Category Archives: sons and daughters of God

February 7, 2015 · 5:55 pm

“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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October 3, 2014 · 2:49 pm

“The Truth Shall Make You Free”–Free from What?

These are very famous words of Jesus Christ. They have been spoken in Christian and secular circles for millennia. “If you continue in My word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8: 31-32).

But free from what? Free from stress? Free from debt? Free from worry? Free from a bad work place? Free from what?

Christ was speaking to those who believed on Him (v. 31). The Pharisees overheard His words. They, of course, were looking after the flesh, thinking that Christ was referring to physical slavery. “We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man,” they indignantly responded. How are you going to make us free? they asked.

And with those words, soaked in that attitude, they revealed who they really were. They were offspring of Abraham, all right, for he was the father of many nations: nations from his son Ishmael by Hagar, and nations by his sons through Keturah, and nations by his grandsons Jacob and Esau.

If the Pharisees counted their lineage from Jacob/Israel, then they would have surely known that the Israelites were slaves in Egypt for 400 years until the time of Moses. The Holy Bible is after all Israel’s story. Yet, they told Christ that they had never been in bondage.

Because of this confession, they  could not be Jacob/Israel’s descendants. But they could be descended from Esau who was known as Edom. The Edomites  were converted to Judaism in 125 B.C. under John Hyrcanus’ reign  [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edom ]. And Esau/Edom assumed the seats of power in Jerusalem, parading around as the chosen people during the next 150 years.

Later in their conversation, Christ would tell these imposters that they were of their “father the devil [who] abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him; he is a liar and the father of it” (8: 44). The devil then is the father of those Pharisees, “which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan” (Rev. 2: 9).

So What Slavery Are We Talking About?

Christ was talking to those who believed on Him about the truth making us free. Free from what? Christ clears that up in that same passage. “Whosoever commits sin is the slave of sin” (John 8: 34 NKJV). If you sin, then you are a slave, bound in chains to sin. Sin is the master of one who sins. Sin has him in bondage. And the truth will free you from that slavery. The Savior was named Yahshua in Hebrew because “he shall save His people from their sins.”

And yet, most Christians will readily say that they still sin. Some will almost proudly declare their propensity to sin saying, “I am a sinner saved by grace; I sin every day!”

Is that, really, the confession God wants to hear from our lips? Especially when the Spirit speaks and says, “He was manifested to take away our sins; and in Him is no sin” (I John 3: 5).

“In Him”–Exploring the Phrase

“In Him is no sin.” How can five simple words be so powerful as to cause the reader to examine the very core of their new existence in God?

“In Him.” In Christ. Brothers and sisters, if God is our Father, then God “has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1: 4). Chosen us! We are the elect that He and His apostles speak of all the time. For at the “fulness of times,” God will “gather together in one all things in Christ, even in Him” (1: 10).

It is already done. God has already picked us out of all the human beings on the planet; it is His doing, His choosing, and His electing us–“elect” and “chosen” being translated from the same Greek word. It is God’s plan, and it is already done in His heart and mind. So if we purport to be in Christ, then we simply must get serious about the sin question. We must get this straightened out.

Straightening It Out

Christ has said very plainly that “whosoever commits sin is the slave of sin.” Period. Sin is his slave master. Sin says, Do this, and the slave obeys.

However, “in Him is no sin.” So, because of a lack of teaching on getting rid of the old sinful nature, the Christian is in an existential dilemma. He has been taught just the opposite of what the scriptures say about sin.

He is taught that remorse for past sins equals repentance from sin and that baptism is necessary to join the church. He is not taught that feeling sorry for past sins merely leads us to repentance. Repentance from sins that bring death comes at the cross when our old sinful nature dies with Christ, who was the sacrifice for all of our sins. Christ died; we died. Christ was buried; we were buried. Christ was raised from the dead; we were raised up with Him to walk in “newness of life.”

It is this belief in Christ that lands us in Christ! The death of our sinful nature, the burying of all the guilt and recriminations of our sinful past, and the belief in His word of promise that we now have received a new nature, a new Spirit, a new direction, a new purpose, a new vision through belief that He is raised up in us–it is believing all this that puts us in Him and He in us. Halleluyah! Praise Yah!

Now We Are Free!

Believing all this brings us into Him and in Him. Now, we are free–made free by the Spirit of God that Christ has given us. Free from the slave master Sin. Free! For God has “purged our consciences from dead works to serve the living God.” No more guilty consciences for faults and shortcomings. For God has restored us back into His heart. He knows that our condition is weakness. Yet through His great love and mercy, He has seen fit to impute righteousness unto us. For us believing what the Son of God has done for us, the Father counts us right with Him, righteous in His eyes, on the right side of His ledger. It is God’s gift to us through His great mercy and love, and it is without repentance.

Why does God reckon us righteous? Because we just flat believe Him and what He says He has done for us and His people! Now  1 John 3: 9 makes sense. Read it for yourself. You are free now. For it is all Him, and we are in Him. And we have been in Him since before He founded the worlds.    Kenneth Wayne Hancock

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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September 6, 2014 · 2:36 pm

The Manifestation of the Sons of God–The Hope for Immortality, Christ’s Return, and the “Strong Delusion”

Turn on the news and what do you see? Suicide bombings, children slaughtered, ethnic cleansing, civil wars, domestic violence–the results of hatred at every turn. The “perilous times” that the apostle Paul wrote about are upon us. The Savior said as much. “In the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” And He promised that we could overcome also.

But what constitutes this overcoming the world? How did He overcome the world? We will find the answer in the power of His resurrection. This power spearheads the ultimate victory that He promised His followers. “You shall overcome also.”

You shall become like Me, He is promising. You shall walk with Me and be like Me in My immortal state. You shall receive an immortal spiritual body just like mine. John confirms this. “When He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. And every man who has this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure” (1 John 3: 2-3). Our hope is to be like Him–immortal.

Let’s savor these words a moment. “When He shall appear, we shall be like Him.” Christ is immortal, and so will we be when He shall appear. So when will that be?

When will Christ appear?

