November 28, 2023 · 1:13 pm

Enduring the Dark Night of the Soul

(from Journal entry, 10-3-22)

At our weakest moment, God will allow Satan to present a panorama of memories and recollections of our sordid past sins, weaknesses, and spiritual failures. This is our passage through the valley of the dark night of the soul.

It issues from many sources. Betrayals and the pain that may linger from them may come. Or our thoughts may take a journey once again into the night’s memories of yesteryear’s shortcomings.

In this weakened state, spiritual trouble comes with our thoughts about how destitute of love we were. We begin to see our selfish naked egos, stained with pride, justifying our use of others, of those who our Savior died for. It is as if we are peering into the screen of a time machine, a mirror that reflects just how we really were. We peer into the fruitless past, and that same panic of being lost in the maze of life, grips us as we look back and long and lament our adolescent idiocy and our selfish egoism.

We must fearlessly look at the images and believe that they are mere relics of our past life. Remember how Christ was tempted? Satan offered up full control of his kingdom to Christ if He would play ball with him. Christ resisted all the temptations. Now Christ in us resists them as well.

Christ with great mercy has promised that He would “never leave us nor forsake us.” Especially when Satan thrusts in our face our sins and faults of yesteryear. He is the “accuser of the brethren.” But it is the great mercy of our King that reigns supreme. He has our backs. He allows us to think these fleeting thoughts to show us more clearly the magnificent deliverance from sin that He has wrought in our lives. For that is what it was—not is! We remember that we are His, bought with His blood. And He leads us through this moonless trek, this suffocating remembrance of what we once were.

Through this experience, however, we learn that we have been forgiven much. Therefore, we will love much, which fulfills His purpose of reproducing Himself (Agape love) in us. Christ said, “Her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little” (Luke 7:47 NKJV). These trials whereof we speak shows us that we have been forgiven much. A painful trudge down the “valley of the shadow of death” during our “dark night of the soul” shows us that. Those of us who see the reality of our shameful pasts and receive His forgiveness will love much. Those who do not see that they have been forgiven all that much—they will love only a little. “Her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.”

Finally, Satan tries to use these memories to condemn us, but God uses them to show us a clearer picture of just how evil our old nature was. Through this trial, we see more clearly just how much we have been forgiven—how much selfish ungodliness we have been delivered from.

For in the end, only those who see and realize how much sin they have been forgiven will love much. Only those will bear much fruit, thus becoming more like Christ and His apostles. That is His goal and purpose: our maturity, which fulfills His purpose of multiplying Agape Love, which is Him.

The “dark night of the soul” experience is part of His plan to fulfill His purpose: to reproduce Agape love in us, thus reproducing Himself till Love be “all in all” (I Cor. 15:28). His plan is to keep on perfecting until all that is left is Love.     [Would you share your “dark night of the soul” in the comments section? The testimonies of the Father’s sons and daughters are so important. “Likes” are nice and appreciated, but a comment fashioned by the Spirit with words from the heart—that is what moves us. That is what edifies and helps us mature. That we may grow “unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Eph. 4:12-13). For it is the “power that works in us” (Eph. 3:20). Your comments will be read all over the globe. Reach out and share your story?]      Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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November 21, 2023 · 3:57 pm

Seeking and Finding God Is Not from a Magical “Poof!”

Seeking and finding God is not about one day falling into a glorious cavern of His spiritual treasures, where you look all around, overwhelmed with the power and glory, and you begin to run around with your hair on fire, seeking other humans to share this vision with.

Sounds nice. Whatever it takes to get your attention. But that is not the way things will happen based on this precept: “That which has been is now, and that which is to be has already been. And God requires the past” (Ecclesiastes 3:15).

“God will call the past to account” it says in the NIV. The past is important to our Father. For example, He inspired His prophets to write His exploits down for the generations to come. For us—especially for us destined to be a factor in “the time of the end.” The things that happened to the twelve tribes of Israel back in the day is “written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come” (I Cor. 10:11). We must look to the past to secure our steps on our current spiritual walk. How did the prophets and apostles of old seek Him? What happened to the true seekers of Yah? What did He reveal about Himself to them? God requires once again that we seek and find Him the way they did in the past. We must remember what He said: “I change not.”

To find out more, let us go to the apostles. They had 3 1/2 years of everyday hands-on instruction. 3 1/2 years Christ taught them. Christ’s teachings recorded in the Bible would take just a few hours to read. They had a thousand days with Him. Think about the things He taught them that are not recorded!

They were prepared vessels, taught by their Master and chosen by Him to be in the upper room at Pentecost. It was not a magical “Poof!” that transformed them into the powerhouses we see in the book of Acts.

What They Were Taught

Brothers and sisters, we can be taught the Master’s doctrine right now. His teachings are His doctrine. And Christ taught his disciples well. It was first the book learning, and then the on-the-job training as seen in Matthew 10.

