The Battle for the Priesthood

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What is virtually overlooked in the story of Cain and Abel in the fourth chapter of Genesis is the fact that they were both offering a sacrifice, and in the Bible, only priests were authorized to do so. Secondly, unless circumstances prevented it, it was always the firstborn son that was given this dignity. Inasmuch as we understand that Eve was the mother of both Cain and Abel, it is obvious that Cain was the firstborn of the serpent (i.e., Satan), and that Abel was the firstborn of Adam.

Because it is a subject of such great magnitude, we must prioritize our investigation of it with an eye on the subject at hand. It may come as a surprise to many of you, the symbol of the Shepherd Kings is the Sphinx and the first Shepherd King was Adam. The priesthood was called the Order of Melchizedek. Howard B. Rand, in Destiny magazine, October, 1962 wrote an article “Enoch’s Mission and Shem’s Responsibility” (1962 Destiny yearbook pp. 201-204). Now quoting in part:

Order of Melchizedek. When Shem with his followers came out of Egypt, they founded at Jerusalem the city destined to become the City of David and also the capitol of the Kingdom of God when Jesus Christ, who is of the Order of Melchizedek, returns to rule as King of kings and Lord of lords.

The priestly Order of Melchizedek began with Adam, and the Preachers of Righteousness from Adam to Noah were of this Order. Noah is recorded as the eighth Preacher of Righteousness in 2 Peter 2:5. The fifth chapter of Genesis begins, ‘This is the book of the generations of Adam’, and no one of the line of Cain is recorded there. As stated in Primogenesis:

Noah was the tenth in generation. The reason he was but the eighth in priestly line was because Enoch was translated before his father died and did not come to the priestly office (Genesis 5:24). Methuselah, the son of Enoch, took the office directly from his grandfather Jared, the father of Enoch. Methuselah, in turn, outlived his son Lamech, so the office passed directly to his grandson, Noah, the son of Lamech (Gen. 5:27). Noah, therefore, became the eighth Preacher of Righteousness, though the tenth in generation, because these two, Enoch and Lamech, never succeeded to the priestly office’.” (Primogenesis, p. 44)

This would make the Melchizedek priesthood succession from Adam downward to Noah thus: (1) Abel, (2) Seth, (3) Enos, (4) Cainan (5) Mahalaleel, (6) Jared, (7) Methuselah, and (8) Noah. [Note: I rate Rand only about 50%, but where he is right, he’s outstanding! Back to Rand:]

In this line of Preachers of Righteousness, Shem, Noah’s son, became the ninth. As stated in Primogenesis:

The Order of Melchizedek, in its earthly representation, began with Adam as the first Preacher of Righteousness. Noah was the eighth and Shem the ninth’ ... ‘So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee. As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek’ (Hebrews 5:5-6).

In His ministry, He was a Prophet; in His atonement, He was a Priest. When He returns, He is to be King. Thus, in the Order of Melchizedek, He is Prophet, Priest and King’ (Primogenesis pp. 66-67).

Order of Master Shepherds. The Bible also records a line of master shepherds beginning with these Preachers of Righteousness, who wore the shepherd’s garb as the insignia of office. From Abraham to John the Baptist, in each generation there were those who were members of this ancient and honorable Order. Then Jesus Christ associated Himself with the office, becoming the Grand Master of the Order of Master Shepherds: ‘I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep’ (John 10:14-15).”

!! ADAM WAS NOT CAIN’S FATHER !!

All one need do to verify this significant Biblical fact is to turn to Jude 14, which states: “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these saying, ‘Behold Yahshua cometh with ten thousands of his saints’.”

Then, if you will turn to both Genesis 5:1-18 and Luke 3:37-38, and count from Adam to Enoch, you can clearly see there are only six listed. Jude didn’t make a mistake when he pointed to Enoch as being the seventh from Adam, for he was including [prophet & Master Shepherd] Abel in his calculations (Hebrews 11:4). It should be noted that Jude didn’t say the seventh “generation” from Adam for Enoch was the sixth in that category. Many commentaries agree on this point, but how can this be?

