What Prevents Christian Growth–The Deceitfulness of Sin

As the sons and daughters of God, we are called to do one thing– “to  fulfill the word of God” (Col. 1: 25).  That is our destiny and what we are to do.

God has spoken from the beginning His word about what will transpire on this earth.  And it is a mystery to unregenerate natural man.  It is also a mystery to babes in Christ whose senses have not been exercised “to discern both good and evil” (Heb. 5: 14).  What God has spoken and written down for His earthly creation is a “mystery which has been hid from ages and from generations,” but now it is being made known to His elect, the ones He has chosen for the end time happenings (Col. 1: 26).

It is then to His elect that He is revealing this mystery, which is “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (v. 27).  To get Christ fully formed in His elect–to present every man perfect in Christ Jesus/Yahshua”–that is the work of His called out ones.  That is the “word of God” that we are “to fulfill.”

What Hinders the Spiritual Growth to Get to “Christ in You, the Hope of Glory”?

What hinders the new Christian’s growth?  In a word–sin.  For they are taught by their pastors, preachers and priests that they will never stop sinning. But that is a lie. The apostle Paul urges new Christians to “be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive” (Eph. 4: 14).  The way of growing from a spiritual child to a spiritual adult is not be deceived any longer by cunning and crafty men who teach false doctrines.

Paul already has said in this same chapter that God has given apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers “for the perfecting of the saints”!  Perfection of Christians sounds like a stupendous growth in God.  You mean it is possible?  I mean, to grow up and be just like Christ?  Paul believes so.  In fact, he says that this perfecting through the teaching of the truth will continue “till we all come…unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ!”! (4: 11-13)  And we know that this perfection cannot be attained if one is still sinning.

Paul spends most of the rest of the book of Ephesians urging new followers to put away sin out of their lives and “put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (4: 24).  No more lying, selfish anger, no more stealing, filthy talk, and malice (4: 25-31).  In other words–No more sinning.  “For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.  Let no man deceive you with vain words” (5: 5-6).  How can a man deceive the new Christian with vain words? By

telling him that he can do all these things and still have an “inheritance in the kingdom  of Christ and of God.” Or to put it another way: You can be a Christian in good standing and still sin.

This Is a Hard Saying–Who Can Hear It?

Many reading this will stop and say that I’ve gone too far.  That’s fine.  “They that have ears to hear, let them hear.”  This message is for the few–like I stated in the previous post last time.  But this is crucial for those wanting to grow all the way in this thing.  It is to you I am writing anyway.  All others with God’s help will be what they are meant to be.  My job is to teach the truth to the elect so that they can grow.  And He has shown me that this concept is what will hinder the elect from growing.  This is crucial.  Bear with me, and let me explain more fully.

Faith (Belief) Is the Key

Now this growth process inside of a believer is an invisible spiritual happening.  It takes belief without seeing first.  Faith is believing, having not seen the evidence as yet (Heb. 11: 1).  It is believing what God said, not what some man said He said.  And this goes for the sin question, too.  It is all about believing His word as to how to get rid of sin (and sinning) in our lives.

Sin is deceitful.  It is born in deception and it breeds deception.  It was born of a lie and it spawns more lies.  And its most powerful lie tells new Christians that they can’t escape its clutches.  Organized religions keep people in the prison of sin through the lie that they can’t live without sinning–that you are a sinner and will die a sinner.  Ironically enough, some preachers pridefully preach this every Sunday!  They say that you will always be held captive by sin–that you cannot escape its bondage!  In other words, they tell the people that God is not strong enough to break sin’s hold on you.  But be not dismayed; God will accept you even though it is impossible to stop sinning against Him, if you just accept Christ.

But wait a minute!  I thought “with God all things are possible” (Mark 10: 27).  And, “With God nothing shall be impossible” (Luke 1: 37).  And, “All things are possible to him that believes” (Mark 9: 23).  I mean, even the LORD, Yahweh Himself, answered Sarah’s incredulity about having a baby with this question, “Is any thing too hard for the LORD/YHWH?” (Gen. 18: 14).

And so He is asking every one of us: Which is easier for Me to do?  Grant Sarah a child in her old age, despite the “deadness of her womb,” or grant unto you a new heart that does not sin against Me?  Which is the “easier miracle” for Him to perform?  To God it is all the same.  If it is in His will, He makes it happen.

The preachers say that you are in bondage to sin; you can’t escape.  But God says “he that is dead is freed from sin” (Rom. 6: 7).  The preachers say, “I sin every day.”  But God says, “He that is born of God does not commit sin, for His seed remains in him and he cannot sin because He is born of God” (I John 3: 9).  If we are not saved from sin, then what have we been saved from?

You won’t hear the message contained in Romans 6.  “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?”  Shall we go on sinning, breaking the Ten Commandments, so that His grace can be exercised to its fullest extant?  Answer:  “God forbid.  How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein” (Romans 6: 1-2).  Since the true salvation experience begins at the cross, baptized into His death, how can we continue to sin when sin has died inside of us (6: 3-11)?

Of course, very, very few will be preaching on this come next Sunday morning [or Saturday, for that matter].  Even if they know about this message, very few understand it, and fewer yet believe it, so they stay away from Romans 6 like the plague.

But it is this very message of the death of our old sinful self that opens the door.  What door?  The door to the mystery of “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”  The door to the secret of Christian growth.  The door to the overcoming of sin in our lives  and growing up to be like Him.

This “hope of glory” is not just a ticket to heaven, which is what the little babe in Christ wants from the Father.  No.  This “hope of glory” is our hope that Christ would be fully formed in us during these latter days–that the “greater works” that He promised His followers would do–that would be fulfilled in and through us!  That we could actually walk like the early apostles and the prophets of old!

That we could be the “called according to His purpose.”  That we could actually be those He knew before we were ever born, those who He gave a destiny before we were  born “to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.”  And so He pre-destined us, called us, justified us, and soon, oh, so very soon He will glorify us! (Romans 8: 28-31).

And there is nobody that can separate us from Christ’s love for us.  And there is nobody who will succeed in stripping away our glorious growth into His manifested sons through lies and deception.

But this vision of full spiritual Christian growth hinges on getting past the deceitfulness of sin.  “The counsels of the wicked are deceit” (Prov. 12: 5).  Or, in other words, The words of the sinner are deception.

Their unbelief in God’s power to deliver keeps people in bondage to sin and sinning.  This is where the deception lies.  A Christian cannot grow when they believe that they cannot keep from sinning with God’s help.  This is the key that will unlock the door to Spiritual growth.

Through Christ we receive a new heart; the old heart is passed away once and for all.  Man says that it is impossible to be rid of sin in your life.  But God says, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God” (Luke 18: 27).  Christ’s own words.  Hallelu Yah!

[If you find someone that teaches these things, you have found a very precious thing.  Hold them near and dear and never let them go.]  KWH

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Letter to the Future Sons and Daughters of God–You Are Not Alone

Yes, we do have a calling–a calling that sets us apart.  It is a calling from God that makes us at times feel lonely, whether we are sitting in a megachurch with its tens of thousands or in our room longing for someone to fellowship with.

But wherever we reside, the more light that He gives us, the darker it gets around us.  We try to share a revelation that we know is from God, and it is either rejected or attempts are made by our Christian brethren to redirect our thinking because they are so sure that it can’t be right because that revelation just does not fit the standard operating procedures of our denomination/fellowship/church.

