Remember that Eden was timeless and earth years didn’t count there, no time had passed in Eden while Satan built his reptile (serpent) kingdom and God destroyed the macabre results of Satan’s failed “Other Creation”. God destroyed Satan’s miserable creation and let the earth build back like it had been. God restocked the earth with the creatures from Eden. Here’s how He did it.
SO: Back to the Beginning
(Gen.1:11-27) During His creation sequence God created the DNA gene pool and He mixed it to suit Himself to create the type of creature that suited Him; that’s why everything that lives has DNA and a bunch of God’s creatures have “some” of the “same” DNA. A little bit or a lot of the “same” DNA makes no difference because God’s species are different from each other. Satan didn’t know it but God had even “let” Satan use parts of some of God’s created DNA in Satan’s “other creation”. At least science agrees there is DNA.
(Gen. 1:29-30) In the Garden of Eden the people and all animals were vegetarians. Eden was perfect, (Gen.1:10-28) (V.10) the Earth was once again perfect after Satan’s failed “Other Creation”, (V. 11-12) the vegetation was perfect, (V.20-22) the birds and water creatures were once again perfect, (V. 24-28) all the hoofed animals, the other animals, the creeping thing (bugs, worms and all that), everything was perfect.
Notice the words “after his kind” in every situation; that means they were made from DNA to distinguish each individual kind from all the others, they were separate creatures (V.27-28) and that included man. God’s DNA design was the “Origin of the Species”; not Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. (Gen. 1:11-12) The vegetation followed the same “after his kind” pattern of DNA.
There is no indication of how many earth years passed while the animals, birds and fish procreated and spread across the Earth while God’s judgment was taking place in the now of Eden. (Gen. 3:17-19) (V.17 keywords: cursed is the ground for thy sake) God had cursed the ground at the time He was explaining His judgment to Adam and (V.18 keywords: thorns and thistles) God gave Adam a hint of the drastic changes He had made.
(Gen.3:19-21) (V.19) God told Adam he would die (V.21) and God gave Adam a graphic example of death when Adam saw the three sheep cold, bloody, stripped of their skins and dead there on the ground in timeless Eden, the only blood ever shed in Eden. It had to be a drastic shock. Do you think Adam thought; “Are Eve and I next?” since that was the only death he had ever seen?
God changed Adam and Eve’s DNA pattern and the curse of physical death was planted in their genome. God changed the DNA patterns in every living thing on earth and they also have a life span-animals, birds, fish, creeping thing, trees, grass, herbs–all of it dies. The DNA change caused the bacteria and virus’ to change from harmless to deadly.
Example: The “harmless bacteria” that aids digestion causes a deadly infection if it gets into a wound. Some plants became poisonous and some cause itching, painful skin reactions. Berry vines sprouted thorns.
Harmless chiggers and fleas became ravenous pests. Some insects grew stingers. The instinct of some of the animals, birds and fish changed from vegetarian to meat eating predator. The list of curse caused DNA changes is endless and painful. (Rom. 8:21-22 esp. V.22) “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and trivaileth in pain together until now.”
The only hope the apostle Paul could see was that Jesus had come, died, been resurrected, ascended into heaven and (Rev. 21:1-5 keywords: behold I make all things new) one day Jesus will change the DNA back to what it was in the beginning which will turn things back to the perfection of what they had been in the garden of Eden.
Satan’s Personality
We have learned Satan uses his wisdom to teach, so he’s a teacher. He’s a traducer: defined: to speak falsely or maliciously and to lead. Satan is a liar, he’s malicious and he’s a leader. We have also learned Satan diligently observes and learns by experience.
(Gen. 3:1-14 keyword: serpent) The definition of the word serpent tells us Satan prognosticates: defined: to predict by using present indications as a guide. Satan is an enchanter: defined: a sorcerer or magician AND to enchant: defined: to cast under a spell, bewitch, to attract and delight completely, to charm, AND in Latin enchanter is incantare: defined: to be against (adversary) and to sing.
So, Satan is a liar, he is malicious, he diligently observes us and learns by experience how we will act under various stimulations and he predicts what we will do in various situations. Satan has the ability to cast people under his spell by bewitching us with his charm.