If Abel is included, a proper list would then be thus: (1) Abel, (2) Seth, (3) Enos, (4) Cainan (5) Mahalaleel, (6) Jared, and, (7) Enoch. It should be noted that both the Genesis and Luke accounts have a missing man, which can only be filled with Abel. Should one try to force Cain into Adam’s genealogy, Enoch would then be the eighth from Adam! At this juncture, one has only one choice of two: Cain or Abel. To exclude both Abel and Cain is also damning, for it makes Enoch the sixth from Adam. Some will argue that one should start counting with Adam as number one, but the Greek doesn’t support that idea. Wittingly or unwittingly, the antichrist, anti-seedliners have chosen Cain to fill that spot, for they spuriously claim Cain was Adam’s authentic son. A second witness to the fact that Abel should be listed as the missing man is Genesis 4:25 which says: “And Adam knew his wife [yet] again (not again and again, #5750 Gesenius’); and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For Elohim, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead (in the place) of Abel, whom Cain slew.” If, as some claim, Cain was kicked out of the family for murdering Abel, Seth would have been a replacement for Cain, not Abel. Evidently, the anti-seedliners have a problem counting to seven, so we will clear that up!

Matthew 23:35 indicates that Abel was among the “righteous.” Abel was righteous for the same reason as Noah: he was perfect in his genealogy (generations). At this point, it might be well to quote again the Targum of Jonathan on Genesis 4:1: “And Adam knew his wife Eve, who was pregnant by the Angel Sammael, and she conceived and bare Cain; and he was like the heavenly beings, and not like earthly beings, and she said, I have acquired a man, the Angel of the Lord.”

In verses 3 & 4, we are told that both Cain and Abel brought offerings unto Yahweh, and that there was respect for Abel’s but no respect for Cain’s. Now only a priest can offer a sacrifice, so both Cain and Abel were priests. Therefore, Abel was the firstborn of Adam and Cain was the firstborn of Satan. Abel’s sacrifice was accepted of Yhwh, not because he was the first born of Eve, but because he was the firstborn of Eve by Adam. When we get that straightened out in our minds, we can comprehend that Enoch was the seventh priest from Adam. Abel was priest #1 from Adam; Seth was priest #2 from Adam (as a replacement for Abel); Enos was priest #3 from Adam; Cainan was priest #4 from Adam; Mahalaleel was priest #5 from Adam; Jared was priest #6 from Adam; and, Enoch was priest #7 from Adam. As for Cain: he was the firstborn priest of Satan birthed by Eve. Now there were many more sons born to all these patriarchs between Adam and Enoch, but only the first sons were born to the priesthood, except Seth who was a substitute in place of Abel.

Let’s look at this differently: First, to count Enoch the “seventh from Adam” () is an ambiguous statement, since each male in the list “begat sons and daughters”, this means Enoch is but the sixth generation and not even close to being the seventh male from Adam. Again, Enoch is the sixth generation of his own line, and other unmentioned lines may have even more than that. Jude can only mean that Enoch is the seventh high priest from Adam, since only a firstborn son is a family priest. If Cain were Adam’s son, Cain’s line would have the family priesthood by Law, regardless of Cain’s actions. Had Adam been Cain’s genetic father, the priesthood would have followed from Adam to Cain Enoch Irad Mehujael Methusael Lamech Jabal! Instead, this is the lineal high-priesthood of Satan! Had Cain been removed from the priesthood for murdering Abel, then the Enoch of Cain’s line should have been the priest “appointed” instead of Seth, and after that all his lineal firstborn descendants. Had Abel been the second born of Adam, Abel would never have offered a sacrifice, for Cain would have offered it for him. When we fully grasp the line of the priesthood, then we can understand the significance of both Cain and Abel seeking to offer up a sacrifice.

