Category Archives: elect

August 20, 2021 · 11:47 am

The Seed, Repentance, and the Cross

You are a page out of “the book of life.” God is the author of this book. He wrote it eons ago, long before your mom and dad brought you into the world. For God knew you before you were born. You were in His heart before the earth was ever formed and before the stars began to burn (Jer. 1:5).

This book of life is the record of the who, what, when, where, how and why of God’s plan and purpose. His purpose is to reproduce Himself. His plan to fulfill His purpose will be witnessed here on earth. When you walk by faith in Christ’s life, you are a part of the witness of the record in heaven. It bears repeating: The book of life is the record of what God has done/is doing/and will do to accomplish His purpose of reproducing Himself (Love).

It all begins with a seed. And “the seed is the word of God.” And the word of God is truth. When error is found in preachers’ mouths, the seed is blighted and will not reproduce.

But His seed is “the incorruptible seed.” It takes root in our hearts through the sacrifice of the Lamb, our Savior. Only it must be our own spiritual death with Christ. The seed must die before it springs to life in a heart. At the time of any harvest, the original seed brings forth and bears more seed just like the original.  

We members of Christ’s body today are living in the day of harvest, the time of the end. There is and will always be seed time and harvest. Seed time is seen in the book of Genesis, the book of beginnings. The “harvest is the end of the world,” as seen in the book of Revelation.

The word is made up from the words of the plan on how God will reproduce himself in us. In fact, the “book of life” is made up of the word, which gives us clues on how to proceed in God’s reproduction process.

The book of life mentioned in the scriptures is the plan on how he will use us to divinely love through us. This reproduces agape love, which is God. That is why you are a page out of the book of life.

The Cross Experience

Christ said, “Except a seed fall into the ground and die, it abides alone. But if it die, it brings forth much fruit.” Christ is that seed. “Christ is the seed, the word of God.” He is the Word made flesh.

God’s elect is the “good ground.” To get this growth process moving within us, His word, the seed, must germinate in our hearts. We surrender to him by submitting our old self to his spiritual growth process. Christ surrendered his body to death. God placed our sinful hearts on that sacrificial body, and when He died, our old sinful heart died with Him. When He was buried, our sinful self was buried. And when He was raised from the dead, we too were raised to walk in a newness of life.

This is the true cross experience. To lead someone to repentance is the first of the apostles’ doctrine. It is where you lead them to the mirror of their soul. And you tell them to look way past the simple facial skin tones and to peer into hearts. And ask them if they can see the dark place of their existence, the selfish and careless way they are. If they can and want to change, then you teach Romans 6 to them. It is the truth that will make them free. If they won’t look into that mirror, then they cannot receive the truth at that time. Maybe another day.

The Quiz

I gave you a one question quiz on August 5. It asks, “Can you explain in detail how one repents from sin?” It is about how to lead someone to true repentance, which is the first apostles’ doctrine. Christ’s death on the cross, His burial, and His resurrection is where we found our freedom from sin and sinning. It is here at the resurrection in our own hearts that the growth of the Seed in us will begin. And each seed bears its own kind.

When he perished, our old sinful selves died with him. When he was buried, our old selves were buried. And when he was resurrected—Hallelujah!—we “were raised to walk in a newness of life.” He that is dead is freed from sin. Free! But this freedom is only for those who know that they are in bondage to sin and know that they have a need to be freed. Those righteous in their own eyes will think that all of this is nonsense.

Repentance, Romans 6, and the Cross

Paul opens that chapter of his letter to the Romans with this thought: “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” In another translation we read, “Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ were baptized into his death?” Immersed into His death. Water baptism is only a symbol of the baptism into Christ’s death. Which preacher/pastor/priest/or prophet teaches these thoughts of the apostle Paul? They pontificate on most every passage except Romans 6.

This is where true repentance starts; it’s at and after the cross. Christ is not our substitute; he is our example. He laid it on the line through His death, and we need to die with him. And then through belief/faith in the operation of God, we also can walk in a newness of life (Col. 2:12).

This truth will make a huge difference in people’s lives. But you won’t find Romans 6 preached in many churches. Just go ask the pastors their take on it.  I wish they would teach this truth because it is the gateway to all truth. Unless we repent, we’ll “all likewise perish” and be forgotten in the dusty tombs of the earth. This is paramount in being saved from the sea of death, where nobody remembers your name.

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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May 31, 2021 · 4:45 pm

Covid Pandemic a Curse from the Hebrew God?

