Tag Archives: Christ

March 28, 2024 · 7:43 am

Reconciliation and the Abiding/Continuing

We must continue to believe that Christ through His death has reconciled everyone and has made peace between God and mankind.

That is the truth. The Father is the Spirit of truth. There is one Spirit, and He dwelled in the Son and did miraculous works (Eph. 4:4; John 14:10). Christ promises that the Father “shall be in you,” also (14: 17).

This promise is astounding! But what is the catch? What activates this promise of the Father taking up residence in us? What knowledge brings the promise into a reality in our Christian lives?

We need to know that it is a conditional promise; it sets up like this: If you do this and this, then He will abide in you. The promise is that the Father, who is this invisible Spirit, will come and dwell in us—if we continue in the faith. If we abide in the faith. If we dwell in the faith. If we remain in the faith. If we continue in the faith.

Faith. Belief. In what exactly? There is a whole lot of invisible action going on here. It takes faith to believe that the invisible Creator Spirit God would take up residence inside our bodies. But this is what He is asking us to do—trust Him. To maintain the Father’s presence in our hearts in a powerful reality, we must “continue in the faith.”

We see “continue in the faith” in Colossians 1:23. “If indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard…” The thing we must continue to believe is that Christ through His death has reconciled everyone and has made peace between God and mankind (Col. 2:20-22).

That sounds wonderful, but Christ’s death and the reconciliation involves so much more. The question becomes: How does His death bring about reconciliation with God? Reconciliation comes through our old sinful self dying on the cross with Christ. Then we are buried with Christ, and then by faith in His resurrection “we are raised to walk in a newness of life.”  Our sin has died with Him. “The soul that sins must die,” the law says. We fulfill that at the cross.

The Spirit through the apostle Paul lines this out clearly. “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin–because anyone who has died has been set free from sin” (Romans 6:3-7 NIV).

Christ the Lamb of God took on the sins of everyone. “He was made to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21). Our sins died with the sacrificial Lamb, for He carried our guilt and sin to the cross, and when He died, our old sinful self died, was buried, and—Praise Yah—was resurrected with Him!

[Someone reading this will say, “I knew that about the cross.” Yes, many have experienced the cross, but can they teach it to others? Is your belief of Romans 6 strong enough to weather the storms and trials both past and future?]

Back to the beginning of this article: Reconciliation with God is when we are at peace with Him, when there are no doubts and worries about our relationship with Him. For it was the sin nature that separated us from Him. When we realize that our sinful old self has already died on the cross with Him, things begin to clear up. The scriptures open to us. Things make sense.

This clarity He honors and reveals more of His truth. Reconciliation with God happens if we “continue/abide in the faith.” If we continue believing what He did for you and me at the cross and walking in that truth as seen in Romans 6: 3-12, then we will be ready through reconciliation to go deeper by adding His “divine nature” to the faith. [The Additions to the Faith is my latest book. Peter talks of seven additions that are vital to our growth in Christ (II Peter 1:1-12). If you have read this far, I know that this book is for you. The book is free with free shipping. It is my offering to God. Instead of money in an offering plate, I give a book to you…Please share your testimony in the comments section. It is very edifying to hear how God has touched your life.  Be sure and share this and give us a “like,” if we have edified you].    Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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February 26, 2024 · 9:26 am

From Death to Everlasting Life—From Earthly Bodies to Heavenly Bodies

(from Kenneth Wayne Hancock, Journal entry, 9-20-21)

Mankind’s trouble is traced from his realization that the earthly body that he walks around in will one day die. It is dissolving even now in a slow march to the grave. Ashes are its destiny. Unless he is a child or a fool, man knows that his body will melt back into the earth.

Our “days are consumed, like smoke” (Psalm 102:3). When the dawn of death’s reality shrouds are minds, we groan under its weight. For we know that in a few short years our earthly body will succumb to our Creator’s will. For He has subjected all humans to the “bondage of corruption (decay unto death)” in hope that we will see the futility of living only for ourselves in this earthly life (Rom. 8:20-23).

The aging visage we see in our mirror is a witness to these things. But then we see Him! High and lifted up, waiting for the few, the remnant, the first fruits to realize the Answer to all their trepidations.

