Immortality Road

July 27, 2013 · 4:17 pm

Who Hath Believed Our Report? How long, O Lord?

A few weeks ago I put a couple of my books on consignment in a local discount grocery store that had a rack of Christian books. It was a self-described Christian establishment sitting in the middle of the Bible Belt, and I figured a local author with a Christian book–what’s not to like?

So I came back to the store a month later to see if the books had moved and noticed that they were not on the rack. So I asked the assistant manager who made the deal with me about stocking the books, “Did they sell? I don’t see them on the rack.”

He looked at me real funny and being the diplomat/merchant that he is, he began to hem-haw around, saying, “Well, the manager hasn’t had time to look them over and approve them yet.”

I said, “Your racks contain scores of books that I doubt he spent any time pouring over to approve.”

“Do you want them?”

“Of course, I want them if you are not going to try to sell them.”

“I’ll go get them.” In a moment he returned with my books.

And then I realized what had happened. They had put them on the rack because they had a price sticker on them. But a shopper had perused them and did not approve of the teachings found in them and complained to the manager. Probably my Yah Is Savior book insulted someone’s churchianity quotient; perhaps they read the back cover which has summary of its contents. And so they stopped right there and got indignant. If they had read on, they would have found out much about how Christ, the Son of God, came in His Father’s name, Yahweh and what that really means.

The more truth He gives you, the less likely it will be received by the masses

But what did I expect? That everyone really wants the truth about God and everything else? How naïve of me. How presumptuous, like Moses, who “supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not” (Acts 7: 25). God had showed Moses a glimpse of the plan but not the power; that would come forty years later at the burning bush (v. 30-36).

After my little incident, Isaiah’s question kept coming to mind: “Who hath believed our report? (Isa. 53: 1). Why is there so much rampant unbelief? Why can’t people just believe?

It is the age old dilemma for men and women of God. The more truth He gives you, the less likely it will be received by the masses. You and I have had several revelations of truth and, excited about it, we share it immediately with probably the first person we meet, and it falls disappointedly on deaf ears. The kicker is that we honestly believe that they at this time ought to believe the truth we are sharing. But the vast majority don’t, and we wonder why.

But the scriptures state that most will not believe. In fact, if everything you share garners a huge following and acceptance by the masses, you don’t have the right message.

The Wide Gate and the Narrow Gate

That’s a bold statement, I know. But, we are to “enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matt. 7: 13-14). The masses are fooled and led to destruction through a wide gate; the few will find the true way. These are the Savior’s very own words.

And how are the masses led astray by the tens and hundreds of millions? Christ answers this in the very next verse: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves” (v. 15). Sheep’s clothing. They look like they are a Christian; they appear to be a bona fide spokesman for God, God’s helper, but Christ says they are ferocious wolves! That’s how the masses are herded into the wide gate and destroyed. By deceivers with their false teachings and old leaven concepts about God and not the true word of God.

In fact, Christ implores us to “strive to enter in at the narrow gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able” (Luke 13: 24-30). The word translated “strive” is rendered “fight” in many passages. We must fight to enter through the narrow gate into the kingdom of God. It is a fight, a struggle. Fight against what? Against the false doctrines and concepts taught by the wolves in sheep’s clothing.

Because there will be many who went the easy way through the wide gate and they will “seek to enter in, and shall not be able.” Upon realizing that they messed up, they will knock on the Master’s door, but He will say, I don’t know you. And they will be in anguish when they are rejected by Him. Those that went in through the wide gate taught by the false prophets will be in big trouble.

But why won’t the masses believe this message?

So, the question remains. Did I really expect when I committed my writing to God–did I expect to be believed? Especially since what God keeps showing me is so different to the doctrines that organized churchianity teaches.

But why won’t the masses believe this message?

I found the answer, which lies in the fact that they did not believe the Savior Himself! Very few “got Him” then, and very few get Him now.

“But though He had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on Him” (John 12: 37). It would be the same today if we had the same power to heal the sick and raise the dead. Oh, the masses would clamor after a miracle for themselves, but they would not really take the truth in and believe it.

Nothing has changed. But why? Why at this present time in history won’t the people believe?

Verse 38 answers the question. “That the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: Lord, who has believed our report…Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again, 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” (Jn 12: 38-41).

Why can’t the people just believe when truth comes their way? Because the multitudes are unable to at this time in history. What? And why can’t they believe? Because God–yes, God Himself–has “blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts” (Isa. 6: 9-10). He has blinded the vast majority of fleshly Israel and the Gentile nations. That is what the sacred writings of the prophets Isaiah and John tell us.

The masses are blinded by Him, but “the few” that Christ spoke about above are entering in by the narrow gate. These are His elect, His chosen ones. To Christ’s disciples He said, “It is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them [the masses] it is not given” (Matt. 13: 11-16). And then He quotes Isaiah 6: 9-10 to them. Although not politically correct to say it, Christ is revealing precious mysteries at present as the masses remain blind and hardened to His truth (Rom. 11: 7).

How Long, O Lord?

But when? God, how long will it be before You open the people’s eyes and soften their hearts so that they can believe You? When will their vision be restored and their hearts softened? Isaiah asked, “Lord, how long? And He answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, and the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land” (6: 10-11).