Christ Himself said that He will appear upon His return to earth “immediately after the tribulation of those days” (Matt. 24: 29). Which tribulation? It will be “great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no nor ever shall be” (24: 21). It will be so destructive that God will have to intervene and stop it before all mankind is wiped out. “But for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened” (v. 22). God’s precious elect, His sons and daughters, will evidently be in danger, for He cuts the tribulation short to spare them from collateral destruction.

Furthermore, during this great tribulation period, deception and delusion will permeate the earth through the teachings of the false Christs and false prophets. They will be so convincing that it will almost deceive God’s elect, who are obviously still here on earth. For they could not be deceived by Satan if they were already with God in heaven. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Matt. 24: 24.

This is the environment of Christ’s return to earth. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven…and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He shall send his angels…and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds…

It is a time of “great tribulation” in the earth. Christ returns at the end of this tribulation. In fact, His presence brings peace and tranquility to the earth.

And when He shall appear at this time, then “we shall be like Him.” His Spirit will be living in us fully. And this is our hope. We shall receive immortality and become just like Him–right here on earth. Not in the sky by and by. No. Right here. How can I be sure of that? Because He has promised in His word that He is coming back to earth, the same way He left earth!

Our hope is to receive immortality, thus escaping a certain physical death that stalks humans on this earth.

Our hope of everlasting life

Paul admonished the church of the Thessalonians to have this very hope of receiving a new immortal body. He mentions that if you are sorrowful because of brethren who have died, you are acting like you have no hope (I Thess. 4: 13). Hope of what? He speaks of Christ dying and rising from the dead. The same power that raised Him from the dead will give the dead in Christ a new body when He comes back to earth. Those who die or “sleep” in Jesus (Yahshua), “God will bring with Him” (v. 14).

God will be bringing with Him His saints who have died before His return to earth. Where will He be bringing them from? And to where? The answer is found in verse 16: He “shall descend from heaven with a shout.” He is coming from heaven to this earth, and the dead in Christ will be coming with Him.

Those of us who do not die before His return will not precede the Christians that have died. “We which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent [precede] them which are asleep” (v. 15). Precede them in what? Those of the elect who are still alive at His return will not go before the dead in Christ in getting their immortal, spiritual body (See I Cor. 15: 23). They will get theirs first, then we will receive our immortal bodies, and we will join them, “caught up together with them in the clouds to meet Christ in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (v. 17).

Rapture doctrine erroneously based on one verse

The rapture doctrine has been built upon one major verse: I Thessalonians 4: 17. Of course, “rapture” is not in the scriptures. A closer study of this passage reveals events quite differently than what those waiting for the “rapture” envision. They imagine that they will be conveniently whisked away from the “time of trouble,” the great tribulation period, that shall ravage the earth at the time of His return. They base this primarily on one verse.

But let us dig deep into it and see what it really says. First, He is coming back to this earth. When He gets into the atmosphere of this planet, the dead in Christ will receive a new immortal, spiritual body, rising up to meet Him.  Those of us who are still living will join them “in the clouds…in the air.”

So there is a “catching away,” a rising up into our atmosphere. “Clouds” and “air” are components of the very atmosphere that we mortals breathe as we stand here on earth. The dead in Christ will join Him upon His return, and then those alive in Him will be changed and “caught up together with them in the clouds to meet Christ in the air.” Our change, when “this mortal shall put on immortality,” shall take place in the very atmosphere that we now breathe.

There will be air and clouds there. The Greek manuscripts are clear on this. Now take note of the next line in v. 17: “And so shall we ever be with the Lord.” This   part of the passage is never quoted. We will join up with Him in our atmosphere rising in our new spiritual bodies from the earth, and then we will come right back down onto terra firma! We will come back down to earth after that short ride because He is immediately coming back to earth. And we are coming back down to earth with Him, for we shall “ever be with Him.”

This is our hope–to be eternally with Christ

We will forever be with Him at this time–all of His people down through the ages and those of His who are alive when He returns. That is our hope! The first step that He will take will be right here on earth.

Paul continues to explain to the Thessalonians about how Christ’s return will be “as a thief in the night” to those who walk in darkness. “But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.” Those in spiritual darkness will not know when He is coming back, but the elect will know and not be overtaken. “You are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness’ (I Thess. 5: 2-9).

God’s children will be changed into immortals and will not be taken in the “sudden destruction” coming upon all those in darkness. Paul says that at the time of end, the world system will be trying to induce an artificial man-made peace throughout the globe. They will say that everything is fine now. “Peace and safety” will be the talk of the land, but real peace will not reside in the hearts of the earth’s inhabitants. In reality, a godless darkness will cover the land.

Yet, this earth in all of its end time spiritual darkness will be the stage for man’s greatest disaster and greatest triumph. The New World Order and its enforced peace will crumble under the onslaught of God’s missiles, His heavenly bodies that will literally crash down onto this earth, wiping out whole civilizations. It will be a “time of trouble” never seen before on earth.

Rising out of the ashes

But, rising out of the wasteland will come striding God’s chosen ones, His elect, His sons and daughters, His ambassadors–the princes and princesses of God’s kingdom. They will have God fully formed in them. Nothing will harm them, for they are from another dimension–a heavenly one that has transcended earthly matter. They will no longer be of this earth. They will have been “changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump.”

This at once terrible and glorious day will come on the world as “a thief in the night.” Darkness will envelop the land, literally and spiritually. But, as Paul exhorts, you are “the children of light…we are not of the night, nor of darkness” (I Th 5: 4-5). The very fact that we have the Spirit within us, will make us where we can see the “thief” who operates out in the night of the world system. God’s elect will know. We will know by the signs of the times, for we will be “sober, armed with the armor of God, “the breastplate of faith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation.” This “hope of salvation” is the hope of our deliverance  from the dusty tombs of our mortal earthy existence. This “hope of salvation” is the looking forward to us receiving our new spiritual body at His coming–whether we be dead or alive upon His return.