And so it is a lonely walk, this walk with the invisible Father–this walk to sonship “until Christ be formed in you” (Gal. 4: 19).  But, of course, we are never alone, as long as we look after the Spirit (John 8: 29).

This road to immortal kingship that we have been called to walk is not easy.  Christ warned us to “count the cost,” to see if we are made of the right stuff for this difficult journey (Luke 14: 28).  It is not easy.  And few of the masses of humanity will find it.  The Master taught us to “enter through the narrow gate; for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.  For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matt. 7: 13-14).

The Wide Gate That Leads to Destruction

Some will read that passage in Matthew 7 and stop after verse 14.  But the real revelation comes in the next verse.  Christ shows us who is opening up the wide gate that is swallowing up Christians by the hundreds of millions.  In the very next breath after saying few will find this way of truth, He warns, “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves” (v. 15).  Go to where the many are entering through the wide gate–where the massive numbers of professing Christians are, and you’ll find that they are being led by false prophets and teachers, who come with a peaceful message about Christ that seems harmless enough.  However, they will eat you up like a wolf with the end product of their teachings leading the masses to destruction.

Few are going to find this way of truth.  So few, in fact, that the prophets of old thought at times that they were the only ones following “the true way.”  Elijah, who was hunted down like an animal in the wild, cried in desperation, “Yahweh, they have killed your prophets and have digged down your altars, and I am left alone, and they seek my life.”  To which God replied, “I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal” (Rom. 11: 3-4).

There are just a few of us, but we are not alone.  Millions will be saved and will walk as babes and children of God in His soon coming kingdom.  But there will be but a few thousand who will “walk with Him in white”–who will “follow the Lamb whithersoever He goes” (Rev. 14).  Even though we are few and scattered to the four corners of the earth, the encouraging part in these latter days before He returns is that we have the internet.  He did say that “knowledge shall increase.”  We can communicate with brethren from around the world instantaneously.

Many of us have already experienced some things and have come out of churchianity.  I rejoice with you and encourage you to continue your walk.  Prove all things out–old things that you were taught back in the day about God, and also prove out new things that are introduced to you or that you get on your own.  Prove out through prayer and study both things you believe to be the truth and also things you don’t believe to be the truth.

Remember: If some are not receiving any new truth, then one of two things is happening.  Either they have all truth already and “have need of nothing”– or the Spirit is not guiding them into all truth.  I doubt that the former is true.  So that leaves some in the terrible position of God not fulfilling John 16: 13 in their  lives:  “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth.”

Christ is our guide on this quest for the Ultimate Truth, and with Him we are not alone.  KWH

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How the Old Self Dies–Baptized into His Death

Chapter 28 to the book Yah Is Savior: The Road to Immortality

     We may not realize it yet, but we are blessed, for we have seen that our old self needs to go.  Many try to redirect or re-channel its activities.  Sometimes we try to clean it up, but He wants it to die. 

     He said to repent and be baptized in water.  Yes, water baptism is a symbol of something else, yet we should still do it.  But few know what the real baptism is.  Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Messiah Yahshua were baptized into His death?  We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Messiah was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. Rom. 6:3-4. NIV.

     Going down into the water is a symbol of the mortal life we now live in this flesh.  Coming up out of the water is a symbol of the new spirit-being life we shall live, which is the immortal life that we are called to. 

     Water is a symbol of our mortality.  Our first physical birth is an immersion in a bag of water.  We are born of water.  We mortals are about 75% water.  We  begin  in  our  mother’s  womb in water.  During water baptism we are baptized into His death.  To live in this mortal body is to die.  This watery entombment we call a body is really a deathtrap.  It by its very nature has to die.  The Messiah’s earthly body was composed of the same watery stuff that our bodies are.  And He died.  He had to die by reason of the nature of his shell during His earthly tenure.  This watery, flesh and blood body cannot inherit immortality and go into the kingdom of the Eternal One.  To be made of water is to be mortal, to be awaiting death, for water is extremely unstable, subject to every whim of nature’s forces.

     To sin is to die.  Mortality is to be able to die.  Therefore, our mortality is to sin. Sinning insures a human of not receiving a new spiritual heavenly body.  But now He has enabled us to live a life where we do not have to sin, if we receive His Spirit.  “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust (desires) of the flesh (this old mortal body)” Gal. 5:16 NKJV.

He was made to be sin for us

     We, then, when we go under in water, are symbolically being immersed into this watery mortal state of sin with Him.  We “are buried with him by baptism into death.” Rom.6:4. God calls those things that are not,  as though they were.  We are dead already (Yahshua told the disciples, “Let the dead bury their dead”).  He calls it before its actual physical death when we consent to and experience it (in revelation).  The water is the symbol of our earthly mortal bodily state.  This spiritual death of our old self comes now in this revelation before the fruit of death comes to our earthly bodies. 

     In conjunction with this, few know that the Messiah, the day of His death, actually became sin for us—he who had never sinned.  He was the sacrificial  Lamb who was set to be sacrificed  before the world ever came into existence.  God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. II Cor. 5:21. NIV. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Rev. 13: 8.

     The levitical priest, in types and shadows, laid his hands on the sacrificial goat, thereby transferring Israel’s sins upon it.  So did the Father place all of mankind’s sins upon the body of Messiah.  When He died, the body of sin died; our sin died that day.  To whom is the arm of Yahweh revealed?…Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all…It pleased Yahweh to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see His seed. Isa. 53:1,6,10.

     We make the Lamb’s soul an offering for our own sins by realizing that it was us in our sinful state hanging on the tree that day.  We must be immersed in this knowledge.  We must believe that our old self—that old monkey on our back, that old demon that we were, that selfish, egotistical, self-absorbed, sorry excuse for a human being—that old thing that we were is now, in God’s eyes dead.  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.  For he that is dead is freed from sin. Rom. 6: 6.  [I invite you to read my whole book and make comments.  God is calling out His elect (chosen) sons to be manifested in our time.   Kenneth Wayne Hancock]

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Why Christ CANNOT Come Back Tonight–And Who Is the Anti-Christ?

“You better get ready!  Christ could come back tonight!” shouts thousands of preachers every Sunday.  “Be ready for the rapture, that wonderful day when we all float serenely up  through the clouds to heaven,” they say.  But they are parrots in pulpits who mimic words that they have heard someone else say, never having proved it out according to the word of God.  Christ is not coming back tonight, no matter how much they  preach about it.

That’s right.  The Savior, known to the English speaking world as Jesus Christ, cannot come back tonight.  Why not?  Because He will not go back on His word.  He said that several things must take place before He returns, and He will not break His own word.

Which Word?

The key is found in II Thessalonians.  Paul is commending the Thessalonians for their “patience and faith” in the face of the “persecutions and tribulations” that they are enduring at present.  This patient endurance in the face of persecution makes them worthy of the kingdom of God, which is a “righteous judgement of God,” just like it is a righteous judgement of God “to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you” (1: 4-6).

The government of God is coming when Christ returns, and it is the stone kingdom that will smash and pulverize all of man’s governments, like the very Roman government at that time in A.D. 54 that is persecuting the Thessalonians (1).  This kingdom, coming down out of heaven, will bring with it “tribulation to them that trouble” these Thessalonians.  “Tribulation” here is the same Greek word used in Revelation concerning the tribulation period to engulf the world system.

Paul goes on to say in verse 7 that God will grant His followers whose earthly bodies expire a rest.  This rest will continue until the Master “shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ/Yahshua the Messiah” (1: 7-8).

