritual authority to a man whohas not been broken. That would be dangerous. Itwould be like having un-insulated electric wiresrunning through the house. That would kill us.Electricity is a very useful thing, but every wire must beinsulated. It's not enough to have power; we must haveinsulation too.It's not enough to have the power of the Holy Spirit, weneed brokenness too. Then we won't kill anyonethrough our ministry. Brokenness is the insulation. Andthat can come only as we allow God to crush us andhumble us through the different situations He arrangesfor us.God has a plan for you, my brother, my sister! Not asingle human being in the world can frustrate that plan- no matter how hard they try to push you down. Peoplemay have tried to keep Jesus down for many years. Butone day, when His Father told Him to GO, He went. Andthen the Father said, "I am well pleased with my Son!"The Father was well pleased with Jesus' humility,seeing Him sit quietly for 30 years in the synagogue!There is a time and a season for everything in God'splans and purposes. And no-one can hinder God'splan.And in the next 3½ years, Jesus had such an anointedministry, as the world has never seen. In those 3½years, He did what others could not do in 4000 years.Let us learn humility then from Jesus. He would notmove until His Father told him to. He submitted toimperfect Joseph and Mary at home. He submitted tolistening to boring sermons in the synagogue. It says about Jesus in Isaiah 53:10, "It pleased theLord to crush Him." Have you allowed the Lord to crushyou? That's how we get spiritual authority. God cannotuse a man or a woman who has not been crushed andbroken.Sisters, God may use a difficult husband to crush you.But perhaps, you rebel and fight back. You may nothave joined the "Women's Liberation" movement. But ifpeople saw your behaviour at home, they'd think youhave! What is the result of that attitude? You haven'tchanged your husband. And you yourself are awanderer, without any fellowship and without anyspiritual authority. You could have probably become awoman of God by now, if you had learned submissionto authority.I see many young people today - even in the church -who think they know more than their parents, and whowill not submit to the authority of their parents. But whatis their spiritual condition? They are vagabonds andwanderers.Young people, don't waste your life. Learn to submit toauthority. Don't expose the nakedness of your par-ents,like Ham did. That will bring a curse upon you. Maybeyour parents are naked, maybe they're drunk! Let Goddeal with them. You cover them. Love covers amultitude of sins. Be like Shem and Japheth whowalked backwards and covered the nakedness of theirparents. That is submission to authority.But unfortunately, we have a "smart" young generationtoday, who are proud of their "knowledge". They thinkthey're better people, just because they're smart andeducated, unlike their less-educated parents. Butwhat's the use of all that smartness and knowledge, ifGod doesn't bear witness to you? Where is the fire? Itwas the fire of God that distinguished Abel's sacrificefrom Cain's - and that has always been the distinctivemark of God's presence - with a man, or in a church.The Old Testament tabernacle was something thateven the Philistines could easily construct - becauseits pattern was given in detail in the book of Exodus.But there was one thing that they would not have beenable to produce - the fire of God that rested upon thetabernacle. That fire was what distinguished the tent ofthe tab-ernacle from all the other tents in Israel and inthe whole world! No-one could produce that.The glory of God is the mark of His presence - not thepattern. When Israel backslid, the pattern remained butthe glory of God departed. Don't ever imagine that thepattern is the main thing in a church. I've seen menand churches who don't follow the New Testamentpattern for ministry (as I understand it) but who stillhave the fire of God upon them - and so I respectthem. Other things are secondary to me.I don't go checking for the pattern - whether the ram'sskin coverings are dyed the right colour of red! I look forthe fire - not the fire of human emotion but the fire of theHoly Spirit. If that is present, then God is there, even ifthe pattern is slightly faulty.Is the fire of God present in your church