Category Archives: sons and daughters of God

April 21, 2008 · 1:56 pm

Purge Out the Old Leaven = Getting Rid of False Concepts

     We have become the princes and princesses of God the King by our new spiritual birth.  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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April 17, 2008 · 3:24 pm

Baptism: Empty Ritual or Symbol of “Death of Self”?

     “Why were you baptized?”  a survey taker asks, cornering us with his microphone and camera.  Most of us would have to say, “Because they told me I should do it.” 

     Question 2: “What does baptism mean exactly?”   Here most of us would scratch our heads and say, “Well, I’m not sure.  The minister and congregation were very supportive, and I feel that it was the right thing to do.”

     But the right thing for us to do is to “dig deep and build our house on the rock,” as Christ admonished us to do.  We dig deep by digging into the letter that He has left us, the scriptures of truth. 

     Baptism is an outward symbolic action of an inward, spiritual, and transformational happening.     The meaning of baptism is laid out in Romans 6:3-11.  “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death” (v. 3).  We are immersed into His death.

     Water baptism is a symbol of us identifying our old self dying with Christ, being buried with Christ, and being raised up with Christ.  It is where we identify our old sinful self with the Lamb of God, our sin sacrifice.  “He was made to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” 

     When He died, my old self died.  When He was buried, my old evil nature was buried.  When He was raised from the dead, I  was raised from the dead!  Hey, this is not just my testimony; it is all of His children’s testimony. 

     And baptism in water is a symbol showing the world and God how we are regenerated. 

     How is this transformation done?  By faith, which is having assurance of its reality before we actually see it with our own eyes.  We have to reckon it so through God’s power.  “Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God” (v. 11).  God has already reckoned the death of our old self and our resurrection with Him.  Why shouldn’t we reckon it so?

     Baptism is a symbol of our transformation into being right with Him.  We are now free from sin.  “For he that is dead is freed from sin.  We are now the children of the light, having escaped darkness.

     God’s sons and daughters, His princes and princesses, shall see through the empty rituals of Churchianity.  They will shine forth as lights “in the midst of a wicked and perverse nation.”  Their clarity of vision will help them sift through the barren sands of man’s traditions to ultimately find the “one pearl of great price.”     Kenneth Wayne Hancock

{If this has been helpful, make a comment and/or pass it on to someone you care about.  I would love to hear from you.  You can read more about this in Yah Is Savior: The Road to Immortality, Ch. 28.  Click the Blogroll “Yahweh Is the Savior” link to your right]

 

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April 10, 2008 · 4:57 pm

“All Is Vanity” Without the Holy Spirit

     Without God’s Spirit dwelling within us, we are only a member of the walking dead who spend a few nightly whispers with loved ones and then bury our dead and wait to be buried in turn.   

     Without the Spirit of God that makes alive whatever it touches and lives in, we are just as good as dead.  Without His Spirit, we walk around breathing borrowed air into the lungs of an incredibly delicate and fragile shell.  And our  shell  will in a few moments, comparatively speaking, go back to dust from where it came, and our brief stint at self-glory here on earth will not be  remembered anymore.  Every thing that man says and does without the Spirit of God is vain and of no profit in the final analysis.

     But, if we ask Him, He will grant us a portion, an earnest, a down payment of His Spirit.  And that Spirit will come into us to replace that old heart and spirit, and it will grow like a tiny seed in a large garden, and we will come alive.  We must water it with our prayers and feed it with our study.  And that little portion of His Spirit will grow up into a full-fledged son or daughter of the King.  And we, the sons and daughters of God, will someday be transformed in a twinkling of an eye, and we “will be changed” when immortality will come down out of heaven to swallow up our shell that can die.

     Without His Spirit, we are the walking dead doomed to dust, unremembered, in the tombs of time.  But with His Spirit dwelling within us, we are destined to be His sons and daughters, sitting with Him on His throne–immortals whose legacy is neverending.              Kenneth Wayne Hancock

{If this has been helpful to you, please leave a comment and/or pass it on to someone who would appreciate it}

 

 

    

    

 

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April 7, 2008 · 1:48 pm

The Lord’s Supper: Empty Ritual or Metaphor for Christ’s Spiritual Body?