When the cities are wiped out, when the earth lies totally ruined and desolate, and when this world system is forever shattered and lying in rubble on the ground, then the masses will turn to God. These are the disasters of biblical proportions. This is the realization of all the disaster movies we’ve ever seen. This is the great tribulation period that everyone alive on earth will go through, just before Christ’s return to earth to establish His kingdom.

When God unleashes His trumpets and vials of wrath upon the earth, then the masses will begin to awaken and believe. They are asleep and deceived and “poor, wretched, miserable, blind and naked.”

God, please help us. Spare thy people, oh God. I am grateful for this knowledge, but it is a heavy burden to bear–knowing the sufferings that await the inhabitants of the earth.

The tribulation will come, and then more of the masses will have a softened heart to believe and love Him and they will repent and follow Him.

Of course, the false prophets and false teachers say that you won’t have to go through the tribulation period. Of course, they would teach that. How else are they going to get the massive numbers of souls through the wide gate that “leads to destruction”? God, help us. KWH

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Filed under catching away of the saints, Christ, elect, eternal purpose, false doctrines, false prophets, false teachers, great tribulation period, kingdom of God, manifestation of the sons of God, old leaven

Tagged as faith, false prophets, tribulation

July 18, 2013 · 8:37 pm

Peace and the Mind of God

Peace is the one commodity that is in short supply in this world. For some, peace means no more war. For others it means no more stress.

But one thing is certain; the whole world is crying out for peace. The destroyer is ravaging the land. Mothers are crying in Allepo because their government has just bombed their apartment building. Lives in the third world are collapsing around the globe through war and economic woes, flattening any chance for peace.

Even in Western Europe and North America, peace eludes the people, who, awash in material possessions, do not realize the age old adage that wealth alone can’t bring happiness, that “money can’t buy me love,” that true peace only comes as a spiritual by-product, from a life directed by one’s Creator.

Peace. What does the Creator say about it? Peace is a component of the “fruit of the Spirit.” When the Spirit of God resides in us, we will have peace.

But this peace still remains elusive. What does the Word say about what exactly brings peace—complete and utter peace? “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee” (Isa. 26: 3). First, God keeps the peace there in us. It is His doing. Second, He does this as our minds steadfastly think on Him.

Some will say that this is impossible. How can we think about God all the time? But let’s think about this for a minute. Even though our minds are occupied by a host of thoughts in any given day, the Savior tells us to not think on the earthly things that the masses are pre-occupied with—what to eat, wear, and all the other things like pleasure, jobs, etc. Our earthly life should not be the center of our thinking. It won’t bring peace.

So, what thoughts are we to think and to train our minds to think on? “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things [earthly things like food, clothing, entertainment] will be added unto you” (Matt. 6: 33).

Christ just taught in verse 31-32 to “take no thought” about the earthly things. This tells us that “thinking” turns into “seeking.” So how do we “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness”? We think about them. We meditate on his rule and government that will soon fill this whole earth, and we contemplate on the state of being right with Him.

This is how we seek His kingdom—by thinking about it as much as we can every day.

But there is a caveat in all this. Our thoughts must be based on sound knowledge. If we are meditating on concepts that are in error, do we believe this is acceptable with God? Our thoughts about God must be rid of false teachings, doctrine, and concepts about Him and His plan. He commands us in many places to “purge out the old leaven,” and He many times warns us to not follow false teachers and false prophets (II Peter 2: 1-22; Jude 4-8).

But this is the hard part of the Christian walk—this ridding ourselves of false doctrines and concepts. Difficult, but extremely necessary, if we are to be assured in our hearts and have confidence with God.

How do we know what is false and what is true? Yesterday’s light won’t illuminate the path of the elect in these latter days, so you can’t depend on the light that your parents and grand-parents had, or the light your preacher has, who got it from teachers and preachers who haven’t received anything new in 50 years. Depending on them won’t cut it.

How do we get rid of the false doctrines about Him and His plan? By sincerely praying and asking God to reveal it to us, with a humble and repentant heart. And He will do it. He’ll show us. But we need to break up the fallow ground of our heart knowing full well that when He answers, it will not be what we expected. The elect will find the truth of His plan, if they are willing to lay it all, all prior knowledge under the knife of the husbandman. For “every branch in Me that bears not fruit He takes away, and every branch that bears fruit, the Father purges it that it may bring forth more fruit” (John 15: 2). What is it that the Father will purge or prune out of our minds? He will “purge out the old leaven” of malice, wickedness, hypocrisy, insincerity, and falsehoods (I Cor. 5: 8; Luke 12: 1; Mark 8: 15).

A spiritually young and immature Christian has got a lot of old leaven in there that must be purged by the Father. He will do it, too, but we must submit to this procedure. That is the difficult part.

But afterwards, “it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness” (Heb. 12: 11). Peace that the Master gives. Peace for us in our spirits, peace as one of the fruits of the Spirit. Peace that comes upon thinking on His wonderful plan and purpose according to truth, after the old leaven is gone. Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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Filed under elect, false doctrines, false prophets, false teachers, fruit of the Spirit, Lost Sheep of the House of Israel, mind of Christ, old leaven

Tagged as false doctrines, false prophets, fruit of the Spirit, old leaven, peace, the elect

July 12, 2013 · 5:23 pm

When the King Returns

It’s not the nicest place to be–

A non-loyalist when the king returns

To assume his regal duties on his throne.