The point is this: His apostles have left us His teachings, that when followed, will prepare us for not just a Pentecostal experience but how to be the saviors of this sick planet.

Since today God requires the things of the past, then we must study how He operated in the past. For example, Christ walked with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus after the resurrection. They could not recognize Him until He “expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself.” Christ had upbraided them. “O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken” (Luke 24:25-32). This again shows how studying the scriptures (both Old and New Testaments) are so important.

But someone we’ll speak up and say, “But I already am walking with Christ!” Not if you are espousing false doctrines. Not when you still confess that you are a sinner. Not when your old selfish heart raises its ugly head. Not when you still don’t realize that we have been baptized into Christ’s death (Romans 6). We are dead with Him, buried with Him, and resurrected with Him, to walk in a “newness of life.”

People of God, this is repentance from sin, the very first of the apostles’ doctrine. The apostles got His teachings directly from Christ. And now they have given it to us. There are six more of his doctrines/teachings. These will prepare us for our appointment with Christ when he empowers us to be just like his apostles after the baptism of fire.

The baptism in the Holy Spirit and the baptism in fire are not the end goal for the elect. They are stages of spiritual growth to enable us to be used by Him to work in His harvest of souls. Those two baptisms are not the end, but rather they are means to the end. And that end is the fulfillment of all the prophecies “spoken by the mouth of His holy prophets since the world began.” Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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November 13, 2023 · 12:31 pm

Birth Adventure of Our Daughter Sara

[A joyous yet cautionary tale]

Sara was born in Linares, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. She was almost born on the road to Linares. She came rather rapidly once her time had come to enter this world. That was February 1, 1974. Sara’s first adventure was almost being born on the side of a mountain.

We were living 62 kilometers up the mountain from Linares on Hwy. 60–due west in the Sierra Madre mountains. It took one hour to travel those 37 miles, no matter if you were going uphill or downhill. The road was steep, so steep and curvy that going 20 miles an hour sometimes would throw you against the side of the van.  

It was a beautiful drive most of the time. Kilometer 62 was our address and was exactly a mile high, cool and dry in the winter. But just one hour away lay the sultry tropics of Linares. The city was surrounded by enormous orange and grapefruit orchards for as far as the eye could see.

The week before Sara was born, my wife Linda had false labor. She thought it was time. “Hurry, Wayne! It is time to go to the hospital!” So, we ran to the van and drove like crazy to get there in  time, only to find out that the baby was not ready. Disappointed, we drove on back to the mission and resumed our day-to-day activities.

The days clicked on. Linda got bigger and bigger and still no baby. She would have some twinges and pains here and there, but nothing serious seemed to be happening. Or at least she thought that.

Linda kept waiting and waiting, thinking it was just false labor again. Things got serious on February 1st. The contractions were getting harder. At first, they were four minutes apart, and then two minutes apart.

“Hurry! This must be the time!” Linda moaned. We sped down the mountain faster than usual. I know I was jostling her way too much. The extreme rocking motion probably helped to bring it on even faster. Down, down, and round and round we sped down that mountain, and all the while Linda was crying out in pain, “It’s coming! It’s coming! Hurry! Oh, God, it’s coming!”

We pulled into the hospital driveway in front of the receiving ward. Thank goodness that it was on the near side of the city on our highway. The side doors flew open. I called out for help. Medics rushed over. We got Linda onto a gurney, and they wheeled her swiftly down the hallway to the maternity delivery room. All the while, she was moaning in a wild-eyed blonde frenzy.

It was not five minutes after we got there that Sara came into this world. It happened so fast that they did not even have enough time to take Linda’s dress off and put her into a gown. I shouted to the nun nurses, “I want to come into the delivery room!”

“No, you cannot come in here. You must stay outside the doors.” The double doors had glass windows about eight inches above my eye level. So, I had to jump up and take a split-second glimpse of my first daughter being born. I didn’t have time to jump too much because the baby came quickly.

Usually, Linda had a difficult time because our babies had such large craniums. But, thank God, not Sara. She came so quickly that she just popped out, and there it was, the miracle of procreation once again gracing the stage we call earth. Hello, crazy daddy, jumping up and down to catch a glimpse of the precious little miracle. And finally, there it was!

“It’s a boy!” I shouted out at the top of my lungs. “It’s a boy!” I was announcing boldly through the cracked door to all the attendant nuns and to the radiant mother herself, now holding her new infant.

“No, it’s not,” said Linda calmly, patiently smiling at the ecstatic father. “It’s a girl.”

“But,” I said, looking down between the baby’s legs.

“That’s the umbilical cord wrapped around her.”

“I thought it was… that’s OK! It’s a beautiful baby girl!”

This is one of the most memorable adventures, not just as missionaries to Mexico, but in our entire life. Sara has been adventurous ever since. I guess it is in her DNA.  