     Denominations have come up with a lot of hocus-pocus, mumbo jumbo, and smoke and mirrors in trying to “do the right thing” when it comes to the Lord’s Supper and Holy Communion.  The bread and wine/grape juice are consumed by church goers who cannot comprehend what is really going on in the ritual.  I say this not disparagingly of the flock or the pastors who care for them.  The problem stems from early church teachers who looked at this “after the flesh” and not “after the Spirit.”

     Christ instituted this breaking of bread and having a bit of wine or grape juice amongst His followers as a way to remember Him and what He did for us.  But the key to understanding this is to know that the “bread” and the “wine” are metaphors.  Metaphors compare one thing to something else without using “like” or “as.”

     When Christ takes the bread and says, “Take, eat; this is my body” (Matt. 26:26), He is saying that the bread they are sharing is like His body.  But not His physical fleshy body that would soon go to cross.  He’s talking about His spiritual body–us, the church!  All the members of His spiritual body, the true church, is likened to unleavened bread.  And His spiritual body, is “the fulness of Him that fills all in all” (Ephesians 1-23).

     There is no leaven in His true body of believers; it is humble and not puffed up.  It is the “unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”  Beware, Christ warned, “of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy” (Luke 12:1).  His bread, His spiritual body, will not have any hypocrites or false doctrines in it because they will have the Spirit of God abiding within.  And just like the unleavened bread comes out of one lump or piece, we, being many, are one spiritual body.  “For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of the one bread” (I Cor. 10:17).  

     But as long as a person is looking after the flesh through a carnal mind and not looking at this memorial “after the Spirit,” confusion reigns.

     And Christ took a cup of wine and gave thanks and gave it to them and said, “Drink all of it; for this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”  The wine is not His blood; it is like His shed blood.  He is saying, All of you in my spiritual body have been washed in my blood.  Your sins have been totally forgiven.  You are clean now and able to walk in “a  newness of life,”  where “all things are become new.”   You are changed and are now walking in accordance with My Spirit which dwells in you now.  And I am setting up this memorial supper that when you get together and break bread and have a bit of wine or grape juice, remember these things.  Remember that you all are my temple and body.  Remember that my blood cleansed all of you equally, so you are equal.  Remember Me.

     And then He looks to the future: “But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”  He’s saying, when I come back, we’ll all sit down and drink a cup and toast to the destruction of the evil world system and rejoice together that the My Government is now with men, right here on earth.  

     And the “bread” is us, His spiritual body, the sons and daughters of God.  And the “wine” represents His blood that cleansed us all and put us on His kingdom road.                          Kenneth Wayne Hancock 

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April 3, 2008 · 3:26 pm

Nature Teaches God’s Plan of Reproducing Himself

     God’s will, desire, plan, and purpose from eternity is to reproduce Himself in a group of sons and daughters here on earth.  This is the great mystery that has been hidden for ages, but now is being revealed.  We can look around at His creation and perceive just what He is doing (Romans 1:20).

     What do we see?  We see Nature.  We see the grass grow, come to maturity, produce seed, and reproduce itself.  We see animals of all shapes and sizes, and we see them grow, come to maturity, and reproduce themselves.  And we see human beings do the same thing.  Humans are looking for their mate–looking for the one that they are supposed to be with and do what humans do–procreate.

     It is built into every living thing–this striving to reproduce itself.  And every living thing reproduces another that very closely resembles itself.  Oak trees and their acorns produce oak saplings.  Basset hounds give birth to litters of long-eared pups, and humans give birth to humans.  “Each seed bears its own kind” (Genesis 1:11,24).

     And this urge is strong.  It was strong enough to get me into my VW Beetle in 1969 and drive non-stop from California to Missouri with $25 in my pocket, so that I could be with Linda Kay, my mate. 