If we are to ever understand why this pandemic has swept the globe, we must see it through God’s eyes. The word “pandemic” is not in the Bible, but “pestilence” and “plague” are. We Christians must search out the causes and effects of our current pandemic. As we dig deep, we discover that Yahweh, the Hebrew God uses pestilences and plagues in His plan. Why?

As I ponder this viral crisis, other questions arise. Where are the overcomers for these last days?    Where are the Jeremiahs and Daniels of today? Where are the latter rain apostles who will do the “greater works” that Christ promised they would do, even greater miracles than what Christ did (John 14:12)?

And then I thought of the pandemic that we have all been going through, how it has robbed our joy by spreading fear of death and fear of the other. Our shared experience with the virus has opened a door of understanding, however. It is quite a paradox. The very pain and suffering caused by the virus is part of the answer to the questions above. Our response to the negative stimuli determines our spiritual growth. “If we suffer, we shall also reign with him” (II Tim. 2:12).

God’s Tough Love—Why?

“All things are of God.” Therefore, suffering comes from Him. For example, He allowed national suffering to come to the twelve tribes of Jacob/Israel in the form of fierce, merciless Assyrian and Babylonian captivities and displacements.  This national suffering, however, was the crucible that produced the purified golden faith precious metal of prophets like Isaiah, Daniel, and Jeremiah.

And why are we suffering as a nation with this plague? Because of our national sins. God’s babies, taken and slaughtered in their mothers’ wombs, cry out to us. And the sanctity of Holy Matrimony ordained by the Creator between a man and a woman is trampled upon by “men, leaving the natural use of the woman, [burning] in their lust one toward another.” The little latchkey children sit confused, wondering who their irresponsible dad is. And then you have the blasphemy of the international bankers, who have squandered the vast potential of our homeland, and have destroyed the dollar’s value.

All these things and more have we condoned by our collective silence. We people of the USA stood by and allowed the politicians, judges, and bankers to take over our country. This fecklessness has caused our ruin. Why did we stand by and do nothing to prevent this? Because we had turned from our God and had set up idols in our hearts.

The USA has become fat, bloated and spoiled. As a nation we have turned from the Hebrew God to worship the god of self—secular humanism. But God warned us that our disobedience would be punished. He loves us and through His love, He will allow plagues to chasten us that we might return to Him, repent, and be finally clothed with the robe of righteousness as the prodigal son was.

Yahweh lined it all out. Blessings will abound if we are obedient (Deut. 28:1-15), and curses will come on the disobedient (28:16-42). And one of these curses is pestilence and plague, which today is called a pandemic (28:21; Lev. 26:25).

Those of us who have been called out of the crushing tyranny of this world system, must understand why this pandemic has hit us, individually and nationally. The sufferings have come now because of treacherous behavior both personally and nationally. These sufferings, in turn, grind His elect into flour from which He makes spiritual unleavened bread.  

For God is raising up new Daniels, Jeremiahs, and Isaiahs. These will fulfill all things written about His elect, the spiritual body of Christ. They will respond to the high calling by learning what befell fleshly Israel. They will understand why the calamities of the time of the end must come. And their response to their God will thrill His heart as His family coalesces around their Father and King, the great God of heaven.

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May 25, 2021 · 11:34 am

Believing the Meaning of Christ’s Name Yields Power

Believing in Christ’s name is believing the meaning of His name.

Every Christian will tell you that God’s name is important. When asked if they believe in Christ’s name, they will say, “Yes. Of course.” Believing in His name to them means believing the gospel story: Christ died for us on the cross, was buried, and was resurrected to give us eternal life, which is true. But they equate this with “believing in His name.”

But as we drill down, we see deeper layers of knowledge about His name. First, the Son of God was given a Hebrew name—Yahshua. Most who hear this will reject it because they have always been taught that the Savior’s name is “Jesus.” Granted, in the English speaking world, that is the name that we English speakers have given Him down through the centuries. But our Savior was not born in an English speaking world; it was an Aramaic speaking world closely akin to Hebrew, which was the language spoken by the Savior.  

And names in the Hebrew tradition have meanings that point to the person’s destiny. God changed Jacob’s name to match his new destiny. His new name would be “Israel,” which means “prince or power with God.” When Christ was born, the angel of the Lord gave Him a name whose meaning would herald the destiny that He would fulfill. “Thou shalt call His name _______, for He shall save His people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21).

Christ’s Hebrew name has a meaning. And it has to do with saving His people from their sins.  Find the word in Hebrew that means “save or Savior,” and you will know His name. As per the angel’s direction, they named Son of God Yahshua. It means “Yah is the Savior, or Yah saves.” It means that the Father–Yah, or Yahweh, dwells inside the Son and does the saving. At least that is what the Spirit in Isaiah said:. “I, even I, am the LORD [Yahweh]; and beside Me there is no saviour (43:11; 45:21). Christ told His disciples that it was the Father Yahweh inside of Him that was doing the miracles (John 14:10-12). The name Yahshua witnesses this.