Satan uses his type of music (to sing) as a weapon to induce moods in man. He’s our adversary (to be against), he teaches people to go against what God wants us to do and he leads all who will follow him. it worked with Eve so why not the rest of mankind? You? Me?
Just sit back a minute and think about the above paragraph. It kinda makes you look around with a little chill and wonder about Saran’s unseen eyes that are watching you, studying you and learning about your weaknesses. It will also make you cringe and wonder about Satan’s part in the cause and effect of the things happening that either directly or indirectly affect you.
What happened in the Garden of Eden? (1st paragraph, in the Latin incantare–> definition–> to sing) The enchanter could sing so you know God had given him a beautiful voice. (Ezek. 28:13-17) (V.13) Maybe his pipes and tambourine music took on a fast, wicked, rap beat and he sang an incantation that charmed Eve and sent her innocent heart racing; (Gen. 3:1) “Hath God said, hath God said, rooty-toot-toot. Don-cha dare eat nunna dat forbidden fruit.”
(V.14) Maybe he bragged in his song ’bout where he’d been and what he’d done in the Rap Chant; “Been on da stones of fire, been on da stones of fire, walkin’ on holy ground with God, together the holy mount we trod”; ba-da boom, ba-da-boom, ba-da-boom and Satan’s drums rolled with that Rockin’ Sound. (V.13) “Lookit’ my threads all backed in gold; with diamonds, topaz ‘n onyx in ever fold.” and his pipes wailed the Country & Western blues.
(Gen. 3:6) And he crooned: “My sweet croon made her eyes flutter; so spell bound she couldn’t even stutter; her tremblin’ hand felt the fruit; her eyes blinded by my bright suit; nothin’ had ever tasted so good; eatin’ fruit right there in Eden’s wood.” And the Contemporary smooth of his pipes made what she’d done seem allright. Its the seduction of Satan’s music, then, later and now wherever you are.
Satan can’t kill you but if he can attract and delight you completely by drug abuse and cause you to kill yourself with drugs you are just as dead aren’t you? OR: Has Satan cast a drug user under his spell who is dying for a hit, listening to Satan’s music (to sing) about drugs, pigs, hoes and murder and the drug user is planning to murder and rob you or one of your friends to obtain drug money. It’s raw, it’s true and it happens every day.
Apply the same circumstances to the way people make music, dress, talk and act; the movies, video games, violence, shootings, stabbings, road rage, rape, porn, child abuse, spouse abuse, sex, war, the list is endless, government, banking, businesses, film industry, advertising and EVEN SCIENCE IS VULNERABLE.
You might assume I got off track a bit but you are thinking about it now aren’t you? With his personality and abilities Satan can deceive, lie, lead, teach, charm, attract and delight people in the Paleontology/ Archeology melee given below. When you add his part in it a new picture will emerge.
Most of the funding for Archeology and Paleontology comes from grants from individuals, organizations, institutions, societies, sometimes even governments, universities and etc. and lots of the basic funding is tax deductible which means Joe Blow the taxpayer, sweating it out from 9 to 5 to make ends meet, is eventually picking up the tab, even Christians too.
It’s common math; whoever is the most famous for their discoveries gets the most funding to continue and whoever devises the accepted method of determining the age of fossils gets the most funding so the competition for funding is fierce. Also we must consider the factor of man’s pride in his accomplishments. People will go to amazing lengths to look the best, do the best, be the best and be the most famous.
Here are three examples:
#1) Please look up the “Nebraska Man” sometime. If you don’t want to; here’s a brief rundown. A rancher found a fossilized tooth. Evolutionary science identified it as having the characteristics of a chimpanzee (ape), a Pithecanthropus (Java man) and a Homo sapiens (modern man). Dr. Henry F. Osborn of Columbia University who was head of the American Museum of Natural History identified this tooth as coming from the missing link between ape and man and that tooth proved evolution and not creation was the source of modern man.
From that one tooth a body was built, family groups were pictured, hunting/gathering habits were identified and even a society for them was created. I have personally seen those pictures depicting that family group. ALL THAT FROM ONE TOOTH! “I guess we’ve put the Jesus freaks in their place now boys!” A few years later the tooth was identified as belonging to an extinct pig! Yep, they showed us.
