“Ye are gods,” said Christ–Concerning the Elohim and the Manifestation of the Sons of God

After performing many mighty miracles among the people, Christ was standing in the temple in Solomon’s porch.  The doubters began to surround Him and said, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense.  If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”

Then He said to them, “I have already told you that I am He by the miracles that I have done in My Father’s name.  They speak and bear witness of Me.  But you don’t believe that the Father lives within Me and that it is He that does the miracles.  You don’t believe because you are not of My sheep.  You are of another herd and cannot hear my words.  As I told you before [John 8: 42-44], when I spoke to you plainly: You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do…there is no truth in your father, the one you are following…for he is a liar and the father of all lies.  Your father is a liar, and you are born of lies and are liars yourselves.”

Christ continued.  “No, you are not of my flock, for they hear my voice and believe and follow me.  And they will never perish, for they have eternal life.  The Father has given them to Me.  And no one can take them from Me, for I and My Father are one.”

“Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him.”

Seeing their anger and the murder in their hearts, Christ said, “I have showed you many miracles from the Father.  Which miracle are you stoning me for?”

“We are not stoning you for a miracle that you have performed, but for blasphemy because you are a man, and you are making yourself out to be God.”

And it was at this juncture that Christ dropped a bombshell on them, saying, Wait a minute.  Is it not written in your law, the law that you take so much pride in, where I said, ‘You are gods.’  The Father called them gods.  The very ones to whom He was sending His word back in the days of the patriarchs and prophets–those He called gods.  The very ones who needed a Savior, who needed the law and the testimony, who needed help from their Creator to get right–those He called gods!  And now you are going to tell the one who the Father has sanctified and made holy and sent into the world–you are going to tell Him that He blasphemes because I said that I am the Son of God?

But there was no reasoning with them.  They “sought again to take Him, but He escaped out of their hand” [John 10: 22-39].

Christ was too much for them.  They could not understand Him, for “had the princes of this world known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”

The Mysterious “Ye are gods” Statement

This confrontation is the backdrop for one of the most enigmatic statements that God-with-us ever made.  “Ye are gods.”  What does He mean that we are “gods”?

We must first go back to the passage of scripture that the Savior quoted in Psalm 82: 6.  The word “gods” is translated from the Hebrew word elohim (#H430 in Strong’s Concordance), also translated “God” in hundreds of places.  Christ said, “I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are the children of the most High.”  He’s saying that some had a spiritual existence with Him in the beginning.  He’s saying that there is more to the sons of Adam than just their earthly purposes.

Man, a spiritual being, created by God to house Him fully, in vain tries to live a fulfilling life by the acquisition of earthly things, when earthly things cannot suffice a human being, a being designed to be the glory of God, who is an invisible Spirit.

Yet, unregenerate man slugs on in the slop of misguided desires and lusts. These passions are for things that will not satisfy nor endure.

The sons and daughters of God, however, realize that they were put here by a Being that is not of this earth. They see their reality is not earth-based. They realize that they cannot see true reality by looking through earthly eyes. Man can only endure by seeing things other than earthly things.

It is a heavenly vision, a heavenly faith, a heavenly destiny, a heavenly plan, a heavenly purpose, a heavenly blueprint, a heavenly design, a heavenly way, a heavenly thought of a heavenly Father, who is above all this on earth and is in us whom He has called.

To even get out of the old and to get into the new life, we must believe in a spiritual being who does the saving. We have to believe in a Being we cannot see with our earthly eyes. We must believe in someone who is invisible, who is not of this earth, someone who calls us somehow with a calling that is not of this earth, calls us with a heavenly calling, and urges us in mysterious ways to appear to choose His heavenly way against the ‘better’ judgment of our earthly unbelieving senses—a someone who brings us into a place where we will repudiate all that we see here on earth and “count it all as dung” that we may win an invisible race for an invisible heavenly spiritual Supreme Being.

An enlightened man takes in this light—light that nothing earthly is as it seems. Everything is tricky here, slippery, treacherous, hypocritical, deceiving. Man is crooked, undependable, self-centered and prideful.

Nevertheless,there is a group of human beings who are beginning to realize that this walk here is a spiritual thing and not an earthly thing. They realize that they are in the world but their spirit is not of the earth. They realize that they are really strangers here on earth, that they are not really from the earth, that they are heavenly and spiritual, that they have become blind to the earthly desires and temptations.

They realize that they are looking for their home which is a four square city full of light that has 12 foundations where it never gets dark. That city, the New Jerusalem, is their home, which one day will come down out of heaven and set down right here on earth. And they believe this having never seen it with their earthly eyes [Quoted from Chapter 8 of my book The Unveiling of the Sons of God which you can find at the top of this page.  Just click “Ebook…”].

In a word, they begin to “walk in the Spirit.”  They begin to believe what the written Word says and not what sinful man says that it says.  And it tells us that God has “blessed us with all spiritual blessings and chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world,” and that He foreknew us and has “predestinated us to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.”  And that He has called us, justified us, and glorified us (Eph 1: 3-4; Rom 8: 29-30).  Yes, God’s faith in His ability to make all this happen is strong.  It is such a sure thing in God’s heart and mind that our spiritual maturity culminates in our glorification with Him, even to the point of us sitting with Christ on the throne of God!  That is faith!  We need His faith in us working in our lives–not our puny faith where we try to muster up enough to do whatever.  He believes that we will come to full fruition as His manifested sons and daughters.  He believes and says that we are gods!  Incredible faith!

At present, we are not in our full spiritual elohim state of being, “when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy” (Job 38: 7). We in our spiritual state were with Him when the “foundations of the earth” were laid (38: 3-6).  Those “sons of God” were the elohim–the “us” in “Let us make man in our own image.”

