Thanking God for the Good and the Evil

It’s funny how my first Bible memory verse has stuck with me all these –what? Sixty-four years or so?

I Thessalonians 5: 18. I can still see my dear mother sitting down and reading it to me and helping me begin to memorize it. I can still see her loving hands gently placing the black leather Bible into my lap and pointing at the verse. “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”

As a six year old, I took this to mean, Be thankful for  your blessings; it is God’s will for me to be grateful. But now, all these years later, I see it much differently. “Everything” emerges as the key word now. Everything that happens, both good and bad, is the will of God, and we are to be thankful for both the “good” and the “bad.”

It is only natural to learn to give thanks for the positive things that happens in our lives. This is good training for a child–to be grateful and thankful. It’s those hurtful things, those unkind words spoken perhaps by the one you love the most in this world–that is difficult to thank God for. Then there is the indifference and even the rejection by your friends and relatives of your new life in Christ. That particular pain pierces deep into your heart and is near impossible to be grateful for. And ultimately, the outright betrayal by the person you trusted the most takes you to the brink of despair. When we understand and can thank Yahweh for this betrayal, we will be growing and coming closer to being like our Savior, the Betrayed One.

If your betrayal has not arrived in your life yet, it will, if you are chosen by Yahweh to “be conformed to the image of His Son.” Make no mistake. Betrayal is on the menu. It is a bitter swill of anguish that we must swallow. The question is this: Are we able to drink of the same cup that Christ drank from? The supreme pain that only betrayal provides must come, for we must experience it in order to complete our spiritual maturation process. And not just experience it. We must overcome our first revulsion of it, and realize that it is ordained by God for our lives.

Why must we endure the pain of betrayal, the worst pain there is? It is in God’s plan and fulfills His purpose of reproducing Himself. We need to understand that the Instigator and Inflicter is ultimately our Heavenly Father. Betrayal is one of the toughest tests that we will be asked to pass. You have no doubt read about “the trial of your faith…tried with fire” (I Pet. 1: 7). And, “Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you…but rejoice…you are partakers of Christ’s sufferings” (I Pet. 4: 12: 5: 8-10). We must suffer with Him before we reign with Him (Rom. 8: 17).

To bring us to a higher growth, He tests us with “bad” things to get answers to two questions. First, can we forgive Him for allowing the betrayal or any of the things we suffer? Second, can we forgive the betrayer that God used? To arrive at the answers, we must think of Christ and the betrayal by Judas. And the heartfelt words: “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.”

It comes back around to the initial question. Can we thank God for everything that happens to us in this life? Can we accept that  “all things work together for good to them that love God”? We quote that verse, but when the pain begins, can we see that our Father–for our good–allows evil to come slyly into our lives?

It is easy to thank Him for the “good” things in life. But can we thank Him for the…Well, I will let Him answer: “I form the light and create darkness: I make peace and create evil: I Yahweh do all these things” (Isa. 45: 7).

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

 

 

 

 

The Cure for a Foggy Day

You get up in the morning, and it is just so foggy that you cannot think clearly. Another  trip to dreamland leaves you unfocused. So you reach for your copy of The Royal Destiny of God’s Elect, and you begin to read about your special destiny that God has chosen you for. You read that you are destined to become one of the Father’s princes and princesses.

And you begin to see the same vision that the Father shared with His apostles and prophets–how Yahweh is reproducing Himself in us, and how Christ has invited the overcomers to sit down with Him–on His throne!

And…Oh, you don’t have your copy yet? Then you need to send for it today. It is free with free shipping. Just send your mailing address if you live in the USA to my email, and I will ship it right out to you. Send it to wayneman5@hotmail.com  Be sure to request it by name. Those living outside the USA will receive a pdf of the book.

If you really desire to walk with God, you need to have His vision. Hint: The churches don’t have it. But you probably knew that. That is why you are reading this blog post.

You need this book. And don’t worry. There are no gimmicks here. It is just me sharing what God has given me. He said to all of us His children, “Freely you have received; freely give.”

The following is Chapter 47 of The Royal Destiny of God’s Elect. It is entitled

“The Vision: God Looking through Our Eyes.”

