Category Archives: old leaven

February 22, 2014 · 6:39 pm

“Today, If You Will Hear His Voice”–The Time Portal to His Presence

An opening in time–a portal to enter into God’s presence, to be near Him, enough to hear His voice.

So, we ask again, What if God, earnestly desiring to commune with us, has provided a way for us to get into a spiritual place where He would speak audibly to us? What if we could get all of our spiritual ducks in a row and thereby position ourselves to enter His time portal so that we could literally have a conversation with the Creator? He did say that all things are possible to him that believes.

What if, among His many promises to us, there is the possibility that we could get very close to Him, that we could hear His voice and even share a meal together, as we see in Rev. 3. What if He has already created a window of time that opens on a regular basis, a timeframe where, if we can believe it, He will meet us there, after we have met certain criteria that He has set for our holiness?

God has provided this time portal, and it swings open every seven days. It is called the Sabbath. And we are commanded to “keep it holy.” But the true Sabbath is like an island surrounded by the treacherous waters of man’s traditions. Every sect in the earth has their own take as to which day is the Sabbath and how to “keep it holy.”

Keeping It Holy

First, there is nothing we can do that makes the Sabbath holy. We cannot sanctify it through anything that we do or don’t do. We must realize that the Sabbath already is holy. God has already set it apart and hallowed it (Ex. 20: 11).

God created it and sanctified it for man, as Christ said, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” The seventh day is not something to be served as if it were this holy thing that needs to be reverently observed–or else. The Sabbath is instead a 24 hour space in time that occurs every seven days in which the Great Spirit Creator makes His presence known with more power and clarity to those who walk with Him in truth.

God has set aside a 24 hour period each week for His people to seek Him. “Seek the LORD while He may be found” takes on more meaning in light of this. “May be found…” God gives permission to find Him during this weekly 24 hour period.

The Pharisees “kept” the Sabbath, but they did not keep it holy, for they injected ruinous teachings, traditions, and concepts about it. The actual Sabbath day of God, on which they assembled and concocted various restrictions as to what can and cannot be done, cannot be sanctified by us and our actions.

It is already made holy by its Creator. And He has set it apart from the other days of the week that we humans, “the apple of His eye,” could have a lifeline to help us get back into His presence. He made it as a space/time connector, a bridge joining us in our bodies to the spiritual dimension that He dwells in. It is His gift to us–a time to peer into spiritual truths, a time for His Spirit to come down and try out His house, which is us–a time for God and us to rest in each other, after we have ceased from working for our self and rest from the sensation of it being us that is still in the picture.

For it is belief in the death of self, our dying with Christ on the cross (Rom. 6: 1-6), and the belief that He now lives within us in a new heart, that enables us to finally “enter into His rest.” “For he that is entered into His rest, he also has ceased from his own works, as God did from His.” Our own works were the acts of sinning, breaking God’s law. When we die with Christ, be buried with Him, and then through faith in the operation of God that raised Him from the dead, we too cease from our old works done by our old selves. “They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts,” (Gal. 5: 24, the “flesh” here being the old sinful carnal nature of man we are born into).

The final crucifixion, the once and for all putting to death of our old sinful nature–that is what we must believe. That is the first step in getting right, in getting our spiritual ducks in a row, that we may enter into His rest, having stopped the insanity of the sin we were bound with.”

For God limits a certain day for special things to happen between Him and His people. That space in time, that portal still is there for some to enter into (Heb. 4: 1-11). “To day if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.” That day is the Sabbath. And if we will soften our hearts with belief in the crucifixion of sin and faith that He has given us a new heart and spirit, then we will enter into His rest, ceasing from our old sins.

For it was the sin of His people that He was grieved with in the wilderness. And they could not enter into His rest because of it. But now, if we do not harden our hearts toward Him and just believe Him that the sin is gone, gone, gone–then we can enter into His rest. For “here remains a rest (a sabbatismos–a keeping of the Sabbath in the Greek) to the people of God” (Heb 4: 9).

So Which Day Is It?

Many traditions of men abound as to when is the Sabbath. Hundreds of millions of Moslems believe that the Sabbath takes place from sundown Thursday to sundown Friday. The followers of Judaism and several Christian denominations believe that it starts at sundown Friday and ends on sundown Saturday. Then you have billions of Christians who believe that the Sabbath has been changed, replacing it with Sunday as the holy day of God.

Studying the scriptures will give you the answer as to which day is the true Sabbath. Finding this treasure of knowledge is left up to us all. Seek and you shall find; knock and the door shall be opened; ask, and it shall be given, says our Master Christ. We all must prove it out, taking His word and the common sense that He has given us, being prepared to receive the answer, having no pre-conceived imaginations.

To benefit from this communion with God on His Sabbath, we must have erroneous concepts about Him and His plan straightened out and corrected. To be counted as a vessel for Him to pour Himself into, especially on His Sabbath, we must be holy. We must “purge out the old leaven that the lump may be holy.”

But that opens up another can of worms. What is the old leaven, and how do we purge it out? Kenneth Wayne Hancock {If you haven’t visited my website Immortality Road, please do. There you will find over 300 articles and books exploring the “unsearchable riches of Christ,” all written for you, the elect sons and daughters of God, the future rulers with Christ in His soon coming kingdom
https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com }

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Filed under belief, cross, crucified with Christ, death of self, old leaven, resurrection, santification

Tagged as holiness, old leaven, sabbath

July 27, 2013 · 4:17 pm

Who Hath Believed Our Report? How long, O Lord?

A few weeks ago I put a couple of my books on consignment in a local discount grocery store that had a rack of Christian books. It was a self-described Christian establishment sitting in the middle of the Bible Belt, and I figured a local author with a Christian book–what’s not to like?

