Category Archives: children of God

May 4, 2008 · 1:50 pm

Parables Conceal the Mysteries of God

     Parables are not nice little stories to help us understand the Bible. We have been told this by well-meaning teachers and pastors, but it is not true.  To the contrary, parables are used by God to deliberately keep some from knowing His secrets.  Before you click away, let me elucidate.

 

     The Creator has a stupendous plan to reproduce Himself.  He has had His prophets and righteous men write about it down through the ages. But He has kept it secret by speaking about it in parables.  In order to comprehend His purpose, we must first understand His concept of the use of parables.

 

      The first thing to know is that parables contain the “mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.”  They conceal the secrets of God, hidden since the foundation of the world.      

     God is sovereign, and He will reveal Himself and His plan to whomever He desires.  “For a man can receive nothing except it be given to him from heaven.”

 

      Christ, the Anointed One, was teaching the multitudes in parables.  Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.  {First, parables reveal “the secrets of the kingdom of heaven.”  And He gives this knowledge to certain ones, and some He does not give it to} This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, nor do they understand…but blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.” Mt. 13:10-13, 16, RSV.  

 

     Parables are His “dark sayings.” The word “dark” is translated from the Hebrew word, chiydah, #2420 in Strong’s, meaning a “puzzle: hence a trick, conundrum, sententious maxim: dark saying (sentence, speech), hard question, proverb, riddle.”  Puzzles and riddles are deliberately thought out by the speaker.  They are purposely spoken.  And so it is with His parables.  All these things spake Jesus (Yahshua) unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world. Mt. 13:34-35, Psm. 78:2.

 

     Parables are not nice little illustrations; they are riddles and puzzles that are meant for only a few to understand and solve the mysteries of His governance in the earth.     Kenneth Wayne Hancock

 

(For more on “parables” go to my book, Yah Is Savior: The Road to Immortality at      www.yahwehisthesavior.com/yah.htm   chapters 19-21)

 

 

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April 24, 2008 · 5:52 pm

“Be Perfect”–Christ’s Impossible Command?

     Christ gave us this command: “Be perfect.”  And, of course, the kneejerk response comes, “Wait a minute.  With all due respect, that’s not right.  Nobody’s perfect.  Why would He give us a command that’s impossible to keep?”

     This is where some will toss Christianity into the trashcan, never realizing that “Be perfect” is a paradox, ” a statement seemingly absurd yet really true” (Dictionary.com).

     But some will dig down to a deeper level and find that one man was and is perfect–Christ.  And they’ll see that He was perfect because of the Spirit that filled Him.  And they’ll understand that He has now given His Spirit to the sons and daughters of God, who will realize that they can grow in faith where “it is no longer I that lives, but Christ that lives in me” (Galatians 2:20).

     And armed with this knowledge, they will see that “with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26).  They’ll see that the glass is not half empty nor half full, but brim full and running over with the living waters of His Spirit.

     It will dawn on these princes and princesses of God that “no idle word” proceeds out of the mouth of God.  They’ll take this admonition to heart: “Let us go on unto perfection” (Hebrews 6:1-2).  And they’ll learn that there is so much more to God’s spiritual house than the foundation of “repentance from dead works and faith toward God,” which are the first steps of “newborn babes in Christ.” 

     They’ll realize that they have received in their hearts the seed of perfection.  Christ is that Seed.  And now that Seed is growing, for “one plants and another waters, and God gives the increase.”  This growth is likened to a planted seed of wheat or corn.  It comes up, “first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear.”  And then harvest will come when He will have been perfectly reproduced in us.  And we then in full maturity will have completed the life cycle of God.  And that is perfection.

  The princes and princesses of God will realize this in the command: “Be perfect.”  For they will see these two words as His challenge to “overcome all things” and walk on down His road to the Heavenly City.  They will answer the challenge and embark on this quest for perfection.  Because He said to.              Kenneth Wayne Hancock

(If this was helpful to you, I’d love to hear from you.  Share this with a friend that might benefit from it)

 

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April 21, 2008 · 1:56 pm

Purge Out the Old Leaven = Getting Rid of False Concepts

     We have become the princes and princesses of God the King by our new spiritual birth.  We are in training to assume royal duties with Him upon His return to earth.

      What should we be doing to get ready for this great responsibility?  We are admonished to “purge out the old leaven that the lump may be holy” (I Corinthians 5:7).  

     Leaven?  What does that mean?  Look.  Christ is the “bread of life.”  We have received His Spirit and it is “no longer I that lives but Christ that lives in me.”  Therefore, we as His body are the “bread of life,” too, because of His presence within us.  But we come into this new life with some old concepts about God and the affairs of this world system that must be gotten rid of.  We have carried over in our thinking old doctrines, beliefs, traditions, and concepts.

