March 17, 2013 · 10:25 pm

Dr. Ben Carson’s Common Sense Defense of God at CPAC

Finally.  Someone on the national stage is making sense.  Here are some of Dr. Carson’s words about God at CPAC:

“We have to resist this war on God.  People don’t want to talk about God, and ‘don’t you dare ever mention Jesus Christ!’  And this is supposed to be a country where we have freedom of religion and freedom of speech?  It is absolutely absurd.

“Let’s let everybody believe what they want to believe.  And that means, P. C. police, don’t you be coming down on the people who believe in God and who believe in Jesus.  If they want to put something out that shows their belief, they have every right to do that…

“And we have to live by godly principles of loving your fellow man, of caring about your neighbor, and developing your God given talents to the utmost so that you become valuable to the people around you–of having values and principles that guide your life.  And if we do that, we not only will become a pinnacle nation, but we will truly be one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

I wish this man was president instead of Barack Obama, who divides and conquers.  As Dr. Carson brought out, a nation divided against itself cannot stand.

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March 6, 2013 · 11:13 pm

“Don’t Lay Up Treasures on Earth”–Christ’s Words About the Time of the End

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth…but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,” said the Savior (Matt. 6: 19-20). Why did He tell us this?

Our first response might be that we need to think about God and not ourselves. True. True. But a deeper reason looms very large as we prepare for the sixth seal to be opened.

Certainly God’s sons and daughters see that the treasures of money and material wealth are fleeting and ephemeral, that the present money system of the world is a sham and a scam duping the masses into believing that they either have or are striving for real material wealth. We got that.

But also the Savior is warning us about striving for the treasures of power and prestige and fame and fortune.

Why not strive for this, other than God does not like for us to? The real reason is that this current world system–the governments, religions, and the economic systems–all of them will fail, fall, and crumble during the soon coming “time of the end.”

His directive to not trust and lay up the riches of this world system has held true for 2,000 years. In centuries past personal treasures failed through the death of the possessor of the treasures. He would die having to leave it all for the next generation to enjoy (Ecc 6: 2).

Solomon literally had it all. He was the richest man in the world with power, honor, and prestige. This included 600 wives and 300 concubines and palaces full of gold and precious stones. Yet he concluded that “all is vanity.” Everything this world can offer is just “chasing the wind,” which is what the Hebrew word translated “vanity” means. In short, a man will die and leave it all to–we can’t be sure who will get it, can we? Not really.

And then there is the very real possibility that your country will go belly up economically. In history, all–100% of the economies of the world–all who went to fiat paper money, their currencies failed, and untold fortunes were lost.

Treasures will fail also if revolution engulfs your country. The story is so common, that some say it is history, the taking of one civilization by another. And material treasures and fortunes are lost or taken by another…

“Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth…” Christ’s words ring down through the halls of history to our day. And our day has special significance, for it is very close to the time of the end. Christ’s return to this earth draws nigh. We are living in the last of the last days, the latter days.

And it is at this time of the end of this world system that the greatest loss of personal treasures will take place. For just before He returns, there will be “great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matt. 24: 21).

This “time of trouble” is horrendous. It is called by the prophets “the day of the LORD” (1). It is the total destruction of this world’s current economic, political, and religious systems. Those heaping up personal treasures of all kinds will not be happy, for they will lose it all.

But for His elect, His followers and supporters, after the cataclysm they will see Christ set up His new government. And because He is the King, it is called the Kingdom of Heaven, for like its King, this government originates from heaven.
There will be much work for His followers to do, for the earth will be in rubble after the asteroids and tidal waves and wars and calamities.

This last scenario is especially why He told His people to “seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you” (Matt. 6: 33).

Our take away from all this? Those still trying to chase the wind of earthly riches and treasures when Christ returns are going to miss it. They will miss His kingdom, and they will ultimately miss all of their dreams of riches and treasures for themselves and their families. It is going to be a sad day for those on the wrong side of history. Kenneth Wayne Hancock

(1) http://www.blueletterbible.org/search/translationResults.cfm?Criteria=day+of+the+lord&t=KJV

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February 16, 2013 · 9:44 pm

God’s Patience Seen in the Parable of “The Tares and the Wheat”

So, “patience” is “endurance.”  And this enduring of all things by the elect is part of the fruit of the presence of the Spirit of agape love in our hearts because this godlike love endures all things (I Cor. 13: 7).  It is the height of godliness, which is the road we are to travel as God’s sons and daughters.

