“Beware of False Prophets”–Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing

     Christ warned us about being deceived by false prophets.  We must realize that after “placing our hands to the plow,” our enemy Satan has been authorized by God (Yahweh) to test us and prove us (remember the story of Job).  He’ll try to deceive us and detour us.  And Satan will use men to do this–false prophets and teachers. 

“Let No Man Deceive You”

     Being deceived by false prophets and teachers is the first thing Jesus Christ (Yahshua the Anointed One) warned us of when He spoke of the last days before His coming.  A potential son or daughter of God can be fooled by false teachers, false prophets, and false ministers of Christ. 

     We are to “take heed that no man deceive you” (Matt. 24: 4). These men are wolves in sheep’s clothing and are the deceivers.  For they will come in His name and deceive many (v. 5, 11).  In fact, don’t believe them when they say, Christ is here; you’ll find him by following me.  “Believe it not.  For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets” (v. 23-24).      

     We have been warned.  “There shall be false teachers among you who will secretly bring in damnable heresies” (II Peter 2: 1).  We must realize that these have “transformed themselves into the apostles of Christ.”  They are imposters, peddling themselves off as God’s ministers, like Satan who has transformed himself into a “messenger of light” (II Cor. 11:13-14). 

Enter the Kingdom of God Through the Narrow Gate

     But it is difficult to know whether a minister is deceiving us or not.  Christ gave us a sign.  He said for us to enter His kingdom through a narrow gate.  “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.”  Many will be deceived by false teachers who provide an easy-to-get-through gate into Christendom, but it is the false way that leads to death.  Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7: 13-14).  Few will find Christ’s true way.  There it is in black and white.  

     Then Christ warns in the very next verse to “beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing” (Mt. 7:15).  Revelation: The false prophets are the very ones that are leading the “many” through the false wide gate that is not taking the deceived masses to the place they were promised.

     Televangelists, pastors of megachurches, and leaders of Christian sects never warn their people about these false prophets and false teachers.  Ever  wonder why?     Kenneth Wayne Hancock

Memories of Pleiku, 18th Surgical Hospital, 1967

Pleiku.  The Highlands.  I was only there about a month or two.  Seemed longer at the time, like a short lifetime.  As it turned out, many lifetimes ended there.  I arrived in Pleiku the last week of October 1967.  I was in Saigon for med. lab training the month before, learning to test for malaria–something they didn’t teach us stateside.

I remember that it was so cool there.  It was up out of the steaming coastal areas where you could definitely breathe better.

The hospital physically looked like it had been there for many years.  The buildings were semi-permanent wooden structures that gave it an air of stability.  I can say that because the 18th Surg would go MASH in Nov.-Dec ’67.

I was just getting my bearings, green as heck, 20 years old, learning under a 30 year old Spec. 5 lifer who knew what he was doing.  I didn’t, of course, but I learned the ropes fast–obtaining blood samples from the wounded and then cross-matching units of blood for them.  That is what I did 95% of the time during my tour.  The hundred other lab tests that I was taught to do seemed insignificant, superfluous busy work discarded in the face of bloody ordeals.  That ought to tell you something about how many casualties we took in.  We worked a 12 hour shift, 7 days a week, always on call.

Many enlisted men (and a Major) turned to marijuana to ease the tension of the brutal toll taken on our nerves.  Yes, I was weak and succumbed to the temptation to forget everything chemically.  Just getting back home to the “world” was all that mattered at the time, in one piece, physically and mentally.  I am not proud of this fact, but God was good to me and allowed me to learn from my mistakes.  I am pleased now with the work we all did in saving lives.  That part makes me feel good.

I remember one night in Pleiku, I was walking back to our barracks at night, very stoned.  A big ruckus came blowing out the door and onto the front lawn.  I peaked in and saw a boot flying in slow motion through the air.  Excited yells echoed off the walls.  “I hit him!  There he is!  He’s still alive!  Let me have him!”  It turned out to be a rat that McDonald, the company clerk, had stunned.

He then picked it up, took it outside, and commenced to douse it with lighter fluid.  Soon the Zippo was out and a writhing animal bond-fire was ignited.  Everyone was laughing maniacally.  I guess the tension was being relieved like when some of us laugh during a horror movie.  It was pretty crazy.

Funny how you remember stupid things like that.  The mind has a way of forgetting the truly traumatic incidences in our lives.  God allows us to forget those times when we either did dark things or had them done to us.  I suppose it allows us to continue on, to walk on toward the sunshine.

