Who did Cain marry after he was cursed? Were there other humans on the earth?
Have you ever been asked this question? Or maybe you have wondered
about this secretly.
Wondering how Cain could have found a wife after
killing his brother and leaving the only other two individuals who were
on the earth. You may have accepted this by faith before now and boldly
declared your trust even though your understanding was unfruitful. I
commend you on this because I too have tried to explain this, in an all too unsatisfactory way, in the past.
Let me try to help your faith by helping provide what I believe is a
clear answer from scriptures. This will equip you to answer this
question in a world that increasingly distances herself from what they
consider mere 'faith'.
So here goes.
The scriptures
rightly says that Cain left His parents and established a civilization
and got married but please note that it did not state the time it took
for all these events to take place. It also does not provide us with any
detail on Cain's age so we can try to predict how long it took for this
to happen. This is a very telling fact in providing a response to the
question posed above.
You see, most times because we read
biblical events that occur immediately after the other in their
narrative, we fail to appreciate how much time may have passed between
one sentence or verse in the bible to the next sentence or verse.Between the time it took Cain to leave and when he married, several years must have passed.In fact enough time for Adam and Eve to have given birth to Seth and
other sons and DAUGHTERS (Gen. 5:4). I also believe that even the
DAUGHTERS born to Adam had enough time to give birth to other DAUGHTERS
and so on, enough for Cain to be spoiled for choices, when he decided to
get married.
In case you are wondering why I can boldly make the
above statement, consider that these people lived very much longer
lives than we live today! From scripture their average lifespan, haven't
calculated but I think you can accommodate a guess here, was more than
700years! With that kind of time on your hands you would be a mere
'teenager' at 100 years of age! After-all, Noah had enough strength in
him to build an ark at close to 600.
So if we agree up to this
point, can you then agree that if Cain killed Abel at 20 years for
example. Adam's descendants had more than enough time to multiply, even
by our standard, for him to get a bride or several choices of brides.
Think about this.
Monday, 6 March 2017
Tuesday, 7 February 2017
Secret and Silent Labours
Mat.6:4: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
Mat 6:6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
Mat_6:18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
God sees in secret but rewards in the open.
The above statement though seemingly simplistic carries a lot of instruction for anyone who truly wants to make an impact that will register in eternity.Please note that I do not speak of an impact that will affect men, only in the time that we have to spend upon the face of this earth, but beyond that. To leave a legacy in time could be achieved once we impress men but to even leave an imprint on eternity, we must be aided to do so. In essence, that which we can do without the help of God, which never originated from God will never make any eternal impact.
You may not agree but God in scriptures reveals to us that He examines what SORT our works are of, not just the amount of labor. It is not only the quantity of what has been done but the quality of what has been done, that God checks.(1 Cor. 3:13)
The labor that carries very little human recognition or away from the eyes of men is reserved for the eyes of God alone. Many Church members are quick to seek recognition for the very visible works they carry out in Church. They would join only the teams or units that will give visibility to their talents or gifting. Few join the cleaning crew that cleans the church before service and even fewer still will join the prayer group that will weep at night.Pastors, as humans, easily recognize the works that are evident as men but God sees in secret.
In fact, a lot of the important things that God does with a man, he does it in secret.Intimacy with God is not achieve in the 'open'. God brings men to His secret place. He seeks to have a secret life going with you. Don't seek the recognition of men but seek the approval of this God that sees in SECRET.
Men will often see the open reward but not know the Secret labors!
Friends, God calls us to join him in the secret place where He can work on the privacy of our hearts. Do you pray in Secret? Is the audience that you focus your prayer on God? or do you pray eloquently to impress those that listen? Do you pray long so men can acknowledge your prayer prowess? if you are doing any of these, then you already have your reward.
Where are the men who engage in secret labors?
I use to think that the only way to serve God was in some form of visible act that men can see and acknowledge, until I read of Prophetess Ann, who the bible recorded as SERVING God through prayer and fasting.
Service is in secret.
Mat 6:6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
Mat_6:18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
God sees in secret but rewards in the open.
The above statement though seemingly simplistic carries a lot of instruction for anyone who truly wants to make an impact that will register in eternity.Please note that I do not speak of an impact that will affect men, only in the time that we have to spend upon the face of this earth, but beyond that. To leave a legacy in time could be achieved once we impress men but to even leave an imprint on eternity, we must be aided to do so. In essence, that which we can do without the help of God, which never originated from God will never make any eternal impact.