For the time being here on earth, He has “made man a little lower than the angels” in that we are mortal and can very easily die (Psalm 8: 5).  “Angels” here is from the Hebrew word elohim again.  Man is lower than our first spiritual estate with the Father because of our impending date with death.

And, yet, “you have crowned him with glory and honor.”  It is a done deal in God’s mind.  And you made him (Adam) to have dominion over the works of thy hands (v. 6).  “Works” here are the “great righteous acts of Yahweh, the miracles and wonders.  In other words, the sons of Adam, after their spiritual regeneration, have miracle working power.  They have dominion over the same powerful acts done by Yahweh of old.

In Psalm 82, where Christ quotes “Ye are gods,” Yahweh is pleading with us the sons of Adam, to wake up to this high calling.  He is saying:

You are not just human beings, not just a flesh body.  You have a spirit in you that comes from Me.  You are my offspring; Spirit brings forth spirit.  You are elohim.  I am Elohim.  You are begotten of Me, and we now are all of One.  The same great “works of my hand” shall you do (Psm 8: 6).

But look at you!  You are scurrying about the earth as if you are just an intelligent animal!  I stand in your presence.  You all are My spiritual children and are a mighty congregation!  But I am passing judgment on you elohim-gods today, for you are not acting like I act.  You are not acting like Me, like I did when I was in the days of My flesh, when I judged righteously and justly.  You act as if you are not like Me.  We are one, but you act like you don’t believe that.  You judge unjustly (v. 2) and you are partial to the rich and powerful and wicked of this earth.

Look out over the earth at all the poor and needy.  These are they who do not have the spiritual riches of this knowledge that they are gods, like you do.  But you don’t tell them.  You don’t inform them of this truth.  They are without Me, their Father, and you won’t judge to tell them the truth so that they can escape the clutches of the wicked (v. 3).  My other children who are the earth-dwellers, who spend their years on earth with darkness as a constant cloak, without the knowledge and light that they are My spirit-children–they are lost and know not the way (v. 5).

Listen to Me.  I have already said that you are gods (elohim), but if you do not change, you will die like the rest of the fleshly Adamites, who don’t have this spiritual knowledge.  You are all the sons of the most High (v. 6 NIV).  But you will die like mere men; you will fall like every other ruler (v. 7), if you don’t start walking like Me in human form.  Rise up, my body of sons and daughters, my offspring, and judge the earth with Me, for I am the King of kings and the Master of masters.  All the nations are your inheritance…..

He says that we are gods–that we are elohim.  With the new heart and spirit that He has given us, we are coming back full circle–back to where we started in heavenly places in Christ.  But we must “make our calling and election sure.”  We must walk in full confidence after proving all things and study “to show ourselves approved” to be His heirs of the kingdom of God.  The 100 fold sonship walk is for those of full age and maturity.  It is time that we who are called to this walk put  aside everything of the past and prepare our hearts and others’ for the coming of our great God and Savior Jesus/Yahshua, the Anointed One, the Christ.  Kenneth Wayne Hancock

The Manifestation of the Sons of God–Christ Outlines the Way in John 14-17 in “Conversations with the Seer”

“What have you been studying?” the Seer asked me when I came into the meeting room.

“I’ve been reading in John 14 and 15.”

“Are you understanding what you’re reading?” he asked.

“Some parts I do. But there is so much to it.”

“Yes. Chapters fourteen through seventeen are the Master’s last instruction to His disciples, and they, of course, are extremely important. You noticed that He withheld this teaching until Satan in Judas Iscariot left them after the Last Supper in chapter thirteen.”

“Yes, that is right.”

“What Christ had to say was to those faithful ones; He would not cast His pearls before swine. Although there are things in His words for all of His followers, this last discourse is not for babes in Christ. It is actually a putting together of all the puzzle pieces that, once completed, shows us a picture of how the sons of God will be manifested.”

“I’ve heard you speak many times of the manifested sons of God coming on the scene,” I said.

“Christians must begin to realize that God’s plan and purpose entails a much grander vision of what will take place on this earth than what is being taught in most every church in the world.”

“What is the grander vision?”

“The whole creation doesn’t realize it, but it is “groaning and travailing,” waiting for the “manifestation of the sons of God.” [Rom. 8: 22]. This is when upon Christ’s return He changes us. It is when we receive our new bodies. These old decaying earthly shells will be swallowed up by our new spiritual bodies, bodies that will live on eternally. This is what mankind has dreamed about, what every culture’s philosophers have written about. This is the fountain of youth that will quench every person’s inate thirst to live forever. This is it!  Christ is expounding the key points on the way to this grand event.”

“You are talking about immortality.”

“Yes. It is the deep longing of mankind. And there is a way, and that way has been mapped out in Christ. He not only has the answers, but He is the answer, for He in His glorified form now contains the Eternal Spirit that we call God–the Creator.”

“So what prevents everyone from seeing this vision of how to obtain eternal life or immortality?” I asked.

“This vision of immortality for mankind is like a jigsaw puzzle. Many pieces to this true picture of God’s plan lay scattered about the table of man’s knowledge. But there are many other pieces to other puzzles scattered in among God’s pieces. Other visions of what is the truth, false visions, false puzzle pieces, litter the landscape. They sometimes have the same color and appear to be like the true pieces to God’s puzzle, and they deceive the people. “For many false prophets and teachers” have run to and fro on the earth deceiving themselves and others with their half baked false conceptions of Christ’s plan and purpose.”

“I know. They sound so convincing.”