May I make a crude analogy to illustrate this crucial point? Going from the sublime to the ridiculous, we hear of a new professional wrestler named “Monster Mann.” He is a German hulk. We wonder if he can live up to his name. We go see him in action one night. He destroys his opponent.  We go away believing that his name accurately describes him. He is a monster in the ring, so we believe in his name. We believe in the meaning of his name—Monster Mann. Christ’s name means “Yahweh [His Father] is the Savior.” And the Father dwelt inside the Son.

The patriarch Joshua had the same name and was a type of Christ as the Savior of His people. Joshua’s destiny was to take them into the Promised Land. So, “Savior” is the meaning of His name. Now, to believe in His name is to believe in the meaning of His name: That the Father Yahweh dwelt in the Son and is the Savior.

To believe in or on His name is important in our spiritual growth. It is rare knowledge—the “word of knowledge,” one of the “gifts of the Spirit.” This is our ticket into being God’s elect, His chosen and called, His sons and daughters. Getting this is the proof that we are in His family.

“But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.” Receiving Christ = Believing the meaning of His name. God gives power to become His sons and daughters to those who do this. He gives this power to us in a systematic way. He likens it to a garden. One plants the seed, the word of God, and another waters and nurtures the new plant. But it is the Spirit of God that gives the increase (I Cor. 3:6-7).

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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March 17, 2021 · 11:45 am

The False Vision and the True Vision

wayneman's avatarImmortality Road

Two visions are given in the scriptures concerning this earth today. One is true and is from the Hebrew God Yahweh. And one is false. And both of these visions concerning God and His plan are out there on the airwaves, in cyberspace, and in the pulpits.

Since “there is nothing new under the sun,” and since “that which has been is now,” we look back to the prophet Jeremiah’s day. Then there were prophets speaking lies in God’s name to the people of Jerusalem. The Babylonian army was sweeping across the Middle East, and yet, they said that God was saying, “You will not see the sword, neither shall you have famine. But I will give you assured peace in this place” (Jer. 14: 13).

These “men of God” told the people what they wanted to hear–how God was going to spare them from Nebuchadnezzar’s army and how their…

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January 28, 2021 · 10:09 am

Nothing in It for You and Me–All for Him

There was an old saying at the mission that rings true now some 40 years later.  “There’s nothing in it for you.”

I didn’t really understand then just how profound that simple statement was.  But Time is a faithful teacher.  And as I look now in the mirror and see a much more wrinkled image with a head laden with a heavy hoary frost, I take more time to contemplate the increasing fragility of my physical state.  It seems that the reality of my own mortality crowds daily into my thoughts.

In that mirror I also see in my own eyes how the years have neutralized the “piss and vinegar” that I was so full of back then in my 20’s and 30’s.

As my earthly frame grows weaker, that old saying–how that there’s nothing in this walk with God for you–rings truer.  It is making so much more sense now as I am staring down the time when I just may have to depart this old earthly body before Christ returns to this earth to set up His kingdom.

For, you see, in those younger years I thought that surely I would be alive when the LORD would come back.  Christ did say that “whosoever lives and believes in Me shall never die” (John 11: 26).  And, that “there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom” (Mt. 16: 28).  Those destined not to taste death would have to be the generation of believers alive when He returned to earth.  Anyway, I always thought that I would be one of them.

But now, as the years tick on, and my body creaks with age more every day, I must take this into real consideration–this “falling asleep,” this “shuffling off of this mortal coil.”

And, yet, I now realize that God has this death of the physical body hanging over us for a reason.  We know that He gives life and He takes life.  Our very breath is in His hand.  And it is this impending destiny with dust that helps us understand the futility of living for one’s self.  The self just cannot see us through, for our earthly bodies must betray us, for that is the very nature  of the physical body formed of the dust of this planet.  The house of dirt was made for us by God on purpose not to last.  It is temporary housing.

God fashioned our bodies to be as ephemeral as butterfly wings.  He deliberately formed them to be fragile in hope that we might sense someday our own vanity before death came knocking.  As we see our bodies decay and crumble with age, He hopes that we will see the futility of living for the self.

Our fragility betrays our pretentious egos that always seem to shout, “Hey, everybody, seriously, I really am something!”  But that self-centered imagination breeds the ultimate deception, for “when a man thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself” (Gal. 6: 3).