At the end of this present age, the earth, totally immersed in the evil world system, will be a crucible of wrath, bathed in fire and blood. Yet this earth’s most painful travail will with supreme irony give birth to the sons and daughters of the great Father Yahweh. They will be the first immortals to take up residence on this earth since Christ Himself did for 40 days after His resurrection. They will have His Spirit fully residing within, and they “will build the old waste places” (Isa. 61: 1-4). Paul and the Thessalonians looked forward to this day, our day. In fact, their spirit still looks forward to the day of Christ’s return, which will fulfill our hope–our hope for immortality.

 

 

 

 

 

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August 27, 2014 · 9:27 am

The True Gospel of Christ–The Kingdom of God

An earth free from corruption and cruelty, free from addiction and selfishness, free from hunger and desperation, free from greedy leaders who cast the poor in chains of lies and deceit, free from husbands and wives betraying those who love them the most, free from brokenhearted children thrown by the wayside by selfish parents, free from the evil that pillages every soul on the face of the earth–this is the promise God has made to those who love Him. And He will make it happen when He ushers in His kingdom that will fill the whole earth. This is the good news; this is the gospel of the kingdom of God.

There are many “gospels” out there, many different takes on what the “good news” of Christ is all about. Yet there is only one real gospel.

We must get it right. For the apostle Paul says that anybody who preaches a different gospel, “let him be accursed” (Gal. 1: 9). That is a serious warning to us that we better get it right.

To know for sure, we must verify through the scriptures what we have been taught. Excuses won’t be accepted when we stand before the Judge. “Well, that’s what they taught me in Sunday school.” And He will say, “Why didn’t you prove it out by study and prayer.

What the Scriptures Say

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God” (Mark 1: 14; Matt. 4: 23). Which gospel? The good news concerning the kingdom of God.

Some say that being “born again” is the gospel. It is important, but only the first step. For, “except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”

The gospel is much bigger than our personal salvation. It encompasses the whole earth. Man’s rule of himself is a hopeless mess, full of cruelty and sin. Just turn on the news and glimpse the killings, thefts, and wars. The real good news is that Christ is coming back to establish His government. Since He is the king, it will be a kingdom.

Christ prayed in His famous model prayer, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.” God’s will in heaven is that His kingdom come to rid this earth of evil and establish His righteous rule over all. That’s the good news.

The prophet Daniel speaks of God’s kingdom and the splash it will make when it comes. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had a dream and his spirit “was troubled to know the dream,” for He had forgotten it. None of his soothsayers could tell him it, but God revealed it to Daniel.

He told Nebuchadnezzar that he had seen in the dream a great image of a man with a head of gold, breast and arms of silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron, and feet of iron mixed with clay. And he saw “till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet…and brake them to pieces…and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.”

The interpretation followed. The different sections of the image were kingdoms in history that would stride forth upon the earth–powerful kingdoms that at the end of the age would be struck down by the stone kingdom, the soon coming kingdom of God.

When will it come? “In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever” (Daniel 2: 1-44).

It Is Coming

The kingdom of God is coming to fill the whole earth with its righteousness, peace , and joy. This is the good news, the gospel proclaimed in the gospels and in the prophets. This is it. This is what they spoke about all the time.

What was on Christ’s mind during the 40 days He spent with His disciples after His resurrection from the dead? Christ spoke to them “of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God” (Acts 1: 3).

Forty days! The kingdom of God was such an important subject that the greatest teacher who ever lived spoke to His followers exclusively about it for forty miraculous days! He was telling them, You have got to wait here in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit comes down upon you, and you will receive power to be my witnesses (Acts 1: 8).

Witnesses of what? You are going to get the power you need to tell the people of this earth about the kingdom of God–what it is, when it is coming, who will be the King, how it will be established, who will be the citizens of this new heavenly government, where it will be established…

Brothers and sisters, Christ gives us power for one purpose–to bear witness that He is the King of God’s kingdom and that He is coming back soon to take back this earth, which is His rightful inheritance! Those of us who do this will rule with Him. Those who will not have Him rule over them in the Kingdom of God will come to a bad end.

Did the disciples take heed to what the risen Christ taught them those forty days about His kingship and kingdom? Did they receive power to be His witnesses, that they had seen the resurrected Christ and had talked to Him about His plans for His return to be that stone that would crush the evil kingdoms of the world?

Yes, they did and became powerful witnesses for the King. Peter at Pentecost tells people to repent of their sins and be converted to the King and His cause, for the King Jesus Christ (Yahshua) shall remain in heaven until the things spoken by the prophets of old be restored and fulfilled (Acts 3: 19-21). That would include the prophecy that Daniel the prophet gave about the “stone kingdom” coming in there in chapter 2.

The evangelist Philip preached “the things concerning the kingdom of God” (Acts 8: 12). The very last act that is recorded in the book of the Acts of the Apostles has Paul “preaching the kingdom of God” (28: 31). And we know that they were preaching the gospel.

The kingdom of God is coming. And it’s coming to fill the whole earth with His righteousness, peace and joy. This is the good news proclaimed in the four “gospels” and in all the prophets.

The Father’s heavenly government is coming fully to earth, and it shall smash into pieces all of man’s governments. It is the stone kingdom that the holy watchers saw coming to earth that crushed the world’s newly minted one world government.

To those of us who have been called and chosen, this is good news. To those who love this present world system, this coming literal government of God is bad news. But be it “good news” or “bad news,” it is coming.

The First Thing We Are to Seek

Christ is showing us that we should have this truth about the kingdom in our minds when communicating with our Father. We are to have this grand and glorious vision of the earth free from corruption and cruelty, free from addiction and selfishness, free from hunger and desperation, free from greedy leaders who cast the poor in chains of lies and deceit, free from husbands and wives betraying those who love them the most, free from brokenhearted children thrown by the wayside by selfish parents, free from the evil that pillages every soul on the face of the earth–this is the good news; this is the gospel of the kingdom of God.

This is the good news that will fill the earth when Christ comes back and sits down on the throne of our invisible Father. And His sons and daughters will be sitting alongside Him there, awaiting orders to be dispatched out into the ravished earth to rebuild and restore what the satanic forces wasted.

