October 1, 2016 · 6:32 pm

The Mystery of the “Holy One of Israel”

“I and my Father are One…”

A major prerequisite in becoming a manifested son of God is knowing Him that is from the beginning. The sons of God will know Him and the power of His resurrection. They will have solved the puzzle, the mystery of godliness.   “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh.”

Things kept secret from before the foundation of the world will be understood by the sons of God. “The secrets of Yahweh belong to them who are in awe of Him, and He reveals His secrets to His servants the prophets.” Yes, the sons of God are destined by Him to know all the mysteries of Deity; they will know their Father that is from the beginning. They will be just like their Father and will, in fact, be spiritual fathers to nations and kings.

Learning the Mystery from King David

David is pouring his heart out to the Father Yahweh all the way through Psalm 102. He talks to Him throughout, expressing his faith in the great One who created all things. What is astounding about this is that this very same passage is quoted by Paul referring to the Son of God! Let me repeat that: Paul quotes this psalm when referring to the Savior, the Son of God, Jesus/Yahshua of Nazareth.

“Hear my prayer, O Yahweh” (rendered “LORD” in most versions). Hear me, please, he is saying, in my hour of need, for I am in trouble. His enemies are all around him; he fears for his life. His literal time here on earth is running out; the sun is going down to the dark night of the grave. His flesh is soon to be consumed and turned back to dust. “My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass.”

But he says that Yahweh (v. 12) shall endure forever. He is from forever and shall go on forever. Yahweh will appear (v. 16) and hear the prayers of His people. “The people that shall be created shall praise Yahweh.”

David Goes Back to the Beginning

 And then David remembers and acknowledges Yahweh as the One who looks down from above and hears our groaning because of our mortal state and comes down to loosen us from this death (vs. 19-20). It is Yahweh who gives us this hope of transcending our mortality. And then David reaffirms his belief in the One who has “laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands” (25).

Paul quotes this very same passage from Psalms in Hebrews 1: 10. He establishes early on that he is talking about Yahshua the Messiah. First he says in verse 2 that Yahshua, Yahweh incarnate, created all things. He mentions the Savior purging our sins (3).   And then he quotes Psalm 102: 25, speaking of the Savior: “And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands.”

Paul is quoting the psalmist who addressed all of 102 to Yahweh. And David said in that psalm that Yahweh created all things. But Paul in Hebrews 1:2 says that the Son created all things. Now there seems to be a contradiction here. If Yahweh, the Father did create all things, then how can Paul, and the apostle John also, say that the Son created all things?

The answer is that both are right. Yahweh did create all things, while He, being the Spirit that He is, resided in the glorified vessel we know as the Christ, the Anointed One, the Son. Yahweh, the Spirit/Father dwelt bodily in His “expressed image,” the Son, and created all things through Him. For Yahweh did create all things.

This is the mystery of God. This is the secret; this is the enigma. Our finite natural thinking minds have difficulty in conceiving the answer to this mystery because we want to see two Gods up there. That is the way we deal with this problem as to just who did the creating. If there are two up there, the Father and the Son, then which did the creating of the worlds? The scriptures in many passages state that Yahweh did the creating. And in many other passages, the apostles say that the Son did the creating. So we begin to think, Well, the Father delegated the creating for the Son to do, by just telling Him to do it.

But this is natural thinking. Could we not just as well believe the scriptures and have the Father be this invisible Spirit who resided in a form, a human looking form, a form from which human beings were patterned? And this form with Yahweh the invisible Spirit/Father dwelling within—could not this One God have done the creating? There is no contradiction in this concept of the Creator. Both accounts are correct and do not contradict anything. You have Yahweh inside a special vessel doing the creating. This concept coincides with the scores of times that He is called the “Holy One of Israel.” It confirms all the times that the prophets said that Yahweh is not only the Creator, but also the Savior! It confirms all the times that the NT writers said that the Messiah did the creating. In fact, it does not contradict anything at all.

In this concept of the Godhead, the Father and the Son are one. Is not that what the Messiah said? “I and my Father are one…If you have seen me you have seen my Father.” The Father is in me and is doing the works. This is the central core message that will solve the mystery of God: the eternal Spirit Yahweh was in the Messiah, reconciling the world unto Himself. This is the great mystery.

Paul speaks of this mystery of God to the Colossians. He says in chapter 2: 1 that he is concerned. Something is already at work to corrupt the vision of the Holy One of Israel in their eyes. He longs for their hearts to be as one in love, “to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ.” Here we have God, the Father, and the Anointed One all mentioned together as making up the mystery. And then he goes on and says that “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” are hidden in the Messiah.

Just what was in the Son, the Messiah? Whatever that was, was “all the treasures.” Christ said that the Father was in Him. Paul said that “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself.” Other apostles said that the Son was full of the Spirit of the Father. This is an important point to Paul—for his brothers in Colosse to know this mystery of the Godhead. In fact, he warns in v. 8 for them to beware of the traditions of men that will come in with man’s philosophy and vain deceit. And then he drops the bombshell in v. 9: “For in him (the Messiah) dwells all of the fullness of the Godhead bodily.”

