Category Archives: baptism

June 24, 2014 · 9:47 pm

The Apostles’ Doctrine–The Curriculum of God’s Teachers

Teachers of God will expound His way, while false prophets and false teachers follow man’s interpretation of His spiritual things. God’s teachers are His gifts to mankind (Eph. 4: 11). They are precious and very few in number. If we seek, we will find one, and we will hold them dear.

But how can we tell the true from the false? The true teachers will have a grasp of the apostles’ doctrine (Acts 2:42). They will know how to explain in detail how one repents, how faith works in us receiving a new heart. In short, they will have true knowledge of the “principles of the doctrine of Christ” (Hebrews 6: 1-2).

Yet they will also know that one must leave those first principles in order to “go on unto perfection.” The Spirit that is within them will “lead us into all truth.” They will know that it is Christ in them who actually is the real Teacher.

Many in “church circles” talk about wanting the same life as the early church in the book of The Acts of the Apostles. They see the miracles and wonders performed and long for that same divine power to hold sway on the earth today. They want, however, to circumvent the procedure used in those enlightened days right after Christ’s resurrection. They want to accept Christ, be baptized, and then they want to set the world on fire with God’s power.

Before the miracles come from God, prerequisites must be done. “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles” (Acts 2:42-43). Here you see the progression of things: the doctrine, fellowship, breaking bread, prayers, fear of God, and then came the wonders and signs.

“We Don’t Want Doctrine–Just Jesus”

It was the apostles’ doctrine that the early converts stayed in. They did those teachings. For “doctrine” is translated from the Greek word didaskalia, which means “teaching; that which is taught.” Beware of those who will say, “We don’t want doctrine, we just want Jesus!” If they could only realize that the Savior Himself was referred to as a “Didaskalos,” meaning “Teacher, Master.” The same root word! People who say, “We don’t want doctrine” are really saying they do not want the real Christ and what He taught.

The true teachers of God will teach true repentance from sin in one’s life and how faith works to give us a new heart and new spirit that pleases God in not sinning against Him. And this is just the first principles “of the doctrine of Christ” (Hebrews 6: 1-2).

This is not a new thing that I write about. Read it for yourself in Martin Luther’s writings*; in the sermons of John Wesley ( http://wesley.nnu.edu/john_wesley/sermons/040.htm ), founder of the Methodist Church; from Andrew Murray, 19th Century Scottish Missionary and author ( http://www.victoryoversin.com/murray/like/lc24.htm ); or in these books https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/ebook-the-unveiling-of-the-sons-of-god/ ).

So, turn away from anyone who doesn’t teach the apostles’ doctrine, that says that you cannot be a righteous son or daughter of God. Don’t believe them. They will try to drag you down into the same spiritual slop that they are stuck in. Find yourself a true teacher and study out the apostles’ doctrine, for those are the teachings of Christ. Kenneth Wayne Hancock

* “Sermon on Three-fold Righteousness” at http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/wittenberg/luther/web/3formsrt.html

Feasts, New Moons, Sabbaths–Mere Shadows of Christ in Us

The Feast Days of Yahweh, His New Moons and Calendar, and His Sabbath Days–even the Ten Commnadment Law itself–are but a shadow of the spiritual light we are in Him and that He is in us. A shadow is not the real thing. We can learn from studying a shadow, but a shadow can never replace the thing that creates the shadow.

After we are crucified with Him, buried with Him, and risen with Christ–after receiving a new heart from the Master, the apostle Paul says this: “Let no man therefore judge you in respect of a feast day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come…” (Col. 2: 11-17). In fact, these feast days and Sabbaths and laws “serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things,” even as God told Moses to “make all things according to the pattern showed to you in the mount” (Heb. 8: 5). All things that Moses laid down to the children of Israel are a “shadow of heavenly things” and not the heavenly things themselves.

And what are these “heavenly things” that the apostle is talking about in Hebrews 8: 5? We children of the living God are those heavenly things! When we finally get it that it is “no longer I that lives but Christ that lives in me,” we then are the pattern for all the things that Moses instituted in the first five books.

The old testament was the sprinkling of animal blood upon the tabernacle, for “without the shedding of blood is no remission. But the “heavenly things” needed “better sacrifices than these” for purification (Heb. 9: 23). We, brethren, are those “heavenly things” that needed the blood of the Lamb to purify us!

We now as the spiritual body of Christ were before the sabbaths, before the moon, before food and drink, before the holy days, the feast days, before time, before this earth, before this world. We are now “risen with Christ” and we “seek those things which are from above” [Col. 3: 1]. We now yearn to see our true home, our heavenly dwelling.

For God has established in this new walk, this “newness of life,” a spiritual reality (Rom. 6: 4). It is built upon better promises wherein He says that He will put His Spirit in our minds and hearts and that He will not remember our sins anymore! This is the new covenant (Jer. 31: 31-34; Heb. 8: 12).

The apostle Paul says that we are a new creation and “are complete in Him… buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead” [Col. 2: 10-20]. We are new spiritual righteous creatures now and are not to be judged in respect of what we eat or drink, what holy days, new moons, or sabbaths that are observed. Why? Because His Spirit now in us was before all the laws and observances were set down on this earth. This does not give us a license to carelessly break them. Rather His Spirit in us guides us to that right walk in Him.

