The issues of the Gospel are those of kingdoms and thrones, of doing God's will.

The almighty Word is: "Your Kingdom come. Your will be done in earth as it is performed in Heaven."

What throne do you serve?

Cain and Abel

Envy and rage. The first man born on the earth murdered the second. The motivation was envy.

Somehow Cain became aware that God was pleased with Abel's offering but not with his. Cain should have gone to the Lord and inquired as to why his offering was not satisfactory. Instead, the mountain of Bashan began to leap. Cain wanted the approval.

Whenever man seeks to force his own will instead of going to the Lord to find His will in the matter, Satan enters in—as he no doubt did here. Sin was crouching at the door, looking for an opportunity. He found it in Cain's envy and rage. The result was the murder of a totally innocent person. How many times have innocent people been murdered because of someone's envy and ambition!

How much better if Cain had shown love and trust toward the Lord (and toward his brother) and yielded to the Lord's judgment, determined to improve his relationship to God at the first opportunity.

But Satan will not permit such an attitude in those whom he controls. Satan has lost forever the opportunity to love and serve God. In his jealous rage he is determined no one else ever will love and serve God.

The mountains of Bashan have raged and exploded in their murderous envy for six thousand years.

Sacred and secular. The tragedy of Cain and Abel was in a religious setting. Men and women seek advantage in both secular and religious settings—there is no difference in the motives or the results.

All ambitious people, whether in the so-called secular or so-called sacred realm, seek bread (security in the world), pleasure (the kingdoms of the world), and to fly off the "gable of the Temple" of frustration and impotence at their will (personal glory and achievement). All sons of God are tested in the same three areas.

There exists in the world a delusion. The delusion is that the affairs of men, including government, can be divided into the sacred and the secular. A notable case is the attempt of the Constitution of the United States of America to separate the state from the church. This is folly and confusion.

People are both material and spiritual. Some people have eternal life because they are abiding in the Lord Jesus. Others are living in spiritual death. But this does not divide mankind into the secular and the sacred.

Some people belong to one religion or another, or one church or another. But this does not divide mankind into the secular and the sacred.

Some governments profess to be secular in philosophy. But this does not alter the fact that only the Lord Jesus is their lawful King and only God is their Creator and Father.

Church governments profess to be sacred in philosophy. But this does not change the fact that only the Lord Jesus is their lawful King and God is their Creator and Father.

To be continued.