Category Archives: christianity

May 25, 2013 · 8:58 pm

“The Just Shall Live by Faith”–But Who Are “the Just”? and Which Faith?

“The just shall live by faith,” says the prophet Habbakuk (2: 4).  It is a very important passage quoted by Paul the apostle and made famous by Martin Luther.  But who are the just?  And which faith was the prophet talking about?

The Hebrew word translated “just” is rendered “righteous” in scores of passages.  So how “righteous” and “just” are we talking about here?  Godlike righteous.  We see this same word used to describe God Himself.  He “is a God of truth…just and right is He” (Deut. 32: 4).  We are talking about a godlike righteousness that some will have.  Not a self-righteousness, but a godly rightness.  The just, the righteous ones will be living their days on earth by faith.

Who are the just?  Who are the righteous?  They will carry in their hearts that righteous state of God Himself.  And they will receive this happy state with the Hebrew God because of their faith, having believed first without seeing.

The “just” in God’s eyes are those who are right with Him because He is right in them.  They are the righteous and in good standing with their Maker.

They, like their spiritual father Abraham, walk by faith and not by the sight of their eyes (II Cor. 5: 7).  Faith is the evidence of things not seen (Heb. 11: 1).

So the just are the righteous humans like God is righteous here on the earth, who believe having not seen nor received the promises of the kingdom of God.  They shall live their days on earth by faith.  Believing God’s word and plan is the way they will live.  And because God can only be pleased by this walk of faith, they become just in His sight.  He imputes righteousness to them, which is being in a right state with God.  And that is all we really need.

Which Faith?

So the true faith is extremely important.  And this faith spoken of in the scriptures of truth is not the same “faith” spoken of in news casts on TV, when the news-reading talking head says about someone who displays some religious activity: “He is a person of faith.”  Meaning that he believes in a higher power.  They acknowledge that somebody up there is bigger that they are.  No, this is not the faith that Paul, Peter, and John spoke of.

Think about it.  The Hindus believe in thousands of somebodies up there swimming in a mystical nirvanic goo.  That is indeed a belief and a faith.  And many Hindus are very spiritual and religious, and TV personalities may say that they are people of faith, but that is not the faith of the Hebrew God of the Holy Bible.

Not picking on Hindus here, for the same can be said of most of the denominations and sects of Churchianity.  2,200 and counting, and they disagree with each other.  That is why there are so many of them.  But the Spirit says there is only one body (church) and one Spirit (one God) and one faith (Eph. 4: 4-6).  So all of these denominations cannot be exactly what the apostles practiced and wrote about.

Depart from Me…

Moreover, Christ speaks disparagingly of some very sincere Christians in these last days.  He says to them, “Not everyone that says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.  [We sincerely called You Lord]  But he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven [You mean confessing that Christ is our Lord won’t do the trick?] Many will say to Me in that day [Which day? The time of the end?] Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? [Come on, now, we preached in your name!] and in thy name have cast out devils? [Lord, I saw many slain in the Spirit in your name.  It had to be You!] and in thy name done many wonderful works? [We set up food kitchens and sent out missionaries and gave away bibles in far away lands, and You were with us, weren’t You?]  And then I will profess to them, I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness!” (Matt. 7: 21-23).  Since there is no idle words of God, these words will be spoken to some well-meaning people in that day.

That last paragraph was tough to write, but there it is in black in white.  Of course, some will say that His words are harsh treatment.  But why will these sincere Christians, who are “people of faith,” why will they be rejected?  Because their faith was based on a vision of Christ and His plan that was in error.

Because denominations have hundreds of different interpretations of what the Bible is saying, and because they all cannot be right and just, then somebody has to be wrong.  Sincere, maybe, but wrong as to what the faith of Christ and its vision is about.

So, yes, “the just shall live by faith.”  Those who God sees as His offspring walking with Him in His truth at the time of the end–they “shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever” (Dan. 12: 3).  Righteousness—there’s that word we started out with again.  The just, the righteous, those upon whom God has imputed righteousness because of their faith toward Him—they will shine.

In fact those “just” ones, they will rule over men during the kingdom age.  They will sit with Christ on His throne, full of His righteousness, and they will sit as princes ruling the world.  Nothing less.  “He that rules over men, he must be just, ruling in the fear of God, and he shall be as the light of the morning sun after the rain, after the rain” (II Sam. 23: 3; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiJlJgd9x1s ).

And because God has chosen “not many mighty and not many noble,” His true elect will appear as no one very special.  They are the “filth and off-scouring of the world…For God has chosen the weak things of this world to confound the mighty (I Cor. 1: 26).

So the question comes full circle to each of us who is a “person of faith.”  Which faith is it, for there are many faiths in Christendom that will be rejected by Christ upon His return?  Which vision of the Bible do we believe?  For many followers will come up short and they will weep and gnash their teeth at Him when they realize that the version taught in their churches was the wrong one.  For “wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat.”  And few will find the narrow way that leads to life (Matt. 7: 13-14).

