Halloween Is Pagan Says the Encyclopedia Britannica

     Here’s a portion of the article “Hallowe’en” from the 1911 edition:     

“Hallowe’en and its formerly attendant ceremonies long antedate Christianity. The two chief characteristics of ancient Hallowe’en were the lighting of bonfires and the belief that of all nights in the year this is the one during which ghosts and witches are most likely to wander abroad. Now on or about the 1st of November the Druids held their great autumn festival and lighted fires in honour of the Sun god in thanksgiving for the harvest.     Further, it was a Druidic belief that on the eve of this festival Saman, lord of death, called together the wicked souls that within the past twelve months had been condemned to inhabit the bodies of animals. Thus it is clear that the main celebrations of Hallowe’en were purely Druidical, and this is further proved by the fact that in parts of Ireland the 31st of October was, and even still is, known as Oidhche Shamhna, “ Vigil of Saman.” On the Druidic ceremonies were grafted some of the characteristics of the Roman festival in honor of Pomona held about the 1st of November.” http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Hallowe’en

     The History Channel’s “Haunted History of Halloween” shed’s further light on this holiday’s pagan origins http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSUxCt_oAWo .

     Halloween is a holiday well suited for the atheist, pagan, hedonist, and animist.  They do not believe in the God of the Hebrews, who came down in human form and gave us an example “that we should follow His steps” in cleaving to that which is good and letting go of the evil.  Halloween is for them.

     But is it for us, His sons and daughters?  Would our Father be pleased with us today as He watches us from above, from the high and holy place, watching us teach our little children how to do what the ancient Celts did 3,000 years ago, watching us dabbling in spirits, witches, and divination, watching us follow vain Druidic traditions, watching, watching, watching, and waiting, waiting, waiting for us to awake unto Him.                       Kenneth Wayne Hancock

    

 

 

Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden–The True Story

     Their cries cut through the trees of the garden.  “Help us, please!  Don’t cast us away.  Please forgive us, for we’ve sinned against you.  We are sorry.  We want it to be like it was before.  Don’t forsake us!”  Thus Adam and Eve did moan their fate after their sin and banishment by God from Eden.  Where once they walked in splendid innocence with their Creator in paradise, they had found themselves in solitary anguish, awash in tears of guilt and shame. 

     And what really had they done to bring such swift retribution by the hand that yesterday had been so kind?  Yes, they yielded to temptation and disobeyed the only commandment that God had given them, albeit through the auspices of one smooth character.  For the serpent had convinced them that they needed the knowledge of good and evil, that experiencing this knowledge was the road to real wisdom.  And so they partook and sinned.  Why was the anguish and alienation of this sin the direct fruit of their gaining knowledge?  The transformation from happy innocents to sin-guilty initiates took place because it was supposed to take place; it was in the master plan of the Creator.

Their Fall Was Not an Accident

     However, conventional wisdom teaches that the Fall in Eden was an accident, that somehow the experimenting Creator had the wrong mix of variables present and things went bad. A deadly accident occurred unforeseen by the Architect, and his prototype house fell down.  Now He would have to change His original plan in order to fix what He did not get right at the first.  That does not sound like the omnipotent and omniscient Being the ancient Hebrew writers portrayed their God to be.  In fact, the Genesis account shows a Creator with an acute and meticulous hand, setting everything in perfect order.  “And he saw that it was good…it was good…it was good.”  

     It was good at every phase of creation.  Are we to believe that a smooth talking serpent figure, made also by God (3:1), could accidentally appear in Eden to thwart the plan of the Almighty?   This is not the case of the farmer fretting about the fox in the henhouse.  This is the Creator of the fox, the hens, and the henhouse.  He knew the vulnerability of Adam and Eve because He made them that way, and He created the serpent to be a lying seductive trickster.  In effect, God had put the fox in the henhouse, for he certainly would not have been there without God’s tacit approval.  

