Category Archives: sons and daughters of God

Add to Your Faith Virtue–God’s Strength and Power (2 Peter 1: 5)

We must add certain spiritual qualities to our faith in God if we are to grow up into the manifested sons and daughters of God.  We found that out in II Peter 1.  Our faith in God needs to be shored up; it needs to become stronger in order to conquer and “quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.”  We will only “partake of the divine nature” if we add these things.  And the first to be added to our faith is virtue.

But what exactly does this word “virtue” really mean?  It is an English word, after all.  We could look it up in Webster’s Dictionary, but we would only find what it means to the English speaking mind, distilled down through the centuries.  We would see that it is from the Old French virtu, which came from the Latin virtus, meaning “strength, courage, virtue.”  It has come down to us meaning “moral excellence…active quality or power…manly strength or courage; valor.”

And so we dig still deeper, believing that this study is important and expedient, for we simply must know what “virtue” means.  We are trying to “study to show ourselves approved unto God,” as we are admonished to do.  Without study, we will not be approved.

The English word “virtue” was translated, of course, not from Latin, but from the Greek.  So what was that Greek word that the King James scholars translated “virtue”?  The Strong’s Concordance shows us that it was arete, #703 [http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G703&t=KJV].  Consulting Thayer’s Lexicon on that page, we see that arete denotes power stemming from moral excellence and goodness.  It relates to God’s power, perfection, and excellence.

We get a further picture of “virtue” by looking up “virtuous” and “valor” in the Hebrew [http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H2428&t=KJV].  We see “strength, power, might.”  The Hebrew word #2428 is used many times in the phrase “mighty man of valour.”  Also, it is translated as “host” as in a large army of mighty warriors.  It is rendered “strength” in David’s prayer to God, “For Thou hast girded me with strength to battle” (II Samuel 22: 40).

We need to stop and reflect here and not pass over this lightly.  These words in  II Samuel are inspired.  They are the Scriptures of truth that Paul studied, and he said by the Spirit: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness…”  Why?  To what purpose do we need those old books back there in the “Old Testament”?  “That the man of God may be perfect…”

Perfect.  Complete spiritual maturity.  These passages, like this one in Samuel, teach us lessons that will help us add the “divine nature” to our faith in God.  It is for the same purpose of perfection and glorification, which is the fulfillment of His promise to us  of immortality.

Looking at the Picture that “Virtue” is Painting for Us

We see “virtue” as not just power.  No.  It is the strength and power of God, emanating right out of His very heart through His Spirit into ours.  It is He; it is a part of His divine nature; it is all about His strength and power stemming from His excellent goodness.  This then is His power, which gives us now the strength and ability to go on the offensive against the devil and his tricks that block our road to immortality.

Let’s go back to David speaking to Yahweh.  In this song of praise, David thanks God for His strength and power in overcoming mightily all of his enemies.  He thanks God for His goodness, and then details in much “war” imagery his exploits over the enemy.  This picture of a warlike attitude  is a real key for us in understanding just what virtue is.  David’s inspired prayer shows us the spiritual application through his physical earthly accomplishments.

The First Step

First, David declares his complete trust in Yahweh, recalling how he called on Him in his despair and how God answered (verses 1-17).  David says that God did deliver him, but it was “according to my righteousness…and cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me” (v. 21).  David first had to be right with God, on the same spiritual page, “a man after God’s own heart.”  “I kept the ways of Yahweh, and have not wickedly departed from my God” (v. 22).  That is the first step that we need.  Walk on in His faith.  Trust in Him.  And then get ready to go on the offense like King David does in the following verses.

And now the war imagery looms as David spiritually attacks his enemies.  “God is my strength and power…I have run through a troop…He teaches my hands to war; so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.  Thou hast given me a shield of thy salvation…I have pursued mine enemies [read: doubt, fear, unbelief, impatience, et al], and destroyed them (v. 31-38).

Wait.  Let’s savor this.  “Pursued mine enemies.”  He went on the offensive!  He did not just sit on the couch waiting for fear and doubt and unbelief to maybe take a holiday.  Would you please leave me alone, guys?  I don’t appreciate these ugly thoughts I have been having lately.”  No!

David “pursued” those negative thoughts and “destroyed them”!  Furthermore, David “consumed them, and wounded them, that  they could not arise…”  Wouldn’t that be wonderful–to have all negativity consumed and wounded so that it just was not able to rear its ugly head up in our minds ever again?

That’s adding virtue to your faith.

But David’s not through.  He knows where the strength and power is coming from.  “They are fallen under my feet.  For thou hast girded me with strength to battle.”  It was Yahweh that subdued his enemies under him (v. 39-40).

And finally, David says, “Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O Yahweh…and I will sing praises to thy name” (v. 50).

Our Spiritual Application

This song of David is so rich, reaching even unto prophetic strains that depict a vision of the Kingdom Age in all its gloryAnd yes, we are in that vision.  But we see here now for our present edification a picture of just what virtue does when added to our faith.  “Faith without works is dead.”  Without virtue added, faith/belief/assurance just sits passively on the couch “waiting for the world to change.”  To the contrary, we His sons and daughters must “put on the whole armor of God” (Eph. 6: 11-18).  This same war imagery is used by Paul in Ephesians, that we “may be able to withstand all the wiles of the devil.”  We must put the armor of the Spirit of God on and take the fight to our adversary.

“Add to your faith virtue…”  This first addition to the faith, then, is an offensive weapon given to us by God to go with our trust-faith-assurance in Him.  “Virtue” then is that quality of valor, that makes us like the mighty men of war as David was.  They were men of strength.  Mighty men.  Strong men and women in the Spirit, pro-active in their attacks on the enemy.  This all comes in realizing that it is God Almighty who does all this conquering–not only for us, but also in and through us.

