Category Archives: kingdom of God

January 30, 2016 · 4:10 pm

Being Alone on Your Christian Walk–“Look to the Rock”

Don’t think it strange that you feel like you are on a lonely road in your walk with God. So walked the prophets and apostles of old. Actually, those on the right path will feel this way, for “few there be to find this way of truth.”

In this pilgrimage we may take solace, for there trod those men and women of God who serve as our examples. On the one hand, many miracles were wrought through their faith: they “subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, and quenched the violence of fire.” But then many of them were mocked, scourged, tortured, imprisoned, stoned, and many “wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth” (Heb. 11: 33-38).

They were “strangers and pilgrims on the earth,” desiring “a better country,” which is a heavenly country. They were looking for the heavenly city (11: 13-16).

They are our heroes; they are our examples as to what this walk on earth is all about. So, yes, we will feel very lonely in the midst of a crowd. But we will endure as “good soldiers.”

Many People, Little Fellowship

I was thinking about how there are so few to fellowship with. Don’t get me wrong; there are many everywhere to love. But to fellowship–to get into the depth of the living waters, to dive in and swim together into the deep things of God. To not be limited to just us floating on top of a chlorined pool with our little plastic flotation devices that preachers have passed down to their people through the centuries. The prophets and apostles of old did not kick back and just float during their sojourn. They dug deep, and the kicker is this: they did it all for us their children (Heb. 11: 39-40).

I crave others to rejoice with me concerning His glorious righteous government soon to come to this troubled earth, and concerning the great deliverance from sin that He has wrought in our lives. My God, thank you. My life now in You is completely different because of Your cleansing power.

Yet, I know that even now, though we “walk that lonesome valley,” the day will come when the few will come together and become His cadre of rulers with Him on His throne, as He promised to those who overcome the present Laodicea church age (Rev. 3: 14-21). Until that time we wait; we endure, as they did of old. Many were shepherds, on a hilltop pasture at night with their flocks, looking up at the wash of stars pulsating across the heavens, and wondering, Oh, God, why me? Me? Me sit with You on Your throne some day?

And God says, Yes, I have chosen you as one of the few to find this way of truth (Matt. 7: 14). Yes, few will find the way because it is a narrow path where all who will hike it must count the cost to see if they have what it takes to make it.

And so we ask, Which way? The way to manifested sonship. The way to become just like Peter, James, John, and Paul. The way to become like God-in-human-form–Jesus/Yahshua. We must remember that “with God all things are possible” (Mark 10: 27).

Waiting on the Burning Bush

Take Moses. Banished from Egypt at forty, he endured with patience much suffering, waiting on God and the power He would give to execute His will. The way entails these sufferings, for they purify our faith as gold tried in the fire. Moses endured the sufferings of Christ for another forty years. He felt alone in the calling he was given and he waited. And then it happened at eighty years of age–the burning bush experience.

Moses waited forty years before God commissioned him to be the deliverer of His people. He learned that until God empowers us to run, we run in vain; we build churches in vain; we huff and puff and burn ourselves out “for God” in vain. For unless He builds the house, it is built in vain. For as He says to us, It is “not by might [your might], not by power [your power], but by My Spirit” (Zec 4: 6).

Carved out of the Same Granite

By the same faith as our spiritual ancestors, we as His children are of the same spiritual stuff that our God is–Spirit. And we are to look to the Rock from which we are hewn (Isa. 51: 1-2) believing this. We are to look to Abraham and all the others, that “great cloud of witnesses” that have gone on before us.

We are hewn from that same rock. Is not that chip of granite at the foot of the boulder, freed by the block by the stonemasons–isn’t that chip of the same substance, the very same molecules as the boulder?

We, then, are a piece of His body as much as Abraham and all the rest in Hebrews 11. We are His body with a spirit within us given directly from Yahweh’s heart. We are a piece of eternity, though at present wrapped in fragile flesh. But one day, we will receive our marching orders as Moses did and we will stride forth throughout the ravaged earth, declaring His righteous kingdom to all who will believe.    Kenneth Wayne Hancock

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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January 23, 2016 · 4:49 pm

“Thy Kingdom Come”–His Kingdom Is the Gospel

Sometimes we just do not know what we should pray to the Father about. “We know not what we should pray for as we ought,” but the Spirit is there to help us (Rom 8: 26). And He helps us to know through the ideas presented in the “Lord’s Prayer.” Christ’s example prayer presents the thoughts of the Almighty Father. We are to understand its precepts and communicate with God accordingly. We are not to use the “Lord’s Prayer” as an exercise in rote regurgitation–no matter how sincerely it is repeated.

“Thy kingdom come” is the next precept Christ is teaching us from His example prayer. What is the Father’s kingdom? Is it just when we on a personal level are “born again”? Is that the extent of the Father’s governance in the earth? Personal salvation is wonderful and is truly the seed beginning of His kingdom in this earth. But that seed grows.

In fact, “the kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed…which indeed is the least of all seeds, but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof” (Matt 13: 31-32).

The parables reveal the secrets and mysteries of the Father’s kingdom (Matt 13: 11). And the big secret revealed in the mustard seed parable is that the Father’s kingdom grows into a gigantic spiritual and political entity that is so powerful that the other nations (birds of the air) seek shelter in its branches.

This is the same government originating from heaven that Daniel saw in the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. The king had a terrifying dream that showed the fall of all the satanic governments of the world, caused by the coming and full fruition of God’s government, the kingdom of heaven. Daniel told him that “there is a God in heaven that reveals secrets and makes known…what shall be in the latter days” (Dan 2: 28).