And we have all been guilty of that thought; it is in the spiritual genes of old man Adam and his offspring.  Yes, we are initially made that way by the Creator in hopes that we would see the purposelessness of selfish thinking and be humbled so that we could all realize one truth: Every man is created for only one thing, and it is not for self-glorification; it is for God-glorification.

And if we are blessed to be chosen by Him to reveal this truth to, then we are coming much closer to where we need to be in our walk on earth before our Creator.

There’s nothing in it for you.  For everything in the vastness of the universe and here on earth is for God and His pleasure.  This is the great sticking point with natural-minded man, who earnestly believes that he is the center of the cosmos.  Secular humanism is the new many-headed false god.  “Thou shalt not have any other gods before Me.”  Especially our self.

“For of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things” (Rom. 11: 36).  Breaking it down, all things are of Him; they came from Him, and through His creative power all things (including us) exist.  And in the end, all things are created by Him for His pleasure and glory.

For instance, Him delivering us from utter degradation and destruction, and us returning and thanking Him and telling others about His saving love and power–He loves that and gets glory out of it.

“All things were created by Him, and for Him” (Col. 1: 16).  But God does not become a pompous little jerk like natural man when he gets power.  No.  God is LOVE.  He created us so that He could bring us to a place spiritually, where His essence and nature (which is Love) could be multiplied–eventually to fill the whole universe with LOVE!  Our gratitude toward Him for our deliverance from sin is the fertile soil where the seed of Love can grow.

And God-in-human-form is our example and showed us the way.  Jesus (Yahshua) tasted death for us all so that we would not be banished to the dusty tombs of oblivion.  “For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory” (Hebr. 2: 9-10).

That’s the plan.  It is all for Him, so that He may glorify those who realize that it is all for Him.  He will share Himself and all His glory with the overcomers, even to the point of sharing His throne with them (Rev. 3: 21).

It is all for the Creator.  When we turn that page in the book of our minds, then joy and serenity will overtake us, for we will have embraced the heart of God with arms of humility, born of His true nature, Love.

{For more on this subject, check out this article:  https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2012/02/11/gods-endgame-where-this-life-on-earth-is-leading-us/ }

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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July 30, 2020 · 1:49 pm

Additions to Faith Insures Spiritual Growth

The Spirit of Christ through the apostle Peter has given us one of the “New Commandments” that Christ spoke about. When obeyed, it will insure our mature spiritual growth in God. Christ’s desire for us is that we bear much fruit. “Herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, Christ said. The commandment that Peter is talking about is this: “Add to your faith” seven attributes of God’s very own “divine nature” (II Peter 1:4-7).

We will grow spiritually if we add them. But in Chapter Two he tells us why very few Christians obey this commandment. He warns us of the false teachings spewed by false prophets and false teachers whose doctrines wilt the young plantings of God. Instead of the latter rain from heaven watering young Christians, false concepts about God stunt their growth. You can see the effects on well-meaning church goers every Sunday morning, sitting there in the same pew that they have sat in for decades, still singing “Just As I Am,” stunted now, unable to grow to full spiritual maturity because of the drought of His word. The maturity that Christ and the apostles talk about is becoming just like Peter, James, John, and Paul. Church goers have been told that it is impossible. But “with God all things are possible.”

But Christ’s elect are scattered out there. Some will hear that faint sound of the ancient trumpet, and their heads will turn up to the sky from whence the call was made.

For God calls whomsoever He will. No man through his own willpower will become His elect, His chosen ones. He does the choosing. He places the hunger for truth in them. They don’t know at first how it all works. They just know that they need to find the truth. They need to get to the bottom of this thing called life-on-planet-earth. And somehow they finally realize that it was God all along who arranged all the serendipitous coincidences, all the failures and victories, and all of the, well, miraculous turning points in our lives.

In my case, the miracle was when Mortality was rearing its desperate head–my head, actually, which was going down for the seventh time. And there with me God had Larry Golden pull me out of that South China Sea undertow at Da Nang Beach in Vietnam. The LORD gives life, and the LORD takes away life. Blessed be His Name.

Such is the calling and election that God makes upon us. He has a plan and a timetable for everything. And He will put a hook in the jaw of those He is angling for, if that is what it takes. He has a purpose to reproduce Himself in us. He is omnipotent and will bring it to pass. He has created all things, and all things are in His repertoire. And He uses both “good things” and “bad things” to bring His plan and purpose to full fruition. Full fruit production is bearing “much fruit.”

Which takes us back full circle to the “additions to the faith.” They are virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and agape love. These attributes of the “divine nature” are powerful. They are like the finest fertilizer for God’s young plants.

