Tag Archives: suffering

August 13, 2025 · 10:47 am

No Rapture–Further Proof

Many Christians believe that God, in His love and mercy, would not allow His true followers to endure the suffering of the Great Tribulation. They reason that Christ’s redemptive work exempts believers from such hardship. However, this view is challenged by a deeper look at Scripture and historical precedent, which emphasize God’s sovereignty and His consistent dealings with humanity.
God’s Unchanging Nature and Sovereignty
Scripture affirms that God does not change (Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8) and that His thoughts and ways are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8). Human reasoning often assumes that God would spare His people from suffering, but this is man’s logic, not divine truth. Proverbs 14:12 warns that what seems right to man may lead to death. Therefore, understanding God’s actions in history is key to discerning His plans for the future.
Misconceptions About Divine Protection
Some argue that God always removes His people before judgment falls. This idea is refuted by biblical examples where the righteous suffered alongside the wicked. The seals in Revelation 6, opened by Christ Himself, unleash war, famine, and death—events that have historically affected Christians. For instance, thousands of American Christians died in World War II, a conflict seen as part of the unfolding of these seals.
Revelation’s Seals and Christian Suffering
The fifth seal (Rev. 6:9–11) reveals martyred souls crying out for justice, and they are told to wait until more believers are killed. The sixth seal brings catastrophic natural disasters, prompting even the powerful to seek refuge from God’s wrath. This connects to Jesus’ warning to the women of Jerusalem (Luke 23:28–30), where He foretells suffering for children during future tribulation—again, directed at His followers.
Tribulation and the Elect
Matthew 24 speaks directly of the Great Tribulation, noting that unless those days are shortened, no flesh would survive. Yet, for the elect’s sake, God will intervene. This is evidence that God’s chosen ones will indeed be present during the Tribulation, enduring its trials alongside the rest of humanity.
Historical and Scriptural Evidence
Ezekiel 21 offers proof that God’s judgment can fall on both the righteous and the wicked. During Jerusalem’s fall to Babylon, even faithful believers perished. Psalm 44 and Romans 8:36 also portray God’s people as “sheep for the slaughter,” suffering despite their faithfulness. These passages affirm that suffering is not incompatible with divine favor.
The Rapture: A Modern Invention
The concept of the rapture is challenged as a relatively modern idea, unknown to the early church and reportedly originating from a 19th-century dream. Scripture does not support a pre-tribulation escape for believers. Instead, God’s plan calls His people to endure, trusting in His sovereignty and ultimate justice.

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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December 28, 2024 · 2:30 pm

The Abiding and the Additions Bear Much Fruit

“He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit.”

Lots to unpack in Christ’s words. First, we must understand that spiritual growth, like natural growth, is a process from seed to harvest. Spiritual maturity does not happen overnight. The spiritual seed grows first into “the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear (Mark 4:28).  

You then have levels of spiritual fruit [30-fold] and then more fruit [60-fold],and then much fruit [100-fold]. Christ said, “Every branch that bears fruit, he purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit” (John 15:2). Many spiritually young Christians fall away at this point because to bear more and more fruit, we the branches must be pruned or purged. This purging by the Father can be painful. This is where He corrects and chastens us, trimming off unproductive concepts and beliefs. Nobody likes the purging of the Father. But those who endure with patience will eventually grow to bear “much fruit” (John 15:5).

“Much fruit” is the 100-fold growth. This is full spiritual maturity. It is the same growth that Peter, Paul, and John demonstrated in the Acts of the Apostles and in their Spirit-led writings. These apostles and Christ Himself said that this growth is possible for us, too. Christ learned “obedience by the things that He suffered” (Heb. 5:8). We will do the same. We will reign with Christ if we suffer with Him (2 Tim. 2:12; Matt. 13:3-9, 18-23).

Spiritual Growth Comes through the Abiding

The word “abide” is translated as “continue, stay, remain” in many verses. The ability to continue walking through the stormy trials of a Christian’s sojourn, adds endurance/patience. We can endure the process of becoming God’s son or daughter here on earth by His presence abiding in us. It is the Spirit of truth that abides in us. The Spirit of truth remains in us by faith, by believing Christ’s words and promises. He said that he would “never leave you nor forsake you.” He fulfills this through adding facets of his divine nature–especially patience/endurance.