We must then believe on Him the actual way that the scriptures have said.  Those who do are the just and righteous, and they will rule and reign with Him in His kingdom.       Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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March 23, 2013 · 4:41 pm

Not of This Earth

The origin of the sons of God transcends any location on earth. They are strangers to earth. Earth is not their home. They are sojourners and pilgrims during their earthbound travels. Their roots go back to the beginning, locked deep down in their Father’s heart. They are not earthlings. They are not of this earth.

For God’s true offspring, life on earth is not really about earthly things. Invisible heavenly things, spiritual things, are driving what is happening for the sons of God while here on earth. But most of God’s sons and daughters do not know their destiny as of now. Their main problem is that they do not know how to walk in the heavenly calling that they are called to. Their problem is that they are thinking from a fleshly, earthly, natural point of view.

Man sees everything this way. He sees it all through the eyes of his own carnal senses. If it cannot be seen with the eyes or heard with the ears, or touched with the fingertips, or tasted with the tongue, or smelled with the nose, then it must not exist! That is natural man’s thinking. But, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things that God hath prepared for those who love Him.”

Natural minded man does not realize that this earth is not just about earthly things! The truth is that the things that are happening here on earth have been put in motion by things that cannot be seen from earth, nor seen by earthlings. This earth is about heavenly things! This earth is not really about earthly things. This earth is about spiritual things. This earth is about invisible things.

This earth is not about things that can be seen right now by the naked eye, nor with telescopes, for that matter. All earthly things, including man, are only temporary things. There is nothing lasting or enduring about them. Nothing of this earth lasts. Everything based on earthly vistas—what can be experienced by the senses—not only will not last, but cannot endure!

Of course, man proves this everyday, for men, women, boys, girls, and infants die daily. They do not endure. Their bodies daily return to dust from whence they came. And their spirits return to Him that passed them out at the first.

Earthly Things Cannot Fulfill a Spiritual Being

This is the reason that the Preacher said in Ecclesiastes, “Vanity of vanities. All is vanity and vexation of spirit.” Everything here on earth vexes a spiritual entity’s being. Earthly things cannot fulfil a spiritual being. Man, a spiritual being, created by God to house Him fully, in vain tries to live a fulfilling life by the acquisition of earthly things, when earthly things cannot suffice a human being, a being designed to be the glory of God, who is an invisible Spirit.

Yet, unregenerate man slugs on in the slop of misguided desires and lusts. These passions are for things that will not satisfy nor endure.

The sons and daughters of God realize that they were put here by a Being that is not of this earth. They see that reality is not earth-based. They realize that they cannot see true reality by looking through earthly eyes. Man can only endure by seeing things other than earthly things.

It is a heavenly vision, a heavenly faith, a heavenly destiny, a heavenly plan, a heavenly purpose, a heavenly blueprint, a heavenly design, a heavenly way, a heavenly thought of a heavenly Father, who is above all this on earth and is in us whom He has called.

To think earthly is to be in darkness. He has called us out of darkness into the heavenly light. To be earthly-minded is sure death in the darkness, for what seems to be our earthly life is really only a walking death. Remember when the Savior told them to let the dead bury their dead?

To continue to think in an earthly way is a recipe for death. “Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires. But those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires” (Romans 8:5, NIV).

As long as our earthly bodies dictate what we do or say, we walk in death. That hold on our minds by the fleshly desires of our earthly bodies only will pass when we believe that our old carnal heart at its core is crucified with the Savior. When He died, we died. When He rose, we rose. But that is very difficult to believe because we cannot sense it with our five senses. It takes a spiritual sixth sense to see from whence the miracle is derived. It is something that must be believed without seeing the evidence before hand.

To even get out of the old and to get into the new life, we must believe in a spiritual being who does the saving. We have to believe in a Being we cannot see with our earthly eyes. We must believe in someone who is invisible, who is not of this earth, someone who calls us somehow with a calling that is not of this earth, calls us with a heavenly calling, and urges us in mysterious ways to appear to choose His heavenly way against the better judgement of our earthly unbelieving senses—a someone who brings us into a place where we will repudiate all that we see here on earth and count it all as dung that we may win an invisible race for an invisible heavenly spiritual Supreme Being.

An enlightened man takes in this light—light that nothing earthly is as it seems. Everything is tricky here, slippery, treacherous, hypocritical, deceiving. Man is crooked, undependable, self-centered and prideful.

There is a group of human beings who are beginning to realize that this walk here is a spiritual thing and not an earthly thing. They realize that they are in the world but their spirit is not of the earth. They realize that they are really strangers here on earth, that they are not really from the earth, that they are heavenly and spiritual, that they have become blind to the earthly desires and temptations.