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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November 7, 2023 · 12:52 pm

The Heartbreak of Being Human

I have not forgotten the heartbreak of being human. Especially not now when the joy of my existence in Christ is fully engaged within.

I have not forgotten the pain, the pain now witnessed in tears of stone. Most every countenance I see is an exquisite miniature tragedy, played out on a 9 to 5 stage.

The human faces try to lie, but they cannot. For the flash of smiles lasts but a flicker, and then it’s back to a sullen reality.

I have not forgotten the heartbreak of being human, how the droning of the tenacious bells and sirens and buzzers and beeps drag them to maddening mental convulsions.

I have not forgotten the heartbreak of being human. It is captured in every culture’s songs. From the blues to tear jerkers, from opera to the mournful cries of the Portuguese fado, they all moan the loss of love and the loss of purpose for their existence.  

Catharsis remains as mankind walks the tragic path. All this suffering notwithstanding, there is hope for love and joy and peace to reign on this earth headed by the Prince of peace.

I have not forgotten the heartbreak of being human, of being addicted to Big Tech’s latest bread and circus, of being marched into delusional darkness, without “the true Light, which lights every man that comes into the world.” To those who receive Him, however, “to them He gave power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name” (John 1:9-12).

And now, as I look out over the land, secure in His love that is witnessed by the works that He has done within, I am grateful. Still, a saddened joy washes my eyes and helps me see the “multitudes in the valley of decision.” It helps me see that I have not forgotten the heartbreak of being human. Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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November 2, 2023 · 7:53 pm

Outline for Teaching and Evangelizing

God’s Purpose

  1. To reproduce and multiply Himself
  2. He is Agape Love
  3. Therefore, His purpose is to reproduce Christ’s Love
  1. The Plan to fulfill His Purpose [See pp.41-48 in The Royal Destiny].
  2. Law of Harvest—You reap what you sow. God does, too.
  3. Human beings used as the medium to reproduce Himself in
  4. The Word is the seed. Matt. 13, The Parable of the Sower
  5. The Word/Seed Son fell into the ground for three days and three nights in the tomb.
  6. Christ died on the cross and was raised from the dead.
  7. He desires us to spiritually die with Him on the cross. Belief in His resurrection germinates the Seed, the Word of God, in us (Romans 6:1-12).
  8. We now become “babes in Christ.” This puts us on the road to growth by His Spirit within.
  9. Spiritual growth is measured by three levels—30, 60, 100-fold growth. Knowing, Doing, and Being. “Children, young men, fathers” (I John 2:13-14).
  1. What we must do to have the Spirit grow within us. We cannot do anything to earn the salvation of God. But we certainly must do things to grow to be like Christ.
  2. “Continue steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine” Do what they did. Their doctrine was Christ’s teachings (Acts 2:42-43) [See book The Apostles’ Doctrine].
  3. Add to your faith  (II Peter 1:4-[See book The Additions to the Faith]
  4. Obey Christ’s “new commandments.” [See book The Eleventh Commandment]
  5. “Purge out the old leaven” so that we can become holy. Repent of false doctrines and concepts about Christ our King.
  6. “Put on the whole armor of God.”
  7. If we do these things, we will grow, or His Spirit will grow in us, that we “be no more children, tossed to and fro, carried about by every wind of doctrine” that the devil throws at us. Doing all these things builds a sure foundation.
  8. Study His word, His thoughts, His purpose, His plan. God’s approval is given to those who study, who “accurately handle the word of truth” (II Tim. 2:15).
  9. The above are the “first principles of the oracles of God,” the “elementary truths,” the “milk of the word.” Strong meat comes after mastery (Heb. 5:12-14; 6:1-2).
  10. “If you do these things, you shall never fall.” This provides “an entrance” into that dimension that Christ and His apostles walked in (II Pet. 1:10).

[See you on Immortality Road blog: immortalityroad.wordpress.com. Use the “Search” tab on the home page to research any of these topics. To order my books, free with free shipping: Send name, address, name of book to my email: wayneman5@hotmail.com]

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October 28, 2023 · 11:41 am

…With Me from the Beginning

(from journal entry, 12-8-21)

It was early morning, and I was still in bed. I opened my eyes, and the first thought that crystalized out of the foggy dream mind was – “The Beginning.” The “beginning?” Why was I thinking that? Then another thought came that answered the question: “… with Me from the beginning.” With ME. I was with Christ. I knew that it was the Spirit speaking to me through thoughts. I began then to ponder these cryptic words. What did the Spirit mean?

So, I looked the word “beginning” up in the Greek. The “beginning” comes from the word arche, #G746 in Strong’s. It means “the origin, the active cause, used absolutely of the beginning of all things.”

