Category Archives: elect

February 27, 2010 · 2:39 pm

CHRIST: You Must “Hate” Your Family to Be My Disciple–Counting the Cost of Discipleship

I know.  “Hate” is a very strong word.  Surely, Christ did not mean for us to hate our family members, as in loathing them.

Here is exactly what He said: “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple“ (Luke 14: 26).

These are powerful words and very perplexing.  Surely He did not mean hate hate.  Pondering this, I looked up the word in the Greek.  Miseo is used with several shades of meaning.  Consulting Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, I found that it is indeed used for “malicious feelings toward others.”  But it is also used to speak “of relative preference for one thing over another, by way of expressing either aversion from, or disregard for, the claims of one person…to those of another.” 

The Key to Understanding What He Meant

 The key to understanding this kind of “hate” for earthly family members that Christ speaks about resides in understanding “aversion from” and “disregard for.”

Christ is saying that when we answer the call to become a son or daughter of God, earthly family members will stand in the way of us walking on with God.  Consciously or unconsciously, they will obstruct us.  Christ called them blind and the walking dead.  Even though some may mean well, Christ sees them as enemies endeavoring to thwart His plan for our new lives in Him.  They have their plans for us–how we should act towards them, and it is always about them.  And God has His plan for how we occupy our minds with His thoughts.  Therefore, we must choose God’s thoughts for us and “disregard” their little self-centered world, around which they want us to spin.  We must avert or turn away our minds and hearts from dwelling on them.

Simply put, in comparison to the high calling, they are a hindrance and must be put on the back burner when we are forced to choose between Christ and them.  We must set Christ and His plan as the top priority and not antagonistic family members.  In a word, we must separate ourselves from them.

The Rest of Christ’s Lesson

Christ continues His teaching on all this in the verses that follow, illustrating the actual cost, the actual price we must pay for discipleship.  For He immediately asks, “For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it?”  For you may come up short and not be able to finish the project.

By that He wants us to ask ourselves, “What might it cost to seriously follow Christ into Sonship?”  It just may cost us a row, a major blow up with a family member.  It might cost a wife [I have actually seen this happen more than once, and thank God that mine stayed with me].  It may cost you a relationship with a son or daughter [I know about the son].

Following Christ the way He wants us to follow Him may cost us someone dear to us.  “For how can two walk together, except they be agreed?  And “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion has light with darkness?  Wherefore, come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord” (II Cor 6: 14-17). 

The Conclusion of Christ’s Lesson for Us

Finishing up His lesson on counting the cost of serving Him, He says, “So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsakes not all that he has, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14: 33). 

The “all that he has” here is the earthly life mentioned seven verses before at the beginning of the lesson–his earthly father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters. 

Christ is teaching us that we should disregard and turn away from, and thereby forsake earthly family members if they continue to be used by Satan to prevent us from fulfilling our calling.  We still love them and pray for them that they might repent and turn toward God.  But we should hear Christ’s words and not theirs.  He did warn us about all this.  He said, “For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter agains her mother…and a man’s foes shall be they of his own household” (Mt. 10: 34-36). 

Finally, we must ask ourselves this:  Are we going to flail around in the deep dark lake of fear and dread, trying to save someone whose thrashing about just might drown us in the process?  Or are we going to obey and trust our Master by standing on the banks with Him as a beacon of light and thereby be able to help those who want to come to the light and walk with Him?

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February 20, 2010 · 7:46 pm

Yahweh’s Last Day Jewels–His Special Treasure

In these last days, God has a special treasure hidden in the earth.  It is not composed of diamonds, rubies, silver, or gold.  His special treasure are His jewels, but they are a special group of people who He is most keenly aware of in their walk on this earth.  Yahweh takes special notice of them.  And so, we must ask, Just who are these people?  What characteristics distinguish them from other human beings?

First, they fear Him.  They are in awe of Him, His power, and His plan.  They know who He really is and what He has done.  They are stupefied when they consider the astonishing array of His heavens and His earth.

