Category Archives: Spiritual Life Cycle

March 28, 2015 · 6:41 pm

It’s All About the Fruit–Spiritual Fruit, That Is

It really is all about the fruit that we followers of Christ are to bear. This nectar of knowledge concerning fruit-bearing is of utmost importance to Him and should be to us.

In fact, Christ mentions fruit and how to produce it in our lives in an abundant harvest of verses. The understanding centers on the Kingdom of God. And in order to comprehend the mystery of the gospel of the Kingdom, one must understand the parables, chiefest of which is the parable of the sower.

The Sower sows the seed, the word of God about His plan and purpose, the kingdom of God. Some seed falls on careless hearts, some on hard stony hearts of unbelief, and some seed falls among thorns, and these hearts do not bear fruit at all for God. But some seed will fall on a good and honest heart, and that person “understands it, and bears fruit, and brings forth, some an  hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty” (Matt. 13: 18-23). That’s a “hundred, sixty, and some thirty times what was sown” (NIV).

“And He said to them, Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?” (Mark 4: 13). This parable is the key that will unlock the mysteries of all the other parables. Yes, the parables are “dark sayings,” deliberately spoken to prevent those who are not suppose to understand. They are not nice little stories to make it easier for everyone to comprehend God’s mysteries, contrary to the current wave of “political correctness” drowning the land.

For the disciples had asked Christ aside, “Why do you speak to the multitudes in parables?”

“He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever has, to him shall be given.” Has what? Has grace given by God to understand the mysteries of God’s government portrayed in Christ’s teachings, predominantly through the parables.

“But whosoever has not [this grace, this favor], from him shall be taken away even that he has” (Matt. 13: 11-15). This is unintelligible through modern man’s thinking, who does not understand that Christ was teaching primarily to the remnant. “For blindness in part is happened” to the twelve tribes of Jacob/Israel “until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in,” which will provoke His chosen people to return to Him (Romans 11: 25).

But It’s All About the Fruit Bearing

The big idea from this parable is this. There are three general levels of spiritual fruit production taught by Christ. We see it here in 100, 60, and 30 times what was sown. His apostles taught these levels, also.

John quotes Christ teaching about the different levels. “Every branch in Me [the Vine] that does not bear fruit, My Father takes away, and every branch that bears fruit, He purges it that it may bring forth more fruit…He that abides in Me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit” (15: 2-5). There it is in one passage–the 30, 60, and 100 fold spiritual fruit bearing concept–fruit, more fruit, and much fruit. But what is especially important here is the key teaching on how to increase our spiritual fruit production–abiding in Him and He in us. This abiding is where we are heading in our studies.

The three levels are taught in the way of the growth of the seed: “first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head” (Mark 4: 28). And speaking of spiritual growth the three levels are seen in “children, young men, and fathers” (I John 2: 13-14).

What’s the Importance of the Different Levels?

It is important because those lukewarm Christians will not literally be close to Him during His kingdom reign right here on earth. And we want to serve the King as any good subject would. And who wants to be “taken away” and not be near Him. Bearing spiritual fruit to our potential is of utmost importance. We must learn all about it from the greatest Teacher the world has ever witnessed walking on this planet.

[Note: I know that this information is very new to some of you. There is a strong tendency of the human mind and heart to prefer the old and reject the new; it is common and age-old. His plan is not how we would have done it. God said as much: “My thoughts are not your thoughts, and My ways are not your ways” (Isa. 55: 8). We must prove all things, whether we think they are true or not. These things I have read in 15 different English translations and one Spanish translation, and have consulted the Greek, as well. And they all say the same thing about the Parable of the Sower]

If all this resonates and you understand then I will close with this quote at the end of Christ’s teaching on the matter: “Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which you see, and have not seen them, and to hear those things which you hear, and have not heard them.        Kenneth Wayne Hancock

 

 

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December 13, 2014 · 4:20 pm

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Who Are They?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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July 8, 2014 · 3:02 pm

“Seek First the Kingdom of God,” the Government of the Invisible Spirit

The phrase “kingdom of God” has been used so much by so many people from so many different religious backgrounds that its real meaning may have been lost.  Heretofore, most  have understood the phrase to mean “God’s kingdom,” or the kingdom that belongs to Him.  And this is true, it does belong to Him and His children.  However, there is another way to look at that phrase, and that is “the kingdom of the Spirit.”