You may not agree but God in scriptures reveals to us that He examines what SORT our works are of, not just the amount of labor. It is not only the quantity of what has been done but the quality of what has been done, that God checks.(1 Cor. 3:13)
The labor that carries very little human recognition or away from the eyes of men is reserved for the eyes of God alone. Many Church members are quick to seek recognition for the very visible works they carry out in Church. They would join only the teams or units that will give visibility to their talents or gifting. Few join the cleaning crew that cleans the church before service and even fewer still will join the prayer group that will weep at night.Pastors, as humans, easily recognize the works that are evident as men but God sees in secret.
In fact, a lot of the important things that God does with a man, he does it in secret.Intimacy with God is not achieve in the 'open'. God brings men to His secret place. He seeks to have a secret life going with you. Don't seek the recognition of men but seek the approval of this God that sees in SECRET.
Men will often see the open reward but not know the Secret labors!
Friends, God calls us to join him in the secret place where He can work on the privacy of our hearts. Do you pray in Secret? Is the audience that you focus your prayer on God? or do you pray eloquently to impress those that listen? Do you pray long so men can acknowledge your prayer prowess? if you are doing any of these, then you already have your reward.
Where are the men who engage in secret labors?
I use to think that the only way to serve God was in some form of visible act that men can see and acknowledge, until I read of Prophetess Ann, who the bible recorded as SERVING God through prayer and fasting.
Service is in secret.
Friday, 4 November 2016
CIRCULAR MOTION- A ROUND ABOUT JOURNEY
Deu 2:1-3: Then we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea, as the LORD spake unto me: and we compassed mount Seir many days. And the LORD spake unto me, saying, Ye have compassed this mountain long enough: turn you northward.
As I was mediating on the above scripture, a few things disturbed me about how Israel arrived at a place where they made circular motions without any advancement towards the land promised them.
Please consider this, moving in a Circular motion will expend ones energy and will give a false sense of advancement because there is motion. It will involve repetitive passing of certain landmarks or sites that should have served as a warning that no advancement is being made but these landmarks will be ignored either deliberately or due to the fact that we do not pay close attention.
Israel was in the wilderness, an unpleasant place to spend a long time in, so why would they be satisfied with keeping up a circular motion for many days? If the wilderness was a pleasant place, I think we can understand their desire to stay longer in such a place but who chooses a wilderness to a land flowing with milk and honey?
Their choice to continue making this movement around a landmark concerned me. My concern increased when I saw that the last command that God gave them about their journey was by the way of the Red Sea.
I worry today that many are engaged in this futile exercise. Messages are being recycled, direction was last received long ago but movement still continues. Fleshy energy is being expended and things seem to be happening but no one wants to admit that it seems that we have passed these same landmarks before. We whistle to encourage ourselves and refuse to observe that we are no closer to knowing God with all these intellectual joggling of words that has excited us without transforming us. Month in month out themes are recycled and no one asks the very obvious question, where are we heading to with all these? Instead we whistle along to keep hope alive, ignoring the fact that we have made little advancement.
Order has been established and a strict regime that we have become comfortable with has set in. Our reliance on prayer manuals(good as we think they may be) can wean us of our dependence on the Holy Spirit to help our infirmities in the place of prayer.
Please stop and evaluate your walk with God, are you making any advancement towards your God ordained destiny?
It took the voice of God to give Israel an understanding of what they have been doing and how futile it had been. May He also speak to break us out of the routine that we have come to be comfortable with. Let us seek to hear God and break out of the routine. Our advance in the things of God must be sponsored by the life of the spirit.
Jesus told us that without Him we can do nothing! I do not think that this means that from a human stand point we will do nothing but from Heavens stand point the best we can do without Jesus is Nothing! For instance, Paul said of a man that gives his body to be burned without love, that it profits him nothing. Lets stop and seek His guiding voice for our journey.
Monday, 24 October 2016
A Prophetic People
Over
the weekend, a lot of personal misconceptions were cleared up for me
with regards to what it truly means to be a Prophetic people.
In the old testament, the prophets and the king had the Spirit of God come upon them, this made them prophetic in nature. Abraham in Genesis chapter 12 was called out of where he knew, his father's house, to a place where only God could show him and he arrived there! How does a man walk with a spirit-being to trace his path in destiny like Abraham did?
Please do not be deceived, destiny is not a course that you have set for yourself or arrive at by mental or deductive reasoning but a discovery that one must make by the leading of the Spirit of God.
Abraham was called a prophet by God when he rebuked a king on his account. In the new testament, God seeks sons who are led by the Spirit of God, hence the nature of every believer should be prophetic.(Please note that this is not to say that all believers are called into the office of a Prophet). For a man to walk effectively with a spirit, it takes a guide to lead him into all truth. To know the leading of a guide whom you can not see, and to respond effectively to that leading, makes us prophetic. In essence, like Samson, the believer is but an ordinary man if he is without the Holy Spirit.