He said all. “All” means that there is not any more to be placed in there. All of the Spirit, all of the Father, all of God, was in the Messiah. But man’s philosophy teaches that the Father is still sitting in heaven in some kind of form watching the proceedings below. Traditions teach us that there are really two up there now. But Paul teaches us that all of the Deity dwelt bodily, that all of the Great Father/Spirit God Almighty was comported about in the body of the Son of God. It is difficult for people today to agree with Paul just as it was hard for the Pharisees and Sadducees to believe, too. It is just unbelief that tricks a heart into not admitting and believing that the Father was fully in Him.

Be that as it may, the mystery of Elohim/God is that the Son has all of the fullness of the Godhead dwelling bodily. For in Messiah all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form. Col. 2:9, NIV. For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. KJV. For it is in Christ that the complete being of the Godhead embodied, and in Him you have been brought to completion. NEB. For in Christ there is all of God in a human body, so you have everything when you have Christ. Living Bible.

No matter how you slice it or dice it in whatever version of the Bible, it still comes out the same. All of Deity was in the Son of God. Period. And the Father Yahweh, the Great Spirit, “was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him.” Col. 1:19.

Back to Col. 2:3, speaking of Yahshua, Yahweh in human form:   “All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge was hid in the Son.” The Father Yahweh, was Himself in the Son, the Anointed vessel who was to carry Yahweh around in on earth.

The mystery is this: Yahweh, the Creator, poured Himself into the Messiah. Everything that that Anointed One did, it was Yahweh Himself doing it. Yahweh created everything, in His preexistent form, which is Yahshua. Yahweh is an invisible Spirit; He is not a man sitting up there. The only place He resides is in the high and lofty place and with those of a broken spirit and a contrite heart.

Moses confirms that Yahweh created all things. In the song of Moses, Deuteronomy 32, he begins by praising Yahweh. “He is the Rock, his work is perfect.” And in v. 6, “Is not Yahweh thy father that hath bought thee? Hath he not made thee, and established thee?” Right here in the torah we see that Yahweh is the Rock that created the children of Israel. But I thought that the Son created all things.

A contradiction? No, for Yahweh, the Great Spirit Father “was in Messiah, reconciling the world unto Himself.” It is Yahweh in human form that did the creating. The Father was in the form, the Son, doing the creating. “And his name shall be called…the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.” Isa. 9:6. How can this be? Only with the invisible Father/Spirit residing in the Son (“all the fulness of the Godhead dwelt bodily in the Messiah”) can this be.

The Father dwells in the Son, “who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature.” Col. 1:15. Yahshua the Messiah is the visible image of the invisible Father/Spirit Yahweh. Yahshua cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me. And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me. John 12:43-44. Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been   among   you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father…don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?…Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. John 14:9-11.

I believe that it is the Spirit of God within me at this moment that is writing down these things. But how does the reader know that these things are really true? How can the reader be sure?

     The scripture reveals a sure way to tell if someone has the Spirit of truth—a sure way to know if a person is of the truth and is telling the truth.

You will know you have really come in contact with the Spirit of Truth because the person who has the truth will speak about the Savior as He really is. The Master said so. “When the Spirit of truth is come He will testify of Me.” John 15:26. When someone receives the Spirit of truth within themselves, they will speak of the Savior. But the Spirit of truth will speak of the Savior truthfully. The Spirit of truth will tell the truth about the Savior. The Spirit of truth within a person will tell of the true nature of the Savior.

But that is tricky because everyone speaks about the Savior. Everyone speaks of Jesus Christ. Some even speak of Him using His true Hebrew name Yahshua. There are thousands of denominations and organizations speaking about a savior, and they all have different concepts of who He is. Consequently, they all could not have the Spirit of truth. Yet everyone thinks they have the Spirit of truth.

How can one be for sure? The Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, will guide us into all truth; He will show you things to come; and He will glorify the Savior; He will receive the things about the Savior and will show us them (John 16:13-16). You will know that you really have the Spirit of Truth because He will speak of Yah-is-Savior; He will testify of the fact that the Self-Existent One-is-in-human-form and is Savior. The Spirit of truth = Comforter = sent to us by Yahshua = proceeds from the Father = the Spirit of truth shall testify of Yah in human form. The Spirit of Truth shall lead us into all truth about just who the Savior is, which is Yah-in-human-form.

And it is by that very same Spirit of Truth residing within us that we will be a witness of just who the Savior is. And you also shall bear witness, or testify, of Yahshua by that same Spirit of truth within us. The Spirit of Truth is the Spirit of Yahshua. Yahshua the Savior said that He is the truth. And Father, the eternal Spirit, dwelt bodily in the Savior, the Anointed One.

Kenneth Wayne Hancock  {This is Chapter 23 taken from the book The Unveiling of the Sons of God. Here’s the link to the entire book: https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/ebook-the-unveiling-of-the-sons-of-god/ }

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September 10, 2016 · 3:46 pm

“To the Law and to the Testimony”–Being the Witness of God’s Love

God is Love, and He is Light. Therefore Love is Light, for agape Love makes known God’s plan to carry out His purpose, which is to reproduce Himself, to magnify His nature of Love in and through us. He will accomplish His purpose  of reproducing Himself, and He will use us humans to do it. Consequently, mankind has an extremely important part to play in God’s purpose and plan. After all, God did say in His word that “man is the glory of God.” And God is glorified when His Love, His nature is reproduced in us.

God’s plan to accomplish this reproduction of Himself, then, centers on man as the environment where it will take place. And His plan has been written down in words, called the Logos, the Word, which was “made flesh and dwelt among us” in the form of the Son of God (for more see the previous four essays).