It says in John 4 that “God is Spirit.”  Therefore, “kingdom of God” can be construed as “kingdom of Spirit.”  Or, in other words, it means a form of order and government headed by a Sovereign entity that is comprised of Spirit.  The Master did say that “the flesh profits nothing; it is the spirit that makes alive.”  “All is vanity,” in other words, except the invisible spiritual things.

We are admonished that we should seek first this invisible spirit kingdom.  Also, the only true worship of the Father is in spirit and in truth.  It is not any old spirit worship, but it must be spiritual and truthful. It won’t be anything remotely having to do with earthly natural things.

True worship is an invisible connection between our spirit in the human heart and the Eternal Creator Spirit.  It is the connection you cannot see.  You cannot legislate it, tax it, build fine buildings in order to coax true worship into your midst.  It is an invisible agreement between the Creator and His special spiritual creation, Adam.  “The true worshipers must worship the Father in spirit and in truth.”  They must find out the truth about His invisible Spirit reign within, for “the kingdom of God (Spirit) is within you.”

It is a realm of the heart, an inner sanctum full of true thoughts about the true nature of things.  “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation.”  You can’t see it with your fleshly eyes.  It is not of this earth.  Consequently, when we look out over this earth, anything we see, be it ever so religious, cannot be or have anything to do with the kingdom of Spirit (God).

“Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights.”  The kingdom of God is a dimension and realm that our five senses don’t pick up on.  It is not of this earth.  It must first be believed on, and then it will begin to manifest itself to the understanding of our hearts.  We will never see it first with our earthly eyes and then believe.  Faith must be exercised—believing having not yet seen with the fleshly eyes.  The kingdom of God is a government of God, who is Spirit, and who rules in our hearts by His very essence, which is spirit.      Kenneth Wayne Hancock        {For more on this topic see this earlier article  https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2008/03/14/not-of-this-earth/ and the one dated 3/17/08 }

 

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June 7, 2014 · 5:18 pm

Christ Is the Seed of Love–Greater Love Has No Man Than This

Christ is the Seed. He is the Seed of Love that is planted in our hearts. This happens when we believe that He laid down His earthly life for us.

“Greater love has no man than this that he lay down his life for his friends,” Christ said. That is the very definition of love in its fullest magnitude. So when we believe this about what Christ did for us all, then  that same seed of love is generated in our hearts.

This regeneration of love in our hearts truly begins when we believe that Christ was resurrected from the dead. When we believe that He was resurrected, then we, too, can be “raised to walk in a newness of life.” This is the seed of love being germinated in our hearts. And this new life that springs out of our new heart and spirit reflects His love for others in our life. For these other human beings are the very ones He laid down His life for.

Loving others with the generation of Love from within us by His Spirit is the “work of God.” Many have proclaimed their desire to do God’s work in the earth. Well, this is it: “This is the work of God, that you believe on Him whom He has sent” (John 6: 29). Christ’s own words. For in believing in the resurrection of Christ and all that it entails, it puts God’s very Spirit of renewal and germination and growth into our hearts. And “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 5: 5).

That same Spirit of Love, courses through us now by believing in Christ’s resurrection, which comes out of His  great love for us in giving His life.

Faith/belief of all this germinates the Seed/Truth in us and starts the growing spiritual life cycle of love in us. This love channels through us to others. But it is all generated by believing in His resurrection from the dead. When we believe this, then a rebirth of the seed of love springs out of our hearts just like seeds in our garden burst through the sun warmed soil in the spring. And so Life begins again as we remember His words: I am the way, the truth, and the life.   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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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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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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January 18, 2014 · 4:24 pm

The Five Offices of God–For Our Perfection

Unto man has God “put in subjection the world to come.” Man. That’s us, brethren. In the world to come, the next age, the time in the history of this earth after Christ’s return to rule it for a thousand years—God has ordained that some of us human beings will be rulers with Christ in the government that He will establish (Heb. 2: 5).

To rule and reign with Christ in His kingdom/government—that is the high calling. Brethren, are we ready? Have we grown spiritually that we would be strong and pure enough to take on that mantle of responsibility for the King, to be His administrators, His regents, His arms and hands, His heart and mind in the myriad matters of ruling the King’s earth?

To help us fulfill this “high calling” of God, Christ came “that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man” (2: 9). And Christ will be made complete and perfect by His act of “bringing many sons unto glory” (v. 10). And this glory is us being glorified, which in turn brings final glory to the King and Master. Christ will be fully glorified when He fulfills His final destiny, which is bringing His chosen ones to full spiritual maturity.