     The Creator made everything strive to reproduce itself, patterning Nature after His own purpose.  He has created the natural world to mirror His desire to have offspring as well.  He did it so that human beings, His crowning creation, could look out and see Him in the creation.  But humans get confused and become in awe of Nature instead of God who created the earth. 

     As He has made procreation a strong instinct in nature, so is His longing to multiply Himelf.  It is the business that He is about.  The heavens and the earth are merely the environment that He created to reproduce Himself in.  He is the Seed and He has sown Himself into a special garden here on earth.  And that garden is the hearts of certain human beings that He has chosen to place the Seed into that it may grow up unto Him.  “Each seed bears its own kind.”  And “the seed is the word of God” (Luke 8:11).    The parables will reveal more on these secrets and mysteries.  Kenneth Wayne Hancock    

{This is an excerpt from my book which you can read here:  www.yahwehisthesavior.com/yahch16.htm      I would love to hear your comments.  Please pass this along to someone who may benefit from it}

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March 31, 2008 · 5:38 pm

Is Christ Divided?

     There’s something like 2600 flavors of Christendom at last count.  This fact points us to a biblical question: “Is Christ divided?” I heard last week, “Well, the black church says things on Sunday from the pulpit that the white church don’t say.”

     Is this what we’ve come to–an “us” and “them” mentality?  (Just insert your affliliation for “us” and another’s denomination for “them.”)  And it is not just a black and white thing; the problem is spiritual, and it is 2,000 years old.  For since the days of the early church, the apostles have been addressing the problem.

     For true followers of Christ, it is not “us” and “them.”  It is Him.  It is God, the one Spirit, dwelling in His one spiritual body of believers.  Anything else is division, and that is not of God, according to the apostles.

     Like a physical body has hands and feet and eyes among its many members, so also does the spiritual body of Christ.  “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body…and have been all made to drink into one Spirit” (I Cor. 12:13).  We have been immersed into His death when our old spirit (heart) has died and through His resurrection (and our belief in it), we have received a new spirit, a new heart, whereby He has given us of His Spirit (Romans 6:3-11). 

     Because of this stupendous transformation, we should now look at each other as members of His spiritual body, members one of another, members of Him, for His Spirit now flows through His followers.  We all should care for each other and respect each other as we look on each other after the Spirit, in accordance with the way our Father looks at us.  For it is He that has “set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased Him” (I Cor. 12:18).  We are to honor each other “that there should be no schism (division) in the body of Christ (v. 25), “till Christ be formed in you.” 

     And in this spiritual body, some members will be used to teach and help others see what the Head sees.  Hey, if I’m a foot way down here, and you are an eye in Christ’s body, hey, man, could you tell me what you’re seeing up there?  Could you help a brother out?  And then the eye shares with the foot, and then the foot walks on helping the rest of the body get done what God wants done. 

     “Come on, people now, smile on your brother, everybody get together try to love one another right now.”  A good line that even The Youngbloods had back in the day.  And this sentiment needs to be embraced by Christ’s followers and applied.  But it won’t be by our might, will, or power, “but by My Spirit, saith the LORD.”

      Is Christ divided?  No.  Christ and those with His Spirit aren’t divided.

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March 27, 2008 · 3:32 pm

Let This Mind Be in You

     What determines me having a good day or a bad day?  What controls my actions and  feelings on any given day?  It’s the thoughts of my mind.

      We are “led by our thoughts.”  We’ve heard that all our lives, yet thoughts pour through our minds like a creek out of its banks.  But what kind of water is gushing forth?  We clean up our creeks and rivers, but we neglect the stream of thoughts that flood our minds daily.

     We get up groggy in the morning.  Our minds have been swimming in those dark mysterious waters of the unconscious all night.  We have been awash in dreams and wild thoughts from which we have little defense.  And so we slowly awake from the jet lag left in the wake of our “good night’s sleep,” and we stumble into the kitchen for our favorite go-juice and begin to try order our day.