Christ said, “I am the beginning and the end.” Christ is the “active cause.” He is our origin (Revelation 1:8-11,17-18). “In the beginning was the Word.” Christ is the beginning. Therefore, in Christ was the Word. Word = Logos [the purpose and plan of God]. Christ is the “active cause” in the creation of heaven and earth. “All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made” (John 1:3).

Our Savior, the “Word made flesh,” came to earth to bear witness to the truth, that He is the truth. And we, too, are to bear witness to the truth because we were with Him in the beginning. Christ said, “And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning” (John 15:27). This is not speaking of the beginning of Christ’s earthly ministry. The Greek word arche is used for the beginning of all things. It is used as such in this verse: “In the beginning was the Word…” (John 1:1).

 We are a part of the record in heaven of the things that will occur on earth. We were with him in the beginning. He knew us before because He created us as a member of His body in heaven before the earth was formed. Then He dipped us into the earth as we slid out of the matrix of our mothers’ wombs, and then we were cast out into the sea of lost mankind.

We, who had once basked in the glorious light of our Father in heaven, were now left to grow up, barely afloat in the treacherous rip tides of sin. Sin was our task master, and we obeyed his desires. The bondage to sin weighed heavily to the point of us drowning, and then we cried out in anguish and disillusionment, and then a hand reached down, a strong hand of love, and He pulled us up out of the quagmire.

He cleaned us up at the cross. He allowed us to identify our sinful selves with the Lamb, the sin sacrifice, and we died with Him. With the death of our old man, we believe that we are now buried with Him and raised with Him, now to walk in a “newness of life.” We now know and believe that “he that is dead is freed from sin.” We now spiritually step out on the water and walk in the Spirit (Rom. 6:1-11).

And then our earthly past died, and we began to grow as a seedling, tasting its first rays of light. Through study and communication with the Spirit, we grew and grew until He showed us that we had a special calling to fulfill, a special job to do. We are to share the love that saved us, by telling others the story of deliverance through His great love.

As we grow, we become a part of the witness in the earth of the record in heaven. God already knew that we would respond to His voice. He knew us and knew what we were made of. He made us, before the things we can see with our earthly eyes were made. For we were with Him in the beginning. And He has chosen us and given us a destiny way back there at the “Beginning.”

“…God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son…  And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified” (Rom. 8:28-30). Yahweh predestined us, not to just be saved, but to be “conformed to the image of his Son.” At Christ’s return to earth, He will change our weak, earthly body, “that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body” (Phil. 3:21).

We are talking about being like Christ and His apostles! Nothing less. But before this greatest of honors is bestowed upon us, we must “arm ourselves with the same mind.” We must know and do the apostles’ doctrine and add to our faith seven spiritual attributes of Christ.

We have so much knowledge to receive. Knowing His mind will finally drive out every thought that is contrary to His purpose and plan. The mind is the battlefield where we conquer the enemy’s errant desires for us. Amid the battle, it is easy to forget that we have already won, for “we are more than conquerors through Christ.” In Him lies our power, strength, and will.

O, let us shower Him with thanks for granting us the exit visa at the cross. Repentance from sin comes when we realize that we “are dead and our life is hid with Christ…” We are a part of His body now, unencumbered by that spiritually corrupt old life. We now believe that we are a part of Christ, and the Father’s heart of love dwells within us. All this happens because He mercifully allowed us to be with Him in the beginning.     Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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September 25, 2023 · 11:24 am

Husbands and Wives—Conversations with the Seer

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

Brotherly love, the sixth addition to the faith, begins at home. Loving one’s wife is loving one’s own self. She is one flesh with her husband. This is the first step in loving others. That first step is usually the hardest one. It takes us changing.

Change in us may begin its work in a flash moment, but it completes its work in decades of walking down Love’s humbling path.

I was having marital problems. I was young, stuffed with the pride of youth that directed my tongue. So, I broke down and decided to seek help.  I barely had enough time to sit down, and before I had spoken a word, the Seer asked, “Troubles with the wife?”

“Yes.  How did you know?”

“The Spirit, if your heart is attuned, picks up on these things.  It’s really not difficult to discern because ‘all things come alike to all.’  We all come up the same way” [1].

“My wife is always bringing me down. It’s frustrating. I’ll get a wonderful revelation about God, and I am so enthused, and I try to share it with her, and all she has to say is, ‘Yeah, that’s great, but would you help me, please? Could you do something around here?  Help straighten up the house. Check on the kids.’  Things like that.”

The Seer just looked at me as if looking through a window at the wind blowing through a white oak tree. “We on our spiritual walk back to the Father’s heart must not get too heavenly minded to be of any earthly good.”

I looked at him as if he were speaking Chinese. “What?  What do you mean?”

“It is all about taking the heavenly things like love and mercy, and putting them into action here on earth.  Christ did it and then taught it” [2].

“She makes me mad,” I continued.  “It’s like she deliberately throws on me all this negativity, like a wet blanket. Instead of rejoicing with me, she just smothers me. I try to correct her and get her to stop, but that just sets her off and we start fussing and fighting.”