He did say, “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone. But if it die, it brings forth much fruit” (John 12: 24). We are the “much fruit” that He refers to on the road to His glorification (v. 23).

And because we, Christ’s followers, have come out of the matrix of “flesh and blood, He also Himself took part of the same.” Why? So that He could pave the way for our immortality, made possible by the destruction of the devil. Christ destroys the devil when He destroys sin in our life and gives us a new life by faith (Heb. 2: 14). That’s the foundation to build the temple of God on. Since we are His temple,that is where we start.

And Christ brings us to that full mature spiritual growth by sharing His Spirit with His body of believers. He shares His Spirit with His teachers, and they then impart the necessary knowledge to Christ’s brethren, for “He is not ashamed to call [us] brethren (2: 11).

Why God Gave Us the Five Fold Ministry Offices

In fact, Christ set in His spiritual body of believers five offices: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. And Christ established these offices “for the perfecting of the saints [the brethren, us], for the work of the ministry, and for the edifying of the body of Christ” (Eph. 4: 11-12).

Let’s savor this a moment. God has chosen out from among all the Christians in the world a few to be in these offices. Why? What is their purpose? First, they are necessary “for the perfecting” of the members of Christ’s church, which is His body of believers. The Greek word (G2675) translated “perfecting” here means “to be fit, prepared, to be mended and repaired, and ethically, to be complete and perfect, and to make one what he ought to be” (http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/Lexicon/lexicon.cfm?strongs=G2675&t=KJV).

The true offices of God will help us by the Spirit within them to become prepared, ready and fit to assume the duties in Christ’s kingdom—royal duties to be assigned to us of our Father. For this is really the “work of the ministry” that Paul refers to here. The “ministry” of Christ is the administration of His government that will fill the whole earth, according to the prophet Daniel in 2: 44 and 7: 18: “But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.” That’s a long time to be in the presence of the King of kings (that’s us with the little “k”). And we “shall take the kingdom and possess it forever.” We. Us. Ruling with Christ the King.

That’s the gospel, my brothers and sisters. That’s the good news that man needs. Getting rid of the corruption caused by the sinful hearts of the leaders of this present world system and replacing it with righteous rulers who contain the Spirit of Christ in their bosoms. That’s the gospel; that’s the good news. It is the “gospel of kingdom” (Matt. 4: 23; Mark 1: 14-15). But how the gospel has been watered down at best by preaching only a tiny portion of His plan! How it has been poisoned by the preaching of false concepts like the prosperity doctrine! Well did the prophets cry, “Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, Saith the LORD.” And, “My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray.” But then He promises finally, “I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding” (Jer 23: 1; 50: 6; Ezk 34: 2; Jer 3: 15).

How Long Will They Teach Us?

These Spirit-led apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers in our day will continue to teach “till we all come in the unity of the faith” (Eph. 4: 13). They through the Spirit will teach His pure concepts until we Christians are on the same page, until we have His vision. They will teach by His Spirit until the body has the true “knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man” (4: 11).

They will continue to teach the truth until we are fully grown, walking in the Spirit like Peter, James, John, and Paul did after the Resurrection. “Perfect” here means a completed spiritual life cycle growth. They will teach until we all have the “measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (v. 11).

But don’t just take my word for it. We must prove all things through study and prayer to see if the things expounded here take root and grow in our hearts—to see if this vision of a royal heritage quickens like a seed in warm rich soil which loses its lonely first state and dies, only to be reborn as a green lively plant nourished by the living waters, alive now to reproduce itself, as the Creator has reproduced Himself in us.     Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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February 2, 2013 · 7:47 pm

Adding Patience–Enduring All Things

We are admonished by the apostle Peter to “add to our faith” certain divine attributes, calling this procedure, “partaking of the divine nature.”  Yes, right now, we are to do this.  When would he expect us to add these things–after we die?  No, “now is the acceptable time.”  Now is the only time.  Whatever we humans are going to do in our fragile fleeting existence on this planet, we better do it now.

And some of us have been called to “partake of the divine nature.”  “Something (or Someone)” is pulling us, leading us, and yes, even commanding us to seek a higher path.  And so we seek that better way.  And some of us begin to see that that better way is Christ, for He is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14: 6).

