Category Archives: old leaven

“I Will Do a New Thing,” Saith Yahweh

Yahweh is crying out to us through the lips and pen of His prophet Isaiah. “Behold, I will do a new thing” in the earth for the last days (43: 19).

A new thing? If you take a stroll through the myriad denominational churches including the Catholic church, where is this new thing to be found? Nothing much has changed. The services are about the same as they were 50-15o  years ago. In fact, you can almost predict the invitational hymn at the end of a service by pulling upon your childhood memories of that same old sermon. It’s about the same.

Instead of the Holy Spirit leading us into more truth, the message heard in the churches remains about the same. Each sermon is projected through the grid of their particular denomination’s assumptions, traditions, and interpretations. Therefore, scripture passages are squeezed through their preconceived ideas of what the Bible is about. Furthermore, verses plop like cookie dough onto a baking pan, and they are served up half baked–devoid of nourishment as to the real story that the prophets and apostles taught and diligently wrote about. Sadly, most preachers and laity do not know that this is happening.

The Warning to You and Me

While all of the denominations are singing the same old song about Christ, all of the prophets and apostles in the Bible are warning us about false teachers in the so-called Christian camp.

Beware of them, they all caution us. Have you ever noticed that it is not Vishnu or Zeus or Osiris or Venus or the Sun-god or Buddha that they warn us about? It is always the “false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.” These false ministers of Christ are the ones we are warned of.

The false gods of the other religions don’t deceive anybody in our era. So “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: 13-15).  We see here that Satan comes on as a messenger of the light and that he has ministers, and he deceives people by having his ministers preach things about Christ. Question: Who are these people teaching the “broad way that leads to destruction”?

Christ Himself warned us about these false ministers that preach about Him. “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” Sheep’s clothing. They will look and sound just like the sheep of God’s pasture, but “inwardly,” their heart is far from Him (Matt. 7: 15).

A sincere seeker of truth will ask, How can we tell the difference between the true minister of Christ and the false? And Christ Himself answers, “You shall know them by their fruits…A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit” (7: 16-18).

We should not pass over this lightly. The true ministers of righteousness will teach that a good tree (a child of God) not only does not bring forth evil fruit (sin) but cannot bring forth evil fruit.   They will invariably teach that Christ may forgive you of your sins when you commit them, but you will always remain a sinner in your earthly walk.

He did not teach that; He said that “a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit,” and “whosoever sins has not seen Him, neither known Him,” and [this one is very hard to take] “He that commits sin is of the devil…whosoever is born of God does not commit sin, for His seed remains in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God” (I John 3: 6, 8-9). In a word, these ministers are not “doing a new thing” in Christianity.

So What Is the “New Thing” and When Will God Do It?

God will do His “new thing” after we get it right, after we purge out of our hearts and minds the false doctrines and concepts. Hence, all of the warnings about false teachers and prophets.

First we must take into our hearts that the great Spirit Father Yahweh dwelt in the Son Yahshua (spoken of as Jesus Christ in the English speaking world), and that Yahweh is the Savior, walking around in the Son (Isa. 43: 11; 45: 5, 21; Hos. 13: 4). “There is no savior besides Me,” says the LORD (Yahweh). Paul explains, “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. Yahweh is the Redeemer (Isa. 43: 14). We simply must see and then receive into our hearts this revelation before He will do the new thing.

In fact, this revelation is part of the new thing that God is doing in the earth. He says that He is bringing down the old power structure of man. “They shall lie down together; they shall not rise; they are extinct” (43: 17). In fact, He is saying, Don’t remember these things, these “former things,” and do not “consider the things of old. Behold I will do a new thing” (v. 18-19).

And that new thing will be the pouring forth like a spring the “rivers of living water”out of the mouths of His elect in these latter days. This new thing will spring forth…making a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert” (v. 19).

There is a famine of hearing the word of God going on today. The earth is a barren spiritual wilderness, and through His Spirit, He is crying in this wilderness. And God is pouring out the “latter rain” of truth upon the thirsty ground, the “good ground,” and He is causing to flow “rivers in the desert.”

And only those who have ears to hear His words being taught by His Spirit through His teachers–they will drink. Even the heathen nations, the ethnos, the Gentiles, will honor God because He gives “waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert to give drink to My people” (v. 20).

The new thing that He is doing is pouring out the truth of just who He is and what His plan and purpose is for this earth. And the “living waters” of truth will fall into those who have ears to hear, for not all have the ability to hear at this time. He is unambiguously giving the truth to those who can understand. The “truth” here would only include knowledge that is free from false concepts and traditions. Today He is revealing His truths and plainly putting them out there; He is not speaking in parables anymore. The “latter rain” of truth is the new thing.

And this latter rain that He is pouring out will drench the earth. And many shall drink of this Spirit of truth. But before one may drink, one must have a profound thirst for the “rivers of living waters” and not be drowned in the infected waters of falsehoods about God, which are legion.

And I say unto you once more, Beware of the wolves in sheep’s clothing.  kwh

 

 

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Christ Has a Dream, a Cause, a Vision (It’s the Kingdom, Stupid!)

What cause would be worthwhile enough for you and me to give up our current goals and aspirations to take up that cause?

Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream–a vision of a world of racial equality and justice, and he went all in to help make it come true. What dream, what vision would put you and me all in?