It’s better to believe his promise to us all,

Though now we see him not.

Those few who do will reap a great reward

Although they did not seek fame for themselves.

With pure heart fervent sought they to serve their king

And help him usher in a thousand years

Of peace and joy in kingdom bliss.

Casting Our Pearls Before Swine–When to Share the Sacred Names

A fellow Christian asked me one time, “Why don’t people believe me when I share the sacred names of God with them?”

I related to them that first of all, this walk that we have been called to is a lonely pilgrimage. I have found that for the vast majority of people on the planet, their basic spiritual need is not the sacred names but the cross experience. The sacred names are wonderful revelations, but they are “meat” and not the “milk of the word.”

People need to be brought to the “cross.” For they cannot spiritually comprehend the deeper things of God without the “spiritual eyes” received by a true conversion to Christ. They must first die with Christ, be buried with Him, and by faith be “raised to walk in a newness of life” through faith in His resurrection. Then they will be ready to go deeper into the heavier spiritual food, the “meat of the word.”

That begs the question: How will we know when to share the deeper truths with someone? What is the characteristic sign that shows us who needs “the milk of the word” and who needs “meat”? The person who uses and needs milk are the babes in Christ, or children. They haven’t grown into spiritual adulthood yet. For they “are unskilful in the word of righteousness” (Heb. 5: 13-14). The word of righteousness is present in a Christian when they have the gift of the Spirit called the
word of knowledge.” This is the ability to explain and teach another how the righteousness of God is attained. They have experienced the cross and “have been raised to walk in a newness of life.”

In that same passage we see that “strong meat belongs to them that are of full age.” Through their many spiritual experiences, they with God’s help can “discern both good and evil.” They can discern what is true and what doctrine is false. A child of God is “dull of hearing” and lacks discernment.

We must “not cast our pearls before swine.” The Savior knew that if we give stronger truth to those without a new heart, that they would reject it out of hand. Paul, experiencing this very thing said that “he was determined to not share anything with them except Christ crucified”–or, the death, burial, and resurrection of their old selves with Christ.

I’ve done the same thing, sharing wonderful things of God to those who cannot receive it. But I know that some will. Those nurtured through the apostles’ doctrine–the first two being “repentance from dead works” [the aforementioned cross experience] and “faith toward God” (see Hebrews 6: 1-2).

We must first lay the “foundation of repentance from dead works and faith toward God.” In order for someone to be the spiritual temple of God, they must have a good foundation.

Those of us who have run into this experience should be encouraged that we are not alone in our spiritual trek, and that there is a reason why God has revealed Himself and His truth to us. And, of course, our first reaction is to share it all with everyone. We all have done this. But He does not want all of it shared with everyone. I know that is ironic, but it is true. Just look at the parables, which are the “dark sayings” that deliberately cloud the meaning of the mysteries of His kingdom for those who are not meant to receive it! Incredible.

We still need to witness the truth to others–but that part of the truth that really meets their true need, which usually is the cross experience. KWH

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Tagged as cross, Parables, Sacred Names

June 24, 2013 · 1:22 pm

Be Still and Know that I Am God–After the Heartbreak

It has been a bumpy ride for most of us who have been called by God to be His children in these last days. Most of us have been a part of a church, fellowship, or Christian organization that did not end well.

On our trek to the Celestial City, we stop at way stations until sometimes we are forced to move on to our next ordained experience. Through much anguish and tears we often leave the fellowship of Christian brethren. So many congregations have split and fractured, along with our own hearts, and we are left wondering why.

Why, God?

Why, God? Why did it end the way it did? Disillusioned and hurt some thirty years ago, my family and I stumbled into the next phase of our life. I could not understand how the Christian brother that had helped me find Christ and His deliverance from drug addition was the one who ran me off fourteen years later. My world was shattered and torn, and I wandered aimlessly, listlessly, not seeking succor from God at all.

After five years in which my wife Linda and I finished our Bachelor degrees and teaching certificates (for we knew we were called to be teachers), a kind of a spiritual renewal of sorts began in my heart.

Any of us who have gone through a rocky spiritual transition have horror stories, and I wince for all who endure these disillusioning changes. God is not forgetful, however, of our sufferings; He knows that betrayal by those you love is the sharpest knife. Of course, few of us know at the time that “all things are of God”—even the betrayal of His loved ones, us.

And yet our initial question persists: Why, God, did it have to end? Five years after the breakup, I started to get an answer to this question. It is God and what He’s doing in the earth, and it has not ended.

For me, that initial phase of spiritual boot camp had ended, but God was not through. Then, as a babe in Christ, I needed a drill instructor to prod and push me to serve God the way they thought He should be served.

No, His love for us was not expended. That good thing that He started in us all shall be performed with His help. He’s not finished; us trying to serve Him by constraint is.

Maybe that’s why it took me five years to start to put some things together. No one was prodding me anymore to seek God. The mentor, tutor and governor was gone. The words of the old song came to mind: “You gotta walk that lonesome valley. You gotta walk it by yourself. Nobody else can walk it for you. You gotta walk it by yourself” [chorus of “The Reverend Mr. Black” sung by the Kingston Trio].