The latter days. That’s our time. The world Gentile empires are coming down, brought about by the coming of “the kingdom of heaven” to this earth. We know the dream with the great image of gold, silver, brass, and iron, signifying the four world empires in history. And there came the stone kingdom from heaven that smashed into the feet of the image, and it came crashing down. “And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever” (Dan 2: 44). The Father’s kingdom is not just an invisible feel-good-in-the-Spirit kingdom, but it is literal and political, as well as spiritual. It is a government ruled by a benevolent Monarch. It is coming to earth in the latter days–in our time.

So, “thy kingdom come.” The Father in Christ is coming back to this earth to govern, insuring peace throughout the far flung corners of the globe for a thousand years. And He “shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” This is the good news. This government, this kingdom brought here by our Father through His Son–this true gospel is the good news of our Father’s government literally coming to fill the whole earth with His righteous ways.

Christ in this section of the “Lord’s Prayer” teaches us the importance of the Father’s kingdom.  A kingdom is a literal form of government headed by a monarch.  He is the King.  Thy kingdom come…in earth as it is in heaven.  His kingdom already rules in heaven; shortly it will rule completely on earth.

This is the good news proclaimed in the four gospels in the so-called “New Testament” of the Bible.  Many scriptures back this up.  “Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:14-15).  Believe what gospel?  The “gospel of the kingdom of God.”  He is saying, God’s government is here.  Because it is at hand, you need to repent from your old selfish life, and believe this good news of God ruling on earth.

“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come” (Matt. 24:14).  It is this gospel, this true gospel of the kingdom of God that must be proclaimed throughout the whole world before the end of the age will come.  The gospel preached by the vast majority of pastors is “another gospel” about Christ. It is a shallow shadow of the good news. It focuses on “getting saved” and does not mention a peep about the grandeur of His world wide rule. Salvation is precious, but it is just the first step. It is the germination of that mustard seed, but there is so much more after that.

Thy kingdom come. We, then, should pray with this glorious vision that Christ has, when He taught His disciples to pray.  His kingdom is a vision of an earth free from corruption and cruelty–free from addiction and selfishness–free from hunger and desperation–free from greedy leaders who cast the poor in chains of lies and deceit–free from husbands and wives betraying those who love them the most–free from broken-hearted children thrown out like trash by selfish parents–free from the evil that pillages every soul on earth–

This is the gospel of the Kingdom of God.  This is the good news that will fill the earth when Christ comes back and sits down on the throne of our invisible Father.  And His sons and daughters will sit alongside Him in His kingdom right here on earth.  And He will dispatch us His princes and princesses out into the ravished earth to rebuild and restore what the evil ones wasted.

“Thy kingdom come” evokes much about the glorious vision God has for His earth.  We need to pray toward this end.  He told us to not ask for things for ourselves, but rather, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.”       Kenneth Wayne Hancock

 

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January 9, 2016 · 7:08 pm

Lord’s Prayer–“Which Art in Heaven”–He Is from Above, Not Beneath

Our Father is the God of heaven. That is a profound thought that is easily passed over. In other words, the true God is not born of the imagination of earthly man.  This is what we are to take away from the words in the Lord’s prayer, “Which art in heaven.”  There are “gods many, but for us there is only one God.”  These “gods many” are conjured up by natural unregenerated man–“cunningly devised fables,” false conceptions of Christ.

And the masses are deceived.  “Satan deceives the whole world.”  How can he do that?  “For Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.  Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness” (II Cor. 11:14-15). But every “Christian minister” will tell you that they are a teacher of the truth. Just ask them. But they all cannot be right because they disagree so wildly in their doctrines. So we must ask ourselves: Who then are Satan’s ministers who speak about Christ and yet deceive the whole world with their teachings? Since there is no idle word in God, somebody is fulfilling this word right now!

Wait a minute.  Paul has just said that Satan will come as a messenger of truth and light by having priests, pastors, and preachers bringing forth sermons about Christ and His righteousness!  Satan’s ministers will be preaching about Christ in the last days.  But it will not be the true “gospel of the kingdom of heaven.”  It will be “another gospel” other than the one that the apostle Paul preached.  It will not be from heaven, but it will be from beneath.

It will be a gospel concocted by the vain imaginations of natural thinking men.  It will be based on “what God can do for you,” and not “what God can do through your vessel.”  They will claim to be His servants, but at the end, He will say, “Depart from me you workers of iniquity.  I never knew you.”  You wanted prosperity instead of Me. You wanted your spin on the end time and not My timetable.  You wanted a rapturously easy way out of the hard times ahead and not “to endure hardness as a good soldier of Christ.”

This false gospel from beneath will emanate from an “earthly, sensual, and devilish” wisdom and not from heaven above.  This false gospel will spout “in Jesus’ name” but their hearts will be far from the God of Heaven and far from His heart.

This false gospel comes in many colors and flavors.  Most people shop around until they find a church with their kind of “Jesus” in it.  Most depend on the pastor to do their studying for them.  Few dig deep and “prove all things” with the Spirit’s help. This false gospel of Jesus is not from our Father, which is in heaven.  It is not from above, but from beneath. {Note: Church is a way station only on our pilgrimage to the Holy City.  We must eventually leave the way station, grow out of it, etc.}

Our Father and His plan of reproducing Himself in His sons and daughters is from heaven, not from sinful man’s imagination of what they thought God meant.  No, our Father emanates from the finer spiritual dimension we call heaven.  He is far above the selfish, conniving imaginations of un-spiritual man trying to be religious, leaning to his own understanding.