For what cause would we be willing to wager our entire existence on, to see it  come to pass?

Christianity was founded by a personage that laid it all on the line, that put it all out there for His Father’s cause. And that cause was to bear witness to the truth that He was the King of the Kingdom of God (John 18: 37). And now He asks us His followers to do the same thing: to go all in for the cause of truth, to lay down our lives as He did.

But instead of a physical bodily sacrifice, we are to “present [our] bodies a living sacrifice.” The death we experience is the death of our old selfish lives, and in their stead He resurrects in us a “newness of life” where “old things are passed away and all things are become new.”

How does that happen? Because we now have a new cause, a new vision, a new dream for our lives here on earth. In Christ we no longer languish under the  load of our petty little dreams of self-respect.  For in Christ the old, weak, selfish, small-hearted goals are replaced with His thoughts, His goals, His dream, and His vision.

But herein lies the problem. What exactly are God’s true cause, dream, and vision? There are over 2,000 denominations, each with their own interpretation of Christ’s vision for us and this world.

The Solution to the Problem

Which ones are false and which one is true? The answer is found in Christ’s very own words. He placed a premium on the words. “For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Mt. 12: 37 NKJV).

He also said, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (12: 34). What a person is all about will come out of their mouth. So to know Christ’s vision and to understand His cause, we must study the words that He spoke concerning His goals. And we then must make them ours. That is what He said to do.

So what words came out of His mouth? From the beginning of His ministry, He “began to preach and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Repent of your old selfish sinful ways. For it is time to change and get a new cause, a worthwhile cause, a new vision, and a new dream for your life, for I the King am come to you. My kingdom is very near you right now. The new cause and vision is standing before you right now. Therefore, repent and turn from wickedness and receive a new vision for life on earth free from sin and injustice–beginning in you! Your old selfish life is not worth it. It ends in the dusty tomb of death, just another existence, forgotten forever in a generation or two. Get this new vision of walking with Me in My “kingdom wherein dwells righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Mt. 4: 17, 23).

“And Jesus (Yahshua) went about all Galilee, teaching…and preaching the gospel…” Which gospel? The Catholic gospel? The Baptist gospel? The charismatic gospel? No. It was the “gospel of the kingdom.” He proclaimed the good news of His government coming to earth with Him as its Sovereign (Mark 1: 14).

His kingdom is a literal and spiritual government, instituted by God. It is literal! It will literally be established on this earth in the near future upon Christ’s return. Now He is the King in exile, waiting for His followers to mature “till Christ be formed in us.”

We all need to shout this to ourselves and to the whole world: “It’s the kingdom, stupid!” Christ spoke of it incessantly, scores of times. When he spoke about being “born again,” it was so that we could enter the kingdom of God. Preachers talk a lot about “born again,” but rarely do they speak of His kingdom, which is the gospel, the good news.

It is all about the Kingdom of God. All of the parables, the secrets kept from the foundation of the world, concern His kingdom. They answer the who, what, when, why, and how about it.

When will we all awake out of the slumber? When will we stir ourselves up and start running the race set before us? It is when we “purge out the old leaven.” The old leaven is the erroneous teachings about Christ that block and cloud over His true expression of  that which He spoke of–His kingdom. He is returning for His kingdom. His kingdom is His cause, His dream, His vision.

His government is so important to Him that He said this: “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” and everything else will be supplied. Go all in for His cause and vision, and He will have our backs when it comes to the earthly life’s necessities. We don’t have to strive for them. He’ll give us what we need to bring His cause to fruition. He has our back when we have His!

When we make His dream ours and work for it, when we make His cause ours and strive for it, when we make His vision ours and seek first for it–then He will know that He has our hearts and we then will become men and women “after God’s own heart.”

For we must remember this: Somebody will sit down with Christ on His throne, on the throne of this very kingdom that He spoke continually about. Somebody “redeemed from among men.” Somebody delivered from the slime pits of sin and cleaned and groomed and prepared in spiritual maturity to rule with Him for a thousand years right here  on earth. Is that someone you and I?

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The False Vision and the True Vision

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 “faithful worship” would be rewarded by God’s protection during the coming tribulation.

But Yahweh said to Jeremiah, “The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake to them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart” (14: 14). They were deceived and were predicting good things for the people in the face of imminent destruction. They wanted the “best” for their congregations and so were ripe to believe the lie that God would not punish their wickedness.

But Jeremiah had warned them earlier. “Be not proud…Give glory to Yahweh your God, before He cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and while you look for light, He turn it into the shadow of death…Judah shall be carried away captive…and if thou say in thine heart, why come these things upon me? For the greatness of thine iniquity…” (13: 15-22).

And now I tell you that there is a sword coming upon us here in the West. The preachers today have told their flocks what they want to hear, how they will be lifted out of the earth just in the nick of time before the Tribulation Period starts. But like in Jeremiah’s day, today’s preachers, priests and prophets speak a “false vision” of what God will do during “the time of the end.”

A sword is coming upon the nations of this earth, upon the lost tribes of Israel, upon the West, and upon the whole world!

Devestation awaits the current edition of the world system, Babylon the Great, and its destruction will shake us all to our core. It will be so bad that only for His elect’s sake will God prevent total annihilation. Earthquakes, tidal waves, worldwide wars, famines, and cosmic catastrophes shall rack this earth and cause the survivors to wander in the “shadows of death.”