It was up to me and God. Only now it was better because of the knowledge base we had been taught. And I was taught among many things, these two things: “If it is a plan of men, it will come to naught.” And, “Prove all things.” Don’t take anyone’s word for it. Prove it out in the word with two or three witnesses.

It had been five years of wandering (at least it wasn’t forty), and it was now time to reprove everything. I had to find out what went wrong at the “mission,” that way station that we served in for fourteen years as everyday missionaries during half of our twenties and most of our thirties.

So where does one start to pick up the spiritual pieces and examine every one of those pieces? I decided to begin my meditations at the beginning: God, His plan, and His purpose.

Be Still and Know that I Am God

That very winter night in January 1990 I laid out under the stars and marveled at Orion and Cassiopeia and the Little Dipper and witnessed the evening star bright in the west. And realized that every star was just where it was five years ago. They had all hung there like dazzling pinpoint paintings on the walls of heaven, immutable, constant, symbols of God Himself.

And my dog Zack, my faithful “chopped ’57 German Shepherd,” was there, seeing only me. He couldn’t appreciate and take in the stars in all their orderly glory. It wasn’t for him to know anything about the heavenly realms and who created them. That was my domain. His was to know and love me, and he was content to accompany me into the field and lay with me in the grass while I mused about the Creator and His creation.

And it was then that I realized the very special place in the creation that man has—the thing about us that makes us so special above all other beings on the face of the earth: man is the only creature specifically made to not only appreciate God, but also be like Him. I had known that, but hadn’t thought about it in years.

The utter simplicity of it. Lay down, look up, be still and know that I am God. Do not corrupt the simplicity of Christ.

The simplicity. “God is a Spirit,” and “that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

And there I had found my starting point in reproving the teachings and doctrine of Christ. I would no longer blindly take the word of someone without proving it out first. His word speaks of a time that you would have no need that a man teach you, for the Spirit of truth shall be with you and dwell in you.

God is an invisible Spirit of love and those born out of this spiritual essence are spirit. I would now study the scriptures with no preconceived dogma, doctrine, or ideas. I would study it much like I did as an English major–reading the literary works as they are and telling it like it is without prejudice or preconceptions. I would dig deep and build it on the Rock, looking unto the eternal things and not the physical, temporary things. The quest in earnest had begun.

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Filed under church, eternal purpose, immortality, spiritual growth

Tagged as church, fellowship, heartbreak

June 15, 2013 · 3:23 pm

First Step in Becoming a Son or Daughter of God

A seeker once asked the Seer, “How do you get into the family of God? I see what you mean about respecting God’s awesome power and sovereignty. At least a little. But what do I have to do in order to get involved in this sonship the Bible keeps on talking about?”

“The first thing is to feel in you inner being, in your heart, that you need to change. Unless a person admits that he is not living right before this awesome Creator God, that person cannot get closer to God. God has a written law, handed down by the Son of God himself to the prophet Moses. It is called the Ten Commandments. It was in effect from the creation of man and woman. It was in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. They are called the commandments of righteousness. And everyone has broken them.

“God laid down the law: You shall have no other gods before me [especially ourselves]. You shall not make for yourself a graven image and bow down to it and serve it. You shall not lift up the name of God [Yahweh] falsely. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Honor your father and mother. You shall not murder, nor commit adultery, nor steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet or desire for yourself anything that belongs to your neighbor.

“Those are the commandments as found in Exodus 20. Mankind, led by their old nature, breaks them. Many people who claim to know the Bible say that the law was done away with. But the Savior Jesus (Yahshua) said in Matthew 5: 17, ‘Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets. I have come…to fulfill them.’

“And the way He fulfills the law is giving us His Spirit. But this only comes after we identify our old sinful self on the cross with the dying Savior, and let our old sinning heart die with Christ. This is repentance from sin. Then we must believe that when Christ resurrected from the grave, we, too, were raised from the dead–to walk now in a sinless existence–through belief that His Spirit is now leading and guiding us in this new life in Christ. This is faith toward God, the second of the apostles’ doctrines.

“And it is with these two extremely important and fundamental truths that a new son or daughter of God is born–born of the Spirit. But a person must have a need. God knows His own; He is aware who is written in the book of life, and He will help them and favor them (grace) and lead them into these truths.

“But this is only the first step in the growth to becoming His son or daughter. For this is the foundation that must be built upon with more of His truth and Spirit. For never forget this one thing: Salvation is just the first step in God’s growth cycle. He wants us to mature into full grown fruit-bearing capability as His ruling cadre in His kingdom during the 1,000 year reign! Go and learn what that means. Seek God for it. Study, dig deep, for the kingdom’s treasures are much greater that gold and precious diamonds and jewels.

“Ask Him to send a true teacher who will help you get started. And then, as you get stronger and more mature, you will have no need that any man should teach you, for you will have the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, leading you into all truth” (John 14: 16-26).