#2) “More recently, in 2000, Shinichi Fujimura–a prominent archaeologist whose finds suggested that Japanese civilization was 700,000 years old–was revealed to have buried the forged artifacts he had supposedly discovered. “Fujimura’s straightforward con was undoubtedly accepted by the establishment, as well as the popular press, because it gave them evidence of what they already wanted to believe which was the great antiquity of the Japanese people.“ Michele Miller wrote this article in the archaeological journal Athena Review.”
#3) This excerpt is from the December 2009 Smithsonian Magazine story “The Pyramid Man” by Colin Woodard. “Archaeological claims have long been used to serve political purposes. In 1912, British archaeologists combined a modern skull with an orangutan jaw to fabricate a “missing link” in support of the claim that human beings arose in Britain, not Africa.” (The paleontologist Richard Leakey later noted that English elites took so much pride in “being the first, that they swallowed [the hoax] hook, line and sinker.”).
When you read about or listen to all this evolution stuff please pay attention to the qualifier words; “could have, it is believed, presumably, more than likely, similar to, may have allowed, could be, could mean, it suggested, it resembles, perhaps, it is virtually certain, looked like, almost, similar, it is thought, it is supposed, the theory is, maybe, possibly, probable, probably” and a host of others.
PLEASE REMEMBER THIS DEFINITION: Theory defined is–> a system of assumptions, supposed true but without proof, based on limited information or knowledge that is produced by abstract reasoning, which is not applied or practical, to explain something. This definition shows a theory to be, at best, an educated guess.
(Col. 2:8) GOD SAID; “Beware (behold, perceive, take heed) lest any man spoil (to lead away as booty, to seduce) you through philosophy (love of wisdom) and vain (empty, void of truth) deceit (delusion), after the tradition (giving up, giving over) of men, after the rudiments (something orderly in arrangement) of the world, and not after Christ. Definitions are from Strong’s Concordance.
Please see (Acts 17:15-34) if you wish to see a bit more about Biblical philosophy. If you decide to explore the complete Wikipedia presentation of philosophy prepare yourself a sandwich and a cold drink because you will be reading for a while.
Mix Satan’s personality and abilities into the fossil hunting and dating melee and another whole new picture will also emerge.
I can personally remember when three methods of archaeological artifact dating were in practice at the same time and each one of the three conclusively proved the accuracy of the fossil dating of the other two were wrong. I suppose I remember it because of the uproar in the scientific community that made all the headlines OR maybe God stuck it in my memory to bring it out now? You decide.
There are several scientific methods of dating fossils and etc. being used at this time and each one of them began with a theory. And, for effect, they are all educated guesswork based on theory. People will believe what they are led (a leader) to believe, taught (a teacher) to believe, OR what attracts, delights and charms their sensibilities (enchanter) which makes them want to believe. God demands holy living, science doesn’t, that’s a great motivator to believe in science rather than God.
People are equally determined to believe or disbelieve that God exists. Draw your own conclusions about the information in the 17 paragraphs above. God inspired the Apostle Paul to write: (1Tim. 6:20) “O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane (heathenish, wicked) and vain (fruitless discussion) babblings (empty sounding), and oppositions (conflict of theories) of science falsely (untruly named) so called:”
Repeated using definitions: “O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust avoiding heathenish, wicked, fruitless, empty sounding, conflicting theories of untruly named, so called science.
SO
THE FIRST CAVEMEN: (Gen. 3:23) Surely neither evolutionists nor creationists think Adam and Eve, who were the first CRO-MAGNON cavemen, left the Garden of Eden in a new Corvette and tooled on down the road to their air-conditioned condo to live happily ever after!
(Gen.3:21 keywords: Lord God) All the first two people had were the animal skins that covered their nakedness when they left Eden and entered (Gen. 3:16-24 esp. V.17) the same cursed world we live in now.
Cro-Magnon Life in the Cursed World
The Bible is silent concerning how Adam and Eve fared when they began their lives in this brand new, beautiful, cursed world.
They didn’t even know how to produce fire! What would you have done? They were in a unique position because they figured they were both predator and prey. Of course they grabbed a rock and club to fight off the critters that wanted to eat them. Of course they headed for the nearest security; A CAVE!