His thoughts are not our thoughts.  “It is a heavenly vision, a heavenly faith, a heavenly destiny, a heavenly plan, a heavenly purpose, a heavenly blueprint, 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”   (quoted from The Unveiling of the Sons of God  https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/ebook-the-unveiling-of-the-sons-of-god/ ).

We must keep this in mind in our communication to Him because He is “Our Father, which art in heaven.”  He’s from above and not from beneath.     Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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October 17, 2015 · 4:34 pm

Some Have a Royal Destiny in Christ’s Kingdom

God loves all of us His children. All of us are precious in His sight. The Spirit operates in some degree in all of us. But there are “differences of administrations.”
There are “diversities of operations” but the same Spirit “working through all of [us]” (I Cor. 12: 4-13). Responsibilities differ for each member of His body.

Some may pastor small congregations, and others may teach at church. And some write articles and letters of edification and instruction to many throughout the world. Such was Paul’s calling.

The point is that we are His one body, and we all have our place in His body. And we are all being “transformed by the renewing of [our] mind” as we serve him in the capacity that He has called us.

We all have our gift from Him to the other members of His body, the church. How and why are there differences? Each differs “according to the grace that is given to us” (Rom. 12: 6). “Grace” is God favoring us in some way.

God shines His grace, His favor, on individuals in His body in different amounts and at different times in their lives. Some will have a problem with this, so let me explain.

Two Parables Reveal Wonderful Secrets

Consider the parable of the talents: “For the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey” (Matt. 25: 14-29).

Parables reveal secrets about God’s literal kingdom soon to come to this earth. Christ is in the “far country.” And He gave talents to His followers. The amounts differed according to their ability.” Some could handle more responsibility than others. The one with five gained five more. The one with a lesser amount of two did gain two more. And the Lord praised both of them and rewarded them with rulership over many things.  But the servant with only one talent was afraid and had no faith in his master, and he was banished and shamed for his error.

The one with two talents did not complain, but with a good heart did his best out of love for his Lord. As did the one with five. The fact remains here that grace/favor was given in different amounts according to the particular abilities of each servant.

We should tie this in with the different spiritual fruit production rates as seen in “The Parable of the Sower” (Matt. 13: 3-9). Christ reveals a secret when He tells us in this parable that some Christians will bring forth thirty fold fruit, some sixty fold, and some will bear one hundred fold fruit.

We see in these two parables that in His kingdom, He gives grace in different amounts, and this grace yields different amounts of spiritual fruit production.

Some Will Become Like Peter, James, John, and Paul in Our Day

Here it is. Some members of Christ’s body are predestined to be “conformed to the image of His Son” (Rom. 8: 29-33). Some will be the first to be glorified and transformed into an immortal state. Some will bear this 100 fold fruit and be like the Son of God. In fact, Christ will be formed fully in them. This is God’s choosing. We cannot work to be awarded this honor. These are His chosen ones for this honor. These are His first fruits, and they will overcome all things and will sit with Him on His throne (Rev. 3: 21).

Not all Christians are chosen for this. Some will spiritually mature later. They have their part to play that is very important. It’s like this. At Boeing Corporation, engineers design a new jet airliner. Machinists actualize their blueprints into real parts, and workers put the parts together to make the plane.  And the executives procure the financing, personnel, and materials to make the big picture happen. Everyone is important and indispensable in the process. All are needed to fulfill the plan and purpose.

And we all in the body of Christ are needed to fulfill God’s plan and purpose. We have His Spirit operating in us according to His grace and direction.

A Greater Need We Share

Look, we all need each other. But there is a greater need that we all share. It is to know in detail God’s Master Plan as seen in the scriptures of truth. God’s plan is not born from the imaginations of TV evangelists or their clones on every corner.

If God reveals to us that He is bringing some in the body to sit with Him on His throne and to rule and reign with Him for 1,000 years–should we not all hunger and thirst for more knowledge about their rise in these last days before the King’s return?

Should we not all aspire to become one of those who will reign with Christ? Should we not at least help them fulfill their calling–at least be supportive by first studying and praying for their arrival on the world’s stage?

For the whole creation is waiting “for the manifestation of the sons of God” (Rom. 8: 19). Should not all of us then have that same “earnest expectation” of this glorious event?

God’s elect are the ones God has chosen to be the first to completely come to maturity in God’s spiritual life cycle. They are destined to come to full fruition in these latter days. Their arrival on the scene is a surprise event that the world will not be ready for.

The question is–will we be ready? Will we embrace this light and help and edify them in their calling and election. If we do, then we will have passed the “selflessness test.” We will have proven that it is all for God and His plan. For we should all seek first His kingdom, which includes the King and kings who will be the “rulers over many cities” that He speaks about in the parables. We should all seek His will concerning this. And we should embrace His plan and purpose–even if we are not to be one of those who will bear 100 fold fruit. We should want to help them get there. In this we will show our love for God.    Kenneth Wayne Hancock

 

 

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October 4, 2015 · 6:51 pm

“The Vision of the Almighty”–His Plan and Purpose

“The vision of the Almighty”–isn’t that what we Christians want? That our eyes be open? That we could see clearly as God sees? That we could with childlike wonder behold the things He has already projected onto His prophetical screen? For until now, “eye has not seen…the things that God has prepared for those who love Him” (I Cor. 2: 9).