In other words, we now do not observe religiously these mentioned things to somehow be accepted by the Father. To the contrary, we use these to teach us to come to the Savior in a true, meaningful way.

We do not do them to insure that we are okay with God. That would be working for salvation. Remember: they are shadows and not the reality of true worship. Rather they, like the Mosaic Law and the Ten Commandments, are part 0f the “schoolmaster” that Paul refers to, that “the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster” [Gal. 3: 22-25].

The Schoolmaster

The laws of God are instructive to a seeker of God. They teach us and help bring us to the cross. They show us about His plan of redemption. His feasts show that very plan as a type and shadow of Christ Himself. The new moons and sabbaths teach us of His plan and timing for His coming kingdom. But they are but a shadow of the reality that now resides in our hearts. They are only an image of the reality. They are made for us to learn from–made for us by our Creator. But they are only a shadow of the Reality. That Reality is Christ’s Spirit in us.

Shadows Are Not Real

Shadows have never been the real deal. Shadows are actually made from a lack of light. Shadows are in the shape of things or people, but they are not the real thing; they are not a part of reality. Shadows merely imitate reality; they simulate what is real; they intimate that which is true; they suggest obscurely as to what or who made their image possible. But they are not the real thing.

They do not have the depth. They lack that third dimension. Shadows are flat and a bit distorted at times. They lie upon the earth in only two dimensions. Something three dimensional is held up off the earth, and light is actually blocked and a flat shadow results–a lack of light laying flat on the earth. Shadows are earthly phenomenon; they are distinctively of the earth.

Furthermore, shadows have no life in and of themselves. They are only beneficial in that they resemble at times the thing that blocks the light. Shadows are dark lifeless representations of other things. They cannot give life because they have not life to give. The law, along with the feast days, new moons and sabbaths are a shadow of the reality found in Christ.

We Can Learn from Shadows

But we can learn from shadows. What do they tell us? We can glean a rough idea of what something is, what is its shape, what is its function. But we cannot by embracing a shadow ever obtain the reality.

Shadows are merely lifeless, lightless representations and can never perfect anyone. They can lead you to the Perfecter, but worshipping and circling a shadow is not worshipping that Glorious Reality.

All shadows disappear when the true Light comes near. Christ is the Light with “neither shadow nor variableness of turning” [James 1: 7]. The true Light dispels the shadows. When He is truly come inside of us His temple, the Light will cause the shadows–the new moons, feast days, sabbaths, and all other earthly situations of worship to disappear.

These two passages of scripture should become clearer now: “The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath” (Mark 2: 27).

“The law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient…” (I Tim 1: 9).

6 Comments

Filed under baptism, cross, crucified with Christ, death of self, feast days, resurrection

Tagged as feasts of the Lord, law, mosaic law, resurrection

March 20, 2014 · 6:15 pm

Doctrine of Baptisms–Baptized into His Death Frees Us from Sin

The early apostles taught their third doctrine–the “doctrine of baptisms–with an “s.” For there are several baptisms in the Christian walk–not just the one with water.

The first baptism mentioned was John the Baptist’s “baptism unto repentance.” He encouraged the people to repent of their sins, be baptized in water, thus pointing them to the Lamb of God, who would soon become the Sacrifice for all men’s sins. “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I…he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire” (Mt. 3:11). Here we have three baptisms in one verse.

The baptism in water is symbolic of the death of our old sinful heart (see post on this at https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2008/04/17/baptismempty-ritual-or-symbol-of-death-of-self/ ). Paul taught that it was symbolic of being immersed into Christ’s death. “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death?” (Romans 6: 3).

Just How Are We Immersed into Christ’s Death?

Just before Christ died, this perfectly sinless man took upon Himself the sins of the whole world, past, present, and future. Sin was transferred onto this sin offering, and He died with all our sins upon Him. Consequently, when He died, my old self died. When He died that day, our old selfish egos died.

When He was literally buried in the tomb, our old lives were buried. Gone. Over with. And when He rose from the dead, we rose from the deadness of our sinful existence, into a brand new wonderful life, energized with God’s Spirit now within (for more on this, see “Introduction” of my book The Unveiling of the Sons of God found at the top of this page). All this has already been done for us by God. We have to only believe it when we read it in Romans 6: 3-7 :

“Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. Because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.”

We are now free from sin–if we really believe it. Free! We are no longer slaves to the pulls, urges, and demands of that old spiritual nature that held us in bondage to do sinful acts! I’m talking about revolutionary freedom here! We were dead to sin, but now we live unto God by faith in the Spirit that He has given us.

Water baptism is just the symbol of this immersion into Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. Believing and walking in this truth is the reality. But God has promised his sons and daughters more and greater baptisms–the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the baptism of fire, which takes us into the very presence of God’s transformative power. Kenneth Wayne Hancock

10 Comments

Filed under apostles' doctrine, baptism, cross, crucified with Christ, death, death of self, forgiveness, old self, repentance

Tagged as apostles' doctrine, baptism, death of self, repentance, sin

March 1, 2014 · 8:15 pm

Self-Sacrifice Versus Self-Improvement in Christian Growth

Life is all about love. It is about living to love. Life is our time to love.

But it is about great love, selfless love, agape love. For that is what touches the human heart–love. But this the highest love is the giving-up-one’s-life-for-another kind of love. It is that rare selfless love. And that is the part of the Christian story that reaches into the inner recesses of the heart and gently breaks it. It touches us. That’s the kind of love that is great–laying down one’s life for a friend.