So I came back to the store a month later to see if the books had moved and noticed that they were not on the rack. So I asked the assistant manager who made the deal with me about stocking the books, “Did they sell? I don’t see them on the rack.”

He looked at me real funny and being the diplomat/merchant that he is, he began to hem-haw around, saying, “Well, the manager hasn’t had time to look them over and approve them yet.”

I said, “Your racks contain scores of books that I doubt he spent any time pouring over to approve.”

“Do you want them?”

“Of course, I want them if you are not going to try to sell them.”

“I’ll go get them.” In a moment he returned with my books.

And then I realized what had happened. They had put them on the rack because they had a price sticker on them. But a shopper had perused them and did not approve of the teachings found in them and complained to the manager. Probably my Yah Is Savior book insulted someone’s churchianity quotient; perhaps they read the back cover which has summary of its contents. And so they stopped right there and got indignant. If they had read on, they would have found out much about how Christ, the Son of God, came in His Father’s name, Yahweh and what that really means.

The more truth He gives you, the less likely it will be received by the masses

But what did I expect? That everyone really wants the truth about God and everything else? How naïve of me. How presumptuous, like Moses, who “supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not” (Acts 7: 25). God had showed Moses a glimpse of the plan but not the power; that would come forty years later at the burning bush (v. 30-36).

After my little incident, Isaiah’s question kept coming to mind: “Who hath believed our report? (Isa. 53: 1). Why is there so much rampant unbelief? Why can’t people just believe?

It is the age old dilemma for men and women of God. The more truth He gives you, the less likely it will be received by the masses. You and I have had several revelations of truth and, excited about it, we share it immediately with probably the first person we meet, and it falls disappointedly on deaf ears. The kicker is that we honestly believe that they at this time ought to believe the truth we are sharing. But the vast majority don’t, and we wonder why.

But the scriptures state that most will not believe. In fact, if everything you share garners a huge following and acceptance by the masses, you don’t have the right message.

The Wide Gate and the Narrow Gate

That’s a bold statement, I know. But, we are to “enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matt. 7: 13-14). The masses are fooled and led to destruction through a wide gate; the few will find the true way. These are the Savior’s very own words.

And how are the masses led astray by the tens and hundreds of millions? Christ answers this in the very next verse: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves” (v. 15). Sheep’s clothing. They look like they are a Christian; they appear to be a bona fide spokesman for God, God’s helper, but Christ says they are ferocious wolves! That’s how the masses are herded into the wide gate and destroyed. By deceivers with their false teachings and old leaven concepts about God and not the true word of God.

In fact, Christ implores us to “strive to enter in at the narrow gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able” (Luke 13: 24-30). The word translated “strive” is rendered “fight” in many passages. We must fight to enter through the narrow gate into the kingdom of God. It is a fight, a struggle. Fight against what? Against the false doctrines and concepts taught by the wolves in sheep’s clothing.

Because there will be many who went the easy way through the wide gate and they will “seek to enter in, and shall not be able.” Upon realizing that they messed up, they will knock on the Master’s door, but He will say, I don’t know you. And they will be in anguish when they are rejected by Him. Those that went in through the wide gate taught by the false prophets will be in big trouble.

But why won’t the masses believe this message?

So, the question remains. Did I really expect when I committed my writing to God–did I expect to be believed? Especially since what God keeps showing me is so different to the doctrines that organized churchianity teaches.

But why won’t the masses believe this message?

I found the answer, which lies in the fact that they did not believe the Savior Himself! Very few “got Him” then, and very few get Him now.

“But though He had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on Him” (John 12: 37). It would be the same today if we had the same power to heal the sick and raise the dead. Oh, the masses would clamor after a miracle for themselves, but they would not really take the truth in and believe it.

Nothing has changed. But why? Why at this present time in history won’t the people believe?

Verse 38 answers the question. “That the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: Lord, who has believed our report…Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again, He has blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them” (Jn 12: 38-41).

Why can’t the people just believe when truth comes their way? Because the multitudes are unable to at this time in history. What? And why can’t they believe? Because God–yes, God Himself–has “blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts” (Isa. 6: 9-10). He has blinded the vast majority of fleshly Israel and the Gentile nations. That is what the sacred writings of the prophets Isaiah and John tell us.

The masses are blinded by Him, but “the few” that Christ spoke about above are entering in by the narrow gate. These are His elect, His chosen ones. To Christ’s disciples He said, “It is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them [the masses] it is not given” (Matt. 13: 11-16). And then He quotes Isaiah 6: 9-10 to them. Although not politically correct to say it, Christ is revealing precious mysteries at present as the masses remain blind and hardened to His truth (Rom. 11: 7).

How Long, O Lord?

But when? God, how long will it be before You open the people’s eyes and soften their hearts so that they can believe You? When will their vision be restored and their hearts softened? Isaiah asked, “Lord, how long? And He answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, and the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land” (6: 10-11).

When the cities are wiped out, when the earth lies totally ruined and desolate, and when this world system is forever shattered and lying in rubble on the ground, then the masses will turn to God. These are the disasters of biblical proportions. This is the realization of all the disaster movies we’ve ever seen. This is the great tribulation period that everyone alive on earth will go through, just before Christ’s return to earth to establish His kingdom.

When God unleashes His trumpets and vials of wrath upon the earth, then the masses will begin to awaken and believe. They are asleep and deceived and “poor, wretched, miserable, blind and naked.”

God, please help us. Spare thy people, oh God. I am grateful for this knowledge, but it is a heavy burden to bear–knowing the sufferings that await the inhabitants of the earth.

The tribulation will come, and then more of the masses will have a softened heart to believe and love Him and they will repent and follow Him.