This world system is the rich man’s feeble attempt to rule this earth. It is Satan’s kingdom, and it is coming down. Read the vision of its fall in the book of Revelation.

The stage is being set for this final act. Devastation awaits, and Christians will suffer through the throes and agonies. And many will cry out to God, Why are these things coming upon us? We will suffer because of our iniquities–for tolerating the governments that legalized the murder of our helpless unborn babies; for condoning the addictions of drugs and pornography and the perversions of filthy movies and books; for sleeping while they shut our children’s mouths that just wanted to pray to the God of heaven; and for bowing our blindfolded eyes as they desecrated holy matrimony.

Holy matrimony. For few spoke up for God as they trounced the words of our King and Savior: “Have you not read, that He that made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder” (Matt. 19: 4-6). Male and female. Pretty simple.

No, the false prophets of our generation, from the presidents, premiers, and prime ministers, all the way down to the street corner pastor–preach a “false vision.” It is the “other gospel” that the apostle Paul warned us of. And because of the lies, our planet aches and groans in pain waiting and hoping for someone to rise up and say, No more lies.

For it is the truth about what is happening and what will happen to this earth and its inhabitants that will make us free. And the truth is that out of the rubble of the misery coming to the earth, the remnant of God will rise! His elect, His chosen ones, like Jeremiah, who after tortured tears cried for his people, wrote the true vision down for us. That we through “the patience and comfort of the scriptures” could find the map leading to the immortal city.

The whole world will suffer together during the end time wrap up. But out of this crucible of tears, a remnant of His people will shine forth as the sun. With their King’s Spirit, they with Him will lead the people who remain into a thousand years of peace. That is the vision that is true. That is the vision that Jeremiah and Isaiah and Daniel and the others saw. That is the true vision–the soon coming Kingdom of God established right here on this troubled planet with Christ the King of kings sitting on the throne–right beside His elect.   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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“The LORD Is My Shepherd”–How Does He Shepherd Us?

God is not only our Savior, but also our Great Shepherd. “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want” is famously recited by almost all. We know Him to be our shepherd holistically, however. Most believe that He leads, guides and watches over us, the whole person.

But how does God actually shepherd us? Is it not through our thoughts proceeding from our minds? For example, the act of going to the store begins as a thought. “We are out of milk. Better go get some.” Spurred by this thought, we get up, grab the keys, jump in the car, drive to the store and buy the milk. Where we go begins with a thought. Where we go as the sheep of His pasture begins with a thought, also. It will be either one of our thoughts or one of His thoughts.

The scriptures have much to say spiritually about the mind and its thoughts. In fact, we are to be “transformed by the renewing of our minds” (Rom. 12: 2). Our minds in the Christian walk are to be renewed. This is how we are changed into His image. And we must make no mistake here. We are to be changed so much in our spiritual growth, that eventually we are to become like our Savior. “We all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory…by the Spirit…” (II Cor. 3: 18 NKJV).

Christ is to be formed in us (Gal. 4: 19). That is God’s thought on the matter. If we don’t believe that this is possible, then we must bring “into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ (2 Cor. 10: 5).

“We are led by our thoughts,” goes the old true adage. Man thinks a lot, and most men cherish their own thoughts. Yet God says, “Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts,” and God will forgive him (Isa. 55: 7). Here we see that thoughts lead to the way a person will go. Thoughts dictate the path traveled.

Consequently, we are to forsake our thoughts, for God says, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways (55: 8).

What  then are His thoughts? What is God thinking about? His thoughts are contained in the “mind of Christ,” which we are to have (Phil. 2: 5; 1 Cor. 2: 16). But does His mind and thoughts just come willy-nilly, by just “trusting in the Lord”? No. His mind will come through studying His thoughts, which are the contents of the mind of God.

There it is. So, what is keeping us from receiving the mind of Christ, and along with it His power? It is the old leaven that Christ and His apostles warned us of. We are told to “purge out the old leaven, that the lump may be holy.” But few will do this. Most won’t even look up “old leaven” in the concordance to see what it is. Those that do will see that it is the false teachings about Christ and His gospel. But most Christians do not believe that they have any erroneous concepts to be repented of. And so they go on, stunted in their spiritual growth. Their thoughts about
Christ are, well, their thoughts, and not God’s thoughts. We all must get rid of the false doctrines about Christ and then begin to believe the true knowledge of His thoughts.

How does one know which teacher to trust, which evangelist to believe? God will lead to the fountain of truth the sheep who cry and cry for the living waters.

And what are the living waters but His thoughts. He says as much in the remainder of Isaiah 55. His thoughts are “higher” than human thinking (v. 9).  Man thinks shallow and self-centered thoughts, small thoughts, wasted thoughts that are unremembered specks of dust in the vaults of time. But God’s thoughts traverse mountains and valleys, crossing all borders as the rain from heaven caresses the earth, and makes it “bring forth and bud [giving] seed to the sower and bread to the eater.” So is His word, born of His thoughts toward us the sheep of His pasture.

These poetically prophetic thoughts speak of Christ’s kingdom age, a thousand years of peace ruled by the Prince of Peace and God’s sons and daughters. As the whole earth and all of its tribes and nations “break into singing” as they think the King’s thoughts, contemplating His merciful ways to all on earth. Everyone shall rejoice that His thoughts will have come to full fruition (55: 9-13).