Vision is not man looking through his own eyes at God executing His will on earth. Nor is it us looking through God’s eyes. But rather vision occurs when God looks through our eyes. When our eyes are but His oculars through which, unclouded by the stains of earthly wisdom’s tainted presumptions, He assays His creation, and broken-heartedly sees the need for justice, love, and mercy. And He sees that from these three pools of water must He now use our hands and hearts to minister moisture to a parched and famine infested land.

For “where there is no vision, the people perish.” Where no man gives his eyes that He may peer our sad present world, then the vision is dim and the people suffer. But after He has made His abode in many, then in the presence of choiring angels He at last will stride forth across the domain of His kingdom here on earth, righting wrongs held seething in hearts for ten thousand years.

But first, those called to surrender now the regal aspirations for their selves, their dreams of their own greatness must be abdicated and thrown on the dung heap, as our brother Paul has admonished. For in comparison to their calling to be one of God’s sons or daughters, seated fittingly on the throne with Christ, their present vainglorious dreams do futilely fade.

For the dreams of mortals are not worthy thoughts for the immortal children of the Immortal King. Surrendered eyes, directed by allegiant hearts bring vision to the earth. For the King will then see through our unencumbered eyes the needs across the land. The need for love and balm and a gentle touch to heal the sores of many nations. And many people will He bring through the unveiling of His offspring. For they are His princes and princesses, full of His Spirit, soon to be immortalized with their “house from heaven,” their spiritual body.

In preparation for that glorious day, these elect of which we speak must educate and consecrate themselves by holding to John Baptist’s adage. They “must decrease, and He must increase.” The Spirit must increase to a point that it would no longer be them that looked out of their own eyes, but the Spirit of Christ.

To be fruitful and attain this heavenly vision, the elect must add attributes to God’s faith within them. Outlined in II Peter 1, these are not spiritual things about God, but rather are integral aspects of His divine nature that when added, He will then feel welcomed to come into us and make His abode with us and look through our eyes…

Christ’s vision and our place in it is the cure for morning fogginess.

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

 

 

 

 

The Battle in the Mind–from “Conversations with the Seer”

(Formerly in Israel, if a man went to inquire of God, he would say, “Come, let us go to the seer,” because the prophet of today used to be called a Seer.  I Samuel 9: 9)

I didn’t have to say anything.  I’m sure that my countenance said it all.   The Seer once told me that my face telegraphed quite clearly what was in my heart.  And yet he asked, “What is troubling you?”

I said, “I’m not sure.  I think some doubts are creeping in about God and things.”

“Doubtful thoughts are a formidable weapon that our enemy uses.  They are like mortars hurled at us during those long blackouts that we must endure.”

“It is worse at night.”

“Yes, under the cover of darkness, the doubtful thoughts charge onto the battlefield of our mind.  And the battle insufferably rages on.  Two opposing armies of thought are clashing.  Each is establishing a beachhead in our mind.  Both are digging in for the long haul.  Both are vying for the spoils of our souls.  They do it, first, by controlling our thoughts.  And then our thoughts grow wings and fly past our lips as utterances.  And finally, our words materialize into actions that either justify us or condemn us [1] .  You must know that there is a battle raging.  Make no mistake about it,” the Seer said.

“It’s good to know about the particulars of a war.  When I was in Vietnam, I asked many fellow soldiers and officers, ‘Why are we here?’  And, you know, not one of them could tell me why we were killing and being killed in that hot, muggy hellhole.  Not one.”

“Of course, that is a different kind of battle.  This battle in your mind that I speak of, however, is over our very existence, both present and future.  The outcome of our own personal battle will answer one of two questions.  Will we finally realize that we are created by God, who has a definite will and purpose guiding every human being, which culminates in our surrender to Him?  Or, will we remain adamant, ruled by a secular humanistic delusion, and persist in pretending that we are our own god, serving our own selves, and thereby forgetting the ‘Rock from whence we are hewn’?”

“No wonder I feel torn up inside.  Thoughts and doubts are whirling and churning inside of me.”  I heard a rooster crow and looked out the window at the golden red mist of light in the east.  I hadn’t slept all night and had waited until his lights had come on to come over and get some help.

The Seer continued.  “Yes.  A war is being fought inside of you.  It is the War of the Wills.  God’s will is fighting your own will.  And your own will for your life is being fed and reinforced by the enemy of God.  The “prince and power of the air” [2] supports your determination to hang on to your own purpose for your life.  And our old man’s purpose looks at everything through this prism–what’s in it for me?  You see, God’s thoughts for His creation is opposed to man’s thoughts about himself and his purpose on earth.”