“The vision of the Almighty,” God’s vision, only comes when a person has their  eyes opened by God Himself. To fully comprehend our calling and election and to make it sure, we must see what our Father sees concerning this earth.

Where can we find the vision of the Almighty? It has all been written in a book. It is all there. Yet few have read it. But why can’t it be read? Because Yahweh “has poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes; the prophets, rulers and seers has He covered” in this deep slumber (Isa. 29: 10-13). Both the multitude and their clergy are asleep.

And His vision is like a sealed book that nobody can read because it is closed to them. Why is this so? Because “with their mouth…they do honor Me, but [they] have removed their heart far from Me…”

The vision of the Almighty is contained in a sealed book. And only He can open a person’s eyes, thus opening it to the reader’s understanding.

But the vision is all there if “we have eyes to see and ears to hear.” It is just like when the Spirit signs off each message to the churches in Revelation 2 and 3: “He that has an ear to hear, let him hear what the spirit says unto the churches.” Certain humans at certain times have eyes and ears that are capable at that moment to see and hear.

God’s vision, which is His plan and purpose, is vital for us His offspring to know. For “where there is no vision, the people perish” (Prov. 29: 18). And, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” What knowledge exactly? The knowledge of the Almighty’s vision, His plan, His purpose. Without it, masses of humanity will fall into the dusty tombs of hopelessness.

And so, as always, He is revealing His vision to a few. It has been written in His book long before man’s creation. It is unchanged from the beginning of time. And it is rare to be able to glimpse into God’s mind, to see what He sees and what He will accomplish in the near future.

That notwithstanding, God has revealed His vision, plan, and purpose through a very curious character in the scriptures. His name is Balaam, a sorcerer, hired by Balak king of Moab to curse the children of Israel. But Yahweh directly intervened in their plot, appearing to Balaam, and directing him to bless Moses and the Israelites and not curse them (Num. 24: 2-9).

Ironically, it is through Balaam’s words of blessing that God reveals “the vision of the Almighty.”

First, the “Spirit of God came upon him. And he took up his parable.” A parable is not a nice little story to make it easier to understand something. To the contrary, it is a dark saying, mysterious to the hearers. The same Hebrew word for “parable” is used in Psalm 78: 2: “I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old.” This is quoted in Matthew 13: 35.  Jesus/Yahshua spoke exclusively to the multitude in parables, “that it might be fulfilled by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.” Secrets. God’s secrets, found in the parables. And one of the parables that unlocks the secret of God’s vision is found coming through Balaam’s lips.

And Balaam continued, “Balaam…the man whose eyes are open has said…which heard the words of God, which saw the vision of the Almighty…” And then he begins to describe what he witnessed in the trance. He saw the Holy Land in a blessed state, both physically and spiritually–fruitful valleys, trees planted by Yahweh Himself lining the waterways. Obviously, this is not today’s Israeli state, a state of paranoia and danger, with walls separating the haves from the have-nots.  To the contrary, Balaam saw the twelve lost tribes of Israel thriving, strong as a lion in their dealing with other nations. He saw them blessed.

This vision is synonymous with the New Jerusalem with its tree of life planted on either side of “the river of water of life,” bearing “twelve manner of fruits” (Rev. 22: 1-5). And most importantly, Balaam saw the “vision of the Almighty…there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel” (24: 15-25).

Here he sees Jesus/Yahshua, the King of kings, coming to earth to rule and reign in the kingdom of God. And He shall rule with a rod of iron. This is the same picture we see in Revelation upon Christ’s return.

In essence, the “vision of the Almighty” concerns the establishment of the kingdom of God in this earth. A kingdom is a form of government that has a monarch. His name is Yahshua, called Jesus by most English speakers. He will sit on His throne that He will share with the overcomers of all things in this last church age. God’s vision concerns the restoration of the rule of God through His Son and the other Christians who will bear the royal mantle of rulership in His kingdom. His vision includes their growth and spiritual rise to kingship with Him. When god gives you His vision, “the vision of the Almighty,” you will sing of His kingdom in all of its glorious ramifications.

But before one can aspire to sonship and kingship with Christ, one must have knowledge about it. Got to know about it first. When our eyes are truly opened to see all this, then all of the exasperated strugglings with God, all the anxieties experienced through the months, years, and decades are answered by Him when He gives a person the knowledge of “the vision of the Almighty.” With this knowledge we can prepare our hearts for the reality that lies before us, to be one of His chosen ones, one of the firstfruits unto God.

The Royal Priests

The Spirit through Peter called us, the sons of God, “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood.” We have been chosen or elected by God in this age to be kings and priests. Our destiny is to “rule and reign with Christ” and to be mediators and priests, carrying His vision to the masses of humanity during the 1,000 year reign of Christ here on earth.

But how can we help the multitudes if we do not have God’s vision, plan and purpose–which is this: He is all about reproducing Himself in us in the environment of His kingdom. And for those who follow Him in His vision, unimaginable blessings await–right here on earth.     Kenneth Wayne Hancock

 

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September 19, 2015 · 3:21 pm

Additions to the Faith to Make Our Calling and Election Sure–To Be Like Peter, James, John, and Paul

We are admonished by the apostle Peter to “make our calling and election sure.” You mean that we have to do something? I thought it was all God and His grace that helps us to be what He wants us to be. It is, but there remains things we must do in order for the spiritual growth to take place.