Instructions

The Holy Bible is this library of books comprised of the written down word of God that gives us instructions on how He will accomplish this reproduction of Himself (Love). [The Spirit in this moment is giving us precious secrets as to what He is doing–secrets so rare that some may never have heard them before. His servants do not know these secrets; His friends, however, are privy to them, for He reveals the mysteries of His will, His purpose and His plan to His friends, His confidants, His followers chosen to walk in the “high calling” (John 15: 15; Phil. 3: 14).

These instructions are called the law. In the OT Hebrew, the word is torah, meaning “instruction, doctrine”               (https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/Lexicon/Lexicon.cfm?strongs=H8451&t=KJV). It is from an old root verb meaning “to teach.” Teach what? Instruct us in what? The law instructs us as to God’s purpose and plan and how we can be a part of it.

The reader will notice the words above in bold print. There is an enigmatic passage of scripture containing all of these words and more. “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isa. 8: 20). If they do not speak concerning the law (the standard of God’s reproduction of Himself) and the testimony (the Spirit of Christ, which is the Spirit of Love)–if they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. They just will not know what they are talking about.

“No light in them…” But in Christ “was life and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not.” Love is the light shining into the dark, lost hearts of this world. Love loves the unlovable (John 1: 4-7). The Word (Logos) was God. The Word contained life, and this life was the light of men.  The Word was made flesh and became the Light that lightens every man who comes into the world.

The words we speak should agree with the law and the testimony. If someone speaks a word not in agreement with them, then there is no light in them. And because the light makes known as to who God is (Love) and what He has done for us in including us in His plan of reproducing Himself, those with “no light” are in trouble. They do not know God nor His purpose, plan, nor vision of sharing His nature of Love with His creation.

The “law” instructs us as to what Love will do when present in the human being. The “testimony” is the witness of the presence of the Spirit of God operating and loving through a person. It all goes back to the nature and heart of God, which is the Spirit of love. His eternal purpose of sharing love and His plan to reproduce Himself (Love) in us is prelude in seeing clearly the kingdom of God as the vision of God in the past, present, and future.

The law is what Love demands. It is the standard by which we may know who has the Holy Spirit of Love and who does not. The testimony is that Spirit of Love in action through a human being because of God’s presence in them.  God’s Spirit of Love in a person is the witness (testimony) of God in the earth. The Love that Christ showed the world when He laid down His life for us–when that same Spirit of Love abides in us, the law is fulfilled. “For he that loves another has fulfilled the law.” For all of the Ten Commandments “is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself…therefore love is the fulfilling of the law” (Rom. 13: 8-10; Gal. 5: 14).

I cannot say, “In conclusion…” because this is just the beginning. It is all about Love, which is to say, God. He wants to share Himself, multiply Himself, reproduce Himself–in us. This knowledge is paramount , for we cannot spiritually grow properly without this knowledge. Without it we are as Martha of Bethany, who was satisfied with being a servant of earthly things to the Master. With this knowledge we become as Mary of Bethany, who sat at the Master’s feet, soaking in the glorious mysteries of His love. And when Martha complained to Christ that Mary wasn’t helping serve, He said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10: 38-42 NKJV).   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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August 27, 2016 · 5:03 pm

Love Makes Known the Plan of God

We know that God is love and God is light. Therefore, Love is Light. Since light makes things known, then Love makes manifest as well. Love sheds light on what and who God is. Where agape love is present, the Spirit of Love makes God known. We see God when we see love–true selfless love from above, as we see in Christ’s laying down His life for His friend [1].

Christ said, “I am the light of the world.” In this He was saying, Through my life, death, and life-after-death, I make known the Father’s purpose and plan of reproducing Love. If you believe in Me and the love that I showed when I laid my life down for you, then that same Spirit of Love will engender in you a new life that will, in turn, enlighten others who now sit in darkness. He will give us His own Spirit of love. Consequently, we will become  the light of the world because He will be living His life through us, His body  [2].

In a word, in a seed thought, God is Love. He is the greatest thing in the universe. Everyone will agree. All the poets and writers of song down through the ages confirm that Love–selfless love–is a divine thing and that it should be emulated by mankind.

Man knows this, even down into his DNA. He knows that he should love his fellow man. The truth is that God created him to be the “glory of God.” Man is designed to contain the Spirit of Love, which is God. Man was created as a temple for the Spirit of Love (God) to dwell in. Man knows that this kind of love is what we should strive for [3].

We are moved by the soldier who fell on a grenade to save the lives of his buddies, or the stranger who died in a house fire saving a little child. And millions are touched by the selfless love shown by our Savior on the cross.

God is Love and is the greatest and most powerful thing in the universe. And because Love by its very nature shares with others and gives, God could not but create a plan to share Himself with His creation.

He purposed it and being all-powerful was able to implement His purpose and plan of duplicating and reproducing Himself. He planned this all out in His mind. He thought it into existence. Thoughts are comprised of words that occupy first His mind. And He has given us the power to think His very same thoughts. First we must have the knowledge of the thoughts about His purpose and plan. Then we must choose to surrender our restless minds to His thoughts. When we start thinking His thoughts, then “the peace that passes all understanding” will come upon us.