EVE WAS IN THE TRANSGRESSION

1 Timothy 2:14: “And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.”

Some commentaries make the argument that the deception was a matter of relativity – that both Adam and Eve were deceived and were in the transgression, but that Eve’s deception was more extensive than Adam’s. However, the Greek doesn’t support that opinion, and one must read into the text something that isn’t there. The Greek simply states that “Eve was deceived and in the transgression” [PERIOD].

The word “transgression” in the Greek requires an act, rather than only a mental seduction as the anti-seedliners claim. The word for “transgression” in 1 Timothy 2:14 is #3847 in Strong’s, and is the Greek word parabasis: to transgress, wrongdoing, lawbreaking. In other words, there must be something to transgress before there can be a transgression. If Eve’s “transgression” was a thought crime, as the anti-seedliners allege, then we’re all in trouble! The progression of sin is explained at James 1:14-15:

14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”

NOAH, 8TH PREACHER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

At 2 Peter 2:5 we read: “... And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly ...”

Many confuse this verse with the eight people who were on Noah’s ark. Rather, at this passage we have encountered another occasion where the Melchizedek priesthood is counted from Adam. Don’t let anyone ever try to make you believe that 2 Peter 2:5 is speaking of the “eight people” on Noah’s ark! Adam Clarke errantly claims that (vol.6, p. 516), but he is wrong! Rather, that is found at 1 Peter 3:20. The “eight souls were saved by water” at 1 Peter 3:20 has absolutely nothing to do with “the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness” at 2 Peter 2:5! Jamieson, Fausset & Brown in their Commentary, (vol. 6, p. 623) do a little better, stating: “eighthi.e., Noah and seven others ...” This is still incorrect, as 2 Peter 2:5 reads: “... Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness ...” There’s a lot of difference between “... Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness ...” and “... Noah and seven others ...”, for who are “the others”? Jamieson, Fausset & Brown goes on to state: “... Contrasted with the densely peopled ‘world of the ungodly ...”, so they err by not stressing “... a preacher of righteousness ...”

But this is not all of the story, as we need to read verse 4 in addition to 2 Peter 2:5, which states: “For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment ...”

Rand comments on this in his Primogenesis, pp. 45-46:

In the Book of Enoch it is stated that angels, the children of heaven, saw the daughters of men and observed that they were fair, so they married whomsoever they pleased. It is stated also that in the days of Jared, two hundred angels descended for this purpose. The name, Jared, means to descend. The children of these forbidden unions were great giants and this is the origin of the stories of giants which have come down to us in the folklore of the race.

Moreover, the Book of Enoch speaks of the secrets, powers and practices learned by men taught of angels, which resulted in great violence and sin. Peter was making reference to this irruption of angels in the time of Noah, and the consequences, when he said, ‘God spared not the angels that sinned’ (II Peter 2:4-5). Jude also refers to this time when he speaks of ‘the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation’ (Jude 6).

Whether or not men will believe it, the Bible teaches that demons do exist. It declares they are disembodied spirits and the evidence points to the fact that they are the spirits of those antediluvians whose mothers were mortal but whose fathers were immortal, whose bodies were destroyed in the Deluge in the days of Noah. If this is true, it accounts for the restlessness of these disembodied spirits seeking to be clothed.”

Few there are who notice that the reason Noah and his three sons and their wives were spared is because they were perfect in their genealogy. There wasn’t a half-breed among them! Paul warned at Acts 15:20 and 1 Thess. 4:3 that we should avoid all pollutions of idols and unclean fornication (interracial sexual intercourse).

Acts 15:20: But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.”

1 Thess. 4:3: For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication.”

Among the holiness movements they usually refer to sanctification as a second work of grace. But I believe it is so important to guard one’s racial purity that it should be considered a first work of grace. What Paul was trying to warn the Thessalonians about was: So your offspring will be born Holy, don’t perpetrate any race-mixing. Today we see a lot of unclean, unholy children coming into the world, and they are nothing more than sewer-creatures. One either has Holy seed or nothing! Ezra speaks of holy seed” at 9:2: For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass.”