In Adam, all will wither and fade to dust and ash, but “You, Yahweh, shall endure forever” (Psalm 102:12). And because of your great mercy, You see our plight of impending doom, and you reach down and help us live.

“Yahweh looked down from His sanctuary on high; from heaven he viewed the earth, to hear the groans of the prisoners and release those condemned to death.” And why does He save us? “So the name of Yahweh will be declared in Zion and His praise in Jerusalem, when the peoples and the kingdoms assemble to worship Yahweh” (102:19-22).  

But now the whole of creation groans with us, waiting for “the manifestation of the sons of God.” (Rom. 8:19). We all wait for the unveiling of the sons and daughters of God. This body of humans will have received their new, spiritual bodies, like the body that the Son of God resides in now. That kind of spiritual body is an everlasting body.

These 100-fold fruit bearing followers of the Lamb will come on the scene at the appointed time of the end. God’s Spirit through them will govern the earth. God will “restore all things” that He prophesied through His prophets. He will establish his kingdom and all peoples and nations will praise his name. But now, He humbles us as we learn that only He will endure. The heavens and the earth “shall perish, but You shall endure” (Psm. 102: 26-27). As we await the appointed time when our earthly body will be “swallowed up” with our new celestial body, we have joy knowing that He will deliver. This vision is the “law [the instruction] and the testimony,” which is “the spirit of prophecy” (Isa. 8:20; Rev. 19:10).   Kenneth Wayne Hancock 

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February 22, 2024 · 9:51 am

In the Beginning Was the Seed—Part Two

(Knowing Christ from the beginning is the key to maximum spiritual growth)

Knowing Him from the beginning is so profound that we need to slow down—way down—in our perusal of its meaning. We must not rush past this truth in hot pursuit of more knowledge. Knowing Him from the beginning is deep, though it is taught in the simplest of words: seed, garden, sow, reap, harvest. Our Savior used these very words to bring Light to our eyes. We must slow down and savor His words of inspiration. We must not bolt this food, for this is “strong meat.”

The apostle John writes to little children, young men, and fathers—30, 60 and 100-fold fruit-bearing Christians. “I write unto you, fathers, because you have known him that is from the beginning” (I John 2:13). The fathers know that God is the Word in the beginning. “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:13). Fathers know Him who is from the beginning. They know that all those who receive the Word/Seed are regenerated from the Seed/Son, who is the impetus of all life. God/Spirit/Word/Seed was at the beginning of everything. And we are in Him; we are inside the Seed! Therefore, we were in the Seed at the beginning, too!

A Seed, a Promise

A seed is a promise of the fruit to come. We receive the seed, having not seen the future fruit. It is a word of promise, a covenant, a pact, that if you take the Seed and believe the word of promise, then you will bear “fruit, more fruit, and much fruit.” This is 30, 60, and 100-fold growth explained.

Christ is the Seed. His earthly life is an enactment of the spiritual seed reality. Christ, the Son of God, is the Seed that is planted in us humans. We are the spiritual seed bed, that the Seed/Son is planted into. “The seed is the word of God.” Christ is the Sower; He sows the word of His promises into our hearts. When we walk with Christ in a higher growth, we are a part of His spiritual body. We become one with the Sower as we begin to sow the seed, the word of God.

All this is activated by faith–His faith. He believes in this spiritual miracle that changes us. He believes and has faith that what He has instituted will stand forever. When we take the leap of faith, we are really beginning to believe what the Son believes. He has faith that we will change and witness in us His glory.

Look at us! Despite our pitiful weaknesses, Christ believes in His own word of power to change us. We just need to ask Him for the strength to believe what He believes. And this power is not just about our earthen vessels. Upon His return to earth, those who are walking in 100-fold growth will wield power, executing His will for the earth.     

When we bear witness to the testimony of the Seed/Son, we will have explained and walked in 100-fold fruit bearing growth. The caveat is that the closer we get to bearing much fruit, the more persecution we can expect from our adversary the devil. For he does not want this truth out there. The word “testimony” is translated from the Greek word martyria. “Death works in us” (II Cor. 4:12).