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Filed under apostles' doctrine, belief, death of self, elect, faith, kingdom of God, repentance, sons and daughters of God

Tagged as faith, repentance, Spirit of truth

June 8, 2013 · 4:46 pm

On Fasting–Conversations with the Seer

The Seer was speaking unto us about fasting.

“Right now you are basking in the light of Christ’s words flowing through the one who He has sent to call out and instruct a people for His name. And that is well and good and is as it should be. As Christ said unto His followers, The time will come when I will be taken from your midst; then you shall fast.”

“Why didn’t His disciples fast like John the Baptist and his disciples?” one of the brothers asked.

The Seer replied, “That is a very good question. The answer is instructive as to why fasting is even on God’s docket at all. As long as the Master Teacher is personally with you, you do not feel a need to fast, Christ was saying. But when He is gone and no longer is physically there to hand feed you the milk and meat of the Word, then the need to fast will become apparent. This should reveal to us how God uses fasting in our lives. For fasting is reserved for that time that will come for the elect.”

“What time are you talking about?” I asked.

“There is coming a time in all of your lives in God when I will no longer be here with you, serving as your teacher and guide. There is coming a time when you all sitting here will be dispersed to the four winds for one reason or another, and you will look out the window at the leafless trees and the brown grass and the grey sky, and you will remember this day when I told you about fasting.

“For, you see, fasting is not necessary in God’s plan when His teachings are fed to you by another. It is when you are alone and hungry for God’s truth, and you turn around and finally realize that there is no other human being to take your hand and comfort you and feed you in your lonely hunger. You realize that you will have to seek the Spirit within you for sustenance found only in the spiritual bread of truth. Then you will fast, successfully and meaningfully fast, and not before.”

“We fasted a very long fast two months ago,” another brother said.

“Yes, you all did, and God is not forgetful and appreciates your intent to join me in the fasting I must undertake. But the real reason to fast hinges on doing it not as just the thing to do. But rather we are to fast for specific reasons. The prophet Isaiah expounded on it in the 58th chapter where the Spirit through him tells his readers and listeners that the fast that God has ordained is one to accomplish His purposes in the earth. And that includes helping to deliver His people from the clutches of the evil world system that still has them in bondage. This is the only food that will sustain His sons and daughters. Being a part of His magnificent plan to ‘loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke.’”

“Who are the oppressed that need to go free?” someone asked.

“The fast that God has chosen is to do these things. Like Daniel in the ninth chapter when he prayed ‘with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.’ He was confessing the sins of God’s people, how they had failed Him, and how they had fallen into great bondage under the heavy yoke of the Babylonians and were in slavery to them, carried down into Babylonia, and how they had lost their homes and were completely desolate. Read all of that chapter and you will see Isaiah 58 in it.

“Daniel was laying it all out for God’s sake. Nothing was in it for himself. He finally could only ask God for His mercy to come for one reason: ‘for thine own sake and for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.’ Do you see? Daniel fasted and prayed, yes, for the people, but the people did not earn or deserved to be delivered and saved. Daniel honored his Creator God and asked God to deliver them for God’s own sake! That is the kind of heart that God wants in his sons and daughters! A heart that loves Him!

“And that is the kind of fast that Yahweh has chosen for us His sons. We should fast with His will in mind, and His will is His plan and purpose to deliver those in bondage. And this is what should be in our minds, to have the mind of Christ, which was, Not my will but thine be done, Father.

“It is this type of supplication that God will hear. This is the coming together of love of God and love of your neighbor. We are loving God when we pray and fast for our people–that they would be delivered from the slavery to sin and sinning. That they would be free from this devilish economic system based on debt, ruled by the rich men and bankers. That they would be delivered from hopelessness and despair and superstition and pervasive darkness.

“For make no mistake. The current inhabitants of the world are in the chains of darkness of the god of this world. They are enslaved in a faithless sunken pool of quicksand that is slowly taking them under. Their institutions have failed them and have even furthered their demise. Those dark days are here now. For BABYLON THE GREAT, the world system, has the people in its clutches, and it is strangling them.

“And you young men, perhaps many years hence, will peer out your window at some grey horizon, and you will remember these words about fasting. And the meaning of it will dawn upon you. And you will bring that burden for those lost in darkness into your spirit, and you will wish you had your teacher there again to help you to know just what to do next.

“At that time, remember that your teacher is still there with you. For He is the same Spirit that has taught you through me. He is the Comforter, the Holy Spirit within your very heart, and He will bring all things back to your remembrance. Even to the point that you will no longer need a man to teach you, for you will have the Spirit of truth to teach you and guide you and help you. Then you shall fast, even as Christ said we all would. And then you will pray for the oppressed as Daniel did.

“And to confirm that what happened to Daniel flies on down through the centuries and has relevance for us today, consider this. At the end of Daniel’s fasting and prayer and supplication, Gabriel, the arch-angel appeared to him and expounded many secrets of the coming of the kingdom of God to this earth, even foreseeing the crucifixion of Christ and the coming of Christ’s counterfeit, the Anti-Christ, the man of sin, which is for our day.” KWH

A Lesson in Wisdom

Who is that one person that you love so much that you would give all your assets and possessions, even your own soul, so that they could live on for ever and never have to taste death, never have to lie there cold and ashen, prepared for burial?

