“There’s Power in the Blood”—Power to Do What Exactly?

Most Christians will agree that the blood of Christ does have a certain degree of power in it. But how does that power manifest itself? What does it do? How does it work? How does the shedding of His blood “cleanse us from all sin”?

For sin to die out and cease to plague us spiritually, we must submit to the cross and die with Christ. He “was made to be sin” (II Cor. 5: 21). At the moment of His death, sin died. “The life is in the blood.” The life of sin is in the blood. And the ancient law now tolls for all sinners: “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin. With the shedding of the blood of the sin offering Christ, sin died that day at the cross. We must submit to this truth. As we believe that sin in our hearts died with Christ, we too can be raised up with Him, a sinless creature, a new creature.

The first overcoming, which leads to all of the overcomings, or victories in Christ, is the victory over sin in our lives.  It is a direct victory of the power of the devil in our lives, for “he that commits sin is of the devil.”

But to get rid of sin in our lives was the “purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil” (I John 3: 8). How is this done?  “They overcame him (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony” (Rev. 12: 11).  Our victory over the evil comes through these two things.

Many talk a good Christian ballgame, but few deliver through the lives that they lead.  Many claim to follow Christ, yet they still do secret sins, which emanate from the dark recesses of an un-regenerated heart–a heart that is old and carnal–a heart that has not climbed Calvary’s hill to submit to the death of the cross along with Christ.

By the Blood of Christ the Sacrificial Lamb

He is the sin sacrifice–the “Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.”  He takes away the sin of the world. When He gets through, we don’t have it anymore.  But we must identify our old sinful heart with Him that day of the Lamb’s death some 2,000 years ago.  This is how the Lamb’s blood cleanses us.  When it drained out of Him, the life and energy and power of sin died out.  When His blood was all spilled out, then the life force of sin in us drained out as well. This is how we overcame the devil.  It is from this cleansing of sin through the death of our old nature, of our old spirit, of our old heart.

Yet, sadly, chances are very slim that you will hear this in today’s church houses and Sunday schools.  It is “too strong, too harsh.”  It is not politically correct and is a sure fire way for the hired preacher to lose his pastorship.  But the old preachers of past centuries taught these very things I have shared here.  John Wesley taught it, yet you won’t hear this in a modern Methodist church.  Martin Luther taught it, but today’s Lutherans won’t hear it in church.  Spurgeon taught it, but most Baptists won’t hear this stark message in their churches.

But this is how we repent from sin.  The very first apostles’ doctrine was “repentance from dead works.”  Sin, the breaking of the 10 Commandments, is a “dead work,” for it leads to death.  And getting rid of sin in our lives is the very cornerstone in the sure foundation Christ talked about.  Without this start in Christ, the foundation is shaky, and the house will fall when the devil winds blow.

Indeed, it is a major undertaking to get the sin question straight; it can be a real upheaval in a person’s life. But the bottom line is this: God has provided a way to get rid of sin and sinning in our lives. Our old selfish sinful nature dies when we reckon it dead with Christ. When He died on the cross, our old sinful nature died there with Him. When we spiritually make His soul the sacrifice for our sin, then we die with Him. And we are then buried with Him. And then through belief in God’s power that raised Him from the dead, we also are raised up with a new nature and a new spirit from our heavenly Father. Baptism in water symbolizes this act of faith, being “baptized into His death” (Romans 6; 3).

We have to reckon our old selves dead with Christ. It is this spiritual death that frees us from that bondage to keep breaking the 10 command-ments. We are freed from the slavery to sin. But it takes faith to believe it. I am not imagining this teaching. I have lived it. It is in the Holy Bible, although it is seldom, if ever, taught. Just read Romans 6: 1-13 and Colossians 2: 11-12, 20 for starters. It is there.