This is the very first thing we should seek for in God. He says, Seek and ye shall find. Seek what? “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,” and everything else will be added to you.

This wonderful vision of His government actually coming to earth along with its 1,000 years of peace with the Prince of Peace in charge–this is what we are to seek for. This is the gospel; this is the good news.   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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May 26, 2014 · 3:25 pm

The Great Last Day Move of God–When Will the Sons of God Appear on the Scene?

When God grants immortality to His sons and they go out and heal the sick and raise the dead and do the greater works that Christ promised that they would do–when this happens, it will be the greatest move of God the world has ever experienced. But when will this take place? What has to happen first?

In Biblical history, every great move of God is preceded by a catastrophe suffered by His people. The Bible is full of stories of God’s chosen people who at first are prosperous by  being blessed by their Creator. Then they turn from their Father and begin to serve other gods and disobey the laws that He has set down for their good.

God then allows His people to be conquered by an idolatrous nation that enslaves them. They are robbed and pillaged of their livelihood and heritage. When they hit bottom and finally have had enough of this destitution, they remember God, the great God of their childhood and their fathers, and they cry unto Him for deliverance.

It is only then that God hears their cries and calls out a savior (with a little “s”). This scenario has been played out time and again in the scriptures. God calls one of His few faithful out and empowers him to do the mighty works needed for delivering His people.

As the psalmist said, “Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron; because they rebelled against the words of God…therefore He brought down their heart with labour; they fell down, and there was none to help. Then they cried unto the LORD (Yahweh) in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness…” (Psalm 107: 10-14).

We see this over again in the life experiences of the patriarch Joseph, the call of Moses, Gideon’s 300, Samuel and all the judges, and Elijah and Elisha, to name a few.

We are headed down the same road now

Before a great move of God we see this play out. And these things are happening now–with us. “Now all these things happened unto them for examples and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come” (I Cor. 10: 11).

Why would the last end time generation–us, my brothers and sisters–why would we need to be admonished by God through the history of His chosen people? Why did God have his prophets meticulously write down how His children strayed and how they were saved?

Could it be that God’s people have strayed from Him once again and have  cleaved unto a false way?

We see the U.S.A., Canada, Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and most westernized countries all declining economically. The U.S. dollar is being debased at an alarming rate.  The U.S. government has borrowed 17.5 trillion from the privately owned corporation known as the Federal Reserve Bank–a staggering national debt. The Fed is creating 80 billion dollars a month out of thin air, inflating the currency. It will soon be worthless, for the lenders will soon not want the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. When the dollar is rejected, then the charade will be over. Experts are saying that it will crash along with all the world’s fiat currencies that are tied to the dollar.

Many are predicting this to happen soon. And the crash of the dollar will be a disaster for the West. “The borrower is servant (slave) to the lender.” We have been enslaved to the international bankers, and the great middle class of the U.S. and Western Europe will be brought very low on the economic ladder. When the dollar crashes and is rejected by the world as its reserve currency, then all those dollars will come flooding back to our shores causing hyperinflation. Savings, retirement accounts, and fortunes will be lost, and the Western nations will become impoverished because of it. Only the owners of gold and silver will be spared.

But this scenario should not come as a surprise to any student of the Bible. God’s people were always conquered by nations antagonistic towards Yahweh. They would suffer to the breaking point, and then they would cry out to God. And He would hear and call out a man of God.

Normalcy Bias

But this can’t happen to us, most will say, not aware that their normalcy bias is rearing its head out of the sand for a moment. Humans are inclined to believe that “all things will continue” the way they have for hundreds of years. Humans tend to believe that all things will remain normal, and anything abnormal, like the crash of the dollar, well, just cannot happen. Maybe it is just wishful thinking on their part. But the fact is that the abnormal happens to individuals, cities,  countries, and whole continents. Countless currencies have collapsed down through history because of excessive borrowing. And it will happen again to the U.S. currency. God’s children once again will be the slaves of cruel taskmasters as they were during Biblical times. This time it will not be with the sword, but with the pen, or rather the computer.

There is a reaping for the sins of our nations. And no safety net will spare us from the catastrophe. Of course, we would have written the end time story with us using a get-out-of-jail-free card, good for a ticket on the Escape Train. However, God is allowing this economic crash to happen that He may bring to pass the “manifestation of the sons of God.” The elect sons and daughters will endure much suffering along with the rest of His people in order to forge a special Sword of the Spirit in their hearts. They will assemble into His army as in the Bible stories of old, and God will raise them up to deliver His people. It is written in prophecy over and over.

But many Bible teachers are critics of this scenario and say that we will not have to reap the whirlwind of catastrophe. They say that God will provide a way out of all this misery. They say that no saviors and deliverers are coming. That Christ is the only Savior and that He is coming back and it could be tonight.

He’s Coming Back in a Body of Many Sons

Christ is coming back, all right, but He won’t be by Himself. He is the Head of His body, and His followers are the various members of the spiritual body of Christ, which is His church. His many membered body are the “saviours [that]shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau.” When?  It is that time when “the kingdom shall be the LORD’S” (Obadiah 17-21). That is as “end time” as you can get. These “saviours” are His elect, the immortal ones, the sons of God, who will do the “greater works” that Christ promised.    Kenneth Wayne Hancock           [ Immortality Road is a blog for all seekers in all spiritual growths–“children, young men, and fathers.” The articles found here are especially for those who are answering the high calling of becoming a part of the “manifestation of the sons of God.”  You can get on Immortality Road  here: http://ImmortalityRoad.wordpress.com ]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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May 3, 2014 · 3:18 pm

The Manifestation of the Sons of God–What the World Needs Now

{Order your free copy of The Unveiling of the Sons of God or my new book The Royal Destiny of God’s Elect. It is totally free with free shipping to my readers. Just send your mailing address to my email address: wayneman5@hotmail.com   Specify which one.}

This world has one major need right now at the beginning of the 21st Century.  The world doesn’t need another politician telling the people what they want to hear.  The world doesn’t need a steady robust economy to help it through the hard times that have been prophesied upon it.  No.  The world needs the sons of God to arrive on the scene.  They must come forth for these last days.