This way to sonship is a lonely road, fraught with danger and made treacherous by its highwaymen. But it is as the Creator planned it.  It has all come out of His wisdom-filled mind.  He knows it is an arduous path, for He first trod it.  Now I am talking about the Father in the beginning, that wonderful illusive invisible Spirit, as well as His Son, the “expressed image of the invisible God.”

The Father knows of the treachery on this earth, for He wrote the play that way.  He is the Great Playwright that created characters antagonistic to His offspring’s destiny.  They are formed to be foils of His sons and daughters.  They withstand the children of God, thus strengthening and forging within these future monarchs the finer spiritual character of their Father.

For His children are destined to rule with Him forever.  However, they will acquire the necessary regal attributes by overcoming the struggles imposed on them by their adversaries, the “vessels of wrath.  “What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory” (Romans 9:22-23).

The “Vessels of Wrath”

God is enduring with much patience evilness and wickedness right now.  He is enduring “vessels of wrath.”  And why is it important for us to know about these people?  For they will be our antagonists in the play that we have been called to audition for–the play called Sonship.  Christ, as its Author, has in its pages outlined the way to become the veritable offspring of God, His princes and princesses.  But God in His infinite wisdom knows that to be like Him, we must go through the fire kindled by our enemies.

These antagonists are explained in the “Parable of the Tares in the Field.”  This is a secret that God is now handing down to His elect, His chosen “vessels of mercy.”  With this information we can understand much better what our parts entail, and how to live and play them.

The parable reads: “Another parable He put forth to them, saying: The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared.

“So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’

“He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’

“The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?'”

“But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them but gather the wheat into my barn” (Matthew 13:24-30).

Later Christ explains it: “He answered and said to them: He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked [one].  The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels.

“Therefore, as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.  Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (vs. 37-43 NKJV).

We must remember that the parables are not nice little stories to make it easier for the masses to understand.  To the contrary, they are the “dark sayings” of God, spoken to deliberately cloud the secret “mysteries of the kingdom of heaven” for those not suppose to know (Mt. 13: 10-15).

Christ says that the “tares” are “the sons of the wicked one.”  They are placed in the earth by “the enemy,” which is the devil. The reason that this and other parables don’t make sense to most is because of the old leaven concepts they read into them.  Old error-filled doctrines are like a dirty out of focus lens that the script is being read through.  Distortion and confusion prevail.

For example, we have the false doctrine that the devil and the fall of man is a great laboratory experiment of God that went wrong.  Hogwash.  A great lie.  God is Sovereign and All Powerful, or He is not.  He is, and He created darkness and evil for His own purposes (Isaiah 45: 7).

Now, seen through this truth, we can begin to understand the parable of the tares.  God has ordained “sons of the wicked one” (the tares) to not only exist, but also be an active adversarial hindrance to the future sons and daughters of God (the wheat).  And they are to “grow together till the time of the harvest.”  At God’s word, they continue to live and do what He wants them to do.  He could have had the angels rip them up and burn them.  But He is telling us that you don’t want to disturb the maturation process of the wheat.  For if you pull the tares up, you will adversely affect the growth of the wheat.  The root system of the wheat will be disturbed, and the sap will be hindered from coming up.

God is saying, To grow up into Me, you must let the wheat (children of God) grow up, side by side, with the tares (the evil children of Satan). The truth is that we need these tares and the sufferings that they provide for us to become more like God.  This is a precursor of adding the next addition–godliness.

God is enduring all this evil in order to reproduce Himself in us.  He endures the evil against Him and His plan, for He knows that the enemy will make His offspring stronger.  Now, to be like Him, we must endure, as well.  He is enduring, and we must endure, which is adding patience.  This is God’s fellowship that we are to enter; it is “the fellowship of His sufferings” (Phil. 3: 10).     Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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February 9, 2013 · 6:12 pm

Adding the Patience of God–Why Christians Must Go Through Trials

Peter tells us to add patience, which is endurance, to our faith.  This is an attribute of the Holy Spirit, a part of God’s “divine nature.”  Patience/endurance is part of God’s nature, but questions arise.   So, what has He endured?  What sufferings did He endure?  What is it about His divine nature that is patient and enduring?