The Seed Must Die

But the seed must die when planted. Christ in His earthly ministry did it all. He raised the dead and healed the sick, by the thousands. With His power He could have called down ten thousand angels to take over the world, but He didn’t. Why? Because in His first advent, He was the Seed, not the harvest. He had to die because seeds must die and lose their identity to bear fruit.

“Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone: but if it die, it brings forth much fruit” (John 12:24 KJV). In another version: “Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (NIV).  Christ, the Son of God, is the kernel of wheat that had to die to bring forth “many sons unto glory.”

The harvest of “many sons” is fast approaching. His sons and daughters are rising out of the long-neglected seed beds and are springing forth into the Light. Like blades of corn, they have bent toward the Light. They are expanding their roots into the moist earth, and they are now hungry for the pure spiritual nutrients needed for their growth.

The sons and daughters of God will grow until the time of the harvest, which is fast approaching. The evil seed is planted and grows alongside the wheat. It is careening and stomping through God’s field of wheat, crushing some good fruit in the process.

Satan, the god of this present world system, “knows that he has but a short time” before the harvest. He is marshaling his forces, pushing toward that day when–he thinks–he will be crowned the god of all creation. It is the same spirit that was in the garden of Eden, the same irritant that Yahweh allowed to strut on to the world stage, the same “accuser of the brethren,” who is the deceiver in charge of this world system. But His word promises this: “And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a Kingdom, which shall never be destroyed… it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms and it shall stand forever” (Daniel 2:44). That is His word of promise. It’s the Kingdom. That is the “mind of Christ.” It is what the King thinks on. The Kingdom is the gospel, the good news (Matthew 4:23; 24:14; Mark 4:14). It is what we are to seek first. He is asking us to think on these deeper truths, truths that, when obeyed, will make His will our will.      Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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February 19, 2024 · 3:03 pm

In the Beginning Was the Seed—Part One

(Every garden begins with a seed. The Spirit is saying, Come with Me and dig deep in the garden of God)

We must “dig deep” because the garden holds a secret. But the garden gate is locked; we need the key. Christ is the key to the mystery of the locked garden gate. Christ’s words enfold this truth: “The parable is this: the seed is the word of God” (Luke 8:11).

Seed = Word. Word = Seed. Therefore, “In the beginning was the Word [Seed]…And the Word [Seed] was God” (John 1:1). And the Seed was God. In the beginning of all things was the Seed. And those that are His have been “born of that incorruptible seed, the word of God” (I Peter 1:23).

We now believe that the Seed, the Son of God, died, was buried, and was raised from the dead. Our belief in Him generates a new birth of that same Seed/Word in our hearts. We have that same seed in us. We are created in His image–both physical and spiritual. Like a garden seed is programmed to die, be buried, and spring to life, so it is in the spiritual realm.

What do seeds do? They grow. They are designed to spring to life and grow. Be it animal, vegetable, or spiritual, we are all designed to grow from a seed. In the Holy Bible, Christ and his apostles have commanded us to do certain things to spur on this growth.

The book The Additions to the Faith deals primarily with one of His commandments: “Add to your faith” the seven additions of the divine nature (I Peter1:5). Your faith is really His faith. There is only one faith (Eph. 4:5). Faith is the seed-beginning of all potential spiritual growth. It takes believing the word/seed faith, having not seen the physical evidence.

We should pause before exploring the seven additions to our faith. We must hold this truth tightly. The faith we have now from God is Christ’s actual faith/belief system. Christ believes  His own plan to spread agape love all over the earth in human beings.

God’s purpose is the reproduction of Himself, which is Love. He does this by using the age-old Law of Harvest: Each seed bears its own kind. “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap” (Gal. 6:7 NASB). Spiritually speaking, we reap what we sow. But this sowing and reaping has nothing to do with Christians giving money to evangelists and believing that they will gain a return of money “one hundred-fold.” This prosperity doctrine is insidious. It preys on desperate people who fall into the trap of always looking after the flesh, thereby missing the Holy Spirit.

The Law of Harvest has to do with spiritual growth, as well as physical. Christ said, “The words I speak they are spirit and they are life” (John 6:63). There is no spiritual growth except through a germinated seed. The seed is the word of God. Then the word, like Christ, is made flesh in our mortal bodies. But the seed must be sown in good ground, in a “good and honest heart.”