and yourministry? Does God bear witness to you? That's themost important thing you need to ask yourself. That'swhat made Abel's sacrifice stand apart from Cain's.Perhaps you see God's anointing on the ministry ofanother brother who has his pattern wrong in somearea. And you wonder, "How can God bear witness tothat?" Perhaps God doesn't consider that doctrine asimportant as you do. God values humility and sincerityfar more.I've had to learn many lessons in my life. A lot of thingsthat I once thought were important, I now realize Goddoesn't consider so important. And a lot of otherthings, that I considered unimportant, I see that Godcon-siders as important. God considers humility to be of fundamentalimportance. He also considers freedom from the loveof money as very important. These are some of theimportant doctrines of the Christian faith. But have youever seen any church's doctrinal statement having,"Humility" and "Freedom from the love of money"included in it? It's easy for believers to glory in theirbeing correct on Biblical facts and ignore moreimportant issues related to their character.We see another example of jealousy in Numbers 16.Notice that four people are mentioned here in verse 1 -Korah, Dathan, Abiram and On - who rose up againstMoses, because they were jealous of his ministry.They couldn't bear to see that Moses always had ananointed word from God, each time He spoke! And sothey chose to walk "the way of Cain". That's why Judecombines "the rebellion of Korah" with "the way ofCain" in his letter (Jude 11).These men told Moses, "You've gone too far. Everyoneis holy. The Lord is with all of us! Why do you exaltyourself?"In actual fact, Moses had never exalted himself. Godhad called him out of the wilderness when he waskeeping sheep. And even then Moses had asked theLord to send somebody else, saying he felt himselfunfit for the task. He didn't exalt himself. It was GodWho had seen Moses' faithfulness and exalted him!What did Moses do when they rebelled? Number 16:4says he fell on his face. That's the best thing to dowhen people accuse us. Fall on your face and let Goddefend you. When people question your authority, fallon your face. If God doesn't defend you, it's no use yourtrying to defend yourself. God can deal with all theKorahs, the Dathans and the Abirams better than youcan.Many years ago, God said to me, "When peopleaccuse you or question your ministry, fall on your face."And that's what I've always sought to do. I know thatGod can do a better job of defending me than I can -and He has - all these 35 and more years.Moses told the rebels that the Lord would showeveryone the next morning who was really accepted byHim. So all the Israelites assembled the next morning.But notice that out of the four men who had rebelledagainst Moses the previous day - Korah, Dathan,Abiram, and On - the Lord said that He was going tojudge only three of them. The Lord warned thecongregation to "get away from the tents of Korah,Dathan and Abi-ram." (verse 24)What about On? He obviously became sensible theprevious night, and repented. He must have gone toKorah and said, "Brother, I'm not joining you in this.Count me out." Thus On saved his life and saved hisfamily as well - because he pulled away from therebels.On, the son of Peleth, was a sensible man! What about you? Are you sensible? Do you join withothers who have a spirit of rebellion? Are you jealousof someone whom God has anointed? I warn you: "PullBack! Pull back before it is too late. Save yourself andyour children." Learn a lesson from On.The other Israelites also repented of joining Korah,Dathan and Abiram in their rebellious spirit and pulledback from their tents. And the earth opened its mouth,and swallowed up these three rebels and their house-holds (verse 32). The rebels were judged and theirfamilies were judged too. How sad it is when a father'sre-bellious attitude affects his children too! The fatherrebels and his children suffer!We read of Heaven opening twice and God taking twopeople alive into Heaven - Enoch and Elijah. But this isthe only place in the Bible where we read that Hellopened up and that people "went alive into Hell" (verse33). Remember that the only time when God sentpeople alive into hell was when He saw them beingjealous of a ministry that He had endorsed! Thatshould put a fear into all of us.Continued...