“Yes, because they take a snippet of scripture and build whole doctrines out of passages taken out of context. But the fact is that the truth is out here to be found, but we must seek diligently for it. He said, Seek and ye shall find. Find what? Find the truth. We must winnow the wheat from the chaff of false teachings.”

“How does this fit in with the manifested sons?” I asked.

“The concept of the manifested sons of God can’t be clearly seen until one’s eyes are open to the Parable of the Sower. This parable shows us God’s great secret in how His Spirit grows in us His children. Especially how His Spirit will yield in us a certain amount of spiritual fruit.”

“What do you mean? We are all Christians, children of God–those of us who have been born again,” I said.

“Of course. But there are spiritual differences in the body of Christ. It’s just like in a literal field of corn there will be some of the seeds yield more ears and grains on those ears than another for whatever reason–more water or fertilizer or just richer soil. Or maybe the weeds choke some plants and not others. The fact remains that like corn in the natural world, we, too, in the spiritual world bear the fruit of the Spirit at different levels. As He said in the parable, some will bring forth ‘some thirty fold, some sixty fold, and some one hundred fold.”

“What does that mean in a practical everyday sense?” I asked.

“It means that there will be some Christians who will be more Christ-like than others after their growth here on earth is completed. There were many Christians in the New Testament days, but after the resurrection, there were not many like Peter, James, John, and Paul. These one hundred fold followers of Christ did great works, just like Christ! And so can we, if we are to be one of those one hundred folders.”

“I can hear them saying now, ‘Nobody can be like Christ!”

The Seer smiled knowingly.  “Yes, they will say that–their doubt-filled minds gushing forth their negative thoughts. But to them I will say, If you won’t let me be like Christ, is it all right if I be like Peter and Paul? They raised the dead and healed the sick–just like Christ! That’s close enough.”

“Hold it. I can see that what prevents some from being hundred folders is doubt and unbelief.”

“Precisely. And why do you think that they have such doubt and unbelief?”

I thought a moment. “Because it disagrees with what they have been taught?”

“Exactly. Those who will not and cannot grow up into the fullness of Christ as a hundred fold fruit bearing Christian are those who have been fed lies and misconceptions, which have stunted their growth. So much so that they cannot come to a place where agape love helps them to ‘believe all things.’ In other words, it takes truth nurturing them to a point to where they can believe the vision God has for us–to be just like His Son.”

“What can be done to help them believe more?”

“All we can do is walk on in this truth, sow the seed, the word of God, and let God be God. He is the great Architect. He is building His spiritual house, which is us. Those whose destiny is to become a manifested son of God, He will bring into His fold. He is faithful and true and quite capable of bringing His sons unto glory.”

“Some people will say that God is not fair–to have some followers remain children and some be like Peter and Paul.”

“What can I say to the gainsayers? They did not create the world according to a specific plan and purpose. ‘Let God be true and every man a liar’ who does not agree with Him. No. God is right. It is a grave responsibility to be a manifestd son during these end times. A lot will be required of them, and not everyone has the physical and spiritual strength to make ‘this calling and election sure.’”

“I want to be one of them. That is why I moved out here.”

“It is a worthwhile goal in this life–to aspire to the ‘high calling of God in Christ.’ But it is a paradox, for although we must study and pray to make ‘our calling and election sure,’ God chooses whomsoever He will for this honor. No man takes this honor unto himself. It is only by His grace that we can run this race.”

“I see what you mean,” I said.

“So, knowing about the manifested sons is the first of the puzzle pieces that we need in order to become one of them. We have to have knowledge about something first before we can ever hope to obtain it. Christ in John 14-17 elucidates several more puzzle pieces that we need. He lines them out as a kind of stepping stone path to glorification.”

“What’s the next piece to the puzzle?” I asked eagerly.

“I’ll share more with you a bit later,” the Seer said turning to greet the others coming in the door.

The next morning I came early to the morning men’s meeting. We would all meet every morning at the small hall we had built with the salvaged lumber we had taken from old buildings and houses. The Seer was sitting next to the old box wood heater. I could not wait. I sat down and asked, “What is the next piece to the puzzle?”

“Once a person learns and then believes that there is growth in God that matures into the same level of spirituality as Peter, James, John, and Paul–and yes,like the Savior Himself–then they are ready to actually begin to walk on unto perfection, or complete spiritual maturity. As Paul exhorts us all, ‘Let us go on unto perfection’” (Heb. 6: 1).

“But what does spiritual maturity mean?”

“A few are destined to reach this maturity, this perfection in Christ. Actually it has to do with Christ being “formed in you” (Gal. 4: 19). His Spirit comes down into us by faith in His resurrection in us. We receive a new heart from Him. Then by receiving pure seed and watering it with His word, we grow from children into the fully matured sons and daughters of God.”

“But, perfection?”

“Yes. Have you not read where Christ commands his followers, Be ye perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect? Anyway, if someone has enough faith to get this far, then they may begin to receive the next big teaching found in John 14-17.”

“What is it?” I asked.

“It is to believe in the oneness of God.”

“Everybody believes that there is one God.”

“They may say they do, but when pressed to the wall they believe there are two or three of them sitting up there in heaven on different thrones. Even staunch trinitarians, although they say “three in one,” when pinned down, they ‘see’ a Father figure and a ‘Son’ figure up there in heaven sitting on their respective thrones.”

“In order to be one of His elect manifested sons of God, to be just like Christ in these latter days, one must get the correct concept of the Godhead. It is here in John 14, that Christ sets the record straight. He flat out commands all manifested sons-to-be, saying this: “<em>Believe Me. </em>Believe Me that the Father is in Me (John 14: 10).”

“Is that it? Just believe Him?” I asked.

