I was questioning a young man recently about something I was concerned about and suspected he had done and his response was a flippant “I don’t know.” “I don’t know” is the most common way of avoiding a question we don’t want to answer especially if it could get us into trouble, but it’s the wrong way to get out of danger. The quickest way out of spiritual danger is to own up to the sin, but human nature fights for all its might to not get found out. It’s not church attendance, nor confession, nor niceness that leads to eternal salvation; it’s the sacrifice of this stubborn resistance.

There are two ways of saying “I don’t know” … genuinely or flippantly. The first person in the bible who spoke those words was Cain. Since then, everybody on the planet has uttered those words in some form of moodiness when they don’t want to answer the question thrown at them.

If a person never comes to terms with their true heart by seeing these words as a revelation of their inner pride and resistance to being told what to do, they will always remain in the ancestral line of Cain. The second Adam is of the lineage of David and that’s the only way to eternal salvation, but to swap lineage requires a re-birth experience at the intersection of your pride.

You like Abel more than me

This is pretty much was Cain was saying from his heart … “I was first, why does Abel get the recognition and not me”? “Why does he get the deal and not me?” & “You like Abel more than me”, & “what’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with my sacrifice? It’s not fair! ”

These are the words and thoughts of a man who can only see what’s in his own best interests. These are the words of a man who’s let himself have a mood of rejection instead of thanking God for loving and blessing his brother.

These are the words of a man who disrespects authority in his heart but pretends to be obedient on the outside. What a rude way to address the Almighty Creator?

Wallowing in rejection is just a way of blaming someone for not liking you in the way you expect or demand. It’s a mood, and it’s selfish and it’s prideful and it’s unthankful.

Basically, this is the heart of a man who is in touch with God, even talking with God, but who is God-less. It wasn’t the quality of the sacrifice that was the problem; it was the heart of the man that God brought to question, 1 John 3:12.

How do you know whether you are operating in the spirit of Cain or Abel?

Unless you’re dead, you can’t diagnose yourself. Correction is the point of diagnosis. Correction is the point of death to self. Correction is good to a Christian. In fact, it’s vital and life-saving; it stops us going further in the wrong direction. But to a false Christian, correction is a put-down. You’re reaction to correction will determine whether you’re on David’s path or Saul’s.

It was at the point of correction that Cain chose the path of resistance; up to that point Cain could well have been Abel. There was no sign of remorse or repentance, just a complaint to God that He was being too harsh in His correction. If a person doesn’t stop at the point of correction and humble himself, then the lying spirit that occupies him will now take more control over his will.

“I don’t know” puts you under the curse Genesis 4:11

The Word of God declares in 1 John that if you regard yourself above your brother you’re a murderer. You don’t have to carry out the deed to be a murderer you only have to envy your brother.

Cain’s envy swelled into physical murder. When God asked … “where’s your brother?” Cain lied … “I don’t know”. “It’s not my responsibility”. Cain’s envy had exposed him to the influence of a lying demonic spirit and his refusal to own his sin locked him in to that demon’s control.

The “I don’t know” technique is simply a way of telling someone that you are not going to do what they tell you in a way that doesn’t get you into trouble because they can’t correct you if they’re not sure that you have done it. It’s simply a way of saying … “mind your own business”.

Like Judas, most people will lie to protect themselves and only tell the truth when they are pushed into a corner after they have been exposed. It’s what you choose to do at that intersection that will free you or bind you. Sadly, the majority are so proud they can’t see that they just fatally hanged themselves spiritually.

Tired of being corrected

Anyone who murmurs at being corrected, especially murmurs at being corrected again and again, is proud and is simply saying “don’t tell me.”

When Samuel corrected Saul a second time, Saul’s response was … “I’ve done everything you’ve asked me to do, and you’re still saying it’s not good enough.” What Saul is really saying is … “don’t tell me I’m wrong, it makes me look bad, and it’s wrong and embarrassing to do it in public.”

The sin is not the intersection; correction is the intersection. At the point of correction you choose your path … the path of resistance or the path of submission.

Why do people automatically choose the path of Cain?

The heart of man is evil, not good. Man hates being told what to do; man hates being told he’s wrong. Correction is the intersection of choosing to change the quality of your heart from evil to good. People act and pretend they are Abel but when it comes to correction and persecution they prove they are Cain. Evil seems to get away with murder whereas the righteous get murdered. When it comes to the crunch, if you walk the path of Christ, Cain will envy you and Cain will try and kill you and people don’t want that path; it’s easier to make believe that you are on the Abel path and be nice so you avoid the Cain reactions against you. People act like Abel on the outside but on the inside they love the path of Cain because it’s the path of demanding fairness and justice from their point of view, and it feels right to the selfish heart. People love to envy their brother; it’s much more rewarding to the selfish heart than being blamed and attacked by your brother for simply liking God.

The rise of Al-Qaida and Islamic State

Ishmael was the first born son of Abram, but he was not the son of the covenant promise. He too murmured about the injustice of his rejection and came under the influence of the spirit that controlled Cain. Instead of humbling himself and accepting the lot God had given him, he chose the path of resistance and propagated the spirit that controls Islam today. Islam is not a religion of love but a religion of envy born out of the wounded spirit of a son who didn’t get the fair deal he demanded and constantly envious of the western world’s prosperity and freedoms which was built on the Christian ethics born from the lineage of Isaac.

Consequently, it’s the religion of ant-Christ. Islam puts on a nice face but its heart is anti-Christ. It justifies its stance based on the hypocrisy of the western church, but using other people’s hypocrisy as an excuse to resist God is just another way of saying “don’t tell me what to do. I’ll do it my way.”

There’s nothing stopping anyone reading the Bible for themselves and discovering the one true God. If you use someone else’s hypocrisy as an excuse you’re really just lying about wanting to find God. You’re really saying … “I don’t want to be told how to run my life.”

The true heart of man prefers the path of Cain & standing up for yourself when you’ve been dealt an injustice, but acts like Abel so it looks good to people and avoids hassles. You can wake up to this fact and humble yourself to bend to the path God has chosen for you or you can resist God and demand the path you want and think you deserve. It’s your call and blaming anyone for your situation will simply reinforce the Cain spirit in your life.

The intersection for salvation is not the sin, it’s the ability to take correction for the sin. David did; Saul didn’t, he preferred to look good in the eyes of the people.

Dr. Walter Wynham