We all have a good idea of what the Son of God endured.  We know painfully of His physical and mental torture on the cross.  But it is the spiritual sufferings He endured that were the worst.  Nothing is worse than to be betrayed by those you love.  The betrayal and conspiracy against Him brought much grief and pain, enduring sinners against Himself.  “He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not” (John 1: 10).

But God’s sufferings go back beyond the Son’s time of anguish.  If we go back to the beginning, we begin to see that the Father Himself endured with much longsuffering the forces of the very adversary that He positioned as such.  God created and, yes, commissioned the devil to be the “accuser of the brethren.”  That was Satan’s job–to create havoc, doubt, and despair–as God ordained it.

Now some will hold me to task on this point.  So I will point us to the book of Job, the first chapter.  The sons of God are assembled in a meeting, and Satan appears with them.  God asked him what he had been doing.  Satan responded that he was just doing his job, going about his business, going to and fro in the earth.  And what business was that?  God tells us in His next breath.  “Have you considered my servant Job?”  Then Satan tells God that You won’t let me touch Him because You have blessed him and have protected him.  Then God gives Satan permission to bring on much persecution and sufferings onto Job (1: 6-12).

Inexplicable as it seems to our little finite minds, God has Satan creating sufferings for His righteous children!  God says, “I change not” and that He is “the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

So we can deduce that God has ordained a certain amount of  sufferings, tribulations, trials, and temptations for each of us [Boy, that was difficult to write down, but I told God that I would publish what He gives me from His word].

So God ordains sufferings, “for whom the LORD loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives” (Hebrews 12: 6).  There it is by two witnesses; there are many more.  But He is enduring those very sufferings that come down on us.  Remember our parents about to use the rod of correction on us saying, This hurts me more than it hurts you.

But God ordained and ordered His own sufferings to be endured down through the ages.  If we understand this about our Creator, we get into His mind a little more deeply, moving us closer to comprehending why we must suffer and why we must endure trials and tribulations–the very sufferings which bring about the adding of patience/endurance, which is a crucial part of God’s divine nature.

Betrayal–The Suffering Most Dreaded

If a person is called and chosen by God to be His son or daughter, they will suffer a crippling betrayal at the hands of someone they love or trusted.  Betrayal is the thing we most fear in human relationships.  It is a heartbreaking, senseless infliction of utmost spiritual pain that the natural thinking human being finds absolutely no use for.  Some never fully get over it.  Some are hampered from ever giving their heart to someone’s trust again.  But some go through the fiery trial stronger and purer.  Their hearts are the right stuff as God deals with them to pardon and forgive, thus molding them into His image, the image of selfless love.

God Himself went through sufferings of unrequited love.  He took as His wife a special chosen people Israel (12 tribes, true offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob/Israel).  They betrayed Him, whoring after false gods, after He had lavished His goodness upon them.

God endured with much longsuffering these things.  To be like Him, His spiritual sons and daughters must go through these sufferings, also.  It is called “suffering for righteousness sake.”

We all must grow up into Him and leave the “little children of God” behavior behind.  Little children are mostly alive for what they can receive from the Father.  We must grow up; we must spiritually mature.  If we are chosen by Him as one of His elect, we will mature as we endure the trials He has planned for us [I know; that’s a tough one].  May He bless you all with more of His presence–patience’s big payoff.   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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February 2, 2013 · 7:47 pm

Adding Patience–Enduring All Things

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

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

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

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

So how do we arrive at perfection (completeness)?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Tribulation Worketh Patience”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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

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January 26, 2013 · 8:09 pm

Patience–Enduring the “Sufferings of This Present Time”

As the sons and daughters of God, we are to add certain spiritual attributes of God’s “divine nature.”  This is how we become “partakers of His divine nature” (II Peter 1: 4-7).  This assures our inheritance as His sons and daughters. These attributes are added in sequence–in layers, if you will.  To our faith we add virtue, and then knowledge onto it.  Then we add temperance to that knowledge.  Then we add patience onto the temperance.

Patience.  Patience.  Oh, how we all need patience in this hurry-scurry world!  This world that careens through our conscious hours robs us of this important godly essence–patience.  The swirling, rushing pace of our 21st Century lives conspire against us in our search for truth.  Patience is needed to even read this simple article on patience.

For all that we see and hear is temporary.  We will be able to temper the appetites of our earthly bodies more easily when we realize how transitory–how utterly perishable our bodies are.  When we believe this and wholeheartedly acknowledge the need for God’s promise of our immortal house from heaven, we will more easily shift our focus from the temporary to the eternal.