Secondly, they will speak often to each other.  They will eventually find each other, and when they do, they will “click.”  They will have His Spirit in common and a mutual purpose in their walk on earth–one that will match God’s eternal purpose of sonship.

And then God will hearken to their speech, and He will remember them.  To be one that He remembers!  What an honor!  When they are in awe of Him, He not only takes notice, but He has His angels make a “book of remembrance.”  He has His angels write down our names in a book of remembrance!  And He does this for those that speak often about Him, fear Him, and think upon His name. 

What were they speaking one to another about?  We know that whatever we think about, we speak about.  These special chosen people of God were speaking to each other about His name.  Then they that feared the LORD (Yahweh) spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name (Malachi 3: 16).  Thy thought and spoke about His name Yahweh.

Through Isaiah God spoke, “I am the LORD: that is my name” (42: 8).  And we know that “the LORD” is the title that the translators used in place of the Hebrew name “YHWH,” pronounced “Yahweh.”  So, rewritten, the Spirit says through Isaiah, “I am Yahweh: that is my name.” 

All this moves God.  How can we, little old us, ever touch God’s heart that He would ever take notice of us?  By being in awe of Him, thinking upon His name, and speaking about Him using His name.  We need to think on His name–ponder it, peruse it, explore it, meditate on it, and understand the message contained in His name Yahshua: Yahweh is the Savior.

And what is the outcome for those who do this?  God will remember them, saying, “They shall be mine…in that day when I make up my jewels [Hebrew–special treasure]; and I will spare them, as a man spares his own son that serves him” (v. 17).  Spare them from what?  He will spare them from the time of punishment  that is coming upon this earth.

For, behold, the day comes, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that comes shall burn them up…But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings.  (Mal 4: 1-2).  His name is important.       Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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August 2, 2009 · 1:21 am

Conversations With the Seer–Who Will Do the “Greater Works”?

(Formerly in Israel, if a man went to inquire of God, he would say, “Come, let us go to the Seer,” because the prophet of today used to be called a Seer. I Samuel 9: 9)

“Christ did say, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also,” I said to the Seer.  We were talking about how followers of Christ today could grow to a point in which they could do the same miracles of healing and raising of the dead that the Savior and His apostles did (1).

“That promise is true,” the Seer said, “but what does it mean, to believe on Him?  Even the devils believe in one God and tremble.  Many believe that He existed, that He was a prophet, that He was a wise teacher.  Although important, it is not enough that we believe that Christ existed, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day.  Christ gives us His followers a commandment: ‘Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me.’  Those who go and learn what that means–they are the ones that will do the greater works.”

“How could we do anything greater than healing the sick and raising the dead?” I asked, thinking that would be difficult to top.

“He is bringing many sons unto glory.  Multiply these works by thousands of us doing them—those are the ‘greater works.’”

“Never saw it like that before.  So what does ‘believe on Him’ mean then?”

“Christ was saying this: The Father that dwells in me speaks the words through me and does the works.  The Father is a Spirit; He is everywhere.  The Son is a vessel that walks in this knowledge and also contains the Father/Spirit.   We who have received His Spirit in our new hearts, we, also, are in the Father, and the Father now is in us.

“Christ commands us: ‘Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.”  This is a commandment.  In fact, this is one of his new commandments that His apostle John tells us about.  He is saying, The things I do only God can do, so believe what I am saying to you about the Father being present right now in Me.  These miracles done through me—it is the Father in me that is doing them.”

“He did say, I and my Father are one.”

“Precisely.  Those that obey this new commandment and believe that it was very Yahweh, the great Creator, walking, teaching, healing, through the Anointed One Christ—they will do the same works that He did.”

“Just accepting Him as their personal Savior is not going to do it,” I said.

“No, it won’t.  We do the receiving of Him; He does the accepting of us.  Big difference.”

“The Great Creator Spirit poured Himself into the man called the Christ,” I said.

“Believe that and you will be given the Spirit as well.  Speaking of all of His followers down through the ages, He prayed, ‘That they may be one, as we are.’  And His prayers will be answered.”     KWH

(1) John 14: 9-20; 17: 11.