Of course, the false prophets and false teachers say that you won’t have to go through the tribulation period. Of course, they would teach that. How else are they going to get the massive numbers of souls through the wide gate that “leads to destruction”? God, help us. KWH

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Filed under catching away of the saints, Christ, elect, eternal purpose, false doctrines, false prophets, false teachers, great tribulation period, kingdom of God, manifestation of the sons of God, old leaven

Tagged as faith, false prophets, tribulation

July 18, 2013 · 8:37 pm

Peace and the Mind of God

Peace is the one commodity that is in short supply in this world. For some, peace means no more war. For others it means no more stress.

But one thing is certain; the whole world is crying out for peace. The destroyer is ravaging the land. Mothers are crying in Allepo because their government has just bombed their apartment building. Lives in the third world are collapsing around the globe through war and economic woes, flattening any chance for peace.

Even in Western Europe and North America, peace eludes the people, who, awash in material possessions, do not realize the age old adage that wealth alone can’t bring happiness, that “money can’t buy me love,” that true peace only comes as a spiritual by-product, from a life directed by one’s Creator.

Peace. What does the Creator say about it? Peace is a component of the “fruit of the Spirit.” When the Spirit of God resides in us, we will have peace.

But this peace still remains elusive. What does the Word say about what exactly brings peace—complete and utter peace? “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee” (Isa. 26: 3). First, God keeps the peace there in us. It is His doing. Second, He does this as our minds steadfastly think on Him.

Some will say that this is impossible. How can we think about God all the time? But let’s think about this for a minute. Even though our minds are occupied by a host of thoughts in any given day, the Savior tells us to not think on the earthly things that the masses are pre-occupied with—what to eat, wear, and all the other things like pleasure, jobs, etc. Our earthly life should not be the center of our thinking. It won’t bring peace.

So, what thoughts are we to think and to train our minds to think on? “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things [earthly things like food, clothing, entertainment] will be added unto you” (Matt. 6: 33).

Christ just taught in verse 31-32 to “take no thought” about the earthly things. This tells us that “thinking” turns into “seeking.” So how do we “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness”? We think about them. We meditate on his rule and government that will soon fill this whole earth, and we contemplate on the state of being right with Him.

This is how we seek His kingdom—by thinking about it as much as we can every day.

But there is a caveat in all this. Our thoughts must be based on sound knowledge. If we are meditating on concepts that are in error, do we believe this is acceptable with God? Our thoughts about God must be rid of false teachings, doctrine, and concepts about Him and His plan. He commands us in many places to “purge out the old leaven,” and He many times warns us to not follow false teachers and false prophets (II Peter 2: 1-22; Jude 4-8).

But this is the hard part of the Christian walk—this ridding ourselves of false doctrines and concepts. Difficult, but extremely necessary, if we are to be assured in our hearts and have confidence with God.

How do we know what is false and what is true? Yesterday’s light won’t illuminate the path of the elect in these latter days, so you can’t depend on the light that your parents and grand-parents had, or the light your preacher has, who got it from teachers and preachers who haven’t received anything new in 50 years. Depending on them won’t cut it.

How do we get rid of the false doctrines about Him and His plan? By sincerely praying and asking God to reveal it to us, with a humble and repentant heart. And He will do it. He’ll show us. But we need to break up the fallow ground of our heart knowing full well that when He answers, it will not be what we expected. The elect will find the truth of His plan, if they are willing to lay it all, all prior knowledge under the knife of the husbandman. For “every branch in Me that bears not fruit He takes away, and every branch that bears fruit, the Father purges it that it may bring forth more fruit” (John 15: 2). What is it that the Father will purge or prune out of our minds? He will “purge out the old leaven” of malice, wickedness, hypocrisy, insincerity, and falsehoods (I Cor. 5: 8; Luke 12: 1; Mark 8: 15).

A spiritually young and immature Christian has got a lot of old leaven in there that must be purged by the Father. He will do it, too, but we must submit to this procedure. That is the difficult part.

But afterwards, “it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness” (Heb. 12: 11). Peace that the Master gives. Peace for us in our spirits, peace as one of the fruits of the Spirit. Peace that comes upon thinking on His wonderful plan and purpose according to truth, after the old leaven is gone. Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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Filed under elect, false doctrines, false prophets, false teachers, fruit of the Spirit, Lost Sheep of the House of Israel, mind of Christ, old leaven

Tagged as false doctrines, false prophets, fruit of the Spirit, old leaven, peace, the elect

May 11, 2013 · 4:40 pm

Why Young Christians Fall Away

Why do Christians wilt and fall away when adversity comes?

The major reason is that they lose hope. They can’t see the promises immediately and so their hope wanes. Why does hope fade? Because the young Christian stops believing what they have been told about God and His plan.

The Master was adamant about His followers getting rid of erroneous teachings and doctrines. He called it “purging out the old leaven, that the lump may be holy.”

And that is what it boils down to. Organized churchianity just does not realize that they have been weighed in the scales and have been found wanting. Christ is crying through the prophet Isaiah, “Ah sinful nation…a seed of evildoers…children that are corrupters…the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint…” And despite all of your “sacrifices, vain oblations, incense, new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies and feast days, and though you make many prayers, I will not hear,” says the LORD (Yahweh) [Isa. 1: 4-15].

Why won’t God hear the prayers of our nation? Because “your hands are full of blood” (v. 15). He has a big problem with our nation right now. He is addressing a “sinful nation.” A nation full of sin, whose pastors tell their flocks that God is powerful but not powerful enough to get rid of sin in their lives. In fact, the preachers won’t tell them exactly what sin is in God’s eyes; they leave the flock to their own imaginations instead of telling them the truth: “Sin is the transgression of the law” (I John 3: 4).

What can be done? He continues, “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil” (v. 16). Wait a minute. God is speaking to very religious people, who are doing every thing their pastors are telling them. They are doing all of their denominational doctrines outlined just before in verses 4-15.

And yet, they are sinful people, a sinful nation. But that is not good enough for God and the plan He is implementing.