The Next Step in Adding the Divine Nature

And that next step is adding patience to the temperance.  But in order to add patience, which is the ability to endure the sufferings of Christ, we must understand just what those sufferings are.  Paul speaks of them when he writes, “The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Rom. 8: 18).  This “glory” is, of course, that destiny of God’s elect after they have grown spiritually to full maturity, which is the evidence of them partaking of the divine nature.

But those “sufferings” spoken of by the apostle is the sojourn we are experiencing in these mortal earthly bodies.  For “we have this treasure [of the Spirit] in earthen vessels” (II Cor. 4:7).  And that is the root of our current spiritual problem.  Our bodies are, alas, mere temporary bottles holding the water of the Spirit.

“This present time” in which these sufferings are being endured is our time now  in our earthly bodies.  Our perishable fragile mortal bodies will too soon return to dust.  Now is our time of waiting with long patience, trusting God will deliver us from the long sleep that awaits us, tucked in dust in the tomb of the earth.

Temporarily housed in our earthly tabernacles at “this present time,” we have a universal thirst that yearns to be quenched.  And that desire is to live on.  And whether cognizant of it or not, we are waiting in “earnest expectation…for the manifestation of the sons of God” (Rom. 8: 19).

And so we who have a portion of His Spirit, for a dry season at present, find ourselves trapped in a shell that will die soon.  And so we wait for our forerunners, the sons of God to be unveiled first, for they are the firstfruits.  And so we are waiting for these offspring of the Almighty to come onto the scene.

For they will give His other children great hope when they are seen striding this earth–a hope that they, too, can be “delivered from the bondage of corruption,” which is the cruel slavery that our present mortal bodies inflict on us in our new spiritual journey.

Slaves to Our Own Mortality

Our earthly bodies are decaying as they grow older each day, and we are not free to ascend and descend at will.  We are on a timetable, slated to expire, most likely before the age of 80–whether we want to or not.  That’s slavery; that’s being in bondage to our own mortality.  That is the “bondage of corruption.”  In the earthly sense, we are slaves to our own decay and impending death.

In our youth we were not aware of this impending decay of our earthly body.  Hence, we thought ourselves invincible and immortal.  But as we get older and see our bodies deteriorate, we see that we become the slaves to our own bodily limitations.  We begin to admit that we cannot do what we once did.  Our age, brought on by the ravages of time, becomes our master and limits us and dictates to us what we can and cannot do.  This is the “bondage of corruption.”

Aging is the accumulation of many miles and years on the human body.  Aging is that onerous sign announcing our impending physical passing.  But this daily physical decay of our bodies does not work on our spirits.  We can take heart in this, that “though our outward man perish, our inward man is renewed day by day” (II Cor. 4: 16).  And this renewing is the “partaking of the divine nature,” the adding to our faith of which we speak.

So why death?

And so we ask God, Why do we have to die?  Why give us a mortal body, God?  Why subject us to all this suffering?  The short answer: God created us “subject to vanity.”  He deliberately subjected us to mortality in hope that we would be delivered into immortality.  He made us to suffer this mortal existence in hope that we would seek Him, who is Life Himself, and in so doing find eternal life, which is the fulfillment of His promise to them who seek Him and love Him.

God has dangled death ever before us so that we would seek Him.  He reasoned that our looming demise would spur us to seek Him for answers to our dilemma.  Surely we would call on Him, the Giver of Life, to help us solve this problem of mortality if we were confronted with the sadness of first, the loss of loved ones and then, finally, ourselves.

God provided a law ingrained into the universe, as sure as gravity, that if we seek Him for the truth, we would find it.  “Seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you,” Christ promised (Matt. 7: 7).

And so, confronted by the sufferings of our mortal worries, we turn to God.  And His words resound through the ages to our hearts and tell us the answer to the riddle of our faint existence.  He tells us that He is the Fount from which the blessing of immortality flows.  And it starts with believing in the resurrection of His Son.  And latching onto that faith in Him begins our own new life, ending in the complete inheritance of a new spiritual body that will swallow up this old earthly one (I Cor. 15).

He seems to be saying, Surely when they see my Son arise from the dead, they will turn to Me in great hope that My resurrection power will one day raise them up as well.