Friends, We must seek out that path to the destiny God intends for us. This path, however, is impossible to access outside of the leading of the Holy Spirit! It is a path that the fowls do not know, the lions whelp has never walked on, or even the keen sight of the vulture has never beheld. In other words, improving our mental capacities or engaging in physical exercises, as good as these are, will not make us arrive at the place God intended for us.
Except we commit ourselves to walking by the spirit of God, we can not become that which God intended for us to become.
He has given us the power to become the sons of God but this power remains only a potential if we do not engage in activities that will ensure its release. Herein lies the disadvantage of a Christian who is prayer-less and neglects the word of God.
My prayer today is that God will show me the path of life, and cause me to walk therein. This is my call and cry from the school of prophets!
What about you?
In the old testament, the prophets and the king had the Spirit of God come upon them, this made them prophetic in nature. Abraham in Genesis chapter 12 was called out of where he knew, his father's house, to a place where only God could show him and he arrived there! How does a man walk with a spirit-being to trace his path in destiny like Abraham did?
Please do not be deceived, destiny is not a course that you have set for yourself or arrive at by mental or deductive reasoning but a discovery that one must make by the leading of the Spirit of God.
Abraham was called a prophet by God when he rebuked a king on his account. In the new testament, God seeks sons who are led by the Spirit of God, hence the nature of every believer should be prophetic.(Please note that this is not to say that all believers are called into the office of a Prophet). For a man to walk effectively with a spirit, it takes a guide to lead him into all truth. To know the leading of a guide whom you can not see, and to respond effectively to that leading, makes us prophetic. In essence, like Samson, the believer is but an ordinary man if he is without the Holy Spirit.
Friends, We must seek out that path to the destiny God intends for us. This path, however, is impossible to access outside of the leading of the Holy Spirit! It is a path that the fowls do not know, the lions whelp has never walked on, or even the keen sight of the vulture has never beheld. In other words, improving our mental capacities or engaging in physical exercises, as good as these are, will not make us arrive at the place God intended for us.
Except we commit ourselves to walking by the spirit of God, we can not become that which God intended for us to become.
He has given us the power to become the sons of God but this power remains only a potential if we do not engage in activities that will ensure its release. Herein lies the disadvantage of a Christian who is prayer-less and neglects the word of God.
My prayer today is that God will show me the path of life, and cause me to walk therein. This is my call and cry from the school of prophets!
What about you?
Friday, 26 August 2016
OH, JUST A DAY IN MY NATION....
OH MAY I LIVE TO SEE THE DAY!!!
Oh, How I long that our nation would instead of all the celebrations they hold from year to year, declare a national day of prayer and fasting for which we repent of the ills in our society and seek God's intervention.
Oh, How I long that our nation would instead of all the celebrations they hold from year to year, declare a national day of prayer and fasting for which we repent of the ills in our society and seek God's intervention.
My heart cry is for a change in our value system as a nation and that
corrupt men would be truly shamed instead of celebrated as we see it
today.
Oh may I live to see the day in Nigeria, When Political Office holders reject gratification and tow the road of selfless devotion to the well-being of our nation.
Oh May I live to see the day, When Justice in Nigeria is blind to the wealth of the guilty and Judgement do not favor the rich.
Oh May I live to see the day, when the Police are beyond corruption and are respected as men and women who enforce the law without respect of persons.
Oh May I live to see the day, when those convicted of corruption are shamed and do not seek public recognition as no one will regard them.
Oh May I see the day, when contractors are held accountable for the work they do for this nation and not have us settle for substandard infrastructure.
Oh May I see the day, when mediocrity isn't celebrated in our nation and our Civil Service offer excellent Customer Service without any form of gratification being expected.
May I live to see the day, when Nigerians will rise up to take stand against corrupt leaders and demand accountability at all levels of government.
May I live to see the day when our nation does not rely on oil revenue for its survival but can be fed by crops grown within its on borders.
May I live to see the again the days of the groundnut pyramids, the Coco Plantations, the cassava farms and the palm oil exportation.
May I live to see the day, we are not asking for new states for our selfish needs but seeking the improvement of the states we already have.
and Most of all, May I live to see the days, When men are judged based on the moral values and principles the stand for and not based on their ethnic orientation when we are to choose for Public office.
Oh May I live to see this Day in my nation, Nigeria
Oh may I live to see the day in Nigeria, When Political Office holders reject gratification and tow the road of selfless devotion to the well-being of our nation.
Oh May I live to see the day, When Justice in Nigeria is blind to the wealth of the guilty and Judgement do not favor the rich.