They realize that they are looking for their home which is a four square city full of light that has 12 foundations where it never gets dark. That city, the New Jerusalem, is their home, which one day will literally come down out of heaven and set down right here on earth. And they believe this having never seen it with their earthly eyes.

[This is Chapter 8 of my book The Unveiling of the Sons of God.  The original trade paperback version was published in 2001, but now I have published it as an e-book.  If you would like to read more, go to the very top of the home page and just click it.  Please share this with anyone who you believe is called with this calling–to be a manifested son of God.    Kenneth Wayne Hancock]

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June 23, 2012 · 6:08 pm

Partakers of the Divine Nature–The Holy Calling to Be the Sons of God

True Christianity is not about a person striving to attain a collection of good deeds and contributions like regularly praying, attending church, paying tithes and offerings, or volunteering time.  The true walk with Christ is not an accumulation of good deeds in hopes of having a better relationship with God.  It is rather a remembering what we already had with Him before our time on earth began.

Our salvation and deliverance from sin and the evil in our old life was given us by God before we were ever born here on earth!

We were called by God to walk with Him on this earth in our earthly bodies before we were ever born here on earth!

Sounds crazy, I know, and you are probably thinking, Wayne, you are going too far now.  Come back to us.  You are drifting up too far into the stratosphere.

But bear with me a minute.  God has called us with a holy calling in accordance with His own plan and purpose, and we were in His plan and purpose and grace before our mothers gave birth to us here on earth!

Some may be asking, Where did you get this idea from?  It’s right there in the Bible–the same one grandma and momma had.  And this is what it says: “God who has saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” (II Tim. 1: 9) [Compare this to my paraphrasing of it in the above paragraphs].

This “holy calling” to be God’s son or daughter does not come down to us “according to our works.”  We do not attain it because of anything we have done or could do, but because we were already included in His purpose–His plan to favor us that way.  It is called grace, and this grace was given to us in Christ before time began on earth.  Remember what Christ said: “You have been with me from the beginning” (John 15: 27).  The word “beginning” in the Greek is the same one used in John 1: 1: “In the beginning was the Word…” denoting the timelessness of the origin of all things.

We must remember how the LORD (YAHWEH) questioned Job intensely about the creation: “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?…Who laid the cornerstone thereof when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” (Job 38: 4-7).

The “sons of God” rejoicing at the creation of the earth?  Yes.  Isn’t that kind of like before the world came into being?  Yes.  And who are these sons of God?  The word of God says that we are the sons of God!  “Beloved, now are we the sons of God…and when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (I John 3: 2).

Also, we know that “as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Rom. 8: 14).  That’s us, brethren!  Things are going to work out great for us that love God.  If God is for us, who can be against us?  For “we are the called according to His purpose.”  He knew us before!  He gave us this destiny before!  This destiny “to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Rom. 8: 28-29).   Hey, I know I’m not the only one getting this right now because it says “many brethren” are going to be just like Him!

And let’s just say it out loud: We who He has “predestinated” to be like Christ–He has called us, “and whom He called, them He also justified, and whom He justified, them He also glorified”! (v. 30).

Glorified us!  Notice this is in the past tense.  Already done in God’s way of reckoning and doing things.

Wow!  It is truly difficult sometimes for us to wrap our sometimes doubting little minds around these astounding promises, but there it is.  His words, not mine.  The “exceeding great and precious promises that Peter spoke of.  That we “might be partakers of the divine nature” (II Pet. 1: 4).

And this is all in Christ.  When we believe and trust in Him, then our inheritance manifests itself.  Let us walk on in faith and assurance of these promises, not letting worldly man-thoughts hinder us from achieving what God already has spoken into existence for us.  Kenneth Wayne Hancock

 

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January 28, 2009 · 1:40 pm

“Is Christ Divided?” Asked the Apostle Paul

Obviously  not.  And neither are the true members of His spiritual body, the church.  Yet, in Christendom divisions abound, as they did in Paul’s day.

“We are the true church,” say the Roman Catholics.  “No, we are,” say the Baptists.  “We are the Church of Christ!”  “No, we are following Luther.”  “We are following Wesley.”

Please.  2,600 different denominations, each with a different take on Christ.  Divisions abound.  And they all claim to be following the words of the Bible, yet they do not obey its words: “I beseech you…that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you…that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” (I Corinthians 1: 10).

The same mind.  Whose mind?  The mind of Christ.  Since Christ is not divided, then those who really have His Spirit will not be divided either.  “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His” (Rom 8: 9).  If we are His, then we will have His Spirit.  And if we have His Spirit, we will have His mind, and we will not be divided.

Because of the divisions, Paul said that he would have to teach them the basics: the preaching of the cross.  This is what is lacking in Christians today.  They have not been taught that they must surrender their own egos to the death of the cross.  They must identify their sin with the dying Christ who took upon Him the sin of the world that day at Calvary.