His resurrection is our hope to escape the dusty tombs of death.  And yet, the sufferings continue.  And as He teaches us and helps us to endure all things, we add patience.  For patience is that part of God’s nature that endures.  It lasts.  And as we continue our sojourn in these earthly vessels, He grants to us patience by infusing us with experiences that helps us endure, that gives us rather things to endure.

Yes, “tribulation worketh patience” or “suffering produces endurance” (Rom. 5: 3).  Earthly wisdom shuns all sufferings.  The wisdom from above prescribes it.  That is why He allows us to suffer–so that we can become like Him.  For He planned those very steps of suffering for Himself, and if we want to be His sons and daughters, we must suffer with Him.  That’s a tough one.  That is why “few are chosen” (Matt. 22: 14).  Those chosen are the elect, and they will submit to the plan along with its sufferings, much like those chosen for our Special Forces endure the sufferings that the training entails.  It all comes with the territory.  To reign with Him we must suffer with Him (II Tim. 2: 12).   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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January 19, 2013 · 7:33 pm

More on Adding Temperance to Knowledge

In previous posts we have seen that in order to secure “an entrance…into the everlasting kingdom of our…Savior,” we must add certain spiritual attributes to the faith that God has endowed us with [1].  In so doing, we “give diligence” in making “our calling and election sure” [2].

We are told by the apostle Peter to add “temperance” to the knowledge of God and His plan for our perfection.

Since our very spiritual growth in Christ is in the balance here, a bit deeper examination of this word “temperance” is fruitful.  It is translated from the Greek word egkrateia (#G1466).  Thayer’s Lexicon states that it is “the virtue of one who masters his desires and passions, especially his sensual appetites.”

It is derived from a Greek adjective egkrates (#G1468), meaning “strong, robust; having power over; mastering, controling, curbing, restraining.”  So “temperance” is from Greek words meaning “to have control over.”

So How Does the Holy Spirit Help Us Get Control Over Bodily Appetites?

Knowing the truth will make us free, Christ said–of whatever ails us [3].  “Ye shall know the truth…”  Know.  There’s that “knowledge” spoken by Peter again, as in “add to you faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge…”  What knowledge?  The knowledge of truth, which is the mind of Christ, simply put.  Yes, the mind of Christ–His thoughts, plans, and purposes.  He did say, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” [4].  So, first knowing Christ’s thoughts, plans, purposes and His word, and then doing them–this will make us free of and give us control over sensual appetites.

There is another “knowing,” and this one is huge.  “Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with [Him], that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin” (Romans 6: 6).  Our old sinful self, in God’s eyes, was crucified with Christ on the cross.  And our old sin-soaked heart, which was enslaved to sin, is now free from all fleshly pulls.  This knowledge, straight out of the plan and purpose and mind of our Savior, is the truth that makes us free from unrighteous haunts.  Period.

Now.  The ball is in our court.  We are forced by Him to either believe this truth, which is His word and plan written down in plain English, and thereby be freed from the slavery of sin and sinning, or we continue on in unbelief.  That is the choice.  Chosing to believe this truth opens up the way to add these spiritual qualities like temperance, that He has admonished us to add to our faith, thus enabling us to “go on unto perfection.”

Temperance, then, is an integral part of the character of one who is an elder of the body of Christ, one who is mature [5].  This is a description of a temperate man, one who has his earthly body under control, leading him to be able to “hold fast the faithful word as he has been taught.”  After adding temperance, the man of God will have the power to not soon be shaken through any temptations of the devil.  He will be able to walk in the power of the word of God.

The elect of God will begin to realize that gaining control over the earthly body is a necessary pre-requisite in fully becoming the manifested sons and daughters of God.  And because temperance is one of the fruits of the Spirit, the stronger the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, the more temperance we will exhibit (Gal. 5: 22-23).  More Spirit in us, more self-control.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance…And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the passions and lusts.”  This last sentence is the very next verse, v. 24.  Isn’t it astounding that the word goes right back to being crucified with Christ?  In another translation we read, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires” (NIV).

Here it is in plain black and white:  There is a direct correlation of having the “fruit of the Spirit” operating in our lives and being crucified with Christ.  In fact, the crucifixion with Christ of our old nature is the very key in receiving His Spirit, which in turn yields the fruit of the Spirit in our lives–one of which is temperance or self-control.  It is much easier to control one’s self after knowing and then believing that it is dead.