So He tells us to wash away our sins and be “willing and obedient” (v. 18-19). Obey what? Obey the law, the ten commandments. But the new Christian, armed with the erroneous teachings that “no one can successfully keep them” and “you will sin, but just ask God to forgive you,” is immediately stunted, and like a young seedling, is stomped out of ever bearing any real fruit of the Spirit.

For, fed with ruinous words, their initial love, joy and peace fades, and when temptation comes, their strength fails. All because of a poor foundation.

But some will say, That was Old Testament stuff there in Isaiah. They were under the Mosaic Law and their sacrifices and oblations and doctrines just weren’t efficacious. But they were for the patriarchs and prophets. It was good enough for them at that time. For they were the remnant, those God was referring to in Isa. 1: 9: “Except the LORD (Yahweh) of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom and Gomorrah.”

A very small number of Israelites “got it,” became truly righteous, and they became our examples for our day. Because “that which has been is now,” a very small remnant in the latter days will “get it.”

[So I suppose that answers the question that arises occasionally in my heart: Why don’t more people see these things? A: It’s all in the timing. Just keep publishing the truth; that is all you can do, and trust Me and know this: Few there be to find this way of tru and Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom (Matt. 7: 14; Luke 12: 32). Thank you for the encouraging words. KWH]

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Tagged as righteousness, sin, Ten commandments

April 27, 2013 · 6:05 pm

Gold Tried in the Fire–Overcomers and the Time of the End

Somebody at the end of this age will sit down with the Savior on His throne. They will be rulers with Him during the 1,000 year reign right here on earth. This is promised by Him.

This promise of kingly rulership for some of His followers is conditional. During the last age of the church just before His return, His followers will be lukewarm in their service to Him. They will think that because they are affluent in material things, that they are rich in spiritual things. They will take pride in “knowing God,” and they will say that they spiritually “have need of nothing.” But they do not know that they are in His eyes “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind and naked” (Rev. 3: 14-17).

They do not know that their faith in Him is a poor approximation, a poor substitute for His vibrant faith. They do not have the higher richer knowledge of His plan and purpose. Consequently they are spiritually blind and naked.

And so, He counsels them to buy from Him three things that will correct their spiritual deficiencies: “gold tried in the fire, that you may be rich; and white raiment, that you may be clothed, and that the shame of your nakedness does not appear; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see” (v. 18).

And then He makes an astounding promise to them. If anyone in this end time age hears His voice concerning these matters, and hears His knock on their door, He will come in and have a feast with them, sharing intimate details of His soon coming kingdom. And then the promise: “To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne” (v. 22). Now you’ve got to have an ear that is attuned for these things. He says if you do, then hear what the Spirit is saying to you about these things (v. 22).

So, the first thing we need is the “gold tried in the fire” (1). We know that this gold is our faith and belief in God. We believe in Him, having never seen Him nor the outcome of His kingdom plan, for faith is the “evidence of things not seen” (2). It is like the Holy Spirit, which is invisible but is “leading us into all truth” and thereby comforts us as the Comforter” (3).

The “gold tried in the fire” that we are to “buy” from the Savior is the purification of our faith/belief through trials and temptations, “if need be.” Most of us will need the times of “chastening” that He will give unto His elect–the ones who He has chosen to sit with Him in His throne (4). This chastening is in the form of correction.

This fire that purifies our faith is much like the pruning of the vine that Christ speaks about (5). And what He lops off of us is the old erroneous concepts about Him that we have learned from those who taught us in the past.

“Purge out the old leaven that the lump may be holy” is a similar concept (6). Spiritual leaven is what puffs us up. He calls leaven hypocrisy, insincerity, falsehoods, and misconceptions.

Those that submit themselves to the Spirit/Teacher and endures this fire, pruning, chastening, and purging–they will be the ones that will overcome in this the Laodicea Church Age. They will be the ones who “humble themselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time” (8). Yes, exalt you. And there is no greater exaltation than to share in the glory of sitting with Him on His throne!

This glory, this exaltation that some will receive–this honor will only come to those who pass the fire test. To illustrate this, two scenarios are presented to us. Which is the more difficult to accept? A rant that denies that Christ is the Savior or a doctrinal fine point that you’ve never heard before? It is new to you, but there it is in black and white in the Bible. Yet, you have never heard it or seen it before. In fact, to receive this new teaching, you must admit that you did not have the whole truth. And this takes humility, which is the ability to be taught of Him and His Spirit.

For He did say, “The Spirit of truth will guide us into all truth.” So, the Spirit, to fulfill this verse, must take us to truth that we do not already have (9).

The elect who will sit with Him on His throne will be the teachable ones, the humble ones, the hungry ones. For having to humble ourselves is a fire that will purify our faith, our gold, our belief. It will purge out pride in our prior knowledge about God. And these overcomers will come out on the other side unto “praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Yahshua the Anointed One” (10). And this “appearing” is the same word translated “the manifestation of the sons of God,” which is the appearing of Christ in us! The unveiling of the sons of God. The whole creation is groaning and travailing for them to come onto the scene, for God will save this planet through them! If you have an ear that can hear, then hear it and walk in it (Rom. 8: 18-19).

The humility of a child

But it is going to take the humbleness of a little child for us to overcome in the last days. “Whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven,” said the Master (Matt. 18: 4). The greatest in any kingdom is the King and His sons and daughters, the princes and princesses. But in God’s kingdom it takes humbleness to be the greatest–like a little child.

And why are we to be like a little child? Because they don’t think that they already know it all. The wonder of discovery of the earth and its natural beauty fills their eyes and ears. They know that they don’t know it all, for they are too busy learning. That is why adults are so drawn to them; we are hoping that a bit of that wonderdust that a child collects like bees do pollen might fall on us, that we could experience just one more time that spontaneous burst of uninhibited joy brought by the “splendor in the grass and the glory of the flower.”