They did not know how to hunt for food. They had to learn how to survive. They ate plants by trial and error and caught creeper/crawlers out of the creeks until finally, either by accident or design, they killed a warm blooded creature; FOOD! They were cavemen!
They never saw God’s faithful angel who protected them nor did they ever see the evil angel, Satan, who studied them, observing and learning; seeking a way to teach and lead them into destroying themselves; “I can’t even get the predators to kill them. I’ve come close a few times but somehow, they always manage to escape; all it accomplished was to scare them nearly to death! Even here, even now, even cursed; God still loves them but I’ll show Him.”
(2Cor. 4:4 keyword: god) “I’ll be the god of this world. (John 16:11 keyword: prince) After all, I’m a prince and I have all my powers and abilities intact except I can’t murder these blasted people but I’ll learn, I am smarter than these puny, ignorant things. I’ll teach and lead them to kill themselves and each other.”
(Ezek. 28:17 keywords: lifted up) Satan’s awful pride inflated his opinion of his own importance to an even greater level and his jealousy, frustration, resentment, anger and hatred against the people simmered ever hotter.
The man and woman were caught up in, and under the power of, a thing called time, God held the clock and it was ticking.
Nobody but God knows how the man and woman did it; were ideas planted by God, was it their built in natural curiosity, was it various ideas planted by the two spirits/angels, was it divine protection? However it was the two managed to survive and they had time to flourish, investigate, wonder and experiment.
In the far future they would become known as Cro-Magnon cavemen, the first homo-sapiens. Sapiens means (to be wise) but that was added much later after modern man, in his pride, figured he had become wise, in reality, a compliment to himself. They had shown very little wisdom in their transgression in Eden but they were surviving.
The Bible does not say where the sex urge came from. Maybe it was just built in. OR: (Gen. 1:28 keywords: fruitful and multiply) Maybe God had elaborated to them in a private conversation we are not privileged to read. In the timelessness of Eden they had been too busy to try it. Now, in this place of time, they figured they had plenty of time to try it. It was the greatest, most exciting thing they had ever experienced!
Sex! (Gen. 4:1) “And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord.” Did they understand? When her monthlies stopped and Eve started showing signs of pregnancy did they wonder? “Adam? Adam! It feels like it’s moving within me! Both their jaws dropped open in astonishment as it grew and threshed about inside her. They were alone in the huge, strange world; at least, as far as they knew, they were.
“Adam? Adam! I feel different today, something’s wrong! What’s this liquid?” (Gen. 3:16 & 4:1) Can you imagine the uproar and excitement when their first child was born; did they even understand what was happening? OR: Were things carefully orchestrated by God through some instinctive way that they handled the situation alone, alone there in that giant, beautiful, dangerous, still pristine world. We do not know. BUT: they still remembered God; “I have gotten a man from the Lord.”
Satan must have been seething; “They’re doing it. They’ll flood the whole world just like God told them to do. I’ll find a way to stop this mess. Hummmm, I’ll observe them and learn about them and maybe I can teach, charm, deceive and lead them into worshipping me? It worked on Eve once, maybe it’ll work on the rest of them!” Then Eve bare Cain’s brother Able. Satan, in his spiritual form, dug in his spiritual heels and went to war.
In the process of time: (Gen. 4:2) Somehow they started learning rudimentary farming and discussed the possibility of animal husbandry and they passed on what they knew to their sons after they’d taught them to talk. Satan listened to every conversation and carefully observed and learned about the boys while they grew into men. He observed silently while Able seemed drawn to animal husbandry, a keeper of sheep and Cain gradually took over tilling the ground in the family’s efforts to work and survive (Gen. 3:19 & 23) by the sweat of their faces.
It was a nice evening and they were sitting around their fire eating roasted ears of corn. It was good corn, the kernels bursting with flavor, fresh corn picked that very morning right out of Cain’s cornfield. They were quietly speaking in the language they had brought with them from Eden. They were tall, Adam was well over 5 feet and Eve was a little over 5 feet. BUT their appearance had changed much in the years since they had left Eden.