And some of us now are seeing that we are to become like Him.  That is right.  For we are told by the apostles to “let this mind be in you that was in Christ” (Phil. 2: 5).  And, “Let us go on unto perfection” (Heb. 6: 1).  In fact, the Savior Himself commands us to “be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matt. 5: 48).  “Perfect” here is from the Greek word meaning “full spiritual maturity.”

Our perfection, our maturity in the Spirit, is the main reason that the scriptures of truth have been preserved for us.  “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God…that the man of God may be complete (perfect), thoroughly equipped for every good work” (II Tim. 3: 16-17 NKJV).

So how do we arrive at perfection (completeness)?

Our completed growth in Christ is brought about by adding to our faith the attributes of the divine nature that Peter admonishes us to do.

Compared to instant messaging and world wide telecommunications and instant mashed potatoes, the steps toward full spiritual growth and ultimately maturity in Christ take a long time.  “Instantly” is not in God’s vocabulary.  That is one of the main paradoxes in this modern age.  Everything happens in the blink of an eye, except the growth of God’s Spirit in a human being.

We are given but a short space of time here on earth.  Our time on the planet is short lived.  The older we get the faster our allotted time runs out.  And most fritter their precious moments away on ludicrous pursuits.  But those that Christ has chosen will redeem the time, “that they may be made perfect in one (John 15: 16; 17: 23).

Spurred on by the Spirit, they will study, dig, and search out the truth as to what this life is all about.  And when they find out that life is Him, His plan and purpose, and His ballgame, then they will commit themselves to Him–though it take a lifetime.  They will endure any hardships along the way.  That’s the way the elect are built; it’s in their spiritual DNA.  They will endure all things.

And their studies will lead them to that attribute of the divine nature called in the English language “patience.”  But in the Greek (G5281), the word means “endurance, steadfastness, constancy…a patient enduring; sustaining; perseverance” [1].

This word is from the verb (G5278) “to endure.”  I Corinthians 13 lists the attributes of  agape love, God’s nature that is to be matured in us.  It “endures all things” (v. 7).

What things?  We are admonished to “endure to the end” and be saved (Matt. 10: 22; 24: 13).  Trials and tribulation will be endured by the elect.  Christ describes the treachery of the world at the time of the end of this age.  “Brother shall betray brother to death and the father the son.”  Children will betray their parents unto death.  And ones He has chosen to become fully matured in His image–they  will be “hated of all men for My name’s sake–but he that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved” (Mark 13: 13).  This is the patience/endurance that Peter is telling us we need to add to our faith.

Because this patience, this endurance, this perseverance that we must maintain speaks of a time of trials and tribulations, and persecutions and betrayals.  As God begins to squeeze the evildoers, they will lash out at the righteous.  We have to know that this is coming.

“Tribulation Worketh Patience”

“Tribulation worketh patience.”  Or, tribulation brings about patience.  Or, more clearly put, trials and tribulations are the very thing that fashions endurance, which is definitely a big part of God’s nature.  Without trials, patience/endurance will not be formed in us.  And without this endurance factor in our spiritual lives, we will not fulfill our calling as His sons and daughters.  For the law of harvest reads, Each seed bears its own kind.

After we are “illuminated” by the light of God’s truth, He has the adversary, the devil, present trials and persecutions to us, to which we will endure “a great fight of afflictions” (Heb. 10: 32).

In fact, Peter warns us about these afflictions.  “Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you” (I Pet. 4: 12).  It is not a strange thing at all, but part of the plan of God for our perfection.  It is in the script.  Already conceived by Him and written down.  After all, Christ is “the Author and Finisher of our faith.”  And all the additions to that faith (Heb. 12: 2).  Yes, and in that same verse, it tells how Christ “for the joy set before Him, endured the cross.”  As our example, He has endured all the sufferings before us.

These “fiery trials” that will try us will come, and we must endure it, for we are “partakers of Christ’s sufferings” (I Pet. 4: 13).  These sufferings are those trials we endure for His sake.  These are “also the afflictions Christians must undergo in behalf of the same cause for which Christ patiently endured” (Thayer’s Lexicon).

So we see that “patience” is much bigger and much more profound as we discover its meaning in the inspired scriptures of truth.  We now see that it is an attribute of God’s presence, and we should seek to understand it according to God’s thought of what it truly is.