The whole creation, the apostle Paul wrote, (whether it knows it or not), is anxiously awaiting the sons of God to come upon the world stage.  For the sons of God will have something that all mortals walking the face of the earth must have.  They will have the key that will set the whole creation free from the chains of a certain physical death.  These children of the Most High are God’s elect, His sons made in His image, and they are what this world needs.  They are the ones who will have cut through all of the deception and vice in this world system.  They alone will see the Spirit and walk in the Spirit and be filled with the Spirit of the living Yahweh.  They will build the old waste places and build the spiritual walls to the heavenly city.

Why the World Needs the Sons of God

The creation has purposely been subjected to mortality by its Creator God. The impending gloom of a certain death is no accident or aberration of God’s  original  plan.  It  has  been  His  will  all  along  for  death  to  come to all living.  And then, a few mortals will be brought by Him to an awareness of the abiding power of His spiritual presence and will become His actual spiritual children. He will change them and will engulf them with immortality one day soon.   And it is through them that the whole creation will finally come to know this glorious liberty from a certain physical death. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.  For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. Romans 8:19-21, NIV. 

     Every living thing on this planet will die; the whole creation will decay and go back to dust.  And we, this earthly creation, are “in bondage of corruption,” as it says in the King James Version.

The word “corruption” is translated from the Greek word phthora, #5356 in Strong’s.  It means “decay.”  Its root comes from #5351 phthio, to waste, shrivel, or wither.  We, the creation, are bound to become decaying matter someday.  And all of us, be we religious or not, are groaning under the impending physical doom that awaits us.

All of us have a built in desire to live forever.  Every ancient culture, without exception, was concerned with this impending gloom of an early exit from life.  All the ancient religions were concerned about how to secure immortality  for  the  mortal.   And  so  it  is  with religions today.  Man keeps on waiting, waiting, waiting for something real that will happen in order to deliver them from a certain death.

The creation is like the wife of the Creator, who is in the  deep  pains  of childbirth.  She is struggling to deliver her  children,  the  sons  of God.  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. Romans 8: 22-23, KJV.

The whole creation is anxiously awaiting the arrival of the sons of God because they are the first ones who will be released from mortality’s chains.  They will be the first ones who will not have to taste death.  And then after they are made known, the creation can look forward to its redemption.  That is how important the sons of God are.  When they are adopted or placed as sons, then a new era begins—an era where immortals will stride the earth, showing forth God’s way.

We Who Have Some Truth Also Desperately Need the Sons of God

Just look around us.  What do we see in every corner?  We see lurid trash in political high places, filthy-minded  movies and TV.  There is no shame to the world system.  And it is not getting any better.  So we try to lock in on the word of God.  We endeavor to glimpse a truth here, a truth there.  Some of us are trying to lead a holy life, but we “see through a glass darkly.”  We know, or should know that we are not walking in all truth.  For if we were, we would be bearing the same spiritual fruit as the prophets and apostles of God.  And we can’t seem to get in agreement and one accord with other sincere followers of Christ.

As  a  large  body  of  people,  we  can’t  see  eye  to   eye enough to get together.  Divisions abound.  We, if we are blessed, have a place to meet with a few other people who share some of our own beliefs, but something is dras-tically missing.  The unity of the Spirit is only a dream, for one group does not see eye to eye with another.  We are to be in one mind and one accord, and yet, who is to say just what that one mind is?  Who has the authority to say for sure anything?  Who has a sure word? There are several thousand “Christian” denominations, and they are growing exponentially daily.  There is probably a different concept of God and His plan for every one of His professing followers.

And it appears that the enemy is gaining ground, and we, the body of Christ, because of our disagreements and lack of unity, are seemingly losing ground as far as any “great move of truth” is concerned.

So what is the answer to this dilemma?  It is as if Yahweh Himself is needed to come down and just flat appear to His select few, whoever they are!  That would clear up the dim vision of those He has chosen.  They would definitely “get on the same page” after that shared glorious experience.  In the light of His own countenance and glow filling the room each would be in, He would straighten out off-concepts, purge out old leaven, old hypocrisies, and false concepts of Himself.  There would be no self-delusion if the King Himself came down to a handful!

Then a fire would well up from out of their bones!  Then they would cry to His people in His stead.  They would be His voice with his word welling up and out as springs gush out making rivers where dry land once was.

That is what we all need.  We need a sure word.  We need the Captain of our faith Himself to get a cadre of His brothers to catch on fire and, in turn, ignite the world.  We need a group of people baptized with the Spirit and with fire.   We need them!   We groan within ourselves, longing for someone to stand in the gap between God and the world.

That is the only thing that will ever turn this world upside down—if the people of the world were ready and knew they had a need for God in human form, had a need for the sons of the living God.

This whole creation is crying and groaning looking for someone sincere and true to believe in.  The heroes are gone; the people run to their idols of music and movies.  Those are their gods—gods who cannot see or hear them and their longings and needs, for their gods can see no one but themselves.  The whole creation does not know it, but they are groaning and longing for the manifestation of the sons of God.  And these sons will walk with the Lamb wherever He goes, for they shall be like Him.  These are they who will do the greater works that the Master spoke of.

It All Hinges on the Sons, But Do They Know Who They Are?

Yes, the manifestation of the sons of God is of extreme importance in God’s plan, but do they know who they are?  Do they realize their calling that He has placed on them?   Do  they  know  that  He  knew  them  long  before their earthly sojourn began?  Do they at present realize that  He  has  already  given  them  a  glorious   destiny—a destiny that has them justified from sin, set apart for this special work, and also glorified from heaven?  Does God’s elect, His chosen ones, know these things?