They hold many promises for those who want to grow. “For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ [Yahshua]” (II Peter 1:5-8). With these seven added, you will be full of fruit. With them you will “make your calling and election sure.” With these seven added, “You shall never fall.” With them added, “an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom” of Christ, our “Everlasting Father” (II Peter 1:10-11; Isaiah 9:6). Such promises are breathtaking!

Those that have an ear to hear, let them hear what the Spirit is saying (Matt. 11: 15; 13:9; Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 29, 3:6, 13, 22). In other words, God gives understanding to whomever He desires to give it. He opens the ears of the spiritually deaf. If He is doing that for us, then we need to hear and listen closely to what the Spirit of God is saying through Peter about the additions to the faith. Those with an ear to hear will understand.        Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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July 4, 2020 · 4:48 pm

The Need for the Additions to the Faith

When the Spirit of Christ says through Peter, “Add to your faith” certain attributes, He is not saying that we must add them in order to be saved. Personal salvation is not the issue, though it is the first important step on our spiritual quest. The additions are the key to our spiritual growth after salvation. They are the key that unlocks the door to our spiritual perfection.

Like Jeremiah, Yahweh has known us by name before our earthly mothers brought us out into the light of day. We add these heavenly attributes of God’s “divine nature” because we are called and chosen by Him to do just that. Our names are written down in the book of life before the worlds were ever spoken into existence by our God and Savior Yahshua, the Son of God.

Consequently, we have no choice in the matter. My readers are a rare group of humans who have seen through the plastic façade of churchianity and have “come out of her.” He has predestined a vanguard who will be the first fruits that will show their brethren the way to the glory land. They have been “called according to His purpose [the reproduction of Himself—Love].”

“For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified” (Rom. 8:28-30). He knew us before we were born into mortality. He gave us our destiny to be like the Son before we came here. Because of our pre-destiny, He called us; He “got our attention” that He is real. He showed us the phoniness of human society and culture and began to teach us His way. He saved us out of the quagmire of sin by justifying us. And in His mind, He has already glorified us. For He declares the end from the beginning.

All I can do is shake my head and go, “Wow!” For the Spirit is speaking to me as I write this down. What a precious privilege—to join the ranks of our brethren like David, Jacob, Daniel, Paul, John, and so many more. Their fame lives on because they answered His call upon their lives, just like we are doing. He is working the same way today as He did two, three, and four thousand years ago. He said, “I change not.” There is not one single scripture that says the miracles ceased being performed by His followers 1,900 years ago.

Our Lives Now Are His Doing

It is His ball game now since our surrender to Christ. When we really believe Romans 6:6, we enter into His rest. How do we enter into rest? When we die with Christ on the cross and are raised up from the dead with Him, we have ceased doing our own works for our old self. It is because our old man Adam is dead. And so we begin our Sabbath rest when we cease working for our old selves. This is what brings the love, joy, and peace and the other fruit of the Spirit. This is what casts out fear. There is nothing to be afraid of now. What are they going to do, send me to Vietnam? Once our old ego dies with Christ, what are they going to do? Kill our body? “Death has no more dominion over us.”

So we wait on the Spirit of truth to lead us into all truth. And He shows us that we are to grow spiritually, that we are to finally mature by bringing forth “much fruit.” And then the Spirit through Peter tells us that in order to bear “much fruit,” we need to “add to your faith” seven additions, seven facets of His divine nature. These seven things are crucial in order to come to full maturity/perfection. With them we will be able “to make our calling and election sure.” What calling? God has called us “to be conformed to the image of His Son.” In other words {Oh, words that will get you thrown out of churches} to be like the Son of God!

“Nobody can be like Jesus! That’s blasphemy!”

“Well, if you won’t let me be like Jesus, will you let me be like Peter, John, and Paul? They performed miracles like Christ. They bore much fruit.”

Bearing Much Fruit

To become a mature Christian, we have to add these seven attributes of His divine nature. If these seven things are pulsating and abounding in us, then they will enable us to bear much fruit   of the Spirit, never to be barren of love, joy, and peace (II Peter 1:8).

Those Christians who do not add them to the faith will be blind to the vision of our true destiny, for they will have forgotten that they were purged from their old sins (v. 9-10). Old sins are like blighted branches that are lopped off at the cross. Belief/faith in His resurrection gets them started in Christ, but they need the additions. If they don’t add them, then blindness overtakes them. They will get stagnant, which stops spiritual growth.

Such is the state of most church houses. Every gathering in them is a cookie cutter copy of the last meeting. Because no new light is being shared, the manna becomes stale and spoils, and most of the clergy and laity languish in the stalls of forgetfulness.