Yet, the question will arise in hearts: But how do you add it to your faith?  Answer: You add virtue to your faith–by faith.  The Master said it simply.  “Ask and it shall be given…When you pray, believe that you receive, and you shall have whatsoever you ask.”  Now that we know what “virtue” is, we “reckon it done,” for in God’s mind, He already sees us having it.                          Kenneth Wayne Hancock

{If you liked this article, hit the “like” button. Please make a comment. I will answer them all. And be sure to send for my latest book The Royal Destiny of God’s Elect; it is totally free. Just send me your mailing address to my email: wayneman5@hotmail.com If you appreciated this article, you will be thrilled with the new book. I wrote it for you. You need this book if you want to grow spiritually and be like Peter, James, John, and Paul.
“Greater works” we will do with His help and guidance.}

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The Elect of God–Gifts of the Spirit Are the Identifying Signs

Recently a reader of this blog asked, “But while the sons of God  will know who they are, how will others  know who they are?”

I responded by saying that the manifested, 100 fold fruit bearing sons of God will be the culmination of the Law of Harvest spoken of in Scripture: “first the blade, the ear, the full corn in the ear,” able to reproduce out of itself–some “thirty fold, some sixty, and some  one hundred fold” [1].   These are the levels of growth of the Holy Spirit within the sons and daughters of God.  John refers to these degrees of growth as “children, young men, and fathers” [2].

When “Christ be formed” in them, signs will follow [3].  Gifts of the Spirit will flow, which includes healings, miracles.  Right now God’s timing calls for the first of the gifts of the Spirit to be given through the elect to others: “the word of wisdom” and “the word of knowledge” [4]  Without the truth contained in those first two gifts,  a brother or sister cannot “come out from among them and be separate” [5].  This foundational truth helps to purge the “old leaven” teachings  (contained in the parable of the woman putting leaven in three measures of meal or flour–leaven meaning the hypocrisy and insincerity of the Pharisees and their ilk [6].

I have wrestled with this question: God, why aren’t there more legitimate healings and miracles being done like what happened in the first few chapters of the book of Acts of the Apostles.  Answer:  We need some true men of God like them who have all their ducks in a row spiritually speaking and have “purged out the old leaven from their thinking, which includes all of the old false concepts and teachings and doctrines we all grew up with.  Then I realized how important it is to let the word of wisdom and knowledge flow unrestrained.

When the time comes, God will do something special in their lives–something absolutely astounding in the power-giving category.  All the way through the Bible He did just that.  There is no reason to believe that it will be any other way in these latter days.  After all, He said, “I am the same yesterday, today, and forever…I change not…” [7].

The sons-of-God-to-be, the elect, which means “the chosen ones,” may not at present know their destiny that has been pre-ordained by God.  Right now they may only know that there is this pull to know the truth.  There is this longing for justice and truth that won’t let them go.  Other things of this present world system may tug at them, but a hook is in their jaw, and they are being reeled in by the Great Fisherman, who right now is teaching some how to be “fishers of men” [8].

And they do look just like everyone else.  But to themselves, they are learning to look “after the Spirit” and not the “outward appearance” [9].  By faith they are looking upon the “things that are not seen,”  which is the Spirit [10].  And yes, they will be transformed, but they will go through a spiritual growth cycle as referenced above.

Knowledge of this growth process is lacking in Churchianity today.  The people in the pews want “It” right now.  They are used to instant pudding and mashed potatoes, instant messaging and internet input.  But growth in Him is His growth in us.  It takes time for the seed “to fall into the ground and die” and germinate, and pop through the ground as a perfect little blade of grass, a perfect little “babe in Christ” [11].  And this babe in Christ needs the “sincere milk of the word” that it may grow [12].  But this takes humility in giving up the old life and thoughts and habits.

That is why the Master told us, If you are going to follow Me, you better “count the cost.”  For it costs everything.  It is easier to sell your earthly possessions; it is much more difficult to sell or get rid of your self with its personal materialism, which is idolatry [13].    Kenneth Wayne Hancock

1. Matt. 13: 23; Mark 4: 8; 4: 28

2.  I John 2: 13

3.  Gal. 4: 19

4.  I Cor. 12: 4-11

5.  II Cor. 6: 17

6. I Cor. 5: 7; Matt. 13: 33; Luke 12: 1

7. Heb. 13: 8; Mal. 3: 6

8. Matt. 4: 19

9. I Sam. 16: 7; Rom. 8: 1-4

10. II Cor. 4: 18; Heb. 11:1

11.  John 12: 24

12.  I Pet. 2: 2

13. Col. 3: 5; Luke 14: 27-33

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Partakers of the Divine Nature–The Holy Calling to Be the Sons of God

True Christianity is not about a person striving to attain a collection of good deeds and contributions like regularly praying, attending church, paying tithes and offerings, or volunteering time.  The true walk with Christ is not an accumulation of good deeds in hopes of having a better relationship with God.  It is rather a remembering what we already had with Him before our time on earth began.

Our salvation and deliverance from sin and the evil in our old life was given us by God before we were ever born here on earth!

We were called by God to walk with Him on this earth in our earthly bodies before we were ever born here on earth!

Sounds crazy, I know, and you are probably thinking, Wayne, you are going too far now.  Come back to us.  You are drifting up too far into the stratosphere.

But bear with me a minute.  God has called us with a holy calling in accordance with His own plan and purpose, and we were in His plan and purpose and grace before our mothers gave birth to us here on earth!

Some may be asking, Where did you get this idea from?  It’s right there in the Bible–the same one grandma and momma had.  And this is what it says: “God who has saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” (II Tim. 1: 9) [Compare this to my paraphrasing of it in the above paragraphs].