“Oh, you mustn’t try to stop her,” the Seer said. “Goodness, no.  Never try to prevent someone from doing God’s will.”

“God’s will?”  I asked.  “A wife so earthly minded that she can’t get past the pots and pans and diapers is doing God’s will?”

“They are your pots and pans and your children’s clothes. Let me explain what is spiritually happening. God Himself has created your wife exactly the way she is in every respect. He has made her to be your absolute complement. She, with all her faults and all her many unappreciated virtues, is exactly what the Great Physician ordered–for you and your perfection.”

“My perfection?” I asked.

“She’s your help meet, isn’t she?” [3].

“Yes.”

“Well, then, she is being a good help meet because she’s helping you meet God. Look. She is merely speaking what is in the script written by God–as if He had with a thoughtful quill inked upon her DNA the lines she speaks to help you mature spiritually. And her reactions to you and her ‘negative’ comments to you about your ways are all ordained, scribed, and orchestrated by God to get a rise out of you.”

“It does that,” I said. “But she should be honoring her husband and not putting him down all the time.”

“You don’t need a wife that praises your every word or whim. That would not bring you to perfection. In fact, it would ruin you for God’s purposes.”

“I still don’t get it.”

“You see,” the Seer continued, “You have many faults that must be purged out of your life before full spiritual maturity comes. God uses wives to help us grow from a babe in Christ to a young man. A ‘woman shall be saved in child bearing’ [4].  She not only rears your earthly children, but also helps to rear the spiritual child of God in her life–you, her husband. She cannot change the way she has been created. She is saying exactly what the Father has entrusted her to say to you.”

“It just makes me mad,” I said.

“There. Right there in that thought–that unjust anger is an example of the kind of things that God desires to erase out of your life. And your wife will continue to bring it out–not to be mean, as you suppose. She has to. She doesn’t even realize that God is using her for the purpose of burning out the dross that lurks around your new faith. Yet, she will continue saying her lines as a faithful player on the stage of life–until you get it.”

“Get what?” I asked, still not understanding the depth of the matter.

“When you finally understand these words I’ve spoken and believed them, then you’ll have gained several precious life lessons. Number one. That God is totally sovereign and in complete control. He uses anyone and anything He desires to effect a change in one of His chosen ones–one of His elect sons of God. Two. God’s ways are not our ways. We would not perfect us the way He does. We would much rather sit in the sunshine munching Oreos as the way to make big changes in our life. Third. We need to be grateful for God’s love to us. He has chosen us as His offspring. He did not have to pick us to reveal Himself in us. So, just be grateful for your wife and don’t be bitter towards her [5]. God is using her to do a great work in you.”

“It doesn’t seem so great right now,” I said.

“When you receive this truth that I’ve shared with you, you won’t get angry and frustrated with her. You’ll know the truth that it is all God’s doing, flowing out from His heart of love. Right now you are buffeted for your own faults [6]. What will you do when you are persecuted unjustly?”

“I don’t know.”

“When it happens, just know that it is still God doing His work of perfection in you.” The Seer paused. “But, enough of this now. Tell me. What is your wife’s favorite candy bar?”

“Almond Hershey.”

“Tell you what. Go buy her one. And with no fanfare, hand it to her and tell her that you love her.”

I did what He said. And that little gesture generated a smile on her face that said, “He understands.” But all I understood that day was the magic of chocolate.  She would receive several Almond Hersheys throughout the years. But it would take decades for me to finally understand and appreciate the message he gave me that day.  [This is Chap. 55 of my new book The Additions to the Faith.]

  1. Eccle. 9: 2
  2. Acts 1: 1
  3. Gen. 2: 18
  4. I Tim. 2: 15
  5. Col. 3: 19
  6. I Peter 2: 20

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September 16, 2023 · 9:30 am

Christ’s Dream, Cause, and Vision Redux

What cause would be worthwhile enough for you and me to give up our current goals and aspirations to take up that cause?

Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream–a vision of a world of racial equality and justice, and he went all in to help make it come true. What dream, what vision would put you and me all in?

For what cause would we be willing to wager our entire existence on, to see it  come to pass?

Christianity was founded by a personage that laid it all on the line, that put it all out there for His Father’s cause. And that cause was to bear witness to the truth that He was the King of the Kingdom of God (John 18: 37). And now He asks us His followers to do the same thing: to go all in for the cause of truth, to lay down our lives as He did.

But instead of a physical bodily sacrifice, we are to “present [our] bodies a living sacrifice.” The death we experience is the death of our old selfish lives, and in their stead He resurrects in us a “newness of life” where “old things are passed away and all things are become new.”

How does that happen? Because we now have a new cause, a new vision, a new dream for our lives here on earth. In Christ we no longer languish under the  load of our petty little dreams of self-respect.  For in Christ the old, weak, selfish, small-hearted goals are replaced with His thoughts, His goals, His dream, and His vision.

