Vol. 1 Iss. 1

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INDEX: Main Article - Cain and Abel (Genesis 3:15, 4:1-17) Coloring Page Matching Atbash Unscramble Application From the Cover Story PICTURE: A single pillar, automatically tiled in the index box, represents "the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth." (1 Timothy 3:15)..

Cain and Abel (Genesis 3:15, 4:1-17)

Now when Adam and Eve sinned, they were not sent from the garden without hope. They were told that God would send someone who would save them from Satan. Adam and Eve were told that a special child would be born and grow up to be a man who would take away the sin. That means He would be their child or their child’s child or so on. No one knew how soon or how much later that special Person would be born.

It did not take too long until Eve was so excited. She gave birth to her first-born son. His name was Cain. In her excitement she said, “I have gotten a man from God.” They thought that the special Person that would save them from their sin was Cain. Then another male was born. Cain now had a brother called Abel.

As Cain and Abel were getting older, Abel grew up to be a shepherd who took care of sheep, but Cain worked the ground as a farmer and grew vegetables.

Now God required that when a sin was committed that a certain animal was to be sacrificed for the penalty of that sin - something had to die for that sin. Instead of it being the one who sinned, God substituted a special animal and most often it was a lamb. This animal was an example of that special Person that would someday be born to save all from sin. He would die instead of us.

Now Abel obeyed God and brought a lamb from his flock and sacrificed it. And God was pleased and accepted Abel’s offering. Cain however, did not like sacrificing an animal and thought to change it, but God called it disobedience. Cain did not do what God asked him to do. Instead of a lamb, Cain used vegetables. God was not pleased and did not accept Cain’s offering. This made Cain very angry, and he stopped smiling.

And God said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why have you lost your smile? If you do as I tell you, your offering will be accepted. And if you do not, a great sin will occur.”

And Cain talked with Abel his brother. And as they were walking along one day, Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.

Not long after that the LORD said unto Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” Now God knows everything. God was asking Cain to allow him to tell the truth about doing this very bad thing.

But Cain said, “I don’t know. Am I responsible for my brother?”

And God said, “What have you done? Now you are cursed from the earth for slaying your brother. When you work the ground, it shall no longer grow vegetables easily. You will have to work extra hard. And you will always be running away and be sad.”

And Cain said to God, “My punishment is greater than I can handle!”

And Cain left the presence of God, and went to the land of Nod, which was on the east of Eden. There, Cain married a woman. By this time Adam and Eve had a lot of children.

PARENTS: Young children love repetition and so they will love to hear this story over and over again. We did our best to include something for all ages so where necessary, please assist your child or adjust it to make it more their level.

Genesis 4:3-4 “And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering.”

MATCHING

___ 1. Abel ___ 2. Cain ___ 3. Vegetables ___ 4. Lambs ___ 5. Farmer ___ 6. Shepherd ___ 7. Smile

A. What Abel was B. What Cain lost C. The second son of Adam and Eve D. The first son of Adam and Eve E. What Cain grew F. What Abel raised G. What Cain was

[Answers to March 2001 matching: 1=F, 2=D, 3=A, 4=B, 5=G, 6=C, 7=E]

ATBASH

Z Y X	Z X Z W	V Y U T	U S U	R Q P	T Q N U;
__ __ __	__ __ __ __	__ __ __ __	__ __ __	__ __ __	__ __ __ __
.
.
Z Y X	P R U	M L Y M U Q S U X,		Z Y X	K Z J U
__ __ __	__ __ __	__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __		__ __ __	__ __ __ __
.
.
M Z Q Y,	Z Y X	P Z Q X,	Q	R Z S U	H L G G U Y
__ __ __ __,	__ __ __	__ __ __ __,	__	__ __ __ __	__ __ __ __ __ __
.
.
Z	W Z Y	N J L W	G R U	F L J X.
__	__ __ __	__ __ __ __	__ __ __	__ __ __ __.

[Answers to March 2001 cryptic: Each letter in the puzzle stood the place of a real letter as follows: Z=A, Y=N, X=D, W=I, V=W, U=L, T=P, S=U, R=T, Q=E, P=M, N=Y, M=B, L=H, K=O, J=S, H=R. The Bible verse was: Genesis 3:15, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”]

UNSCRAMBLE

Rearrange the letters in the following words to reveal the Bible word. (Hint - the words are from the verses in the cover story.)

A N C I	E E A C C D P T	A A B D G N O V	R E E E K P
__ __ __ __	__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __	__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __	__ __ __ __ __ __
.
.
C E E P R S T	C F K L O	I F T R U	E L S W
__ __ __ __ __ __ __	__ __ __ __ __	__ __ __ __ __	__ __ __ __
.
.
E T O R R B H	F E G I N O R F	E E H P S	D U G O N R
__ __ __ __ __ __ __	__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __	__ __ __ __ __	__ __ __ __ __ __
.
.
E D F I L	E F G I I T U V	L E I L R T	E A L B
__ __ __ __ __	__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __	__ __ __ __ __ __	__ __ __ __

[Answers to March 2001 unscramble: Row 1 - SERPENT, SWORD, NAKED; Row 2 - MOTHER, THISTLES, SWEAT; Row 3 - BELLY, SORROW, HERB; Row 4 - SKINS, ENMITY, FRUIT.]

APPLICATIONS FROM THE COVER STORY

The excitement that Eve had in baring a child should be the excitement for all of us in regards to life. Every animal, fish, or person is precious for God alone is able to create and sustain life.

Cain and Abel had chores. Abel took care of the sheep and Cain did some farming. Each child today should also have chores. Even at the age of 2 or so, a child can assist in cleaning up the toys. Additional chores should be added as the child grows. This teaches responsibility and avoids one of the root causes of sin - idleness.

With Abel obeying, God was well pleased. Moms and dads are well pleased when a child obeys. It makes for a happy home. On the other hand, Cain disobeyed, making for an unhappy place to live. This displeases parents as well as God. Now disobedience left to grow will fester into a larger and larger sin. Abel did nothing wrong, but since Abel was not disobeying, it caused Cain to really look bad. Now instead of choosing to obey, which was the correct thing that Cain should have done, Cain chose to remove what was making him look bad. This just caused a greater and more serious sin to occur.

Then when God questioned Cain to the whereabouts of Abel, Cain lied to God. He in essence said, “I don’t know where Abel is”, when in fact he knew where he was and what had happened to him. A child should not be allowed to answer with “I don’t know” and should realize that such an answer is a lie if they truly do know.

Then when God gave Cain his punishment, he blamed God for being so severe when in fact, Cain chose to be punished by disobeying. A child should be made to realize that a punishment from a parent is not something arbitrary but rather is a result of the child’s disobedience. In other words, a child should be made aware that all may be happy, be able to do things, go places, but the act of disobedience on the child’s part causes the loss of those things. Timeout causes less time to play. Removing an object that was used as a weapon or to damage something is not the result of the parent being arbitrary but is the result of the child’s misuse of the object. A child left to think that their punishment is because of the parent is to have a child grow up resenting the parent.

And all children’s attention from infancy upwards should be directed to the reality that God is watching and looking for obedient children to please Him.

Vol. 1 Iss. 1

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