And that is where the Christian’s Savior reigns supreme in touching hearts. Hearing of His undeniable love in taking our sins upon Himself and providing Himself as an offering for our sins–for the selfish likes of us–that is what touches us.

The cool untouchable reflection of Buddha does not touch us like Christ does. It is, after all, an exercise in helping one’s self gain peace. The busy petty pantheons of India, Rome, and Greece do not move us like Christ does.

Nor do nebulous new age imaginations touch us, for they all are mere means of self-improvement, not self-denial to help others.

And we humans know too well deep down in the core of our beings that self-improvement of the self is, well, self-centered and self-important and has little to do with worshipping the Creator who needs no improvement. For His ways are perfect; His thoughts are law.

This then should give us Christians pause. For we are warned repeatedly in almost every book in the New Testament that there will be false teachers. And even though well-meaning, they “will bring in damnable heresies.”

And the heretical teaching most damning, that condemns that vulnerable babe in Christ to a stunted spiritual growth is the doctrine of “self-improvement.” In an old tract it was call “The Modern Smooth Cross,” as opposed to the austerity of the “old rugged cross.”

The smooth modern cross does not demand the death of the old self on the cross with Christ, our sin Sacrifice, the Passover Lamb of God. This doctrine merely re-directs ambitions, improves little idiosyncrasies. It never gets down to the real problem–the sin nature that is brought to the church house.

In this modern doctrine of self-improvement, the self is still there. It is never demanded to die with Christ. Therefore, the sinful self is hibernating there under the initial rush and excitement of fellowship, hiding like a cornered wild animal waiting to strike out and wound whoever would pressure it out of its comfortable lair. Some feel quite at home and feel no threats to their current status in Christendom and carry on walking through the wide gate.

The Self-Sacrifice of Spiritual Circumcision

However, we now must remember that we Christians have undergone an invisible spiritual circumcision, “made without hands, in putting off the body of sins of the flesh (Col. 2: 11-13). For we were already “dead in our sins (v. 13). And now God has provided a way to let that sinful nature die now and avoid the rush. And we have been “buried with Him in baptism, wherein also you are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who has raised Him from the dead” (v. 12). That is how God sees it and judges it regardless of whether we see it or even feel it. The “we,” the self is dead. He said it; now we believe it.

He died on the cross; our sinful nature died with Him. He was buried; we were buried spiritually, our old sinful nature entombed forever. He was raised from the dead; we are raised with Him and “walk in newness of life (Rom. 6: 4). And we must know this one thing: “That our old man is crucified with Him [it is already done and over with], that the body of sin might be destroyed [that means dead, caput, no more, totally annihilated], that henceforth we should not serve sin” (Rom. 6: 6).

So how to do this in a reality? We must reckon it so. We must account that it is done like God has already done. “Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God” (6: 11). Let the invisible chains of sin’s slavery fall off of you. Just walk off of the plantation. You are already dead, so just let the old sinful life go. Be alive unto God. Walk in a new life through Him and through belief in His resurrection. It is already done. God’s Emancipation Proclamation has gone forth. Just believe it, and walk off of the plantation. You are free. You don’t have to sin anymore. Whether you have been going to church three months, three years, or thirty or more years–you are free now. Just believe it; it is already accomplished. I am proclaiming liberty to the captives. Walk on in the light of His love. Give up your life for others. Sacrifice your self to help save mankind. In a word, be like Christ. That is what He is asking us to do. After he told His disciples of these things, He asked them, Are you sure you want to do this? Are you able to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?

The Effect?

“He that is dead is freed from sin” (6: 7). Very few preachers tell their congregations that they are freed from sin. To the contrary, they tell them how sinful they are, but never tell them how to be free from that bondage to sinning. They proudly proclaim that they are a “sinner saved by grace” and will always be a sinner. Where does the Bible say that? Just read 1 John 3: 9. They will proclaim that they “sin every day.”

But why won’t they tell them that they are freed from the clutches of sin? Because they have not taught them that they must let their sinful old nature die with Christ on the cross. No death of sinful heart=no freedom from its bondage. For “whoever commits sin is the servant [slave] of sin,” Christ said (John 8: 34). He also said that “no man can serve two masters.” You cannot serve God and serve sin. Sharp cutting words, but needful.

But tired old churchianity slogs on, “teaching for doctrine the commandments of men.” Their leaders “cause them to err,” and they will give an account to the Judge who will weigh all their justifications and give His verdict, as they are led from the room muttering, “But did we not prophesy in Your name?”

The message written here will bless the hearts of some, but some will scurry out of its light, back to the friendly confines of modern Christendom’s “Today’s Tips for Self-Improvement. ” Kenneth Wayne Hancock {If you haven’t visited my website Immortality Road, please do. There you will find over 300 articles and books exploring the “unsearchable riches of Christ,” all written for you, the elect sons and daughters of God, the future rulers with Christ in His soon coming kingdom
https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com }

2 Comments

Filed under agape, baptism, belief, Bible, cross, crucified with Christ, death, death of self, faith, false doctrines, false teachers, love, repentance, resurrection, sin

Tagged as baptism, freedom, life, love, sin

January 25, 2014 · 4:51 pm

God Is the Teacher Teaching Through His Teachers

Oh, my God! This thing is real! You are the great Teacher, and when your Spirit dwells within a member of your body, then You the Teacher begin to teach, and the vessel that you speak through becomes a teacher of God. For it is no longer them that lives but Christ that lives in them. As Paul the apostle and teacher of God said, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal. 2: 20).