Earlier in his letter to the Galatians, Paul writes, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (2: 20).  And there it is.  Our bodies live on now, but it is not our old selves anymore living in them.  But rather it is Christ’s Spirit that lives now in us.  And this life that we live is because of His faith in His own plan, now believed on by us, that by believing that He is raised from the dead, we too are now risen “to walk in a newness of life.”

It is this Rock that we are building up each other as the temple of God in the earth.  This is the solid Rock foundation that we must build upon.  Because the weather coming soon to this earth is going to shake and crumble all houses not built on the right understanding of His word, plan, purpose, and thoughts.  If it is built on a faulty foundation, then the house will come crashing down.  Tribulation is coming upon the earth, and it will touch us all.  Only He is our safety net–not some imagination of a rapture that someone dreamed up in the 19th century.

The Great Tribulation is coming.  We must prepare by first “knowing the truth.”  For Satan is going to deceive many in these latter days.  “Let no man deceive you,” Christ warned.  For the “falling away” or apostacy is already in full odious bloom.  The churches have been duped and lied to by false teachers and false prophets.  Many pastors are ignorant of this deception and yet, they continue to pollute the flock and inoculate them with poisonous doctrines and concepts.  But “the wise will understand” (Dan 12; 10).

[1]  https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2012/11/27/the-additions-to-your-faith-prerequisites-of-receiving-immortality/

https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2012/12/02/add-to-your-faith-virtue-gods-strength-and-power-2-peter-1-5/

[2]  II Peter 1: 10

[3]  John 8: 32

[4]  John 14: 6

[5]  Titus 1: 7-9

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January 12, 2013 · 6:47 pm

So Much Unbelief–Is It God’s Doing?

Ever wonder why there is so much unbelief out there?  You know, that stone cold stare of incredulity when you tell someone about Christ’s ability to “deliver us from the power of darkness” and to miraculously change our lives.  Why is that?  We can’t help but wonder how anyone could not believe in Him.

We have seen recently that it is God’s faith, His belief in Himself and His plan and His ability to perform it–it is His faith that He gives to certain individuals in the earth.  It’s the “faith once delivered” to His people.  After receiving it, we are admonished to “add to your faith” seven spiritual attributes that helps us “grow up into Him.”  They help us to always be bearing the “fruit of the Spirit” [1].

And with these things come the true blessings God has promised.  But why, then is there so much unbelief?

In fact, most Christians start out “setting the woods on fire”–telling everyone and expecting everyone to respond and believe them about our Savior.  But most of us settle down a bit and scratch our heads and wonder, Why don’t more people believe?

Why So Much Unbelief?

Some may say, Well, their hearts are hard, and they have rejected Him.  This is partially true.

Others might say, The devil has deceived the unbelievers.  True again, but that is not the whole truth.  This blessed news of living a forgiven, free, and happy life in Christ is hidden from the many “lost, in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light…of Christ…should shine unto them” (II Cor. 4:4).  So, yes, the devil has blinded them spiritually so that they cannot believe.  But that is not the whole story or the cause.

Still others, looking more deeply with eyes that only the Father could give, will see that it is God behind the current glut of unbelief in the world.  What?  I say this not as an accusation against God, but more in awe of His ways, which are past finding out.  I’m going by what He said in His word.

“All Things Are of God”

The apostle John saw this deep truth and expressed it.  “But though He had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him…Therefore, they could not believe.”  They could not believe?  Why couldn’t they believe?  They had all the miracles proving that it was God in Christ doing it all.  But they could not believe.  Why?  “Because Isaiah said, He has blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart, that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them (John 12: 37, 39-40).

God has blinded them?  Yes.  He is behind it; that’s a tough one.  John was quoting and elucidating what the Spirit was saying through Isaiah (6: 9-11).  And how long will the deafness and blindness of the masses last?  How long will the unbelief reign in the hearts of mortal Adamic man?

“And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate.  And the LORD (Yahweh) have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land” (v. 11).

The masses will continue on in unbelief until the great catastrophes of the time of the end come upon the whole earth.  When destruction comes upon the people, then they will cry unto God, and then their hearts will turn and believe.

Catastrophes That Happened to Ancient Israel Warn Us of Things To Come

We need only look into the scriptures of truth to see the type and shadow of our modern day reality.  The children of Israel in the “Old Testament” serve as a painful example of this, for “that which has been is now, and that which is to be has already been” (Eccl. 3: 15).  “These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come” (I Cor. 10: 11, NIV).  If we want to know how it is all going down in our day, we need only to look in the scriptures.