We add patience/endurance by faith, by believing his word when he says, in essence, I will remain in you by my Spirit’s presence in you; I will grow in you. This adding is activated by your belief in his words. Endurance/ patience is a part of the abiding. And the abiding of His Spirit in our hearts is a part of patience. There are seven additions to the faith. The seventh is agape love. When agape is added, our spiritual maturity has arrived. [Order my book The Additions to the Faith. It is free with free shipping. Order here: Ordering My Free Books in Paperback | Immortality Road

We are given the strength to abide in him when we by faith add endurance/patience. We can endure hardships and sufferings by having his Spirit abide in our hearts. They will come, but so will his Spirit be guiding us into all truth. “For you have need of endurance [patience], so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise (Heb. 10:36).  

And that promise is God sending down the Holy Spirit and filling us with power to complete His mission. He will in His own sweet time baptize us in fire which cleanses all false doctrines and concepts. He desires for us to “present our bodies as a living sacrifice,” putting to death our old desires and surrendering to his greater and far more glorious destiny for us.   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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October 28, 2021 · 1:14 pm

Adding the Knowledge of Good and Evil to Faith

The Spirit of Truth tells us to add knowledge to virtue in order to be partakers of the divine nature” (II Pet. 1:4). But which knowledge? Knowledge of what exactly? There are many knowledges.

Christ commands us to “Be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect.” He also commands us to “Resist not the evil” and “Turn the other cheek,” and “Love your enemies,” and “Bless them that curse you,” and “Pray for them that despitefully use you,” and “Do good to them that hate you” (Matt. 5:38-48). We are not to just observe Christ doing these things. We are to obey them. But we don’t know how to do the impossible. There must be a hidden knowledge about how to do this.

We know that we cannot obey the above commands by using our own strength. It must be His Spirit working in us that brings us to perfection. “Perfection” in the Greek means “maturity.” To grow spiritually to full maturity takes knowledge.

Knowledge from the Garden

The first mention of “knowledge” is in Genesis, which contains the seeds of all knowledge. It speaks of a knowledge of good and evil. Knowing the source of both good and evil helps us grow to the maturity that God has for us.

Yahweh said, “I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil” (Isa. 45:8). Since He has created both good and evil for His purposes and pleasure, then we must believe that He is the originator and instigator of both good and evil in our lives. He has prescribed a certain amount of “good” for our lives and a certain amount of “bad” for us to deal with. Remember Christ saying, “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof”? We like the “good,” but loathe the “evil.”

It is like growing a seed in a garden. Rain is good, and a certain amount of rain is needed. But the ground needs a certain amount of manure to build the soil, to nourish the seed. Good rain is not enough. The seed needs a proper portion of composted manure to bring the seed to full, healthy maturity. To mature, we need the “evil” as well as the “good.”

Believing this knowledge is paramount in understanding how the Gardener works. We must believe that God is sovereign and in total control of both the good and the evil that comes our way. Then we will be able to “love our enemies.” How? By knowing that certain troubles are appointed unto us to develop His divine nature in our hearts. We can begin to “resist not the evil.” How? By knowing that God sanctions a daily amount of evil for us to overcome, thereby growing stronger. To be like Him, we need someone to forgive. It is difficult to do with a whole heart. But that is what He requires for His children. And we are to “think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you. But rejoice because you are partaking of Christ’s sufferings” (I Pet. 4:12). When we believe that all power is of God, then that person persecuting us has received power from God. “All things are of God.”

Christ realized that all of the suffering inflicted upon Him by the haters was ordained by the Father. So when He says, “Resist not the evil,” He is telling us that the evil is from the Father. When we understand that the Father doles out doses of evil for us to overcome, then we will know Him on a more intimate level. In fact, knowing this enables us to ask, “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.”

“The ability to perceive God in all things is required before He can transfer any power to you. You must come to understand that every good and every evil thing is the result of His will” (G. Russell, SonPlacing, p. 109). Evil is used and comes from God’s wisdom and is “used to accomplish His pleasure.”

Virtue is moral strength. And we are to add “knowledge” to that—the knowledge that God uses both good and evil to accomplish His will. Just ask Pharaoh. God says to him: “I raised you up…that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. Therefore, God has mercy (good) on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens (evil) whom He wants to harden” (Rom. 9:17-18). God showered “good” on the children of Israel coming out of Egypt. He also hardened Pharaoh’s heart crashing down disaster upon him and his kingdom (evil). Why? God did this “to make the riches of His glory known to the objects of His mercy, whom He prepared in advance for glory—even us.”

What mercy He has bestowed upon us! He brought evil destruction upon Egypt so that His story would be told throughout the ages, so that we would know about His love and devotion for us, the objects of His mercy!

Kenneth Wayne Hancock [Be sure to subscribe, like, and order my books which are free with free shipping found here: Ordering My Free Books in Paperback | Immortality Road (wordpress.com)

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