It is sad really. I still want to reach out and touch them like I have endeavored to do, but they say that they are “increased with goods and have need of nothing” (Rev. 3:18). I am learning to not be dismayed nor frustrated. For one who speaks God’s message is honored, but not “in his own country and in his own house.” (Mt. 13: 57). This explains why we can’t get any respect from those in our own home. [Perhaps you have experienced this. Please share in a comment].

The Need to Add to the Faith

Finally, those foreordained and predestined will feel the need to add the seven additions to the faith. God will reveal the need to them. No man with man’s wisdom will do it. “It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy” (Rom. 9:16). But those who are called and chosen will soldier on to complete the quest. That quest is “to be conformed to the image of His Son.” The gainsayers will tell them that it can’t be done, that they are crazy for thinking such a thing. But the elect will hear His voice. The others will just hear a rumble off in the distance, shrug their shoulders, and ask for seconds on the apple pie.

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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April 25, 2020 · 6:25 pm

Adding the Knowledge of Good and Evil, Part Two

Once we get this knowledge of good and evil and believe this knowledge, then we will be entering the mind of Christ—or rather His mind will be entering us.

We must understand that God has ordained both “good” and “bad” things to happen in our lives in order to fulfill His will. And His will is the force that executes His plan to fulfill His purpose of reproducing Himself.

“No, God Wouldn’t Do That!”

Some may say, “No way. God would never afflict an innocent person.” This is an understandable position, but spoken in man’s wisdom.

To prove that God will bring afflictions upon us, let me relate a story that happened to the prophet Moses. Moses is eighty years old. He has been shepherding flocks for forty years after being expelled from Egypt. He has been waiting and waiting upon God. He has been seeking God because he has finally found Him in the burning bush on Mt. Horeb. God tells Moses that He plans to deliver His people Israel from Egyptian oppression, and He plans to use him.

But Moses says, “They will not believe me, nor hearken to my voice, for they will say, the LORD has not appeared to thee.”

To prove to Moses that the Egyptians will listen, God asked Moses, “What is that in your hand?”

“A rod.” Now rods have been used for many years as a shepherd’s tool for good, to fend off wild beasts and to generally help both the flock and the shepherd. But Yahweh tells Moses, “Cast it on the ground.” He did, and it changed into a serpent, a symbol for evil. When Moses picked it up by its tail, it changed back into a rod (Ex. 3-4).

We get an incredible picture of our Creator in all His sovereignty. God makes little distinction between the “good” rod and the “bad” serpent. They are merely two sides of the same coin. I say one coin because if He needs “heads” to come up, He gets it. And if He needs “tails” to enter the picture, tails turns up. The rod symbolizes the “good” things that happen to us, and the serpent represents the “bad” things that befall us. God uses both to mold and shape us.

God is showing us through this miracle of the rod turning into a serpent a glimpse into His mind. It is like having a tree with good and evil fruit spread out on the branches above us. We walk “under” this tree and God, as it were, causes to fall the fruit we need in order to grow. Sufferings come; many are caused by our faults; some are not.  Sometimes a rod or staff is needed for our support and comfort, and sometimes the serpent bites or scares us like when “Moses fled from before it” (Ex. 4: 3).

But Moses did not flee the next time the rod became a serpent. He was not afraid of the evil any longer. He knew that the serpent/devil was merely doing his job in the grand scheme of things [1].

The Excuses of Moses Answered by Yahweh

After the rod/serpent miracle, Moses makes an excuse as to why he is not the man for the job. “I am not eloquent…I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue.” Moses was implying that God had made a mistake in choosing him because of his stammer.

To which Yahweh profoundly replied, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the dumb, or deaf or the seeing, or the blind? Have not I Yahweh.” God tells us that He makes the dumb, deaf and blind.

It is like when the disciples asked the Son of God concerning the blind people in their midst. “Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?” And Christ responded, “Neither, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him” (John 9: 3). And then He healed his blindness. God made the man blind to give His sons opportunity to work miracles and heal them. Let me repeat that. God made the innocent man blind.

This is rare knowledge that needs to be added to virtue, which is moral goodness,  strength, and power. Some would accuse God of being cruel and immoral for making the man blind. They accuse Him because they do not understand that both “good” and “bad” issue forth from the Father. We will only see it His way when we believe this knowledge about God using both good and evil to accomplish His will.

The Father’s sons and daughters will judge it properly. And that judgement is this: The devil and his minions have a job to do. Their recalcitrance is written and choreographed by the Director and Author of our play. As the antagonist is needed to bring out the best of the protagonist, so the devil is serving God’s interests by their resistance to us.