Patience is enduring the sufferings needed to bring God’s plan to full fruition.  Enduring at all costs in the face of hardships–God did that first.  It is His “divine nature” we are to add, after all.  He did it first.  He endured the insolence of one of His created angelic beings to provide the sufferings for us all.  He endured the old nature, especially of His chosen people Israel (12 tribes), witnessed in the Old Testament.  He endured the shame of their sins and whoredoms.

And now He asks us, the little flock, who He knows will answer the call, for He has chosen us–He asks us to add this part of His wonderful divine nature–patience, endurance.

Us enduring, enduring, enduring the sufferings entailed in these finite earthly decaying mortal bodies.  As one of their own poets said, enduring “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.”

We now have been called into the “fellowship of His sufferings,” taking part of the same things He endured (Phil. 3: 10).

Agape love endures all things.  Like putting up with the evil men in control of this world system–that’s part of enduring the sufferings.  Wanting to do something immediately to banish the evil and injustice from this earth, and knowing that we now must wait on Yahweh–who will do this–but in His own time, according to His timetable.  That’s part of the sufferings.

Enduring.  Continuing undaunted in our pilgrimage to the City of Immortality.  Unwavering.  Stedfast.  Unswayed by the temptations to tarry here or take respite there.

Enduring by faith, entrusting our whole earthly existence on the seemingly impossible assumption and belief that somewhere an invisible Creator has life all mapped and charted for all of us.

And that He has sent us out on this dangerous dark sea, as we trust this invisible Spirit as our Captain to guide our hands on the rudder and sails, believing that He will somehow lead us through the angry storms and deposit us in a warm protected harbor where a wave is a mere warm froth lapping at our toes.

And so we wait.  And endure all things, trusting the Captain by trusting His word, which is the blueprint, the Plan and Purpose.

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

1.  Thayer’s Lexicon (http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G5281&t=KJV).

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June 30, 2012 · 9:35 pm

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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February 11, 2012 · 4:39 pm

God’s Endgame–Where This Life on Earth Is Leading Us

This brutal trek through the evil that “so easily besets us” is the proving ground where we, as new models of the old Adam, are perfected and thus become part of Christ.

We have the treasure of His Spirit hidden in our earthly bodies, and we are bombarded daily with stimuli and temptations of the flesh.

Evil is all around us and is necessary, much like, to continue the automobile metaphor, rough and pockmarked roads are needed to drive over when testing the undercarriage of the latest car or truck.

The evil out here in this world is necessary to be there for us to overcome.  When swamped with evil of any kind–loss and heartbreak, deprivation and longing, regret and remorse–whether of our own choosing or randomly foisted upon us by fate as it were, His children call on the great Spirit Father, who is waiting for them to contact Him.

And He heals them emotionally and physically, and they draw nearer to Him thereby, and their old way of thinking melts away into Christ’s thinking.  Then the evil that surrounds them disipates, for they have overcome it along with its purpose.  They will have attained the victory over the enemy–especially the “last enemy”–death.

Then comes the end–the end of evil and its usefulness to God’s purpose, which is to multiply Himself until all His creation is actually, well, Him.

It is like when I asked the Seer the inevitable question.  “Why didn’t God just create us perfect at the beginning and be done with it and spare us all the pain?”

To which he replied, “God could have created us that way, but then He would have so many humanoid robots on His hands, who had no choice in the matter.”

“At least they wouldn’t be hurting.”

“Yes, but that would not be reproducing Himself, would it?  Which is what His eternal purpose is all about.  All He would have are creations that could not further His plan of reproducing Himself.”

I think at this point I literally scratched my head.  “How’s that?” I asked.  This was getting way out there.

“Look.  God is producing creators like Himself.  That is what this life here on earth is all about–whether a person gets it or not.  Some will and they will see this vision of sonship–for themselves, which is to say–for Him.  Remember the Master’s statement: Blessed are your eyes for they see.”

The Endgame

So, “then cometh the end,” it says.  What end?  What is God’s endgame?  Simply put, Christ is the end.  He did say, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end” (Rev. 22: 13).  “That God may be all in all” (I Cor. 15: 24-28).  The end is God.  The beginning of life is God.  The end of our toil here on earth is God.  In the end it will be only Him.  That’s it.  All of the squabbling and pettiness and imbecility and selfishness and smugness and any other human foible–all of it shall be done away with, and all that will be left is God living at peace with His children.  That’s it.

Christ is the end.  His Spirit multiplied and living in many vessels, who shall populate the heavens as seed sown into the corners of the universe.  It will be all Him.  That is His Endgame.

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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