“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: 6-7).   The old heart dies with Christ, and then He gives us a new heart by faith in His resurrection.  If we can believe that Christ was raised from the dead, can we not also believe that His Spirit is now raised up in us, thus freeing us from sin and sinning?

If all Christians had this experience of deliverance from sin and sinning, then the divisions would evaporate.  We would all join hands in grateful fellowship, sharing His Spirit among us.  For “there is one body, and one Spirit” (Eph. 4: 4).  That one body is Christ’s one body of believers, which have His Spirit.

And that Spirit only comes into us after we believe that our old self  has died on the cross, and then believe that He has been raised up again in us!  That will get rid of all the divisions.   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

{A note to fellow bloggers:  Check out this website in order to get more traffic to your blog:  http://condron.us  }

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March 19, 2008 · 7:24 pm

Jeremiah Wright and Black Liberation Theology: No Biblical Basis

     When I first heard Jeremiah Wright scream, “Not God bless America; God damn America!”  I shuddered and said to myself, “Is this a sermon in a church?”  Yes, it was.  The Trinity United Church of Christ.  And as the hateful rhetoric spewed forth, I asked, “How could they call this hate doctrine Christ-like?  We have one Master, even Christ, who we are to emulate.  Would He have delivered those sermons that Wright gave?   I don’t think so.

     They call themselves the church of Christ.  The church is His very body in the earth.  It is where He resides.  It is his house, and there is no hate in His house.   “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar…and he that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness…(I John 4:20; 2:9). 

     The church is a spiritual entity of called out believers who have His Spirit and who love one another.  And “by this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one toward another.”  These are Christ’s very words.  

     We are “new creatures in Christ.  Old things are passed away.  Behold all things are become new.”  We are a new spiritual being with a new heart of love for our fellow human beings.  Old hatreds, strifes, and envies are put to death with Christ on the cross when the true believer is delivered from sin and death.  Old prejudices are dead, too. 

     In the spiritual body of Christ (the church) “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.”  We are one in Him.  One.  Race is not an issue.  A person’s flesh is not the criteria whether we are accepted by God into His fellowship.  It’s the heart.  It’s the spirit you are of.  Another American black preacher once longed to be “judged by the content of his character and not the color of his skin.”  That is all any of us can ask.

     This theology prides itself on helping their own poor, and this is commendable.  These “things ye ought to have done and not left the other undone,” Christ said.  “And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor…and have not love it profiteth me nothing” (I Corinthians 13:3).  Without the love from above flowing, though, it is all vain in God’s eyes. 

       Christ said, “Bless and curse not…Love your enemies.  Pray for them that despitefully use you.”  The church, the body of Christ, is not created to take vengeance.  “Vengeance is mine, saith the LORD.  I will repay.”  We are made to forgive and love.  But Wright’s congregation is told that white people are basically the great Satan.  Are there not a few white people on the face of the earth who have the Spirit of Christ in them?  To include them in a sweeping hateful judgement  is wrong, for “do not call good evil and evil good.”

     My question to Wright and his followers is this:  Why drag Christ into your religion?  Hey, you have freedom of religion.  God bless America for that!  But Christ’s teachings have nothing to do with this vitriolic hatespeech.  To the contrary.

     All I can say to Wright and his congregation, which includes Barack Obama, is this:  Love white people and save the world.  The very one you can’t stand is the one you must learn to love, in order to please God.  You have to forgive and move on in His love.    Kenneth Wayne Hancock  

(If this has been helpful, please make a comment and/or share it with someone who might appreciate it)

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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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January 8, 2008 · 9:45 pm

From “Highway to Hell” to “Immortality Road”

           

      Hello, and welcome to my blog.  My name is Kenneth Wayne Hancock.  My friends call me Wayne or “Wayneman.”  I am living proof that God still works miracles because 40 years ago I was a self-destructive druggie rocking on down the highway to hell, long before AC-DC coined the phrase.  And my wife and child were choking to death in my dust and smoke.  But that selfish young man no longer lives.  That guy with that old sinful heart was crucified and put to death on the cross with Christ, and now a new man walks the earth in that earthly body. 

 

     Yes, He put my feet on a right path that’s heading to that Immortal City.  So that’s why I’m calling my blog “Immortality Road” because as children of the King, His chief promise to us is immortality.  The desire to “live on” is in our human genes.  Philosophers, prophets, and kings have “desired to look into” these “exceeding great and precious promises” that lead us on down this road to immortality.

 

     For those of us who are called to walk with Christ, we seek a path not trodden by many.  He has given us an “earnest,” a downpayment of His Spirit, and He commands us to walk in His Spirit.  And now we find ourselves on a pilgrimage, following the Great Invisible Shepherd by faith. 

      

                                                        

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