A permanent destruction will come upon them, and this destruction will come from the very presence of the Savior and the glory that surrounds Him–right here on earth at His return (1: 9).

So we are talking about Christ’s return to this earth–a physical return, a smashing return, a vengeful return, a return to “recompense tribulation to them that trouble” us.  Then Paul gives us the key to when Christ will come to do all of this.

Don’t be “soon shaken in mind, or be troubled…as that the day of Christ is at hand” (2: 2).  They had heard from some men teaching that Christ was coming soon.  But Paul tells them, “Let no man deceive you by any means” (2: 3).  You mean, Paul, that there will be men preaching that Christ could come right now?  And that they will deceive you?

“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day [Christ’s return to earth] shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sits in the temple of God showing himself that he is God” (2: 3-4).

There is the key.  Before Christ comes back for His elect children and returns to deal vengeance to the unbelievers, the anti-christ, the man of sin, will be revealed.

Christ can’t come back tonight because we don’t know who this man is. 

So just who is this man of sin?  That is the question we should be asking ourselves as followers of Christ and people who long for His return.  How will we know him?  What signs will give him away as to his identity?  Since he will have to be revealed before Christ can return, we should be asking these questions and not listening to the siren song of rapture theorists.

First, he will oppose “all that is called God.”  He will “exalt himself” above God.  He will not just do this in word, but he will literally “sit in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God” (2: 4).

Wait a minute.  Temple?  The anti-christ will sit in the temple of God before Christ comes back?  Yes.  There will be a man who will sit in the rebuilt temple of God palming himself off as God himself!

Christ speaks of this very scene in Matt. 24: 15.  “When you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, “great tribulation shall break out (v. 21)–far worse than any trouble has ever happened on this earth.

What is this “abomination of desolation”?  When a man stands in the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem and claims to be God.

So we first need the temple to be rebuilt in Jerusalem before the man of sin can stand in it.  The temple rebuilt and the man of sin revealed.

These are the signs of Christ’s coming back to earth.  But Satan will have his way with the “multitudes in the valley of decision.”  The masses will “wonder after the beast.”  The “coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders…”  And the people will perish “because they refused to love the truth” (II Thes 2: 9-11).  “And for this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie.”

And there you have it.  Let us all beware of false teachings that will lead us astray from the truth.  The end of the age is upon us, but most will be deceived and miss the most important sea change in the history of this world!  Let us “prove all things,” both things we believe to be the truth and things we’ve been led to believe is a lie.  Let us study.  Let us dig deep and build our house on the Rock and on the stedfastness of His word.  Kenneth Wayne Hancock

 

 

1.  Daniel 2: 34-45

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“At least they wouldn’t be hurting.”

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

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

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

The Endgame

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

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

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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The Spirit of God and the Spirit of Antichrist—How to Tell the Difference

The human mind of a child of God wants to be sure—wants to not be deceived, wants to know that what is said to it is sincere and true.  It is our nature for this to be—nothing less than the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help us God.

And this is especially so when it comes to religious things.  Any time someone tries to tell us something about God, we fairly bristle with our protective coating—shielding us from a possible onslaught of deceptive devilish communication.  We don’t want to be deceived and are so afraid of being so used that we just might miss a true word from God.  We are, after all, warned by the prophets and apostles about false teachers and false prophets, “who shall bring in damnable heresies,” said Peter.  Unfortunately, many will see a teaching new to them as false simply because it did not come from “our church.”  Little do they know that many false teachings like the prosperity doctrine, the rapture, cheap grace, Christian sinners, not to mention the hocus-pocus heresies of the church of Rome–these not only stunt the babe in Christ, but they will shipwreck and sink the new Christian.

How Can We Be Sure?

Consequently, how can we know for sure what thought is from God and what is not—what is from the Spirit and what is from the spirit of antichrist?  There is a passage of scripture that tells us how to discern between the two.  This scripture shows us how you will know if it is the Spirit of God speaking through a human being or not, or if that uninvited thought that seemingly pops into our mind is from God or not.  “Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God; and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God” (I John 4:2-3).

In order to know what these verses mean, we must know that “Jesus” was not the Savior’s actual name [See my books which you can find at the top of this page.  Just click “Ebook…”].  His true name contained the Father’s name, for he came in His Father’s name.  His name was Yahshua, which means “Yah, the Self-Existent One, is Savior” and is the same name as the patriarch Joshua.  So, looking at this again, we see that the person who confesses that Yah is the Savior and the Anointed One and is come into His human abode in the Messiah—that person has the Spirit of God.

Denying that the great Spirit Yahweh was in the flesh of the Messiah Yahshua is the spirit of antichrist.  They are anti-christ, or against this Anointing, which is truth (I John 2: 27).

We must always remember: The Messiah’s name was to be called “Immanuel”–meaning “God with us” (Isa. 7: 14; Matt. 1: 23).  Yahweh with us.  Yahweh in human form walking in our midst.  Believing that in its simplicity opens the doors to His heart.  All the other mumbo jumbo of so-called Christianity is so much manmade window dressing, ‘signifying nothing.’

We must all go back to the “simplicity that is in Christ.”  “Simplicity” here means “absence from pretense” with a sincere belief in the truth that is in Christ.  And that truth is that the great invisible Spirit called Yahweh by the patriarchs took up His abode in His Son, and they are one, and He will rule the literal Kingdom of God forever and ever–right here on earth (Luke 1: 32-33).

This sincere belief is the bow that will launch us as His arrows toward the glorious target of eternity–straight and true, just like He planned in the beginning.  It will help us discern the Spirit of God and the spirit of the wicked one.   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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“Ye are gods,” said Christ–Concerning the Elohim and the Manifestation of the Sons of God

After performing many mighty miracles among the people, Christ was standing in the temple in Solomon’s porch.  The doubters began to surround Him and said, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense.  If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”

Then He said to them, “I have already told you that I am He by the miracles that I have done in My Father’s name.  They speak and bear witness of Me.  But you don’t believe that the Father lives within Me and that it is He that does the miracles.  You don’t believe because you are not of My sheep.  You are of another herd and cannot hear my words.  As I told you before [John 8: 42-44], when I spoke to you plainly: You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do…there is no truth in your father, the one you are following…for he is a liar and the father of all lies.  Your father is a liar, and you are born of lies and are liars yourselves.”

Christ continued.  “No, you are not of my flock, for they hear my voice and believe and follow me.  And they will never perish, for they have eternal life.  The Father has given them to Me.  And no one can take them from Me, for I and My Father are one.”

“Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him.”

Seeing their anger and the murder in their hearts, Christ said, “I have showed you many miracles from the Father.  Which miracle are you stoning me for?”

“We are not stoning you for a miracle that you have performed, but for blasphemy because you are a man, and you are making yourself out to be God.”

And it was at this juncture that Christ dropped a bombshell on them, saying, Wait a minute.  Is it not written in your law, the law that you take so much pride in, where I said, ‘You are gods.’  The Father called them gods.  The very ones to whom He was sending His word back in the days of the patriarchs and prophets–those He called gods.  The very ones who needed a Savior, who needed the law and the testimony, who needed help from their Creator to get right–those He called gods!  And now you are going to tell the one who the Father has sanctified and made holy and sent into the world–you are going to tell Him that He blasphemes because I said that I am the Son of God?