But herein lies the problem. What exactly are God’s true cause, dream, and vision? There are over 2,000 denominations, each with their own interpretation of Christ’s vision for us and this world.

The Solution to the Problem

Which ones are false and which one is true? The answer is found in Christ’s very own words. He placed a premium on the words. “For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Mt. 12: 37 NKJV).

He also said, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (12: 34). What a person is all about will come out of their mouth. So to know Christ’s vision and to understand His cause, we must study the words that He spoke concerning His goals. And we then must make them ours. That is what He said to do.

So what words came out of His mouth? From the beginning of His ministry, He “began to preach and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Repent of your old selfish sinful ways. For it is time to change and get a new cause, a worthwhile cause, a new vision, and a new dream for your life, for I the King am come to you. My kingdom is very near you right now. The new cause and vision is standing before you right now. Therefore, repent and turn from wickedness and receive a new vision for life on earth free from sin and injustice–beginning in you! Your old selfish life is not worth it. It ends in the dusty tomb of death, just another existence, forgotten forever in a generation or two. Get this new vision of walking with Me in My “kingdom wherein dwells righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Mt. 4: 17, 23).

“And Jesus (Yahshua) went about all Galilee, teaching…and preaching the gospel…” Which gospel? The Catholic gospel? The Baptist gospel? The charismatic gospel? No. It was the “gospel of the kingdom.” He proclaimed the good news of His government coming to earth with Him as its Sovereign (Mark 1: 14).

His kingdom is a literal and spiritual government, instituted by God. It is literal! It will literally be established on this earth in the near future upon Christ’s return. Now He is the King in exile, waiting for His followers to mature “till Christ be formed in us.”

We all need to shout this to ourselves and to the whole world: “It’s the kingdom, stupid!” Christ spoke of it incessantly, scores of times. When he spoke about being “born again,” it was so that we could enter the kingdom of God. Preachers talk a lot about “born again,” but rarely do they speak of His kingdom, which is the gospel, the good news.

It is all about the Kingdom of God. All of the parables, the secrets kept from the foundation of the world, concern His kingdom. They answer the who, what, when, why, and how about it.

When will we all awake out of the slumber? When will we stir ourselves up and start running the race set before us? It is when we “purge out the old leaven.” The old leaven is the erroneous teachings about Christ that block and cloud over His true expression of  that which He spoke of–His kingdom. He is returning for His kingdom. His kingdom is His cause, His dream, His vision.

His government is so important to Him that He said this: “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” and everything else will be supplied. Go all in for His cause and vision, and He will have our backs when it comes to the earthly life’s necessities. We don’t have to strive for them. He’ll give us what we need to bring His cause to fruition. He has our back when we have His!

When we make His dream ours and work for it, when we make His cause ours and strive for it, when we make His vision ours and seek first for it–then He will know that He has our hearts and we then will become men and women “after God’s own heart.”

For we must remember this: Somebody will sit down with Christ on His throne, on the throne of this very kingdom that He spoke continually about. Somebody “redeemed from among men.” Somebody delivered from the slime pits of sin and cleaned and groomed and prepared in spiritual maturity to rule with Him for a thousand years right here  on earth. Is that someone you and I?

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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September 5, 2023 · 2:33 pm

“The Sure Mercies of David”

(from journal entry, 9-11-16 and 9-13-16)

Yahweh through His prophet Nathan spoke to David. “And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.” What promises! What enduring love and steadfastness Yahweh showed to David, and by extension, 1000 years later, to Christ.

It is by God’s mercy that He saves us from sin and sinning. In so doing, He saves us from sin’s major consequence—death. We enter oneness with Christ, encouraged by His promise of immortality through Him.

In Acts 13:34 we see the “sure mercies of David” equated with the granting to us of eternal life—the opposite of death. He speaks of the resurrection of Christ and how Christ’s body did not see corruption [decay]. Believing in Christ’s resurrection will bring to us that same incorruptibility of the body when we receive our new spiritual body at the end of this age. Christ’s body not falling into decay insures for us that same future in Christ, to wit: We will receive from Him the “sure mercies of David,” mercies that He has promised us, also.

It is God’s mercy to extend to us and provide the way from utter destruction caused by sin in our lives to the eradication of sin on into the immortality of our spiritual body.

This promise of immortality in our new spiritual bodies that we receive at the end of this age is called the “sure mercies of David.” We are assured the same spiritual grace and mercy that was given to David. Hence—the “sure mercies of David.” God is inviting us to hear His words and to come to Him, to draw near to Him, trusting Him. We hear these same words from the Savior. “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Mt. 11:28). The rest comes to us when we believe in the “sure mercies of David,” when we believe we shall be blessed with a new spiritual body.  