Continued (Part5)When the fire fell on Abel's sacrifice, Cain was jealous.So God cursed him. When God's anointing was onMoses, three rebellious men were jealous. So Godcommanded Hell to swallow them up alive.But there is one interesting part of this story that is notmentioned in Numbers 16. It is mentioned later inNumbers 26:10,11. There we're told that "the sons ofKorah, however, did not die."How did that happen? The sons of Korah were alsostanding there with their father outside their tent thatmorning. But at the last minute they repented and ranaway from their father saying, "Dad, we're pulling out ofthis", and ran and stood with Moses. They escapedGod's judgment at the last minute! And so the sons ofKorah did not die. Praise the Lord!The sons of Korah then wrote a number of psalms.Look at Psalm 46. It says at the top of this psalm thatthis is "A psalm of the sons of Korah". They sing abouttheir deliverance here. What did they write?"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help introuble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earthshould change, though the earth should open up andthe mountains slip right in!" (v.1)."Come behold the works of the Lord. What desolationshe has wrought in the earth." (v.8)."Be still, (let go, cease striving, relax) and know that Iam God." (v.10).The sons of Korah wrote some other wonderfulpsalms too - Psalm 42, Psalm 44, Psalm 45 (themarriage psalm of Jesus and His bride), Psalm 47,Psalm 48 and Psalm 49. We can find more meaning inthese psalms when we know the background of themen who wrote them.(If these psalms were written by later descendants ofthe original sons of Korah, then they too must havebeen grateful that their fathers pulled out of therebellion against Moses, or else, they would neverhave been born!)God endorsed Moses' ministry publicly in such a waythat all could see it. Today, God's endorsement of aman's ministry is not seen in the large number ofpeople he can gather together. No. False cults andfalse relig-ions all have large numbers. Statistics aredeceptive in spiritual matters. Jesus had only elevendisciples. God's endorsement is seen in the quality ofa man's work - and not its quantity. We will knowwhether the anointing of God is on our life, not by thenumber of people who join our churches, but by thequality of those who join it.Show me the private lives of a Christian leader'sclosest co-workers and I will tell you whether thatleader is a spiritual man or not.I have felt that if I could produce just eleven selflessdisciples in India, of the quality of those first apostles,in my lifetime, I could say like Simeon, "Lord, Thyservant can now depart in peace". But I've discoveredthat it's not easy to produce even 11 men like thoseapostles. Even among the best of believers, mostpeople seek their own in one way or the other. Perhaps you are a sister who has to spend most ofyour time at home. But God can make disciples eventhrough you. He can use you to lead other sisters to agodly life. But you'll never lead anyone to godliness, ifyou spend your time gossiping and backbiting whenyou are with other sisters.We see yet another example of jealousy in 2 Samuel15. There we read of Absalom, David's son. David hadbeen very good to Absalom, forgiving him formurdering his brother Amnon and recalling him fromexile. In 2 Samuel 14:33 we read that "the king kissedAbsalom." David obviously loved Absalom very much.But in the next chapter, we read of how Absalom tookadvantage of David's goodness. Absalom rose upearly each morning and stood near the gate ofJerusalem, and looked out for those who came withcomplaints and lawsuits. Absalom would then callthem, put his arms around them and tell them thatalthough their claims were legitimate, King David hadnot appointed anyone to settle such matters. And thenhe would go on to tell them, "I wish somebody wouldappoint me as the judge. I would sort out theseproblems in no time at all. If any-one had a problem, Iwould ensure that he gets justice quickly."And if anyone tried to bow down to him, Absalom wouldlift him up and tell him, "Don't do that! I am only yourbrother! Don't humble yourself before me!" And thenAbsalom would kiss him. Thus Absalom stole thehearts of the men of Israel, from the man whom Godhad anointed (verse 6).That story has been repeated many times in these3,000 years since then. Evil men have frequently stolenthe hearts of God's people away from God's anointedleaders.Absalom couldn't bear to see God's blessing upon hisfather. Imagine a son being jealous of his own father!But I have seen this happen in my lifetime too. I haveseen godly men, as spiritual fathers, nurturing andbring-ing up young men and leading them into aministry. But after those young men, who were oncenobodies, grew up and received a ministry, I have seenthem despise and ignore their spiritual fathers andstealing the hearts of people away from their spiritualfathers.In a little while, Absalom had such a following that hisfather David had to flee for his life! And the usurperAbsalom sat on the throne. But what's the use of sittingon a throne if God doesn't back you up? It was just amatter of time, before God destroyed him. I've seenthat happen too - time and again.The apostle Paul told the elders in Ephesus, in Acts20:29, 30: "I know what's going to happen here after Ileave. From among yourselves, men will arise, who(like Absalom) will draw away disciples afterthemselves - men who speak perverse things."What