So now God is calling us to be “as newborn babes” and little children, to have a newfound wonder of the spiritual realm of our heavenly calling. He is asking His future overcomers to be open to Him as He shows them new wonders that far eclipse those earthly wonders.

Listen. Quit thinking our own thoughts for a moment and let us just listen to that “still small voice” that is talking to us. Can we hear His voice whispering to us? Can we hear Him faintly knocking? We won’t be able to hear Him is our thoughts are all we hear. Listen. He is calling us.

And if we humble ourselves, He will show us the unglimpsed and unheard wonders that “God has prepared for those who love Him” (11). He’ll show us His government that will transform this earth, purging it from all evil and hatred and suffering, and creating on it a holy habitation for the Righteous King of kings, our Savior Yahshua. But He will only show these wonders to the humble ones, to those who listen to Him, to the overcomers.

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

1. Rev. 3: 18

2. Heb. 11: 1

3. John 16: 13; 14: 16-17

4. I Peter 1: 6-8; Heb. 12: 5-11

5. John 15: 1-2

6. I Cor. 5: 6-7

7. Verse 8

8. I Peter 5: 6

9. John 16: 13; 14: 26

10. I Peter 1: 7

11. I Cor. 2: 9; Isa. 64: 4

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Tagged as faith, humility, kingdom of God, Revelation

October 13, 2012 · 8:40 pm

Feasts, New Moons, and Sabbath Days–Mere Shadows of Christ in Us

The Feast Days of Yahweh, His New Moons and Calendar, and His Sabbath Days–even the Ten Commnadment Law itself–are but a shadow of the spiritual light we are in Him and that He is in us. A shadow is not the real thing. We can learn from studying a shadow, but a shadow can never replace the thing that creates the shadow.

After we are crucified with Him, buried with Him, and risen with Christ–after receiving a new heart from the Master, the apostle Paul says this: “Let no man therefore judge you in respect of a feast day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come…” (Col. 2: 11-17). In fact, these feast days and Sabbaths and laws “serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things,” even as God told Moses to “make all things according to the pattern showed to you in the mount” (Heb. 8: 5). All things that Moses laid down to the children of Israel are a “shadow of heavenly things” and not the heavenly things themselves.

And what are these “heavenly things” that the apostle is talking about in Hebrews 8: 5? We children of the living God are those heavenly things! When we finally get it that it is “no longer I that lives but Christ that lives in me,” we then are the pattern for all the things that Moses instituted in the first five books.

The old testament was the sprinkling of animal blood upon the tabernacle, for “without the shedding of blood is no remission. But the “heavenly things” needed “better sacrifices than these” for purification (Heb. 9: 23). We, brethren, are those “heavenly things” that needed the blood of the Lamb to purify us!

We now as the spiritual body of Christ were before the sabbaths, before the moon, before food and drink, before the holy days, the feast days, before time, before this earth, before this world. We are now “risen with Christ” and we “seek those things which are from above” [Col. 3: 1]. We now yearn to see our true home, our heavenly dwelling.

For God has established in this new walk, this “newness of life,” a spiritual reality (Rom. 6: 4). It is built upon better promises wherein He says that He will put His Spirit in our minds and hearts and that He will not remember our sins anymore! This is the new covenant (Jer. 31: 31-34; Heb. 8: 12).

The apostle Paul says that we are a new creation and “are complete in Him… buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead” [Col. 2: 10-20]. We are new spiritual righteous creatures now and are not to be judged in respect of what we eat or drink, what holy days, new moons, or sabbaths that are observed. Why? Because His Spirit now in us was before all the laws and observances were set down on this earth. This does not give us a license to carelessly break them. Rather His Spirit in us guides us to that right walk in Him.

In other words, we now do not observe religiously these mentioned things to somehow be accepted by the Father. To the contrary, we use these to teach us to come to the Savior in a true, meaningful way.

We do not do them to insure that we are okay with God. That would be working for salvation. Remember: they are shadows and not the reality of true worship. Rather they, like the Mosaic Law and the Ten Commandments, are part 0f the “schoolmaster” that Paul refers to, that “the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster” [Gal. 3: 22-25].

The Schoolmaster

The laws of God are instructive to a seeker of God. They teach us and help bring us to the cross. They show us about His plan of redemption. His feasts show that very plan as a type and shadow of Christ Himself. The new moons and sabbaths teach us of His plan and timing for His coming kingdom. But they are but a shadow of the reality that now resides in our hearts. They are only an image of the reality. They are made for us to learn from–made for us by our Creator. But they are only a shadow of the Reality. That Reality is Christ’s Spirit in us.

Shadows Are Not Real

Shadows have never been the real deal. Shadows are actually made from a lack of light. Shadows are in the shape of things or people, but they are not the real thing; they are not a part of reality. Shadows merely imitate reality; they simulate what is real; they intimate that which is true; they suggest obscurely as to what or who made their image possible. But they are not the real thing.

They do not have the depth. They lack that third dimension. Shadows are flat and a bit distorted at times. They lie upon the earth in only two dimensions. Something three dimensional is held up off the earth, and light is actually blocked and a flat shadow results–a lack of light laying flat on the earth. Shadows are earthly phenomenon; they are distinctively of the earth.

Furthermore, shadows have no life in and of themselves. They are only beneficial in that they resemble at times the thing that blocks the light. Shadows are dark lifeless representations of other things. They cannot give life because they have not life to give. The law, along with the feast days, new moons and sabbaths are a shadow of the reality found in Christ.

We Can Learn from Shadows

But we can learn from shadows. What do they tell us? We can glean a rough idea of what something is, what is its shape, what is its function. But we cannot by embracing a shadow ever obtain the reality.