It is said, No pain, no gain. So it is in the spiritual realm. The evil spirits cause much pain by becoming our opposing adversaries. It is like a football game. We are on offense, and they are on defense. God, our coach, has given us the right training and the necessary pep talk and the right plays to beat the devil and his minions. God finally wants us to—just run the plays! If we do, we win.

Better put: Because you and I are part of God’s elect, we not only will win, but we have already won in His sight. This is the faith of the Son of God. You and I “have obtained like precious faith.” His faith now resides in our hearts, and we are adding knowledge to it–the knowledge of good and evil.

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

[1] http://www.sonplace.com/sonplacing/sp_chp3.htm p. 49

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April 23, 2020 · 8:48 pm

Adding the Knowledge of Good and Evil

Once we understand that the angels are spirits and that 1/3 of them have been sent here to earth to do a job under an arch-angel named Lucifer, later named Satan—once we comprehend that this evil cabal of hurtful spirits are sent to wreak havoc upon mankind for (and this is a hard one) our perfection—and once we realize that the evil angels are really only spirits sent to actually help us become manifested sons and daughters of God [Concerning the angels, “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” Heb. 1: 14.]—once we see that all this is an integral part of His plan, then the vista begins to clear as we see that our Father does all things well.

Our Father/Creator/Savior is sovereign. He has a purpose and a plan to carry out His purpose, which is this: He is reproducing Himself, and He is Love. And that plan includes both good and evil. Good and evil do not just exist; rather they are tools to use on us “lively stones.” They are used to chip away at our imperfections, preparing us to be laid near Christ the “Cornerstone” of the temple of God. He uses both good and evil to accomplish His plan to fulfill His purpose.

Some of you right now are having to endure unspeakable heartbreak as you see loved ones around you spiritually disintegrate before your eyes. To your understanding, this is a tragedy. Think of that thing that happened unjustly to you, that incident that is really too painful still to think about. It was a trial that, like a tidal wave, sweeps your little ship of peace to the sandy bottom, leaving you thrashing and gasping for air.

And all you were doing was enjoying the sun and surf, enjoying the peace and joy of God, enjoying a new found desire to serve Him. And then the betrayal came. It came through the only ones who could hurt you. It came and locked you into a lonely room of despair with no way to escape, leaving you in shock, wondering why you been forsaken and slandered, perhaps your reputation destroyed, your life uprooted.

Think of that painful situation, and then know that the same God who had blessed you with love and joy is the same One who dispenses evil into our lives, delivering hurtful sufferings that usher us into a deeper walk with Him, a walk we cannot comprehend the why. As Job told his wife, “What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?”

Understanding Why Evil Comes into Our New Lives

God arranges for evil to come into our new lives to give us opportunities to forgive others, and to even forgive Him. For it is forgiving others that generates agape love in our hearts. The suffering that we endure is an opportunity for us to forgive those who trespass against us. This shows His power and love through us.

So, we should not think that it is a strange thing that God is the instigator of unbearable trials in our lives, “as though some strange thing has happened” unto us, but realize that it is needed for our growth (I Pet. 4: 12-13). Agape love grows out of forgiveness, which reproduces God, thus fulfilling His purpose.  Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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April 18, 2020 · 6:54 pm

The Symbiotic Relationship of God and Mankind

Life is a growing and a maturing. Just look out your window at the living things. They are growing into maturity that they might reproduce themselves. We not only are growing physically, but also mentally and spiritually. And we are created in His image and likeness. So why is the thought that God grows so unbelievable?

Yahweh, translated “the LORD,” grew into His perfect maturity when He manifested Himself in the Son. Some will take offense, so let me explain. “God is Love,” agape love. The universal law of love states: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15: 13). In order to fulfill this law, the Father would have to lay down His life for others. But the Father is an immortal Spirit and cannot die.  He could not fulfill this law and thereby express the greatest love while in His first spiritual estate.

So in His brilliant plan, He would pour out His Spirit into a specially prepared mortal man who would then submit to the death of the cross to save down fallen mankind, who were before prepared for this purpose. In a word, the sacrifice of Christ, the Son of God, would fulfill the greatest love explained in the above quote.

“God was manifest in the flesh” (I Tim. 3: 16). “God was in Christ…” (II Cor. 5: 19). Christ said that it was the Father in him that was doing all the miracles. And Christ has given us this new commandment: “Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me…” (Jn 14: 11).

Symbiosis

The Father Yahweh is Love. He completed the first leg of His own everlasting life cycle, by demonstrating the greatest and most perfect/mature love in the history of the Creator and the Created. The Immortal One had to create a mortal being—the human being—in order to be able to show that He is the greatest Love through the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. It was through Christ “laying down His life” for others that proved God is the greatest Love.