This “holy calling” to be God’s son or daughter does not come down to us “according to our works.”  We do not attain it because of anything we have done or could do, but because we were already included in His purpose–His plan to favor us that way.  It is called grace, and this grace was given to us in Christ before time began on earth.  Remember what Christ said: “You have been with me from the beginning” (John 15: 27).  The word “beginning” in the Greek is the same one used in John 1: 1: “In the beginning was the Word…” denoting the timelessness of the origin of all things.

We must remember how the LORD (YAHWEH) questioned Job intensely about the creation: “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?…Who laid the cornerstone thereof when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” (Job 38: 4-7).

The “sons of God” rejoicing at the creation of the earth?  Yes.  Isn’t that kind of like before the world came into being?  Yes.  And who are these sons of God?  The word of God says that we are the sons of God!  “Beloved, now are we the sons of God…and when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (I John 3: 2).

Also, we know that “as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Rom. 8: 14).  That’s us, brethren!  Things are going to work out great for us that love God.  If God is for us, who can be against us?  For “we are the called according to His purpose.”  He knew us before!  He gave us this destiny before!  This destiny “to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Rom. 8: 28-29).   Hey, I know I’m not the only one getting this right now because it says “many brethren” are going to be just like Him!

And let’s just say it out loud: We who He has “predestinated” to be like Christ–He has called us, “and whom He called, them He also justified, and whom He justified, them He also glorified”! (v. 30).

Glorified us!  Notice this is in the past tense.  Already done in God’s way of reckoning and doing things.

Wow!  It is truly difficult sometimes for us to wrap our sometimes doubting little minds around these astounding promises, but there it is.  His words, not mine.  The “exceeding great and precious promises that Peter spoke of.  That we “might be partakers of the divine nature” (II Pet. 1: 4).

And this is all in Christ.  When we believe and trust in Him, then our inheritance manifests itself.  Let us walk on in faith and assurance of these promises, not letting worldly man-thoughts hinder us from achieving what God already has spoken into existence for us.  Kenneth Wayne Hancock

 

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You Cannot Put New Wine into Old Wineskins–Holy Spirit Only Goes into a New Heart

Many followers of Christ lightly throw around the idea of “getting the Holy Spirit.”  We are talking about the very essence of God here and who He is, and they are wanting “It” right now–even making a spectacle of themselves, splayed out in front of the whole church house, with some preacher “slaying them in the Spirit” with a magical slap of his hand on their forehead.

Do they really think that God can be manufactured like that with a few tawdry carnival tricks?  Besides, pagan societies have been “slaying in the spirit” for thousands of years in their heathen rites.  The anthropologist Sir James Frazer lines it all out in his classic 1922 volume The Golden Bough, one of the Great Books of the Western World (http://www.sacred-texts.com/pag/frazer/index.htm).

People are wanting the Spirit of God, however, and that is a good thing.  But “you cannot put new wine into old wineskins.”  This is the crux of a parable that Christ was teaching.  And we must remember that a parable reveals “a mystery kept secret from the foundation of the world” (Matt. 13: 10-11).

The “new wine into old wineskins” parable is found in Luke 5: 36-39:

“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined.  But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved” (NKJV).

The mystery revealed here is that the new wine is the Holy Spirit of God that He desires to place within us.  But first the old wineskin, which is the old heart or old Adamic nature that we are born with–it must be replaced with a new heart, a new nature.  This new heart is the new wineskin.

People must realize that God will not  place His Spirit into an old heart.  Through the prophet Ezekiel, God promised us a new heart:  “Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit…I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you” (18: 31; 36: 26).  Notice that before He gives us a new heart, we must first get rid of all our transgressions.  This means the new heart will come only after a full and final repentance from sin.

This repentance from sin is done at the cross.  We  must experience the cross in a spiritual way in our own hearts.  We must deliberately place our old sinful self on the cross with Christ, acknowledging that this is the only way that God has provided for us to rid ourselves of the sin “that so easily besets us.”  We are immersed into His death, for our sins were placed upon Him as the Sin Sacrifice for us, and when He died, our sins died.  And when He arose from the dead, we arose with Him.  This all, of course, is done by faith in His resurrection.  This is when He grants our new heart (https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/conversations-with-the-seer-heirs-of-god-and-joint-heirs-with-christ/).

It is ironic that this cross experience is the first thing out of the mouth of Christ and His apostles, and it is never taught in the churches.  Oh, the preachers will mention the cross and how He suffered, but they will never encourage their flock to identify with the Sin Sacrifice and give up their lives of sin.  Christ came preaching, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  His apostles taught the same thing (Romans 6: 6; Hebrews 6: 1; Rev 2: 5, just to name a few).

Getting rid of the old heart through the cross experience is essential in putting to death the old heart, which is the old wineskin.  It must go, once and for all time, never to be resurrected again.

Expounding on this experience is “the preaching of the cross,” which is the power of God (I Cor. 1: 18).  But teaching a man that he has to die is not a welcomed message.

But that is exactly what the early apostles taught.  Some would call this teaching absolute “foolishness.”  You can’t just go up to some unsuspecting person and tell them that their old spirit and way of doing things has to die.  That is foolishness, they would say.  But “it pleased God that by the foolishness of preaching [the cross experience] to save them that believe (1: 20).

Paul went on to say that he preached “Christ crucified,” which is “the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1: 23).

The power of God?  The power of God for what–to do what?  The power from God to grow!  To grow up into His sons and daughters.  “But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to becoome the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name” (John 1: 12).

First, we have to receive Him, His Spirit.  But He will not give us His Spirit to co-exist in the old wineskin of the old sinful heart.  It first must die on the cross with Christ.  Then we can receive His Spirit, and then He will give us the power to become the sons of God.

Paul continually taught this (Col. 2: 12-13).  He knew that this was the key to unlock future growth in His Spirit.

