18th Surgical Hospital Quang Tri 1968–Remembering a Tragedy

I didn’t find his name at the Wall last Sunday.  Although I was with him his last seconds on earth, I never knew his name.

We ran him in on a litter into the receiving ward at 18th Surgical Hospital at Quang Tri that summer of 1968.  He was pale from heavy loss of blood.  He looked to be about twenty, thin with sandy hair.  They all seemed to be thin and about twenty.

We got him on a table.  The nurses started cutting his clothes off of him.  And there it was–a blue little mouth of a bullet entry hole in his abdomen.

“How did it happen?” someone shouted.

“They said he was packing to go home tomorrow.  He was putting the pistol in the bag when it went off.”

The surgeon appeared at the table.  He examined him for an instant, then he cursed and yelled, “Gimme some adrenalin in a big syringe.”  The nurse handed it to him and, he cursed again and stabbed the young man in the middle of his chest pushing the clear fluid into his heart.

He worked like a whirling, sweating madman for another minute or two.  He pushed on his chest and issued a dry crying curse under his breath with every movement.  I should have been drawing some blood in order to cross match some for him, but I just stood there staring into the doctor’s eyes the whole time.  All of us just stared at him and not the patient, for we all knew that we could do nothing until hope sprang forth from the face of the doctor.   And it didn’t.

The doctor said nothing.  He turned around and went to the next table where a young thin man was writhing in pain.  I looked down at the young man with sandy hair.  His face was a powdery greyish white color, his skin cold.  I turned around and went to the next table to draw some blood.  And that was the last time I ever saw him.

I thought upon this tragedy as I slowly and reverently walked by the Wall.  I read many names who died hoping to somehow get back to “the World.”  Maybe I read his name today.

Kenneth Wayne Hancock, Spec. 4/ Medical Lab Tech/ 18th Surgical Hospital / Pleiku, An Khe, Quang Tri, Vietnam, Sept. 1967-Sept. 1968

Prayer and Fasting and George Washington

Alexandria, Virginia, Presbyterian Meeting House  

I’m stepping where George Washington actually stepped as he went into this building to dedicate a national day of prayer and fasting that he had proclaimed.  The French were threatening.  And Washington entered this church to ask God’s protection for the infant country.

Obviously Washington was unafraid to mix religion and politics, for here he was in church asking God’s blessing on the event.

How far we’ve strayed from the original Founding Father’s intent.  They all believed in a Creator, a reachable Supreme Being–so much so that their writings are filled with allusions to Him–so much so that our first president would actually lead the nation for a complete day of prayer and fasting.

Prayer is a communication to God where we fragile finite beings may grasp the invisible, spiritual, and heavenly things.  And fasting is an act where we let go of our most precious and pressing fleshly desires–that of savoring delicious foods.  And both are done believing God will see and be pleased.

Where in the world did Washington get this idea to fast and pray?  Whatever possessed him to presume to put fasting and praying on the people?  He read it in the greatest bestseller of all time, the Holy Bible.  He knew its precepts were pristine and pure, its ways effective, and in dire times, as did the ancient Hebrew prophets and apostles, he would pray and fast for divine protection, too.

210 years ago, secular humanism did not rear its egotistical head here in Alexandria.  Agnosticism found no place in the faces of this young country.  No atheists or other “dark designing knaves” were there to prevent humility from taking the stage for a needy nation.  No cynic sneered at a humble and greatful people. 

Only the giving of thanks was heard on these very steps that George Washington trod on May 9, 1798.

                                                                                                  

Manifestation of the Sons of God–What the World Needs

 

The world doesn’t need another politician telling the people what they want to hear.  The world doesn’t need a steady robust economy to help it through the hard times that have been prophesied upon it.  No.  The world needs the sons of God to arrive on the scene.  They must come forth for these last days. 