I, of course, have forgotten the faces of suffering I saw everyday–the dying young men at the 18th Surgical Hospital during my year there in 1967-1968.  Hundreds, thousands were treated.  If I could remember them now, I would be so heartbroken all the time that I wouldn’t be much good for anything else.

I remember that I was welcomed by my brothers-in-arms because I was a professional barber before I was drafted.  Oakland, Calif. Barber College.  It was the family business; Dad was a barber, Uncle Dale and others…They told me that the Vietnamese barber that had been cutting their hair at the hospital had been captured and was a Vietcong.  He was holding scissors and razors against the heads of our men by day and raining down mortars on them by night.  So I was a big hit as I set up shop in our barracks during my free time.  The C. O., other officers, and many enlisted men were my clients.  I actually made more money cutting hair than I made in army salary.

Being in Pleiku was a pretty nice gig, except for the bloodshed.  We had a nice club and had bands come in–GI dudes who were very good rock musicians, working for the USO special services, making their rounds to the different NCO clubs.  I remember a trio–elec. guitar/lead vocals, bass, drums–that were dynamite. In fact they played “Mr. Dynamite” James Brown songs, cape and all, plus the wicked Pickett, Otis, Temptations, a big hit for us.

It was there in Pleiku that I got my nickname that stuck with me the whole year–“The Groove.”  It was a difficult name to live up to, but I tried very hard.  A short-timer named Tenant saw me on my cot playing the Martin guitar that I hauled all the way from home.  He comes over and says very loud and sarcastically, “Hey, everybody, look at this guy.  That’s just groovy, man.  He is so groovy.”  And it stuck.

My one to two months at Pleiku working at 18th Surg proved to be the best months during my tour.  We would move the hospital to Lai Khe/Long Bien in Nov. 1967, be over-run during the Tet Offensive and have to move again, finally winding up 15 miles from the DMZ in Quang Tri, where the salty red stuff flowed more abundantly, and a thousand personal insanities cried out for Mom, apple pie, and a good bed.    Kenneth Wayne Hancock

{If you were in 18th Surg during 1967-68, at Pleiku, Lai Khe, or Quang Tri, please make a comment.  I would love to hear from you.  I’m trying to get in touch with those who were there with me.  I would love to have some photos; I don’t have a one of my time there.  Thank you.  KWH}

The Lost Sheep of the House of Israel–A Short History

     Christ speaks a lot about “the lost sheep of the House of Israel.”  But who are they?  A short history will help unravel the mystery.  

     God chose him out a people to work through and manifest Himself in.  They were direct descendants of Adam, on through Noah, Shem, on through to Abraham, to whom He made exceeding wonderful promises.  God literally visited Abraham and told him that if he would believe Him and love Him and walk in HIs ways, that Abraham and his children would inherit the world (Rom. 4: 13). 

     God (Yahweh) also told Abraham, “Thou shalt be a father of many nations” (Gen. 17: 4).  In fact, God changed his name to Abraham, which means in Hebrew, “father of a great multitude.”  God makes a covenant with this man and tells him, “I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee…”  It is an “everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee” (v. 5-7).

     Please note that he is the father of “many nations.”  This could not be the modern day Jewish nation of Israelis, for they are only one nation, have never been many nations, and have always been small in number–and that without a king.

      Picking up the story, Abraham and Sarah had the miracle “son of promise” Isaac, who had Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel.  Jacob/Israel had twelve sons, and they became twelve tribes.  We all know the story of them being enslaved in Egypt for 400 years and how they came out of bondage led by the prophet Moses into the “Promised Land”–the land promised to their forefather Abraham. 

     Eventually they became the Kingdom of Israel under the illustrious King David about 1000 B.C.  They had been warned  by God through Moses that they would be blessed beyond measure if they loved God and kept His commandments, and they would be punished if they forgot God and worshipped other gods.  “And the LORD (Yahweh) shall scatter you among all people” (Deut. 28: 64). 

     David’s son, King Solomon, sinned against God in worshipping other gods.  “Forasmuch as thou hast not kept my covenant {going all the way to his forefather Abraham}, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant” (I Kings 11: 11). 

     After Solomons death about 975 B.C., a civil war ensued and ten of the northernmost tribes broke away and set up the Kingdom of Israel with Samaria as its capital.  The remaining two tribes, Judah and Benjamin (with a few of Levi), became the Kingdom of Judah. 

     From then on these two distinct kingdoms are referred to as the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah.  They have two different king lines, but both are admonished by the true prophets of God. 

     They told both kingdoms that although their sins would eventually lead them into captivity, that God in the last days would regather all twelve tribes and restore them back to the land of promise.  God will have compassion and “will gather thee from all the nations” where you have been scattered (Deut. 30: 3; Jer. 30: 11). 