“Yes, it is really very simple, and yet, man’s inate unbelief hardens his heart where His word, like a tiny seed, cannot get down into it and grow. We all start out in early childhood with soft and tender hearts, eager to believe what we are told. We are vulnerable and trusting and are able to believe the truths about God readily. This is why Christ told us to ‘become as little children’ or we will not be able to “enter the kingdom of heaven’ (Matt. 18: 3). Unfortunately, this world system is cruel and the little children become disappointed and disillusioned with life and soon their hearts grow cynical, for they become convinced that no one is sincere.”

“But God gives us another chance, doesn’t He?”

“Yes, He does. Through His mercy, we can become His spiritual children, and we can soften our hearts and receive his truth and grow in Him. And so we are told by Christ, ‘Believe Me that the Father is in Me.'”

“We just need to trust  Him, don’t we?” I asked.

“We need to trust His word when He says that the Father is in Him. How can that be? It is because the Father is an invisible Spirit (I Tim. 1: 17). And Christ is the ‘image of the invisible God.’ In other words, the invisible Spirit, who is the Father, dwelt in the Son, who is visible, who always said that the works that He did were really done by the Father inside of Him (John 14: 10). Christ said that the miracles He performed were proof that the Father dwelt inside of Him.”

“But I haven’t seen any of those kind of miracles,” I said.

“When was the last time you looked into the mirror? You are one of the miracles the Father has performed through His Son. You came here hopelessly addicted to drugs, and now the mouth that cursed every other breath speaks sweet words. He has made a most miraculous change in your life. You are your own greatest witness that the Father raised up Christ from the dead, and in so doing through faith, you, too, are raised up to walk in a newness of life'” (Romans 6: 4).

“I cannot deny it.  I have a new life!  That is a miracle!”

“Yes.  Your new life in Him is proof that the Father lives in Christ and did perform the miracle on you.  Indeed. The oneness of God is extremely important. Without our belief in this concept, we cannot grow into full maturity, which is His desire for us. Christ commands us, ‘Believe Me that the Father is in Me.’ When we do this then we realize that the fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily in Christ (Col. 2: 9).,

“Why is believing that the invisible Father was inside the Son of God so important?” I asked.

“This is a very good question that leads us to the very next statement Christ made in John 14.  In verse 11, He said, ‘Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the very works’ sake.’  In other words, These miracles that I am performing prove that the Father God is in Me, for only He can raise the dead and heal the sick.  Then after we believe Him that the Father is in Him, He says in v. 12: ‘He that believes on me, the works that I do shall he do also.'”

“You mean the miracles He did we can do, too?”

“Yes.  Those who really believe that the Father is in Christ–the ones who really get it–they are the ones who can go on unto perfection, or full spiritual maturity, which entails raising the dead and healing the sick–the very things He did.  Christ goes on to say that they will do ‘greater works’ than what He did.  These will be the 100 fold fruit bearing manifested sons of God.”

“Wait a minute,” I said.  “How can they do anything greater than raising the dead?”

“Because they will number in the thousands, doing miracles all over the earth in His name” [Revelation 14].

“How can this be?” I asked.

“You see, Christ was the Seed-Son, who fell into the ground and died, and during the time of the end, He will reap the harvest from that one Seed.  A harvest of many thousands of manifested sons of God will grow up to be just like Him” [John 12: 24].

“Wow.  That is some calling.  I doesn’t seem possible.”

“With men it is impossible, but with God’s direction and grace, it is possible” [Mark 10: 27].  That is what He said.  We again just need to believe it.  That is what the walk of faith is all about.  Believing having not yet seen.  We believe His word first, then the works, the miracles, will come.  Starting first with the miracle of our own new life in Him.”

That evening after work, I went to the Seer’s cabin.  He invited me in and made some hot tea for us.  We sat down around the fire, and with little small talk, I asked, “Could you go over some of the things we were talking about yesterday concerning the manifested sons?”

“Sure,” the Seer said, the question obviously energizing him.  “The Savior lines out the path to sonship in His last major teaching in John 14-17.  First, a future manifested son must know and believe that there is such a thing in God’s plan as sonship.  And to fully comprehend this, one has to know and believe the secret of the growth of the Spirit in us as lined out in the Parable of the Sower, the parable that actually opens up our understanding of all the parables.  They will then realize that there must be a harvest of the firstfruits before the big harvest can take place.  Many preachers will speak of a ‘harvest of souls,’ but they rarely mention the manifested sons of God being the first into perfection in our day.  The ‘last shall be first,’ Christ said.  The last of G0d’s sons will be the first harvested in this end time generation.”  The Seer stopped a moment, and then looked at me and asked, “Are you seeing all this?”

“Yes, I am getting it.”

“You see, the parables, after all, are the ‘dark sayings’ that God has hidden His secrets in for millenia and that they are spoken deliberately to prevent some from knowing His secrets. This Parable of the Sower shows us that there are different levels of spiritual growth–the ultimate, of course, being  the manifested sons of God.

“Second, because the Son of God is the Seed, we cannot have His likeness harvested in us without believing in Him and His words to us.  He reassures us that He is preparing a place for us and that He through His Spirit will come to us and help us to get through the long, lonely days of our spiritual sojourn here on earth [John 14: 1-3].  He tells us that He, Christ, is the way, the truth, and the life.  And He is the only way to come to the Father’ [v. 6].

I asked, “Why do so many people say that there are many ways to get to God?  You’ll hear them say that Allah and Vishnu and others are all just different names of the same Supreme Being and that there are many ways to get there.”