His thoughts are His gospel, and there is only one gospel, which is His literal kingdom soon to fill the whole earth! This is what an exiled King thinks on! We must corral and expel every thought that is not in agreement with His thoughts and vision. Those who do will have a wonderful future with Him right here on earth in His kingdom (Mark 1: 14).

As we keep on thinking His thoughts, eventually they become our very own thoughts. This is how He shepherds us into His greener pastures.   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Warning: Beware of Man’s Traditions About Christ

You ever notice how the apostles of Christ never warned the early Christians about the dangers of being deceived by the gods of the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Indians, Persians, et al. They weren’t concerned about Sol Invictus, the worship of the Sun god, nor the worship of the Roman Emperor, nor any of the invading mystery cult gods of the East.

They warned Christians about organized churches and synagogues who professed to know God even while they were being infected by the false teachings found in the worship of those very false gods.

Paul makes this clear: “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; 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: 13-14).

Much to be gleaned here. First, there are false apostles, individuals who claim to be sent by Jesus Christ (Yahshua) with His message. Their stock in trade, however is deceit. How do they deceive would be followers of Christ? They “transform themselves into preachers, teachers, and priests of the God of the Bible.

“Transforming themselves” comes from the Greek words meta schema, which means “to change fashion.” Someone’s schema is “the habitus, as comprising everything in a person which strikes the senses, the figure, bearing, discourse, actions, manner of life” [1]. In other words, when you look at one of these “false apostles” of Christ, you see and hear someone who you would expect to be a man or woman of God. Their appearance, the way they carry themselves, their words about Christ, their actions in the community, and their “manner of life” testify as to their self-declaration that they are indeed a person of God.

The old way of checking out somebody–if they walk like a duck, and talk like a duck, and act like a duck, they must be a duck–does not work in this case. In fact, this is part of man’s wisdom that must be thrown away in order to go on to higher growth of discernment in God.

So Just Who Are These False Preachers, Teachers, and Priests?

Who are they? Just look around. Churches on many corners teach the “traditions of men.” Their leaders do not dig deep as Christ admonished us. They are content to poll parrot what they heard in seminary, joyfully passing on poisoned pablum to the lambs instead of the true vision.

And it just wasn’t a lone apostle Paul who warned us of these. The apostle Peter, who backs up Paul, warns of them, also (II Pet. 3: 15-16). After lining out the steps on the road to spiritual maturity and son ship, he warns us of them. “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies…And many will follow their destructive ways…” (2: 1-3  Read all of II Peter and Jude for the full picture).

In lieu of the many deceptions put forth by imposters–however sincere they may sound and appear–Paul warns us to not be spoiled through man’s philosophy and “vain deceit.” Young Christians can be deceived by man’s traditions “after the elements of this world” system. Being deceived comes from believing corrupt man’s spin on the Christian life. This comes from pagan traditions soldered onto Christ’s gospel (Col. 2: 8).

One need only thoroughly study out the major holidays of Easter, Halloween, and Christmas in order to see how man’s traditions have dominated “Christian” things the masses hold dear. It is astounding how deceived the oceans of people are, never questioning the source of their traditions. Sometimes I want to cry out, my arms stretched wide, my heart saying, Why do you persist in following pagan rites and traditions super-imposed upon Christian sounding observances? Even the History Channel has broadcast documentaries exposing the error of our holidays! And yet we slosh on and on, mired in the same false mudslides of the fetid river of lies. When will we ever learn as a nation, as a people?

But I know that the remnant of God’s people are learning. They know and discern the deceitful doctrines, and when they do, they turn away from the intoxicating fumes of those falsehoods about God.  Kenneth Wayne Hancock [to be continued]

1. http://www.blbclassic.org/lang/lexicon/Lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G4976&t=KJV

 

 

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What the World Needs Now Is…Agape Love

Life is really all about love. Rather, a fulfilled life is all about love. Books, songs, poems, and most artistic masterpieces have as their major theme something about love. It is “what the world needs now.”

So we have the thinkers and poets penning down for the masses the hidden longings of the heart, for love. Although they may not realize it, mankind’s longing for love is really a desperate desire for God on some level. For there is only one entity in the universe that actually is love, and that is God, for “God is love” (I John 4: 16).

Thus, mankind’s search for love ends when he finds God. Seeking to be loved from another individual is seeking an earnest of God that He has placed in man and woman, who was created in His image.

The Hebrew prophets and apostles speak of just these very things. The Son of God Himself spoke of love, living it out dramatically through His Passion. He is Love incarnate, for He exhibited the greatest love that a mortal can ever do–to lay down his life for his friends.

This act of self-sacrifice for another instantly touches the human heart like no other act. The Son of God presented Himself the sacrificial Lamb for our deliverance, and now He asks His followers to do the same. But this time we are “to present our bodies a living sacrifice.”  Through this humble service to our King, we will not become self-centered proteges of this world system, but we will be “transformed by the renewing of our minds.” We will change into His image through thinking His way, by His Spirit. (Romans 12: 1-2).

Now His Holy Spirit of Love multiplies and abounds in us when we do what He did, which is lay down our lives to help save mankind from a life without love (God). It is not so we can escape hell and go to heaven. That is not why He laid His life down. To follow Him, we must do it for the same reason.