     In about 721 B.C. the Kingdom of Israel is taken captive by the Kingdom of Assyria.  Their identity is lost to most historians.  These are the “lost sheep of the House of Israel.”  The Kingdom of Judah was conquered by Babylonia around 600 B.C.  They were scattered but they maintained their identity.  The Jews, then, are not these lost Israelites; they were called Judahites and later Jews. 

     Christ, with Yahweh’s compassionate Spirit inside, was always doing His Father’s business in finding and regathering them.  But who are they, and what are these many nations that they became?  Many proofs point that they are the Anglo-Saxon, Celtic, Scandanavian peoples of the world.  They are the only countries that can fulfill all the prophecies given over the ancient House of Israel (Gen. 49: 22-26).  {A library of information on this vital subject can be found here:    http://www.ensignmessage.com/default.asp }.

     One need only use the search engines to see thousands of websites devoted to proving all this.  We need to prove all things to ourselves as His future rulers in His kingdom.   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

“The Lost Sheep of the House of Israel”–Entering the “Mind of Christ”

     We are told to “let this mind be in you”–the mind of Christ (Phil. 2:5).  We are to have His thoughts, to think the way He does, to meditate on subjects that fill His mind.  After all, He is the King, and if He is truly our Master, then we will strive to think His thoughts and to have His mind.

     So, then, how can we know His thoughts?  What is He thinking right now?  He is the “same yesterday, today, and forever,” so His thoughts 2,000 years ago are still in His mind today.  What are they? 

     The answer lies in the words He spoke.  Whatever thoughts were in His heart and mind, that is what came out of His mouth.  And one of those things was His concern for “the lost sheep of the House of Israel.”  

     A Canaanite woman, who was not of Israelite stock, came to Him and wanted Him to heal her daughter.  But He said nothing.  She cried for mercy.  And kept on so much so that His disciples said to Him, “Send her away for she keeps crying out after us.”  Instead of sending her away, Christ says something very curious.  “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.”  He was saying, First, I’ve got my people who need Me, and they don’t know who they are.  They are like sheep without a shepherd, and I need to help them.

     Then “the woman came and knelt before Him.  Lord, help me!”  

     And then He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.”  This bread is for the children, the children of Israel, He was saying.  These spiritual gifts are for them primarily.

      Then she said, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”  This touched Him, and so He praised her faith and healed her daughter (Mt. 15:22-28, NIV). 

      The point: Christ made it very clear who He was thinking about.  It was the lost sheep first.  That was His primary mission.  He was compassionate and honored the faith of the Gentile woman and blessed her.  But His main mission was to gather “the outcasts of Israel.” 

     To solve this mystery of who they are, we must keep an open mind.  Hopefully we now have a reason to study a bit of Biblical history in order to unravel the strands.  These “lost sheep of the House of Israel” are extremely important to Christ, and now to us.  “Finding” these “lost sheep” will uncover one of the secrets of the ages.  More later.    Kenneth Wayne Hancock

“God’s Elect”–His Body, His Chosen, His Church

     God’s church is His elect, His “chosen ones.”  To those drenched in humanism, that will sound elitist and unacceptable, for humans do the choosing in this world.

     But the Scriptures of truth say otherwise.  They speak of an “election”–one not in which we choose or elect, but one in which God chooses those whom He wants to reside in.  And this truth goes against the grain of unsurrendered modernism.

          The words “elect” and “chosen” are translated from the same Greek word eklektos (Strong’s # G1588); its root word means “to pick out, to choose.” 

     These “chosen ones” are called “God’s elect.”  And these play a big role during these last days.  But who are they exactly?

Saints, Faithful Brethren, Elect of God

     The apostle Paul shows us a clear picture of them in the book of Colossians.  He writes “to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ” (1:2).  They are also fruitful Christians (v. 6).  They have “love in the Spirit” (v. 8).  Paul confirms their “redemption through His blood” and includes them as being members of Christ’s “body, the church” (v. 18). 

     Paul, as their minister, is so close to them as Christian brethren, that he shares an astounding revelation from God.  He declares to them “the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints…which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (1: 25-27). 

     Paul continues to share precious truths to the Colossians in ch. 2.  He has called them saints, the body of Christ, and the church.  And in lieu of all this, he admonishes them: “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering” (3: 12). 

      Being Christ’s body and church, and having His Spirit makes you His elect, Paul is telling them.   And because He dwells in you, you are the “elect of God.”  Or, because you are the “elect of God,” He dwells in you.  Here we see the Colossians called saints, the body of Christ, the church, and the God’s elect–or His chosen. 