He continues in Isaiah 55:3 by stressing the importance of listening to His words. “Hear and your soul shall live.” Take in the truth that I am saying, and your soul will live and not die. “And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.”

Only those with immortality can partake in an everlasting agreement. God is saying, I am making this agreement with you that if you hear my words and believe Me, that you will live forever. It is an everlasting covenant, for you will be around forever to enjoy the life I give you.

This is the “sure mercies of David,” when Christ, David’s son, makes all this possible. It is for this reason: Yahshua is “the root and the offspring of David” (Rev. 22:16). The “root of David” is Yahweh; the “offspring of David” is the Son of God incarnate, with the Father residing within Him. The Son of God is “the image of the invisible God [the Father] …for by Him was all things created…all things were created by Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.” And now, through Him and his mercies toward us His body, we have everlasting life in Him (Col. 1:15-17).

The Key of David

The promise of immortality granted to believers is at the root of God’s mercies. I believe that these mercies correlate with the “key of David” in Revelation 3:7. It also goes with the “open door” given to overcomers—”doors of the shadow of death” (Job 38:17). Yahshua the Anointed frees the prisoners who are locked up behind the doors of death. I believe that it is the key [the sure mercies] of David that unlocks them.

The door was shut at the marriage feast. Those not ready were locked out. They obviously did not have the key to unlock the door; they did not have the key of David, a “man after God’s own heart.” Yahshua is the door. Enter through Him and you shall be saved (John 10:7,9; Acts 16:26-27).

After Receiving the Mercies and the Key of David

When you receive from Him the Key of David, you receive David’s power as an anointed king—the power to open doors and to shut doors.

Power. But the power that God will give to His “kings and priests” will be awarded to the sons and daughters on their merit according to their study and prayer and seeking His perfect will for their era.

At the beginning of the 1,000-year reign of Christ, the earth will lay desolate. Even a casual reading of Revelation of the events of the Tribulation Period confirms this. He will send out His spiritual offspring, resplendent in their new spiritual bodies. They will go out to the furthest reaches of the globe to help the survivors, to heal them, to feed them, to get them on their feet. They will comfort them, for most will have lost everything dear.

This is a new age, for these sons and daughters sent forth by the “King of kings” will have received their spiritual bodies. They will stride forth as immortals amongst the needy. They will walk in the full authority of the King Yahshua; they will serve their King as His viceroys and heralds, ministering in His stead.

They will attain this position, not through hubris, but through humility and brokenness and mercy and love for the unfortunate and needy. They will bring peace to the ravaged land and joy to the saddened faces. They will grant strength to the feeble and righteousness and justice to all those who long for them. They will be touched by the feelings of their infirmities.

They will, consequently, share with them the “sure mercies of David.”

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August 28, 2023 · 2:20 pm

“Rich Men North of Richmond” Awakening—Habakkuk’s Vision of What Comes Next

(Journal entry, 2-22-03)

Oliver Anthony’s “Rich Men North of Richmond” has aroused the sleeping masses. Hearts are shaken, emotions are welling up in gratitude that someone out there has said what they are feeling.

There is a reason for this awakened response to this song. It is founded on scriptural themes. The prominent theme is the evilness of the rich men, the kings of the world system. The rich men will have their judgement in God’s good timing. The apostle James said of them, “Woe unto you rich men who heap treasure together for the last days” (5:3). All the while “they promise them liberty, but they themselves are the servants of corruption” (II Peter 2:19).

At his free concert, Oliver Anthony led off with a quote from David’s Psalm 37. Its main theme is trusting God, knowing that “Yahweh laughs at the wicked, for He knows their day is coming.” So, “do not fret because of evil men…for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away” (37:1,13 NIV).

In lieu of all the pain in just surviving the system, to get to that spiritual state of trusting and not fretting, He says, “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light” (Eph. 5:14).

All this notwithstanding, we His elect, we who are the called and chosen to be His mouth as watchmen, we must first awaken, yes. But we must rise from being spiritually dead. Remember Christ saying, “Let the dead bury the dead.” And then Christ will give us light. He is the light; His way, truth, and purpose we must learn. We must sit at the prophet’s feet and learn how Yahweh prepares us for the arduous tasks ahead after awakening from spiritual sleep.

The prophet is Habakkuk. Small book, seldom read. Through the prophet, Yahweh’s voice cries to us and lays the prophetical vision of how the awakening fits into Yahweh’s end time scenario. Let us let the Spirit through the pen of the prophet teach us how to be His watchmen.

Overview Chapter One

Habakkuk the prophet sees the following in a vision. He is crying out to Yahweh, wanting answers as to why the wicked hold all the power on earth. He is wondering why God does not pay the wicked back with what they deserve—punishment. It seems like God is letting evil doers get away with it (1: 2-4).