Many will begin to seek God and to believe Him when the disasters come to this earth, just like in the days of old.  The nation of Ancient Israel would enjoy the blessings of God, then they would get fat and complacent and forget God, and then He would allow other nations to conquer them and desolate their lives, and then they would cry unto Yahweh, and He would hear and come down and deliver them.  There would be revival for a time, and then the cycle would begin again.

We are in that same cycle right now.  We are growing fat and sassy.  Look at America, allowing our representatives in government to allow and fund the killing of our innocent children, and they have taken prayer and thanksgiving to the God of the Bible out of our schools.  And the people have allowed this!  And they have taken our complete money system out of the hands of the people’s representatives and given it over to a private banking corporation, a central bank.  I won’t even get into all the military adventures that have cost millions of innocent lives, with all their false flags.

We have sinned as a nation in so many ways, and most of us are complicit in these atrocities through our lack of courage.  Most have drunk the kool aid they have given us and have taken the government as our sole benefactor.  We have grown fat and lazy and do not “look to the Rock from whence we are hewn.”

And so, at the end of this age, which is coming very soon, God will bring us down.  He will break the pride of our power and humble us through unimaginable catastrophes where cities will be wasted and destroyed during the horrendous “Great Tribulation Period” that will come upon the whole earth.  And it will touch all those who are alive on the earth; that includes Christians, His elect, those He has chosen out to first believe in Him [2].

There is an elect, a remnant, those chosen by Him to be “a kind of firstfruits,” those destined to be the first to trust in Him and believe Him.  And it is left to us to edify each other as best we can, sharing truth with those who can believe at this time.  Maybe all of the above is why Isaiah cried out, “Who has believed our report? (53: 1; John 12: 38).

And it is left to us that have His faith to add to it the seven spiritual qualities  that will help us grow into full maturity.  Somebody is going to do it; it might as well be us.

Of course, the churches do not teach this.  You won’t hear this on Sunday morning anywhere, but I’ll stick with Isaiah and John.   They saw deeply into the heart of God, revealing secrets to those who can believe at this present time.  For most can’t–at this time.        Kenneth Wayne Hancock

1.  https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2013/01/05/the-faith-of-god-in-himself-now-in-us/

https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2012/11/27/the-additions-to-your-faith-prerequisites-of-receiving-immortality/

https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2012/12/02/add-to-your-faith-virtue-gods-strength-and-power-2-peter-1-5/

2.  https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2008/08/05/no-pre-tribulation-rapture-gods-elect-on-earth-during-tribulation/

https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2012/04/07/dont-depend-on-the-rapture-all-christians-going-through-great-tribulation/

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January 5, 2013 · 7:47 pm

The Faith of God in Himself Now in Us

Faith is extremely important but often misunderstood.  It is not us believing in something.  That is not the true faith of God.   No.  The true faith of God comes from Him to us, not from us about Him.  It is His belief in Himself that He gives to us.

Faith Is Not Something We Have to Muster Up

It is the “faith once delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).  Faith is a spiritual commodity from God that has been delivered to the people of God.  Who delivered it?  The Creator Yahweh did.  Faith is not something that has to be mustered up by His people.  We rather must receive it from Him.  It is something that originates from out of His nature and is given to us.  “For every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights.” That includes faith.

It is His faith that is transplanted into our hearts.  It is not something we muster up and finally believe about Him.  His faith in us is the first part of His divine nature to enter into the human heart.  But what is it exactly?  Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1.

God Has Assurance in the Things that He Hopes For

“Things hoped for…”  Because we are naturally egocentric, we think that it is the things we hope for.  No.  What does God hope for?  What are the desires of His heart?  What has He purposed?   Long  before  we were ever born, He saw us in our down-trodden state of sin and misery.  He also saw us rise with Him by His Spirit to vanquish sin and death in our lives.  He believed that this was a reality—that this was substance—having not yet seen it come to pass.  He believed and so therefore spoke and said that it was so.  He believed the best about us and His plan—not having seen the evidence yet of its fruition.  We as changed individuals are evidence that the invisible Supreme Being is real.  We are His witnesses that He is God.  And if He believes in His work in us before it comes to full fruition, then we should, too.  He is our example.

His divine nature is positive, full of faith and power.  All of His promises are “yes.”  Nothing negative flows from His heart.  He is positive; His attitude is positive.  In fact, He calls those things that are not, that do not exist as yet, as though they did exist.  He said that He will be all in all eventually.  We should then, right now, begin to walk around as if He already is all in you and me.  This will take belief that “it is no longer I that lives but Christ that lives in me.”