“I Have Chosen You”

     Speaking to His disciples, Christ says, “Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit…” (John 15: 16).  The word “chosen” here is from the same word translated “elect.”  You are my elect, He is saying, my chosen ones that will bear the spiritual fruit, bearing witness that my Spirit is in you.

     Later in that sequence, Christ prays for those disciples, and “for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they may be one; as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee” (John 17:20-21).  Oneness–the Spirit of God in His chosen ones as the Father is in Christ. 

     That’s us, brothers and sisters.  We have believed on Christ through the words written down by His very disciples whom He prayed for.  We are His body, His church, His elect, His chosen.  

     So when we see “the elect” spoken of in the scriptures, know that it is His church, His body of believers.  And we see “the elect” on earth during the Tribulation Period (See “No Pre-Tribulation Rapture” at  https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2008/08/05/no-pre-tribulation-rapture-gods-elect-on-earth-during-tribulation/ ).           Kenneth Wayne Hancock

“Thine Is the Kingdom, Power, Glory”–Surrendering to God

     It is all His, and we’ll surrender to Him when we believe it.  Because in the end, it will be all Him.  It is the Father’s kingdom rule that will hold sway to the furthest speck of the universe. 

     His power will permit what He desires and will permeate the will of mankind.  He will share His glory with the humble, with those who have abdicated and renounced themselves unworthy to rule their own lives, and have surrendered to His majesty for ever.

     Here lies a paradox.  There is nothing in the plan of God for us humans, and yet, if we surrender to Him, we inherit all things!  How can this be?

     Christ is teaching us His disciples in this closing line of the blueprint prayer to realize that it is all about the Father.  In the end, after our fitful demands and childish schemes, all of us humans will fall into one of two categories: vessels surrendered to Him or unsurrendered to Him.

     “Surrender” implies a fight that has taken place.  We see in the natural a little child throwing a fit, fighting the will of his parents.  It is his will versus his parents’ will.  And so it is spiritually with us adults.  We have our own will initially that fights against God’s will for our lives.  And His will is for us to see that His way is best and surrender to it.

     For He, of course, already knows “the end from the beginning,” and in the end, it will be all Christ.  The Spirit of Christ will be all, and will fill all (Colossians 3:11). 

     When we surrender to Him, we receive His Spirit into our hearts (“that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith”–Ephesians 3:17).  He begins to make His abode in us; He takes up residence in our hearts, and His Spirit in us grows as we water the Seed through study and prayer.  He actually fills us with His goodness.

     He in His surrendered vessels is how He multiplies Himself.  This is the role that we His followers play.  For we become more than just followers.  We become His dwelling place, His temple, His body.

     The “Father of glory” glorified Christ, who is “the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15).  The Father unleashed His power and glory to be channeled through Christ.  And He has opened it up to the likes of us.  To us, who were so far removed morally from His purity, has He provided a way “to partake of His divine nature” (II Peter 1:4). 

     If we surrender to Him.  And those who do will become His body, His very dwelling place, which is “the fulness of Him that fills all in all” (Eph. 1:23).  Full of His power, full of His glory, and full of His regal aspect.  Wow.  That is all I can say right now.   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

No Pre-Tribulation “Rapture”–God’s Elect on Earth During Tribulation

The Scriptures do not support a “Rapture” that happens before the Tribulation starts, as millions have been taught.  They do support a post-tribulation event where Christians are “caught up to meet the Lord in the air”  (see post “The Pre-Tribulation Rapture–A Parachute That Will Not Open here  https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2008/08/02/the-rapture-a-parachute-that-will-not-open/ ).

If we can see in the Scriptures the church, actively and literally living on earth during the Great Tribulation, then we will have proof positive that Christians were not “raptured” out of the earth before Tribulation started.  If you will stay with me for a moment, I will show you proof of this.

In Matthew 24, Christ’s disciples ask Him, “What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” (v. 3).  He lists many signs like deception, wars, famines, earthquakes, which “are the beginning of sorrows.”  Then “false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many (v. 4-11).

Then He says, “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved” (v. 12).  The end of what?  The “end” of the tribulation that precedes His coming back to earth.  Then He says that “this gospel of the kingdom” will go out all over the world, and then the end will come.

Then the big sign comes when He says to watch for “the abomination of desolation.”   This is when the Anti-Christ desecrates the newly rebuilt temple in Jerusalem.  When you see that, you better run for cover.  Remember He is talking only to His disciples, which are a type of all of His disciples.  “For then shall be great tribulation” like the world’s never seen.  It will be hellish, as seen during the seven trumpet plagues and the seven vials of wrath in Revelation ch’s 8, 9, 16.