“What are man’s thoughts about himself?”

“In general, the prevailing wind blowing in the politically correct arena is that we are just animals with higher intelligence, that there really is no personal Creator who has a will and purpose for us.  God’s thoughts toward us are that mankind is a special creation, formed and shaped in every way by the Creator for a highly specialized purpose: to be the dwelling place, the temple for God to reside in.  He grants to some eternal life, so that they can house the Eternal One.”

“I don’t get it,” I said, looking away.

“You want some hot tea?” he asked. “Good stuff.”

“Yes.”

He poured it up and brought it over and set it down on the little table between us. “So what specifically is befuddling you?”

“I thought when we came to Christ and was born again, that all the problems would be over.”

“Every one thinks that at first. But we are not fully developed spiritual beings in Christ yet. We have faults and shortcomings that…well, like the doubtful thoughts you were talking about. We must over come these doubts and fears that are carried over from our old life.”

“How are they carried over?”

“It is a habit of thought. These habitual doubts are fruit of our original nature of unbelief.”

“How does this tie in with the battle you were talking about?”

“This great destiny of eternal life will be given to those who win the battle staged in the theater of our minds.  For the Creator does not just go, Poof!, and we all are miraculously transposed into gentle, smiling, sweet little humanoid robots who go about saying, ‘Praise the Lord!  Praise the Lord!’  Oh, no.”

“How does He do it then?”

“First, God has given us everything needed for victory–weapons, armor, food.  Yet He has allowed a sly and cunning spiritual enemy to be able to speak to us anonymously by injecting thoughts right into our own brains. It is so deceptive that humans think that these thoughts are coming out of the ether of their own minds.  Because, after all, they reason, I don’t believe in a world of spirits, where a diabolical spirit would do that to me!  And, anyway, if a God of love existed, He would not put those He loved through all this mental anguish and suffering.”

The Seer stopped to emphasize the point.  “That right there.  That thought is an example of the ‘cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive’ [3].  And yet, there is a great paradox at work in this battle.  In the world of man’s wisdom, when you surrender, you lose.  But in this battle, when we surrender to God and His plan, we win!  And through our victory, we realize that when we surrender to Him and His will and purpose for us, then we enlist in His army and begin to march forward helping others in the battle they are fighting for their very souls.”

“You mentioned God’s purpose for us.”

“His purpose is to reproduce Himself in us. And He knows how to do it. He is the only one who does. Man has got His own ideas about self-improvement, but man’s ways are not God’s ways.” The Seer smiled politely glanced at the door. “I’m glad you came this morning. Just remember that God is sovereign and will perform His plan and purpose His way, despite the thoughts and actions of man. He directs the action of both the protagonist and the antagonist. All things are of God.”

I would be munching on that meat for a long time. Much later, I would read this passage about the spiritual battle that we are to join:  “The truth is that, although of course we lead normal human lives, the battle we are fighting is on the spiritual level.  The very weapons we use are not those of human warfare but powerful in God’s warfare for the destruction of the enemy’s strongholds.  Our battle is to bring down every deceptive fantasy and every imposing defense that men erect against the true knowledge of God.  We even fight to capture every thought until it acknowledges the authority of Christ [4].

1. Matthew 12: 37
2. Ephesians 2: 2
3. Eph. 4: 14
4. II Corinthians 10: 4, Phillips

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

The Hidden Manna Versus Yesterday’s Manna

Yesterday’s manna will not feed the hunger of today’s sons and daughters of God. Yesterday’s manna will not sustain them on their spiritual quest to be like Paul, Peter, James, John and—yes, like the Son of God Himself. Yesterday’s bread from heaven, the light that was given hundreds of years ago to the churches, will not strengthen the future manifested sons and daughters of God. The elect have a higher calling than to just receive salvation. They are pressing “toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus/Yahshua” (Phil. 3: 14).

Yesterday’s manna was the perfect food for those who had never heard of Christ back in the early days. Tell them the story of how He died for them. Introduce them to Christ; tell them about His great love for them. Tell them about salvation through faith in Christ.