We must study and pray and eventually fast that the culprit Unbelief might skulk away out of our spiritual lives. For it is unbelief that hinders our growth. But the Spirit has left us a roadmap, a way of cutting through the haze of phony doctrines about God.

Peter tells us in his second letter the steps we should take. He explains that to grow to full maturity, we must add seven attributes to our faith.

Peter writes to those who “have obtained like precious faith with us” (2 Peter 1: 1). The elect, God’s chosen ones for this high calling, have received the same exact precious faith that the early apostles received.

Now this comes about in our lives “through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ (Yahshua)” (v. 1). After we were convicted of our sin-guiltiness, and after we stepped out and laid down our old sinful self on the cross and died in revelation with the sacrificial Lamb of God, we, by believing that Christ was raised from the dead, receive a newly resurrected life by faith.

It is His faith that we have received. God believed in His own power to raise up the Lamb of God, and when we believed that, then we obtained that very same belief in the form of a “new heart” and a new spirit. By believing in His resurrection, we also believe that we were raised from the dead, for we were definitely dead in our sins—the walking dead, as it were. But now we are  alive from the dead, and we bear God’s very own faith in our bosom. As Paul said, “Old things are passed away,” and all things “are become new.” It is no longer the old Adamic man, writhing in the guilt of sin, that now lives, but rather the new man Christ, who has now begun His growth within our new hearts.

This is the faith we have obtained with Peter, Paul, James, and John. Faith is the foundation that must be added to, just like a builder adds walls, a roof, windows and doors to the foundation of the new house he is building. And it is this faith—God’s faith now in us, not our faith in Him—that must be added unto.

Adding Seven Spiritual Attributes Insures Three Things

We are to add to our faith “virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity [agape love]” (1: 5-7).

Peter writes that adding these seven spiritual attributes to His faith in us yields three major things in God’s plan for these latter days. First, they insure that we will not “be barren nor unfruitful” (1: 8). God wants us to bear “much fruit” and is glorified when we do (John 15: 8).

Second, the additions to our faith are how we solidify our standing as one of God’s elect; it is how we “make our calling and election sure.” Walking in these seven attributes of God’s nature insures our place in the elect. Or better put, those destined to be part of the elect will build their spiritual house with these attributes (1: 10).

Furthermore, it is through them that “an entrance shall be ministered unto [us] abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior” (1: 11).

Adding them is how we “partake of His divine nature” (1: 4). It is how we make our calling and election sure, how we never fall, how we will be full of spiritual fruit, how we will receive an entrance into His kingdom, and how we will “partake of His divine nature.” That sums up what spiritual growth is about. That is how important these things are as outlined by Peter in his Second Epistle, Chapter 1.

A Serious Assignment

Adding these attributes is a serious assignment that only the Spirit of truth can teach, for it is He that leads us into all truth. Truth being the key word.

“Truth is fallen in the streets,” says the prophet. And there is a famine in the land, a famine of the word of God. Because of this dearth, adding these seven attributes is a formidable task. Why? Peter in the very next chapter forewarns us of how the devil will hinder our growth in becoming God’s elect. He warns us to beware of false prophets and false teachers who “shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them.” And many will follow these hypocrites, who will “speak great swelling words of vanity” and will “promise them liberty” while they are “the servants of corruption” (II Peter 2:1-19).

And how does this second chapter tie into the first? These false “Christian” teachers will spew out false teachings that will hinder a young Christian’s spiritual growth. Peter gives his stark warning to us so that we would not be hijacked and taken away by the enemy, thus prohibiting us from making our calling and election sure. Bluntly put, false teachings will thwart the children of God from growing into fully matured Christians, fit to sit on the throne with Christ. Getting rid of these false concepts about God is where the study and prayer come in after true knowledge comes to us.

Isaiah wonders, “Who hath believed our report?” Who will answer the call to go all the way to the throne of God? Only the adventurous. Only the unafraid. Only the rebels who refuse to come under the yoke of the god of this world. Only those who trust in the Spirit of God within themselves, as He helps them separate the good teachings from the bad.

But man’s wisdom cannot teach this truth to the elect. Old Adamic man just cannot teach it to us, nor the well-meaning manna-gatherers of yesteryear, who fed the flock of God with the spiritual bread that they had one hundred, five hundred, or one thousand or more years ago. That cannot sustain the elect of God for these latter days. For these elect must have the “present truth”—food convenient for them.

God is doing a new thing; He is pouring out new light as to His plan and purpose. The Spirit is pouring out His truth today all over the earth. He has seven thousand unbowed to Baal, and they are like river bed conduits of His living water. Those who thirst will drink. The rest will with parched throats persist in scratching moisture out of broken cisterns of the waters of the past, repositories of the damp shadows of truth.

For God is doing a new thing in the earth, a thing that men will not believe though God Himself tells them. For He has already, even though He has blinded all but the remnant, the elect. But they will prepare and do and put on these additions to the “faith once delivered to the saints.”   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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September 12, 2015 · 7:23 pm

The Manifestation of the Sons of God–The Ultimate Prophecy

Nobody is talking about the most stupendous prophetical event that will ever take place on this tired old earth. Not a peep about it from the pastors and evangelists and the priests and prophets. They have either never been taught it, or they have rejected it outright. But no one has the “manifestation of the sons of God” on the spiritual radar screen.