     Unleavened bread is “sincerity and truth” (I Cor. 5:8).  So, “leaven” must be insincerity and falsehoods.  Christ Himself told us to “beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy” (Luke 12:1).  Yes, “beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod.”  The Pharisees were the religious leaders, and Herod was the political leader back in that day.  They are symbols of religious and political leaders today.  “There is no new thing under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9).  So, Christ is telling us to beware of them in our day, too.

     To “purge out” the old leaven, we must be brutally honest with ourselves and “examine ourselves.”  We must be open to new truth; if we are not open, then we must believe that we have all truth already.  And if we think that way, then it will be very difficult for the Spirit to “guide us into all truth.”

     No one except Him can help us get ready to rule with Him.  It is our responsibility to study and search out true concepts and get rid of false concepts about Him and His plan and purpose.  Like the “Reverend Mr. Black” said in song, “You gotta walk that lonesome valley; you gotta walk it by yourself.  Nobody else can walk it for you.  You gotta walk it by yourself.” 

     We must rid our minds of false religious and political concepts and take on the “mind of Christ” in order to “make our calling and election sure” as His princes and princesses.

    

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April 17, 2008 · 3:24 pm

Baptism: Empty Ritual or Symbol of “Death of Self”?

     “Why were you baptized?”  a survey taker asks, cornering us with his microphone and camera.  Most of us would have to say, “Because they told me I should do it.” 

     Question 2: “What does baptism mean exactly?”   Here most of us would scratch our heads and say, “Well, I’m not sure.  The minister and congregation were very supportive, and I feel that it was the right thing to do.”

     But the right thing for us to do is to “dig deep and build our house on the rock,” as Christ admonished us to do.  We dig deep by digging into the letter that He has left us, the scriptures of truth. 

     Baptism is an outward symbolic action of an inward, spiritual, and transformational happening.     The meaning of baptism is laid out in Romans 6:3-11.  “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death” (v. 3).  We are immersed into His death.

     Water baptism is a symbol of us identifying our old self dying with Christ, being buried with Christ, and being raised up with Christ.  It is where we identify our old sinful self with the Lamb of God, our sin sacrifice.  “He was made to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” 

     When He died, my old self died.  When He was buried, my old evil nature was buried.  When He was raised from the dead, I  was raised from the dead!  Hey, this is not just my testimony; it is all of His children’s testimony. 

     And baptism in water is a symbol showing the world and God how we are regenerated. 

     How is this transformation done?  By faith, which is having assurance of its reality before we actually see it with our own eyes.  We have to reckon it so through God’s power.  “Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God” (v. 11).  God has already reckoned the death of our old self and our resurrection with Him.  Why shouldn’t we reckon it so?

     Baptism is a symbol of our transformation into being right with Him.  We are now free from sin.  “For he that is dead is freed from sin.  We are now the children of the light, having escaped darkness.

     God’s sons and daughters, His princes and princesses, shall see through the empty rituals of Churchianity.  They will shine forth as lights “in the midst of a wicked and perverse nation.”  Their clarity of vision will help them sift through the barren sands of man’s traditions to ultimately find the “one pearl of great price.”     Kenneth Wayne Hancock

{If this has been helpful, make a comment and/or pass it on to someone you care about.  I would love to hear from you.  You can read more about this in Yah Is Savior: The Road to Immortality, Ch. 28.  Click the Blogroll “Yahweh Is the Savior” link to your right]

 

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April 10, 2008 · 4:57 pm

“All Is Vanity” Without the Holy Spirit

     Without God’s Spirit dwelling within us, we are only a member of the walking dead who spend a few nightly whispers with loved ones and then bury our dead and wait to be buried in turn.   

     Without the Spirit of God that makes alive whatever it touches and lives in, we are just as good as dead.  Without His Spirit, we walk around breathing borrowed air into the lungs of an incredibly delicate and fragile shell.  And our  shell  will in a few moments, comparatively speaking, go back to dust from where it came, and our brief stint at self-glory here on earth will not be  remembered anymore.  Every thing that man says and does without the Spirit of God is vain and of no profit in the final analysis.

     But, if we ask Him, He will grant us a portion, an earnest, a down payment of His Spirit.  And that Spirit will come into us to replace that old heart and spirit, and it will grow like a tiny seed in a large garden, and we will come alive.  We must water it with our prayers and feed it with our study.  And that little portion of His Spirit will grow up into a full-fledged son or daughter of the King.  And we, the sons and daughters of God, will someday be transformed in a twinkling of an eye, and we “will be changed” when immortality will come down out of heaven to swallow up our shell that can die.