And really, this message, the death of the old sinful self, is the foundation of the temple of God. We are His temple; consequently, our foundation must be the crucifixion of self, which is how we repent, and faith toward God, which is believing that He raised us up when He raised Christ up. That is the foundation that we are to build on. That is the cornerstone of the apostles’ teachings that we are to continue in (Acts 2: 42).

When we are baptized, we are immersed into His death (Rom. 6: 3). The water symbolizes to all that this is done. And what does “His death” entail? His death is the death of our old sinful nature; it is the end of our sin and sinning. “For He has made Him to be sin for us, who did no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5: 21).

Christ carried our sinful nature on Him; He was the scapegoat offering. He put an end to sin in us, for when He died, our sinful self died. When He was buried, our old self was buried; and when He was raised–HalleluYah!–then we too were raised to walk in a new life! Where old things are passed away! Behold, all things are become new!

“For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin–because anyone who has died has been free from sin” (Rom. 6: 6-7 NIV). We are not bound to sin anymore; we are not under that bondage anymore. Believing in the His resurrection is the key because when we believe it, we are believing that we are being resurrected from the death that comes from the sinful self. Death is destroyed when our sin is put to death on the cross with
Christ. Ingenious plan!

Just the Beginning

This makes us a child of God. Wonderful, yes, but it is just the beginning of our walk with Him. It is the first step, the first stones to be laid in the foundation of us His house. Yet many new Christians are content to remain here as little children of God. But we are admonished to “go on to perfection,” to full maturity in God’s life cycle, for He is all about reproducing Himself. That is His plan and purpose.

But how do we continue growing? What steps must we take? What knowledge do we need, what spiritual meat was He talking about when He said to children of God that He had more advanced teachings for them, but they were “dull of hearing.” He was saying, You ought to be teachers of these advanced things of God, but you “have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God and…have need of milk and not strong meat” (Heb. 5: 11-14).

Babes need milk to grow. And that spiritual milk is comprised of the “principles of the doctrine of Christ,” which leads to Christian “perfection,” which is maturity.

These first foundational teachings of Christ are outlined in Hebrews 6: 1-2: repentance from dead works [sin], faith toward God, doctrine of baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.

And to get to full maturity like the early apostles, we must get these solid in our new life in Christ and then–leave them! We must not circle them like the Israelites circled the same old mountain. Forty years they wandered, and only two out of millions went into the Promised Land! We incorporate these teachings into our spiritual life, but we don’t remain there. These doctrines serve as our foundation in Christ, but to fulfill His will for our lives, we must leave them. They are stepping stones for the princes and princesses of the King! They are pre-requisites; they are means and not the end-all-be-all. To complete our royal destiny, we must grow in grace and knowledge and “be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about by every wind of doctrine.”

And we Christians will leave the first principles of Christ’s doctrine and “go on to perfection”–if God permits. He wishes that all of us were prophets. He loves us and wants us to be just like Him. And more importantly, He has provided the way through the first two gifts of the Spirit–the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge, the tools of the trade for His teachers.

5 Comments

Filed under apostles' doctrine, baptism, belief, children of God, crucified with Christ, death, death of self, elect, faith, glorification, perfection, princes and princesses of God, sin, sons and daughters of God, Spirit of God, Spiritual Life Cycle

Tagged as baptism, death of self, faith, resurrection, sin

November 16, 2013 · 5:17 pm

Water Baptism–A Symbol of the Death of Our Sin Nature

We may not realize it yet, but we are blessed, for we have seen that our old self needs to go. Many try to redirect or re-channel its activities. Sometimes we try to clean it up, but He wants it to die.

He said to repent and be baptized in water. Yes, water baptism is a symbol of something else, yet we should still do it. But few know what the real baptism is. Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Messiah Yahshua were baptized into His death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Messiah was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. Rom. 6:3-4. NIV.

Going down into the water is a symbol of the mortal life we now live in this flesh. Coming up out of the water is a symbol of the new spirit-being life we shall live which is the immortal life that we are called to.

Water is a symbol of our mortality. Our first physical birth is an immersion in a bag of water. We are born of water. We mortals are about 75% water. We begin in our mother’s womb in water. During water baptism we are baptized into His death. To live in this mortal body is to die. This watery entombment we call a body is really a deathtrap. It by its very nature has to die. The Messiah’s earthly body was composed of the same watery stuff that our bodies are. And He died. He had to die by reason of the nature of his shell during His earthly tenure. This watery, flesh and blood body cannot inherit immortality and go into the kingdom of the Eternal One. To be made of water is to be mortal, to be awaiting death, for water is extremely unstable, subject to every whim of nature’s forces.

To sin is to die. Mortality is to be able to die. Therefore, our mortality is to sin. Sinning insures a human of not receiving a new spiritual heavenly body. But now He has enabled us to live a life where we do not have to sin, if we receive His Spirit. Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust (desires) of the flesh (this old mortal body). Gal. 5:16. NKJV.

