The First Murder: What Cain and Abel Still Teach Us About Violence

Before bullets, there were stones. Before wars, there was envy. And before humanity learned to hate one another, one brother killed another.

In Save Abel: There Was a Gun in Paradise, Johnny P. Beason returns to the earliest pages of Genesis to uncover a truth we’ve long ignored: the problem isn’t the weapon—it’s the heart that wields it.

Beason draws a profound connection between the ancient story of Cain and Abel and the epidemic of violence that plagues modern society. From mass shootings to global wars, from domestic abuse to racial hatred, the same spirit that drove Cain to murder his brother still lives within the human heart.

The book asks difficult questions: How did paradise become a battlefield? Why do we still kill what we should protect? And what does God expect from a world that has forgotten its humanity?

Beason writes with prophetic urgency and unflinching honesty, challenging readers to confront their complicity in a culture that glorifies violence. His message is not political—it’s spiritual. He argues that no amount of policy can heal what only repentance can fix.

He reminds us that every act of violence is first an act of separation—from God, from love, and from ourselves. The gun in paradise is a symbol of how far we’ve fallen from grace. But Beason doesn’t leave us in despair. He points to the hope of redemption—the possibility that if we “save Abel” by protecting the innocent and seeking peace, we might also save ourselves.

In a time when hatred echoes louder than love, Save Abel stands as both a warning and a promise: humanity can still return to paradise—but only if it chooses to lay its weapons down and listen once again to the voice of God.