We all have someone, surely, that we would give everything to redeem them from the inevitable decay that awaits them in the belly of the earth.

But we cannot make them live on for ever. We do not possess the power to save them. They will die; the graveyards are full of people that someone loved dearly yet could not prevent their demise.

I remember the scene at the graveyard. Most of the mourners had left. Hugging the casket of the 20 year old young man was his grandfather, sobbing and moaning, “But I loved him. My darling boy. But I loved him!” And in that instant I knew that he would have given his very own life in exchange for his grandson’s. But he could not.

We mortal human beings cannot redeem, for any price, someone that we love. Our riches cannot be brought and given to God as a ransom paid in order to purchase the life of our loved one and thus prevent them from dying.

It is only God Almighty, the Giver of life to our loved one, who will take back that life at a certain time. We are not in control of life or death. God is, and He will take our lives back to Himself. And there is nothing we can do to alter this fact. Rooms full of gold cannot purchase a ticket out of death.

And God has ordained this so, as a lesson for us to learn, a lesson to teach us wisdom and understanding, a lesson for all people in the world, rich and poor and high and low. The lesson lies in us facing up to this truth: that God is sovereign and in complete control of our scheduled descent into the dusty tomb of the earth.

As we contemplate this, it is God’s hope that we distill drops of sorely needed wisdom, which is the “fear of the LORD (Yahweh).” Wisdom is being in reverential awe of this God, who is in control, who has given us a short time in these earthly bodies to learn of Him and His love, who will someday soon take the spark of His spirit back, and our fragile shells will fall to the ground, taking nothing with them, no matter how richly arrayed they once were.

Wisdom is being in awe of Him. And understanding is “to depart from evil.” He hopes that these thoughts will awaken His people to His saving power, for He is the only power in the universe that can and has trumped death.

And when we realize all this, that He has already paid the price for our resurrection, then this meditation on our weakness and His power over death will have done its job on us. For the above is the lesson found in Psalm 49. Read it all again. It is addressed to you, to all of us. “Hear this, all peoples; give ear, all inhabitants of the world…my mouth shall speak wisdom.” Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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Tagged as death, grave, resurrection, understanding, wisdom

May 25, 2013 · 8:58 pm

“The Just Shall Live by Faith”–But Who Are “the Just”? and Which Faith?

“The just shall live by faith,” says the prophet Habbakuk (2: 4). It is a very important passage quoted by Paul the apostle and made famous by Martin Luther. But who are the just? And which faith was the prophet talking about?

The Hebrew word translated “just” is rendered “righteous” in scores of passages. So how “righteous” and “just” are we talking about here? Godlike righteous. We see this same word used to describe God Himself. He “is a God of truth…just and right is He” (Deut. 32: 4). We are talking about a godlike righteousness that some will have. Not a self-righteousness, but a godly rightness. The just, the righteous ones will be living their days on earth by faith.

Who are the just? Who are the righteous? They will carry in their hearts that righteous state of God Himself. And they will receive this happy state with the Hebrew God because of their faith, having believed first without seeing.

The “just” in God’s eyes are those who are right with Him because He is right in them. They are the righteous and in good standing with their Maker.

They, like their spiritual father Abraham, walk by faith and not by the sight of their eyes (II Cor. 5: 7). Faith is the evidence of things not seen (Heb. 11: 1).

So the just are the righteous humans like God is righteous here on the earth, who believe having not seen nor received the promises of the kingdom of God. They shall live their days on earth by faith. Believing God’s word and plan is the way they will live. And because God can only be pleased by this walk of faith, they become just in His sight. He imputes righteousness to them, which is being in a right state with God. And that is all we really need.

Which Faith?

So the true faith is extremely important. And this faith spoken of in the scriptures of truth is not the same “faith” spoken of in news casts on TV, when the news-reading talking head says about someone who displays some religious activity: “He is a person of faith.” Meaning that he believes in a higher power. They acknowledge that somebody up there is bigger that they are. No, this is not the faith that Paul, Peter, and John spoke of.

Think about it. The Hindus believe in thousands of somebodies up there swimming in a mystical nirvanic goo. That is indeed a belief and a faith. And many Hindus are very spiritual and religious, and TV personalities may say that they are people of faith, but that is not the faith of the Hebrew God of the Holy Bible.

Not picking on Hindus here, for the same can be said of most of the denominations and sects of Churchianity. 2,200 and counting, and they disagree with each other. That is why there are so many of them. But the Spirit says there is only one body (church) and one Spirit (one God) and one faith (Eph. 4: 4-6). So all of these denominations cannot be exactly what the apostles practiced and wrote about.

Depart from Me…

Moreover, Christ speaks disparagingly of some very sincere Christians in these last days. He says to them, “Not everyone that says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. [We sincerely called You Lord] But he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven [You mean confessing that Christ is our Lord won’t do the trick?] Many will say to Me in that day [Which day? The time of the end?] Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? [Come on, now, we preached in your name!] and in thy name have cast out devils? [Lord, I saw many slain in the Spirit in your name. It had to be You!] and in thy name done many wonderful works? [We set up food kitchens and sent out missionaries and gave away bibles in far away lands, and You were with us, weren’t You?] And then I will profess to them, I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness!” (Matt. 7: 21-23). Since there is no idle words of God, these words will be spoken to some well-meaning people in that day.