     Furthermore, the serpent lied to Eve and enticed her to partake of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Some writers such as Garrison Russell in SonPlacing propose that the serpent was a man and was the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  “Trees” are types of men throughout the Hebrew literary tradition (Daniel 4 with Nebuchadnezzar as the “tree whose branches reached the heavens”).  Since when does a white oak or an ancient apple tree “know” anything?  The Hebrew prophets continually rant against idol makers who carve their gods from the dumb stump of a tree, “that can neither hear nor see.”   Also, the Savior, “who was the expressed image of the invisible God” of creation, called the Pharisees of His day, “Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers.”  

     And so they both partook and were initiated into a carefully prepared hothouse of emotions, “and the eyes of them both were opened.”  And the first thing that they “knew”—the first jewel of knowledge taken from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was that “they knew they were naked.”  To be frank, they became aware that their genitals were exposed and opened to the world.  And the first action that they took after gaining this knowledge was that “they sewed fig leaves together” to cover the shame of their nakedness. 

       And like the picador enters right on cue for the second act of the bullfight ballet, they heard Yahweh’s voice as He called out to them in the garden (“YHWH,” the tetragrammaton, the Hebrew name of the Creator, translated “LORD” in most translations).  “Where are you?” was the rhetorical question spoken by the All-Knowing.  Adam responded,  “I was afraid, because I was naked; and hid myself.”

      Wait a minute, Adam.  “Naked” was not even in your vocabulary before all this knowledge you just gained.  “Who told thee that thou wast naked?”  God asked.  Somebody has been talking about sex to you, haven’t they?   Did he tell you about getting naked? 

       And then Adam blames the woman, and the woman blames the serpent.  Yet all this does not surprise Yahweh in the least.  For it was all in His plan and purpose for mankind to sin and to suffer that vacuum of fear, alienation, sin, and shame.  For then mankind would need someone to save them from this abyss of depravity.  They would need a Savior.

       He set them up to fall in order to save them?  The irony is rich in this mother lode of wisdom.   God’s nature is love, for “God is love.”  But He could not express the perfection of His essence unless He had something to forgive.  He would incarnate Himself later in history and provide Himself as the Lamb sacrifice for Adam’s sin.  This is alluded to in Genesis 3:15.  Speaking to the serpent, He said that He would put hatred between the serpent and his offspring and Eve and her offspring.  As almost universally accepted, Eve’s offspring is Christ, who would “bruise the head” of the serpent, thus “destroying the works of the devil.”  And yet, the serpent’s offspring would bruise the heel of the seed of the woman, indicating the death of the Lamb at the hands of the Romans and Pharisees and his subsequent resurrection. 

        Yahweh’s plan was all along to reproduce Himself.  The law of “each seed bears its own kind” attests to this.  He likens Himself to the Seed, the Word.  But in order to reproduce Himself, He would have to create a need in mankind for Him.  Innocent fleshy robots have no need of a Savior, and Yahweh is the Savior (“I, even I, am YHWH, and beside me there is no Savior,” Isaiah 43:11).

 Adam and Eve’s shameful fall into sin and despair was carefully choreographed by a loving Creator.  He set them up to Fall so that they would have a need for His forgiving love.  “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).  He would become Immanuel, “God with us,” coming “to take away the sins of the world.”  This would fulfill the Edenic promise of Genesis 3:15.  As in the parable of the creditor and the two debtors in Luke 7:41-48, the one who owed the most when the debt was forgiven, was the one who loved the most.  Hence, sin and guilt entered the equation so that forgiveness could come, yielding gratefulness and love in the heart of the forgiven.  Each seed (love and forgiveness) bears its own kind (gratefulness and love).      Kenneth Wayne Hancock

The Kingdom of God–Not a Worn Out Phrase

    The phrase “kingdom of God” has been used so much by so many people from so many different religious backgrounds that its real meaning may have been lost.  Heretofore, most  have understood the phrase to mean “God’s kingdom,” or the kingdom that belongs to Him.  And this is true, it does belong to Him and His children.  However, there is another way to look at that phrase, and that is “the kingdom of the Spirit.”

    It says in John 4 that “God is Spirit.”  Therefore, “kingdom of God” can be construed as “kingdom of Spirit.”  Or, in other words, it means a form of order and government headed by a Sovereign entity that is comprised of Spirit.  The Master did say that “the flesh profits nothing; it is the spirit that makes alive.”  “All is vanity,” in other words, except the invisible spiritual things.

