A House Divided
On an early June morning in 1862, two brothers from Scotland were fighting for their lives and adopted homeland on a South Carolina battlefield. They had come to America less than two decades prior, and each had come to love his new homeland. Shockingly, Alexander and James Campbell, were fighting on opposite sides of the Civil War conflict. The two brothers made the transatlantic crossing together from their native Scotland to make America their new home. Yet, while Alexander remained in New York, Joseph, became a stone mason in Charleston, South Carolina. When the fighting broke out between the states, Alexander joined New York’s 79th Highlander Infantry Regiment while James enlisted into the 1st South Carolina Battalion. Each knew the other had joined the enemy cause because they corresponded with one another throughout the war. Eventually, Alex and the 79th New York landed on James Island, South Carolina, just outside of Charleston. The Union Army was attempting to make South Carolina pay for its rebellion and the attack on Fort Sumter the previous year. During this skirmish Union troops captured a Confederate soldier who told Alexander that his brother was operating in the same area with the Federal Army. It wasn’t until after the battle of Secessionville that the brothers learned the horrifying truth. Alexander wrote: “I was astonished to hear from the prisoners that you was colour Bearer of the Regmt that assaulted the Battrey at this point the other day…. I was in the Brest work during the whole engagement doing my Best to Beat you but I hope that You and I will never again meet face to face Bitter enemies on the Battlefield. But if such should be the case You have but to discharge your deauty to Your caus for I can assure you I will strive to discharge my deauty to my country & my cause.” Though the brothers were never engaged in dramatic mortal combat at Secessionville, it was the closest they would ever come. Following the battle, the Union Army returned north, in which Alexander was wounded in the Battle of Chantilly, Virginia. Brother James was captured at the 1863 Battle of Fort Wagner, South Carolina and sent to a federal prison, where he sat out the rest of the war in squalid conditions. The two continued their correspondence throughout James’ incarceration as a rebel soldier.
Scripture states in Matthew 10:21-22 that Brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child; and children will take a stand against their parents and will have them put to death. And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake, but he who perseveres and endures to the end will be saved [from spiritual disease and death in the world to come]. In this passage Jesus describes another battlefield in which He gives instructions to His 12 disciples preparing them for the adversity that they were about to encounter. What’s interesting though is that His discourse moves beyond the present and into the future as He prophesies Last Days events. Jesus prophetic vantage point saw that from the birthing of Adam and Eve’s children a battle had begun long ago between father, mother, and brothers culminating in a final, Last Days battle that revealed the true motive of their hatred. That motive begins to be unveiled in Genesis 4 as it records the birthing of twin brothers – Cain and Abel. Cain was a farmer and Abel a shepherd. Physically they were twins but spiritually they were polar opposites. Cain sought to obey God half-heartedly, offering to God something that was to be “sacrificial” – but was anything but. Abel on the other hand brought to God his “first fruits” – his very best sacrifice – and it was pleasing to God. His brother Cain was none too happy with God’s disapproval being outdone by his younger, twin brother. As the animosity seethed inside of him it quickly evolved into premeditated murder. Who knows what drove Cain to silence the testimony of truth and righteousness reflected in his sibling. Was it that Cain couldn’t stand the sight of seeing what he did not want to be? Was it that when he saw his own face reflected in his brothers that he was reminded of his failure? We will never know. Suffice it to say Abel became history’s first martyr. But is there some deeper, spiritual significance that has been hidden for the saints of God to unearth its treasure? Absolutely. Presently we are engaged, consciously or unconsciously, in a spiritual civil war that is occurring right beneath our proverbial noses. As Solomon warns us throughout Proverbs, “Get wisdom and get understanding.” Yet Paul reveals the condition of man in Romans 3:10-12 “There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God.
They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one.” We live in a day and time where the Body of Christ desperately needs shepherds who are prophetic. Shepherds who will point out: This is the way; walk you in it. Yet the blind are leading the blind not recognizing their own spiritual “dis-ease.” Something is desperately wrong in the Body of Christ, and has been for centuries. Only those seekers of truth will awaken to the warning blasts of the trumpet. Question is which side of the war to end spiritual slavery will we find ourselves on: Cain’s or Abel’s?