He was made to be sin for us

We, then, when we go under in water, are symbolically being immersed into this watery mortal state of sin with Him. We “are buried with him by baptism into death.” Rom.6:4. God calls those things that are not, as though they were. We are dead already (Yahshua told the disciples, “Let the dead bury their dead”). He calls it before its actual physical death when we consent to and experience it (in revelation). The water is the symbol of our earthly mortal bodily state. This spiritual death of our old self comes now in this revelation before the fruit of death comes to our earthly bodies.

In conjunction with this, few know that the Messiah, the day of His death, actually became sin for us—he who had never sinned. He was the sacrificial Lamb who was set to be sacrificed before the world ever came into existence. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. II Cor. 5:21. NIV. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Rev. 13: 8.

The levitical priest, in types and shadows, laid his hands on the sacrificial goat, thereby transferring Israel’s sins upon it. So did the Father place all of mankind’s sins upon the body of Messiah. When He died, the body of sin died; our sin died that day. To whom is the arm of Yahweh revealed?…Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all…It pleased Yahweh to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see His seed. Isa. 53:1,6,10.

We make the Lamb’s soul an offering for our own sins by realizing that it was us in our sinful state hanging on the tree that day. We must be immersed in this knowledge. We must believe that our old self—that old monkey on our back, that old demon that we were, that selfish, egotistical, self-absorbed, sorry excuse for a human being—that old thing that we were is now, in God’s eyes dead. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Rom. 6: 6.

[This is ch. 28 of my book, Yah Is Savior: The Road to Immortality, which you can find at the top of this page. Just click “Ebook…”]

The Apostles’ Doctrine–Baptisms (Plural)–Immersed into Christ’s Death

The early apostles’ taught their third doctrine–the “doctrine of baptisms” with an “s.” For there are several baptisms in the Christian walk–not just the one with water.

The baptism in water is symbolic of the death and burial of our old sinful heart (see post on this at https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2008/04/17/baptismempty-ritual-or-symbol-of-death-of-self/ ). Paul taught that it was symbolic of being immersed into Christ’s death. “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death?” (Romans 6: 3).

Just How Are We Immersed into Christ’s Death?

Just before Christ died, this perfectly sinless man took upon Himself the sins of the whole world, past, present, and future. Sin was transferred onto this sin offering, and He died with all our sins upon Him. Consequently, when He died, my old self died; your old self died with all of its sins. When He died that day, our old selfish sinful egos died.

When He was literally buried in the tomb, our old lives were buried. Gone. Over with. And when He rose from the dead, we rose from the deadness of our sinful existence, into a brand new wonderful life, energized with God’s Spirit now within (for more on this, see “Introduction” of my book The Unveiling of the Sons of God found here: https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/ebook-the-unveiling-of-the-sons-of-god/ ). All this has already been done for us by God. We have to only believe it when we read it in Romans 6: 3-7 :

“Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. Because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.”

We are now free from sin–if we really believe it. Free! We are no longer slaves to the pulls, urges, and demands of that old spiritual nature that held us in bondage to do sinful acts! Why? Because we believe what God believes about us. I’m talking about revolutionary freedom here! We were dead to sin, but now we live unto God by faith in the Spirit that He has given us.

But first, before that glorious day, we need to be like the early disciples of the Master, who “continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine,” the first of which being “repentance from dead works,” explained through the “doctrine of baptisms.” Being baptized into His death is how to repent from sins that bring forth death (Acts 2: 42; Heb. 6: 1-2).

{Being baptized into Christ’s death is just the first step. Read how this leads us to the “hidden wisdom” of God. For a deeper look into these mysteries, read this: https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2013/10/19/the-hidden-wisdom-and-the-power-of-god/ }

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

2 Comments

Filed under apostles' doctrine, baptism, belief, cross, crucified with Christ, death of self, faith, old self, repentance

Tagged as apostles' doctrine, baptism, death of self

December 15, 2012 · 3:39 pm

Add to Knowledge Temperance–On Being Puffed Up

Someone on this earth will sit down on the throne of God alongside our Savior and will be a ruler in the government that the King will establish in all the earth. In fact, a whole company of over comers have been “predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son” (Rom. 8: 29). Fully matured, they will stride this crippled earth after the Great Tribulation. In God’s stead as His ambassadors of the literal Kingdom of Heaven will they rule with Him, for they will have His Spirit fully developed within them. These are the “partakers of the divine nature” who will do the King’s business after the disasters that will smite the earth.

“No man takes this honour unto himself” (Heb. 5: 4). It is God’s doing. He has a plan and He is quite capable of helping them carry out His own plan. And that plan and purpose is to share Himself with His creation. He is Love, and all Love can do is love and share and give.

Those of us who have been called to this “high calling of God in Christ” have been left a textbook explaining how to receive immortality. We now are in the process of studying it and taking it to heart. We need this instruction in order to receive the proper training and education to be an effective ruler with Christ in the soon coming Kingdom of Heaven right here on earth. That textbook is found in the “scriptures of truth,” the Holy Bible, which is God’s letter to us, a guidebook He showed to His prophets and apostles. And He is now showing it to us who believe, who have faith.

Adding to our faith

The apostle Peter instructs those of us who have been called to “partake of the divine nature” (II Peter 1: 3-4). He relates that God promised us immortality, and it is by these promises, that we can get rid of our old sinful nature and receive His divine nature. And God’s nature grows and matures in us to the point that in the end, it will be all Him. The divine nature grows in us through receiving more true knowledge of Him and His plan. And part of that is the additions to our faith.