were those perverse things Paul referred to?Those perverse things were not wrong doctrines. No.They were the words by which some of those elderswould later draw people to themselves. They wouldhave a private agenda in the church - to promotethemselves. They would quickly forget the example ofPaul from whom they received everything they knew ofthe Christian faith.I've seen many such people - who easily forget thegoodness they have received from godly, older broth-ers. They even forget how they received their ministry.Now they are jealous of their spiritual fathers and seekto exalt themselves in the eyes of their congregations.How soon Absalom forgot his father's goodness tohim. But what was the final end of Absalom? His headgot caught in the branches of an oak tree while he wasriding on a mule, and he was stabbed to death whilehe was hanging there. How terrible.The Scriptures record many stories like that of peoplewho were jealous of men whom God had endorsed. InMatthew 27, we read of Jesus standing before Pilate.Pilate was a heathen man who didn't know any-thingabout the Bible or about the true God. But when Jesusstood before him, he could see clearly that Jesus wasan innocent man and that "it was because of jealousy,that the Pharisees had delivered Jesus up."(v.18).The Pharisees were jealous because the peopleappreciated Jesus more than them. Annas andCaiaphas were both more than 60 years old, but Jesuswas only 33. And the people were admiring andfollowing this young man! The fire of God was uponsomeone half their age. They couldn't bear to see that -and they were jealous! And so they decided to getJesus killed! That plan didn't originate with atheists,but with the most reli-gious people of that time - thePharisees. They too walked the way of Cain!But the atheist Pilate could see through the wholething! Even atheists are often able to see through thejealousy that Christians have of each other today?Let us look at one more example of those who werejealous of someone whom God had blessed withmate-rial riches.Job was the most godly man who lived on earth in histime. God Himself certified to that fact. He was also avery rich man. His children were also good-looking(Job 42:15) and probably spiritually-minded like theirfather. Job would pray with and for His childrenregularly and they were consecrated to the Lord (Job1:5).Job had three preacher friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, andZophar, who were jealous of him, because, theycouldn't stand the fact that Job was spiritual, wealthyand had a good family! If Job had been poor andspiritual, they could have accepted him. Or if he hadbeen rich, but not spiritual, that too would have been allright with them. Or at least if his children were waywardthat would have been some comfort for these 3 men!But what they couldn't stand was the fact that Job hadeverything going well for him - he was spiritual, wealthyand had a godly, good-looking family! These thingsbothered those 3 preachers continuously. And theyburned with jeal-ousy. They had visited Job many atime, but their jealousy was not exposed until calamityhit Job's home.One day they heard that Job's children had died andthat his business had suffered a grievous loss. Andthey must have all felt a secret joy in their hearts at thisnews. Even though they said to each other, "Let's goand comfort him", they didn't really go to comfort him.They went to preach to him. Initially, they pretended toshare his sorrow and threw mud on their heads andwept as if to show their grief. But then they startedpreach-ing to him and kept on telling him that theremust be some secret sin in his life for God to judgehim so severely.But what did God think of these men and theirpreaching? In Job 42:7, we read that God told them,"My wrath is kindled against the three of you. And I'lldestroy you unless Job prays for you." And Job, goodman that he was, must have prayed for them saying:"Forgive them Lord, for they didn't know what they weresaying." Those three preachers too were walking theway of Cain.They never said one wrong thing about God. Butjealousy burned in their hearts against Job - andbecause of that jealousy, despite all their doctrinalcorrectness, God was ready to destroy them. WhenGod blesses another brother materially and blesseshis children as well, can you rejoice in it? Or do suchthings bother you?If it bothers you that a spiritual brother is alsofinancially well-off, it would be a good thing to askyourself why you are bothered? It must be becausemoney means so much to you! You must beconsidering money to be a big thing! That's why!Otherwise, it wouldn't bother you at all. You would behappy that your brother is prospering! You'd be happyeven if he has a house ten times as big as yours! Andyou would be happy to see that he's got a car, whenyou've got only a scooter or a cycle.When you get to heaven, you will discover that moneyhas no value at all. Godliness with contentment, youwill discover, was the greatest thing of all - notgodliness with prosperity, but godliness withcontentment. The only way to be perfectly happy andcontent with our financial circumstances, is by seeingthat God is the One Who determines our financialboundaries. He determines how much each of usshould earn. That is not determined by man or bycircumstances, but by God.Why are you jealous then of someone who has morewealth than you? Why can't you be happy whensomeone prospers both spiritually and materially? Doyou have