Have they called on His name and restored their heart back to Him?  But if they haven’t believed on Him, then how are they to call on Him?  And how can they believe on this God if they have never heard Him, never heard His Spirit, never heard Him who is the Word?  They are going to have to hear Him being spoken out of the mouth of another son in order to believe on Him.  And how shall these prospective sons hear unless there be a preacher?  And who is really going to be effective as a preacher?  The world is full of preachers.  Anyone who thinks they have heard from God calls himself a preacher.  The future sons will be reached by those who proclaim the truth.  And these proclaimers will be sent.  For whosoever shall call upon the name of Yahweh shall be saved.  How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?  And how shall they preach, except they be sent?   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

{This is Chapter 1 of my book, The Unveiling of the Sons of God.  I originally published it as a trade paperback book. Email me to get a copy of it a lot cheaper than amazon.com  [wayneman5@hotmail.com ] Or you may read it on-line here  on this website by clicking on “E-BOOK the Unveiling” at the top of this page.  I would love to hear from you.  Please make a comment…}

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April 19, 2014 · 4:15 pm

Five Fold Ministry Offices and Growth of the Elect

There is a growth in the Christian walk. As the Spirit in us brings us to more mature attitudes and capabilities, we, of course, with His help grow in grace and in His Spirit.

“First the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear,” the Master Christ said (Mark 4: 26-28). This is like how the kingdom of God grows here on earth at present. The seed, the word of God, is sown into some hearts and it grows. For “the kingdom of God is within you.” Like the growth of any seed, a progression of growth develops in His governance in us.

We start out as babes in Christ, then we grow into youth, and then into fatherhood (I John 2: 13-14). And we are “under tutors and governors” as children of God (Gal. 4: 2).

And God has set some members in His body to shepherd and teach and inspire the others until we all grow spiritually to the place the Father has purposed. These are the “apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers.”

And these are gifted (from God) to do some specific things for Him. The first thing they will do is help us to be “perfectly joined together in the same mind” (I Cor. 1: 10). Which mind? The mind of Christ. For they will have received the “word of wisdom” and the “word of knowledge,” the first two gifts of the Spirit, from the Father. And with those gifts, they will “mend” that which is broken in our lives spiritually [1]. They will show us “the way” to spiritual completeness “till we all come in the unity of the faith, unto a perfect man.”

And what does this phrase “perfect man” mean? It is the goal of Christ and his five-fold ministry offices that we all come “unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive…” In short that we could “grow up into Him…even Christ” (Eph. 4: 11-15).

There are teachers many and evangelists many, and pastors many. Who can say which ones are true and which ones are false? One thing is certain. All two thousand denominations and organizations can’t be in perfect harmony with God’s plan and purpose. Why? Because of the disharmony amongst them. Divisions abound; schisms prevail in the Christian congregation leading the sheep of His pasture each to his own way. As in “and they all did what was right in their own eyes,” which is what happens when the King’s truth is not present (Judges 17: 6).

In a word, the Holy Spirit will be ministering to the church through these five offices. For it will not be man teaching us how to become like Christ, but Christ’s Spirit teaching us through those very teachers. They will teach us the deeper things, the “strong meat” that is fit for the princes and princesses of God, that they may grow (Hebrews 5: 14).

Being a Child of God Is Not the Goal

We are not to remain children of God! A child is mostly alive to see what they can get from the Father. You hear it in prayers every day. God does not want us to remain children because that kind of self-centeredness produces instability in the spiritual walk. Children of God are lukewarm spiritually–neither all in nor all out.

God warns the little children in Rev. 3: 14-22. These immature Christians are very prevalent in this last church age of Laodecia. If they remain lukewarm, God will reject them and will “spue them” out of His mouth.

And why are these lukewarm? Because they think they are rich both materially and spiritually and “have need of nothing.” They think that they really know all they need to know about God. They are unteachable; pride always is that way. And they do not know that they are “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.”

A Cure for the Poor, Blind, and Naked

God prescribes a remedy for the little children who are lukewarm and poor and blind and naked. He counsels them to buy from Him “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 do not appear” and “anoint your eyes with eye salve that you may see” (Rev. 3: 18). Then He commands them to repent, so there are things to stop doing in order to correct this tepidity.

Purified gold is faith tried in the furnace of afflictions and sufferings. White raiment is God’s righteousness in us and thriving. Eye salve is that anointing that can only come from Him in His sovereignty. And with these things bought from Him and added, the doer will have overcome and will have grown out of spiritual childhood.

But how is the young Christian to obtain the knowledge of these things? They must be taught by the Spirit through one of God’s teachers. But how does one discern which are the true teachings that will lead us to become a manifested son and daughter of God and which are the false teachings?

First, they will teach the “eternal purpose” of God and how He is “bringing many sons unto glory.” And that does not mean “going to heaven.” It means the granting and growth unto immortality–right here on earth! Some will be “conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Rom. 8: 28-30).

This eternal purpose will be taught by His five fold offices–this eternal purpose of bringing a cadre of believers with Christ fully formed in them to full glory–to be exactly like Jesus Christ!  There. I said it, and I will keep on saying it until we all come into same vision that God has for us. And His vision for us is this: He wants to share His throne with us! (Rev. 3: 21). We must remember that we are “more than conquerors through Christ.”

The Elect

We are speaking now about God’s elect, the ones He has chosen for this “high calling” of becoming fully like Him. For they will share God’s vision of our perfection beginning with the conquering of sin in our lives here on earth.  They will not try to keep you a sinner; they will not limit God and His power.

They will not keep on laying the foundation of God over and over again. For the  scene’s the same as it was 50-100 years ago in denominationland. Small congregation. Everyone knows everyone. They’ve all been saved years ago. And what does the pastor preach on? Christ died for you. Be saved. Same hymns, same format. No change. No growth. And that is it. I appreciate your sincerity, pastor, but the sheep need to be fed so that they can grow! We have got to shake our selves out of the slumber that the shepherds have lulled us into.

As I’ve said before. If you are not being led into greater and more profound truths out of His word, one of two things is happening. Either you already have all the truth and there is no more to be learned, or the Spirit of God is not working with you. For He said, “When the Spirit of truth is come, He will lead you into all truth.” He will take us from one truth that, in turn, opens another door into more truth.