It is a radical concept put forth by Christ and His apostles–that Christ will be fully formed in a chosen few thousand people, most of whom are probably treading  this earth today. It is an extreme position to take, that God would “reveal His Son in [us],” as Paul said (Gal. 1: 16). It was a radical prophecy that Christ gave when He said that His followers would do “greater works” than what He had done (John 14: 12).

Greater Than Raising the Dead?

Christ believes that we will do greater exploits than He did. What could be greater than raising the dead? Only one thing: when thousands are raising the dead, showing to the world God’s awesome power. Only that is greater.

These sons of God, destined to be revealed during these latter days, are the heralds of Christ’s return to set up His kingdom. Their revealing, their revelation, their manifestation to the world is the event that will literally save this planet from destruction. Christ, remember, will be fully formed in these offspring; it is all Him in them. They will usher in the 1,000 year reign and return of the Son of God. Their unveiling to the inhabitants of the earth will begin the “restitution of all things which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began” (Acts 3: 19-22). But no one in Christian circles discusses it. Very curious, indeed.

Seed Time and Harvest

The Son of God was the Seed that was planted into the earth, and these aforementioned sons are the harvest. Christ said before His crucifixion that it was time “that the Son of man be glorified…Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone: but if it die, it brings forth much fruit.” The “much fruit” are God’s offspring who will have the same power that the early rain apostles did in the Book of Acts. And it is their walk on earth that will be the Son’s glorification.

We are talking about, of course, the “manifestation of the sons of God, the 100 fold fruit bearing harvest of fully matured Christians with the same power as their Head. These few thousand are not to be confused with the millions of God’s children. These are God’s cadre of rulers who will be expressing God fully during the 1,00 year reign. In fact, they will be immortal, having received their new spiritual bodies, being the first fruits unto God. They are the first to bear 100 fold fruit (Matt. 13). Some will bear 30 fold and some 60 fold, but these will bear “much fruit.”

These are they who will display the full power of the Almighty, and they will sit down next to Christ on His throne! Not only sonship, but kingship. Remember Christ’s promise to the overcomers in the last church age: “I will grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in His throne” (Rev. 3: 21). This is written only to those who have an ear to hear what the Spirit is saying concerning all this. And maybe that answers the question posed earlier. Why doesn’t anyone speak about this great manifestation of God’s sons? Perhaps they do not have ears that can grasp these things. Some just can’t see nor understand this vision. He did say, A man can receive nothing except it be given from heaven. (John 3: 27).

These manifested sons of God are what the whole creation is waiting for, whether they realize it or not (Rom. 8: 19). These will be the saviors of the world. We can read about them in Rev. 7 and 14. As the prophet Obadiah prophesied, “And saviors shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’S” (Yahweh’s) (v. 21).

God will use these saviors to finally drive the last nail in the coffin of Satan’s kingdom, which is controlled by Esau/Edom’s descendants. They will do nothing less. This is how important this vision and prophecy is. And yet, only one in 10,000 are talking about this. Let us all who read this be that one.    Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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August 22, 2015 · 8:03 pm

Exposing the Darkness of Political Correctness–God Is Not P.C.

Something there is that does not love political correctness. Something deep down in the human soul repulses attempts by our fellow man to dictate how we should feel, speak, and act. Perhaps that something is that little spiritual spark that our Creator has placed in our hearts. That tiny luminescence is intended to kindle a fire that will illuminate the path back to our Father’s heart.

Thus, that little light that He has given each person knows that in the end, we all were made for God’s purposes and not to be slaves to the whims of other men.

For in the end, that is what political correctness is–a subtle tyranny of thought control, enabled by fear. For it is fear of retribution from the herd that debilitates most. When their heads raise up in indignation at the despotic dictums foisted upon them by the P.C. police, most merely glimpse the woolly fleece in front of them and continue following, lowering their heads once again in resignation.

But “Something There Is that Does Not Love” Political Correctness

Politics is natural man governing other men. So when a small group of men dictates to the masses what to think and say, and the people acquiesce, then a quiet totalitarian regime is born, and the masses become compliant subjects to the few.

Therefore, it is an honor for me to say that I am not politically correct. For I am endeavoring to follow our Example, the Son of God. He shrank not from those who dictated “correct” thought and speech 2,000 years ago. He followed completely the spark within to its full growth cycle conclusion: the manifestation of the Son of God.

Our Example

And He is our Example, and He has shown us the way to the goal and vision of being just like Him. And He was not politically correct. He did not need for somebody to tell Him how men should think, “for He knew what was in man” (John 2: 25). He stood up and exposed the lies and deceptions of natural sinful man.

He even told the Pharisees, “You are of your father the devil” (John 8: 42-47). Hey, you hypocritical little tyrants, running around here, sitting in Moses’ seat, you stone my followers for loving their neighbor as themselves, and you bind heavy burdens on the people and never lift a finger to help them. Your father is Satan, and you are acting just like him. Satan is a serpent and you are a den of lying vipers just like him.

No, Christ was not politically correct. He told the truth and exposed the bastardized Judaic religion of His day for the hypocrisy that it was. He came against it vehemently. He is our Example. Are we doing what He did? Are we exposing the lies and falsehoods that riddle organized Christianity. Are we purging out the old leaven that puffs up the bread from heaven, the true body of Christ?

Light Versus Darkness

Almost everything Christ said was not politically correct. Take the Sermon on the Mount. He said that we are not to hide the light that He gives us, but to let it shine. Light by its nature exposes and reveals what darkness hides. Light, therefore, is much more powerful than darkness, for it dispels and finally annihilates the darkness.