That last paragraph was tough to write, but there it is in black in white. Of course, some will say that His words are harsh treatment. But why will these sincere Christians, who are “people of faith,” why will they be rejected? Because their faith was based on a vision of Christ and His plan that was in error.

Because denominations have hundreds of different interpretations of what the Bible is saying, and because they all cannot be right and just, then somebody has to be wrong. Sincere, maybe, but wrong as to what the faith of Christ and its vision is about.

So, yes, “the just shall live by faith.” Those who God sees as His offspring walking with Him in His truth at the time of the end–they “shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever” (Dan. 12: 3). Righteousness—there’s that word we started out with again. The just, the righteous, those upon whom God has imputed righteousness because of their faith toward Him—they will shine.

In fact those “just” ones, they will rule over men during the kingdom age. They will sit with Christ on His throne, full of His righteousness, and they will sit as princes ruling the world. Nothing less. “He that rules over men, he must be just, ruling in the fear of God, and he shall be as the light of the morning sun after the rain, after the rain” (II Sam. 23: 3; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiJlJgd9x1s ).

And because God has chosen “not many mighty and not many noble,” His true elect will appear as no one very special. They are the “filth and off-scouring of the world…For God has chosen the weak things of this world to confound the mighty (I Cor. 1: 26).

So the question comes full circle to each of us who is a “person of faith.” Which faith is it, for there are many faiths in Christendom that will be rejected by Christ upon His return? Which vision of the Bible do we believe? For many followers will come up short and they will weep and gnash their teeth at Him when they realize that the version taught in their churches was the wrong one. For “wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat.” And few will find the narrow way that leads to life (Matt. 7: 13-14).

We must then believe on Him the actual way that the scriptures have said. Those who do are the just and righteous, and they will rule and reign with Him in His kingdom. Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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Tagged as Christ, faith, righteousness

May 18, 2013 · 2:16 pm

Believing the Resurrection in Us–How the Holy Spirit Comes Down Into Us

The everyday pressures and the stress of just living on this planet causes us much grief. The demanding bosses, the irate public, the disgruntled co-workers, the incessant bills, and the constant drain of having to deal with earthly things all day long is just too much to cope with. With all this confusion going on, the children of the King begin to feel like spiritual paupers instead of heirs to the throne.

Yes, the Father allows this to happen to His children because He wants us to finally get our fill of it and call upon His name for deliverance. He has made us “subject to vanity.” He created us, in other words, in our original earthly state to feel the futility of living on earth no matter how much material wealth we may have. “All is vanity and vexation of spirit.” Simply put, we’ve got to get sick of it.

So enough of this world’s insanity already! The answer? God, we need more of Your Spirit working inside of us. We need more of Your love abiding in us so that we can return love to those who slight us out here in this world system. We need more of You in us, more of your Spirit welling up in love, joy, and peace. We need You, God, to fill us like you filled your chosen people in the days of the early church.

Yes, that is our need, but how do we get more Spirit into us? What did You say in your word about this? It all boils down to believing in the Resurrection.

Paul lines this out in Ephesians. He is saying to them that through God’s mercy, which is based in His infinite love towards us, He has made us alive where once we were dead in sin. He has done this through the power of the resurrection of Christ. When the Father infused that dead sacrificial body of the Lamb and raised him from the dead, all sinners who believe this were raised up together with Him. “Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ…and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Yahshua Messiah” (2:4-6).

This miraculous turnaround from the darkness of sin and sinning to light and righteousness in a person’s heart can only be realized through belief. [I know what some are thinking: “We’ve been hearing about the resurrection and righteousness and sin and belief all our lives in church. You are not telling us anything that we don’t already know.”] If what we’ve heard all our life were enough, then why are we so weak spiritually? Why aren’t we walking in the joy and victory that God has promised those who follow Him? Why? “Because of your unbelief,” the Master said.

The transformation to power in our lives is by believing what God said about the resurrection and us—that if we believe that our old life died with the Lamb 2000 years ago, that if we believe that we were buried with Him, and if we believe that God raised Him up out of the grave after three days and three nights—if we can just believe this, we can also ourselves be “raised to walk in a newness of life” (Romans 6:4-6).

We are delivered from depression and death by believing what He said He did through the resurrection and how it regenerates our hearts and consciences. For His Spirit comes into us by believing the truth of His word to us about our being raised up with him to walk in a new life.

A new life is what He has promised us. However, if we are still thinking the same way we did before our experience with God, if we are still doing the same things we did before our “conversion,” if we still are the same earthly-minded person, then how is that a new life? How does it differ from the old?

Let’s cut to the chase. If we are still lusting after women, how is that a new life? If we are still desiring another person’s material things, how is that new? If we put our own self before others, how is that new? If we are breaking any of the commandments, then how is it a new life? We were breaking them before we came to God. So what has changed?

If we are still sinning, or breaking the Ten Commandments, then we have not died, been buried, and been raised from the dead-in-sin. We have not actually believed it yet. Our need is for the Spirit of Christ to live in us. But how do we abide in Him and He in us? “That Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith…” That the Spirit of God may live in our hearts—but how? By just believing it! It is God’s word! It is the truth! Believe it before you feel it. You have to believe it first! Then the evidence of the reality will come. The trouble is that unbelief is such a part of the human condition, the human heart, that we have trouble believing what we see. “I can’t believe my eyes,” is a common statement. God is asking us to believe before we see.