But there was no reasoning with them.  They “sought again to take Him, but He escaped out of their hand” [John 10: 22-39].

Christ was too much for them.  They could not understand Him, for “had the princes of this world known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”

The Mysterious “Ye are gods” Statement

This confrontation is the backdrop for one of the most enigmatic statements that God-with-us ever made.  “Ye are gods.”  What does He mean that we are “gods”?

We must first go back to the passage of scripture that the Savior quoted in Psalm 82: 6.  The word “gods” is translated from the Hebrew word elohim (#H430 in Strong’s Concordance), also translated “God” in hundreds of places.  Christ said, “I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are the children of the most High.”  He’s saying that some had a spiritual existence with Him in the beginning.  He’s saying that there is more to the sons of Adam than just their earthly purposes.

Man, a spiritual being, created by God to house Him fully, in vain tries to live a fulfilling life by the acquisition of earthly things, when earthly things cannot suffice a human being, a being designed to be the glory of God, who is an invisible Spirit.

Yet, unregenerate man slugs on in the slop of misguided desires and lusts. These passions are for things that will not satisfy nor endure.

The sons and daughters of God, however, realize that they were put here by a Being that is not of this earth. They see their reality is not earth-based. They realize that they cannot see true reality by looking through earthly eyes. Man can only endure by seeing things other than earthly things.

It is a heavenly vision, a heavenly faith, a heavenly destiny, a heavenly plan, a heavenly purpose, a heavenly blueprint, a heavenly design, a heavenly way, a heavenly thought of a heavenly Father, who is above all this on earth and is in us whom He has called.

To even get out of the old and to get into the new life, we must believe in a spiritual being who does the saving. We have to believe in a Being we cannot see with our earthly eyes. We must believe in someone who is invisible, who is not of this earth, someone who calls us somehow with a calling that is not of this earth, calls us with a heavenly calling, and urges us in mysterious ways to appear to choose His heavenly way against the ‘better’ judgment of our earthly unbelieving senses—a someone who brings us into a place where we will repudiate all that we see here on earth and “count it all as dung” that we may win an invisible race for an invisible heavenly spiritual Supreme Being.

An enlightened man takes in this light—light that nothing earthly is as it seems. Everything is tricky here, slippery, treacherous, hypocritical, deceiving. Man is crooked, undependable, self-centered and prideful.

Nevertheless,there is a group of human beings who are beginning to realize that this walk here is a spiritual thing and not an earthly thing. They realize that they are in the world but their spirit is not of the earth. They realize that they are really strangers here on earth, that they are not really from the earth, that they are heavenly and spiritual, that they have become blind to the earthly desires and temptations.

They realize that they are looking for their home which is a four square city full of light that has 12 foundations where it never gets dark. That city, the New Jerusalem, is their home, which one day will come down out of heaven and set down right here on earth. And they believe this having never seen it with their earthly eyes [Quoted from Chapter 8 of my book The Unveiling of the Sons of God which you can find at the top of this page.  Just click “Ebook…”].

In a word, they begin to “walk in the Spirit.”  They begin to believe what the written Word says and not what sinful man says that it says.  And it tells us that God has “blessed us with all spiritual blessings and chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world,” and that He foreknew us and has “predestinated us to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.”  And that He has called us, justified us, and glorified us (Eph 1: 3-4; Rom 8: 29-30).  Yes, God’s faith in His ability to make all this happen is strong.  It is such a sure thing in God’s heart and mind that our spiritual maturity culminates in our glorification with Him, even to the point of us sitting with Christ on the throne of God!  That is faith!  We need His faith in us working in our lives–not our puny faith where we try to muster up enough to do whatever.  He believes that we will come to full fruition as His manifested sons and daughters.  He believes and says that we are gods!  Incredible faith!

At present, we are not in our full spiritual elohim state of being, “when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy” (Job 38: 7). We in our spiritual state were with Him when the “foundations of the earth” were laid (38: 3-6).  Those “sons of God” were the elohim–the “us” in “Let us make man in our own image.”

For the time being here on earth, He has “made man a little lower than the angels” in that we are mortal and can very easily die (Psalm 8: 5).  “Angels” here is from the Hebrew word elohim again.  Man is lower than our first spiritual estate with the Father because of our impending date with death.

And, yet, “you have crowned him with glory and honor.”  It is a done deal in God’s mind.  And you made him (Adam) to have dominion over the works of thy hands (v. 6).  “Works” here are the “great righteous acts of Yahweh, the miracles and wonders.  In other words, the sons of Adam, after their spiritual regeneration, have miracle working power.  They have dominion over the same powerful acts done by Yahweh of old.

In Psalm 82, where Christ quotes “Ye are gods,” Yahweh is pleading with us the sons of Adam, to wake up to this high calling.  He is saying:

You are not just human beings, not just a flesh body.  You have a spirit in you that comes from Me.  You are my offspring; Spirit brings forth spirit.  You are elohim.  I am Elohim.  You are begotten of Me, and we now are all of One.  The same great “works of my hand” shall you do (Psm 8: 6).

But look at you!  You are scurrying about the earth as if you are just an intelligent animal!  I stand in your presence.  You all are My spiritual children and are a mighty congregation!  But I am passing judgment on you elohim-gods today, for you are not acting like I act.  You are not acting like Me, like I did when I was in the days of My flesh, when I judged righteously and justly.  You act as if you are not like Me.  We are one, but you act like you don’t believe that.  You judge unjustly (v. 2) and you are partial to the rich and powerful and wicked of this earth.

Look out over the earth at all the poor and needy.  These are they who do not have the spiritual riches of this knowledge that they are gods, like you do.  But you don’t tell them.  You don’t inform them of this truth.  They are without Me, their Father, and you won’t judge to tell them the truth so that they can escape the clutches of the wicked (v. 3).  My other children who are the earth-dwellers, who spend their years on earth with darkness as a constant cloak, without the knowledge and light that they are My spirit-children–they are lost and know not the way (v. 5).

Listen to Me.  I have already said that you are gods (elohim), but if you do not change, you will die like the rest of the fleshly Adamites, who don’t have this spiritual knowledge.  You are all the sons of the most High (v. 6 NIV).  But you will die like mere men; you will fall like every other ruler (v. 7), if you don’t start walking like Me in human form.  Rise up, my body of sons and daughters, my offspring, and judge the earth with Me, for I am the King of kings and the Master of masters.  All the nations are your inheritance…..

He says that we are gods–that we are elohim.  With the new heart and spirit that He has given us, we are coming back full circle–back to where we started in heavenly places in Christ.  But we must “make our calling and election sure.”  We must walk in full confidence after proving all things and study “to show ourselves approved” to be His heirs of the kingdom of God.  The 100 fold sonship walk is for those of full age and maturity.  It is time that we who are called to this walk put  aside everything of the past and prepare our hearts and others’ for the coming of our great God and Savior Jesus/Yahshua, the Anointed One, the Christ.  Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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The Manifestation of the Sons of God–Christ Outlines the Way in John 14-17 in “Conversations with the Seer”

“What have you been studying?” the Seer asked me when I came into the meeting room.

“I’ve been reading in John 14 and 15.”

“Are you understanding what you’re reading?” he asked.

“Some parts I do. But there is so much to it.”

“Yes. Chapters fourteen through seventeen are the Master’s last instruction to His disciples, and they, of course, are extremely important. You noticed that He withheld this teaching until Satan in Judas Iscariot left them after the Last Supper in chapter thirteen.”