Shadows are merely lifeless, lightless representations and can never perfect anyone. They can lead you to the Perfecter, but worshipping and circling a shadow is not worshipping that Glorious Reality.

All shadows disappear when the true Light comes near. Christ is the Light with “neither shadow nor variableness of turning” [James 1: 7]. The true Light dispels the shadows. When He is truly come inside of us His temple, the Light will cause the shadows–the new moons, feast days, sabbaths, and all other earthly situations of worship to disappear.

These two passages of scripture should become clearer now: “The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath” (Mark 2: 27).

“The law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient…” (I Tim 1: 9).

I welcome your comments. Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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Filed under apostles' doctrine, body of Christ, cross, false doctrines, feast days, old leaven

Tagged as feast days, feasts of the Lord, sabbath, shadows, the law

March 18, 2011 · 1:41 am

The Parable of the Leaven Hidden by the Woman

Things in this world are not what they seem. Our perception, or lack thereof, causes us to see only what we have been told was there. So we only see what we expect to see. The rest of what really is available to see lays dormant to the eye. It waits for someone to perceive what was there all along.

Take reading the Bible, for instance. Every person who reads it, reads it through a matrix of past teachings and doctrines that they sat under, making it difficult to see it with fresh eyes. Every denomination has pet doctrines that serve as a prism for their followers to see through.

It is the “leaven that the woman took and hid in three measures of meal” (Mt 13:33). “Leaven” in scripture is hypocrisy. “Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy” (Luke 12:1). The key word here is “to hide.” Leaven is hid during the kingdom of heaven years after the resurrection and ascension. It is hid in the food that the followers of the Savior are to eat for their spiritual sustenance. Leaven is hid through false teachings about God.

False Doctrines Multiply

And “a little leaven leavens the whole lump” (Gal 5:9). A little false doctrine multiplies like a bit of yeast in a lump of bread. It soon spreads throughout the whole lump of dough. That is what the false religious system, symbolized as the “woman,” has done. Their false teachings cloud the truth so that the truth cannot be seen. They hide the truth with smoke and mirrors and spread confusion and a false sense of security. The Savior in the next verse after His warning about the leaven of hypocrisy says, “For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.” False teachings about God hide the truth from the eyes of casual onlookers.

You mean things really are covered up where the average person can’t see them? Yes, according to the Messiah. We are doctrinally to partake of the “unleavened bread of sincerity and truth,” Paul says. That would then make leaven insincerity and falsehoods. Bread is a symbol for sustenance. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.” So leavened bread, spiritually speaking, is not the true word of God, but another doctrine.

Many say, “Doctrine is not the important. Just loving Jesus and each other is the important thing.” This is some of the old leaven we are to purge out. The apostle John was strong on the importance of sound doctrine. “Whosoever transgresses and abides not in the doctrine of Christ, has not God. He that abides in the doctrine of Christ, he has both the Father and the Son.” Doctrine is translated from a Greek word that simply means “instruction.” We, then, are to abide, or to continue in the teachings and instruction of Christ, the Messiah. If we do not continue in them, then we “have not God,” according to the apostle John.

That is how important the doctrine of God is. But this takes us full circle to this dilemma: What is the teaching/instruction/doctrine of the Savior? If we have been eating of a tainted, leavened bread that seems to be truth, but is actually hiding the truth as seen above, then how will we be able to see the truth?

It is here that many will balk. They will think in their hearts that the old wine is better; the new wine we can’t trust because it is new. “I already know the truth. I’m set. Many will go on their way and not delve any deeper into this area.

But wait! Don’t throw this aside! I want to prove to you that there are things hidden right in your own Bibles that you have read a hundred times or more and never saw. How can I say this with conviction? Because I just experienced a profound revelation of truth in the Bible—a truth that was always there in black and white—literally there, but I had never seen it.

I was reading Paul’s writings in I Corinthians 10:4-9—what he said about the children of Israel in the wilderness. “And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.” A footnote loomed out at me on the word “followed.” It said, “that went with them.” In other words, “They drank of that spiritual Rock that went with them…” The children of Israel drank in the words of Christ, for He went along with them on their journey in the wilderness.

This intrigued me, so I turned to Exodus 17 to read about this. We have all heard of the story of the miracle of Moses smiting the rock and water coming out to quench the thirst of the people. In that passage, the children of Israel chided Moses for bringing them out “to cause us to die of thirst.” Moses then cried to YHWH and YHWH responded by saying, “And Yahweh said unto Moses, Go on before the people and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel” (Ex 17:5-6). Okay. Moses smites the rock and water comes out of it. A great miracle, indeed, but we have all read this passage many times. What’s new?

Go back to where Yahweh is speaking, “Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb…” I will stand before you there upon the rock in Horeb! Yahweh stated here that he was about to stand on the very rock that Moses was to smite. Picture it! God Almighty, in His glorified human form, the one He spoke through in the Garden of Eden to Adam and Eve, the one who appeared to the patriarchs and prophets—Yahweh said that He will stand on that rock that Moses would smite for water, and He would stand there in the sight of Moses and the elders of Israel. And Paul, getting the revelation of this wrote that the children of Israel saw and heard Christ; they drank for that spiritual Rock that went with them through the wilderness, and that Rock was Christ. The Anointed One was there in the wilderness. He is the arms, the legs, the body of the invisible God, Yahweh. Yahshua is the “expressed image of the invisible God.” When Yahweh said, “I will stand on the rock,” He would use His glorified form, Immanuel. Invisible Yahweh poured fully into His glorified form standing there on that rock that Moses struck! What a sight! What a glorious moment in the history of this world. The children of Israel had no excuse for acting the way they did, for He went with them and stood before them, His feet above where the water was gushing out!