His purpose is to reproduce Himself, to reproduce Love throughout His entire creation. He is the Seed of Love that will reproduce itself. He became the Seed, which is the Word, which is the Logos, which is comprised of the thoughts of His Mind. And this “Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” His plan was to pour this reproductive energy into a human vessel that could “fall into the ground and die” and through the resurrection, would “bring forth much fruit” at the harvest.  The much fruit is the thousands of manifested sons that will sit as kings with Him on His throne upon His return to this earth.

Those that overcome all things in this era have a royal destiny. They are chosen; they are elected by God for this honor. They do respond; they do study and pray that they be counted worthy for this honor, but it is all through His grace. For it is God that gives them the strength and power to continue against the gainsayers, the unbelievers, the worldly, and the ones with precious little faith. God gives them the determination to get up and face the spiritual enemy who lurks in the halls of minds. God helps their unbelief and sees them through to the finish line.

For they serve their great invisible Father Yahweh, who resides in His Son, who is the Head of the body of an organism called the church. And when this vision becomes as crystal in their hearts and minds, they will realize that all scriptures that pertain unto Christ pertain unto them, for they are His body. When we abide in Him, the scriptures speak of us.   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

  1.   I John 1: 5; I John 4: 8; Eph. 5: 13
  2.  John 8: 12; John 15: 13; Matt. 5: 14; Col. 1: 18
  3. I Cor. 11: 7; I Cor. 3: 16, 6: 19

 

 

 

 

 

 

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August 20, 2016 · 5:39 pm

“Forgive Them”–In Training to Be a Royal Priest

I asked God, How do I love other people–people that I meet that I don’t even know?

I did not get an answer immediately, but in two or three days this thought just “popped” into my mind: “You’ve got to forgive them.”

“Forgive them?

“That’s how I loved you unconditionally. Forgive.” And with that our thought-conversation was over.

So, this person that I have never seen before crosses my path, and just like that, I am to forgive him. But how do I forgive someone I don’t even know? The answer is we are God’s priests and ambassadors. We intercede for them. We are in Christ’s stead now. We are His face and hands and mouth. “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God” (II Cor. 5: 20).

Be reconciled because God has already through the shedding of His blood caused all of our sins to depart. They are already gone. When we believe this, then we manifest the witness of this grace in us.

We are to recognize this in each other: that God has forgiven them and has caused their sinful self to pass away. We forgive them because God has already forgiven them. Their sins are washed away; they need only to “bring forth fruit worthy of repentance” to witness the record of our common salvation from sin.

We forgive another by enlightening them as to God’s forgiveness if they walk in darkness. Your sins are forgiven you; they have departed through God’s mercy and you have been absolved of all guilt and shame. You are clean now. The Savior has given Himself as a ransom for us all. The darkness of your soul and the evil that your heart did once conceive is no more. You are washed clean. Repent now, and walk in this new life.

God has forgiven us all, and in essence, we recognize this as we also forgive each other (Matt. 18: 21-22, 35).

In Training to Sit on the Mercy Seat

For us who are running the race to be a part of the “manifestation of the sons of God” in these last days, we are in training to be kings. We are, after all, a “royal priesthood” and a “chosen generation.” We are to be those kingly intercessors for all of God’s people.

Right now we are in training for this position. To be those future manifested sons and daughters, we must first carry inside through the Spirit this belief that the stranger we meet is not a stranger at all. He is rather one of the human beings that God loves and has forgiven. God loves them just as much as we believe that He loves us.

When we see the stranger in this light, then the Love (God) will shine through us to them. We will then have become messengers of mercy, for we will be in sync with Him.

For mercy is what we are talking about. It is God’s great mercy that forgives, that loves us so much that He would send our sins away for good, freeing us from the guilt and shame.

For mercy is a kingly attribute. Mercy comes from the throne. It is the mercy seat that is the fount of forgiveness and compassion. We the sons and daughters of God are called to grow spiritually to the point that we will be invited to sit with Him on His throne–the seat of mercy.

Mercy. To be able to love the unlovable. To free the ungrateful. To forgive the unrepentant and obstinate. To cleanse the souls of spiritual lepers, “to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives,” to open the prison doors, “to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.” And why will He enable us to do this? “That they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD (Yahweh), that He might be glorified” (Isa. 61: 1-4).

The small minded say this is only about Christ. But I say that all this is about us, too, for we are His body. He is the head, and we are the body of this spiritual entity called the King of Righteousness. Without Him we can do nothing; He is the head, the brains and the heart of our organism. But we are to have the mind of Christ, and when we do, He will invite us to sit with Him on His throne [It sounds incredible, but it is right there in His word]. “All things are possible to him that believes.” Amazing God, our God.

When we are filled with His agape love–Him, in other words–we will treat the penniless wretch the same as the mayor and bank president. The one thing that puts everyone on the same playing field is a sinful past. Both pauper and the prince are in need of mercy and love and forgiveness.

But mercy and truth come as a package. Having mercy is showing His true kind of mercy, not man’s kind. Mercy without truth–well, as Christ said, Even the Pharisees love those that love them. And truth given without mercy is harsh and cold and seldom penetrates the human heart because of a lack of compassion. Christ’s Spirit is the whole package–merciful and truthful.       Kenneth Wayne Hancock

 

 

 

 

 

 

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August 9, 2016 · 11:28 pm

Yahshua, the Savior’s Hebrew Name–Much Meaning Found Inside

The Savior’s Hebrew name is Yahshua. That name was spoken by the angel Gabriel. He was a heavenly being and would not have spoken a name that is the English rendition of the Latin Iesus nor the Greek Iesous.

