The Shepherd on the Altar (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798888516607)

Who will you worship, man or God?

Adam, Eve, and their sons, Cain and Abel, have settled in their post-Eden life and face many challenges. With Cain in charge, all of them are toiling on the soil day after day, exhausted and anxious.

Cain worries that the season's harvest will not be enough after the upcoming annual sacrifice. He suggests that they offer God old grains instead of new ones from the recent harvest.

One day, Abel leads his herd to the pasture and realizes that one little lamb has gone missing. He leaves the rest of the herd and ventures down to the valley of darkness to find it. But Abel gets stuck in the mud, and the king of black locusts appears. He demands Abel to bow down to it for life and prosperity in return. When Abel resists this tempting offer, he becomes filled with the fire of God and rescues himself and his lamb.

Back at home, Cain is furious that Abel went all the way for just a little lamb, putting the rest of the flock in danger. That night, Cain also encounters the king of black locusts in his dream. Cain is tempted by the same offer. He chooses to bow down to it.

The next day, the family heads to the River Euphrates for the annual sacrifice. Cain offers the old grains and asks God to bless them with a good harvest. However, the smoke from the altar falls to the ground instead of rising to heaven. As the whole family falls into despair because God has clearly rejected their sacrifice, Abel steps forward. Praying that God would send them his fire and restore them, he offers the lamb that he rescued on the altar.

The very next moment, they see something coming down from heaven, and it was...