So, what happened to the great start 2, 000 years ago?  Satan, of course, knows the plan and began right away to insure that Christ’s followers believe the lie that God is not able to change them from sinners to saints.  And through this deception, many cannot grow spiritually, for they cannot receive Him and then receive power to be His children.

No wonder Christ said, “O ye of little faith.”  Is anything too hard for Him that created billions of galaxies?  That’s galaxies–not stars!

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

{One other thought: The new wineskin will in its ultimate fulfillment be our new spiritual bodies promised us upon Christ’s return (I Cor. 15: 42-55) }

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“There’s Nothing in It for You”–It Is All for God, Who Is Love

There was an old saying at the mission that rings true now some 40 years later.  “There’s nothing in it for you.”

I didn’t really understand then just how profound that simple statement was.  But Time is a faithful teacher.  And as I look now in the mirror and see a much more wrinkled image with a head laden with a heavy hoary frost, I take more time to contemplate the increasing fragility of my physical state.  It seems that the reality of my own mortality crowds daily into my thoughts.

In that mirror I also see in my own eyes how the years have neutralized the piss and vinegar that I was so full of back then in my 20’s and 30’s.

As my earthly frame grows weaker, that old saying–how that there’s nothing in this walk with God for you–rings truer.  It is making so much more sense now as I am staring down the time when I just may have to depart this old earthly body before Christ returns to this earth to set up His kingdom.

For, you see, in those younger years I thought that surely I would be alive when the LORD would come back.  Christ did say that “whosoever lives and believes in Me shall never die” (John 11: 26).  And, that “there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom” (Mt. 16: 28).  Those destined not to taste death would have to be the generation of believers alive when He returned to earth.  Anyway, I always thought that I would be one of them.

But now, as the years tick on, and my body creaks with age more every day, I must take this into real consideration–this “falling asleep,” this “shuffling off of this mortal coil.”

And, yet, I now realize that God has this death of the physical body hanging over us for a reason.  We know that He gives life and He takes life.  Our very breath is in His hand.  And it is this impending destiny with dust that helps us understand the futility of living for one’s self.  The self just cannot see us through, for our earthly bodies must betray us, for that is the very nature  of the physical body formed of the dust of this planet.  The house of dirt was made for us by God on purpose not to last.  It is temporary housing.

God fashioned our bodies to be as ephemeral as butterfly wings.  He deliberately formed them to be fragile in hope that we might sense someday our own vanity before death came knocking.  As we see our bodies decay and crumble with age, He hopes that we will see the futility of living for the self.

Our fragility betrays our pretentious egos that always seem to shout, “Hey, everybody, seriously, I really am something!”  But that self-centered imagination breeds the ultimate deception, for “when a man thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself” (Gal. 6: 3).

And we have all been guilty of that thought; it is in the spiritual genes of old man Adam and his offspring.  Yes, we are initially made that way by the Creator in hopes that we would see the purposelessness of selfish thinking and be humbled so that we could all realize one truth: Every man is created for only one thing, and it is not for self-glorification; it is for God-glorification.

And if we are blessed to be chosen by Him to reveal this truth to, then we are coming much closer to where we need to be in our walk on earth before our Creator.

There’s nothing in it for you.  For everything in the vastness of the universe and here on earth is for God and His pleasure.  This is the great sticking point with natural-minded man, who earnestly believes that he is the center of the cosmos.  Secular humanism is the new many-headed false god.  “Thou shalt not have any other gods before Me.”  Especially our self.

“For of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things” (Rom. 11: 36).  Breaking it down, all things are of Him; they came from Him, and through His creative power all things (including us) exist.  And in the end, all things are created by Him for His pleasure and glory.

For instance, Him delivering us from utter degradation and destruction, and us returning and thanking Him and telling others about His saving love and power–He loves that and gets glory out of it.

“All things were created by Him, and for Him” (Col. 1: 16).  But God does not become a pompous little jerk like natural man when he gets power.  No.  God is LOVE.  He created us so that He could bring us to a place spiritually, where His essence and nature (which is Love) could be multiplied–eventually to fill the whole universe with LOVE!  Our gratitude toward Him for our deliverance from sin is the fertile soil where the seed of Love can grow.

And God-in-human-form is our example and showed us the way.  Jesus (Yahshua) tasted death for us all so that we would not be banished to the dusty tombs of oblivion.  “For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory” (Hebr. 2: 9-10).

That’s the plan.  It is all for Him, so that He may glorify those who realize that it is all for Him.  He will share Himself and all His glory with the overcomers, even to the point of sharing His throne with them (Rev. 3: 21).

It is all for the Creator.  When we turn that page in the book of our minds, then joy and serenity will overtake us, for we will have embraced the heart of God with arms of humility, born of His true nature, Love.

{For more on this subject, check out this article:  https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2012/02/11/gods-endgame-where-this-life-on-earth-is-leading-us/ }

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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Speak the WORD

The world system has conditioned us Christians to not talk about God.  I remember when I taught public school, the teachers rarely spoke of God, and that was in a conservative small school in the middle of the Biblebelt!  Maybe once or twice in fifteen years did I hear a fellow teacher openly talk of Christ.  The secular setting had done its browbeating.

But I was fortunate, for I taught English and American Literature all those years.  The writers in our culture spoke and wrote about God and the Bible until the 20th Century began .  Scriptural allusions and metaphors ran constantly through Shakespeare, Milton, Chaucer, our Puritan writers. Even our Founding Fathers spoke and wrote openly of the Supreme Being, mixing freely religious and political ideas.

So I was able to talk about God in the secular classroom all the time using the literature books that they provided me. But Satan has done a thorough job in squelching God’s voice coming through His children.  We have almost quenched the Spirit in our reluctance to speak.