Holy, clean seed was important to Ezra during his day, and it is still just as important in our day. Though the majority seem to be following Satan’s agenda for interracial multiculturalism, there is an even greater need for followers of Yahweh’s program for segregation! At the moment, Satan seems to be winning his cause, but in the end he and his fallen will lose. Meanwhile we must not give up the fight. This war between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman has been going on now for nearly 7,500 years and will soon end with the defeat of satanic-Canaanites and their father!

Clifton L. Fowler, in his The Angels That Sinned, pp. 9-10, written in 1929 commented on this subject thusly:

The foregoing verses evidently set forth a terrible condition of sin, out of which God judged the great multitude of participants and delivered Noah. The participants in the awful sin which God here condemns are revealed to be two classes – ‘the angels,’ and the inhabitants of ‘the old world.’ This instantly arrests the attention of the student of God’s Word, causing a vitally important question immediately to present itself. The question is, ‘How can angels and human beings sin together?’ But the Spirit of God does not here see fit to answer the question, but is content to present the simple fact that the judgment of God took in all who were guilty – ‘spared not the angels,’ and ‘spared not the old world.’ Furthermore, we are informed as to the character of the judgment which a wise judge meted out upon both of the classes who had taken part in this sin – the angels are ‘delivered into chains of darkness’ and the judgment on mankind is declared in the words ‘bringing the flood upon the world of the ungodly.’

Could [a] Scripture statement be more satisfyingly clear? The passages from Peter’s writings which we have been considering show that angelic beings and human beings went into a partnership of iniquity, that God judged them both for their shameful deeds, and that this unthinkable sin against God took place in the days of Noah; but by faith Noah refused to participate, and being warned of God of the impending flood, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, (Hebrew 11:7) ...”

What we don’t know about Cain and Abel is at what age they became full grown men, and would have become responsible for their own actions. Today, we consider such a man should be twenty or twenty-one. With the Patriarchs living to their 900s (give or take), it might have been more like 150 or 200 years. For example, according to the Septuagint, Mahalaleel was born when Cainan was 170 years old. Yet in Scripture, it is required that a candidate for priest be at least 30 years old.

Whatever the age Cain and Abel were when they made their separate sacrifices, it appears from Scripture to be simultaneous, suggesting they were fraternal twins, and had arrived at a priestly age at the same time. It is obvious that even then it was known that a blood sacrifice represented the promise of a Redeemer to come, and Cain being born of Eve by Satan was naturally repulsed at such an idea so he deliberately offered a bloodless sacrifice, tantamount to denying Christ, even then. All we are told at Gen. 4:4-5 in part is: “... And Yahweh had respect unto Abel and to his offering: But unto Cain and his offering he had no respect ...” Whether it was Cain’s mamzer status that was unsatisfactory or his bloodless sacrifice we are not told, but it was something very serious; maybe both!

At Gen. 4:3, it states in part: “And in the process of time it came to pass”, and we are not informed how much time elapsed from the births of Cain and Abel until they assumed the role as priests and presented their dissimilar sacrifices before Yahweh. We are given a clue, though, as to the period of the year when all of this happened, as it must have to have occurred during the season when many of the vegetables were ripening. If in the northern hemisphere, the most likely period would compare with our July 15th until September 15th. Inasmuch as Adam was the first priest of the Order of Melchizedek, no doubt Cain and Abel learned the necessity for a sacrifice from him and Eve.

It is only when we consider Heb. 11:4 that we can come to a fitting conclusion to the matter which states:

By faith Abel offered unto Yahweh a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.”

Today, our most important task is to identify the seed of the woman (i.e., we Israelites) vs. the seed of the serpent (i.e., Cain and his descendants)! Until we do this, we will continue our descent into oblivion!