How Do We Lay Our Lives Down Like Christ Did?

He wants us to join Him on the cross. The moment just before Christ died, all of the sins of mankind were place upon Him. He wants us at first to join Him on the cross. This signifies that our old haunts and sinful desires and deeds coming out of our old heart die with Him. Our old sinful nature died with Christ that day. And “he that is dead is freed from sin” (Romans 6: 7). We are free from the enslavement to sin and sinning that was our old selfish life! The problem is many just do not believe it. They have not heard of it and are loathe to believe anything “new.” They think that it is impossible to be rid of sin in a Christian’s life. But is anything too hard for God? To him that believes, aren’t all things possible with God? (I John 3: 9).

Dying with Him is the initial baptism or immersion into His death. Then we  believe that we are buried with Him. And then we believe that He was raised from the dead after 72 lifeless hours in the tomb. It is through believing in His resurrection that enables us to believe that we are raised from the dead, too! (Romans 6: 4-5). This is His faith, His belief. When we also believe this great act of the greatest love, then we receive His Spirit of life and love, and we walk “in a newness of life”! And love!

His resurrection power is born of love. For it surges forth after the selfless act of laying down His life for His friends, the greatest love. Our conscious act of following Christ in doing this is met with the resurrection power of love (God), now in us.

Spiritually Growing
And then we, “as newborn babes,” are to spiritually grow in Him. Or rather, we will spiritually grow as the Spirit of Love grows in us.

“Babes in Christ” need the “sincere milk of the word” in order to grow properly. They are, of course, mostly alive in their new life for what they can receive from the Father. Their prayers reflect this, for their petitions  center on their own needs. This is why Christ teaches all of us to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,” and all of our earthly needs will be supplied. But it takes a spiritual growth to become mature in Him enough to do this. A growth that the milk and then the meat of the Word will accomplish. For we all must be taught His thoughts, desires, and will, in order to grow (I Peter 2.2; Matt. 6: 31-34).

But herein lies the problem. Instead of the sincere and uncorrupted milk and later meat of the Word, they are fed with half-truths, imaginations, and traditions of men about God and not the “food that is needful for [them]” (Prov. 30: 8). Thus, the little children of God, lamentably, are stunted in their spiritual growth in Christ, stunted by erroneous concepts of the Savior and His plan for this world.

But a “babe in Christ” is like a child fed only with junk food their whole life. When the white sugar, corn syrup, and white flour products are taken away and a wholesome diet is place in front of them, they will say that the old junk food is  better. “And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, ‘The old is better.’ ” “Wine” is universally accepted to be a symbol of “doctrine” (Luke 5: 39).

Warnings about this problem in the last days fill the writings of the apostles of Christ. All of the New Testament writers, along with the prophets of old, expressed their concerns.

But Some…

But some will break out of the stunted pack, pulled by a strong yearning for the answer to life’s riddle. God has called some according to His purpose. He foreknew and conferred on them a destiny “to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Rom. 8: 28-29). He has chosen them “in Him before the foundation of the world, that [they] should be holy and without blame before Him in love.” Agape Love (Eph. 1:4).

These chosen ones, invisibly guided by His Spirit, will answer the “high calling.” They will decrease so that He can increase His presence in them to the point that Love (God) will express Himself fully to every one on earth–through them.

These He is calling. They have already been chosen. And they will respond and become the over comers of all things like the the corrupted half-truths and traditions of men about God. Fed with the sincere truth of God’s plan, they will grow fully to express Christ in human form again. They will believe Christ’s words: “Greater works shall you do than what I have done.”

They will be the princes and princesses in God’s kingdom, soon to be established earth wide upon His return. Filled with Christ’s Spirit, during the 1,000 Year Reign, they will be His viceroys, governing the provinces of the earth after the dust and ash of Tribulation settle.

How Will They Grow?

This vision of the “gospel of the kingdom” is what will feed and nourish young Christians so that they can spiritually grow to be just like Christ.

And the growth of God within them is the growth of love within them. Christ’s words confirm this: “All men will know that you are My disciples if you have love one to another.”

The last days are upon us. All these promises of sonship are written for our time, brothers and sisters. We are living in the time of the latter rain of His Spirit. Are we the ones who will shake off the chains of Christian mediocrity and free ourselves from spiritual infancy? Will we stand up and answer this highest of His callings–to sit with Him on His throne? Not every Christian will. Consider the five foolish virgins (Rev. 3: 21; Matt. 25: 1-13).

Or will we recede to the rear near the nursery and hide our talents in the earth, only to be chided by the Master, “You slothful and unprofitable servant.”

Sadly, this will come upon some Christians, all because they did not dig deep and prove all things and study for themselves the “new things” presented to them along the way. Christians who don’t grow will never express the greatest love, the love that comes from above, that heals the poor and needy, that rights the wrongs of human depravity, that restores God’s righteous judgements in the earth, thus incarnating God (Love) once again to a love-starved earth.