Political correctness is a form of darkness, demanding its victims to remain quiet and not expose its nature. P.C. says, Don’t let the light of truth and freedom shine because it will reveal just how small and petty I am.

Oh, something there is in the human heart that does not love political correctness. Truth and Love says, Letting your light shine glorifies the Father. For He is the Light, “the true Light, which lights every man that comes into the world” (John 1: 9).

Our wonderful Savior is the Light that has shined into our hearts with His Spirit and spark of new life in Him. He has promised us freedom from the slavery and bondage of sinful man’s expectations of how we are to think and speak in their new world order.

Oh, something there is that does not love political correctness, and that something is a Someone, and He is God. And man was created by Him to be the glory of God.  Our whole purpose is to exalt our King. It is branded into our DNA.

That is why we fairly bristle at political correctness. Agents of the kingdom of darkness impose the ideals of their father upon us. It is against the divine nature that we are to exhibit, which is the righteous spiritual nature that will glorify God. P.C. is against God and His sovereignty in our lives. It totally forgets God and His word and plan and purpose, superimposing “great swelling words of man’s wisdom” in their stead.

Our modern day political correctness is just the latest version of the same spiritual sickness. It is ultimately against God and His desire for us, which is this: He wants us to be exactly like our Example. He is known by English speakers as Jesus Christ, but known by a few as Yahshua, His Hebrew name.

But then, using the name “Yahshua” may not be politically correct in some quarters. I better let Yahweh sort it all out.     Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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July 18, 2015 · 4:45 pm

Christian Growth–Additions to the Faith (Part One)

How does a Christian grow? What steps must be taken to “grow in grace”? What do we need to know and then to do, to spiritually progress to the growth God wants for us?

Somebody will say, Well, obviously you have to pray and read the Bible. But is that all there is to it? That’s a good start, but millions of well-meaning people have been uttering words to God and reading verses daily, and yet, they have not become mighty men and women of valor in God.

Will just praying and reading the Bible and going to church insure real spiritual growth? Millions sit in their weekly pews wanting to grow but remain stagnant and stunted like yellowed spindly  tomato plants, starving for rain and nourishment.

Stages to Our Spiritual Growth

To answer these questions, two major concepts must be understood. First, one must realize that there are stages to our spiritual growth. Christ taught these stages of spiritual growth in parables. In the parable of the sower the good ground (people with good and honest hearts) will bring forth fruit from the seed–some thirty fold, some sixty fold and some one hundred fold. In the parable of the seed cast into the ground, spiritual growth in the kingdom of God brings forth fruit, “first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear” [1].

The apostles taught us about these three stages of spiritual growth. The apostle John wrote unto “children, young men, and fathers,” detailing spiritual characteristics of each level. We must recognize this reality. If we do not understand this, then we will not know how to judge ourselves and examine ourselves [2].

Thirty fold Christians are spiritual children, starting out as babes in Christ. Paul tells us how to recognize a babe in Christ. They are “dull of hearing.” They either have forgotten the “first principles of the doctrine of Christ” or were never taught them. They have need of milk and not strong meat. They are “unskilful  in the word of righteousness.” And they do not have “their senses exercised to discern both good and evil” [3].   They cannot tell the true doctrines of Christ and the false doctrines we are warned about by Christ and all of His apostles.

I am not trying to be callously critical about these. God expects us to grow up into Him. And it takes a frank look at ourselves to see where we need to change. I love the babes in Christ and want them to grow up into Him. I am merely relating what Christ and His apostles said about this growth level. We have to know about this so that we can grow and help others to grow. For it is all about His Spirit growing up in us. I mention this to substantiate this teaching about growth levels. {For much more on this subject read the articles found here:  https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/category/spiritual-life-cycle/ ]

Most neophyte Christians are mostly alive for what they can receive from our Father. They often “ask amiss” to consume their request on their own desires for themselves. Most of the time they are asking for material things–jobs, money, houses, goods–but God already knows our earthly needs. It is the spiritual things that He is most concerned with as in “the kingdom of God and His righteousness.”

The Second Thing–Discerning Both Good and Evil

The second thing that we must exercise  in order to grow is the discernment of “both good and evil.” And to discern these, one must have knowledge of what are  the true doctrines and what are the false doctrines about Christ and His plan and eternal purpose.

To bear the same spiritual powerful fruit that the early apostles did, we must purge out the old leaven false teachings that we have learned growing up on the planet.  They must be repented of and forsaken for good. For believing false concepts about Christ is the main reason young Christians don’t grow into strong, powerful men and women of God. False doctrines will stunt our growth! But to get rid of them takes courage and a love of God, despite the blow back of the foes of our own household. The clinging to traditions of men will hinder us from growing into Him [4].

One of the most damaging faults committed by young Christians is to believe that every church that they choose to go to has what is needed to help them grow and please God. The truth is that many old leaven false teachings and false concepts are taught in the denominational churches. These would include congregations that are non-denominational and yet still teach the same traditions and doctrines.

How can one know the true from the false? Christ said that you will know them by their fruits. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, He said. If they teach things that you cannot prove in the scriptures of truth, then it is suspect. We are to prove all things. Take everything that is taught to you and ask God to help you prove it out whether it is true or false. For in the end, you and I are responsible for our own walk. We cannot blame the preacher. For the Judge will say to us, Why did you not study it out and trust Me to help you in your search for truth?