“Add to knowledge temperance”

The apostle Paul wrote that “knowledge puffs up, but charity (agape love) edifies” (I Cor. 8: 1). This puffing up is the sound of an inflated ego that has no place to go with the knowledge; there is no desire to flow the knowledge on out to others. Agape love, conversely, flows out of its heart of love and shares and builds up fellow Christians, helping them in their walk with God.

The novice in Christ will get the bighead after gaining some of the true knowledge of God. There is an innate tendency in the old nature of man and spiritual babes in Christ to have one’s pride inflated upon receiving this knowledge, which has “been kept secret from the foundation of the world” (Matt. 13: 35).

This knowledge flows out of the mind and heart of God and sheds light on the very mysteries of the acquisition of immortality. This information is precious–so rare and fine a treasure, in fact, that “few there be that find it” (Matt. 7: 14). A beautiful four lane highway is leading many to destruction. “But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it” (v. 14 NLT).

Knowledge of these things will puff a person up. Why? Because they are still thinking that they are the object of God’s blessing and not the channel of it.

Therefore, knowledge of the holy things must have temperance added to it. Self control must be added. And the major lesson we must learn is that our little powerless self did not come up with this knowledge on its own. It was not delivered to us for any great thing that we are or have done. No. It is pure grace flowing out of God’s heart to us. It is all Him, favoring and having “mercy on whom He will have mercy” (Rom. 9: 15). It is all Him. It is our privilege to be a channel of this knowledge on out to His people.

Beware of False Teachers

Paul warns in another place about getting “puffed up” by knowledge. He warns new Christians not to get entangled by men who teach a “philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ (Col. 2: 8).

He is saying that men will deceive young Christians through all kinds of worldly earthly thoughts. But Christ is all you need, which is knowledge about who He is and what He has done for His people.

“You are complete in Him” (v. 10). You don’t need mumbo jumbo bells and whistles and gimmicks of worship, as it were. “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the godhead bodily.” And through His sacrifice of Himself, you have been circumcised spiritually. His Spirit invisibly cuts out your old sinful Adamic nature, and He gives you a new heart. “Buried with Him by baptism, wherein also you are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of of God, who has raised Him from the dead (v. 11-12).

False teachers are “puffed up”

One who teaches false doctrines tries to “beguile you,” and is “vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind” (Col. 2: 18). Remember that they “come to you in sheep’s clothing.” They appear as “messengers of light.” They have a little smidgeon of truth, and it has puffed them up as they imagine vain things about God and ways to worship Him.

How does a false teacher or preacher first go astray? He gets all “puffed up by his fleshly mind.” “Fleshly” here is from the Greek word sarx. It is a mind controlled by the “flesh” (sarx). This denotes the old nature, natural thinking man, unregenerate man. He has an earthly mind. “He that is of the earth is earthly, and speaks of the earth; he that comes from heaven is above all…for He whom God hath sent speaks the words of God” (John 3: 31, 34).

The phrase “of the earth” points to the same origins as Adam in the garden, made of the dust of the earth, clueless as to the heavenly destiny for mankind. These false teachers are puffed up with a bit of God’s knowledge, yet remain Spirit-less when it comes to the truth of God.

So, yes, temperance must be added to knowledge. This entails, of course, self-control in all areas of a Christian’s life.

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

1 Comment

Filed under baptism, crucified with Christ, elect, eternal life, eternal purpose, false doctrines, false teachers, glorification, great tribulation period, immortality, Love from Above, manifestation of the sons of God, sons and daughters of God

Tagged as faith, immortality, knowledge, temperance, virtue

November 1, 2012 · 2:31 pm

True Overcomers Will Continue Steadfastly in the Apostles Doctrine

There is a great awakening happening in the Christian world. God is planting a hunger in some for the “greater works” that He promised His followers would do. These brothers and sisters long for that same spiritual walk that the early apostles had. But many are not following the steps laid out by those very early apostles, which serve as our example.

In other words, if we want the same spiritual experiences in our lives that they had, then we must follow the same steps that those apostles took. We must know the same things, study the same things, speak the same words, and do the same things that they did.

Scripturally speaking, what did those early apostles study, speak about, know and do? “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine, and fellowship, and breaking of bread, and in prayers” (Acts 2: 42). The foremost paramount thing that they did was that they stayed in the apostles doctrine. They stuck exclusively with the teachings of the Apostle Christ. And then they had fellowship. If you don’t have the “apostles doctrine” you don’t have real fellowship because it is going to be the Word. And then there was “breaking of bread.” Yes, earthly bread, but more importantly, they shared these teachings, which is the bread of life, with each other. And then they continued to pray, for their communication to God was a sweet savor to His nostrils, for it was in accordance with His true teachings.

But what is the doctrine of the early apostles?

What were the teachings that the early apostles continued steadfastly in? How are we to know who the true teachers of God are?

Teachers of God will expound His way, while false prophets and false teachers will veer off into doctrines that seem like they are relevant to God’s plan, but they don’t line up with the doctrines that the apostles taught. The true teachers are gifts to mankind from God (Ephesians 4: 11). They are precious and very few in number. If we seek, we will find one, and we will hold them dear.

But how can we tell the true from the false? The true teachers will have a grasp of the apostles’ doctrine, which is the doctrine of Christ. They will realize that “whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God” (2 John 1: 9). So it is extremely important to abide in Christ’s teachings. But what is that doctrine?