I never saw that before. I have never heard this or read this before. This revelation was a complete utter gift that God gave to me for no merit of my own. I share this so that, yes, others may see the glorious appearing of the Savior in Moses’ day. But more importantly, I share this so that we all can see that there is more to all of this truth than what we first thought. It is the “unsearchable riches of Christ.” We all have not even scratched the surface. His works are so grand and glorious that John said that “if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written” (John 21:25).

Consequently, we must remain open to new revelation. We must open our minds and hearts and pray that God would lift the fog of old leaven teachings that conceal and hide the truth of what God is doing and will do in the earth shortly.

THERE IS MORE! The old teachings of the old denominations won’t get the job done in this day. God is doing something new in the earth. He is calling forth a group of men and women who will remain open to new revelations. He said, “Behold, I make all things new.” That’s a “new covenant…a new heart…new wine…new bottles…new testament…new cloth…new commandment…new doctrine…new creature…all things are become new…a new man…new creature…a new and living way…new heavens…a new earth…a new name…a new song…and a new Jerusalem.”

If there is nothing new in our spiritual life, then we are missing out on God’s work in the earth. And He will do all of this as He restores all things that He spoke through His prophets since the world began. What a God! KWH

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Filed under Christ, false doctrines, false prophets, old leaven, Spirit of God, Yahweh

Tagged as false doctrines, old leaven, parable

February 27, 2011 · 3:10 pm

The Key to Answered Prayers–from “Conversations with the Seer”

“I don’t get why we have to pray all the time. Pray without ceasing? Who can do that?” I asked the Seer. In his teachings each week at the Mission he had been stressing the importance of prayer.

“You are right. A man can’t do that,” he said.

I was shocked that he would concede this point so quickly. “I know the word says that we are to be ‘praying always,’ but I’ve tried, and I just can’t do it.”

“You won’t be able to do these requests that the Father has made of us concerning prayer, in your current way of thinking,” the Seer said. “That is why you are perfectly correct when you say, ‘I can’t do it. Nobody can.'”

“Then why does God tell us to do something that’s impossible to do?”

“Ah,” the Seer said knowingly, smiling kindly at me. “This is where the error of your thinking manifests itself. The Master Himself said, ‘With God all things are possible.’ Also, the apostle Paul said, ‘I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me.'”

“I don’t get it. You have taught that the last piece of the armor of God in Ephesians 6 is ‘praying always.’ I just don’t see how it works.” He could see, I am sure, my frustration, for I really had tried to do it.

“Look. You left out the most important part of that verse. It says, ‘Praying always…in the Spirit.’ Christ is alive evermore and He through His Spirit is interceding for us all. He is the High Priest, and His prayers will be answered, believe me. But Christ is not just praying for us; He desires to pray through us. When you let go of the sensation that it is you that’s doing the praying and believe that it is Christ in you who is doing the praying, then you’ll get somewhere.”

“‘Christ in us, the hope of glory…'”

“For, you see, the key to praying like God wants us to pray is to believe that it is ‘no longer I that lives, but Christ that lives in me.’ How does Christ live in us? By His Spirit that He has given us. We must first truly believe that we have the Spirit of Christ dwelling in our hearts. Then we must believe that it is the Spirit of Christ in us praying–not us praying in our own little strength.”

“We’ve got to get out of the way and let His Spirit in us do the praying?”

“Yes, and everything else. Paul said, ‘I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.’

“It always goes back to faith in God,” I said.

“Always. Faith is looking to and believing in the Invisible. You can’t see the Holy Spirit of Christ in you, and yet, you still believe that He lives within you, and that it is no longer ‘you’ that lives in your body, the temple of God. Let the High Priest pray through you, intercede through you. We are to be God’s kings and priests, and this is how you do it. But it takes faith.”

“Yes. Lots of it,” I said.

“This solves your original frustration about how do we ‘pray without ceasing’ and ‘praying always.’ In man’s strength, it is impossible, but the Spirit of Christ lives on, earnestly desiring to pray through another son and daughter of God, yearning for them to get the revelation that through His Spirit, they can be priests unto God in His wonderful kingdom of righteousness, which is reigning spriritually now in the hearts of God’s children, but soon will be expanded upon Christ’s return to the whole earth. Remember: Christ will definitely get His prayers answered. Let Him through His Spirit pray through you and you’ll have your prayers answered every time.”

“So what does Christ pray for?”

“It is pretty much summarized through His model prayer, known as the Lord’s Prayer. But you have to strip away the old leaven associated with that prayer, for the wicked one has made it into a ritual and an incantation. But more on this later.” KWH [For more on what Christ prayed for, go to the “Archives” at the bottom of the left hand column under “June and July of 2008”]

Churches Calling for Fire from Heaven–But Be Careful: God Is a Consuming Fire

Thousands of sincere people in churches across the land are asking every week, crying aloud to the heavens, that God would send His fire down, igniting a revival in the church. Not just charismatic, pentecostal, full-gospel, and bible-churches are doing this, but many main stream denominational churches are, too.

But do they know exactly what they are asking? God is not just a fire; He “is a consuming fire” [1]. Most of the sheep in the pews do not realize that the judgement of this fire first falls on them; it starts with the house of God, His body, His church. The apostle Peter warns us of the fiery trial of our faith: “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” [2].

“The fiery trial” is when God comes to us to purify us, which means that there is something in us that needs to be gotten rid of.

God is fire; He is also the Word made flesh. So the fire is His word. And He will send His word through His five fold ministry offices. These are His true apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. They are a gift of God to congregations for their perfection and edification, “till we all come in the unity of the faith…unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” [3].

And God will speak through them, and His word, like a fire shut up in their bones, will blast as a refining fire burning away the dross and impurities. This will be a fiery trial–the getting rid of the childish things that are clung to. Eventually, the blankies, pacifiers, and rattlers must be put away on the road to spiritual perfection.