Stay with me, now.  Almost to the proof-text.  It is so bad and destructive to mankind that “except those days be shortened, there should no flesh be saved” (Mt. 24:22).  In other words, if God allows the destruction to continue, no human beings would survive!  “But for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened” (v. 22).

If the church, God’s elect, have already been “raptured out” to safety before tribulation started, then why would God be so concerned about saving His elect from the physical destruction happening on earth?

“For the elect’s sake” means He doesn’t want His body of believers to die with the wicked in a total annihilation of earth.  For their sake, so that they won’t perish with the wicked, He cuts the tribulation short to prevent total destruction.

It will be horrendously bleak.  Christ’s followers will be looking for their Savior’s return.  He warns that at that time false prophets “shall show great signs and wonders…that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect” (Mt. 24:24).  These false teachers are so convincing that they almost deceive the elect of God!

If God’s church, His elect, are already in heaven, then how could they almost be deceived by imposters on earth? They would be in the very presence of God.  They couldn’t be deceived.  No, during this horrible time, His church, His body of believers are still on earth, enduring the suffering, waiting patiently for their Savior’s return.

But some will say that “the elect” spoken of here in Matthew 24:22, 24 are not the church, the body of Christ.  Don’t believe this falsehood.  His elect is His true church.  I will prove this in the next post entitled, “The Elect of God–His Body, His True Church.”  Kenneth Wayne Hancock

For more, check out my books found here:

http://yahwehisthesavior.com/

See also:  “The Cup of Fury”–Yahweh Has a “Controversy With the Nations”

“God’s Elect”–His Body, His Chosen, His Church

The Pre-Tribulation Rapture–A Parachute That Will Not Open

Millions of Christians are depending on a pre-tribulation “rapture” to save them from going through the Great Tribulation Period.  But it is a parachute that will not open.  This teaching has become so pervasive since 1900 that few question its truthfulness.

I certainly don’t blame my Christian brethren for wanting to escape all the destruction that’s coming to this earth during the Tribulation.  And I do certainly believe in a “catching away” of the saints when He comes back.  But the Rapure doctrine teaches that He will come for His church before the tribulation starts.  That sounds so good.  But there’s only one thing wrong.  The scriptures don’t back it up.  They speak of Christ coming back and the church being “caught up to meet Him in the air” at the end of the Tribulation.

Proponents of the “rapture” teaching usually base it on one-half of one verse in the Bible. It is found in I Thessalonians 4:17.  Christ comes back to earth; and the Christians who have died shall be raised first.  “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

We see here that Christians, who will have been changed into their spiritual bodies (II Cor. 5:1-2) “shall be caught up” to meet Christ as He nears touch-down on earth.  We will meet Him “in the clouds” and “in the air.”  Clouds and air are only found in the earth’s atmosphere!  We will rise up to meet Him in the earth’s atmosphere, and then we will come right back down here to earth!

“And so shall we ever be with the Lord.” This is the second half of verse 17 that is never quoted.  He is coming back to earth at the end of the Great Tribulation Period, and since we are ever to be with Him, then we will be coming right back to earth with Him!

I Thessalonians 4:17 does not support Christians being caught away into the third heaven, the traditional concept of heaven, mystically up there somewhere in another dimension.  Yes, there is a rising up in our new spiritual bodies, to meet Him for a moment “in the clouds” and “in the air.”  However, it is a temporary lift-off, for He is on His way to earth, and we are ever to “be with the Lord.”

He is coming here to establish His 1000 year reign of peace, setting up His government, the Kingdom of God, right here on earth.  And few doubt that He will come back here after the Tribulation Period is over.  So the “catching away of the saints” happens at the end of the Tribulation Period, at the moment of Christ’s return to earth to establish His Milennial Reign.

This “Rapture Doctrine” is of utmost importance for us to either prove or disprove, for our families’ future is at stake.   We are told to “purge out the old leaven” doctrines ( see post https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2008/04/21/brutal-honesty-with-ourselves-purging-out-the-old-leaven/ )

Future posts will show scripturally the church, the body of Christ, active here on earth during the Tribulation Period. We as God’s princes and princesses must get this right.  We must study these things out in great detail in order to prepare ourselves to be rulers in His kingdom (see “Studying to Be…” at https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2008/02/23/studying-to-be-a-prince-and-princess-of-god/ ).   What’s your thoughts?         Kenneth Wayne Hancock

For more on this check out my books here: http://yahwehisthesavior.com/     or click link on the Blogroll to your right