“Yes, that is right.”

“What Christ had to say was to those faithful ones; He would not cast His pearls before swine. Although there are things in His words for all of His followers, this last discourse is not for babes in Christ. It is actually a putting together of all the puzzle pieces that, once completed, shows us a picture of how the sons of God will be manifested.”

“I’ve heard you speak many times of the manifested sons of God coming on the scene,” I said.

“Christians must begin to realize that God’s plan and purpose entails a much grander vision of what will take place on this earth than what is being taught in most every church in the world.”

“What is the grander vision?”

“The whole creation doesn’t realize it, but it is “groaning and travailing,” waiting for the “manifestation of the sons of God.” [Rom. 8: 22]. This is when upon Christ’s return He changes us. It is when we receive our new bodies. These old decaying earthly shells will be swallowed up by our new spiritual bodies, bodies that will live on eternally. This is what mankind has dreamed about, what every culture’s philosophers have written about. This is the fountain of youth that will quench every person’s inate thirst to live forever. This is it!  Christ is expounding the key points on the way to this grand event.”

“You are talking about immortality.”

“Yes. It is the deep longing of mankind. And there is a way, and that way has been mapped out in Christ. He not only has the answers, but He is the answer, for He in His glorified form now contains the Eternal Spirit that we call God–the Creator.”

“So what prevents everyone from seeing this vision of how to obtain eternal life or immortality?” I asked.

“This vision of immortality for mankind is like a jigsaw puzzle. Many pieces to this true picture of God’s plan lay scattered about the table of man’s knowledge. But there are many other pieces to other puzzles scattered in among God’s pieces. Other visions of what is the truth, false visions, false puzzle pieces, litter the landscape. They sometimes have the same color and appear to be like the true pieces to God’s puzzle, and they deceive the people. “For many false prophets and teachers” have run to and fro on the earth deceiving themselves and others with their half baked false conceptions of Christ’s plan and purpose.”

“I know. They sound so convincing.”

“Yes, because they take a snippet of scripture and build whole doctrines out of passages taken out of context. But the fact is that the truth is out here to be found, but we must seek diligently for it. He said, Seek and ye shall find. Find what? Find the truth. We must winnow the wheat from the chaff of false teachings.”

“How does this fit in with the manifested sons?” I asked.

“The concept of the manifested sons of God can’t be clearly seen until one’s eyes are open to the Parable of the Sower. This parable shows us God’s great secret in how His Spirit grows in us His children. Especially how His Spirit will yield in us a certain amount of spiritual fruit.”

“What do you mean? We are all Christians, children of God–those of us who have been born again,” I said.

“Of course. But there are spiritual differences in the body of Christ. It’s just like in a literal field of corn there will be some of the seeds yield more ears and grains on those ears than another for whatever reason–more water or fertilizer or just richer soil. Or maybe the weeds choke some plants and not others. The fact remains that like corn in the natural world, we, too, in the spiritual world bear the fruit of the Spirit at different levels. As He said in the parable, some will bring forth ‘some thirty fold, some sixty fold, and some one hundred fold.”

“What does that mean in a practical everyday sense?” I asked.

“It means that there will be some Christians who will be more Christ-like than others after their growth here on earth is completed. There were many Christians in the New Testament days, but after the resurrection, there were not many like Peter, James, John, and Paul. These one hundred fold followers of Christ did great works, just like Christ! And so can we, if we are to be one of those one hundred folders.”

“I can hear them saying now, ‘Nobody can be like Christ!”

The Seer smiled knowingly.  “Yes, they will say that–their doubt-filled minds gushing forth their negative thoughts. But to them I will say, If you won’t let me be like Christ, is it all right if I be like Peter and Paul? They raised the dead and healed the sick–just like Christ! That’s close enough.”

“Hold it. I can see that what prevents some from being hundred folders is doubt and unbelief.”

“Precisely. And why do you think that they have such doubt and unbelief?”

I thought a moment. “Because it disagrees with what they have been taught?”

“Exactly. Those who will not and cannot grow up into the fullness of Christ as a hundred fold fruit bearing Christian are those who have been fed lies and misconceptions, which have stunted their growth. So much so that they cannot come to a place where agape love helps them to ‘believe all things.’ In other words, it takes truth nurturing them to a point to where they can believe the vision God has for us–to be just like His Son.”

“What can be done to help them believe more?”

“All we can do is walk on in this truth, sow the seed, the word of God, and let God be God. He is the great Architect. He is building His spiritual house, which is us. Those whose destiny is to become a manifested son of God, He will bring into His fold. He is faithful and true and quite capable of bringing His sons unto glory.”

“Some people will say that God is not fair–to have some followers remain children and some be like Peter and Paul.”

“What can I say to the gainsayers? They did not create the world according to a specific plan and purpose. ‘Let God be true and every man a liar’ who does not agree with Him. No. God is right. It is a grave responsibility to be a manifestd son during these end times. A lot will be required of them, and not everyone has the physical and spiritual strength to make ‘this calling and election sure.’”

“I want to be one of them. That is why I moved out here.”

“It is a worthwhile goal in this life–to aspire to the ‘high calling of God in Christ.’ But it is a paradox, for although we must study and pray to make ‘our calling and election sure,’ God chooses whomsoever He will for this honor. No man takes this honor unto himself. It is only by His grace that we can run this race.”

“I see what you mean,” I said.

“So, knowing about the manifested sons is the first of the puzzle pieces that we need in order to become one of them. We have to have knowledge about something first before we can ever hope to obtain it. Christ in John 14-17 elucidates several more puzzle pieces that we need. He lines them out as a kind of stepping stone path to glorification.”

“What’s the next piece to the puzzle?” I asked eagerly.

“I’ll share more with you a bit later,” the Seer said turning to greet the others coming in the door.

The next morning I came early to the morning men’s meeting. We would all meet every morning at the small hall we had built with the salvaged lumber we had taken from old buildings and houses. The Seer was sitting next to the old box wood heater. I could not wait. I sat down and asked, “What is the next piece to the puzzle?”

“Once a person learns and then believes that there is growth in God that matures into the same level of spirituality as Peter, James, John, and Paul–and yes,like the Savior Himself–then they are ready to actually begin to walk on unto perfection, or complete spiritual maturity. As Paul exhorts us all, ‘Let us go on unto perfection’” (Heb. 6: 1).

“But what does spiritual maturity mean?”

“A few are destined to reach this maturity, this perfection in Christ. Actually it has to do with Christ being “formed in you” (Gal. 4: 19). His Spirit comes down into us by faith in His resurrection in us. We receive a new heart from Him. Then by receiving pure seed and watering it with His word, we grow from children into the fully matured sons and daughters of God.”

“But, perfection?”

“Yes. Have you not read where Christ commands his followers, Be ye perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect? Anyway, if someone has enough faith to get this far, then they may begin to receive the next big teaching found in John 14-17.”

“What is it?” I asked.

“It is to believe in the oneness of God.”

“Everybody believes that there is one God.”

“They may say they do, but when pressed to the wall they believe there are two or three of them sitting up there in heaven on different thrones. Even staunch trinitarians, although they say “three in one,” when pinned down, they ‘see’ a Father figure and a ‘Son’ figure up there in heaven sitting on their respective thrones.”