     If we are not careful, thoughts from who knows where pop into our minds–thoughts of the earth and earthbound people.  Doubts, frustrations, regrets, revenge, desires for material things we can’t or shouldn’t have, and trivialities all race like speedboats through our mind.  And though we are awake and smelling the toast and spreading the jelly, we can unconsciously think these types of thoughts, most unaware of their origin.  And their origin is not from above, but from beneath.

      What are we to do?  The early Christians were admonished by the apostle Paul to “let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.”  We have to let it.  But it order to let Christ’s mind be in us, we have to know what His thoughts were.  “Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.”  Yet, he humbled himself and served others by loving them and laying down His life for them.  He was all about helping the future sons and daughters of God get to where they need to go.  His mind was full of the purpose and plan of God, which is God reproducing Himself in a body of many children (Phillipians 2:5-8).  He later says to think on the true, honest, just, pure, and lovely things, and “the God of peace shall be with you” (4:8-9).  We are to think this way.

     I find that I must immediately in the morning “get my mind right.”  I do it by thanking God for saving me out of the depths of depravity.  I thank Him for the truth and for His purpose in bringing forth many sons and daughters.  And then I read about His wishes and desires for us, and then the fog lifts, the waters of my thoughts clear, things come into focus and joy rushes in and I pick up my pen and write these very words you are reading right now.  And, somehow, I know that someone will read them and be helped along this  road to immortality.    Kenneth Wayne Hancock                                                                          

(If this has been helpful to you, please leave a comment and/or share it with someone who would appreciate it)

    

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March 17, 2008 · 10:59 pm

New Jerusalem: Not of This Earth

     In part one we saw that the offspring of God have their origins from above and not from this world.  They are the sons and daughters of God; they are princes and princesses whose Father is the King.  They are true Christians.

     They will realize that they are put here by a Being that is not of this earth.  They see that reality is not earth-based.  They realize that they cannot see true reality by looking through earthly eyes. 

     They see that it is a heavenly vision, a heavenly faith, a heavenly destiny, a heavenly plan, a heavenly purpose, a heavenly blueprint, a heavenly design, a heavenly way, a heavenly thought of a heavenly Father, who is above all this on earth and is in us whom He has called.

      To think earthly is to be in darkness.  He has called us out of darkness into the heavenly light.  To be earthly minded is sure death in the darkness, for what seems to be our earthly life is really only a walking death.  Remember when Christ told them to “let the dead bury the dead”? 

     To even get out of the old and to get into the new life, we must believe in an invisible,  Supreme Spiritual Being who does the saving, who is not of this earth, who calls us with a heavenly calling, and urges us in mysterious ways to appear to choose His heavenly way against the “better judgement” of our unbelieving earthly sensess.

     An enlightened individual takes in this light–light that nothing earthly is as it seems.  For everything in and of the world is tricky, slippery, treacherous, and deceiving.  Earthly man is crooked, undependable, self-centered, and prideful.

     But there are human beings who are beginning to realize that this walk here is a spiritual thing and not an earthly thing.   They see that their bodies are in the world but their spirit is not of this earth.  For they are “strangers and pilgrims on the earth,”  seeking a “better country, that is, a heavenly” country (Hebrews 11:13-15).

     They realize that they are looking for their home which is a four square city full of light that has 12 foundations where it never gets dark.  That city, the New Jerusalem, is their home, which one day will come down out of heaven and set down right here on earth.  And they believe this having never seen this city with their earthly eyes, a city that is not of this earth.               Kenneth Wayne Hancock                                                                                {If this article has been helpful, please leave a comment and/or send this to someone who may benefit from it}

     

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March 14, 2008 · 2:55 pm

The Heavenly Vision of Sonship–Not of This Earth

     The origin of the sons and daughters of God transcends any place here on earth.  These soon to be revealed princes and princesses of God are actually strangers to earth.  Earth is not their home.  They are sojourners and pilgrims during their earthbound travels.  Their roots go back to the beginning, locked deep down in their Father’s heart.  They are not earthlings.  They are not of this earth.