For His people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. If what is taught to you is not helping you grow, ask God to lead you in your search. Ask Him for the Spirit of truth, and He will grant your request. Ask and it shall be given. Once the Spirit of truth abides in you, then He will lead you into all truth.

Hundreds of millions of professing Christians are languishing, caught up on the broad way that leads to destruction. They need proper instruction so that they may grow and not be those who hear the heart-breaking words our Savior told to them who claimed to have taught in His name and done many mighty things “serving” Him: Depart from Me; I never knew you [5].

After Getting Rid of False Doctrines

After we know about the growth levels in the Spirit, and after we begin to throw out the false concepts, what if God has provided for us the teachings to replace them–pure teachings that like strands of golden threads lying on a table, the Spirit of truth now begins to weave them into a golden chain that supports a spiritual locket that is filled with all the mysteries of God? Knowledge of the holy, knowledge fit for the offspring of the King, knowledge that unlocks growth for His future kings and queens?

For the way into the holiest is lighted once the old false teachings are removed. For the false doctrines about Christ spiritually blind us. Remember Paul, a Pharisee of the Pharisees, full of false doctrines, and how when he was enlightened on the road to Damascus, the scales fell away from His eyes? That is what we are talking about here. After the scales fell, then He could see into the pure teachings of Christ.

I believe that He wants to show us these true doctrines and teachings, truth necessary for us to really grow like the early apostles.

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

1. Mark 4: 14-20, 26-29

2. I John 2: 13

3. Hebrews 5: 11-14

4. https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2015/01/31/warning-beware-of-mans-traditions-about-christ/

What Prevents Christian Growth–The Deceitfulness of Sin

5. Matt. 7: 23

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March 28, 2015 · 6:41 pm

It’s All About the Fruit–Spiritual Fruit, That Is

It really is all about the fruit that we followers of Christ are to bear. This nectar of knowledge concerning fruit-bearing is of utmost importance to Him and should be to us.

In fact, Christ mentions fruit and how to produce it in our lives in an abundant harvest of verses. The understanding centers on the Kingdom of God. And in order to comprehend the mystery of the gospel of the Kingdom, one must understand the parables, chiefest of which is the parable of the sower.

The Sower sows the seed, the word of God about His plan and purpose, the kingdom of God. Some seed falls on careless hearts, some on hard stony hearts of unbelief, and some seed falls among thorns, and these hearts do not bear fruit at all for God. But some seed will fall on a good and honest heart, and that person “understands it, and bears fruit, and brings forth, some an  hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty” (Matt. 13: 18-23). That’s a “hundred, sixty, and some thirty times what was sown” (NIV).

“And He said to them, Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?” (Mark 4: 13). This parable is the key that will unlock the mysteries of all the other parables. Yes, the parables are “dark sayings,” deliberately spoken to prevent those who are not suppose to understand. They are not nice little stories to make it easier for everyone to comprehend God’s mysteries, contrary to the current wave of “political correctness” drowning the land.

For the disciples had asked Christ aside, “Why do you speak to the multitudes in parables?”

“He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever has, to him shall be given.” Has what? Has grace given by God to understand the mysteries of God’s government portrayed in Christ’s teachings, predominantly through the parables.

“But whosoever has not [this grace, this favor], from him shall be taken away even that he has” (Matt. 13: 11-15). This is unintelligible through modern man’s thinking, who does not understand that Christ was teaching primarily to the remnant. “For blindness in part is happened” to the twelve tribes of Jacob/Israel “until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in,” which will provoke His chosen people to return to Him (Romans 11: 25).

But It’s All About the Fruit Bearing

The big idea from this parable is this. There are three general levels of spiritual fruit production taught by Christ. We see it here in 100, 60, and 30 times what was sown. His apostles taught these levels, also.

John quotes Christ teaching about the different levels. “Every branch in Me [the Vine] that does not bear fruit, My Father takes away, and every branch that bears fruit, He purges it that it may bring forth more fruit…He that abides in Me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit” (15: 2-5). There it is in one passage–the 30, 60, and 100 fold spiritual fruit bearing concept–fruit, more fruit, and much fruit. But what is especially important here is the key teaching on how to increase our spiritual fruit production–abiding in Him and He in us. This abiding is where we are heading in our studies.

The three levels are taught in the way of the growth of the seed: “first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head” (Mark 4: 28). And speaking of spiritual growth the three levels are seen in “children, young men, and fathers” (I John 2: 13-14).

What’s the Importance of the Different Levels?

It is important because those lukewarm Christians will not literally be close to Him during His kingdom reign right here on earth. And we want to serve the King as any good subject would. And who wants to be “taken away” and not be near Him. Bearing spiritual fruit to our potential is of utmost importance. We must learn all about it from the greatest Teacher the world has ever witnessed walking on this planet.

[Note: I know that this information is very new to some of you. There is a strong tendency of the human mind and heart to prefer the old and reject the new; it is common and age-old. His plan is not how we would have done it. God said as much: “My thoughts are not your thoughts, and My ways are not your ways” (Isa. 55: 8). We must prove all things, whether we think they are true or not. These things I have read in 15 different English translations and one Spanish translation, and have consulted the Greek, as well. And they all say the same thing about the Parable of the Sower]

If all this resonates and you understand then I will close with this quote at the end of Christ’s teaching on the matter: “Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which you see, and have not seen them, and to hear those things which you hear, and have not heard them.        Kenneth Wayne Hancock

 

 

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