“In order to be one of His elect manifested sons of God, to be just like Christ in these latter days, one must get the correct concept of the Godhead. It is here in John 14, that Christ sets the record straight. He flat out commands all manifested sons-to-be, saying this: “<em>Believe Me. </em>Believe Me that the Father is in Me (John 14: 10).”

“Is that it? Just believe Him?” I asked.

“Yes, it is really very simple, and yet, man’s inate unbelief hardens his heart where His word, like a tiny seed, cannot get down into it and grow. We all start out in early childhood with soft and tender hearts, eager to believe what we are told. We are vulnerable and trusting and are able to believe the truths about God readily. This is why Christ told us to ‘become as little children’ or we will not be able to “enter the kingdom of heaven’ (Matt. 18: 3). Unfortunately, this world system is cruel and the little children become disappointed and disillusioned with life and soon their hearts grow cynical, for they become convinced that no one is sincere.”

“But God gives us another chance, doesn’t He?”

“Yes, He does. Through His mercy, we can become His spiritual children, and we can soften our hearts and receive his truth and grow in Him. And so we are told by Christ, ‘Believe Me that the Father is in Me.'”

“We just need to trust  Him, don’t we?” I asked.

“We need to trust His word when He says that the Father is in Him. How can that be? It is because the Father is an invisible Spirit (I Tim. 1: 17). And Christ is the ‘image of the invisible God.’ In other words, the invisible Spirit, who is the Father, dwelt in the Son, who is visible, who always said that the works that He did were really done by the Father inside of Him (John 14: 10). Christ said that the miracles He performed were proof that the Father dwelt inside of Him.”

“But I haven’t seen any of those kind of miracles,” I said.

“When was the last time you looked into the mirror? You are one of the miracles the Father has performed through His Son. You came here hopelessly addicted to drugs, and now the mouth that cursed every other breath speaks sweet words. He has made a most miraculous change in your life. You are your own greatest witness that the Father raised up Christ from the dead, and in so doing through faith, you, too, are raised up to walk in a newness of life'” (Romans 6: 4).

“I cannot deny it.  I have a new life!  That is a miracle!”

“Yes.  Your new life in Him is proof that the Father lives in Christ and did perform the miracle on you.  Indeed. The oneness of God is extremely important. Without our belief in this concept, we cannot grow into full maturity, which is His desire for us. Christ commands us, ‘Believe Me that the Father is in Me.’ When we do this then we realize that the fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily in Christ (Col. 2: 9).,

“Why is believing that the invisible Father was inside the Son of God so important?” I asked.

“This is a very good question that leads us to the very next statement Christ made in John 14.  In verse 11, He said, ‘Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the very works’ sake.’  In other words, These miracles that I am performing prove that the Father God is in Me, for only He can raise the dead and heal the sick.  Then after we believe Him that the Father is in Him, He says in v. 12: ‘He that believes on me, the works that I do shall he do also.'”

“You mean the miracles He did we can do, too?”

“Yes.  Those who really believe that the Father is in Christ–the ones who really get it–they are the ones who can go on unto perfection, or full spiritual maturity, which entails raising the dead and healing the sick–the very things He did.  Christ goes on to say that they will do ‘greater works’ than what He did.  These will be the 100 fold fruit bearing manifested sons of God.”

“Wait a minute,” I said.  “How can they do anything greater than raising the dead?”

“Because they will number in the thousands, doing miracles all over the earth in His name” [Revelation 14].

“How can this be?” I asked.

“You see, Christ was the Seed-Son, who fell into the ground and died, and during the time of the end, He will reap the harvest from that one Seed.  A harvest of many thousands of manifested sons of God will grow up to be just like Him” [John 12: 24].

“Wow.  That is some calling.  I doesn’t seem possible.”

“With men it is impossible, but with God’s direction and grace, it is possible” [Mark 10: 27].  That is what He said.  We again just need to believe it.  That is what the walk of faith is all about.  Believing having not yet seen.  We believe His word first, then the works, the miracles, will come.  Starting first with the miracle of our own new life in Him.”

That evening after work, I went to the Seer’s cabin.  He invited me in and made some hot tea for us.  We sat down around the fire, and with little small talk, I asked, “Could you go over some of the things we were talking about yesterday concerning the manifested sons?”

“Sure,” the Seer said, the question obviously energizing him.  “The Savior lines out the path to sonship in His last major teaching in John 14-17.  First, a future manifested son must know and believe that there is such a thing in God’s plan as sonship.  And to fully comprehend this, one has to know and believe the secret of the growth of the Spirit in us as lined out in the Parable of the Sower, the parable that actually opens up our understanding of all the parables.  They will then realize that there must be a harvest of the firstfruits before the big harvest can take place.  Many preachers will speak of a ‘harvest of souls,’ but they rarely mention the manifested sons of God being the first into perfection in our day.  The ‘last shall be first,’ Christ said.  The last of G0d’s sons will be the first harvested in this end time generation.”  The Seer stopped a moment, and then looked at me and asked, “Are you seeing all this?”

“Yes, I am getting it.”

“You see, the parables, after all, are the ‘dark sayings’ that God has hidden His secrets in for millenia and that they are spoken deliberately to prevent some from knowing His secrets. This Parable of the Sower shows us that there are different levels of spiritual growth–the ultimate, of course, being  the manifested sons of God.

“Second, because the Son of God is the Seed, we cannot have His likeness harvested in us without believing in Him and His words to us.  He reassures us that He is preparing a place for us and that He through His Spirit will come to us and help us to get through the long, lonely days of our spiritual sojourn here on earth [John 14: 1-3].  He tells us that He, Christ, is the way, the truth, and the life.  And He is the only way to come to the Father’ [v. 6].

I asked, “Why do so many people say that there are many ways to get to God?  You’ll hear them say that Allah and Vishnu and others are all just different names of the same Supreme Being and that there are many ways to get there.”

“No.  Don’t believe them.  They do not know God at all.  Christ is the way to the Father for one very simple reason.  The Father is in Him.  The Father was in Him then some 2,000 years ago, and the Father is still in Him, for He lives forever and is alive now making intercession for us to God, who dwells within Christ.”

“The Father is in Him,” I repeated, for my mind was straining to grasp these concepts.

The Seer looked at me and smiled.  “Pretty intense, huh?

“Yes,” I said.

“And that brings us to the third major point of Christ’s teaching in John 14-17.  He told them that they had already known and seen the Father.  And they questioned that and said, Show us the Father.  And Christ said to them, He that has seen Me has seen the Father.  It is the Father in Me that does all these miracles.  And then He commands them: Believe Me that the Father is in Me” [v. 9-11].

“This is where the oneness doctrine takes shape,” I said.

“Yes.  He gives us a new commandment here to believe that the invisible Father Spirit is inside Him.  And then, in His very next breath, He gives us the fourth major point that builds upon the previous three that I have just outlined.  ‘He that believes on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works that these shall he do.’  In other words, those that believe that the Father was in the Son doing the miracles will someday do those same miracles and even greater miracles than Christ did!” [v. 12].

“That’s exciting, but how do we get from here to there?”

The Seer rephrased my question.  “How do we begin to get the power to work miracles and thus do the ‘greater works’?  Excellent question. And I will give you a profoundly simple answer.  We have to ask Him for the power.”

“Just like that?  Just ask Him for it?”

“Of course there is a bit more to it than that.  In the very next breath after He promises that we will do the greater works, He says, ‘Whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son'” [v. 12-13].

“I’ve heard that verse quoted in Sunday School and sermons many times.”