Now they were dirty; who had time to worry about keeping clean when they were trying to survive? Dirty had become a way of life. Like their parents the boys were robust with thick, strong muscles, strong muscular legs, yet their bodies were lithe and flexible from the activity of survival. They all had welts from insect bites, here and there were scratches from thorns and briers that were in different stages of healing, scrapes and skinned places from falls and other mishaps and they had scars here and there from old wounds.
Their hair had grown long and was matted with dirt, sweat and tiny bits of debris from their environment, the sparse body hair on their arms and legs had grown long, the men, father and sons, even had hair on their chests, across their shoulders and even thicker hair on their faces, the men and woman’s eyebrows had thickened and grown bushy, their toenails and fingernails were dirty and broken from hard use, their feet and hands were calloused and rough from foraging but it was their faces that drew the most attention.
They had the high round foreheads and strong, prominent chins that Satan could never seem to master in his “other creation”. Their jaw muscles were large from chewing rough food and from the intermittent clenching caused by the threats and excitement of their environment. Even though they were in quiet, relaxed conversation their highly intelligent eyes were never still; shifting, focusing here and there, ever on the lookout for danger, a threat, food, anything that moved.
Eve looked admiringly at Adam. He was insatiably curious and seemed to “receive ideas from nowhere”. Her thoughts drifted back to the past. She remembered when they first got here. They had eaten whatever they could catch, bugs, worms, crayfish, anything; whatever they could pick in spite of the raking briars and thorns; mushrooms, fruit from the trees—Eve was afraid to eat that but when Adam showed no ill effects she tentatively tried it and liked it and now it was common fare when they could get it.
Most of the time their food filled them and once in a while bad food shot out in the gushing sickness of vomiting. Adam had figured out that nuts from the trees could be broken between two rocks and the meat of the inside the nut was tasty and nutritious. Then the boys had been born. Her thoughts continued on about their past.
One day Adam had found a particularly round rock in the stream, he was carrying it with him when they saw a rabbit crouched in its “hide” in the grass. They would learn that was the rabbit’s first line of defense; remain motionless in the grass and predators will not see you. Without thought Adam hurled the rock at the rabbit and as though some “unseen hand” had guided the stone it killed the rabbit.
They learned that rabbit meat was good food. God quietly spoke to the angel; “Good job, sometimes we will have to hurry them along and keep them on schedule.” Somehow Satan hadn’t noticed the angel that helped the man but he loved the solid thump that broke the rabbit’s skull open.
Over and over they had tried to catch the fish that populated the stream down the slope from the cave but the slippery things were frustratingly impossible to hold. One day a dry weather lightning strike ignited a fire when it hit a dead tree in a meadow. The fire burned the meadow and through a patch of forest before it “somehow” petered out even though the area was surrounded by other dry foliage. Adam didn’t even consider why the word “fire” had come into his brain, it just had and he used it.
As a matter of fact Adam didn’t even know he had a brain. When they investigated the site they found a dead rabbit that had been killed by the fire. Adam’s insatiable curiosity led them to discover that fire made rabbit more, much more, tasty. Adam knew he had to preserve the fire. The lightning struck log was still afire with red hot coals. Adam tried to carry a piece of the fire back to the cave and burned his hand.
He raced to the edge where the fire had burned out, grabbed a bunch of dry foliage, raced back and threw it on the fire; he had to keep the fire alive! Before he could get back with another load Eve was screaming; “The fire is dying! The fire is dying!”
That’s how Adam “discovered” it takes fire longer to eat wood than it does leaves and grass. Small wood burns fast too, bigger wood burns slower, great big wood will hold fire a long time. If the stick is long enough you can hold one end while the other end burns. “I can carry fire!” The unseen angel leaned his spiritual shoulder against a tree and thought ideas into Adam’s brain as Adam investigated and experimented. Satan was just across the meadow watching the man and learning about him. Satan was forming ideas about fire too.
Back at the cave Adam took the end of a smoldering stick out of his roaring fire and began rubbing it against a rock. As he worked he realized the stick was coming to a point, he worked harder with “the vision” of an impaled fish on the end of what he was already calling a spear. It worked sometimes and they, through trial and error, added fish, baked on a large leaf in the edge of their fire, to their meager menu.