 

The whole creation, the apostle Paul wrote, (whether it knows it or not), is anxiously awaiting the sons of God to come upon the world stage.  For the sons of God will have something that all mortals walking the face of the earth must have.  They will have the key that will set the whole creation free from the chains of a certain physical death.  These children of the Most High are God’s elect, His sons and daughters, made in His image, and they are what this world needs. 

 

They are the ones who will have cut through all of the deception and vice in this world system.  They alone will see the Spirit and walk in the Spirit and be filled with the Spirit of the living Yahweh.  They will build the old waste places and build the spiritual walls to the heavenly city. 

Overcoming death is what the world really needs—not universal “health care,” but ridding humans of the “last enemy that shall be destroyed”—death.  For death is our enemy, not our friend.  And these sons, will walk the walk of Christ in the earth and will achieve immortality and will show us all how to overcome death. That is what this world needs.  And this is what the Bible is all about–not playing church.                        Kenneth Wayne Hancock

(To read more of this chapter from my book The Unveiling of the Sons of God, go to www.yahwehisthesavior.com/sonsch1.htm  )

Politicians Are the “Basest of Men” According to Bible

Political leaders are the lowest dregs of human society, according to a heavenly messenger who spoke to the prophet Daniel.  And He sets them up, and He brings them down.  God is in control of what goes on in the governments of men (Daniel 4).

This scathing indictment of political leaders comes from Daniel’s experiences in the court of Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon.  In Daniel’s vision this “holy one” said this: “To the intent that the living may know that the most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it {the governments of this world} to whomsoever  He will, and sets up over it the basest of men” (Daniel 4: 17).

So, all of us who read this passage from the Bible have to either throw it away as some pipe dream of  a mad Hebrew prophet 2600 years ago, or we must take it for what it says.

• The Creator God is involved in the political affairs of men.
• He is the One who really is ruling in the governments of men
• He is the One who gives the political power to whomsoever He will
• And God sets up the “basest of men”–those lowest on the Spiritual Scale.

If we believe this, it will forever change the way we look at politicians.  We always knew they were slippery and hypocritical and will say or do anything to get elected.

Finally, I’m reminded of that passage in Revelation about the future One World Government Leader:  “And the whole world wondered after the beast.”  This man is referred to by God as a beast (Rev. 13: 3).  I rest my case.  KWH

Parable of the Tares in the Field–Children of the Wicked One

Evil has a face–a human face.  Evil has arms and legs, but above all, a cunning mind and a devious heart.

Some faces of evil are obvious.  Those of Hitler, Stalin, Saddam Hussein and other tyrannical butchers come to mind.  But it’s the faces of evil that you pass on the street or see in restaurants or that sit in locked board rooms–those are the ones we must beware of.

And, oh, how our spiritual forefathers warned us of these evil ones.  The apostles and prophets and our Savior Himself warned us of them.

Who are they?  They are called the children of the devil,  “the children of the wicked one,” “false teachers, false prophets,” and rich men “heaping treasure together for the last days” (James 5:3), among many other names.

They are the “tares” in the “Parable of the Tares in the Field.”  We must remember that parables contain the mysteries of God.  Parables are used purposefully to teach God’s elect while hiding those same secrets from the multitudes.

Reading “The Parable of the Tares of the Field” (Matthew 13: 24-30, 37-44) is like viewing the true spiritual history of man through the eye of a satellite camera.  In it we see a landowner (the Son of man) who sows good seed (the children of the kingdom) in his field (the world).  But an enemy (the devil) came and sowed tares (the children of the wicked one) along side the good seed.

The servants notice the tares coming up with the wheat and asks the owner if they should pull up the tares.  He says to let them both grow together until the harvest (the end of the world), so that the good seed won’t get uprooted along with the tares.

And so the harvest comes and the reapers (the angels) put in the sickle.  The wheat (the children of God) are separated from the “children of the wicked one.”  The latter are then taken and destroyed.  The children of the Kingdom inherit all things with their Father.