Yahweh answers Habakkuk’s pleas with more oppression! God is raising up the Babylonians to roll over God’s people Judah/Israel. The Babylonians were evil impetuous people, full of violence. Yet they are used by God to punish the children of Jacob/Israel, who have turned and served other gods (1:5-12).

Habakkuk says that God makes men as fishes. The Babylonians are like fishermen who catch men with their hooks and nets, which they worship as gods. The Babylonians offer “sacrifices unto their net and burn incense unto their drag.” They worship their gods that can “catch” men like a fish. “Sacrifices” and “incense” are symbols for religious worship. So, Babylonian worship straight out of “Mystery Babylon the Great” is the false world system and its false doctrines of the religious denominations. These false doctrines are what catches people like fish. The false political and religious system gathers men like a net gathers together fish. This “net” “slays nations” (1:17)

And yet, Habakkuk was brought to realize that it was Yahweh who was raising the Babylonian army up. He was allowing them to prosper at the expense of His chosen people who had sinned against Him. This is what Habakkuk could not understand.  

This dominance of the world system over all of us is the Babylon of our day. Yahweh could destroy it today. Of course, He has that power. We like Habakkuk wonder, “How long, O Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but You do not save? Why do You make me look at injustice? why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. Therefore, justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted” (1:2-4). What a description of the world today!

The Babylonian net goes beyond just the Kingdom of Judah in 600 B.C. It prophetically reaches into our day, as the world system continues to slay nations and peoples. This is the spiritual prophetic context that the masses are awakening from.

Chapter Two

Habakkuk awakes unto this knowledge that God is allowing Babylon, the world system, to spread its degradation throughout the earth. And so, he says, I will watch, observe, and peer into the distance, to see what He will say to me concerning my lack of clear vision about Babylon’s dominance over God’s people. I will stand upon my watch…and will watch to see what He will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved (2:1).

But Yahweh answers, “Write the vision and make it plain upon tables” that whoever reads it–whoever understands the vision–may run. The vision is yet for an appointed time.” The “vision” shows the destruction of the rich men who control the world system. It also shows the revealing of the “manifestation of the sons of God” and their part in God’s scenario. It also shows what shall happen to the whole earth and all the nations upon it.

For the revelation [vision] awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay. (2:3). The vision shows us the end of evil and the evil rich who destroy men’s souls. Justice will be served upon them at the “appointed time.” The vision will come on time. What is meant to happen to man and the earth is what God has foreordained, and it shall come to pass exactly when God plans it. And the righteous man will live by faith, not by sight. We shall continue in God’s plan though we cannot see with our eyes the end fruit of God’s doing. We will trust Him, though His thoughts are not our thoughts.

The rest of Chapter Two describes the reach of the rich men. Mystery Babylon uses wine [doctrines] and wealth [deceitfulness] to deceive the nations. Chapter Two is a description of those whom the devil controls.

The Book of Habakkuk correlates with Revelation 18 and should be studied together. In Chapter 18 we see the fall of the world system at the time of the end. It shows the rich men mourning their losses of all that they merchandized in: Everything fine like “gold, silver, precious stones” and all the beautiful, exquisite things, “and souls of men.” The rich men of the earth have bought and sold the souls of the masses! At the appointed time, they will lose it all in one hour! Rejoice over her, you holy apostles and prophets, for God has avenged you on her [the world system] (18:16-20).

Chapter Three

The vision of the destruction of the rich men and their desire to dethrone God is given. It reaches through 2600 years to our day. It is a far-reaching prophetical vision. It is a prayer request for God to do his work here on earth, putting an end to the evilness as outlined in Chapter One and Two. Even after hearing God speak of what shall take place, even after knowing what God will do, even after Habakkuk expresses longings for God’s wrath on the evil ones–it still is a fearful thing to him. In fact, Habakkuk pleads, “In wrath remember mercy.”

The vision then is a vision of Yahweh’s wrath that He will exact on the inhabitants of earth! It is a vision that is to take place in the latter days. It will be at the “time of the end” of this present world system as outlined in Revelation. At that time the vision will speak. The events of the time of the end will scream out to the elect and will let them know. The events that enfold during the latter days will not lie to us; they will fulfill exactly what He always said would happen (v. 3).

The “Rich Men” song has done a good job of awakening the masses as to the problem of the rich persecuting the middle classes and the poor. First, one must wake up and see who your enemy is.  Awake thou that sleepest. Then one must turn to God and repent of their sins, letting their old self die with Christ on the cross. Rise from the dead and begin to follow the King Christ who will teach us the deep things that only the Light can give us. And Christ shall give thee light. The Light shines on us His purpose and plan and teaches us how to become His watchmen.

The “Rich Men North of Richmond” Awakening is a necessary first step. The people are waking up from the anesthesia of the kool aid fed to them by the rich men who own the world and billions of “the souls of men.” The prophet Habakkuk shows us that there are more steps that the Light will reveal to us…at the appointed time. Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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