A few weeks later Adam found a shed deer antler and the “vision” of an improved spear flashed through his brain. He broke the antler apart by wedging it in the crack of a rock and smashing another large rock into it until it came apart. It was much harder to grind a long deer antler tine to a sharp point but he persevered. “Now what?” and Adam nodded off to sleep.
The next morning when he awakened he “had a picture” in his brain; “grind the other end of the antler flat, split the stick, wedge the flat end of the antler into the split, mold it in with pine sap, wrap it in a strip of green, uncured raccoon hide and let the whole thing dry in the sun.
The spear worked. Adam knew where deer came down a path to drink from the stream about a quarter mile downstream from them. He remembered a tree growing at the edge of the water right over the watering place; in his brain Adam pictured the huge branch that was directly over the path.
Adam was standing on that large branch at daylight the next morning. Adam thought his heart would burst out of his chest with excitement when a small buck came down the path and stopped directly under him. Quiet as a huge cat Adam positioned himself, held the spear straight down and stepped off the branch.
The spear hit the deer right behind its shoulders at a slightly forward angle, missed hanging up on its spine by a fraction of an inch and drove deeply into its heart/lung cavity just as Adam’s weight hit and knocked the deer to the earth. With the astonishing vitality of their kind the deer almost bucked Adam off when it attempted to rise, Adam held on to its antlers for dear life and they tumbled into the creek; “I’ll drown it!
Splashing, grunting and straining they fought with all they had for their lives; the man for him and his family to live and the deer, if it couldn’t outrun a predator, its natural instinct was to fight for its life until it died.
Adam won. When he’d carried his prize back to the cave Eve and his boys were overjoyed and Adam was hailed a conquering hero. It was almost impossible to get the blasted thing open with the sharpened deer tines but they’d done it and late that evening cooked venison on a stick over the fire was added to the menu.
The next year while foraging Adam, Eve and the boys came across some odd, whitish looking, nearly round rocks in a rock strewn meadow. Eve and the boys would have gone right on by but Adam stopped and frowned as he looked at the rocks. They knew “the look” and they crowded around. Daddy was exciting when he got “the look”; it was almost as if he was hearing a voice inaudible to them and that’s when something exciting always happened.
That’s the way Daddy had looked when he’d woven slender branches together to make a mesh rug that, when they chased fish into a pocket, they could put the mesh rug down into the water all the way to the bottom and the fish could no longer race back by them and escape back downstream, at least not all of them could. He’d had “the look” when, by trial and error, he’d figured out how to cure deer hides and make crude leather out of them. They had much better, more durable clothes now.
Adam picked up one of the stones and smashed it into another one. They bounced away and only a chip flew off one of them. Adam examined the chip; under the whitish, chalky cover the grey stone was hard, smooth and unlike any other stone they had ever seen. Adam carefully positioned three of the stones and braced a fourth against them. He picked up another of the odd stones and hurled it with all his burly, wiry strength into the braced stone. It burst with a huge crash. Most of it was in oddly shaped chunks but some of it was in slivers.
Adam picked up one of the slivers and ran his fingers across it. He pressed too hard and flinched at the small, burning pain. Daddy paid no attention to his dripping blood, Eve and the boys noticed the gleam of discovery in his eyes and he seemed to be listening to an “inner voice” while he was studying the lines in the smooth grey stone.
That was the day the “flint age” had been born. That day was the source of the razor sharp spear standing leaned against the mouth of the cave just behind Adam. There were three others just inside the cave. It was the source of the flint scrapers carefully stored on a projecting ledge on back in the cave. It was the source of the flint knives they all carried in leather pouches tied by leather straps around their waists.
The “flint age” had made their lives much, much easier even though they had to go further away from the cave to hunt now. They had even discussed moving to another cave in some other valley where the animals had not learned that men were just another predator to be avoided. Then Eve spoke the words that would have to be paid for in blood, grief and tears.
“Adam, have you noticed how well Abel is doing with those wild sheep he trapped last year, they are having babies and his flock is growing.” Adam only grunted but Cain shot her a look. Satan jerked to quivering, rapt attention at the tight expression and the hardening flash of Cain’s eyes; “Anger!” She mused on; “Remember back in Eden it was sheep that got us out of trouble with God?” Able looked at the ground between his legs as he sat there, praise always embarrassed him.