     We are admonished that we should seek first this invisible spirit kingdom.  Also, the only true worship of the Father is in spirit and in truth.  It is not any old spirit worship, but it must be spiritual and truthful. It won’t be anything remotely having to do with earthly natural things.

     True worship is an invisible connection between our spirit in the human heart and the Eternal Creator Spirit.  It is the connection you cannot see.  You cannot legislate it, tax it, build fine buildings in order to coax true worship into your midst.  It is an invisible agreement between the Creator and His special spiritual creation, Adam.  “The true worshippers must worship the Father in spirit and in truth.”  They must find out the truth about His invisible Spirit reign within, for “the kingdom of God (Spirit) is within you.”

      It is a realm of the heart, an inner sanctum full of true thoughts about the true nature of things.  “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation.”  You can’t see it with your fleshly eyes.  It is not of this earth.  Consequently, when we look out over this earth, anything we see, be it ever so religious, cannot be or have anything to do with the kingdom of Spirit (God).

      “Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights.”  The kingdom of God is a dimension and realm that our five senses don’t pick up on.  It is not of this earth.  It must first be believed on, and then it will begin to manifest itself to the understanding of our hearts.  We will never see it first with our earthly eyes and then believe.  Faith must be exercised—believing having not yet seen with the fleshly eyes.  The kingdom of God is a government of God, who is Spirit, and who rules in our hearts by His very essence, which is spirit.      Kenneth Wayne Hancock        {For more on this topic see this earlier article  https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2008/03/14/not-of-this-earth/ and the one dated 3/17/08 }             

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wisdom Is the Fear of the LORD

     Wisdom is the main thing, but what exactly is it?  It seems so mystical, so ethereal, so other-worldly. It is just a little bit intimidating and mysterious when you try to figure out what wisdom is according to man’s conception of it. 

     Job 28:28 states, “…Behold, the fear of the LORD, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.”  It couldn’t mean to be afraid of God, so I consult a dictionary and find that “fear” means reverential awe and respect.  “Awe” is defined as an emotion of reverence, respect, dread, and wonder inspired as by authority, genius, great beauty, or might.  So then, the scriptures say that the main thing, the principal thing is to be in awe of our Maker.

     When we realize just who He is and how powerful and wonderful He is, then more awe will come over us. Solomon, who had it all as far as worldly riches was concerned, summed it all up in Ecclesiastes 12:13:  “Let  us  hear  the  conclusion  of  the  whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.” Be in awe and respect Him and keep his ten commandment law, and you will be doing your duty.

 

     Awe and respect of God—that is wisdom, and that is the key to open the door to God’s heart.  But what are we humans in awe of?  Movie stars, sports stars, beautiful women, handsome men.   Hollywood is awesome? Sports stars and music stars of pop and rock are awesome?  We humans have sold out to very poor gods who cannot deliver.  These movie and music idols offer nothing to their worshippers.  But they are modern mankind’s idols.  Isn’t it amazing that modern man idolizes personalities who make millions by being something other than what they really are?  Our movie idols are phony; they are not real.

 

Our god is

 who we are in awe of

 

      Our god is who we are in awe of. Man has it built into his makeup to be in awe of something.  It is man’s nature to think that something or someone is awesome.  Sometimes it is a star; sometimes it is himself.  But man is in awe of something or someone.

 

     To be in awe, then, is the first step in worship. So, it turns out that man is in awe of almost everything except God.  Humans will go onto a mountaintop and exclaim how awe-inspiring the view  is  and  how  the  waterfall  in  the  distance  is awesome.  Man is in awe of things of the earth and this world.  Therefore, man just doesn’t have any true wisdom from above because to be awestruck of the LORD (Yahweh) is wisdom.

 

     So how do we get wisdom?  “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that gives to all men liberally, and upbraids not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering…” James l: 5-7.  Faith is assurance that He will do what he said He will do without you having to see or feel it beforehand.  Faith believes and is assured before you receive whatever you ask for.  When you waver, you are not totally sure that He will do what He said He would do.