The apostle Paul knew and followed it and reveals it to us in Hebrews 6: 1-2. He is urging his readers to grow up into Christ and stop playing around with other teachings that do not yield the fruit of becoming like Christ. “Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of the resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgement.”

There it is laid out for all of us to see. In order to go on to perfection, which is the completed spiritual growth of “Christ in you,” we need to stop laying again the foundation of repentance of sin, faith toward God, the baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgement. These are the teachings that the early apostles continued in. And these are the teachings that we all in our latter rain era must know and do thoroughly.

These teachings are what the early apostles talked about. Take the teaching about baptisms. That’s plural. Many talk of their immersion in the Holy Spirit but have no idea about the “baptism into His death” (Romans 6: 3). It is this baptism that opens up the other baptisms. This is where the old self, your old Adamic nature dies with Christ on the cross in revelation, where you can truly walk in a newness of life as a “new creature” where all things are become new! Why don’t we Christians talk about that? Especially those who teach His word? The early apostles did! [Read all of Romans 6]

And the doctrine of “the resurrection of the dead” comes into focus for us and in us, “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this that our old man is crucified with Him” (Rom. 6: 5-6). Here “faith toward God” and believing in the resurrection of Christ, lead to us believing that we too can live a life free from sin and sinning. Here we see three of the apostles doctrines in action. But these are the elementary principles, the foundation of the house of God, which is us His body. And very few talk about these teachings. Is it because no one is teaching them?

This is the “breaking of bread,” the sharing of the word and promises of God that the early apostles fellowshipped in. If your fellowship is not discussing and sharing these teachings aforementioned, then something is missing. And that something is the doctrine of Christ.

For not many are teaching Romans 6, and if it is read at all, it is not believed. But the true teachers sent from God will teach it and believe it and will be solid in it, as a foundation built upon the rock.

They will know how to explain in detail how one repents, how faith works in us receiving a new heart. In short, they will have true knowledge of the “principles of the doctrine of Christ” (Hebrews 6: 1-2).

Many fellowships talk about wanting the same power as the early church in the book of The Acts of the Apostles. They see the miracles and wonders performed and long for that same divine power to hold sway on the earth today. They want, however, to circumvent the procedure used in those enlightened days right after Christ’s resurrection. They want to accept Christ, be baptized, and then they want to set the world on fire with God’s power. They think that visions and dreams replace the rock solid foundation of the apostles doctrine and teachings.

Before the miracles come from God, pre-requisites must be done. “And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles” (Acts 2:42-43). Here you see the progression of things: the doctrine, fellowship, breaking bread, prayers, fear of God, and then came the wonders and signs.

“We Don’t Want Doctrine–Just Jesus”

It was the apostles’ doctrine that the early converts stayed in. They did those teachings. For “doctrine” is translated from the Greek word didaskalia, which means “teaching; that which is taught.” Beware of those who will say, “We don’t want doctrine, we just want Jesus/Yahshua!” If they could only realize that the Savior Himself was referred to as a “Didaskalos,” meaning “Teacher, Master.” The same root word! People who say, “We don’t want doctrine” are really saying they do not want the real Christ and what He taught.

This is not a new thing that I write about. Read it for yourself in Martin Luther’s writings*; in the sermons of John Wesley ( http://wesley.nnu.edu/john_wesley/sermons/040.htm ), founder of the Methodist Church; from Andrew Murray, 19th Century Scottish Missionary and author ( http://www.victoryoversin.com/murray/like/lc24.htm ); or in my books which you can find at the top of this page. Just click “Ebook…”).

* “Sermon on Three-fold Righteousness” at http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/wittenberg/luther/web/3formsrt.html

The Faith of God–Once Delivered to the Saints

We have seen that we are to look upon the invisible things and not on the things that are seen with our earthly eyes. Faith is one of those spiritual things that is invisible. But there are many misconceptions as to what faith really is. Everyone has their own imagination.

Simply put, the faith spoken of in the Bible amounts to answering yes to the following question: Do you believe that God has the power to do what He has promised us in His word? He has promised us that He would credit the state of being right with Him if we believe that He raised the Son of God from the dead. Because if we can believe that much, then we, too, are raised to walk in a “newness of life” with God’s Spirit inside of us controlling our lives. Faith boils down to believing God has the power to do what He has promised (Romans 4: 21).

But the true faith is sometimes difficult to grasp because we can’t see it. But faith is an invisible spiritual thing that has already been given to God’s elect. It is a special gift from Him to His future sons and daughters that will help them grow up into Him.

It is the “faith once delivered to the saints.” Jude 3. Faith is a spiritual commodity that has been delivered to the people of God. Who delivered it? The Creator Yahweh did. Faith is not something that has to be mustered up by us His people. We rather must receive it from Him. It is something that originates from out of His nature and is given to us. “For every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights.” That includes faith.

It is His faith that is transplanted into our hearts. It is not something we muster up and finally believe about Him. His faith in us is the first part of His divine nature to enter into the human heart. But what is it exactly? Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1.