     Without His Spirit, we are the walking dead doomed to dust, unremembered, in the tombs of time.  But with His Spirit dwelling within us, we are destined to be His sons and daughters, sitting with Him on His throne–immortals whose legacy is neverending.              Kenneth Wayne Hancock

{If this has been helpful to you, please leave a comment and/or pass it on to someone who would appreciate it}

 

 

    

    

 

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April 3, 2008 · 3:26 pm

Nature Teaches God’s Plan of Reproducing Himself

     God’s will, desire, plan, and purpose from eternity is to reproduce Himself in a group of sons and daughters here on earth.  This is the great mystery that has been hidden for ages, but now is being revealed.  We can look around at His creation and perceive just what He is doing (Romans 1:20).

     What do we see?  We see Nature.  We see the grass grow, come to maturity, produce seed, and reproduce itself.  We see animals of all shapes and sizes, and we see them grow, come to maturity, and reproduce themselves.  And we see human beings do the same thing.  Humans are looking for their mate–looking for the one that they are supposed to be with and do what humans do–procreate.

     It is built into every living thing–this striving to reproduce itself.  And every living thing reproduces another that very closely resembles itself.  Oak trees and their acorns produce oak saplings.  Basset hounds give birth to litters of long-eared pups, and humans give birth to humans.  “Each seed bears its own kind” (Genesis 1:11,24).

     And this urge is strong.  It was strong enough to get me into my VW Beetle in 1969 and drive non-stop from California to Missouri with $25 in my pocket, so that I could be with Linda Kay, my mate. 

     The Creator made everything strive to reproduce itself, patterning Nature after His own purpose.  He has created the natural world to mirror His desire to have offspring as well.  He did it so that human beings, His crowning creation, could look out and see Him in the creation.  But humans get confused and become in awe of Nature instead of God who created the earth. 

     As He has made procreation a strong instinct in nature, so is His longing to multiply Himelf.  It is the business that He is about.  The heavens and the earth are merely the environment that He created to reproduce Himself in.  He is the Seed and He has sown Himself into a special garden here on earth.  And that garden is the hearts of certain human beings that He has chosen to place the Seed into that it may grow up unto Him.  “Each seed bears its own kind.”  And “the seed is the word of God” (Luke 8:11).    The parables will reveal more on these secrets and mysteries.  Kenneth Wayne Hancock    

{This is an excerpt from my book which you can read here:  www.yahwehisthesavior.com/yahch16.htm      I would love to hear your comments.  Please pass this along to someone who may benefit from it}

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March 25, 2008 · 2:55 pm

“Fruit of the Spirit” : Why the Love Stops Flowing

     We’re spiritually going great.  The love, joy, and peace, “the fruit of the Spirit,” is flowing down and through us on out to others.  After a great day we get some sleep, wake up the next morning, and then–the blahs hit us.  Other thoughts begin to enter into our mind about worldly pursuits, obligations, responsibilities, money matters, and before we know it, we are sitting there wondering, “What happened to me?”

     We think, “I thought His presence would last forever.  I don’t feel too loving and kind right now, and I don’t like it.”  At this point, we need to realize that the Love-from-above stops flowing down and through us because we simply run out of the Holy Spirit.

     To illustrate this point we look to the Old Testament Tabernacle, which is a type of our spiritual experience today.  Inside the Tabernacle there was among other furniture a golden lampstand (candlestick).  The Levitcal priests were responsible for refilling the olive oil so that the light would not go out.  They literally went to a barrel of olive oil daily and brought enough to fill up the lamps on the lampstand.

     What’s that got to do with us?  Those priests are a type and shadow of us, the sons and daughters of God in this era who have the Spirit of Christ.  We are “a royal priesthood” according to the apostle Peter.  The olive oil is universally accepted to be a type of God’s Spirit.  The light from the lampstand’s burning oil is a type of the love, joy, and peace that our bodies exude when the Spirit is flowing in us. 

     The point:  The Love-from-above can stop flowing through us if we do not go and get more oil (Holy Spirit) to supply our vessels.  We must pray and ask God for more of His Spirit to come down and into us so that we can continue to channel His love to others.  He wants us to have His Spirit, but we His children must request it.  He has promised to give us His Spirit when we want it to give to others. 

     The Love-from-above can stop flowing at times, but we only need to ask Him for more of His Spirit to get it started again.  If a hungry little child asks us for some jelly and bread, are we not going to to give it to him?  How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?  Luke 11:13                         Kenneth Wayne Hancock

{If this has been helpful please make a comment and/or pass it on to a friend}

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March 22, 2008 · 7:40 pm

Why Christ Said, “Love Your Enemies”

     We all have enemies.  We all have people who have wronged us, and it is so easy to be bitter against them.  But I never could understand until now why God admonishes us to pray for our enemies. 

    Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you (Matthew 5:44).  That is a tough assignment.  That stretches the abilities of our humanity.  It is too difficult for our earthly passions to do.  We in all our human frailties are being asked by the Master to do the impossible: Love, bless, and pray for those who hurt us.