 

     So, we then ask Him for that emotion of being in awe of Him, instead of some worldly figure or thing–and we ask with assurance.

     This may sound like a dumb question, but one may wonder just who is He and what has He done to warrant such awe. Go outside on a clear night and count the billions of stars.  With the new Hubbel space telescope, the astronomers have reported recently that there are 12 billion galaxies like ours!  That’s galaxies like our Milky Way which have hundreds of millions of stars—one of which, of course, is our sun.  Now I know why the Great Creator was perplexed by the ancients’ worship of the sun. The sun is small fry—very small potatoes.

 

      We’ve got to get back to the Supreme Power that created all of this flabbergasting universe.  And when we begin to get a tiny glimpse of the majesty of this kind of power that created all things, then that’s the beginning of wisdom.                           Kenneth Wayne Hancock

(from Chapter 2 of my book  Yah Is Savior: The Road to Immortality  found here: http://www.yahwehisthesavior.com/yah.htm )

The Unforgiveable Sin–The Blasphemy of the Holy Ghost

     I was worried sick that I had gone and done it.  So I went to a wise man who listened to my concern.  I told him how empty and far away I felt from God, and how I felt that I had irreparably damaged myself with my Maker.  “Do you think there’s any hope for me?” I finally asked.

 

     He just smiled and said, “The very fact that you are here asking me about it shows that you have not committed the unforgiveable sin.  Those who have committed it are so prideful and so full of themselves that they would never humble themselves to ask.  They wipe their mouths and say, I have done no wrong.”

 

     “It’s just that I feel terrible about the things that I have done.”

 

     “It is a good thing to have godly sorrow about the sin in our lives.  Those sins are easily forgiven by God.  The unpardonable sin is another thing.”

 

     “It must be pretty bad for God to not ever forgive it.”   

  

      And then he told me the story of the Pharisees, the religious hypocrites in Christ’s day, the ones who committed the unforgiveable sin:

 

     –The Pharisees could only see the Savior after the outward appearance.  All they saw was his flesh and blood body.  They could not see the Spirit inside of Him.  They did not believe that the Father Yahweh was residing in Him. 

 

     They were always looking for ways to discredit the Son of God.  One day He and His disciples went out on the sabbath day and picked corn to eat.  The Pharisees chided Him for it.  The Savior showed them that David and the levitical priests profaned the sabbath day and yet were blameless in God’s sight (Matt. 12:1-5). 

 

     And then He drops a bombshell that was totally lost on them.  ‘But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple.’ Look, you hypocrites, He was saying.  The old temple and tabernacle were only types and shadows of the reality to come.  The true  temple of God is his people; that is His body.  And God, who you say you worship, is speaking to you right now through His very temple and you cannot even see or hear it.  The Spirit of Yahweh Himself is standing right in front of you in His very temple, and you can’t see, for you are blind!  The “Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath,” for the Creator Himself is residing in the Son and He created the sabbath.  So how can He profane it (Matthew 12:6-8)?  Later he goes into one of their synagogues and heals a man with a withered hand and declares that it is indeed lawful to do good on the sabbath day.  This incenses the Pharisees even more, and they get together to find out how they might kill him (12: 10-14). He gets away, and great multitudes come to him, and he heals all of their sick.  Then they brought one ‘possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw.’  This, of course, infuriated the Pharisees and they said that He cast out the devils by a bigger devil inside of Jesus (Yahshua)—the prince of the devils named Beelzebub.

    

     In other words, they said that it wasn’t the Father doing the miracles; it couldn’t be, they thought, for they did not believe that the Father was actually in the Son doing the miracles.  They were calling good evil.  They were blaspheming the Holy Spirit that was in the Son by saying that the Spirit, who is the Father, was not God but a devil.  This is the one and only sin that cannot be forgiven–not in this world or the world to come.