“Things hoped for…” What does Yahweh hope for? What are the desires of His heart? What has He purposed? Long before we were ever born, He saw us in our down-trodden state of sin and misery. He also saw us rise with Him by His Spirit to vanquish sin and death in our lives. He believed that this was a reality—that this was substance—having not yet seen it come to pass. He believed and so therefore spoke and said that it was so. He believed the best about us and His plan—not having seen the evidence yet of its fruition. We as changed individuals are evidence that the invisible Supreme Being is real. We are His witnesses that He is God. And if He believes in His work in us before it comes to full fruition, then we should, too. He is our example.

His divine nature is positive, full of faith and power. All of His promises are “yes.” Nothing negative flows from His heart. He is positive; His attitude is positive. In fact, He calls those things that are not, that do not exist as yet, as though they did exist. He said that He will be all in all eventually. We should then, right now, begin to walk around as if He already is all in you and me. This will take belief that “it is no longer I that lives but Christ that lives in me.”

He is positive, giving “life to the dead and calls that which does not exist as existing.” This is He. This is how He thinks. He is positive about His capabilities. He has absolutely no doubt about His reserves and His resolve to get done what He wants done. And what He wants done is the multiplication, the reproduction of Himself, within His creation. He is an invisible Spirit; He wants to see Himself in action in human form. This is the witness that He talks about in Isaiah. We are to be His witnesses that He is the invisible Spirit/God. His faith believes that not only we can change, but that we will change—that we are changed! He seeks people to worship Him in this spirit and attitude and in this truth. He needs people to worship Him in this way—to believe the way He believes.

A key scripture regarding the nature of His faith is Romans 4: 17. It sometimes is advantageous to read it in several translations. God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. KJV. God, who gives life to the dead and calls that which does not exist as existing. The Scriptures. God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were. NIV. God who brings the dead to life and whose command brings into being what did not exist. TEV.

Nothing good exists within us—except His Spirit, if so be that we have received His Spirit. By believing that He is—not only that He exists, but also that He is where He hopes, intends, and expects to be—in us.

Tapping into this faith of His will bring His Spirit down into us. You cannot receive the Spirit by just keeping the law, or trying your best to keep the law. Human effort in trying to keep the law (the ten commandments) will not bring His Spirit down into us. The work of our selves, of our flesh, profits nothing in the end. After all, it would be just us trying to accomplish a spiritual law made for a spirit to keep. It is the spirit that makes alive…the flesh profits nothing. The words I speak, they are spirit and they are life…Does God give you His Spirit because you observe the law or because you believe what you heard? Gal. 3: 2. NIV.

Paul is trying to tell the foolish Galatians that no amount of us trying to keep the letter of the law will bring His Spirit into us. Trying to keep the law in our own strength will never perfect us. Are ye so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? 3:3.

No. We shall receive the Spirit by believing what we heard—by faith. We have to be like Abraham, who believed in the promises without wavering. Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. 3:6. Abraham believed the promises. But what promise? “I will walk in them and will be their God and their sins I will remember no more.” Hebrews 8:12. The promise we are to believe is the promise of God giving us His Spirit.

Some of us are so afraid of being like “them”—the mainstream denominations with their cheap grace. But Yahweh is saying to us that you are not like them. You have respect to my laws and ways and precepts and you know my name. But although your conscious effort to keep my laws and honor my sabbaths are good intentioned, that alone should be the fruit of the state I want you to be in. And that state is a state of your old nature not being there in the temple of your body, but rather my Spirit, my presence. I have promised you my Spirit, my presence. That is all you need. When I am there in you, I’ll keep my laws in you. If any man have not the Spirit of Messiah he is none of His. You do not have to worry about that. My servant Paul kept the feasts and preached law keeping. He forbad sinning. Shall we continue in sin that grace (favor) may abound? God forbid. Romans 6:1-2.

It is absolutely not the way to go to try to keep the torah and 10 commandments without first seeking to receive the promise of His indwelling Spirit. The law, the torah, was given 430 years after the promise to Abraham—the promise that God would live in us and help us live righteously and godly. And the law cannot “set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise…” (Galatians 3:15-18, NIV).

What was the purpose of the torah (the law)? It was added because of transgressions until the seed to whom the promise referred had come. We are that seed—rather Christ in us is that seed. When we believe, the seed germinates and grows within us. The promise is receiving His Spirit by believing that He has given it to us—as we follow on in His steps.

We do this by faith. We do this by believing His word about His faith, His nature. His faith works both ways. If He has confidence in us before we ever bring forth the fruit, then we should believe in Him even though we have not seen Him in the flesh. This is our trial of the faith. Whom having not seen, you love; in whom, though now you see him not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. I Peter 1:8.

And during the time of our sojourning here on earth, we are to add His divine nature to the faith that He has delivered unto us. His divine nature is built upon His faith. No wonder not many have added it, for they have tried to add it to their own faith in Him instead of adding His divine nature to His faith. Peter says that we are “partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

The Word is the seed. And that seed is growing in us by us believing His word that says that His word is growing in us. This is the faith once delivered to the saints. This is the way He thinks about His power to change our lives—by His Spirit. Now we walk in His faith/belief when we believe the same thing about ourselves that He believes about us. That is His faith. That is His faith which was once delivered to the saints. Kenneth Wayne Hancock

[This is chapter 19 of my book The Unveiling of the Sons of God available from the au

1 Comment

Filed under apostles' doctrine, baptism, belief, death of self, gifts of the Spirit, repentance, resurrection, righteousness

Tagged as apostles' doctrine, belief, faith, gifts of the Spirit, resurrection