But now God has a people, a chosen remnant, who have heard this story since childhood, and they need something more than an incessant introduction to Christ. They need the meat of the word to satisfy their spiritual growing pains. They need Him, the truth. They need the hidden manna in the form of His full purpose and plan to fulfill it.

[This is Chapter 5 of the new book The Apostles’ Doctrine: The Seven Teachings of Christ. Pre-order you free copy with free shipping today by sending your mailing address to my email: wayneman5@hotmail.com  Limited copies so order soon. Be sure to mention the title]

His Purpose Is the Bread of God that Is Hidden

But what is the end product of God’s purpose for these who have the “high calling”?  They are “the called according to His purpose.” They are being called right now to be used by the King to fulfill His purpose. “For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son…” (Rom. 8: 28-29).

We see here that God knew these before. Look. He is the Creator—omni-everything, “knowing the end from the beginning.” Of course, He knew beforehand what they would become, much like a novelist creates characters and knows their destinies before the book is published. Furthermore, He gave us a destiny before we were ever born into the human mire.

We have a forerunner and an example. Speaking to Jeremiah, God said, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations” (Jer. 1: 5). Somebody is saying, “Well, that was Jeremiah. He was a great personage of God, and I’m just little old insignificant me sitting here…” But that is not how God looks at us. God knew us before we were born; He has given us a destiny before we came to earth. And what is that destiny? “To be conformed to the image of His Son”!

To be like Christ! That is God’s purpose: to reproduce Himself in a body of many sons and daughters through Christ. Christ formed in us! Now before that last line slips unnoticed back into the ether, remember what Christ said, “With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible” (Matt. 19: 26).

God foreknew us and gave us this destiny before we were born. That’s why He called us with this high calling. Then He justifies us (gets the sin out of our lives—first step). Then He glorifies us (become like Christ—full reproduction of God in our vessels) (Rom. 8: 30).

We are His elect, His chosen ones. And He will “freely give us all things” in order for His purpose to be accomplished (8: 32).

Becoming like Christ–this truth came from heaven. It is the heavenly manna that is hidden from the masses because of their hard heart of unbelief. Believing this manna is spiritually eating it.

When we cease striving to make our own selfish desires a reality—even in our church and worship–and when we embrace God’s purpose and walk in it, the struggles in life subside. We see clearly now that He is for us, that He is helping us do what He has purposed us to do. By faith in His Spirit coming down into us, He takes over and the love, joy and peace flows. And we no longer feel like it is us having to powerlessly fight everything out there. Frustration evaporates. Things become easier because we begin to realize that “it is no longer I that lives, but Christ that lives in me.” Victory is ours. He has our back because we have His.

The Daily Bread

What do we do right now to get His plan moving in us?  He said to pray that God “give us this day our daily bread.” We are to pray for the spiritual bread from heaven, the spiritual manna that this day and time requires. Right now we need our daily bread, and if we cry out to him for the bread from heaven for our day, will He give us a stone? You know He won’t.

We need the bread of heaven for today, not the doctrines of yesterday that have been tampered with. Yesterday’s manna is full of additives–false doctrines and traditions. It has become another gospel, one that is about Christ and not what He actually taught. It is like the manna in Moses’ day. It physically fed the children of Israel in the wilderness, but it was only good for the day it was collected. It went bad if they tried to eat it at a later date. Yesterday’s manna will not nourish us today. It has gone bad. It has been mixed with pagan motifs and false conceptions and imaginations.

But the true bread from heaven is the Son of God. He is the “hidden manna,” and in Him are His  purpose, plan, thoughts, and desires, which if a man eat, if a man ingest, if a man believe—he will live forever (John 6: 58).

The bread from heaven is hidden from natural eyes; it is the Spirit of Truth that “guides us into all truth.” And the truth is a deep pool that contains one special “pearl of great price” bidding us to swim into the depths until we find it.

Yesterday’s manna cannot help us to grow strong for the end times. Only today’s bread from heaven will suffice us and strengthen us for the arduous quest we are on. Be strong, you mighty men and women of valor!

Today’s manna, today’s food necessary for the sons and daughters of God to grow strong in His Spirit—is Christ and His doctrine. In the hidden manna we will find the Spirit of Truth that will teach us to throw away the false and cleave to the true. In the hidden manna we find the hidden wisdom of Yahweh and His power.

Kenneth Wayne Hancock