 

     The Father was the Spirit inside of the Son.  The Son was the “expressed image of the invisible God.”  The Son said that the works that he did was done by the Father within him.  When the Pharisees said that it was a devil inside the Son of God doing the miracles and not the Creator God, the Holy Spirit, then they had blasphemed God.  They had crossed the line; they had sealed their fate.  They had blasphemed the Holy Ghost.  This is the one unforgivable sin–

 

     When the wise man finished the story, I told him I was relieved.  And then he said, Yes, the truth will make you free, and he went on his way.                      Kenneth Wayne Hancock

 

“Blind Leaders of The Blind”–Obama, McCain, and Our Need for a Hero

“If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch”–Matthew 15: 14

     And are we falling right now.  Just look at this time in our history.  McCain got booed by his own supporters at a town hall meeting yesterday for not being tough enough on Obama.  But McCain doesn’t realize that they are only crying out for true leadership in these dark times.  They want a hero, someone who is brave, noble and courageous, who will save them from the fear of perilous times.  It is “innate and written in divine letters” in the heart of people to look for a champion during hard times.

     But our leaders are selfish and inept at best, or at worst, just plain evil.  10% of the public approve of Congress, the place where three of the candidates work (Gov. Palin is approved by 85% of Alaskans no matter what the media says about her).  Heads of drug cartels have a higher approval rating than 10%!  President Bush sits at 29%.

     And so 50% of the voting populace are desperately looking to Barack Hussein Obama.  The masses are so in need of a hero/leader that they are falling for the smooth operator/orator.  They cannot see the obvious faults in his character, for they are blinded by the hunger for a trustworthy leader.  They cannot see that his past associations with shady characters is the norm for him, not the exception.

     Obama kicked off his political career in the domestic terrorist Bill Ayers living room, as well as serving on boards with him.  Rev. Jeremiah Wright, his pastor and mentor for 20 years, hates America and is virulently racist ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWRs6avkm4s&feature=related ). Louis Farrakhan fully endorses him, calling him the “Messiah” ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha5HEc-vOJs ).  Then you have the Rezco connection, ACORN, et al.

     Why doesn’t John McCain hammer Obama on all this?  Because McCain’s hands are dirty, also.  He carries the guilt that all of the world leaders share; they all are guilty of not seeking the living God for the people.  Both are caught in lies, lies, lies. 

     Some are turning to God through prayer over the economic, political, and religious abyss we are being thrown in.  Our leaders have failed us because they call not on God.  But is God hearing us? 

     The prophet Isaiah saw this very day we are living in.  He says that  God wants to hear us, but He won’t because “your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.  For your…lips have spoken lies, your tongue has muttered perverseness.  None calls for justice, nor any pleads for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies…” (59: 2-4).  We have been told lies by our pastors who have said that we will never stop sinning, never stop telling lies, in other words.  And so we go on each day with little hope of the true change of the heart.  But that is a lie.  Check out I John 3:9.

     We are swimming in lies and falsehoods about everything–the political, the spiritual, the economic.  And so “we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness.  We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes…we are in desolate places as dead men…Our sins testify against us…Yes, truth fails…” (Isa. 59: 9-10).

   There is no hero, no righteous, noble, and courageous person to lead us.  “And God saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor…” (v. 16).  So the great Spirit Creator came down into mortal flesh and became the “arm that brought salvation” (v. 16).  And His name is not Obama nor McCain. 

         We as a people are in the same spiritual state as our leaders.  We are being railroaded into a socialistic one world government (It will come a bit faster with Obama, but come it will).  It is destined scripturally to be.  It has always taken jackboot heels on necks to get God’s people to cry out to Him.

     When our hearts turn to Him, He will hear from heaven and come down this time wearing “the garments of vengeance for clothing” (59: 17).  Christ will be kicking tail and taking names when He comes back.  He will uproot and destroy the current world system, Mystery Babylon, and will set up His everlasting government.

     The world is clamoring for their hero/leader.  He will come as a counterfeit messiah.  After his fall,  Christ will return and be the true righteous Deliverer that the people of the earth are beginning to cry out for.

Husbands, Love Your Wives–Your Garden of Eden

     I was having trouble in my marriage.  I asked a wise man, “What do I do?”