     Why would He put that on us? It’s in the very next verse: That you may be the children of your Father which is in heaven.  His spiritual offspring, His sons and daughters, His princes and princesses–they will overcome and do just that.  Because each seed bears its own kind, we, born of His seed, will become just like Him.  For He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.  He loves the whole world and knows that they “know not what they do.”  We, too, will realize that our calling is to be just like Him, and with His Spirit abiding within, we will overcome.

     Vengeance will be taken, but not by His sons and daughters.  We were created by Him as vessels of mercy.  He will show His mercy through us.  That’s why He emphasized, “Vengeance is mine, saith the LORD (Yahweh); I will repay.”

     Why did He want us to not rail on our enemies?  Because He knew that the moment we do, we will have given into a dark spirit, which entering into our heart and mind, will poison us spiritually.  Bitterness as gall will well up and sully our complete being.  He does not want this for us because we are not built by Him for revenge, hatred, and cursings.  We are not “wired” that way by the Creator.  We self-destruct if we hate others.  We are created to be channels of love, His love.

     So, we are told to “pray for them that persecute you.”  By doing this, the dark, spiritual acid of bitterness is neutralized, and then His love and peace begins to once again flow down and through us to others.               Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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February 23, 2008 · 10:26 pm

Studying to Be a Prince and Princess of God

     Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales and heir to the throne of Great Britain, believed that he was in that position and has prepared himself for it.  Most future monarchs do just that.  They take their station in life seriously and prepare themselves to rule.  And so should the sons and daughters of God, His princes and princesses.

     For we are no different than the natural princes and princesses like Charles and Diana.  How do they prepare?  They study.  They avail themselves to learn the royal way.  They study what is expected of them and do it. 

     But Prince Charles did not study and prepare in order to receive the position of prince.  No.  He first believed that he was a prince and then he began to learn what that position entailed.  Now if we want to know what all he has done to prepare himself to be king, we can go to the Wikipedia.  But that is not my point.  The point is belief came first, then he studied so that he could be approved to become king.

     It is the same for us spiritually.  We must transcend mortal earthly doubts and negative thoughts about our future and believe what our Father has given us.  We are a “royal priesthood.”  We are the sons and daughters of God.  We are His princes and princesses.  That is the truth of the matter.  That is how He looks at us.  But before we can reign with Him on His throne (see Revelation 3 to those who overcome Laodecia), we must take his gift of sonship and daughtership seriously and study, seek, and search.

     “Study to show thyself approved unto God…”

     “Seek and ye shall find; knock and the door shall be open; ask and it shall be given…”

     “Search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, but these are they that testify of Me…”

     And this exhortation to study cannot be legislated or demanded.  The urgency to study will come into a person’s heart in God’s own time.  “Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights…”  Our calling to be his sons and daughters is a good and perfect gift.  But we must “make our calling and election sure.”  We can only do that by studying our Father’s letter to us, the library of holy books, the Bible.       

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

{If this post has been helpful to you, please leave a comment and/or send this to someone you care about}

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February 3, 2008 · 7:50 pm

“Doubt Not in Your Heart”–Ripping Off the Shroud

     Belief is the distinguishing characteristic of the sons and daughters of God.  They will just flat out believe God and His word.  Period.  They will rip off the shroud of doubt that lays like a suffocating blanket of death over their own hearts, and they will shout, “No!  He’s alive!  In me!  He is risen in me!”  Because that’s what He says.  That’s what He wants us to believe.

   And then they will look around and see that that same shroud of doubt is smothering their brothers and sisters.  And they will realize that through His truth, God is now using them to peel back the doubt and cast it away.  They will simply believe God and His promises.

     When Christ says, “The Father is in Me,” they will believe it.  And in so doing, the promise of His infilling Spirit shall be kept.  “He that believes upon Me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water (this He spake of the Spirit)” (John 7:38).

     The princes and princesses of God will believe that their King divested Himself of all heavenly grandeur and actually walked around here in an earthly body just like theirs.  He died, was buried, and rose again for our justification, sanctification, and glorification.  And by faith–just believing having not yet seen–they will be beneficiaries of His promise. 

     And this promise is that the Holy Spirit, the invisible God, will come down and “abide” in them (John 14:15-17).  “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him” (14:23). 

     And by believing His words, the works that He did we shall do also–and greater works shall we do as His sons and daughters!  Why?  Because He said so.  How?  By His indwelling Spirit.  And that’s all we need.  He that believeth on on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do…(John 14:12).

     That’s our destiny.  To just get out of the way and let Him do His work through us–just let Him channel His light and love down and through us to the rest of His creation.  This is our destiny–if we believe.             Kenneth Wayne Hancock

{If you have a moment, please make a comment below about this post}

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