The Son of God has a Hebrew name. And His Hebrew name has significant meaning. In fact, the very translation of His name confirms the fact that the Supreme Being–the same One who appeared to the patriarchs and prophets, came in human flesh to this earth some 2,000 years ago. The Father was in the Son doing the works and speaking the words, according to the Savior. “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself” (II Cor. 5: 19).

The Self-Existent One Is the Savior

The name “Yahshua” is the same name of the Hebrew patriarch Joshua, who was a type of Christ as he led the people of God into the promised land. The name can be broken down into two sounds or two words. First, “Yah” means “the Self-Existent One.” Second, “shua” in the Hebrew means “the Savior.” Put together, the Savior’s name Yahshua means “The Self-Existent One Is the Savior.” Or, to put it another way, Yah Is Savior, which is the title of my first book ( https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/book-yah-is-savior-the-road-to-immortality/ ). The doctrine of one God has actually been embedded inside of the Savior’s Hebrew name for all now to see.

God has left His name for us as a memorial, something to remember Him by. It not only helps us remember, but also helps us understand who He really is and what He has done for us–for His name’s sake.

The Savior commands us to “believe in His name.” This means to believe the message contained in His name–Yahshua. In fact, condemnation comes for not believing one thing. “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3: 18).

How does one believe in His Hebrew name? One believes the message contained in the meaning of His name.

For some this will not make much sense at first glance. But we have to think outside the boxed-in concepts of traditional Christianity that has utterly come up short of providing what the prophets and apostles had. A good place to start is exploring the meaning of His Hebrew name. The spiritual wealth found there is beyond price.  Kenneth Wayne Hancock

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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July 26, 2016 · 8:54 pm

Our Experiences Are Used by God to Shape Us

I am a retired English and Spanish teacher and have moonlighted as an adjunct college instructor for years. Three years ago I get a call from one of my favorite ex-students from the high school days. She’s a counselor at the same school. “Hey, Mr. Hancock. Would you consider coming back to teach Spanish. We are two weeks into the semester, and we can’t find a teacher.”

“Well, if it was anyone else but you, Kristy, I would say no.”

“Then you will?”

“Yes.” And thus began my second foray into the sometimes numbing void of inexperience of high school adolescents.  15-17-year-olds exude such an obnoxious stench of self-importance at times. It is based entirely on their over-inflated opinionated egos. I love them and, of course, try to direct them into the knowledge that the world does not revolve around them and their phones and that the real world is comprised of actual experiences.

Getting their attention is difficult. It is only when I bare my soul and tell them a MASH Hospital Vietnam story, how frantic it was when we went to the chinook helicopter to get the three survivors on litters and how I looked into the rear of the chopper and saw bodies thrown in like a pile of cord wood with lifeless limbs askew reaching out to me for help.

Or I might keep it a little lighter like when we were seated around a little table–no less–on the floor of Winterland in San Francisco–experiencing this new act called the Jimi Hendrix Experience in October 1968 right after I got back home from Nam, and how it only cost $3. 50 (That’s a 20 dollar bill in today’s money–Boy, are you guys getting robbed!).

Or I might share how after my “joyous cosmology” days in the Bay Area, we did a much needed volte-face and joined a Christian community, traveled to Mexico, and learned what the true treasure of the Sierra Madre was, or when I tell of the man there on the side of an obscure mountain who desperately wanted to trade a bird in a cardboard cracker box for food, and how he cried, “Pan, pan” with those tear-less sunken eyes and how we opened the back of our van and gave them the large sacks of corn and beans that in the end were meant for them.

It is only then that my students’ prematurely hardened hearts melt a bit until the bell rings, and they, like robots, go to their phones to see if anyone is thinking about them.
Experiences are important. Writing about them is their crown and reason to be. For in the end, our experiences are the tools that the Sculptor used to shape us into His sons and daughters. And He has given us the words to relate these experiences. For the written word is very powerful, “mightier than the sword.” And in the word’s humble clothing, a lifetime lives on and on. So write if you don’t, and keep writing if you do. And thanks for reading my words.    Kenneth Wayne Hancock

[The full Mexico stories are here: https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2010/02/15/true-treasures-of-the-sierra-madre/ https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2008/05/01/famine-integrity-and-the-cardboard-cage/ 

A Vietnam story is here: https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2008/05/27/remembering-a-tragedy-at-the-vietnam-veterans-memorial-wall/ ]

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July 16, 2016 · 5:16 pm

What Do We Do Now to Grow Spiritually? Part Two–Additions to the Faith and the Armor of God

We cannot do things to achieve salvation from God, but we must do certain things in order to grow His Spirit within us after we receive a new heart, after we are “born from above.”

Because our Creator has a purpose of reproducing Himself (Love) in us, He, of course, has a definite plan to fulfill His purpose. He has thought it all through and lined it all out in His written word. And in His scriptures of truth is contained the thoughts of the Son of God, the “Word made flesh.” And these thoughts contain admonishments, and when done by us Christians, we will grow up to be like Him, which fulfills His purpose.

In Part One we explored the apostles’ doctrine as the first thing we need to be learning and doing. We also saw that we are to “purge out the old leaven,” which are the false concepts and teachings about God that we learned coming up.