     “Do you really love her?”

     “Yes, I do, but I don’t know how to live with her.  We are always getting into arguments, and we can’t see eye to eye on anything.”  I looked down and cradled my face in my hands. 

     “There’s no need for all this anxiety and frustration.  There is an answer, but it lies in you and the choice you will have to make.”

     “What choice?”  I look up and he is smiling at me–a smile that hides a secret of the ages, a smile that shields a life-changing truth.  I feel it coming; the problem will be solved soon.

     “The first thing that you must realize is that you are reaping a harvest of the seeds you have sown in your garden.  For, you see, your wife is your precious spiritual garden.  Whatever seeds you sow into her, whatever words you speak to her and around her, they shall come up and grow and come to harvest. 

     “I don’t get it.  She is my garden?”

     “Even in the natural sense, do you not sow your earthly seed into the garden of her womb and in nine months you both reap a lovely child.  Is it a great wonder that your words are seeds that will be harvested in her, for good or bad?

     “The Law of Harvest says that whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap.  You are the husbandman of your very own Garden of Eden.  With God’s help, you can make it a garden of delight with joy and peace, or you can make it a garden of misery.”

     “Why is it up to me?  She is the one who is so unreasonable.  She needs to change, doesn’t she?” 

     “Oh yes, she will change.  She already has changed, and she has become in your relationship what you have created in her.  When you express your selfish desires, she languishes and dries up inside for the lack of the water of love that you should supply.  Your sarcasm and cynicism brings forth noxious weeds of doubt in her thoughts toward you.  When you are fearful and anxious, she will be perplexed.  But if you sow selfless love into her heart, she will bear the peaceable fruit of harmony and love for you.

     “Your words to her are seeds that fall literally into your wife’s ears and settle in her heart.  And like the Master tells us, the condition of the heart dictates the thoughts that enter her mind and later proceeds out of her mouth.

     “If you want to see a wife who blooms in peaceful colors of the rainbow, whose smile draws the butterflies, whose song coos, so that songbirds thrill to hear her–then you have to take responsibility for what your garden is bearing right now and what it will bear in due season.”

     “How do I take responsibility?”

     “You can start by sincerely apologizing for an unkind word, a careless jab, a thoughtless snarl.  For it is humility that will melt her heart toward you.  Humble yourself and you will win her.  Remain prideful and strong in your own ways, and you will lose her heart, if not her body.

     “For we husbands are to love our wives, even as Christ loved all of us.  And how did He love us?  He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death.  He gave Himself for us.  Had He not done this, we would all feel lost and hopeless–the way many wives feel in their marriages. 

     “I do not know how to do this,” I confessed.

     “You must seek Him now.  Humble yourself and ask Him for help.  If you cannot express humility to your Creator, you cannot walk humbly toward others on earth.  He will give you the patience to not only reap what you have already sown, but also to replant the peace-yielding seeds of agape love from above.

     “Your wife is your gift from God to help you get back to Him.  Embrace your gift and you embrace Him.” 

     And with that he went his way.  I didn’t get it all then.  But I sincerely tried to put it into practice, and it has made all the difference.         Kenneth Wayne Hancock

The Parable of the Sower–The Secret of Spiritual Growth

     Parables conceal the mysteries of the government (kingdom) of God.  They contain things “kept secret from the foundation of the world.” 

    

     One parable, the parable of the sower, is the key that will unlock the understanding to all the parables, and that is the parable of the sower.  Know ye not this parable? And how then will ye know all parables? (Mark 4:13).  It is found in Matthew 13:1-9. 

     

          Behold, a sower went forth to sow; and when he sowed, Some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: some fell upon stony places, where they  had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: and when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. 

          And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung  up,  and  choked them; but other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirty-fold. Who has ears to hear, let him hear.

 

       He mentions three levels of fruit production—thirty, sixty and one hundred fold.  Just like some plants produce more fruit than others, some true Christians will “produce” more fruit of the Spirit than others.  Some will remain “babes in Christ,” mostly concerned with what God can do for them.  Some will grow to be young men and women in God.  And some will grow up fully “into Him,” or rather He will be fully manifested in them.  All three of these fruit bearers are in His fold, in His kingdom, and yet, some will have Christ walking in them fully. 