Let us pray that He continues to lead us into all truth. He will use His five offices to do just that.      Kenneth Wayne Hancock

[1] All words and phrases in bold letters are from this same Greek word found here:   http://www.blbclassic.org/lang/lexicon/Lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G2675&t=KJV

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April 12, 2014 · 4:26 pm

Having the Mind of Christ–Key to Staying Focused

We know as Christians that we should have our thoughts on the things of God. For “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee,” the Spirit of Christ in Isaiah tells us (26: 3). But, let’s face it, our minds wander to things of this earth, trivial things, things that do not matter in God’s big picture.

How then do we get our minds to think on the things of God? How do we prevent them from wandering? Is there a focal point that will help us?

He admonished us to “let this mind be in you.” And that is the mind of Christ. But what was in His mind? What does He think about? Paul tells us to think on the things that are lovely, just and of a good report (Phil. 4: 8).

Of course, it all starts with grateful thoughts toward our Savior for delivering us from our decadent old lives. What love our God has for us! Beyond our finite thoughts to comprehend such care for us!

Things That Are Just

But does His mind stop with His interaction with us in His love for us in saving us, as wonderful as that is? Or is there more in His mind? Do His thoughts transcend the personal and enter into the geo-political–even into galactic concerns?

We know that He is a just God, a righteous Judge. Justice is His hallmark; fairness is His eternal standard.

As the righteous King, could Christ be thinking about His soon coming return when He will “rule all nations with a rod of iron”? Do not most every earthly king in exile prepare his heart and mind for his return to the throne, his seat of justice for his people?

Of course, they do. Christ tells us to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.” The very first thing that we Christians should be seeking is God’s kingdom. First, we should be studying His word to see just what the kingdom of God is–to see if what we have been taught by the churches about the kingdom is correct. For Christ has much to say about His kingdom.

But we Americans and most people of the world have been too long removed from being a king’s subject. We are individualistic, self-willed, and self-centered. A monarchy is foreign to us after 225 years with our present government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

Of course, our republic is a definite improvement on the despotic king George. However, our experiment in governing ourselves is not the kingdom/government of God that the scriptures speak of.

Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords, is returning to earth and will rule and reign right here on earth for 1,000 years, according to the scriptures. That is the kingdom/government that we are admonished by Him to seek after.

We must simply stop thinking about God’s kingdom as some mystical ethereal heavenly realm that we are going to escape to. No. Christ is coming back to earth for 1,000 years, and sitting on the throne with Him will be God’s royal offspring, the over-comers. He promised, “To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I overcame and am set down with My Father in His throne (Rev. 3: 21).  Somebody will fulfill this His promise, for He does not speak idle words.

Help us, God, to let this vision of rulership with Christ permeate our hard hearts. Help us believe and cleave to your promises, for they are your thoughts; they are the creative seeds that emanate from Your mind to us.

We simply must begin thinking in terms of Christ as this regal sovereign Monarch and how He will completely change the geo-political dynamic.

His kingdom is the good news. Personal salvation provided us by Him, though precious, is but a first step that enable us to first “see” and then “enter into the kingdom of God (John 3: 3-5).

Personal salvation enables us to become a “babe in Christ,” but like an earthly baby, a young Christian needs to grow up spiritually into full maturity. Some of His followers will mature into kingship and will sit with Him on His throne.

This is what our exiled King is thinking about. He is all about preparing and then sharing His throne with His elect. Read His words now with all this in mind, and you will see into His wondrous thinking. We should be filling our minds with these thoughts about His return and rule. These are the things that are true and honest and just and pure and lovely and of a good report. And we are to think on these things, as Christ does at this very moment, and “the God of peace shall be with you.” For He is the living Word. And His words to us are the very Essence that comprises His thoughts. And these thoughts of His will keep us focused.   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

 

 

 

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January 25, 2014 · 4:51 pm

God Is the Teacher Teaching Through His Teachers

Oh, my God! This thing is real! You are the great Teacher, and when your Spirit dwells within a member of your body, then You the Teacher begin to teach, and the vessel that you speak through becomes a teacher of God. For it is no longer them that lives but Christ that lives in them. As Paul the apostle and teacher of God said, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives 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” (Gal. 2: 20).

And really, this message, the death of the old sinful self, is the foundation of the temple of God.  We are His temple; consequently, our foundation must be the crucifixion of self, which is how we repent, and faith toward God, which is believing that He raised us up when He raised Christ up. That is the foundation that we are to build on. That is the cornerstone of the apostles’ teachings that we are to continue in (Acts 2: 42).

When we are baptized, we are immersed into His death (Rom. 6: 3). The water symbolizes to all that this is done. And what does “His death” entail? His death is the death of our old sinful nature; it is the end of our sin and sinning. “For He has made Him to be sin for us, who did no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5: 21).

Christ carried our sinful nature on Him; He was the scapegoat offering. He put an end to sin in us, for when He died, our sinful self died. When He was buried, our old self was buried; and when He was raised–HalleluYah!–then we too were raised to walk in a new life! Where old things are passed away! Behold, all things are become new!

“For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin–because anyone who has died has been free from sin” (Rom. 6: 6-7 NIV). We are not bound to sin anymore; we are not under that bondage anymore. Believing in the His resurrection is the key because when we believe it, we are believing that we are being resurrected from the death that comes from the sinful self. Death is destroyed when our sin is put to death on the cross with
Christ. Ingenious plan!

Just the Beginning

This makes us a child of God. Wonderful, yes, but it is just the beginning of our walk with Him. It is the first step, the first stones to be laid in the foundation of us His house. Yet many new Christians are content to remain here as little children of God. But we are admonished to “go on to perfection,” to full maturity in God’s life cycle, for He is all about reproducing Himself. That is His plan and purpose.

But how do we continue growing? What steps must we take? What knowledge do we need, what spiritual meat was He talking about when He said to children of God that He had more advanced teachings for them, but they were “dull of hearing.” He was saying, You ought to be teachers of these advanced things of God, but you “have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God and…have need of milk and not strong meat” (Heb. 5: 11-14).

Babes need milk to grow. And that spiritual milk is comprised of the “principles of the doctrine of Christ,” which leads to Christian “perfection,” which is maturity.

These first foundational teachings of Christ are outlined in Hebrews 6: 1-2: repentance from dead works [sin], faith toward God, doctrine of baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.