But Christ and His early apostles did not play that game.

They had a very important job to do, and they were not about to let another spirit dominate them and what they had to do–which was to lay the foundation for the building of the LORD’s temple (us).  It was also, to use another of His metaphors, to let the early rain of His Spirit fall freely on the thirsty gr0und, the hearts of men.  And this was the former rain; now is the time for the latter rain, His Spirit now falling in our era.

So, Jesus (Yahshua) and His apostles labored mightily.  They spoke the Word, the Logos, which is the eternal purpose and plan of God.  And they wrote His vision for this earth down for us to be able to study and prepare ourselves for the end times.

Now we, the sons and daughters of the latter rain must follow our example–Christ.  “For herein He has left us an example that we should follow His steps, who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth” (I Pet 2: 21-22).  We are to follow our Example. 

We are to be like Him.  “For we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him…” (I John 3: 2).  Don’t let any gainsayer try to tell you differently–not your mom or dad, brother or sister, wife or husband, best friend or feared enemy.  We should be like Christ, and with His Spirit within us, we can and will be like Him.  In fact we are to live “godly in this present world”! (Titus 2: 12).

This is our hope–and His hope.  This is our vision–and His vision.  This is our destiny–and His destiny for us (1).

There–I’ve said it.  Now that the cat’s out of the bag, we are free to speak this vision of manifested sonship throughout the entire planet earth–wherever you are.

Speak the word.  Speak the truth.  For when you speak this truth, you are speaking the WORD.  You are speaking Him, for He is the WORD, and the WORD is thereby becoming flesh one more time–in you and in me and now through us! Speak the Word.        KWH

1.  I John 3: 3; Rom. 8: 18-30

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What Prevents Christian Growth–The Deceitfulness of Sin

As the sons and daughters of God, we are called to do one thing– “to  fulfill the word of God” (Col. 1: 25).  That is our destiny and what we are to do.

God has spoken from the beginning His word about what will transpire on this earth.  And it is a mystery to unregenerate natural man.  It is also a mystery to babes in Christ whose senses have not been exercised “to discern both good and evil” (Heb. 5: 14).  What God has spoken and written down for His earthly creation is a “mystery which has been hid from ages and from generations,” but now it is being made known to His elect, the ones He has chosen for the end time happenings (Col. 1: 26).

It is then to His elect that He is revealing this mystery, which is “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (v. 27).  To get Christ fully formed in His elect–to present every man perfect in Christ Jesus/Yahshua”–that is the work of His called out ones.  That is the “word of God” that we are “to fulfill.”

What Hinders the Spiritual Growth to Get to “Christ in You, the Hope of Glory”?

What hinders the new Christian’s growth?  In a word–sin.  For they are taught by their pastors, preachers and priests that they will never stop sinning. But that is a lie. The apostle Paul urges new Christians to “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” (Eph. 4: 14).  The way of growing from a spiritual child to a spiritual adult is not be deceived any longer by cunning and crafty men who teach false doctrines.

Paul already has said in this same chapter that God has given apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers “for the perfecting of the saints”!  Perfection of Christians sounds like a stupendous growth in God.  You mean it is possible?  I mean, to grow up and be just like Christ?  Paul believes so.  In fact, he says that this perfecting through the teaching of the truth will continue “till we all come…unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ!”! (4: 11-13)  And we know that this perfection cannot be attained if one is still sinning.

Paul spends most of the rest of the book of Ephesians urging new followers to put away sin out of their lives and “put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (4: 24).  No more lying, selfish anger, no more stealing, filthy talk, and malice (4: 25-31).  In other words–No more sinning.  “For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.  Let no man deceive you with vain words” (5: 5-6).  How can a man deceive the new Christian with vain words? By

telling him that he can do all these things and still have an “inheritance in the kingdom  of Christ and of God.” Or to put it another way: You can be a Christian in good standing and still sin.

This Is a Hard Saying–Who Can Hear It?

Many reading this will stop and say that I’ve gone too far.  That’s fine.  “They that have ears to hear, let them hear.”  This message is for the few–like I stated in the previous post last time.  But this is crucial for those wanting to grow all the way in this thing.  It is to you I am writing anyway.  All others with God’s help will be what they are meant to be.  My job is to teach the truth to the elect so that they can grow.  And He has shown me that this concept is what will hinder the elect from growing.  This is crucial.  Bear with me, and let me explain more fully.

Faith (Belief) Is the Key

Now this growth process inside of a believer is an invisible spiritual happening.  It takes belief without seeing first.  Faith is believing, having not seen the evidence as yet (Heb. 11: 1).  It is believing what God said, not what some man said He said.  And this goes for the sin question, too.  It is all about believing His word as to how to get rid of sin (and sinning) in our lives.

Sin is deceitful.  It is born in deception and it breeds deception.  It was born of a lie and it spawns more lies.  And its most powerful lie tells new Christians that they can’t escape its clutches.  Organized religions keep people in the prison of sin through the lie that they can’t live without sinning–that you are a sinner and will die a sinner.  Ironically enough, some preachers pridefully preach this every Sunday!  They say that you will always be held captive by sin–that you cannot escape its bondage!  In other words, they tell the people that God is not strong enough to break sin’s hold on you.  But be not dismayed; God will accept you even though it is impossible to stop sinning against Him, if you just accept Christ.

But wait a minute!  I thought “with God all things are possible” (Mark 10: 27).  And, “With God nothing shall be impossible” (Luke 1: 37).  And, “All things are possible to him that believes” (Mark 9: 23).  I mean, even the LORD, Yahweh Himself, answered Sarah’s incredulity about having a baby with this question, “Is any thing too hard for the LORD/YHWH?” (Gen. 18: 14).