The Additions to the True Faith

The apostle Peter admonishes us to add to our faith certain spiritual qualities of the King. In order that we may “partake of the divine nature,” we are to add virtue to our faith, and “to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness charity (agape love).” He goes on to say that we will be blind without them. But with them we will “make [our] calling and election sure, and that will ensure our entrance “into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (II Peter 1: 3-11).

These additions are not little romper room words to be pasted on a bulletin board. Rather they are facets of a jewel of great price, and that jewel is His very character. These additions are aspects of God’s divine nature. A shallow perusal will not do. They must be studied and prayed over and sought with a whole heart in reverential awe.

Peter sums it up by saying, You better take heed to what I am saying to you. I have a “more sure word of prophecy.” I know what  I am talking about because I was there with our Savior on the Mount of Transfiguration, and I beheld His glory. I am speaking to you now as “a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts” (1: 16-19).

God has miraculously preserved Peter’s words to us for all these 2,000 years. The Spirit still speaks through him to us. We need to study this out thoroughly, or we are going to miss something very big in God’s plan.

[For more on the additions to the faith go here: https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/category/additions-to-our-faith/ ]

The Whole Armor of God

The fourth thing we are admonished to do is put on the armor of God (Eph. 6: 11-18). Since “God is a Spirit,” Paul is talking about spiritual things. He uses earthly military metaphors that a combat soldier of his time might wear to elucidate the spiritual. For we are in a spiritual war “against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” It is spiritual wickedness that we battle, not literal things.

The battlefield is in our minds. So it is the replacing of erroneous thoughts with thoughts about godly truth that will shield our minds from succumbing to the adversary, the devil. We are told to “arm yourselves with the same mind” as Christ (I Pet. 4: 1).

So the whole armor of God is thinking the thoughts that Christ and His apostles thought. Peter also tells us to “girt up the loins of your mind” (I Pet. 1: 13). The first piece of armor is to have “your loins girt abut with truth.” Think on the truth; get rid of the false concepts that we know to be in error.

Then we are to put on the “breastplate of righteousness.” We need to study out the word “righteousness” to take to heart its real scriptural meaning. It has to do with the purging of sin out of our lives.

The we are to have our “feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.” The gospel of the good news of God’s kingdom coming to this earth along with the King’s return (Mark 1: 14-15). We should study it out and think God’s thoughts about it. We should be prepared to share these thoughts about the “gospel of the kingdom of God.” For His kingdom is the good news.

We are to take the “shield of faith.” Knowing and believing in His faith, which has been “once delivered to the saints,” will protects us from attacks of the wicked one. And then we must take the “helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of
God.”

All these are portions of the armor of God. But it would not be the whole armor without “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.”

Prayer is the last but not the least of the armor. For it is the most difficult to exercise, it would seem. For we all must be taught to pray, as the disciples asked the Savior to teach them to pray.

It was then that He gave them a prayer to model their prayers after. It is called The Lord’s Prayer. And it has been used and abused so often that the deep meaning has been lost. We are not to mouth vain repetitions of this very prayer, but rather pray according to its precepts. It is not a poll parrot incantation to mindlessly repeat; it is a blue print of how to literally touch God in heaven.

But the old leaven about this prayer is so thick that few can get through it to the truth the Savior was trying to teach us.

[For more on what the Lord’s Prayer means go here: https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2008/06/07/the-lords-prayer-is-not-an-incantation-chant-or-ritual/                                        https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2008/06/12/the-lords-prayer-blueprint-for-building-gods-temple-us/ ]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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July 9, 2016 · 3:20 pm

What Do We Do Now to Grow Spiritually? Part One

Okay. We understand now that God is Love and that His purpose is to reproduce Himself in us. We were created as a house for God to dwell in, for Love to dwell in.

And we understand now that God has a plan to carry out this purpose of reproducing Himself. We see that this plan entails His kingdom, first established in our hearts, and then it is to be set up as a literal worldwide government headed by our King, the Son of God upon His return to earth.

And we see that an integral part of God’s plan is the law of harvest. God is the Seed, the Word of God. And this Seed/Word “was made flesh and dwelt among us.” Christ is that Seed that germinates in our hearts and starts to grow as a grain of corn is planted, dies, and resurrects and grows in our gardens. We, too, begin to grow spiritually.

But then something bad happens to young Christians. The weeds spring up and begin to choke the word/seed. Babes in Christ are fed tainted milk, which are false concepts about God. Materialism with its many temptations subvert God’s plan from coming to fruition. Tough decisions arise for the babe in Christ for which Christ says to “count the cost.” The way grows narrow and difficult to navigate, where one finds few fellow travellers. And then the world extends a very wide and welcoming road where many go and seem to have wonderful fellowship, and the pilgrim is tempted to take that avenue.

What We Are to Do

But if God is calling us to the “higher calling” of being used for Him to reproduce Himself through, then we must ask ourselves, What do we do now to grow spiritually? Not what man’s traditions say to do, but what do the scriptures say for us to do. Tradition tells us, Go to church and give your tithes and offerings, confess your sins, do the best you can, and you will go to heaven when you die. But, is that all there is? Will God really be pleased with that? Is that all there is to it?

Surely not. For I do not see much growth in the lives in Christian circles. People do get cleaned up and start living a better life, but many backslide into their past actions. Many just remain regular attendees of their church services, content to be a part of a Christian social fabric. Is that what the prophets and apostles of old prescribed for our growth? Is that what the church in the book of Acts did?

