THE MARK OF CAIN
Sakkie Parsons
Someone writes to me and asks me if I know what the mark of Cain was and then said that she had heard it was the colour of his skin and that all his descendants also had that skin colour to this day.
Sometimes when I hear what people are trying to get out of the Word to match their prejudices or disapproval, I could smile if it wasn’t that I realize they are placing, so to say, words in God Almighty's mouth, which He did not say at all.
They actually say: “Thus says the Lord …” when our Lord has never said so – and in this way they are the classic example of a false prophet.
You see – I must not be led by my own philosophies and ideas or feelings how I preach the Gospel.
I must be led by the Holy Spirit.
Let's first read what the Word says about the mark that our Lord gave to Cain:
GEN 4:15 Then the LORD said to him, "Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold." And the LORD put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him.
With a smile – If that were the case what you’ve just read, I would almost wish that I also had the mark of Cain because we read, and I quote from the Amplified:
GEN 4:15 And the Lord said to him, Therefor, if anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark or sign upon Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him.
However, to get serious again – One thing is very clear here – The Word does not say what the mark was that our Lord put on Cain.
There are unfortunately people, usually people who look down on other people who do not have the same colour as theirs, who then proclaim that the mark our Lord gave to Cain was the colour of his skin and then they made the mark to Cain the skin colour which of course is not their skin colour.
Then they also want to convince other people that they received this revelation from our Lord, that the colour of his skin was the mark given to Cain.
These people are so full of contempt and hatred, and some of them are intelligent people who, under normal circumstances, would see the obvious – but with hatred and contempt in their hearts, which of course should not be found in a follower of Jesus towards other people, they do not see the obvious.
As we read in the Word of such people:
MAT 13:14 Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: "'You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.
The Amplified reads as follows:
MAT 13:14 In them indeed is the process of fulfilment of the prophecy of Isaiah, which says: You shall indeed hear and hear but never grasp and understand; and you shall indeed look and look but never see and perceive.
They look and look and see not and when you talk to them, they listen and listen but ultimately hear nothing but what they want, because they want to believe that way.
The first obvious from the Word about the sign to Cain is that:
The sign that our Lord gave to Cain – according to the Word as you have read – He gave only to Cain.
For this reason – It is he, and only he who killed his brother.
But supposing we could prove from the Word (which we cannot) that our Lord had given that sign to all Cain's descendants, even though they never even knew Abel, and let me speak for a moment like a fool and say that the mark on Cain was the colour of his skin.. Let me go on in this foolish way of speaking and say, this mark, the colour of Cain's skin, was also given to his descendants… Let me go from foolishness to insanity and say that all those today that do not have the same colour as I have, is proof that they are the descendants of Cain.
Let me now show you how absolutely ridiculous this foolish reasoning is if someone is not led by his or her own satan driven prejudices or disapproval, but with your common sense under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, look what the Word says –
Then we realized that the Word had given the mark only to Cain and that the Word did not tell us what the mark/sign was.
Then – and how obvious it is if you think about it – Should the mark/sign had been the colour of his skin and had been given also to his descendants, then all the people who had that mark/sign would have died when the world was under water. For only Noah and his family were in the ark:
GEN 7:11-13; 21,22
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened.
12 And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
13 On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah's wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark,
21 And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind.
22 Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died.
1 PE 3:20 because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.
But you know, even if in one way or another, two or more of Cain's descendants could go unnoticed in the ark and then again unnoticed could come out of it – and even if Cain's mark had been on them and even if that mark would have been the colour of their skin and all their descendants would have carried that mark/sign – How wonderful and praise the Name of our Great Loving God for it!
Jesus did not hang on the cross and sacrificed Himself for a particular so-called race with some particular skin colour!
Jesus did hang on to the cross and offered Himself for one race – and that's the whole human race – regardless of what my skin colour is.
We read:
JOH 3:16 "For God so loved the world,(all people, regardless their colour or language) that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
JOH 3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world (all people who receive Jesus as their Lord and Saviour) might be saved through him.
How wonderful to know:
JOH 1:12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his Name, he gave the right to become children of God,
Therefore, together all children of our Lord can rejoice:REV 5:9 And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation,
To summarize:
We do not know what the mark of Cain was because the Word does not tell us what the mark was, but we do know that the Word clearly states that the sign has been given to Cain only.
Nowhere in the Word is something that you can maybe use to suggest or to proclaim that our Lord also gave the sign to his descendants.
Whosoever proclaims something like that, proclaim something that is not found in the Word, and it is then a false lie proclaimed by someone who is a false evangelist or whatever he/she wants to call themselves.
Come, let you and I proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ, – as He gave us the command to do – and make disciples of Jesus, regardless of their gender, language group or nation.
MAT 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
MAT 28:20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
So that, with Jesus's love, we have this glorious knowledge in us:
ROM 8:29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
If someone has read this and you cannot find it in your heart to feel the way you have just read towards someone who is not of the same nation or colour as you are, I would ask you to make it a serious matter of prayer – to look past someone's colour or the nation you belong to, and see only the person.
Because there are many people of other nations and colours that are children of our Lord and the Word says very clearly that if you cannot love them, you cannot love our Lord:
1 JOHN 4:19-21
19 We love because he first loved us.
20 If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.
21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
I say again what I’ve said in the past and unfortunately some people hate me for this:
Someone that looks to another with hatred and aversion simply because that person does not belong to your nation of colour group, literally has a problem that can lead them to everlasting hell. We must always remember there are people who are children of our Lord who do not necessarily speak my language or have my skin colour. The Word says:
1 JOH 3:13-15
13 Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you.
14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.
15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
Therefor – if I have any bad feelings towards others, I have to work really hard to get it out of my system.
I need to be on guard and careful not to believe everything I read or hear – but to test it to the Word of our Lord – and then to believe and live His Word.
Greetings,
Sakkie