It is this kind of love that we are to finally add to the divine nature within us now. “Agape love is the bond of perfectness.” It is that last attribute of God’s divine nature that makes us complete in Him. It matures us, for when added, we will have been “conformed to the image of His Son.”  {My readers, I have poured it out for you. Can a brother get an “Amen”? Tell me what you think about these things. Did they make you think? Did they inspire you? Did they make you angry? Make a comment. Let me know your thoughts about these things. Holler at me. I need your fellowship.    Kenneth Wayne Hancock}

 

 

 

 

 

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The Open Vision and the Third Seal Famine

We are in a famine today. It is not a famine of food and drink, for we are literally fat from eating an abundance of food. No, the famine is spiritual; the bread we are lacking is the bread of life, the truth, the word of God. God did say that He “will  send a famine…not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD (Yahweh)” [1].

What do you mean, God? We have got churches on every corner. Everywhere you turn a preacher is talking about the things of the Bible. How could there be a spiritual famine? How could the people be lacking the word of God?

There is nothing new under the sun. It was the same in Samuel and David’s day. “And the word of Yahweh was precious in those days; there was no open vision” [2]. The word of God was “rare in those days; there was no widespread revelation.” They had priests and men of the cloth, but the word of God was a rare thing in the earth; not many had the Spirit in a reality.

And today we have the same condition. We are in a state of spiritual famine, for very few speak God’s mind, God’s thoughts. He says to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,” and yet, the preachers are one trick ponies, speaking about Christ, but never allowing Christ to speak through them. Each denomination has a pet doctrine that they have hammered into their followers; nothing new is breaking forth. If His Spirit were within the pastors and preachers, then they would speak what is on His mind, which is His kingdom and His righteousness.

But you never hear anything about it. Not really. The word says that God is “bringing many sons unto glory,” that Christ will allow the over comers to sit with Him “in His throne” [3].  But they just speak of “going to heaven”  and staying there, I suppose. But the word says that He is coming back to earth to set up His kingdom, His literal government, and He is bringing us with Him.

At His return He promises to resurrect the “dead in Christ,” giving them new spiritual bodies. And those of His who are alive when He returns will be given a new spiritual immortal body [4]. And we are going to be with Him as He separates the sheep nations from the goat nations.

Get the scene. He is sitting on His throne here on earth, having “come in His glory. And before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.” Yes, He makes a distinction; He is so politically incorrect. All ethnos, all nations are gathered [5].

So we have sheep nations on His right hand and goat nations on His left. The question that should be on our minds at this juncture is, Who is who? Which one is which? Who are the blessed sheep nations, and which nations are the unblessed on His left.

For He says to those on His right, “Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Why them and not the other nations? “For I was hungry and you gave me meat. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you took me in. Naked, and you clothed me…” And the sheep nations ask Him, When did we do all that? And He says, “Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto Me.”

The goat nations did not do this. Therefore, they did not show mercy to Him. They have their reward (v. 46). Who are these sheep nations blessed by the King? Just look around and see who reached out in Christian love down through the centuries and you will have your answer. Who are the generous and charitable nations that have reached out and helped the other nations? You make the call.

But the preachers never speak of these things that fill His mind and thoughts. They issue shallow platitudes about this passage in Matthew that they heard from someone, if they comment at all. No wonder He said, “My thoughts are not your thoughts” [6].

A Spiritual Famine in the Land

No, we have a famine in the land, a famine of hearing the true words and thoughts of God. We have come to a point in time that signals the last days are upon us. His sheep nations are prosperous but have grown fat and “have forgotten the Rock from whence they are hewn.” And because of this apostate condition, God has sent a spiritual famine upon the earth. Before in the old days, it was a literal physical famine that God would send to His people when they strayed to serve other gods. Now it is a spiritual dearth that is enveloping the land.

There is “no open vision.” The Hebrew word for “open” in this passage is translated in other places as “bursting forth,” signifying a “overflowing”  (Prov. 3: 9-10). If we honor the LORD (Yahweh), then our presses will “burst out with new wine.” The word of God via His Spirit will burst out, will overflow our hearts and minds–if we trust in Him (v. 5) and keep His commandments (v. 1). If we “fear God”–if we have reverential awe of Him and His greatness and power, then the wine presses of our lives will “burst forth with new wine.” The new wine is the new doctrine, the new teachings that His Spirit is putting forth today. The famine will cease when we awaken to Him as the scripture truly depicts Him and not as the old ossified traditional teachings describe Christ.

When we get it right with the correct concepts of Him in line with His thinking, then we will not be blind. We will be able to see that Yahweh is the Savior [7], and that He was in the man Christ, saving us through Him [8]. When we get rid of the old leaven concepts about Him and begin to walk and think His true thoughts, then the famine will be lifted, and His Spirit will break out and overflow us and be abundant in our lives.

The Third Seal

We are in the midst of the third seal on the book of the earth’s end time future. We are in a famine as it was in Samuel and David’s day. There are many false teachers speaking words, but not the words of Yahweh. The third seal speaks of famine which leads to the fourth seal, Death. No word of God = no life = death [ 9].

These teachers and preachers of false doctrines are the ones that the apostles and prophets warned us of incessantly. They are either sincerely ignorant or willfully ignorant; God is their judge. But we are admonished to turn away from them, for they are “blind leaders of the blind.”

Why are they blind? “For Yahweh has poured out upon you the spirit of sleep, and has closed your eyes.” Who are these spiritually asleep? “The prophets…and their seers.” The preachers are asleep, put in that condition by God Himself (Isa. 29: 10-14).