“No.  Don’t believe them.  They do not know God at all.  Christ is the way to the Father for one very simple reason.  The Father is in Him.  The Father was in Him then some 2,000 years ago, and the Father is still in Him, for He lives forever and is alive now making intercession for us to God, who dwells within Christ.”

“The Father is in Him,” I repeated, for my mind was straining to grasp these concepts.

The Seer looked at me and smiled.  “Pretty intense, huh?

“Yes,” I said.

“And that brings us to the third major point of Christ’s teaching in John 14-17.  He told them that they had already known and seen the Father.  And they questioned that and said, Show us the Father.  And Christ said to them, He that has seen Me has seen the Father.  It is the Father in Me that does all these miracles.  And then He commands them: Believe Me that the Father is in Me” [v. 9-11].

“This is where the oneness doctrine takes shape,” I said.

“Yes.  He gives us a new commandment here to believe that the invisible Father Spirit is inside Him.  And then, in His very next breath, He gives us the fourth major point that builds upon the previous three that I have just outlined.  ‘He that believes on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works that these shall he do.’  In other words, those that believe that the Father was in the Son doing the miracles will someday do those same miracles and even greater miracles than Christ did!” [v. 12].

“That’s exciting, but how do we get from here to there?”

The Seer rephrased my question.  “How do we begin to get the power to work miracles and thus do the ‘greater works’?  Excellent question. And I will give you a profoundly simple answer.  We have to ask Him for the power.”

“Just like that?  Just ask Him for it?”

“Of course there is a bit more to it than that.  In the very next breath after He promises that we will do the greater works, He says, ‘Whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son'” [v. 12-13].

“I’ve heard that verse quoted in Sunday School and sermons many times.”

“Yes, people run with it, taking it out of context.  But let’s look at it closely.  In verse twelve He promises that we will do greater miracles than what He had done.  And in the very next verse, He says that He will do whatever we ask in His name.  ‘Do’ is the very same word.  The point is that He will do the greater works in and through us.  It won’t be us doing the miracles; He will be doing them.  His Spirit in us will be doing them.  Our part is to surrender our hearts, souls and minds to God so that He may come down into us and perform the miracles by His Spirit in us.  Us asking in His name, first, humbles us, for we acknowledge thereby that we of our own power cannot do the miracles.  We will realize when we are in this growth that we are a part of the body of Christ, part of the Son, which fulfills the last part of John 14: 13: ‘That the Father may be glorified in the Son.’  But the point is, we have to ask Him to do the greater works through us.  And this won’t happen if we just ask Him any old way.  Father, can I do a miracle today?  No.  We must ask in His name.”

“People do that all the time.  ‘And we ask all this in Jesus’ name, Amen.’  Millions of prayers go up like this every day.  People are doing this already,” I said.

“Wait a minute.  Not so fast.  People are saying these words as a formula without the deeper knowledge.”

“What deeper knowledge are you talking about?” I asked.

“Consider these two points.  What is being asked for and what name is being asked in.  And this brings us to the fifth piece to the puzzle–asking in the Savior’s name for the greater works to be done through us,” said the Seer.

Asking in the Savior’s Name–His Hebrew Name: The Fifth Piece to the Puzzle of Being a Manifested Son of God

I have this impetuous habit of blurting out what pops into my brain, and so I asked,”The Savior’s name.  Why is it so important?  I know that sounds terrible, but ‘a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.'”  How did Shakespeare ooze out of me at this moment?  I could not escape my past; I was an English literature major through and through.

But instead of biting off my head, the Seer discerned that I was maintaining some semblance of sincerity, and so he replied, “In man’s way of thinking, names hold little revelance to one’s destiny.  This is because the word ‘rose’ does not hold any profound meaning in and of itself.  But this is not the case with the Savior’s name.  His very name means something very important.”

“What does it mean?”

“Christ’s Hebrew name Yahshua means ‘Yah is the Savior,’ or ‘Yah is Salvation.’  It’s meaning actually explains to us just who He is and what His nature is.  His name declares His purpose and speaks volumes as to the nature of the Godhead.”

“I still don’t get it.”

“It is a fact that the Hebrew names of biblical characters have meaning.  ‘Daniel’ means ‘judge of God.’  ‘Sarah’ means ‘princess,’ and so on.  So now it is time for the future manifested sons of God to know the Hebrew name of the Savior, and that name is Yahshua.  Very much like the English name ‘Joshua.’  In fact, the Savior’s name and the patriarch’s name who carried on for Moses is the same name in Hebrew–Yahshua.  It is not just a tag.  His name is something to be believed.  It states the truth that we are commanded to believe what it means.”

“What does it mean?”

“The first part of His name is ‘Yah.’   It is the shortened form of the very name of the Creator Himself–Yahweh.  It means ‘the self-existent One.’  ‘Shua’ is Hebrew for ‘Savior’ or ‘Salvation.’  Together, both parts of the Savior’s name means ‘The Self-Existent One is the Savior.”  The apostle Paul says that ‘the fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily in Christ.’  And ‘God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself.'”

“Can you simplify that for me?” I asked.

“In other words, the message in His name to be believed is that the very Creator Himself resided in the man Christ and was the One doing the saving.  Through Isaiah Yahweh says, ‘Beside Me there is no savior.’  Yahweh saves through His Son.  That is what the Son’s name means.  That is the message we are to believe.  And when we do this, then great things begin to happen.

The Great Things that God Makes Happen When We Believe the Message in His Name

“What are these great things?” I asked the Seer.

“If we believe on the name, then God will answer our prayers, and even more shall He do for us.  The biggest thing is that God Himself through His Spirit will come and take up residence in us.  After all, we are the temple of God, are we not?

“That is what the Bible says,” I said.