Spiritual growth is how much of God’s Spirit of love grows in our hearts. He wants us to bear the peaceable fruit of righteousness in a fully mature growth which Christ calls bearing 100-fold fruit. To bear this amount of spiritual fruit, we must “know him that is from the beginning,” the beginning of all things. “Beginning” is from the Greek word arche. This “arche/beginning is not a recent, little beginning. It is big and deep and goes back before the worlds were framed by the word of God. The same word is used in John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word.” Or, we can now say, “In the beginning was the Seed.”

This study gives us the key to the garden gate. This study about the Seed/Son opens it. And it gives us knowledge on how to enter the 100-fold fruit bearing growth. For knowing Christ from the beginning is the key.      Kenneth Wayne Hancock

[Order your free copy of The Additions to the Faith, with free shipping. Just send your name, the name of the book, and your mailing address to my email: wayneman5@hotmail.com ]

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November 7, 2023 · 12:52 pm

The Heartbreak of Being Human

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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September 16, 2023 · 9:30 am

Christ’s Dream, Cause, and Vision Redux

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Solution to the Problem

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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August 24, 2023 · 10:17 am

Yahweh’s “New Thing”

[from journal entry, 7/20/2003]

“I will do a new thing,” says the Spirit (Isa. 43:19). At the beginning of every new major movement of God in this earth, God has appeared to a person or persons, chosen only by God Himself. All through scripture, God has literally come down in His human form and has stood and spoken to man.

He has appeared unto one of His elect and has manifested Himself to him; He has revealed himself intimately to chosen vessels. We call them prophets and apostles. God has used these elect, these chosen ones, to speak through down through history. He would fill them with the sight and sound of Him and detail it in a vision to them.

At these appearances, the patriarchs and prophets at first were dumbfounded. In many instances.  they thought that they had died–so great was the glory of God manifested to them. They would be struck dumb, blind, and, in general, they would experience a life-changing event. They had seen and heard Him! These revelations propelled them on to fulfill their ministry for that time. First, God got their attention by the revelation of his glory to them. Then He would relate to them what He wanted done or said.

Yahweh Always Does It This Way

Should we believe that He would do His end time movement any other way? He said that He was the same “yesterday, today and forever” and “I change not…” (Heb. 13:8; Mal. 3:6). He will move the same way as He did through thousands of years; He will appear to those He chooses to do His work in the earth.

From the Garden of Eden to this very day, Yahweh has made a special visitation to the remnant of His people. He gives them power and encouragement through His presence in their lives. All the major players in the Bible have received a supernatural visit from Him. I believe that this is the reason that they and their stories grace the pages of the Bible. His appearances bolstered their faith to accomplish the tasks that He would have them do.

Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob/Israel, Joseph, Moses, Gideon, and David, and all the prophets—all were visited by our Creator. They heard His voice and saw His form. The apostles walked with Him daily for three and one-half years, and He appeared to Paul several times (I Cor. 15:3-8; Gal. 1:11-12).

Moses

Take Moses, for example. He waited in the desert tending flocks, waiting and waiting for forty years after His expulsion from Egypt [see the Book of Jasher]. And then it happened—the burning bush and the voice of God calling him to the work ahead. Later, Yahweh spoke with Moses “face to face” along with seventy elders of Israel who “saw the God of Israel. Under His feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself” (Ex. 24:10 NIV; Ex. 33:11). Who was this form? Who was this God that came down and visited the men of the nation of Israel/Twelve Tribes? The Father is an invisible Spirit, so the form that appeared to them must be who? [Tell me your thoughts in the comment section.]   

All these men and women in the past laid up spiritual treasures of wisdom and knowledge for us.  Even greater exploits are awaiting our slumbering faith as we begin to open our eyes and see that “that which has been is now, and that which is to be has already been, and God requires that which is past” (Ecc. 3:15).

Yahweh is doing a “new thing” in the earth. Appearing to one person is not new. The new thing is this: He will appear to thousands of His followers, thus, empowering them to preach the everlasting gospel of the Kingdom of God before the Great Tribulation begins in earnest. He always sent a warning to the people through His prophets/mouthpieces. He will come to His first-fruit company of thousands of sons and daughters.