So death is an instrumental part of the Creator’s plan. For the Creator Yahweh cannot be the Creator without the Created. And in like manner, neither can Yahweh fully become the Savior without someone who needs saving. And that someone that needs to be saved cannot exist without sin entering into his heart. The evilness of sin must be a reality in fallen man in order for God to have someone to save and thereby show His great love and mercy to us. And make no mistake; Yahweh, and only Yahweh is the savior.

That is what His Spirit spoke through the prophets Isaiah and Hosea. “I, even I, am Yahweh; and beside me there is no savior…” (Isa. 43: 11; 45: 21; Hos. 13: 4). Christ’s words confirm this. “The word which you hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me…The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwells in me, he does the works…” The Father does the miracle of salvation (John 14: 10, 24).

How important is believing this true knowledge about the Father and the Son? Christ answers: “He that believes on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do…” He has just promised us that if we believe on Him according to the above, then the Father in us will perform the same miracles that He did through Christ and His apostles and prophets. Furthermore, He states that “whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14: 12-13). Asking in His name. His Hebrew name. {I am going to put this in capital letters because it is so important} CHRIST’S HEBREW NAME MEANS “YAHWEH IS THE SAVIOR!” Christ came in His Father’s name Yah. “Yahshua” is the same name as the patriarch Joshua. {I wrote a whole book about this entitled Yah Is Savior: The Road to Immortality. Free copies are still available with free shipping. Details here: https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/donate/}.

The symbiotic relationship of God and mankind is thus: God needs man to fulfill His own destiny as the glorious wise and loving Creator and Savior. And man certainly needs God to escape a certain trip to dark oblivion. We need Him more than He needs us, but nevertheless, He does need us to fulfill His plan and purpose of reproducing Himself, agape Love.

The Plan in Making Adam Weak

Our omniscient Creator moved on this by creating Adam and Eve weak—on purpose. It was not an experiment in the Garden of Eden that accidently ran amuck. No. He who knows the number of hairs on our heads, and He who sewed together our sinews, and spun and wove the exquisite optic nerves into our brains—no, He did not make a mistake. It was all planned. And “it was very good” (Gen. 1: 31).

In Adam God did not build a robot-like tower of strength. He could have, but that kind of creation would not serve His purpose of revealing Himself as the Savior. In His infinite wisdom and fore thought, He chose us long before He ever created the worlds. And He chose us to be with Him, with His purpose in mind.

And through this grace, He secured our destiny, before ordaining our steps here on earth. For this reason: We are to be earmarked to be used by Him for His purposes. When we surrender completely to Him, then He will have our backs. Many try to manipulate the Creator, trying to get Him to do their bidding. But that never works out well. Just look at the unanswered prayers that we all have flung heavenward. Just look how the plans of well-intentioned men “have come to naught.”

But He has His hand on us, long before our entrance as infants into this world. He has “predestinated us” for this purpose: that we could be placed as His spiritual offspring through Christ, who is the saving Son and who is the Creator/Father. That is not a misprint. Everyone will quote the following passage as a distinct prophecy of the coming Son of God. But somehow this part of the quote just doesn’t click. I know that you have read it.  “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given…and His name shall be called…The everlasting Father…” (Isa. 9: 6).

Once we understand and believe why we were created in the first place, then we will realize that this present life upon this planet is all about God—Agape Love—reproducing Himself. And it can only happen through God saving a human being who sits humbled in the chains of sin.

We were made for God. God created us humans as His future dwelling place. In His eyes it is already a done deal. God sees us already sitting next to Him on His throne. After all, He created us to be overcomers. He has faith in His plan, purpose, and His word that explains all this. And, oh, yes. He has faith in us, His creation. The faith that the Bible keeps referring to is God’s faith and belief in His own genius and power to make it all happen. When we believe what and how He believes, then we are walking in faith. It is not our feeble little belief system. It is the faith of the Son of God, the Creator.

The few overcomers, the elect, the remnant, will answer the call. Because He fashioned us to do this. For in the end, we will see that it is all Him. He is the One, so merciful, so kind, so loving, that He would choose us to sit with Him on His throne. This is how He said it, “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne…” (Rev. 3:21).

Many are called to this honor, but only a few are chosen. It is like seed being sown in a field. Some will come up and some won’t. May we all who read these words come up and rise up to be what He wants us to be.    Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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Filed under Adam and Eve, agape, children of God, elect, eternal purpose, faith, manifestation of the sons of God, sin, Spirit of God, spiritual growth, Spiritual Life Cycle