We attain this righteous state not by us trying to be righteous and keep the law. No. It is a gift from God. We cannot attain the righteous state by working for it. Faith attains it and then the works we do with the help of His Spirit within witness to the fact that He in us is righteous. “By grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is a gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:8-9).

Actually, we in our newness of life, in our newly received righteous state with Him, are a product of His work—not our own work. “For we are His workmanship…” (v. 10). And God’s work through His own faith in us is good. He said, “Let there be light, and there was light, and He said it was good. We are His doing, His creation.

He definitely knows what He is doing. He through this new life derived by Him raising His chosen ones up with the Messiah—He has through this new life created a new creation—the second Adam, the second man. And He has created us in Christ unto good works (v. 10). I repeat: We have been created in Christ with the expressed purpose of producing good works.

Not some good works through us and some bad works. No. He has spiritually created us anew “unto good works.” We need to believe this. He has not created us unto bad works or corrupt works. No. He has made us in our new life to bear good fruit. The Master said, “ A good tree cannot bear evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bear good fruit. You will know them by their fruits.”

“We are his workmanship, created in Yahshua the Messiah unto good works” (v. 10). And the kicker is that God has already foreordained for us to walk in the spirit and thereby do these good deeds.

And this great treasure-life is opened to all that our God has called. For He took all the sin of the whole world upon Himself and became sin for all of us, and when He died, all of the sin of the whole world died with Him. That’s your sinful heart and my old sinful heart. And by His shed blood we all were brought close to Him. So close, in fact, that all who believe this and respond are “one new man” (Eph. 2:15). And all believers, whoever they are, through Him “have access by one Spirit unto the Father” (v. 18).

And we all are spiritually built upon the “foundation of the apostles and prophets, Yahshua the Messiah Himself being the chief cornerstone.” We are a building made by God Himself, built on this foundation. He is building us up; we are growing into “an holy temple in the Master, builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit” (v. 22). God will inhabit us His temple. He will live in us through His Spirit.

Later Paul reveals the mystery of how God is opening up His Spirit to come down on whomever can receive it—be they Gentile or Israelite. Paul prayed (Eph. 3:15-19) that God would grant to the Ephesians power and strength by His Spirit in their “inner man.” Power, strength, and might, Paul knew, were needed in the spiritual new creation within the heart of each new believer.

And this strength was to be given how? How do believers receive this strengthening? “By His Spirit in the inner man.” But how does this spiritual power come from His Spirit into our inner being? It comes by faith. “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.” This spiritual anointing comes to us by us believing it. Because He said it, spoke it, and His prophets wrote down His inspired words about the power coming, we need only to believe that He is good to His word about Him giving us more of His Spirit.

We have to believe that the invisible Spirit is giving us strength, and now is the acceptable time for this to happen. We’ve got to believe it before we feel the strength. Believe it because He said to believe it, and the strength and power will come. “All things are possible to him that believeth,” the Master said. “Have the faith of God,” He also said. God believes it already about us; why shouldn’t we?

He said in Eph. 2:21 that we are the spiritual building of God, and we are in Him and He in us, and we are growing “unto an holy temple” of God. This strengthening that He does on us in our inner man is the growth of the Spirit with us. We grow in His love in us, and we grow spiritually out to others. This spiritual growth ends up with us being “filled with all the fulness of God” (3:19).

We are to finally through humility “grow up into Him in all things” (4:2). We are to be “renewed in the spirit” of our mind, “putting on the new man” wherein we walk in love and forgiveness one to another.

Paul is saying that by believing it so, we can walk in His Spirit. We can leave the pride and arrogance of the old life and walk as obedient children. His Spirit can live within us and can grow in us—if we believe. For it all happens by faith—by believing what He said about it. That is what makes it so. It is not believing in something that is not there.

This new life that God has declared is already a reality in His eyes. Our new life in Him is not an illusion, some figment of our imagination. No. Our new life in His Spirit is a reality already spoken into existence by our God. We need only believe that it is real. Through us believing it, we actualize it and witness it. It is like the priests with the Ark of the Covenant stepping out upon the Jordan River and the waters peeling back for them that they go over on dry ground. God said it; they believed it, and they achieved it. A miracle happened that day at the Jordan River.

And a miracle was done in our hearts when we believed that He had taken the old one out and had given us a new one. This is how miracles are done. Miracles will come through believing that they are already foreordained to come. The disciples asked why this impotent man was lame. Was it his sin or his parents sin that put him in this pitiful shape? The Master said, No, because of neither, but that the glory of God could be seen when he was healed by one of God’s believers.

This is not believing this life of strength and power into existence. No. This new life He has for us is already in existence. Our new life in Christ’s Spirit already exists. It is His with Him. When we believe His resurrection, that power is witnessed in us again and again. We then have the witness within our own selves. This is a miracle of transformation. Let the miracles continue. Let us all walk on, believing what He said He would do for His children and through His children. Kenneth Wayne Hancock