Christ said that we would do “greater works” than what He and the apostles did. I believe that Yah will make appearances to His elect, not just one or two at a time, but thousands during our era of the “latter rain.” How else are we to get on the same page? How else will we be loosed from the sullen chains of doubt? Yahweh is coming to His elect.

Yet the doubters say that no one can be like the early apostles, much less like Christ. Doubt is sown from the pulpits. This unbelief stymies spiritual growth. Don’t listen to them. They will harm you in your walk with God.

The Spirit is still crying, “Come out from among them” and purge out the old leaven teachings soaked with falsehoods about Yahshua, the Anointed One—if we desire to be visited by our Maker and be a part of the greatest move in the history of this blood-soaked earth. Yes, Yahweh is doing a “new thing.” That we all may be one…

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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August 24, 2023 · 10:07 am

Yahweh’s “New Thing”

[from journal entry, 7/20/2003]

“I will do a new thing,” says the Spirit (Isa. 43:19). At the beginning of every new major movement of God in this earth, God has appeared to a person or persons, chosen only by God Himself. All through scripture, God has literally come down in His human form and has stood and spoken to man.

He has appeared unto one of His elect and has manifested Himself to him; He has revealed himself intimately to chosen vessels. We call them prophets and apostles. God has used these elect, these chosen ones, to speak through down through history. He would fill them with the sight and sound of Him and detail it in a vision to them.

At these appearances, the patriarchs and prophets at first were dumbfounded. In many instances.  they thought that they had died–so great was the glory of God manifested to them. They would be struck dumb, blind, and, in general, they would experience a life-changing event. They had seen and heard Him! These revelations propelled them on to fulfill their ministry for that time. First, God got their attention by the revelation of his glory to them. Then He would relate to them what He wanted done or said.

Yahweh Always Does It This Way

Should we believe that He would do His end time movement any other way? He said that He was the same “yesterday, today and forever” and “I change not…” (Heb. 13:8; Mal. 3:6). He will move the same way as He did through thousands of years; He will appear to those He chooses to do His work in the earth.

From the Garden of Eden to this very day, Yahweh has made a special visitation to the remnant of His people. He gives them power and encouragement through His presence in their lives. All the major players in the Bible have received a supernatural visit from Him. I believe that this is the reason that they and their stories grace the pages of the Bible. His appearances bolstered their faith to accomplish the tasks that He would have them do.

Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob/Israel, Joseph, Moses, Gideon, and David, and all the prophets—all were visited by our Creator. They heard His voice and saw His form. The apostles walked with Him daily for three and one-half years, and He appeared to Paul several times (I Cor. 15:3-8; Gal. 1:11-12).

Take Moses, for example. He waited in the desert tending flocks, waiting and waiting for forty years. And then it happened—the burning bush and the voice of God calling him to the work ahead. Later, Yahweh spoke with Moses “face to face” along with seventy elders of Israel who “saw the God of Israel. Under His feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself” (Ex. 24:10 NIV; Ex. 33:11). Who was this form? Who was this God that came down and visited the men of the nation of Israel/Twelve Tribes? The Father is an invisible Spirit, so the form that appeared to them must be who? [Tell me your thoughts in the comment section.]   

All these men and women in the past laid up spiritual treasures of wisdom and knowledge for us.  Even greater exploits are awaiting our slumbering faith as we begin to open our eyes and see that “that which has been is now, and that which is to be has already been, and God requires that which is past” (Ecc. 3:15).

Yahweh is doing a “new thing” in the earth. Appearing to one person is not new. The new thing is this: He will appear to thousands of His followers, thus, empowering them to preach the everlasting gospel of the Kingdom of God before the Great Tribulation begins in earnest. He always sent a warning to the people through His prophets/mouthpieces. He will come to His first-fruit company of thousands of sons and daughters.

Christ said that we would do “greater works” than what He and the apostles did. I believe that Yah will make appearances to His elect, not just one or two at a time, but thousands during our era of the “latter rain.” How else are we to get on the same page? How else will we be loosed from the sullen chains of doubt? Yahweh is coming to His elect.