First Thing to Do

No. We are given at least seven general “things to do” as Christians to effect proper spiritual growth. First, the early church “continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine” (Acts 2: 42). The apostles had a doctrine, and it was the same that Christ had. “Doctrine” means “teachings,” and they were delivering those teachings to the new converts. Some preachers asininely say, “We do not want doctrine; we just want Jesus.” They must not know that “whosoever transgresses and abides not in the doctrine of Christ has not God” (II John 1: 9).

What were the apostles’ teachings? They are concisely found in Hebrews 6: 1-2. They are the foundation that when done, will help us grow unto “perfection,” or complete spiritual maturity. They are repentance from dead works, faith toward God, the doctrine of baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, eternal judgement, and perfection. How many Christians would be able to list these vital concepts that the apostles taught? Not many even know about them. Whose fault is that? God says it is their pastor’s fault. God pronouces a woe unto the shepherds for not feeding the flock of God with proper teachings (Ezk 34: 1-10).

[For more on the apostles’ doctrine go here: https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/category/apostles-doctrine/ ; https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2016/02/13/life-comes-out-of-death-of-old-nature/ ; https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2012/07/09/faith-how-to-walk-in-the-newness-of-life/  These are just a few of the articles on this site that addresses the apostles’ doctrine]

Second Thing to Do to Grow

We are admonished to purge out the “old leaven.” Old leaven is the false concepts about God, the traditions of men, the imaginations of false teachers and preachers. We all come to Christ with them, and they must be gotten rid of.

[For more go here: https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2010/11/03/purging-out-the-old-leaven-to-become-the-sons-and-daughters-of-god/ ;  https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2015/01/31/warning-beware-of-mans-traditions-about-christ/ ; https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2014/08/16/purge-out-the-old-leaven-in-order-to-become-the-sons-of-god/ ].   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

To Be Continued…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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July 2, 2016 · 3:31 pm

God Is Love and Is the Light of the World

“You can fight against hatred and sadness and chaos, but you cannot fight love, joy, and peace. If you do, you will lose. For light vanquishes darkness, even as the morning conquers the night.” [Jan. 7, 2016, spoken to some  of my negative thinking students.]

Christ said, “I am the light of the world” (John 8: 12). How is He the light of the world? The apostle Paul said that light makes things known (Eph. 5: 13). We enter a dark room; we switch on the light. Now we know what is around us, what is coming at us. With the light we can see what the future holds for us.

Darkness is the opposite and is the absence of light. And people are sitting in darkness at present, just like they did as Christ was beginning His ministry in Galilee (Matt. 4: 16; Isa. 8: 22). And then they saw a great Light, just like the masses in our age will see at His second coming. Yet, a remnant will see that Light before His return, and they will respond to God’s plan and purpose to reproduce Himself through Christ in them.

Spiritual darkness has descended upon the people, and they know that they are in darkness. They realize their sinful state because they do not want their deeds brought to light. They know innately that what they do is not done in agape love but in selfishness. For this reason those eaten up with darkness hate the light because the light exposes their evil actions. Their death warrant is already signed; their rejection of Light’s pardon seals it (John 3: 19-21). But some will come to the light.

How, then, is Christ the Light of the world? His life illuminates God’s purpose. He is the plan to carry out that purpose. For the Father has poured it all out, written it all down, and has enacted His whole plan to reproduce Love, which is God Himself–it is all in the Son of God. Knowing Christ is knowing the Father’s plan, for “He has declared” the Father (John 1: 18). Christ has “unfolded in a teaching” God’s plan; He has laid it all out for us to see. For He is the Logos, the Word made flesh.

God is love. His purpose is to reproduce Himself (Love) in the earth. This love is His life. And His life of love is the light that illumines our path here on earth. It is the ray of light that overcomes the darkness of hatred and despair. And this Love/Light/Life is poured into Love’s Son, the Logos/Word that declares all this, which is the Father’s heart and mind.

How Love Is the Light

We know that God is love and God is light. Therefore, Love is Light. Since Light makes things known, then Love makes manifest as well. Love sheds light on what and who God is. Where love is present, the Spirit of Love makes God known. We see God when we see love–true selfless love from above, as we see in Christ’s laying down His life for His friends. Thus, Christ saying, “I am the light of the world.”

John’s Letter to Fully Matured Christians

John wrote to Christians of all spiritual growths about these matters. “I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning” (I John 2: 12-14).  It is as if John is speaking to us now: “You fathers have settled the sin question that plagues little children of God; sin is eradicated out of your lives. And you as ‘young men’ have conquered the devil and his temptations. And now you are fully matured spiritually and have known God that is from the beginning. As one of God’s friends, you not only know, but have  His mind and heart that existed from the very beginning. You know His purpose of reproducing Himself. You know His plan to implement that purpose–a plan to create a kingdom, a government with His Son as the King, who will rule and reign for 1,000 years here on earth. You know that some of us humans will rule with Him, as His Spirit will inhabit them fully, thus fulfilling His purpose.

“You fathers have known Him from the beginning, how the Father shaped His purpose and plan into thoughts expressed in words, which comprises the Logos, the Word of God. And you know now how the Father poured the Word into His Son, ‘made of a woman, made under the law.’ And you know that the Son was the Seed of Love, giving up His life a ransom for many. And you know that the harvest of that Seed in our hearts is the ultimate realization  of the fulfillment of God’s Purpose of reproducing Himself. This harvest is called ‘the manifestation of the sons of God,’ or the unveiling of the sons of God. Fathers, you now, like Paul and Peter and John among others 2,000 years ago, are privy to the mind of God and His Son, thoughts so precious and ancient, that little finite minds fizzle into the ether of the spiritual world, that heavenly paradise that was in the beginning before the earth ever existed.”