“This is what He means when He promises that if we ask anything in His name that He will do it.  And the first thing is that He will come down into us and abide and stay in us.  He calls the Spirit our Comforter Advocate.  The Spirit of truth will come down and reside in us to help us through the ‘dark night of the soul’–to help us on down the treacherous path of earthly existence.  This is a cruel and deceiving world system that we have been brought up in.  This earthly walk is hard on the future sons and daughters of God.  So God in His infinite wisdom knew that we needed a Helper.”

“What all does the Comforter do” I asked.

“The most important thing that the Holy Spirit does for us is encourages us that we are not alone in this universe.  The Spirit also leads and guides us into all truth.  Be aware that the Comforter is the exact same Spirit that was in Christ.”  The Seer turned back over to John 14: 16.  “Christ will interceed to the Father for us that God would send us another Comforter.”

“What does He mean ‘another?’

“The Spirit, the Comforter, dwelt bodily in the Son of God.  He was their helper and comforter as long as He was with them in the flesh.  That’s the reason He said that He had to go away so that He could send the Spirit down to us to abide in us.  He promises to send the Spirit to live inside us if we keep His commandment about believing that the Father, Yahweh Himself, was inside Him” [v. 16].

“It keeps coming back to believing God,” I said.

“Yes, without faith and belief in what God says, there is no way to please the Creator.  The concept of believing God is easy; it is our hearts that are hard.  Anyway, some will achieve His abiding presence through faith or belief in His word about these things and about keeping Christ’s commands about believing that the Father dwells in Him.  He said, ‘If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him’ [v. 23].  He does this by the Holy Spirit of Love coming down and staying within us in our hearts.  This Spirit of God will be sent to us in Christ’s name” [v. 26].

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“We must go back to the meaning of Christ’s Hebrew name, Yahshua.  Knowing the meaning of it and believing it–that is the key to understanding how the Spirit is sent to us in Christ’s name, which is ‘Yahweh is the Savior.'”

“It goes back to believing that the Father lived inside the Son.”

“That’s it,” the Seer said.  “You are getting it.  He will send His Spirit–and this is a promise from God Himself and He cannot lie–He will send His Spirit down to take up residence when we know and believe what His name means.  That is when the Father sends the Holy Spirit in Christ’s name.  And Christ promises that the Spirit will ‘teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.  This is the abiding of the Spirit of God within us.  Those that continue on in this full abiding presence will grow to full maturity into the manifested sons of God.'”

The Holy Spirit (in Us) Reproves the World of Sin–Let Your Light Shine–Conversations With the Seer

“Is the ‘Spirit of truth’ in the Bible the same as the Holy Spirit?” I asked the Seer during one of our daily morning meetings.

“Yes.  Remember that ‘there is one Spirit.’  And there is one truth.  Christ said ‘I am the truth.’  So, yes, they are one and the same.”

“It says that when the Spirit of truth is come, that he will reprove the world of sin.  What does that mean?”  I asked.

“To reprove is to expose or reveal.  It shines a light on people’s innermost thoughts and sins.”

“How does the Spirit do it?”

“Because God is all-powerful, He can show things to us directly.  But oftentimes He uses other people.  Remember when the Savior sent out His disciples and told them to say to the people, Repent.  The message first and foremost to all is  ‘Repent.’  Why?  Because ‘the Kingdom of God is at hand.’ It is right here, inside the very one that is telling you to repent,” the Seer said.

I paused a moment, trying to let his words soak in a bit.  I finally asked, “I am having trouble understanding the kingdom of God being within someone.”

“God’s dominion is where His Spirit is.  Wherever He resides is His domain or His kingdom.  We receive His Spirit of truth when it comes down into us at our conversion to Christ.  Those that are God’s children will definitely have His Spirit, according to the apostle John, who says that ‘he that does not have the Spirit of Christ is none of His.’ It is by faith that you receive a portion of His Spirit when you receive a new heart at your conversion.”

“How does that work?”

“It is all by faith, meaning that it happens by believing that it will happen–because God said so.  It is not believing-something-into-existence that is against what God said.  It is believing that we receive His Spirit because He said that it could and would happen.  If you take step A, B, and C, according to His word, then D will happen–because He said it would–nothing more.  He can’t go back on His own word.”

I asked, “So, after our conversion, He wants us to help others escape the darkness of their sins?”

“Think about it.  How else is someone supposed to come out of the darkness of sin, except a person speak to them about their sinful lifestyle?” the Seer said.

“Yes, I guess we can’t expect God to verbally speak to us in a big booming voice from heaven telling us to quit sinning.”

“Exactly.  He doesn’t do it that way, except in special instances where He speaks to one person, and then they  go and tell others the message from God.  Even God came down in human form and told us to repent.  Do you remember what Christ said in John 15: 22? ‘If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin…’  See, the great Creator Spirit Yahweh came in a human being and spoke to them, and unless He had done that, ‘they had not had sin.’  In other words, their sinful nature would not have been exposed if He had not spoken to them about escaping the darkness of their sinful life and letting the light come into them.  What words do you think He actually spoke to the people?” the Seer asked, his eyes piercing mine.

“Words about repentance?”

“Precisely.  You see it all over the gospels. ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,’ He said to all He crossed paths with.  And to finish that passage above in John, ‘But now  they have no cloak for their sin.’  He is saying that by Him (His Spirit) speaking to  people about their sin, they would not have become guilty; they would still have a cloak to hide behind, to keep their actions in the dark.  But now that I call them on it, they have no excuse for continuing their sinful ways.”

“Because God has provided the way to escape that old sinful life.  Just like I am doing.”

“Yes.  You, my son, are a living example of how great a deliverance God can do in a person’s life, for you have changed so much since you first drove up on the land.”