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July 2, 2009 · 3:17 pm

Manifested Sons of God Dig Deep and Lay Foundation on the Rock

The sons and daughters of God will grow up spiritually.  They will have “overcome the wicked one” and all his tricks.  Their eye will be single, seeing  only the eternal purpose of their Father and His desire to reproduce Himself through “Christ in us.”

They are “born from above,” of “that incorruptible seed, the word of God.”  They will [dig] deep and [lay] the foundation on a rock,” so that when persecution, harassment, troubles, and others’ unbelief come against them, they will remain unshaken (1).

The depth of their search for truth and their commitment to do what the truth commands–this is what distinguishes them from those who “also ran.”  They not only hear Christ’s sayings, but do them.  This is laying the foundation on the Rock and not the sand.

Concerning the way of truth,  Christ said, “Few there be that find it” (2).  But He also said, “For many be called, but few chosen” (3).  So that opens the door for you and I.

So these elect for these last days will “go deep” and fully answer the call, making their “election sure”.  They will do this by adding virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and agape love to their faith.  This is how they will become “partakers of the divine nature” (4).

In their spiritual journey, they will receive a new heart that contains the Spirit of God.  They will be led by the Spirit, which is a prerequisite of being one of His elect (5).

It’s All About What He Wants

God has an eternal purpose in reproducing Himself, and these chosen ones are at the very core of it.  All of us professing Christians need to put our own personal aspirations and dreams for our lives into perspective.  We need to see things from the King’s point of view.  See what His priorities are, see what He wants done, see what He desires for His creation, and then, put Him and His vision first.

You Would Do This for a New Boss

To be a valuable employee at your new job, would not you be wise to learn what your boss is trying to accomplish and then, keeping that purpose in mind, spend your work day diligently endeavoring to help him do it?

So it is with God and His purpose.  I am trying to get the word out about God’s purpose in “bringing many sons unto glory” (Hebrews 2: 10).  This is what this blog is about–to raise awareness as to what the scriptures say is in God’s heart and what His purpose for us is.

I do not have personal designs on being one of the manifested sons who will walk in 100 fold glory as seen in Revelation 14.  I will be quite content to be used to teach them and nurture them, helping them to grow up into Him.  Everyone must be taught.

The apostle Paul, in fact, laments that there are not more teachers of the truth.  “For when for the time you ought to be teachers, you have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God…” (Heb. 5:12).

I do not know how old the sons and daughters are.  They could be 20, 30, 40, or 60 years old at present.  They may be 10 or 12 years old right now.  But one thing I do know.  We who have this knowledge must, by His Spirit, publish it for them and help them grow up spiritually to become what God wants them to be.

All Christians from all walks of life need to be working with this purpose in mind: to be of service to the King and His desires.  If we do this, He will be pleased and will help us help Him accomplish it all.  Kenneth Wayne Hancock

  1. Luke 6: 47-48
  2. Matt. 7: 14
  3. Matt. 20: 16
  4. II Peter 1: 3-10
  5. Romans 8: 14

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June 20, 2009 · 11:26 am

Where Do the Manifested Sons of God Come From?

They are born of humble origins and inauspicious beginnings; they start as any other sinful human being.  The vast majority will not come from the powerful elite class, for “not many mighty, not many noble are called” (1).  God is rather choosing out the weak of this world, ones who have little power or influence.  He does this so that when He reveals Himself in these chosen ones, they’ll know it is Him and not them doing the greater works.

Called to Transcend

They will have been called by their heavenly Father to transcend merely dwelling on temporary earthly delights for themselves.

During their initial selfish sashay upon earth, they will eventually see that enough is enough.  For how many women must one man bed until he finally realizes that sex without the heavenly component of love is senseless, fruitless, and meaningless.  And how many men must one woman lay with before she sees the futility of her physical submission.