And this is just the beginning of the “milk of the word.” Just the first two principles—repentance from sin and faith toward God. We have got to get this into our hearts. Be shocked. Be astonished. Study it out thoroughly. Be fed the milk that you may grow up into Christ. That’s in there, too. Later the “meat of the word” will help us grow into full spiritual maturity to become just like Christ. There—I said it.                                            Kenneth Wayne Hancock

[This is Chapter 18 of my new book The Apostles’ Doctrine coming out later this fall.]

The Creator’s Faith–The Second Apostles’ Doctrine

 Our spiritual walk as Christians is about finding our way back home. We began our journey in the Mind of God eons ago. We proceeded forth from a thought in His Mind in the beginning. For the Word-made-flesh told us, “For you have been with Me from the beginning.”

We were then deposited onto this terrestrial plain with no initial recollection of our spiritual origins–for a purpose–His purpose.

Our immersion into sin early on in our earthly life sent us on a quest for peace with our Maker. We needed to be free from the guilt and sor-row that our first life provided. That was God’s purpose in allowing us to wallow in sin for a season–to send us on our search for His redemption. We would not have ever sought His solace without the misery and de-basement that sin brought to us.

So we broke down and got real and humbled ourselves to our Maker, and He answered us in giving us a new life in the form of a new seed beginning that when watered, will grow into the same thing we had with Him before the foundations of the world (John 15: 26-27; Isa. 40: 21). And with this new life, we grew to not only appreciate God and His mercy in delivering us from degradation, but also to just plain loving Him.

It is this love that God, who is Love, is after–for us. His desire is to reproduce His nature of love in human beings, which are the only beings capable of reproducing His spirit of unselfish love. We are, after all, created in His image; we are a vessel to contain and to pour out God onto a thirsty land.

And the seed of this love for God grows from that appreciation we exhibit when we acknowledge God’s love to us. His love toward us is all in the plan to use His Son as the sacrificial Lamb that “takes away the sins of the world.” God’s self-sacrifice at the cross showed us the greatest love. There no greater love than that.

When we believe the testimony of the Seed/Son, we receive a new life in a seed, energized by the Spirit, which erases all our past sins along with the guilt. We are made free, and as the ex-slaves of sin, we exalt our new Master who has delivered us from death. We love Him and appreciate Him. His life now through the resurrection affords us that same life inside us. And His Seed of Love is growing and growing, both in our own hearts and in the hearts of our brothers and sisters—by faith.

Christ is the Seed of a new beginning for us. When we believe (have faith in) His testimony, we receive the seed of faith into our hearts. There is no spiritual growth without the true seed being received into the ground of a fertile heart, a heart that’s honest and receptive and in need.

It is this internalization into our hearts of His resurrection power that generates within us the new life. This comes in our belief that He rose from the dead. Since He rose from the dead, we do now believe that we, too, are “raised to walk in a newness of life.” Our past sins are purged, and we now live by His faith and the presence of His Spirit in our hearts—new hearts.

The Father/Creator/Spirit/Love/Light has poured His complete plan, purpose, essence and life into His Son. Consequently, we cannot thrive in our brief moments here on earth if we do not believe God’s testimony of His Son.

When someone rejects the Son, they reject the Truth of the ages, and in so doing, they lose their own souls. If the doubters do not surrender to God’s plan as seen in His Son’s life, then their brief moment of self-aggrandizement will molder in a forgotten shallow grave. But if we walk in the Light, we shall overcome all things and bask in the glory we had with him in the beginning (Heb. 2: 10; 1 Pet. 1: 7; Rom. 8: 18).

Christ taught His disciples these precepts in seven major teachings. His apostles believed them and wrote about them. They are called the apostles’ doctrine. Faith is the key that unlocks them all. It is His faith, His belief in His own plan that is the key.    Kenneth Wayne Hancock

[An excerpt from my new book, The Apostles’ Doctrine, coming out soon]

Exposing the Spiritual Darkness of Political Correctness

“Something there is that does not love” political correctness [1]. Something deep down in the human soul repulses attempts by our fellow man to dictate how we should feel, speak, and act. Perhaps that something is that little spiritual spark that our Creator has placed in our hearts. That tiny luminescence is intended to kindle a fire that will illuminate the path back to our Father’s heart.