Now We Know

It has all been written down in the scriptures of truth. It is there for the spiritually hungry, for the thirsty, for the famished. For only a few will find this way of truth (Matt. 7: 14). Christ is the way, the path to God’s heart. Only those desperate enough to want to change their current life will find this path in the wilderness of sin. Only those who are willing to go through Christ’s sufferings will be exalted in that day.

Christ’s life illuminates man’s path to comprehending just who God is and what He is accomplishing in the earth. We can only see God and His purpose and plan when we see the love shown in Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, which is the greatest love. When we believe in His resurrection–in us–then we enter into this hidden realm of which we speak.

Christ is the Light that makes known the Father’s purpose. And we all should take heed to the “more sure word of prophecy…as unto a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawn and the day star arise in [our] hearts” (II Pet. 1: 19). And that “day star” is the Spirit of truth that is the Word which is a “light unto our path” (Psm 119: 105).

And this light will speak “to the law and to the testimony” (Isa. 8: 20).

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

 

 

 

 

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June 25, 2016 · 4:20 pm

Spiritual Gifts Given to Fulfill God’s Purpose

The truth is this: God has a purpose to reproduce Himself. And He has a plan to implement His purpose; He will use certain human beings to accomplish it. He has thought it all out and He has written it all down for us in the written word of God.

To those whom He has prepared and shown this vision, He has promised to send the Spirit of truth, who will lead us into all truth–the truth about His purpose and plan. Once we get on the road to helping Him accomplish His purpose and plan, He has promised to help us help Him. He has promised us gifts–the “gifts of the Spirit.”

The first of these gifts is guiding my hand this very moment. This pen is writing by the Spirit the logos-sophia–the “word of wisdom.” This is the “hidden wisdom” that only comes out of the heart of God, whose heart is in His Son. It is a mystery, this hidden wisdom, so rare to the senses of natural man, that it can be written openly now and uploaded by the miracle of the internet to all eyes, and only be understood by those who should understand. And yet, this hidden wisdom will come with a clarity that  sits in the minds of His people chosen and predisposed by God to understand, though thousands of miles away from my hilly hamlet.

For it is His word that is the seed, that is the truth. It is the seed, the word, the logos, that is cast out over the entire field of the world (Matt. 13: 24-30; 37-43). God’s seed goes out over the entire world, and yet, “none of the princes knew” of this hidden wisdom at work, for had they had known, “they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (I Cor. 2: 6-8). Their evil heart blinded them from the wisdom of God.

And none of the rulers of our own age will see this hidden wisdom, for it “is not of this world” (John 18: 36). Even as we, brothers and sisters, are not of this world. We are other-worldly.

And the gifts of the Spirit we receive to accomplish His purpose are not from this world system. They are from above, even as we are.

A Word from Wisdom, Not a Word about Wisdom

And the very first gift that the Spirit of truth gives us is the logos-sophia, the word of wisdom (I Cor. 12: 8). It is the necessary first gift, for it will open the door to the other gifts.

The “word of wisdom” is not a word about wisdom, but a word from wisdom. Wisdom is crying out to us, pleading with us to seek after her, but few hear her cries (Prov. 1: 20-23).  Wisdom even promises us this: “I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.”

Yet, very few know what wisdom is. Even fewer care to know. Some say that no one can know. The prophet Job asked the question: “Where shall wisdom be found?” He then relates that it is not in earthly things–gold, silver, jewels; they cannot buy wisdom. He then looks at all the inexplainable–the “acts of God,” the overturning of the mountains, the rivers cutting through the rocks, the secrets of the universe, and the binding of “floods from overflowing; the thing that is hid brings He forth to light.” Where does wisdom come from? It comes from God, of course. God declared it and “unto man He said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom” (Job 28: 9-28).

But what exactly is “the fear of the Lord”? Having reverential awe of God and His power. If we don’t have it, we ask for it. He’ll give it to us. He wants to give it to us. And once we receive it, we can receive of its words. Wisdom will teach us of His word through the “word of wisdom.”

For the “word of wisdom” speaks of the mystery of “the divine plan” (Thayer’s G4680, sophia wisdom). And this divine plan is how the Father will use Christ His Son to reproduce Himself, until we His body “be filled with all the fulness of God” (Eph. 3: 19). If we are filled with all the fulness of God, then God will have reproduced Himself in us, the body of Christ!

For our destiny is just that: Christ is the head and we the church are His body, “the fulness of Him that fills all in all” (Eph. 1: 22-23).

This the hidden wisdom and knowledge for our day, and the rulers and the masses will not believe it. Just go tell them that God will someday fill us up with His Spirit; He will be all in all. And see what they say. They don’t believe that. If they did, they would teach it. But the unbelief is thick and suffocating to the young child of God.

Natural man “receives not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned…But God has revealed them unto us by His Spirit” (I Cor. 2: 14, 10).

And this is what He has revealed to us: God is reproducing Himself through His Son and the Son’s body of believers, the church. And He is revealing the knowledge of His plan to get this done. And He is doing it all by His Spirit, working through His gifts to us. That is the importance of the “word of wisdom.”   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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