Point: the wicked one has children; they are in our midst.  Some are common sociopaths without a conscience.  Others are more subtle, working diligently with other rich men for a “one world government.”  They are paving the way for the Anti-Christ to take over the New World Order.  They cry “peace, peace, when there is no peace.”

Peter warns of them in II Peter 2, saying that “while they promise the people liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption” (v. 19).  Jude devotes his whole letter as a warning to be aware of these “children of the wicked one.”  Moses wrote of these who give their hearts and souls to Satan as the seed of the serpent (Genesis 3:15).  Christ told the Pharisees, “You are of your father the devil” (John 8:44).

From Genesis to Revelation, they are there.  We must beware of them because evil strides the earth today.  And evil has a face–a human face.  KWH

Anti-Christ Stands in Temple Before Christ Returns

     “Whoa, Wayneman,” some will say.  “My preacher told me, ‘You better get right because Christ could come tonight!'”

     Although God is sovereign and can do whatever He pleases, He’ll keep His word first.  And He said by His Spirit through His apostle Paul that there are several pre-requisite prophecies that must come to pass before He comes back. 

     A, B, C must happen first.  1, 2, 3 takes place, then He returns.  

     But which coming are we talking about though?  The Big Coming.  The Coming when Christ is “revealed from heaven with His mighty angels.”  We’re talking “flaming fire taking vengeance” on the disobedient.  No time for political correctness during this coming.  It’s His coming “to be glorified in His saints {that’s us–the set apart sons and daughters, His princes and princesses}.  It’s that coming seen in II Thessalonians 1:7-10.

     But the Thessalonians in 54 A.D. were worried that “Christ could come tonight!”  So Paul consoles them and admonishes them to “be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled…as that the day of Christ is at hand…” (2:2)  Don’t get shook, he’s saying.  Certain things must happen first before this terrible day of vengeance comes.  1, 2, 3…

1.    Deception reigns. He warns, “Let no man deceive you by any means” (2:3).  This is exactly what Christ told his disciples when asked for a sign of HIs coming: “Take heed that no man deceive you” (Matt. 24:3-4).  So there will be wholesale deception in the world around the time of His coming.
2.    Because of the deception, there will come a “falling away” from the true faith.  Because of the unbelief of the people, an apostasy of grand proportions will engulf the earth.  The masses will fall for false teachings about God.  So much so that “God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie…” (2:3, 11).  
3.    Because of the delusion of the masses, the Anti-Christ, the “man of sin…the son of perdition” will be revealed–the Devil Incarnate.  His characteristics?  He “opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God…so that he as God sits in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God” (2:3-4).  Now who would fall for him?  All those deluded and deceived by his “power and signs and lying wonders” (v. 9).
4.    The temple of God must be rebuilt in Jerusalem first before the man of sin can exalt himself in it.  This is a huge sign.  When we hear of this taking place, the Big Coming is getting close.  The rest of chapter 2 is our consolation wherein God comforts his followers through the end time as Christ puts an end to the evil.

     The time of the end will be catastropic on a world wide scope.  Political, ecclesiastical, and geological  upheavals will abound during this time of “great tribulation.”  This is why the Thessalonians in 54 A.D. were worried.  They believed that they would be around when the end-time terror and horror went down.  They did not believe that they would mystically and conveniently escape through a rapturous opening in the clouds.  They knew they would barely make it through the hard times, and that only with God’s help.  But that’s another post.

     So, that’s why I say, Christ cannot come back tonight.  Too many specific things must happen first.  And they are happening fast.  We need to watch and be alert.  Kenneth Wayne Hancock

Parables Conceal the Mysteries of God

     Parables are not nice little stories to help us understand the Bible. We have been told this by well-meaning teachers and pastors, but it is not true.  To the contrary, parables are used by God to deliberately keep some from knowing His secrets.  Before you click away, let me elucidate.