Laying on his side, propped up on one elbow, his hand supporting his head, his feet to the warm fire Adam grunted ascent. Cain shot her another look and his lips tightened. Satan studied Cain with breathless intensity! Their “protector angel” looked back toward Eden but God was silent. “There’s just something special about sheep.”
Cain turned bright red, he got to his feet and walked quickly into the evening. They didn’t hear him muttering to himself but Satan did. Satan did because he was as close as he could get; listening, observing, learning.
“Stuffing her face with my corn and bragging on Abel’s sheep!” Satan silently hissed his thoughts into Cain’s thoughts and Cain thought they were his thoughts; “She loves Abel more than me and I’m the one feeding her with my corn.” That thought caused hurt and anger in equal proportions in Cain’s soul and Satan was delighted.
After a while Cain slouched back to the fire and they eventually went into the cave to sleep. The next morning Eve prepared a breakfast of fish and bread baked on a flat stone at the fire; fish from far downstream and bread made from crude meal from last year’s corn they crushed between stones, corn that made life much easier through the winter seasons when game was scarce.
Eve looked at Cain with loving, affectionate eyes and a wonderfully tender expression. Cain was looking right at her but he seemed not to see her and his tight, angry expression remained the same. (2Cor. 4:4 keyword: blinded & 1John 2:11 keyword: darkness) Neither of them knew Satan stood between them and that Cain could not see his Mother’s tender, loving expression (Eph. 6:12) because the prince of darkness had blinded him.
Satan stepped aside when he saw Eve glance toward Abel’s retreating back as he left to go tend his sheep. The same loving, affectionate look was in her eyes and her face had the same wonderfully tender expression as she had when she looked at Cain. Satan carefully watched Cain’s expression when he saw his Mother’s look.
Cain’s eyes widened, his pupils dilated, then his eyebrows drew down in a frown, his eyelids became slits until his eyes were almost invisible and became points of light, his mouth turned down in a frown, he surged to his feet and stomped away toward his cornfield. Satan was pleased with the result of what he’d done.
In the process of time (Gen. 4:3-4) Adam and Eve had decided to establish a relationship to try to worship God. The Bible does not say how they did it or if God directed it so anything about it is conjecture. Surely it must have contained prayers, maybe even chants, surely there was a ritual and there must have been some type of offering to God.
Their sons had only their parent’s rememberings and rambling stories about a place called Eden and the God of Eden. They joined the worship services because it was expected of them. There really wasn’t anything else to do anyway. Then the special service happened.
Their parents told the boys to bring their own offering to the next worship. The boys talked it over. Cain was a bit sullen but at least they talked. They decided to bring what they owned, it was all they had. Cain carefully picked the best corn in his patch.
Able killed the very best sheep in his tiny flock by cutting its throat with his razor sharp flint knife. The sheep mutely stood there with a blank look on its little face while Able caught some of the gushing blood in a cleverly fashioned bark container.
Their parents had insisted the God of Eden put a special emphasis on blood because it represented life and the fat represented the fact the God of Eden had blessed them with an abundance. The mute, motionless sheep bled out and fell over proving that blood is life. If something bled enough it would die.
He quickly finished dressing the sheep’s carcass just like he had done to so many wild horses, fallow deer, wild ox, gazelle and the other animals they hunted; they planned to eat the meat after their worship service concluded. It was the first one they had ever killed out of Abel’s flock.
The service started with singing a chant while they softly pounded a section of hollow log with sticks. Then Cain ceremoniously got up, walked over to the pile of stones they had laid together to make an altar back when they had first started worshipping the God of Eden and he laid three of the best ears of corn from his field on the altar. Adam and Eve had both insisted three was a special number in Eden so it must be special here too.
After Cain was done Abel ceremoniously got up, walked to the altar and placed three small piles of fat close together on the opposite side of the alter from Cain’s corn. Then he took a small bark container that held some of the blood from his slaughtered sheep and lightly sprinkled the blood over his offering of fat.