Yet the doubters say that no one can be like the early apostles, much less like Christ. Doubt is sown from the pulpits. This unbelief stymies spiritual growth. Don’t listen to them. They will harm you in your walk with God.

The Spirit is still crying, “Come out from among them” and purge out the old leaven teachings soaked with falsehoods about Yahshua, the Anointed One—if we desire to be visited by our Maker and be a part of the greatest move in the history of this blood-soaked earth. Yes, Yahweh is doing a “new thing.” That we all may be one…

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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August 9, 2023 · 12:58 pm

Those with Eyes to See and Ears to Hear—Where Are They?

(from Journal, 6-24-2003)

Possibly the greatest frustration for a Christian is when people reject their witness and testimony of Christ and His love. He has placed a burning desire to share the love that Christ has shared with us. We all expect others to respond to the preaching of the good news through our lips and are disappointed when they don’t. Some of us newly minted Christians even ran out there with our hair on fire trying to convert everyone.

When it did not happen, in utter frustration, we ask, “Why don’t they believe?” The answer from Christ’s lips is so counterintuitive that very few preachers even go there; you won’t hear it preached on Sunday morning.

Why won’t they believe? The simple answer: They have not been given the spiritual tools to be able to perceive at this time the mysteries of the Kingdom of God. The mysteries are spiritually discerned. It is through their unbelief in Yahweh that their eyes are blinded. Once their heart believes, then the scales will fall from their eyes, and they will be able to see the “things God has prepared for those that love Him.”

Why can’t they see? The Holy Spirit in John answers the question directly: “Therefore they could not believe because…He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart and be converted, and I should heal them” (John 12:40).

The Spirit is quoting His own words through Isaiah: “And he said, Go, and say to this people:
Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive. Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed” (6:9-10).

So, God gives some people, most people—at this time—a spiritual sleep, a slumber of unbelief.  This unbelief blinds them spiritually so that they cannot perceive the things of God. We must be patient, enduring the rebuffs and rejections, knowing that every incident dovetails into His grand scheme of things. It is all working for good as we wait on Him to renew our strength.

Parable of the Sower

A parable is a “dark saying” that purposely clouds the meaning for some hearers. Christ spoke in parables to prevent the masses at that time from understanding the message of the kingdom. The disciples asked Him, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?” Christ said, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.” He chooses in His unfathomable knowledge the likes of us and has given us knowledge of the mysteries of life. And to those of us who now have the knowledge of His secrets and mysteries, He gives even more (Matt. 13:10-15). It is all Him.

The above explains Matthew 13’s The Parable of the Sower. The word is sown into four types of earth: the wayside where the fouls (Satan’s minions) gobble up the word; the stony places where the lack of topsoil causes the seed to not bear fruit; the thorns where the seed/word is choked out by the cares of this life. But the last is the good ground of a good and honest heart and which bears three levels of spiritual fruit production: 30-fold children; 60-fold young men and women; and 100-fold spiritual fathers and virtuous women. We don’t know what kind of ground the people have when we witness to them. If it is the former three types, then it gets grim.

If it is good ground, then fruit of various levels of production will be harvested. We are not to figure out which type of ground it is. We are to sow His seed and let Yahweh do His wonders. That is our job. For His word will not return to Him void but will accomplish what He wants done. “One plants, one waters, but it is God who gives the increase.”

We should not, therefore, huff and puff and try to convert the world. We do what we can while maintaining rest in Him. This is trusting Him that He will reach those whom He will reach. In the meantime, we study that we may be ready to feed His lambs and sheep the words of truth.

The Arm of Yahweh

In frustration, Isaiah lamented: “Who has believed our report? To whom is the arm of Yahweh revealed?” (53:1). Believing in Yahweh as the Savior will reveal to us that Yahshua was the arm of Yahweh. Yahshua (Christ) was the “expressed image of the invisible God.” And by believing in this report that Yahweh raised that human vessel from the dead, we are saved from sin and sinning. Yahweh saves us by raising up the man Yahshua. By believing in this resurrection, we tap into the Root of eternal life.