Oh May I live to see the day, when the Police are beyond corruption and are respected as men and women who enforce the law without respect of persons.
Oh May I live to see the day, when those convicted of corruption are shamed and do not seek public recognition as no one will regard them.
Oh May I see the day, when contractors are held accountable for the work they do for this nation and not have us settle for substandard infrastructure.
Oh May I see the day, when mediocrity isn't celebrated in our nation and our Civil Service offer excellent Customer Service without any form of gratification being expected.
May I live to see the day, when Nigerians will rise up to take stand against corrupt leaders and demand accountability at all levels of government.
May I live to see the day when our nation does not rely on oil revenue for its survival but can be fed by crops grown within its on borders.
May I live to see the again the days of the groundnut pyramids, the Coco Plantations, the cassava farms and the palm oil exportation.
May I live to see the day, we are not asking for new states for our selfish needs but seeking the improvement of the states we already have.
and Most of all, May I live to see the days, When men are judged based on the moral values and principles the stand for and not based on their ethnic orientation when we are to choose for Public office.
Oh May I live to see this Day in my nation, Nigeria
Tuesday, 7 June 2016
Tuesday, 3 May 2016
THERE IS A PATH(VI)
Text: Romans 6:6
“Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin”. KJV
“Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin”. KJV
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Then when you are faced with the same temptations that Adam was faced with in the Garden of Eden, what will you choose? When you ignore the voice of the soul and embrace life, life may not be as intelligent as the voice of the soul; the voice of the soul comes with graphs, charts and maps. It comes with Blackberry pinging and whatsapp messages. But the voice of the Spirit is gentle and it is not cohesive. It doesn’t force. It is the voice of a King; the voice of a loving God.
There were many things Jesus could have been – a tyrant, a killer but He decided to be a God of love that will stretch forth His hands and bring salvation to all people. It is that God that we serve. Not a God that mutilates and kills and sheds blood. So choose Jesus. And as He rises up within your heart to point the path of spiritual progress; when He says, ’Fast’ He is pointing a path. Will you yield? Everything depends on your obedience.
Now that the cross as put an end to the old man; yes the old man is still there trying to speak from the grave. But the new man is trying to seek a place where he can have authority with you but you will make a choice of what will rule you. Hence, the first law of the spirit realm; whatsoever you yield yourself as servants to obey, servants of the same you shall become.
If you decide to turn away from light and to embrace darkness; you will be dark and your darkness will be blackness. If you choose to face mammon and you make the God of breakthrough your God, mammon will possess your soul. Until you come to a point where the only thing you can think about is gain and money and your estimation of progress and spirituality will be on how much money you have gotten today. And that is why we have many Christians that leaped out of the path of spiritual progress and embraced mammon for so many years. They experience dryness of soul and hunger of spirit because mammon doesn’t come alone. He comes with a veil to cover your eyes and keep you perpetually in bondage. But somebody needs to say today, I WILL ARISE!
We need to make a choice that will open up the vistas of the kingdom. That was how men like John became valiant in the kingdom of God when the Spirit began to beckon upon them. God is willing to open a path for you, but the extent to which you will go is dependent on how much of obedience you subscribe to. He says come up hither and I will show you things that will take place hereafter.
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You know you are
not used to the spirit life. You will always fall to that terrain that
you have used. You trust your mind; you trust your analysis much more
than the voice of the Holy Spirit. BUT THE HOLY SPIRIT LURKS IN YOUR
HEART. IF YOU CAN GIVE HIM HALF A CHANCE, HE WILL GROW AND BECOME SO
ENLARGED THAT YOUR EYES WILL BECOME BLIND TO EVERY OTHER THING EXCEPT
HIM.
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You say you want to conquer sin, how much have you turned to Christ? If you turn to Christ and make your body a slave of righteousness –‘that I will only do His will, I will always do right. I was bought with a price. It means I am His property. I cannot do what He will not permit me to do with my body. I am going to stick with Him even though heaven falls, I will stick with Him. Even though hell rages, I will stick with Him’. It is a radical decision. That is why the Bible says, “That the laws were changed from the time of John the Baptist until now”, it will be by radical violence that you will embrace the kingdom of God and every charlatan; every slow paced personality does not have a place when it comes to fighting for the enthronement of spirit life. It will be and must be by war!
You cannot become a successful Christian without being a radical. You will have to fight and rebel against sickness. You will have to fight and rebel against that which wants you to disobey God. You must come to that point where even though they call you names, your story will be that, ‘I am going to walk this path for all my lifetime until the devil becomes convinced that he has lost me’. That is when the grain has fallen to the ground and died. Even the devil himself had lost hope..
May that be our testimony in Jesus' name
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