“Yes, people run with it, taking it out of context.  But let’s look at it closely.  In verse twelve He promises that we will do greater miracles than what He had done.  And in the very next verse, He says that He will do whatever we ask in His name.  ‘Do’ is the very same word.  The point is that He will do the greater works in and through us.  It won’t be us doing the miracles; He will be doing them.  His Spirit in us will be doing them.  Our part is to surrender our hearts, souls and minds to God so that He may come down into us and perform the miracles by His Spirit in us.  Us asking in His name, first, humbles us, for we acknowledge thereby that we of our own power cannot do the miracles.  We will realize when we are in this growth that we are a part of the body of Christ, part of the Son, which fulfills the last part of John 14: 13: ‘That the Father may be glorified in the Son.’  But the point is, we have to ask Him to do the greater works through us.  And this won’t happen if we just ask Him any old way.  Father, can I do a miracle today?  No.  We must ask in His name.”

People do that all the time.  ‘And we ask all this in Jesus’ name, Amen.’  Millions of prayers go up like this every day.  People are doing this already,” I said.

“Wait a minute.  Not so fast.  People are saying these words as a formula without the deeper knowledge.”

“What deeper knowledge are you talking about?” I asked.

“Consider these two points.  What is being asked for and what name is being asked in.  And this brings us to the fifth piece to the puzzle–asking in the Savior’s name for the greater works to be done through us,” said the Seer.

Asking in the Savior’s Name–His Hebrew Name: The Fifth Piece to the Puzzle of Being a Manifested Son of God

I have this impetuous habit of blurting out what pops into my brain, and so I asked,”The Savior’s name.  Why is it so important?  I know that sounds terrible, but ‘a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.'”  How did Shakespeare ooze out of me at this moment?  I could not escape my past; I was an English literature major through and through.

But instead of biting off my head, the Seer discerned that I was maintaining some semblance of sincerity, and so he replied, “In man’s way of thinking, names hold little revelance to one’s destiny.  This is because the word ‘rose’ does not hold any profound meaning in and of itself.  But this is not the case with the Savior’s name.  His very name means something very important.”

“What does it mean?”

“Christ’s Hebrew name Yahshua means ‘Yah is the Savior,’ or ‘Yah is Salvation.’  It’s meaning actually explains to us just who He is and what His nature is.  His name declares His purpose and speaks volumes as to the nature of the Godhead.”

“I still don’t get it.”

“It is a fact that the Hebrew names of biblical characters have meaning.  ‘Daniel’ means ‘judge of God.’  ‘Sarah’ means ‘princess,’ and so on.  So now it is time for the future manifested sons of God to know the Hebrew name of the Savior, and that name is Yahshua.  Very much like the English name ‘Joshua.’  In fact, the Savior’s name and the patriarch’s name who carried on for Moses is the same name in Hebrew–Yahshua.  It is not just a tag.  His name is something to be believed.  It states the truth that we are commanded to believe what it means.”

“What does it mean?”

“The first part of His name is ‘Yah.’   It is the shortened form of the very name of the Creator Himself–Yahweh.  It means ‘the self-existent One.’  ‘Shua’ is Hebrew for ‘Savior’ or ‘Salvation.’  Together, both parts of the Savior’s name means ‘The Self-Existent One is the Savior.”  The apostle Paul says that ‘the fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily in Christ.’  And ‘God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself.'”

“Can you simplify that for me?” I asked.

“In other words, the message in His name to be believed is that the very Creator Himself resided in the man Christ and was the One doing the saving.  Through Isaiah Yahweh says, ‘Beside Me there is no savior.’  Yahweh saves through His Son.  That is what the Son’s name means.  That is the message we are to believe.  And when we do this, then great things begin to happen.

The Great Things that God Makes Happen When We Believe the Message in His Name

“What are these great things?” I asked the Seer.

“If we believe on the name, then God will answer our prayers, and even more shall He do for us.  The biggest thing is that God Himself through His Spirit will come and take up residence in us.  After all, we are the temple of God, are we not?

“That is what the Bible says,” I said.

“This is what He means when He promises that if we ask anything in His name that He will do it.  And the first thing is that He will come down into us and abide and stay in us.  He calls the Spirit our Comforter Advocate.  The Spirit of truth will come down and reside in us to help us through the ‘dark night of the soul’–to help us on down the treacherous path of earthly existence.  This is a cruel and deceiving world system that we have been brought up in.  This earthly walk is hard on the future sons and daughters of God.  So God in His infinite wisdom knew that we needed a Helper.”

“What all does the Comforter do” I asked.

“The most important thing that the Holy Spirit does for us is encourages us that we are not alone in this universe.  The Spirit also leads and guides us into all truth.  Be aware that the Comforter is the exact same Spirit that was in Christ.”  The Seer turned back over to John 14: 16.  “Christ will interceed to the Father for us that God would send us another Comforter.”

“What does He mean ‘another?’

“The Spirit, the Comforter, dwelt bodily in the Son of God.  He was their helper and comforter as long as He was with them in the flesh.  That’s the reason He said that He had to go away so that He could send the Spirit down to us to abide in us.  He promises to send the Spirit to live inside us if we keep His commandment about believing that the Father, Yahweh Himself, was inside Him” [v. 16].

“It keeps coming back to believing God,” I said.

“Yes, without faith and belief in what God says, there is no way to please the Creator.  The concept of believing God is easy; it is our hearts that are hard.  Anyway, some will achieve His abiding presence through faith or belief in His word about these things and about keeping Christ’s commands about believing that the Father dwells in Him.  He said, ‘If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him’ [v. 23].  He does this by the Holy Spirit of Love coming down and staying within us in our hearts.  This Spirit of God will be sent to us in Christ’s name” [v. 26].

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“We must go back to the meaning of Christ’s Hebrew name, Yahshua.  Knowing the meaning of it and believing it–that is the key to understanding how the Spirit is sent to us in Christ’s name, which is ‘Yahweh is the Savior.'”

“It goes back to believing that the Father lived inside the Son.”

“That’s it,” the Seer said.  “You are getting it.  He will send His Spirit–and this is a promise from God Himself and He cannot lie–He will send His Spirit down to take up residence when we know and believe what His name means.  That is when the Father sends the Holy Spirit in Christ’s name.  And Christ promises that the Spirit will ‘teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.  This is the abiding of the Spirit of God within us.  Those that continue on in this full abiding presence will grow to full maturity into the manifested sons of God.'”

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Filed under belief, end time prophecy, glorification, immortality, manifestation of the sons of God, Parables, princes and princesses of God, sons of God

The Holy Spirit (in Us) Reproves the World of Sin–Let Your Light Shine–Conversations With the Seer

“Is the ‘Spirit of truth’ in the Bible the same as the Holy Spirit?” I asked the Seer during one of our daily morning meetings.

“Yes.  Remember that ‘there is one Spirit.’  And there is one truth.  Christ said ‘I am the truth.’  So, yes, they are one and the same.”

“It says that when the Spirit of truth is come, that he will reprove the world of sin.  What does that mean?”  I asked.

“To reprove is to expose or reveal.  It shines a light on people’s innermost thoughts and sins.”

“How does the Spirit do it?”

“Because God is all-powerful, He can show things to us directly.  But oftentimes He uses other people.  Remember when the Savior sent out His disciples and told them to say to the people, Repent.  The message first and foremost to all is  ‘Repent.’  Why?  Because ‘the Kingdom of God is at hand.’ It is right here, inside the very one that is telling you to repent,” the Seer said.