And so He is asking every one of us: Which is easier for Me to do?  Grant Sarah a child in her old age, despite the “deadness of her womb,” or grant unto you a new heart that does not sin against Me?  Which is the “easier miracle” for Him to perform?  To God it is all the same.  If it is in His will, He makes it happen.

The preachers say that you are in bondage to sin; you can’t escape.  But God says “he that is dead is freed from sin” (Rom. 6: 7).  The preachers say, “I sin every day.”  But God says, “He that is born of God does not commit sin, for His seed remains in him and he cannot sin because He is born of God” (I John 3: 9).  If we are not saved from sin, then what have we been saved from?

You won’t hear the message contained in Romans 6.  “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?”  Shall we go on sinning, breaking the Ten Commandments, so that His grace can be exercised to its fullest extant?  Answer:  “God forbid.  How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein” (Romans 6: 1-2).  Since the true salvation experience begins at the cross, baptized into His death, how can we continue to sin when sin has died inside of us (6: 3-11)?

Of course, very, very few will be preaching on this come next Sunday morning [or Saturday, for that matter].  Even if they know about this message, very few understand it, and fewer yet believe it, so they stay away from Romans 6 like the plague.

But it is this very message of the death of our old sinful self that opens the door.  What door?  The door to the mystery of “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”  The door to the secret of Christian growth.  The door to the overcoming of sin in our lives  and growing up to be like Him.

This “hope of glory” is not just a ticket to heaven, which is what the little babe in Christ wants from the Father.  No.  This “hope of glory” is our hope that Christ would be fully formed in us during these latter days–that the “greater works” that He promised His followers would do–that would be fulfilled in and through us!  That we could actually walk like the early apostles and the prophets of old!

That we could be the “called according to His purpose.”  That we could actually be those He knew before we were ever born, those who He gave a destiny before we were  born “to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.”  And so He pre-destined us, called us, justified us, and soon, oh, so very soon He will glorify us! (Romans 8: 28-31).

And there is nobody that can separate us from Christ’s love for us.  And there is nobody who will succeed in stripping away our glorious growth into His manifested sons through lies and deception.

But this vision of full spiritual Christian growth hinges on getting past the deceitfulness of sin.  “The counsels of the wicked are deceit” (Prov. 12: 5).  Or, in other words, The words of the sinner are deception.

Their unbelief in God’s power to deliver keeps people in bondage to sin and sinning.  This is where the deception lies.  A Christian cannot grow when they believe that they cannot keep from sinning with God’s help.  This is the key that will unlock the door to Spiritual growth.

Through Christ we receive a new heart; the old heart is passed away once and for all.  Man says that it is impossible to be rid of sin in your life.  But God says, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God” (Luke 18: 27).  Christ’s own words.  Hallelu Yah!

[If you find someone that teaches these things, you have found a very precious thing.  Hold them near and dear and never let them go.]  KWH

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Letter to the Future Sons and Daughters of God–You Are Not Alone

Yes, we do have a calling–a calling that sets us apart.  It is a calling from God that makes us at times feel lonely, whether we are sitting in a megachurch with its tens of thousands or in our room longing for someone to fellowship with.

But wherever we reside, the more light that He gives us, the darker it gets around us.  We try to share a revelation that we know is from God, and it is either rejected or attempts are made by our Christian brethren to redirect our thinking because they are so sure that it can’t be right because that revelation just does not fit the standard operating procedures of our denomination/fellowship/church.

And so it is a lonely walk, this walk with the invisible Father–this walk to sonship “until Christ be formed in you” (Gal. 4: 19).  But, of course, we are never alone, as long as we look after the Spirit (John 8: 29).

This road to immortal kingship that we have been called to walk is not easy.  Christ warned us to “count the cost,” to see if we are made of the right stuff for this difficult journey (Luke 14: 28).  It is not easy.  And few of the masses of humanity will find it.  The Master taught us to “enter through the narrow gate; for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.  For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matt. 7: 13-14).

The Wide Gate That Leads to Destruction

Some will read that passage in Matthew 7 and stop after verse 14.  But the real revelation comes in the next verse.  Christ shows us who is opening up the wide gate that is swallowing up Christians by the hundreds of millions.  In the very next breath after saying few will find this way of truth, He warns, “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves” (v. 15).  Go to where the many are entering through the wide gate–where the massive numbers of professing Christians are, and you’ll find that they are being led by false prophets and teachers, who come with a peaceful message about Christ that seems harmless enough.  However, they will eat you up like a wolf with the end product of their teachings leading the masses to destruction.

Few are going to find this way of truth.  So few, in fact, that the prophets of old thought at times that they were the only ones following “the true way.”  Elijah, who was hunted down like an animal in the wild, cried in desperation, “Yahweh, they have killed your prophets and have digged down your altars, and I am left alone, and they seek my life.”  To which God replied, “I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal” (Rom. 11: 3-4).

There are just a few of us, but we are not alone.  Millions will be saved and will walk as babes and children of God in His soon coming kingdom.  But there will be but a few thousand who will “walk with Him in white”–who will “follow the Lamb whithersoever He goes” (Rev. 14).  Even though we are few and scattered to the four corners of the earth, the encouraging part in these latter days before He returns is that we have the internet.  He did say that “knowledge shall increase.”  We can communicate with brethren from around the world instantaneously.

Many of us have already experienced some things and have come out of churchianity.  I rejoice with you and encourage you to continue your walk.  Prove all things out–old things that you were taught back in the day about God, and also prove out new things that are introduced to you or that you get on your own.  Prove out through prayer and study both things you believe to be the truth and also things you don’t believe to be the truth.

Remember: If some are not receiving any new truth, then one of two things is happening.  Either they have all truth already and “have need of nothing”– or the Spirit is not guiding them into all truth.  I doubt that the former is true.  So that leaves some in the terrible position of God not fulfilling John 16: 13 in their  lives:  “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth.”