He is positive, giving “life to the dead and calls that which does not exist as existing.”  This is He.  This is how He thinks.  He is positive about His capabilities.  He has absolutely no doubt about His reserves and His resolve to get done what He wants done.  And what He wants done is the multiplication, the reproduction of Himself, within His creation.  He is an invisible Spirit; He wants to see Himself in action in human form.  This is the witness that He talks about in Isaiah.  We are to be His witnesses that He is the invisible Spirit/God.  His faith believes that not only we can change, but that we will change—that we are changed!  He seeks people to worship Him in this spirit and attitude and in this truth.  He needs people to worship Him in this way—to believe the way He believes.

And it is to this faith, His faith, that we are to add several more  spiritual qualities as outlined by the apostle Peter (II Peter 1: 5-8).  These are the more advanced facets that the Holy Spirit gives to those going “unto perfection,” which is full maturity in Christ.                Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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{This is an excerpt from my book The Unveiling of the Sons of God, which you can read at the top of this page.  Just click “Ebook: The Unveiling…”}

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December 25, 2012 · 10:51 am

Origins of Christmas Season Found in “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT”

“MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT” is referred to as the woman, which is a symbol of a false religious system.  This mother church system has an identifier in the scriptures.  This is a tag that tells us about her.  She has a “name written in her forehead.”  Names in scripture tell what the person or thing is—what its roots are, what its core values are.  A name in scripture tells us its origin, its reason to be, and its destiny.  This name written in her forehead means that her mind is full of what her name implies.  Her heart and mind is full of what her name means. And her name was “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH” (Rev. 17:5).  Her name is given all in capital letters to signify its great importance to us.

First, this church’s name is a “MYSTERY.”  The masses who wonder after the world system are in the dark.  The origin of the political and religious systems of the earth is a mystery to them.  A mystery is a “who done it?”  The passive masses are in the dark about the characters and their roles in the drama happening on the world stage.

The second part of her name is “BABYLON THE GREAT.”  This term is a mystery also.  The first thing that comes to mind is the ancient city of Babylon, the capital of the Babylonian Empire in what is today Iraq.  This great city, described by the Greek historian Herodotus, was so grand in its day that its Hanging Gardens was known as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

But what’s the old city of Babylon’s connection to the name of the woman riding the beast in Revelation 17:5? Why is this old city’s name a part of the name of the false religious system that persecutes the true followers in the last days?

The answer lies in the fact that the religious system of the ancient city of Babylon has passed itself on down through the centuries to our day.  History teaches us that the Near East’s fertile crescent spawned a mystery religion with its birthplace in Babylon.  It was there that Nimrod became prominent.  He was the son of Cush, the grandson of Ham, and the great grandson of Noah.  “He began to be a mighty one in the earth.  “He was a mighty hunter before YHWH: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before YHWH.  And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel {Gr. Babylon}” (Genesis 10: 8-10).  This religion was passed on down to pagan Rome.  {Even the Catholic Bible admits in a footnote on Rev. 17: 5 that “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT” is pagan Rome!  Read it here http://www.newadvent.org/bible/rev017.htm }

And one of these ancient pagan traditions that not only has survived, but has thrived today is Christmas.  People all over the world celebrate this holiday, not knowing of its tainted origin and of its pagan roots.

This brings us to the whorish woman’s name: “MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”  This false church is a mother church.  Who did she give birth to?  The law of harvest states, Each seed bears its own kind.  Those organizations who practice and adhere to the mother’s doctrines and traditions are by nature her offspring—daughters of the mother church. And one of pagan Babylon’s strongest traditions is the winter solstice season’s Saturnalia/Christmas.  And yet, the whole world wonders after it, believing that it is the greatest time of year, not know at what they marvel.

Yet I do not condemn anyone who celebrates it.  I once did, too.  But I wanted the truth at all costs, and when this part of the truth came, I had to make a stand to forego the holiday.  It makes waves in the family, for they will not understand at first.  All my kids are grown now, and they do understand the stand I made.  And all those who are pressing “on for the high calling” of sonship and daughtership of God–they will make a stand for truth.  The princes and princesses of God will realize that the truth is Him.  He, the Son of God is the Truth. That realization will put every thing else into perspective.    Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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