Just like the prophet elijah

Elijah is a type of this. He came and exposed Israel’s sin and corruption at the highest level, demanding them to repent. But they just could not “abide the day of his coming” [4]. He was a fire burning up their impurities. But what did the children of Israel do to him and other prophets? They hunted them down like dogs, tortured them, and chased them into “dens and caves of the earth” [5].

They were persecuted by the very people they were trying to help. For few want to change so badly that they will submit to the correction of God’s word of fire–especially spoken through just another man, who they feel is really no better than they are. Anyway, “who made you a ruler and judge over us, Moses?” [6].

God, the consuming fire from heaven, wants to burn out the impurities of false doctrines, concepts and teachings about Him and His plan. We are told to “purge out the old leaven that the lump may be holy.”

But who will be able to bear it–the correction, instruction and reproof–that the fire brings? This is what the fire-word of God brings. It cleanses and purifies His children, until they are no longer alive just to receive God’s “feel-good spirit.”

Joy, peace, and love will come, for they are the fruit of the Spirit. But the true fruit of the Spirit takes time to develop, grow, and mature. And few modern Christians have any aspirations to wait very long for it. And so that is what keeps them coming back week after week, crying out for God’s fire, thinking that it is a feel-good spirit, not knowing that His word is like a fire that purges out all unrighteousness.

But that is the nature of children. They are mostly alive for what they can receive from their Father. As Paul said, “And yet I show unto you a more excellent way” [7]. It is the way to complete the life cycle of God in you–the way to perfection. KWH

Deut 4: 24; Heb. 12: 29
I Pet. 4: 12, 17-18
Eph. 4: 11-13
Mal. 3: 2
Heb. 11: 34-38
Acts 7: 27
I Cor. 12: 31

The Armor of God–Conversations With the Seer

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

“The last time we talked, you mentioned the armour of God. I have been thinking about it a lot lately. And I’ve been studying it out. But I’m really having difficulty grasping what it means, ‘to put on the whole armor of God.'”

The Seer smiled at me and said, “It is difficult to grasp the heavenly things with a mind that is thinking on an earthly plane, and next to impossible to comprehend spiritual things with a finite mind. It is difficult to understand because of unbelief.”

“But I believe,” I blurted out.

“You want to believe desperately,” the Seer said. “I will grant you that, and that is good. But wanting to believe and actually believing are two different matters. Belief in the armor’s efficacy brings the ability to grasp its power. It all goes back to trusting in His word.”

I was really confused now. “Well, what is the armor of God exactly?”

“First, the armor is spiritual. The apostle likens it to literal devices like shields, armor, a breastplate, a helmet, and a sword. Through this extended metaphor, we take away the idea of a spiritual, protective layer. It is the armor of God (Eph.6: 11-18). And God is Spirit [1]. He is also truth. Therefore, it is the armor of the Spirit and truth and light. And we are to ‘put on the armor of light [2].'”

“And what is light?” I asked.

“Light is the life of God. If you want to see light, then look at the Light in action by studying Christ. Because ‘in Him was life; and the life was the light of men’ [3]. God dwelt in the Son of God fully [4]. God is life and ‘this life is in His Son. He that has the Son has life'” [5]. When we truly receive this truth in our hearts, then we receive the secret to answered prayers [6].”

“Wait a minute. I didn’t get all of that. Let me see if I got this right. God is the Spirit of Truth, which is light and life. And the fullness of life and light dwelt in the Son of God. And if we believe that, then we receive the same light and life of God, too.”

“That’s right,” the Seer said. I don’t know if I was seeing things or not, but his smile radiated a glow of inner light. He continued, “For, you see, since God dwelt fully in Christ, if we reject the Son of God, we reject the Father, as well, because the Father was inside the Son” [7].

“But how does all this tie in with the armor of God?”

“The armor of God is not some equipment that God possesses that He wants to give to us. No.

“The armor of God is God Himself! It is a spiritual protective covering comprised of the invisible Spirit of God Himself. Since His Spirit is truth, when we know and then believe the truth, we are believing God. And by believing, God comes down into us. When you believe the truth, the truth (God, Spirit) takes up His abode in us, and we become one with Him. In other words, by believing all this truth how that the Father dwelt fully in the Son, giving light and life to the world–this truth is God, and through faith or belief of this truth, the Spirit of God comes into our hearts and minds. This is the armour of God–God’s Spirit in our hearts and minds.”

We just sat there for what seemed an hour. Finally I said, “I understand it now, but why haven’t the preachers told us about all this?”

“The only part of the apostle John’s writings they quote is John 3: 16. They stay clear of the rest of his gospel and his three letters to the churches.”

“But why? Why don’t they preach it?”

“Either they don’t know what is in John’s writings or they don’t have it in their hearts because they don’t believe it. Either way, they will have to give an account to God about it. I would like to think that the vast majority have not been taught these truths. They have been taught old leaven from a hundred years ago. There is no new light in them. They are still preaching what their grandfathers did in the 1950’s, and they are proud of that fact. Spiritual stagnancy is equal to spiritual bankruptcy. However, ‘when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth’ [8]. But there I go quoting more of John’s gospel–the part they don’t like to read or quote.”

“He will guide you into all truth?” I asked.

“It is the ‘unsearchable riches of Christ’ [9]. ‘All truth’ are these unsearchable riches. And if those preachers are not leading their flocks into more and more astounding and fresh truth, then it is safe to say that the Spirit of truth does not reside in them. Because that is the sign that a person has the Spirit of truth. At least that is what John said. And I’m sticking with him.”

“This is a lot to take in,” I said.

“We will save some for later,” the Seer said.

“There’s more about the armour?”

“It’s the unsearchable riches. Remember?”

John 4: 24
Romans 13: 12
John 1: 4
Colossians 2: 9
I John 5: 11-12
I John 5: 14-15
I John 2 23
John 16: 13
Ephesians 3: 8