 

     The Master goes on and explains this parable in v. 18-23.  The seed that the sower sows is the word of the kingdom, the words about God’s government that rules the human heart and also the governments of this world.  Seed by the wayside is snatched up by Satan.  Seed on stony ground can’t get rooted because of fear of what their friends and neighbors will say, so it withers.  Seed among the thorns is when this word is choked out and pushed aside by loving the riches of this present world system.  But seed into good ground is a “good and honest heart” taking in this truth, and understanding it, and bearing fruit–the fruit of the Spirit, which is “love, joy, and peace.”  These are the “good ground” who will bear fruit at different levels–30, 60, and 100 fold.

 

     We will not all remain children “tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine.”  We will not all remain powerless “against the wiles of the devil.”  We will not all remain weak and powerless against sin and sinning.  Some will become the “manifested sons of God.”  Some of us will fulfill this “high calling of God in Christ.”  Some will be able to say like Paul the apostle, “It is no longer I that lives, but Christ that lives in me.”  Some will not remain in buildings with the other pretenders, who go through the motions of “going to church” instead of being the church, the very body of Christ. 

 

     Yes, some will see and believe the secret concealed in this parable and will realize that there are different  distinct levels of fruit bearing in His kingdom.  Some of his offspring will walk in His Spirit in a greater depth than others.  

 

     The apostle John writes to Christians on different fruit bearing levels in I John 2: 12-13–children, young men, and fathers.  Many other scriptures confirm this.  “First the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear…Faith, hope, and charity (agape love)…Justification, sanctification, and glorification…” and many more. 

     

     This does not set well with the politically correct.  It never has.  The same word of the kingdom is sown to all, but the growth by the “good ground” depends on how much the seed is watered by study and prayer.   

 

     Finally, as the last line of the parable of the sower says, “Who has ears to hear, let him hear.”  Let those who can take this in and understand it, do so.  For some do not have “ears to hear” this parable.    Kenneth Wayne Hancock

 

     {For more on this read a chapter in my book at  http://www.yahwehisthesavior.com/yahch20.htm .  Also see

 https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2008/05/04/parables-conceal-the-mysteries-of-god/ for more on parables.

Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?

     Why does God let the righteous and innocent suffer?  I have learned that bad things happen to the innocent because God allows it–for a very specific purpose.  It is a tough concept for us to swallow because we would not, of course, do it that way.  “Our thoughts are not His thoughts; our ways are not His ways.”  But “one event happens to them all” (Eccle. 2:14).  And that event is the suffering, usually at the hands of others.

     God allows bad things to happen to us so that we will have something or someone to forgive.  We are to be like Him; therefore, we need something to forgive. 

     We have to enter into the mind of God as seen in the scriptures in order to see His purpose, which is to make us His sons and daughters.  First, we are born of God.  He is our Father.  And then the law of harvest says, “Each seed bears its own kind.”  

     So if we indeed are His children, then we will have to do what He did, which is to forgive. If no one ever wronged us, we would never have an opportunity to forgive someone for the betrayals, lies, cheats, thefts, broken promises, et al, that we suffer at their hands.  Even when “acts of God” happen to us, we must forgive this “perceived wrong” that “God has done to us.”  If we don’t forgive, we harden into a bitter knot of gall that rises up in the center of our being and ruins us and those around us.

     I searched for this answer for 30 years before God was gracious enough to show me.  For, you see, I was accused wrongfully by someone that I loved, and it hurt with a pain that surpassed mere heartbreak.  This about forgiveness was not learned from a book, for one cannot take this in intellectually.  It was a revelation to me one day while I was, as Emerson and Thoreau said, in a receptively transcendental mood. 

     This knowledge healed me of the pain.  “The truth shall make  you free.”  Free from the wondering why, free from the tricks our hearts and minds play on us, free from the imaginations, doubts, and recriminations. 

     And so I pass this on to you.  Hope this helps.  Kenneth Wayne Hancock