 

     The Creator has a stupendous plan to reproduce Himself.  He has had His prophets and righteous men write about it down through the ages. But He has kept it secret by speaking about it in parables.  In order to comprehend His purpose, we must first understand His concept of the use of parables.

 

      The first thing to know is that parables contain the “mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.”  They conceal the secrets of God, hidden since the foundation of the world.      

     God is sovereign, and He will reveal Himself and His plan to whomever He desires.  “For a man can receive nothing except it be given to him from heaven.”

 

      Christ, the Anointed One, was teaching the multitudes in parables.  Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.  {First, parables reveal “the secrets of the kingdom of heaven.”  And He gives this knowledge to certain ones, and some He does not give it to} This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, nor do they understand…but blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.” Mt. 13:10-13, 16, RSV.  

 

     Parables are His “dark sayings.” The word “dark” is translated from the Hebrew word, chiydah, #2420 in Strong’s, meaning a “puzzle: hence a trick, conundrum, sententious maxim: dark saying (sentence, speech), hard question, proverb, riddle.”  Puzzles and riddles are deliberately thought out by the speaker.  They are purposely spoken.  And so it is with His parables.  All these things spake Jesus (Yahshua) unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world. Mt. 13:34-35, Psm. 78:2.

 

     Parables are not nice little illustrations; they are riddles and puzzles that are meant for only a few to understand and solve the mysteries of His governance in the earth.     Kenneth Wayne Hancock

 

(For more on “parables” go to my book, Yah Is Savior: The Road to Immortality at      www.yahwehisthesavior.com/yah.htm   chapters 19-21)

 

 

Blessed Are the Poor–The Cardboard Cage

     Utter desperation does not bring out the worst in people; it brings out what they are inside.  Good or bad.  You’ll have looters and rioters during disasters revealing their dark thieving hearts.  But others will suffer their plights with an astounding amount of integrity.  I know this first hand.

     It was 1973, and my wife Linda and I were down in Northern Mexico in the Sierra Madre Mountains near the town of Galeana.  We were traveling by van on a deserted dusty road, trying to find a village in the mountains.  We had heard there was a famine up in those parts, and we wanted to help.

     In the back of our old Chevy van we had commodities—several sacks of dry beans, rice and corn—foodstuffs we were going to deliver to the needy.  We had been driving all day on rock roads; it was getting late, and we still could not find the village.  We were lost with no idea where the village was.

       All of a sudden, we came to a dead end; big boulders were blocking the way.  “Guess I’ll back up here and turn around,” I said to Linda. And as I turned around to look out of my side window, a man appeared.  It was as if he had just materialized out of nowhere.  He was the light brown color of the rocks and dust.  His face was wan and gaunt, and he had a look in his countenance that was past sincere; it was desperate. 

     I looked back at Linda as if to ask, “What do I do now?”  And her look back said, “Don’t look at me.”  I looked back at him and noticed that more people had materialized.  A dozen people stood just behind him now.  Before I could ask him in Spanish what he wanted, he held up a small cardboard box about the size of a cracker box.

       He looked me straight in the eyes and moaned in a mournful cry, “Pan! Pan! Pan!”  And each time he said that word, he would push the box a little closer to me.  I turned to Linda and said, “Oh, my God, Linda.  He’s saying “bread.” 

     I looked at the box; it was alive.  From within, it hummed and fluttered and scratched.  And then I saw the slits in the side of the box and realized that he held a bird in a cardboard cage, and he was wanting to trade it for bread!

       We immediately got out of the van.  We now knew why we had made the wrong turn onto this desolate dead end road.  We knew clearly for whom the food was meant.  We walked around the van, opened the back doors and invited them to it.  As the man’s companions carried the food away, he held up the bird in the box, sincerely wanting me to take the bird, thus completing the trade.  I looked at him and told him that I couldn’t do it.  He then turned and walked on up the mountain to join his friends.         Kenneth Wayne Hancock