“Thank you for your help,” I said.

“If you will recall, one of the first messages I gave when we first met was on repentance from sin.”

“That’s right.  It was.”

“That is the message for a newcomer into the Kingdom.  Leave the life of sin behind and take on the light in your heart.  But, you see, God speaks through those who already have His Spirit.  He will reprove those without Him of their sin, and this takes away the excuses for continuing in that sin.  They must be confronted with this kind of love in order to become guilty, and therefore, repent and turn from the old life.”

“But people won’t like the message.  They will reject us if we try to help them,” I said, remembering how I was rejected on my first few feeble attempts to tell others about what God had done in my life.

“Of course.  Not many people want their darkness revealed by the light.  All the way through John 15 and 16 Christ talks about how the world will hate us and persecute us.  Ever wonder why?  Because He has commanded us to ‘let our light shine’ and to ‘reprove the world of sin.’

“He says to not hide our light under a bushel.  But what is ‘the light’ exactly,” I asked.

“The light is His Spirit come down into us that dispels the darkness of sin in others.  When His Spirit has come into us, He in us will shine into the darkness of sinful hearts to help them by turning them from their sinful lives unto righteousness.”  The Seer looked at me approvingly.  “But let it shine into all the world.  Yes, this Kingdom of God is hidden ‘to them  that are lost: in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.’”

“I was blind to God’s goodness once,” I said.

“Yes, we all were.  The apostle Paul tells us that we are now light and that we should walk as children of the light, and that ‘we should have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them’ or reprove them [Eph 5: 8-11].  If we ‘do not quench the Spirit of truth,’ we will do this, for we are the ‘children of light’ and no longer in darkness.”  He could see that I had a question.  “Yes?”

“Why don’t more Christians reprove the world of sin?  Why don’t the preachers preach  repentance?”

“They are too busy teaching the opposite.  They teach their congregations that they cannot stop sinning.  They will tell them that they are sinners and will always be sinners.  They will recite it with pride: ‘I’m a sinner saved by grace.’  In essence they are telling the people in the pews that God is unable to change them from darkness to light.  But the scriptures speak otherwise.  The word says, ‘With God all things are possible, to him that believes.’  Even to give us a new heart that will not sin against Him.  ‘And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins; and in Him is no sin (I John 3: 5).’”

“If you take something away, you don’t have it anymore,” I said.

“Yes, He is in the business of taking away our old sinful dark spiritual nature and giving us a new heart that does not sin against Him.  Look.  Christ’s Hebrew name Yahshua means ‘Yahweh saves.’  That is why He came in the flesh–to deliver us from sin and sinning.  It says, ‘You shall call Him Jesus/Yahshua, for He shall save His people from their sins.’  What are Christians saved from if not from their sins?  Paul asks this question: ‘Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?  God forbid.’”

“It is hard to help others out of the darkness if we are still in darkness ourselves,” I said.

“That is it exactly,” the Seer said with a smile.  The follower of Christ, who believes that he still sins, will be very reluctant to talk to someone else about repenting of his sins since he is a sinner himself and would be a first class hypocrite if he tried to dispel the darkness of sin in others.  And so, sin abounds in others as Christians are too timid to stand in the gap and truly help those who are in darkness.  And thereby they do not show to the world that they have the Spirit of truth in them.  For ‘when the Spirit of truth is come, He will reprove the world of sin.’” 

 “People never even mention the word ‘sin’ anymore,” I said.

“I know.  And yet, it is the very thing that God’s Spirit deals with; it is what His Spirit does.  It deals with a person’s sin and exposes it and thereby helps that person come to repentance and change.  To put it another way–if people in the world are not having their sin reproved, then the Spirit of truth is not residing in anyone, for He, the Light, will shine into the darkness and ‘bring the hidden things of darkness to light.’  And we as the children of light are to let our light shine.  Which light?  The light of His Spirit that resides within us by faith.”

“You Gotta Die Before You Live”–New Song on the Cross Experience of Christ

People talk about the cross of Christ a lot in some churches, but few teach the central truth about what that experience does in a human life.  Our old sinful self, our old heart, must die with Christ, “who was made to be sin for us.”  We identify and repent of our sinful ways by surrendering to this death on the cross.  Then we “are buried with Him” in an immersion of that old self into His death {water baptism being the type and symbol}.

Then, by believing that Christ literally rose from the dead the third day, we too can be raised from the spiritually dead, and we are then “raised to walk in a newness of life.”

HalleluYah!  This is real biblical way to repent–“by faith in the operation of God that raised up Christ.” This is what this song is about.  I wrote it back in 1975; it speaks of the  great paradox–life out of death–just like a seed buried in the ground.  This is a great mystery “kept secret from the foundations of the world,” and I am blessed to have been given it to share with the world–in a song.”  Kenneth Wayne Hancock

You can see the video and hear the song that contains these revelations here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeDb5WdFHS0

I Will Remember Him That Way–Elegy for My Mentor

I thought of my spiritual mentor who passed away some nine years ago now.  Without him and his love and patience, I would not have come out of the depraved selfish existence I led in my old life.  I wrote this elegy upon hearing of his death.  I want to share it with you.

I Will Remember Him That Way

I will remember him, but not for his last days on earth.