And to get to full maturity like the early apostles, we must get these solid in our new life in Christ and then–leave them! We must not circle them like the Israelites circled the same old mountain. Forty years they wandered, and only two out of millions went into the Promised Land! We incorporate these teachings into our spiritual life, but we don’t remain there. These doctrines serve as our foundation in Christ, but to fulfill His will for our lives, we must leave them. They are stepping stones for the princes and princesses of the King! They are pre-requisites; they are means and not the end-all-be-all. To complete our royal destiny, we must grow in grace and knowledge and “be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about by every wind of doctrine.”

And we Christians will leave the first principles of Christ’s doctrine and “go on to perfection”–if God permits. He wishes that all of us were prophets. He loves us and wants us to be just like Him. And more importantly, He has provided the way through the first two gifts of the Spirit–the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge, the tools of the trade for His teachers.

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September 21, 2013 · 4:19 pm

Immortality–Bringing “Life and Immortality to Light”

To live on.  To not have to die.  It is the common thread tying almost all cultures, religions and philosophies together.  Is it not what every nation has clamored for?

The furtive longings of a billion souls from a thousand civilizations have whispered their desire for it.  The baked clay tablets of Mesopotamia speak of it.  Fragments of Egypt’s fragile papyrus pages still share the dream.   The Gilgamesh Epic of Babylonia around 2,200 B.C. chronicles the hero’s quest for immortality.  The ancient Greeks thought that immortality was attained through courageous effort on the battlefield.  Shakespeare imagined immortality coming through the longevity of the lines he wrote.  The Philosopher’s Stone, with its lead-into-gold alchemic dream, symbolized transcending our leaden mortal existence into a golden immortal elixir of life and rejuvenation.  Time would fail us to include the Egyptians’ mummies, the Indians’ nirvana, and on down to our present day where actors and directors try to immortalize themselves in celluloid.

Each of these attempts have flickered and failed.  But the thirst for immortality will not be quenched.  Is it not the most important possession one could ever attain in this life?  To live on and silence the tears shed at your passing.  To trump and triumph over Death.  To laugh at Death’s rude intrusion into all you hold dear.  To negate Death’s mayhem.  To expose him to be a liar when he says that your expiration date is a welcomed conclusion to the human condition, and his boast that he is a friend to the infirm and decrepit.

And Then a Man Came on the Scene

Though a universal longing, all these attempts have collapsed in the dusty halls of darkness.  And then a man came on the scene some 2,000 years ago–a man said to have “brought life and immortality to light.”  He brought good news, announcing the way to conquer death.  He would know, for He defeated Death.  For He was raised from the dead Himself after “three days and three nights” in the grave, seen by hundreds of witnesses.

“After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God” (Acts 1: 3, NIV).  He taught them during that time how to become citizens of His immortal kingdom.  In a word, He taught them how to become immortal.  He, of course is the Savior of mankind, known to the English speaking world as Jesus Christ and known to those very early disciples as Yahshua, which means in the Hebrew, Yah is the Savior.

He shared His Hebrew name with the Hebrew patriarch Joshua, the Anglicized rendition of Yahshua.  Many biblical scholars admit that their names are interchangeable [http://www.blbclassic.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G2424&t=KJV].

In fact, the angel of Yahweh told Joseph to name Him  “Yah is Savior” because “He shall save His people from their sins.”

The Words He Spoke…

Now many have a problem with Him, but all that know of Him will at least say that He is a wise man, a great teacher, and a prophet.  If He was such a great prophet and spiritual teacher, then why don’t those same people believe His words?

And it is the words He spoke about life and immortality that tests us in our search.

What did He teach?  He taught us that the Father Creator is an invisible Spirit, that He is Love, that the Father has a kingdom and a government, that there is a way to enter that kingdom of God and become the children of the Father God, and that He and only He is the way to eternal life, which is immortality.

He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No man comes to the Father but by Me” (John 14: 6).  Anybody who comes up another way is a “thief and a robber.”

He also taught a duality–that there was an enemy Satan, who has a kingdom here on earth, and that he and his evil spirits are warring against God and His children’s kingdom.

Christ taught that sin is the breaking of the Ten Commandments (I John 3: 4-6).  And we humans break the law early on in our lives because of the old nature we are born with.  And He taught that it is this sin nature in us that causes our death.  We are mortal because of the sin within our hearts.  Sin brings on death.  Plain and simple.  “But you know that He appeared so that He might take away our sins. And in Him is no sin” (v. 5).

“He shall save His people from their sins,” said the angel.  He “takes away our sins,” says the apostle John.  So if Christ takes our sins away, then we are free from sin, which opens up the way to immortality because it is sin that brings on our death.

Summing up, Christ “has abolished death and has brought life and immortality to light” (II Tim. 1: 10).  He has “abolished death.”  He has abolished death by abolishing sin in our lives, and thus, He brings immortality to us.

He came to “save His people from their sins” by destroying sin in their lives.  But how does He do this?  It is through His death, burial and resurrection.  He took on our sins upon His sacrificial body, and He died.  He died, we died; our old sinful self died.  He was buried; we were buried.  He raised from the dead; we are raised from the dead–by faith in His resurrection [for much more on how He takes away our old sinful heart, see Romans 6: 1-12 and https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2010/08/21/life-out-of-death-the-ultimate-paradox/ ].

So the Savior destroyed the sin in our life, and thereby destroyed death, thus bringing “life and immortality to light.”  He destroyed sin and death, “for the wages of sin is death.”  Destroy sin and you destroy its after effects–death.

But He also said that most would not comprehend and do His teachings.  He said that broad is the way that leads to destruction and many will enter that wide gate.  But narrow is the way to eternal life, and few will find it.

And that last clause–“and few will find it”–should give us great pause.  He said, “Many are called, but few are chosen.”  Oh, to be one of His chosen, chosen to sit with Him on His throne, helping Him rule the nations during the greatest reign of peace this earth has ever seen–ruling alongside of Him for 1, 000 years, ruling as one of the immortal princes and princesses in His kingdom.   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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