I paused a moment, trying to let his words soak in a bit.  I finally asked, “I am having trouble understanding the kingdom of God being within someone.”

“God’s dominion is where His Spirit is.  Wherever He resides is His domain or His kingdom.  We receive His Spirit of truth when it comes down into us at our conversion to Christ.  Those that are God’s children will definitely have His Spirit, according to the apostle John, who says that ‘he that does not have the Spirit of Christ is none of His.’ It is by faith that you receive a portion of His Spirit when you receive a new heart at your conversion.”

“How does that work?”

“It is all by faith, meaning that it happens by believing that it will happen–because God said so.  It is not believing-something-into-existence that is against what God said.  It is believing that we receive His Spirit because He said that it could and would happen.  If you take step A, B, and C, according to His word, then D will happen–because He said it would–nothing more.  He can’t go back on His own word.”

I asked, “So, after our conversion, He wants us to help others escape the darkness of their sins?”

“Think about it.  How else is someone supposed to come out of the darkness of sin, except a person speak to them about their sinful lifestyle?” the Seer said.

“Yes, I guess we can’t expect God to verbally speak to us in a big booming voice from heaven telling us to quit sinning.”

“Exactly.  He doesn’t do it that way, except in special instances where He speaks to one person, and then they  go and tell others the message from God.  Even God came down in human form and told us to repent.  Do you remember what Christ said in John 15: 22? ‘If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin…’  See, the great Creator Spirit Yahweh came in a human being and spoke to them, and unless He had done that, ‘they had not had sin.’  In other words, their sinful nature would not have been exposed if He had not spoken to them about escaping the darkness of their sinful life and letting the light come into them.  What words do you think He actually spoke to the people?” the Seer asked, his eyes piercing mine.

“Words about repentance?”

“Precisely.  You see it all over the gospels. ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,’ He said to all He crossed paths with.  And to finish that passage above in John, ‘But now  they have no cloak for their sin.’  He is saying that by Him (His Spirit) speaking to  people about their sin, they would not have become guilty; they would still have a cloak to hide behind, to keep their actions in the dark.  But now that I call them on it, they have no excuse for continuing their sinful ways.”

“Because God has provided the way to escape that old sinful life.  Just like I am doing.”

“Yes.  You, my son, are a living example of how great a deliverance God can do in a person’s life, for you have changed so much since you first drove up on the land.”

“Thank you for your help,” I said.

“If you will recall, one of the first messages I gave when we first met was on repentance from sin.”

“That’s right.  It was.”

“That is the message for a newcomer into the Kingdom.  Leave the life of sin behind and take on the light in your heart.  But, you see, God speaks through those who already have His Spirit.  He will reprove those without Him of their sin, and this takes away the excuses for continuing in that sin.  They must be confronted with this kind of love in order to become guilty, and therefore, repent and turn from the old life.”

“But people won’t like the message.  They will reject us if we try to help them,” I said, remembering how I was rejected on my first few feeble attempts to tell others about what God had done in my life.

“Of course.  Not many people want their darkness revealed by the light.  All the way through John 15 and 16 Christ talks about how the world will hate us and persecute us.  Ever wonder why?  Because He has commanded us to ‘let our light shine’ and to ‘reprove the world of sin.’

“He says to not hide our light under a bushel.  But what is ‘the light’ exactly,” I asked.

“The light is His Spirit come down into us that dispels the darkness of sin in others.  When His Spirit has come into us, He in us will shine into the darkness of sinful hearts to help them by turning them from their sinful lives unto righteousness.”  The Seer looked at me approvingly.  “But let it shine into all the world.  Yes, this Kingdom of God is hidden ‘to them  that are lost: in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.’”

“I was blind to God’s goodness once,” I said.

“Yes, we all were.  The apostle Paul tells us that we are now light and that we should walk as children of the light, and that ‘we should have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them’ or reprove them [Eph 5: 8-11].  If we ‘do not quench the Spirit of truth,’ we will do this, for we are the ‘children of light’ and no longer in darkness.”  He could see that I had a question.  “Yes?”

“Why don’t more Christians reprove the world of sin?  Why don’t the preachers preach  repentance?”

“They are too busy teaching the opposite.  They teach their congregations that they cannot stop sinning.  They will tell them that they are sinners and will always be sinners.  They will recite it with pride: ‘I’m a sinner saved by grace.’  In essence they are telling the people in the pews that God is unable to change them from darkness to light.  But the scriptures speak otherwise.  The word says, ‘With God all things are possible, to him that believes.’  Even to give us a new heart that will not sin against Him.  ‘And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins; and in Him is no sin (I John 3: 5).’”

“If you take something away, you don’t have it anymore,” I said.

“Yes, He is in the business of taking away our old sinful dark spiritual nature and giving us a new heart that does not sin against Him.  Look.  Christ’s Hebrew name Yahshua means ‘Yahweh saves.’  That is why He came in the flesh–to deliver us from sin and sinning.  It says, ‘You shall call Him Jesus/Yahshua, for He shall save His people from their sins.’  What are Christians saved from if not from their sins?  Paul asks this question: ‘Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?  God forbid.’”

“It is hard to help others out of the darkness if we are still in darkness ourselves,” I said.

“That is it exactly,” the Seer said with a smile.  The follower of Christ, who believes that he still sins, will be very reluctant to talk to someone else about repenting of his sins since he is a sinner himself and would be a first class hypocrite if he tried to dispel the darkness of sin in others.  And so, sin abounds in others as Christians are too timid to stand in the gap and truly help those who are in darkness.  And thereby they do not show to the world that they have the Spirit of truth in them.  For ‘when the Spirit of truth is come, He will reprove the world of sin.’” 

 “People never even mention the word ‘sin’ anymore,” I said.

“I know.  And yet, it is the very thing that God’s Spirit deals with; it is what His Spirit does.  It deals with a person’s sin and exposes it and thereby helps that person come to repentance and change.  To put it another way–if people in the world are not having their sin reproved, then the Spirit of truth is not residing in anyone, for He, the Light, will shine into the darkness and ‘bring the hidden things of darkness to light.’  And we as the children of light are to let our light shine.  Which light?  The light of His Spirit that resides within us by faith.”

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Filed under cross, crucified with Christ, kingdom of God, light, Spirit of God

“You Gotta Die Before You Live”–New Song on the Cross Experience of Christ

People talk about the cross of Christ a lot in some churches, but few teach the central truth about what that experience does in a human life.  Our old sinful self, our old heart, must die with Christ, “who was made to be sin for us.”  We identify and repent of our sinful ways by surrendering to this death on the cross.  Then we “are buried with Him” in an immersion of that old self into His death {water baptism being the type and symbol}.

Then, by believing that Christ literally rose from the dead the third day, we too can be raised from the spiritually dead, and we are then “raised to walk in a newness of life.”

HalleluYah!  This is real biblical way to repent–“by faith in the operation of God that raised up Christ.” This is what this song is about.  I wrote it back in 1975; it speaks of the  great paradox–life out of death–just like a seed buried in the ground.  This is a great mystery “kept secret from the foundations of the world,” and I am blessed to have been given it to share with the world–in a song.”  Kenneth Wayne Hancock

You can see the video and hear the song that contains these revelations here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeDb5WdFHS0

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Filed under Christ, cross, crucified with Christ, death, death of self, immortality, kingdom of God, repentance