When he returned to sit cross-legged on the cave floor like the rest of them he felt sorry for his brother because Cain had no blood to offer. Cain’s corn had sustained them for many years, especially in the lean times when the great cold came or when the hunting proved poor and they had eaten all their store of dried meat. But, well, it was a shame Cain had no blood to put on his offering. Sitting there waiting for the prayer to start Able shrugged his shoulders slightly and thought; “It’s not my fault corn don’t have blood.”
In the dim, flickering, fire dancing light of the cave the four of them presented a wild, barbaric picture of the Genesis (beginning) of man. They were tanned dark from the sun, sweaty, smelly, dirty, muscular, dressed in rough tanned skin clothing and their long hair was wild, tangled and disheveled. Cain saw the rest of them had their eyes closed waiting for Adam to begin praying so he closed his own eyes.
Adam led them in a chanting prayer while Eve softly, softly pecked on the hollow log with her stick. Adam asked the God of Eden to protect them, thanked and praised Him for their abundance and asked Him to speak to them so they would know He was with them. As far as they knew the God of Eden had never shown He was even aware they lived.
Suddenly they heard a very low rumble and what sounded like the crackle of far off lightening. Their eyes snapped open and they were shocked motionless at what they saw. A small cloud-like mist had materialized over their altar. Suddenly a thin blue flame shot out of the cloud, touched Abel’s offering and the offering was gone.
They were struck dumb. Frozen, they sat in absolute silence for several seconds, each second like a small eternity, then suddenly, as if they were controlled by one brain, they lunged to their feet and scrambled in a mad dash from the cave.
They huddled close together in the darkness. Their fire was in the cave and they were afraid to venture back into it to retrieve an ember to start a new one outside to hold the darkness at bay. They had their knives at their side but no spear, they too were in the cave. Adam’s was just inside the entrance but they dared not even stick an arm into the cave to clutch it.
They were afraid to even glance into the cave and they cautiously moved further around the hill. The God of Eden had finally visited them but He was too much, too frightening for them to process.
(Gen. 4:5) Time passed and they finally started talking in low whispers. Cain, in his shame, was coldly furious and he wanted to know why the God of Eden had not accepted his offering. They had no verbal answer but the other three had a dim idea; the blood, the blood, the blood, but they were afraid to say it. Adam advised Cain to go ask the God of Eden. After much discussion Cain agreed to do it, tomorrow, in the daylight, when the darkness was gone.
The other three went to the cornfield to eat raw corn from Cain’s cornfield. Their dried meat was stored in the cave and, well, they seemed to have a craving for raw corn this morning. Cain with much caution and hesitation hesitantly entered the cave. Nothing. He sat by the drum log, picked up a stick, gently pecked on the log and started repeating as much as he could remember of Adams prayer.
The vaporous cloud appeared above the altar, it was shot through with flickerings of lightening-like blue fire and there seemed to be murmurings of voices more like far, far away thunder.
Cain did have a bold courage, but this? Cain was scared out of his wits but he finally worked up the nerve to tremulously ask the God of Eden why he didn’t take his sacrifice. (Gen. 4:6-7) The God of Eden refused to tell him why, called him a sinful one and said he would rule over Abel and the God of Eden left the altar.
Satan had also been afraid to go into the cave, he had not been summoned and he dared not enter but he waited right outside. When Cain came out Satan walked with him and whispered into Cain’s thoughts and Cain thought they were his own; “I will rule over Able, the God of Eden said it. Maybe mine was the best sacrifice after all.” Satan kept on repeating it to Cain until the final day.
A few days later, early in the morning, the boys got together at Cain’s cornfield and went far on a hunt. A few hours later they rested in the shade on the side of a mountain. Cain tried to explain to Able the God of Eden had told him his sacrifice was the best one because it had not disappeared but Able insisted the blood was what mattered. They argued.
Finally Cane surged to his feet and shouted; “I’ll show you who rules, I’ll show you blood”. Innocently looking up Abel didn’t understand he was in danger. Cain violently swung his stone headed club, hit Abel square in the forehead and burst Abel’s skull, Able went into a paroxysm of convulsions then lay still; his blood trickled and bubbled out his ears, mouth and nose.