I will recall three decades ago, when the world was mad

and senseless and cruel,

When a young man and woman so in need of love

and patience

And so full of fear and loss and alienation, with cynicism

in full rotten bloom—

I’ll remember him that day, that warm April East Texas

spring day

When the joy emanating from his countenance hit me right

in the chest

As I strutted in with a smirk that said,

Okay, show me what you got,

Because I’ve just about given up the search for truth,

although I talk about it all the time,

And I know that my old self is my nemesis, my master, my

ruin,

And I can’t get rid of it by myself, because my self is my

very problem,

And I know that it has to die, and I’ve looked three years in

books from India,

And books from China, and books from Persia,

And none of the sages of the East could tell me how to put

my self to death,

And live to tell about it,

And I knew that I would waste my time

In looking to the christian buildings which cannot hold

moms and dads together in love—

So as a last futile foray for the truth before I give up

And sink into the numbness of nothingness,

I was thinking, Okay, show me what you got.

And he did, as I remember the joy and the love that swept

down on me,

As he spoke of a certain writer named Paul who spoke of

an old man Adam

Who was now put to death with the Lamb in a Roman 6

finality

And who could be raised to walk in a newness of life.

“You mean that my old self, my old ego, can die?”

I asked out loud that April morning in the cedar cabin in the

East Texas woods.

“That’s exactly what Paul is saying.”

And so I had finally found my sign that I had searched for.

I’ll remember him that way,

As the joyous messenger of my joy in God.

I’ll remember how he let me keep sleeping till noon the first

time we spent the night,

Under his breakfast table in the tarpaper shack,

For I was bidden to come and rest, and he let me rest.

I’ll recall the joy and deliverance from tobacco, drugs, alcohol,

and cursing.

I’ll remember him that way.

I’ll remember the countless times I robbed him of his rest,

And he would smile,

Knowing I was special in the hands of God.

I’ll remember him that way.

I’ll remember a man who believed in me like no one had done

before.

I’ll remember the days of Pepsi and popcorn,

And winter mornings, wood burning stove, kettle on top,

Cool mornings full of hot tea and scriptures,

When riches meant nothing and material possessions held no

power over us,

As we sat laughing into the gentle breezy piney woods evenings,

Secure at last that, yes, there is a God with a plan and purpose,

And all was as it should be here on earth at this moment.

I’ll remember him that way.

I’ll remember Tom as the mentor of my youth,

Who awakened me to greater things than my old self,

Who showed me how to speak to tens of thousands

about the Kingdom.

I’ll remember him as the one who helped me

along the road to God,

Who patiently in those early days,

taught me all the Truth he knew.

And so I ask, What more can any one man do?

I’ll remember him that way.

I’ll not let those early days be blotted out of my memory

By judging him on his last days on earth—

No matter how much it hurt—

I’ll leave all judgements of him to God and to bitter little hearts

Who can’t remember him in the early days.

But I’ll remember him that way.

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

“Forgive Us Our Debts”–Loving the Unloveable

We had a saying during the mission years–those years in the ’70’s when a small group of us had come out of the world system and had lived and worked together–all of us longing  to become more like Christ. 

It went like this: “Love Tom and save the world.”  Tom was our teacher and mentor.  He was also the one who did the correcting and the admonishing.  And we all at one time or another bristled at his rebukes, our egos being bruised.

Of course, the saying can contain anyone’s name–anyone, that is, that you are having a problem with.  “Love ______________and save the world.  You fill in the blank with the person that is the most difficult  for you to love today.  For if you can do that, then you will have arrived where God wants you in your Christian growth.  You will have in your vessel the Spirit of God Himself, who is Love.  And with the power that comes from His presence of Love inside of you, you can then save the world.  And, boy, does it need saving right now.

I am getting a fuller understanding of that old saying today, almost 40 years later.  If we can humble ourselves enough to ask God to grant to us His loving and forgiving nature to love that person who we are having trouble loving, then we will have manifested God in the flesh of our bodies.

In the normal everyday walk of our lives, certain people enter whose actions we despise.  They grate on us and both irritate and disgust us.  My earthly sister was such a person.  She was a drug addict–addicted to hydrocodone for 40 years.  She played my poor old mother, who was her enabler.  She stole from her–even my mom’s pain pills that her broken down 80 year old back needed.  Many times my sister left her without medication for two weeks.  This went on for decades.  My darling mother suffered greatly because of her. 

I tried to get my mom to forsake her, the tough love Bible way–to not let her use her, but Mom could not do it.  We buried Mom in June of last year.  And to this day, my sister has never apologized for all of the lies and thefts and shame she brought upon our family.

Now my sister lays up in an intensive care bed with tubes running out of her face.  And I visited her, and told her I loved her and prayed for her that God would comfort her.  And although she could not open her eyes, tears washed over her eyelids and began to fill the sockets.  I know that she is feeling bad about things she has done.  

My sister before this latest bout has really been trying, but because so much dirty water has passed under the bridge, it is difficult to love her.  I do love her with a earthly family love.  But I mean it is difficult to love her with a deep, resounding,  joyful love. 

And so the memory of that old saying from the mission clangs on my heart tonight.  ” Love her and save the world.”  I should be like that man who woke up from a dream and had the revelation that he should begin today to forgive everybody! 

We are told by our Master to pray, asking the Father, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.”  What debts is He talking about?  A debt means that we owe something, but what do we owe?  “Owe no man anything but to love one another.”  To love each other–that is our debt!

So we ask God to forgive us when we don’t love each other, and He does this as we forgive those who don’t love us as they should.  This is us forgiving their debt of love to us. 

So we need to realize that, yes, other human beings owe us love, but most are in their selfish, carnal nature that prevents them.  So we should just pray, “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.”  They do not realize that they should love everyone.

Our debt, then, is to love one another.  We need to have an attitude of forgiveness to all who don’t love us.  And here is the kicker: This is what God does.  And if each Seed bears its own kind, we as His seed, His children, should do the same as He does, which is loving the unloveable.   Kenneth Wayne Hancock