Christ is our guide on this quest for the Ultimate Truth, and with Him we are not alone.  KWH

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“Ye are gods,” said Christ–Concerning the Elohim and the Manifestation of the Sons of God

After performing many mighty miracles among the people, Christ was standing in the temple in Solomon’s porch.  The doubters began to surround Him and said, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense.  If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”

Then He said to them, “I have already told you that I am He by the miracles that I have done in My Father’s name.  They speak and bear witness of Me.  But you don’t believe that the Father lives within Me and that it is He that does the miracles.  You don’t believe because you are not of My sheep.  You are of another herd and cannot hear my words.  As I told you before [John 8: 42-44], when I spoke to you plainly: You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do…there is no truth in your father, the one you are following…for he is a liar and the father of all lies.  Your father is a liar, and you are born of lies and are liars yourselves.”

Christ continued.  “No, you are not of my flock, for they hear my voice and believe and follow me.  And they will never perish, for they have eternal life.  The Father has given them to Me.  And no one can take them from Me, for I and My Father are one.”

“Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him.”

Seeing their anger and the murder in their hearts, Christ said, “I have showed you many miracles from the Father.  Which miracle are you stoning me for?”

“We are not stoning you for a miracle that you have performed, but for blasphemy because you are a man, and you are making yourself out to be God.”

And it was at this juncture that Christ dropped a bombshell on them, saying, Wait a minute.  Is it not written in your law, the law that you take so much pride in, where I said, ‘You are gods.’  The Father called them gods.  The very ones to whom He was sending His word back in the days of the patriarchs and prophets–those He called gods.  The very ones who needed a Savior, who needed the law and the testimony, who needed help from their Creator to get right–those He called gods!  And now you are going to tell the one who the Father has sanctified and made holy and sent into the world–you are going to tell Him that He blasphemes because I said that I am the Son of God?

But there was no reasoning with them.  They “sought again to take Him, but He escaped out of their hand” [John 10: 22-39].

Christ was too much for them.  They could not understand Him, for “had the princes of this world known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”

The Mysterious “Ye are gods” Statement

This confrontation is the backdrop for one of the most enigmatic statements that God-with-us ever made.  “Ye are gods.”  What does He mean that we are “gods”?

We must first go back to the passage of scripture that the Savior quoted in Psalm 82: 6.  The word “gods” is translated from the Hebrew word elohim (#H430 in Strong’s Concordance), also translated “God” in hundreds of places.  Christ said, “I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are the children of the most High.”  He’s saying that some had a spiritual existence with Him in the beginning.  He’s saying that there is more to the sons of Adam than just their earthly purposes.

Man, a spiritual being, created by God to house Him fully, in vain tries to live a fulfilling life by the acquisition of earthly things, when earthly things cannot suffice a human being, a being designed to be the glory of God, who is an invisible Spirit.

Yet, unregenerate man slugs on in the slop of misguided desires and lusts. These passions are for things that will not satisfy nor endure.

The sons and daughters of God, however, realize that they were put here by a Being that is not of this earth. They see their reality is not earth-based. They realize that they cannot see true reality by looking through earthly eyes. Man can only endure by seeing things other than earthly things.

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 even get out of the old and to get into the new life, we must believe in a spiritual being who does the saving. We have to believe in a Being we cannot see with our earthly eyes. We must believe in someone who is invisible, who is not of this earth, someone who calls us somehow with a calling that is not of this earth, calls us with a heavenly calling, and urges us in mysterious ways to appear to choose His heavenly way against the ‘better’ judgment of our earthly unbelieving senses—a someone who brings us into a place where we will repudiate all that we see here on earth and “count it all as dung” that we may win an invisible race for an invisible heavenly spiritual Supreme Being.

An enlightened man takes in this light—light that nothing earthly is as it seems. Everything is tricky here, slippery, treacherous, hypocritical, deceiving. Man is crooked, undependable, self-centered and prideful.

Nevertheless,there is a group of human beings who are beginning to realize that this walk here is a spiritual thing and not an earthly thing. They realize that they are in the world but their spirit is not of the earth. They realize that they are really strangers here on earth, that they are not really from the earth, that they are heavenly and spiritual, that they have become blind to the earthly desires and temptations.

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 it with their earthly eyes [Quoted from Chapter 8 of my book The Unveiling of the Sons of God which you can find at the top of this page.  Just click “Ebook…”].

In a word, they begin to “walk in the Spirit.”  They begin to believe what the written Word says and not what sinful man says that it says.  And it tells us that God has “blessed us with all spiritual blessings and chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world,” and that He foreknew us and has “predestinated us to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.”  And that He has called us, justified us, and glorified us (Eph 1: 3-4; Rom 8: 29-30).  Yes, God’s faith in His ability to make all this happen is strong.  It is such a sure thing in God’s heart and mind that our spiritual maturity culminates in our glorification with Him, even to the point of us sitting with Christ on the throne of God!  That is faith!  We need His faith in us working in our lives–not our puny faith where we try to muster up enough to do whatever.  He believes that we will come to full fruition as His manifested sons and daughters.  He believes and says that we are gods!  Incredible faith!

At present, we are not in our full spiritual elohim state of being, “when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy” (Job 38: 7). We in our spiritual state were with Him when the “foundations of the earth” were laid (38: 3-6).  Those “sons of God” were the elohim–the “us” in “Let us make man in our own image.”

For the time being here on earth, He has “made man a little lower than the angels” in that we are mortal and can very easily die (Psalm 8: 5).  “Angels” here is from the Hebrew word elohim again.  Man is lower than our first spiritual estate with the Father because of our impending date with death.