     For God’s true offspring, life on earth is not really about earthly things.  Invisible spiritual, heavenly things are driving what is happening for God’s offspring while here on earth.

     But most of God’s sons and daughters do not know their destiny as of now.   Their main problem is that they do not know how to walk in the heavenly calling that they are called to.

     Their problem is that they are thinking from a fleshly, earthly point of view.  We all are first natural and then later some become spiritual creatures.  In our first unregenerated state, we see everything from an earthly point of view.  Everything is seen and judged from what is perceived from the five carnal senses.  If it cannot be seen with the eyes or heard with the ears, or touched with the fingertips, or tasted with the tongue, or smelled with the nose, then it must not exist!  That is how a human with old nature thinks.  But a man much wiser than you or I once wrote: Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered the heart of man, the things that God hath prepared for those who love Him.  So then, what is happening on earth from God’s perspective is not just about things on earth.  This earth is about heavenly, spiritual, and invisible things.

     We, then, are created for a higher heavenly purpose.  We humans are created to house God Himself!  To live for any other worldly purpose just does not satisfy us.  “All is vanity and vexation of spirit,” so said the prophet in Ecclesiastes.  Why is everything vain and unprofitable?  Because earthly things cannot fulfill a being designed for a spiritual destiny.  

     The human being, a spiritual being, created by God to house Him fully, in vain tries to live a fulfilling life by the acquisition of earthly things.  But earthly things cannot suffice a human being, a being created in the image of God and for God’s glory.  Yet humans slug on in the slop of misguided desires and lusts.  But these passions are for things that will not satisfy nor endure.

     But God’s offspring will see through this.  They will answer the “heavenly calling.” They will come to realize that they are not of this earth.    Kenneth Wayne Hancock     {This excerpt taken from my book The Unveiling of the Sons of God.  You may read the entire chapter at  www.yahwehisthesavior.com/sonsch8.htm}  If this post has been helpful, leave a comment and/or pass it on to someone}

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February 28, 2008 · 1:31 am

The Will of God–His Wish, His Desire

     God’s will is His wish, His desire.  And whatever the Creator wants done in His universe, that is exactly what will come to pass.  And we, His royal offspring, should make it our life’s goal to find out what the King’s will is and do it. 

     But it’s a great mystery finding out exactly what God’s will is.  The word, “will,” is an overused word that has as many meanings as there are denominations.  His wish, His desire, His will is like a mighty invisible river that flows from His heart throughout the earth.  He is the cause of all things; His desire causes His vision for His universe to come to pass.  Nothing can stop His will from being done.  Nothing can stop Him from accomplishing what He has set out to do.  The King will make his wishes reality.

     As his royal offspring, we need to study His immutable word to find out just what His will is.  For if we have a purpose or desire or wish in this life on earth that is not His desire or wish or will, then we will feel thwarted and blocked.  Nothing will work out.  Futility will haunt our endeavors.  All the pleasures of this world will seem “cold, stale and unprofitable.”  It will be “all is vanity and  vexation of spirit” if we are out of His will.  It will be as if we are paddling a canoe upstream.  We thrash about in life, working so hard at what we believe is the best direction to take, and yet we are working against the current.  And that current is His will/desire/wish.

     So, what exactly is God’s will–not just for our lives, but for this life here on earth?  God desires to reproduce Himself.  So much so that in the end, “Christ is all in all,” according to the apostle Paul in his letter to the Ephesians.  In fact, all his letters ring out this truth:

“It’s no longer I that lives, but Christ that lives in me…”

“Christ in you, the hope of glory…”

“Bringing many sons (and daughters) unto glory…”

“That you might be filled with all the fulness of God…”

“Perfecting of the saints…”  And many other passages too numerous to mention in this article.

     God’s will is to magnify Himself, to multiply Himself into a spiritual body of many sons and daughters.  Everyone and everything is either flowing with the stream of God’s wish and desire or they are struggling in vain against it.   (More later)                                           Kenneth Wayne Hancock

(If this has been helpful please make a comment and/or share it with someone)

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