Awaking Out of the Mud

The future offspring of God will awake one day and try to wash up from the mud-caked sin that smears their inner spirit.  They will hear the LORD cry, “Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes” (2).  They will at once want to change, to clean up, to attire themselves in clothes not meant to attract another’s attention, but just to modestly cover the shame of their nakedness.

They will want to change, but they will not know how exactly.  They will try to change themselves for themselves, but they will see that doing things for your self is just that same sly selfishness dolled up for another run.

They will finally see that they can’t change themselves–for themselves.  They’ll see that as long as their old self is still there, it will selfishly devote its life for self-aggrandizement.  That is all the old nature can do.

Don’t “Become a Better You”!

The world is full of people trying to become better.  They are encouraged by feel-good false teachers to do so.  But the sons and daughters of God will see through this.  They’ll realize that the “You” in Become a Better You! has got to go.  The “You” must willingly surrender its sovereignty over its body.  The “You” must not be re-directed or “made better.”  God commands that the old “You” repent, by dying on the cross with Christ.

It’s a tough sentence–this self-imposed crucifixion.  But the future sons and daughters of the Creator will become desperate enough to just believe what the scriptures of truth say.  They will surrender their old selfish existence up to God.  They will abdicate themselves as sovereign of their own life.  They will present their bodies back to God to allow His Spirit reign in them.

Life Out of Death

True life out of death.  Since God’s Spirit will not dwell in unclean temples (bodies), our old selfish heart must go.  And the only way to get rid of it is on the cross.  Through belief in His resurrection, the Spirit enters our hearts after we are immersed in His death (3).

At first hearing this, many will draw back.  This is why the Master said, “Few there be to find this way of truth.”  For “many are called, but few are chosen” (4).

After the surrender, the Spirit grows up in a person.  Lessons are learned; small battles with the adversary are fought and won; “senses are exercised to discern both good and evil.”  Fiery trials of their belief in Him come and go, lending their purifying qualities to the gold-like faith they are walking in.

Their knowledge increases about His government (kingdom), and they continue growing “up into Him” until eventually “Christ be formed in you” (5).

The manifested sons of God are destined to emerge in these latter days.  It is the crowning event of our age.  The casting call is going out.  The sons and daughters of God will be the stars of the show, and God will choose all unknowns for these roles.  The question still is, Are we one of them?           Kenneth Wayne Hancock

  1. I Cor. 1: 26
  2. Isa. 1:16
  3. Rom. 6: 1-6; I Cor. 1: 18
  4. Matt. 20: 16
  5. Gal. 4: 19

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June 10, 2009 · 11:06 am

Be Still, Be Patient–Waiting for God in the Telecommunication Age

Tweets, tiny phones, and instant electronic mail producing photos of friends’ faces in vibrant color–friends you’ve been longing to see and couldn’t until the seeming miracle of telecommunications in the 21st Century happens upon you.  It’s intoxicating to ride this speeding bullet we now call our life,  careening now down through time at the speed of light.

The Still Small Voice

But for many of us there’s that “still, small voice” inside that whispers to us, “Be still, and know that I am God” (1).

And we begin to realize that there comes a time when we need to take stock, when we need to get up early in the morning while the stars are still out, a cup of something hot in hand, and look out at the endless blanket of star dust thrown over us, and ponder the One who put it there.

Somebody must leave “the cares of this life” for a moment and think deeply on why we are here, on His purpose for us on the planet, and on what is actually happening on earth.

But that takes a seeking heart, a humble spirit, a hungry soul.  And He will take that heart and create a gnawing need to know the truth–the truth as to why we are here.  And since there is a Creator (just look up at those stars), He must have a specific purpose for all the human vessels that He has created.  I mean, He’s even got a specific purpose for the tiny digestive tract of a flatworm.  How much more for our existence–us whose lives He redeemed when He gave Himself for us.

No.  This is no accident–our lives here on this terrestrial globe, floating serenely as it were through the late spring air.

Waiting for God

The truth as to our destiny to be His actual immortal sons and daughters–the truth as to the evil forces hindering His plan for us–the truth about how we enter into this new walk of awareness–there’s so much to learn.