And, yet, “you have crowned him with glory and honor.”  It is a done deal in God’s mind.  And you made him (Adam) to have dominion over the works of thy hands (v. 6).  “Works” here are the “great righteous acts of Yahweh, the miracles and wonders.  In other words, the sons of Adam, after their spiritual regeneration, have miracle working power.  They have dominion over the same powerful acts done by Yahweh of old.

In Psalm 82, where Christ quotes “Ye are gods,” Yahweh is pleading with us the sons of Adam, to wake up to this high calling.  He is saying:

You are not just human beings, not just a flesh body.  You have a spirit in you that comes from Me.  You are my offspring; Spirit brings forth spirit.  You are elohim.  I am Elohim.  You are begotten of Me, and we now are all of One.  The same great “works of my hand” shall you do (Psm 8: 6).

But look at you!  You are scurrying about the earth as if you are just an intelligent animal!  I stand in your presence.  You all are My spiritual children and are a mighty congregation!  But I am passing judgment on you elohim-gods today, for you are not acting like I act.  You are not acting like Me, like I did when I was in the days of My flesh, when I judged righteously and justly.  You act as if you are not like Me.  We are one, but you act like you don’t believe that.  You judge unjustly (v. 2) and you are partial to the rich and powerful and wicked of this earth.

Look out over the earth at all the poor and needy.  These are they who do not have the spiritual riches of this knowledge that they are gods, like you do.  But you don’t tell them.  You don’t inform them of this truth.  They are without Me, their Father, and you won’t judge to tell them the truth so that they can escape the clutches of the wicked (v. 3).  My other children who are the earth-dwellers, who spend their years on earth with darkness as a constant cloak, without the knowledge and light that they are My spirit-children–they are lost and know not the way (v. 5).

Listen to Me.  I have already said that you are gods (elohim), but if you do not change, you will die like the rest of the fleshly Adamites, who don’t have this spiritual knowledge.  You are all the sons of the most High (v. 6 NIV).  But you will die like mere men; you will fall like every other ruler (v. 7), if you don’t start walking like Me in human form.  Rise up, my body of sons and daughters, my offspring, and judge the earth with Me, for I am the King of kings and the Master of masters.  All the nations are your inheritance…..

He says that we are gods–that we are elohim.  With the new heart and spirit that He has given us, we are coming back full circle–back to where we started in heavenly places in Christ.  But we must “make our calling and election sure.”  We must walk in full confidence after proving all things and study “to show ourselves approved” to be His heirs of the kingdom of God.  The 100 fold sonship walk is for those of full age and maturity.  It is time that we who are called to this walk put  aside everything of the past and prepare our hearts and others’ for the coming of our great God and Savior Jesus/Yahshua, the Anointed One, the Christ.  Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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“Forgive Us Our Debts”–Loving the Unloveable

We had a saying during the mission years–those years in the ’70’s when a small group of us had come out of the world system and had lived and worked together–all of us longing  to become more like Christ. 

It went like this: “Love Tom and save the world.”  Tom was our teacher and mentor.  He was also the one who did the correcting and the admonishing.  And we all at one time or another bristled at his rebukes, our egos being bruised.

Of course, the saying can contain anyone’s name–anyone, that is, that you are having a problem with.  “Love ______________and save the world.  You fill in the blank with the person that is the most difficult  for you to love today.  For if you can do that, then you will have arrived where God wants you in your Christian growth.  You will have in your vessel the Spirit of God Himself, who is Love.  And with the power that comes from His presence of Love inside of you, you can then save the world.  And, boy, does it need saving right now.

I am getting a fuller understanding of that old saying today, almost 40 years later.  If we can humble ourselves enough to ask God to grant to us His loving and forgiving nature to love that person who we are having trouble loving, then we will have manifested God in the flesh of our bodies.

In the normal everyday walk of our lives, certain people enter whose actions we despise.  They grate on us and both irritate and disgust us.  My earthly sister was such a person.  She was a drug addict–addicted to hydrocodone for 40 years.  She played my poor old mother, who was her enabler.  She stole from her–even my mom’s pain pills that her broken down 80 year old back needed.  Many times my sister left her without medication for two weeks.  This went on for decades.  My darling mother suffered greatly because of her. 

I tried to get my mom to forsake her, the tough love Bible way–to not let her use her, but Mom could not do it.  We buried Mom in June of last year.  And to this day, my sister has never apologized for all of the lies and thefts and shame she brought upon our family.

Now my sister lays up in an intensive care bed with tubes running out of her face.  And I visited her, and told her I loved her and prayed for her that God would comfort her.  And although she could not open her eyes, tears washed over her eyelids and began to fill the sockets.  I know that she is feeling bad about things she has done.  

My sister before this latest bout has really been trying, but because so much dirty water has passed under the bridge, it is difficult to love her.  I do love her with a earthly family love.  But I mean it is difficult to love her with a deep, resounding,  joyful love. 

And so the memory of that old saying from the mission clangs on my heart tonight.  ” Love her and save the world.”  I should be like that man who woke up from a dream and had the revelation that he should begin today to forgive everybody

We are told by our Master to pray, asking the Father, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.”  What debts is He talking about?  A debt means that we owe something, but what do we owe?  “Owe no man anything but to love one another.”  To love each other–that is our debt!

So we ask God to forgive us when we don’t love each other, and He does this as we forgive those who don’t love us as they should.  This is us forgiving their debt of love to us. 

So we need to realize that, yes, other human beings owe us love, but most are in their selfish, carnal nature that prevents them.  So we should just pray, “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.”  They do not realize that they should love everyone.

Our debt, then, is to love one another.  We need to have an attitude of forgiveness to all who don’t love us.  And here is the kicker: This is what God does.  And if each Seed bears its own kind, we as His seed, His children, should do the same as He does, which is loving the unloveable.   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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