Consequently, the whole vision, plan and purpose of God is a sealed book (v. 11). And those whom God has blinded with a spiritual sleep, they can’t read what is in God’s sealed book of what is taking place and what will take place shortly on the earth. We must put the sealed book of Isaiah 29 with the sealed book of Revelation 6.

Why are they blind and asleep and can’t read the sealed book? Because their worship of God is based on man made concepts and precepts and doctrines and teachings (v. 13). And because of this, we have a famine “of the hearing of God’s word” about His real vision and purpose.

But some will shake themselves out of this sleep and awaken to Him in a reality. They will build the old waste places and will with Him at their side administer in this earth a new beginning in His kingdom.  We must ask ourselves, Are we willing to pay the price to become one of His future kings?     Kenneth Wayne Hancock

 

1. Amos 8: 11

2. I Samuel 3: 1 KJV; NKJV

3. Rom. 8: 18-30; Rev. 3: 21

4. I Cor. 15: 42-54

5. Matt. 25: 31-46

6. Isa. 55: 8

7. Isa. 42: 3, 11

8. II Cor. 5: 19

9. Rev. 6: 5-8

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Manifestation of the Sons of God–Just Who Are These Immortal Ones?

Immortal ones? Walking around the earth? Interacting with regular human beings? Yes. This post apocalyptic scenario is vividly painted in the pages of the Holy Bible. When read with fresh eyes, the Bible speaks of Christ the King’s return to set up His government, His kingdom. This is the plan of God for this earth and its inhabitants.

The scene painted in the “Prologue” of this book is the aftermath of the destruction of man’s attempt to rule himself without God’s direction. It describes the end of this current age. It is the culmination of human history. It is the final curtain of a sad era of man ruling man and the beginning of the government that God will set up here on earth.

This new government is a kingdom, ruled by the King called Jesus in English speaking lands and called Yahshua in Hebrew. This kingdom ruled by its anointed King is the apex of man’s historical development.

For the King upon His return from exile not many years hence will usher in a thousand years of uninterrupted peace and prosperity for all who will serve Him during that time. The scriptures of truth state that He will not be a despot, clinging to power, but rather a compassionate monarch. For He will share His power with a chosen few of His servants. These will have overcome the treachery of Satan’s temptations and have walked the lonesome valley of His sufferings and have been found worthy to partake of His “divine nature.”

For those thus prepared will be changed, as the apostle Paul said, “in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump.” Their change will be from mortal to immortal, from an old decaying earthly body, to a resplendent spiritual body, immortal like Christ’s body after His resurrection.

Many followers of Christ will receive this new spiritual body, but only a few thousand will be chosen to sit with Him on His throne. Only a few will be deemed worthy by Him to rule in His kingdom. Only a few will have Christ formed in them. Only a few thousand will have grown spiritually to attain to this “high calling of God in Christ.” Only a few thousand of all the hundreds of millions of professing Christians will have studied to show themselves approved unto God for this high office.

This book The Royal Destiny of the Chosen Ones is ultimately for those answering this high calling, but it is still useful for all Christians. For we all who love Him should know His plan and purpose and pull together as yoke fellows to help bring His plan and purpose to full fruition. For all who love Him have a wonderful place in His kingdom. And He expects all of us to study and know what He is accomplishing in the earth.

And His great accomplishment is this: He is multiplying Himself through the creation of a body of many sons and daughters. These will be the ruling monarchs in His soon coming kingdom. His kingdom/government is the gospel, the good news. And sitting on His throne along side Him will be a few thousand over comers, who will rule and reign with Him. They are an integral part of His kingdom. Thus, they are a part of the good news. This vision of the kingdom is the pinnacle of human achievement and development. It is nothing less than the glorification of a few thousand humans, who with great humility will serve the King as His viceroys in His newly established kingdom that will be instituted in the far corners of the globe during the Thousand Year Reign.

Who Are They?

They are the “generation not appointed unto death,” taken from the Christians who survive the Great Tribulation Period and are left standing when Christ sets down His feet in Jerusalem to begin His 1,000 year reign. They shall not taste death, but will be given immortal bodies upon His return and will be glorified by God and placed upon His  throne alongside Him.

The Bible speaks of these often, using many different tags. They are the “many sons unto glory” (Heb. 2: 10). They are who the whole creation is waiting for unbeknownst–the glorified manifested sons of God (Rom. 8: 17-19).  They are the humans predestined “to be conformed to the image of His Son (8: 29). They are the called, justified, and glorified of God (v. 30). They are God’s elect, His chosen ones for this honor (v. 33).

They are the 100 fold fruit bearers of the Parable of the Sower (Matt. 13). Some that heard the word/seed of the kingdom brought forth 30 fold, and some bore 60 fold fruit. But these future kings brought forth 100 fold fruit.

They are the firstfruits of God’s harvest and follow the Lamb wherever He goes (Rev. 14: 4).

In spiritual growth, they are in the Holy of Holies, sitting with Christ on the mercy seat. They, like the Son of God, are the Word made flesh and dwelling amongst the mortals of the earth. They are the ultimate over comers of the seven church ages (Rev. 2 and 3). They are the five fold ministry officers of God–His apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors,and teachers for these last days.

they will herald in the newly established Kingdom of Heaven, proving their authority as Christ and the early apostles did by working miracles. They will be the healers of this soon to be shattered and destroyed earth.