But we must stop and get off this speed-of-light train long enough to contemplate and savor the things God has for us.  For “blessed are all they that wait for Him” (2).

We have to wait for Him.  “God is light,” but He does not necessarily travel at the speed of light.  We have to wait for Him, for He will check us out to see if we are fit to be a ruler in His new government He’s bringing to earth shortly.  He will prove us and try us to see if we are of the right stuff to be His princes and princesses.  We are children of the King, aren’t we?

And this checking us out involves sufferings and trials and tribulations both in our personal lives and on a worldwide arena.  So it takes patience.

The Crux of the Matter

So the question is this: Are we one of those He calls to love Him enough to endure to the end with Him and His glorious purpose for our lives?  That’s the question we need to ponder under the stars or under the green universe of that giant oak tree, teeming with ring-necked doves and inquisitive squirrels who wonder when we are going to wake up and become what we are supposed to be.

Will we stride forth in the power of the Spirit, or will we strut our stuff, hoping our shaky little world holds up?  Are we a contender or a pretender?  A conqueror or a slave?

So this is what this website is about.  Click on a “Category” of interest to you in the right hand column and read and ponder and, yes, electronically send it to someone you love who needs these words–words that are a distillment of four decades of study and life.

And those who patiently wait for Him have the Father’s promise: “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you” (3).     Kenneth Wayne Hancock

  1. Psm 46: 10
  2. Isa 30: 18 & 64: 4
  3. John 14: 18 NKJV

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August 11, 2008 · 10:34 pm

“God’s Elect”–His Body, His Chosen, His Church

     God’s church is His elect, His “chosen ones.”  To those drenched in humanism, that will sound elitist and unacceptable, for humans do the choosing in this world.

     But the Scriptures of truth say otherwise.  They speak of an “election”–one not in which we choose or elect, but one in which God chooses those whom He wants to reside in.  And this truth goes against the grain of unsurrendered modernism.

          The words “elect” and “chosen” are translated from the same Greek word eklektos (Strong’s # G1588); its root word means “to pick out, to choose.” 

     These “chosen ones” are called “God’s elect.”  And these play a big role during these last days.  But who are they exactly?

Saints, Faithful Brethren, Elect of God

     The apostle Paul shows us a clear picture of them in the book of Colossians.  He writes “to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ” (1:2).  They are also fruitful Christians (v. 6).  They have “love in the Spirit” (v. 8).  Paul confirms their “redemption through His blood” and includes them as being members of Christ’s “body, the church” (v. 18). 

     Paul, as their minister, is so close to them as Christian brethren, that he shares an astounding revelation from God.  He declares to them “the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints…which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (1: 25-27). 

     Paul continues to share precious truths to the Colossians in ch. 2.  He has called them saints, the body of Christ, and the church.  And in lieu of all this, he admonishes them: “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering” (3: 12). 

      Being Christ’s body and church, and having His Spirit makes you His elect, Paul is telling them.   And because He dwells in you, you are the “elect of God.”  Or, because you are the “elect of God,” He dwells in you.  Here we see the Colossians called saints, the body of Christ, the church, and the God’s elect–or His chosen. 

“I Have Chosen You”

     Speaking to His disciples, Christ says, “Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit…” (John 15: 16).  The word “chosen” here is from the same word translated “elect.”  You are my elect, He is saying, my chosen ones that will bear the spiritual fruit, bearing witness that my Spirit is in you.

     Later in that sequence, Christ prays for those disciples, and “for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they may be one; as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee” (John 17:20-21).  Oneness–the Spirit of God in His chosen ones as the Father is in Christ. 

     That’s us, brothers and sisters.  We have believed on Christ through the words written down by His very disciples whom He prayed for.  We are His body, His church, His elect, His chosen.  

     So when we see “the elect” spoken of in the scriptures, know that it is His church, His body of believers.  And we see “the elect” on earth during the Tribulation Period (See “No Pre-Tribulation Rapture” at  https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2008/08/05/no-pre-tribulation-rapture-gods-elect-on-earth-during-tribulation/ ).           Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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