Hi all,
Some final thoughts about the real issues with those who seek answers with COH and other formula based teachings.
Cain is the father of false religions: They are formulas used to try to reach God
In Genesis 4: 1-15 we have the story of Cain and Abel. Abel offered a blood sacrifice to the Lord, but Cain offered vegetables. The Lord God (Jehovah Elohim or Christ) who had breathed into Adam’s sculpted clay body to bring it to life, also killed the first animals for blood sacrifice. He clothed them with animal skin, showing them the day He would become a man and be the final sacrifice for sin. Genesis 3: 21
Abel and Cain were taught this of course. Cain however, rejected salvation and came to God on his own terms, offering some of the vegetables he had worked hard to grow. The Lord of course accepted Abel’s offering, but not Cain’s.
No one can come to God on their own works.
I’ve shared before how in the OT when in God’s presence a person had to remove their shoes as they were man-made. When building an altar they could not alter or work the stones in any way, but had to use them as they were found in the field. Exodus 3:5/Judges 5: 15; Exodus 20: 25/Dt 27:5
Abel accepted God’s grace, Cain did not. He tried to come to God of his own works, of his own formula.
Therefore Cain became the type of all false religions throughout all time, for they also seek to approach God through their own works, based on false teaching.
A born-again Christian may wonder about those who crawl up steps on their knees.
Or make shrines, repeat the same prayers over and over, make pilgrimages to holy sites, or washing in holy rivers, but there are many Christian teachings that do the same thing – try to reach God on their own formulations.
Christian formulas seeking to manipulate or impress God fall under the category of Cain.
How many of us have fasted to move God? (I’ve been guilty of that early on in my walk) How many have gone to that church service with ulterior motives like showing God how serious you are, to remind Him of a bill that needs paid this week or some other reason than just going to worship Him? How many have repeated declarations of faith just like a Roman Catholic might say seven ‘Hail Marys’?
How many have given money to get money? How many have given money to get healed? How many have gone to seminars looking for that one spiritual key that will unlock everything and make their life peaceful? How many have prayed to ask Him to appear to them?
Paul offered broad answers to specific questions
When we wonder if we are guilty of trying to come to the Father with sacrifices we have made, or formulas we have followed, we must look to our own hearts. You will know your motives.
In the first year Barb and I were married, I worked for a large TV ministry based in Charlotte, North Carolina. My weekly pay was about $111 after taxes. A popular teaching at the time was the ‘100 fold return’ teaching. In practical terms it meant if you give $10 to the Lord you could expect God to give you 100x that, or $1000.
We very briefly did that. Prayed over our tithe of $11, asking the Father and proclaiming, declaring, confessing, a 100 fold return. Immediately Barb and I felt grieved in our spirits but didn’t understand why.
She quickly pinpointed it:
“We used to give because we love the Lord and His work, but we changed our heart to give to get, and that is why the Holy Spirit is grieved.” We repented and returned to giving out of love, appreciation, to meet a need – giving ourselves first to the Lord with the motive of love.
The realm of the heart is the Lord’s, so only someone reading this will know if they did something for the Lord or unto the Lord out of any other motive than love.
In John 4: 23-24 Jesus said:
“The hour is coming and now is, where true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeks people like that to worship Him. God (Father) is a Spirit, and those who worship Him must do so in spirit and in truth.”
The word ‘worship’ is ‘proskuneo’. The word ‘pros’ means ‘toward’, and ‘kuneo’ is ‘to kiss’. Worship is literally then, a kiss to the Father. In that day a kiss was a sign of covenant, as it should be today.
Today we see friends greet one another with a kiss on the cheek. A husband and wife will kiss each other on the lips. In purest form, a kiss is an affirmation of a covenant between the two. It says they will not betray or hurt but will defend their relationship.
This is why Judas’ betrayal with a kiss…
…is so prominently documented in Matthew 26: 48-49, Mark 14: 44-45, and Luke 22: 48.
Worship is a kiss to the Father, but with conditions: They that worship (kiss towards Him signifying you are in covenant with Him) must do so in spirit and truth.
Spirit refers to your heart, not from your head, but from your innermost being, and truth refers to motives. No ulterior motives, no hidden agendas. Just express to the Father your pure love with no requests attached, give Him your affection, devotion, love – Jesus said the Father seeks such to worship Him.
Drop all formulas, walk with and get to know the Father, and pour out your love to Him purely.
New subject next week, until then,
Blessings,
John Fenn