Thus, that little light that He has given each person knows that in the end, we all were made for God’s purposes and not to be slaves to the whims of other men.

Political correctness is just that–a subtle tyranny of thought control, enabled by fear. For it is fear of retribution from the herd that debilitates most. When their heads raise up in indignation at the despotic dictums foisted upon them by the P.C. police, most merely glimpse the woolly fleece in front of them and continue following, lowering their heads once again in resignation.

But “Something There Is that Does Not Love” Political Correctness

Politics is natural man governing other men. So when a small group of men dictates to the masses what to think and say, and the people acquiesce, then a quiet totalitarian regime is born, and the masses become compliant subjects of the few.

Therefore, it is an honor for me to say that I am not politically correct. For I am endeavoring to follow our Example, the Son of God. He shrank not from those who dictated “correct” thought and speech 2,000 years ago. He followed completely the spark within to its full growth cycle conclusion: the manifestation of the Son of God.

Our Example

And He is our Example, and He has shown us the way to the goal and vision of being just like Him. And He was not politically correct. He did not need for somebody to tell Him how men should think, “for He knew what was in man” (John 2: 25). He stood up and exposed the lies and deceptions of natural sinful man.

He even told the Pharisees, “You are of your father the devil” (John 8: 42-47). Hey, you hypocritical little tyrants, running around here, sitting in Moses’ seat, you stone my followers for loving their neighbor as themselves, and you bind heavy burdens on the people and never lift a finger to help them. Your father is Satan, and you are acting just like him. Satan is a serpent and you are a den of lying vipers just like him.

No, Christ was not politically correct. He told the truth and exposed the bastardized Judaic religion of His day for the hypocrisy that it was. He came against it vehemently. He is our Example. Are we doing what He did? Are we exposing the half-truths and outright errors that riddle organized Churchianity? Are we purging out the old leaven concepts?

Light Versus Darkness

Almost everything Christ said was not politically correct. Take the Sermon on the Mount. He said that we are not to hide the light that He gives us, but to let it shine. Light by its nature exposes and reveals what darkness hides. Light, therefore, is much more powerful than darkness, for it dispels and finally annihilates the darkness.

Political correctness is a form of darkness, demanding its victims to remain quiet and not expose its nature. P.C. says, Don’t let the light of truth and freedom shine because it will reveal just how small and petty I am.

Oh, something there is in the human heart that does not love political correctness. Truth and Love says, Letting your light shine glorifies the Father. For He is the Light, “the true Light, which lights every man that comes into the world” (John 1: 9).

Our wonderful Savior is the Light that has shined into our hearts with His Spirit and spark of new life in Him. He has promised us freedom from the slavery and bondage of sinful man’s expectations of how we are to think and speak in their new world order.

Oh, something there is that does not love political correctness, and that something is a Someone, and He is God. And man was created by Him to be the glory of God.  Our whole purpose is to exalt our King. It is branded into our DNA.

That is why we fairly bristle at political correctness. Agents of the kingdom of darkness impose the ideals of their father upon us. They are against the divine nature that we are to exhibit. This is the righteous spiritual nature that will glorify God. P.C. is against God and His sovereignty in our lives. It totally forgets God and His word and plan and purpose, superimposing “great swelling words of man’s wisdom” in their stead.

Our modern day political correctness is just the latest version of the same spiritual sickness. It is ultimately against God and His desire for us, which is this: He wants us to be exactly like our Example. He is known by English speakers as Jesus Christ, but known by a few as Yahshua, His Hebrew name.

But then, using the name “Yahshua” may not be politically correct in some quarters. I better let the Father Yahweh sort it all out.     Kenneth Wayne Hancock

[1] Robert Frost. Adapted from “Mending Wall.”