The election has obtained this right state with God through faith in His resurrection. Yah has blinded the rest of Israel [twelve tribes]. “Blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles (nations, the ethnos) be come in” (Romans 11:25).

We can see Yah’s ordering of His Vision for His earth in that last sentence. The Twelve Tribes of Israel, though lost, are in the earth today. They are blind as to their identity as the “lost sheep of the House of Israel.” They will stay spiritually blind until God’s ordained timing for them is fulfilled after a certain number of Gentiles have come into His Kingdom.

He ordains everything. We may not fully comprehend His plan, but we must rest our minds, knowing that “He does all things decently and in order.” The One who knows the number of hairs on our heads surely knows how to fulfill His will in earth as it is in heaven.

The original question was this: Why don’t they believe? The answer: It is not their time yet. Yah is fair and just. He has a time for everyone. “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”

The frustration will subside when we begin to believe that everyone slated to repent and turn with their whole heart to God has a timing pre-ordained by Him. If you can perceive the above, then “blessed are your eyes for they see.” This should give us rest.      Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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July 26, 2023 · 9:12 am

Forgiveness Is at the Heart of Repentance

(from Journal,  5-11-15)

Repentance is the first step on the path of righteousness. “Unless you repent you shall all likewise perish,” (Luke 13:5). Repentance is a grave concept, not to be misunderstood. A seeker of God must not get this wrong.

Nevertheless, the way to repentance is guided by the warm arms of forgiveness. For had not Christ forgiven us all, we would never be able to come to the altar of repentance from our sins.

Many believe that past sins are forgiven them by God, but they don’t believe that the sin nature within them—the old nature that produced the sin—is gone away for good. And therein lies the problem—the recurrence of sin in a person’s life. Why does sin keep cropping up? It is because of unbelief that our old sinful self has died with Christ on the cross. Through this unbelief, the old heart will still produce sin, the breaking of the Ten Commandments.

Sins Sent Away

The word “forgiveness” is translated from the Greek word aphiemi, a verb which means “to send away or depart.” Christ has sent our sins away.

We see this in the types and shadows of the old Mosaic law. One remembers how the Aaronic priest laid his hands on the scapegoat, transferring the people’s sins onto the goat. And then the goat was sent away into the wilderness, taking their sins with it. The scapegoat was a type of the Lamb of God “who takes away the sins of the world.” Christ had the heavy responsibility of being that Sacrifice. Christ took upon Himself all the sins of humanity. Shockingly for some, He died as a lost man that day; I say, in the similitude of a lost man. “For He was made to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Cor. 5:21).

He was our scapegoat offering. He has forgiven us in that He has sent our old selfish heart away. He is saying to us, Thy sins are forgiven. Your sins are sent away; they are departed and gone. They are no longer there. “Go and sin no more” (John 8:11).   

Forgiving the Debt

The Greek word translated “repentance” has another nuance of meaning. It means to “to forgive a debt.” When we owe someone money, for example, we have a debt until either it is paid or until the debt is forgiven. When forgiven, the debt is gone, poof! It is no longer a reality; it no longer exists.  

It is the same with the old heart that sins. That person has a debt to love his fellow man, for God has said, “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law” (Rom. 13:8 NIV). That is our debt: to love our neighbor as ourselves.

And yet, sin is the opposite of love, and it resides in unregenerated man. These are those that Christ has commanded us to love. We are to love the unlovable, those who have hurt us. We love them by forgiving them. This is how our debt is paid.

But our debt can never be paid by trying to do good works in our own strength. Yahweh takes away our sin through the sacrifice of His Son. We can repent through His grace to us.  This happens when we identify our sinful nature with Christ. Then the sin dies with Christ, and by belief/faith in His resurrection in us, we now walk in a “newness of life” (Rom. 6:4).

Once this revelation sinks in, then we can say as Paul did that it is no longer I that lives but Christ that lives in me (Gal 2:20). We need only read and believe Romans 6:1-15 and not question it.

When we do this, the sin will depart forever. The debt is paid. Our sins are forgiven. For good. All gone. Departed. Christ is big enough to make this happen. No more sin in our lives. It is a wondrous thing. This is His doctrine, and it is astonishing!

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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