These immortal ones will be God’s ambassadors to the four corners of the earth, bringing His administration, judging in righteousness, according to God’s Spirit that will fully reside in them.

In a word, they will be the saviors of the world, for it will not be they that live, but Christ that lives in them fully. As the prophet Obadiah saw, “And saviors shall come up on Mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’S” (v. 21).

This volume is an attempt to introduce to whomsoever would know our future rulers, for that is what they are. They are no less that the Father’s sons, His princes, who will set things in order after tribulation. They will do this under the direction of the Spirit with supernatural power that none can gainsay.

We now see “through a glass darkly.” With awakened eyes the glass we look through prisms the past, projecting future events from factual patterns on the sacred tapestry of Adam and his offspring. “That which has been is now, and that which is to be has already been, and God requires the things of the past” (Eccl. 3: 15). Study the seed and you can predict the harvest.

As we study the scriptures of truth, unencumbered by the damp stale blankets of denominational dogma, we look with unfettered eyes on the word as sacred literature, to be read, enjoyed, and to be enlightened from. No longer is it a closed book, venerated yet misunderstood by the clergy and laymen, who labor under the cruel weight of the chains of error.

By faith now we anoint our eyes with the eye salve of truth and see into the near future when the sons of God come upon the scene–our scene, our day, our time. Past is prologue to the future. The immortal Christ spoke 40 days after His resurrection things concerning the kingdom of God. And then He ascended. He promised his followers that they would do greater works than what He had done. He was the Seed; we sons and daughters are the harvest.

This book asks you, the reader, Could you be one of these future monarchs? Would you at least desire to help them get there? This volume attempts to share the light that I have been given to shorten the trek on the sons’ road to immortality. I hope that it will be used as a primer for the future princes and princeses of God–our future rulers in His glorious kingdom.

Nothing less that the coronation of thousands of kings–that is God’s will. That is His eternal purpose. That is His vision for man on earth upon His return not many years hence. He said that this is what He thinks about, what His mind is full of. A few have been chosen for this honor. Just who are these chosen ones?

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The Manifestation of the Sons of God–Purging Out the Old Leaven

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Passover and Unleavened Bread–How to Spiritually Keep the Feasts

A reader once asked, “Exodus 12: 14-15 says that the feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread are a  memorial for all generations. A memorial is a yearly observance, something done from year to year. Also, Yahshua [Jesus] kept the Feasts all throughout the New Testament, leaving us an example, thus He came to “magnify the law not to destroy it. Should we not then keep the feasts?”

A brilliant question yielded this reply. Yes, the feasts of Yahweh are to be kept by us. No doubt about it. How? is the question. Paul explains how under the new covenant. There is a spiritual truth to be extracted from the feasts.

The Spirit of Christ through Paul said that the feasts are a shadow of the heavenly reality. The priests in the book of Exodus administered the seven feasts of God. But they were only serving a copy and shadow of the heavenly reality. All of those gifts offered by them and the sacrifices and the feasts are but a pattern and not the reality.

Here is the Spirit of God expounding on this: “There are priests that offer gifts according to the law; who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary,” a “pattern” shown Moses on the mount Sinai (Heb. 8: 5; Col. 2: 16-17). So if the Passover and Unleavened Bread feasts are a copy, shadow, and a pattern, then how do we keep the the real heavenly feasts?

These two feasts are mentioned by Paul. “Purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (I Cor. 5: 7-8).

We His children are the lump of unleavened dough that goes through the furnace of trials in order to be baked into the bread of life. He in us is the bread of life. To keep this feast, we are to spiritually get rid of any malice and wickedness out of our thinking. Replace it with sincerity and truth. Without this, no amount of eating leavenless earthly flatbread will avail anything with God. He is calling for our hearts to be pure and not puffed up with false knowledge.

In this same passage we see the New Covenant Feast of Passover. Christ, the Lamb of God, takes the place of the literal animal as seen in Exodus. He is, of course, our spiritual Passover Lamb. We keep this feast when we know and believe that all of our evilness and malice, which is our old sin nature, died when He died on the cross. For He as the old scapegoat had our sins transferred upon Himself. We keep the feast when we surrender to this truth and give up our old lives. And when He was raised from the dead, we also are raised to walk in a newness of life (Romans 6: 1-12). This is the Spirit of Christ coming into our hearts and changing us.

And then the feast of unleavened bread in the new covenant is when we get rid of the insincerity and false concepts about Him and walk in truth. The very fact that the Spirit mentioned “the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” and the leaven of “malice and wickedness” should signal to us that the feasts are spiritual [For more on this: https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2014/05/10/feasts-new-moons-sabbaths-mere-shadows-of-christ-in-us/ ]

The generation in the wilderness was under the cloud, the aforementioned “shadow.” Christ our Passover had not yet come. So they were to keep the feasts as outlined by Moses. There are millions of people who diligently keep the Passover, for instance, but do not believe in Jesus Christ (Yahshua) of Nazareth. They are not keeping in truth the feast of Passover, for they have rejected Him, the true Passover Lamb.

Yahshua before His crucifixion kept the feasts as authorized by the law of Moses, for that was the age in which He walked upon the earth. That is changed. All of the book of Hebrews explains this conversion from old covenant and testament to new covenant.

God was speaking to the blind and disobedient generation in Ex. 12, not the “chosen generation,” which is the remnant, the elect, those with a new heart.      Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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