godliness with contentment?Can you rejoice when another brother's children arespiritual, even if your own children are carnal? Or doyou have some jealousy there too, and secretly wishthat his children will fall in some way?The green thread of jealousy runs all the way throughthe Bible, in the lives of many religious people. Itstarted with Cain. Job's 3 friends had it. It was found inKorah, in King Saul, in Absalom, in the Pharisees (inJesus' time) and also in the Jewish leaders (of Paul'stime) who were constantly jealous of the apostlePaul's influence over the other Jews. Unfortunately thisevil continues to run in the lives of many believerstoday as well.Is there jealousy in your heart today? Are you trying toshow people that you are better than others? Are youwaiting for some calamity to hit that some brother orhis family? Then, like Job's preacher friends, you maylook happy externally, but you know you're not! You'rejealous. You're walking the way of Cain. Are you jealous because somebody else's ministryprospers, his church prospers and you don't think itshould be that way, because he's wrong in this thingand that thing and the other thing? But God is blessinghim and so God obviously, doesn't share your opinionabout him! What should you do, when you find that Goddis-agrees with your opinion of a brother! You shouldhumble yourself, acknowledge your error and agreewith God. Let God be true, and every man a liar.Sister, are you jealous of some other sister whomseems to have everything going smoothly for her,whereas you face pressure upon pressure daily? Doyou find yourself hoping that some misfortune willbefall that sister?It is in our hidden attitudes that we can discoverwhether we are in fellowship with God or the Devil.God exposes your heart to you in love today, just like heexposed Cain's heart to him. And He tells you also: "Ifyou intend well, your face will be lifted up! You will alsobe accepted! My fire can come upon your life too!"We are called to lay down our lives for our brothers.How far Christians have drifted from the Spirit of Christwhen they imagine that God is with them, just becausetheir doctrines are right, or because they speak intongues, or because their praise and worship is somelodious. These are not the marks of God'spresence.Did Jesus say, "All men will know you are my disciples,when your doctrines are right"? Did He say, "All menwill know you are my disciples, when you break breadevery week" or ".when you speak in tongues" or"..when your praise and worship is melodious."? No.He said, "All men will know you are my disciples whenyou love one another".If God has shown you something in your heart of thespirit of Cain or of the spirit of Korah or of the spirit ofAbsalom.. repent!If you find that you have the spirit of Eliphaz, Bildad andZophar, or of the Pharisees..repent!There is forgiveness with God, that He may be feared. God is Almighty and we are all nobodies. Let ushumble ourselves then under His mighty hand.He who has ears to hear let him hear. AmenEnd

What a message this is! I just read this myself and was going to post it here, you beat me to it Mike. ;-) I was paricularly convicted by the following passage from this article and I have to ask the Lord to reveal to my heart the answer to this question, "am I an accuser or an intercessor?"Cain killed his brother. The children of the devilmanifest themselves by slaying their brothers andsisters. The children of God however put their own self-life to death.Cain smashed Abel’s head in with a rock. But todaypeople are gentler - they don’t use rocks, they use theirtongues! When you tear down your brothers andsisters with your tongue, speaking evil of them andmaking them look bad and small in the eyes of others,you’re actually slaying them. In this the children of thedevil are made manifest - because they are murdererslike their father, the devil. Revelation 12: 9, 10 says that the devil accuses God’schildren day and night. He doesn’t tell God false thingsabout the brothers and sisters, because God knowseverything! He tells God only the truth about the faultsand sins found in God’s people. Like Satan, anaccuser may speak the absolute truth and still be anac-cuser. That’s the way of Cain - and “no murdererhas eternal life abiding in hi” (1 Jn.3:15).Do you slay your brothers and sisters? Then listen towhat the Holy Spirit says: “No murderer has eternal lifeabiding in him.” Even if you claim to be born again andbaptized in water and baptized in the Holy Spirit andspeaking in tongues and breaking bread every weekand have removed all your gold ornaments, andwhatever else, if you speak evil of your brothers andsisters, you are a murderer and you do NOT haveeternal life in you. When Ham told his brothers that their father Noah waslying down drunk and naked, he did not tell a lie. Whathe said was the absolute truth. Yet God cursed him forsaying that. Why did God curse him? For speaking thetruth in the spirit of the accuser. And that curse comestoday on all who accuse God’s children.Satan accuses believers day and night. Jesus alsodoes something day and night. He prays for us dayand night (Heb.7:25).Most Christians accuse other believers for far lessercrimes than getting drunk and lying naked!! They ac-cuse them even for small faults that they see in them.Those faults may be there. Jesus sees them, Satansees them and we see them. But the reactions of eachare different. Satan accuses. Jesus intercedes. Whatdo we do?In Christ,Ron