Power Comes from the Authority We Are Given

You just may be one of the remnant out there, the elect, the chosen, the forerunners. They are being molded into the image of Christ. They have “ears to hear” (Matt. 11: 15). They are not foolish with blinded eyes and deafened ears. When the Father shows them the way of the prophets and apostles in being in awe of Him, they will respond. They will study and seek Him. And after receiving wisdom, they will channel the “word of wisdom” to others. And then the Spirit will fly through them with healing in His wings (Mal. 4: 2; Jer. 5: 21-22, 30-31). To get a glimpse of what we will be doing during the kingdom age, read Isaiah 61.

But before the power to heal like the apostles is channeled through us, we must learn how to cast out the evil spirits. To do that takes power from heaven.

How Do We Attain That Power?

Let’s face it. All of us desire more power from God. Sometimes we wish for enough power to just get through the day’s trials. Sometimes we let our zeal rise up, leading us to take on tomorrow’s trials. We can get ahead of ourselves. Christ cautions us to not try to take care of the troubles of tomorrow (Mt. 6: 34) because each day’s trouble is plenty for us to handle. We are to handle tomorrow’s evil tomorrow. Then sometimes a Christian longs for more power in their lives to help others, to “lift the heavy burdens” of their brothers. And some desire more power in their lives to fulfill all of the miraculous things that He said that His elect sons and daughters will do in these last days.

This latter group are the called, chosen, and faithful. They seek power from on high to fulfill prophecy that in the last days, a few will be the first fruits, the early harvest of His Seed-Son Yahshua, the Messiah. For God has proclaimed that the first fruits are the remnant scattered over the whole earth. They are the first of Joel’s army doing “greater works” than even the Messiah did. They are the “manifestation of the sons of God” that the whole world is waiting for (Rom. 8: 17-22). They will be the first who are privy to the secrets and mysteries of the kingdom of God (Mt. 13: 11-17). They will be the first Christians in our era to reveal the power from on high—power that will be a witness to the earthlings that He is God. They will wield 100 fold power like the early apostles did.

But Where Does This Power Come From?

Yes, it comes from God, but how does it come from God? Under what circumstances? What prerequisites must be lived out in order for the power to come? The Son of God promised His followers that they would receive power “after the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and you shall be witnesses unto Me…unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

And that promise was the last words before He was taken up to heaven. He made several points in this passage. First, He promised to give them power to be His witnesses after they received the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit (same word in the Greek). Second, this witness was to not only go local, but also worldwide. Third, we read that the early apostles travelled throughout the Roman world but not to the “uttermost part of the world.” Fourth, to spread this apostle power into the uttermost part of the world, we in these latter days will be used in the same way as the early apostles. And to do that we need His power—the same apostle power of Peter, John, and Paul.

We are talking about the power to heal and to perform miracles, just like they did. For these miracles became a powerful witness to the world. The key to understanding “power” is to know that the word “authority” is translated from the same Greek word that “power” is translated from. Power equals authority. The sons and daughters of God have the authority/power; the angels don’t.

Yet, The Question Persists

How does this kind of power come? Does it just materialize one day out of the blue, perhaps a reward from our heavenly Father for faithful service? Some in charismatic circles believe that the power displayed by the early apostles comes from their importunity, a holy insistence, wrapped in incessant shouts of praise during public worship. The early church was established in Christ’s true doctrines or teachings, and then the power came.

To get a clearer picture, we should look at the early rain of the church. How did they receive power? What did they do? “They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine, and fellowship……..” And in so doing, great power was invested in them by the Father. They cleaved to the word of the Savior. They stayed in His teachings—first and foremost. That was the first step, the foundational step to being trusted by God to be a steward of the Spirit and power and glory of God Himself. In order to stay in Christ’s teachings, which became the early apostles’ doctrine, they got rid of false doctrines about Christ. Staying and abiding in the apostles’ teachings is the first step to receiving the power that we all aspire to.

{I have just published my fourth book, The Apostles’ Doctrine. The truths held within it are too precious to be sullied by money entering into the equation. Therefore it is absolutely free with free shipping to you, my readers. Sending you a book is better than dropping money into an offering tray. Just email me your mailing address in the USA. Overseas readers will get a pdf copy of it. It is a 322 page trade paperback. Request yours today while supplies last. My email:  wayneman5@hotmail.com } If God is leading you into these things, this book will help you on your quest.

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

In Defense of Paul the Apostle as an Advocate for Women

I told a colleague of mine one time that I greatly admired Paul of Tarsus as a writer. This sent her on an anti-Pauline rant. “He is against women,” she finally concluded.

“How is he against women?” I asked.

“He commands wives to be in subjection to their husbands.” I wanted to rationally converse about this, but the atmosphere was turgid and would be unproductive. Of course, I found out later that her ex-husband was a macho Middle Easterner who undoubtedly lorded it over her in their failed marriage.

I wanted to tell my fellow English teacher that women’s major problems stem from insensitive, self-centered, egotistical, and selfish men. But that would have angered her even more, seeing as how men were not an integral part of her life. I wanted to inform her that she really needed in all fairness to take Paul’s words in context. I never got the chance, so I will present the context now.

Paul spent his entire converted lifetime teaching men to be sensitive, selfless, caring, ego-less husbands. No higher standard has ever been placed upon men’s actions both in public and behind closed doors. He cut to the heart of the matter when it came to the better treatment of wives. He commanded men to repent of their sins, thus blotting out old selfish ways.

First, he admonished men to stop committing adultery and being unfaithful to their wives. He said for men to stop the reveling and drunkenness. He admonished men rather to repent of their sins and be filled with the Spirit of Love. He would have men walk in godliness, treating their wives with the utmost respect and love.

In Ephesians 5: 25 he admonishes all men to love their own wives as Christ loves the church, giving themselves for them. They are to love their wives as their own body, cherishing and nourishing them (v. 28-29). “For no man ever yet hated his own flesh.” Men today have stooped so low as to not love their wives as their own flesh. Men have historically been tyrants. Nevertheless, Paul admonishes men to be servants and examples for their wives, giving honor unto them.

In all of Paul’s writings, he tells men to be humble and kind. When he says, “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands,” he is saying to submit to the Christian man, the Christ-like humble man. Proof of this is found in this passage: “Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in ever thing” (Eph. 5: 24). It does not say to submit yourself to a selfish tyrant, but rather to someone who is in submission unto Christ.

In fact, a provision is made for the wife if the husband does not live up to the standard of character for men mentioned above. The Spirit through Paul writes: “If the unbelieving husband depart, let him depart. A sister is under no bondage.” This can be taken literally, but also spiritually. If the husband departs from being loving and kind and falls into abusive, anti-Godlike actions in dealing with the wife, then the wife is justified in parting ways. According to the apostle, she is not to be a door mat or a chattel good for a man to abuse (I Cor. 7: 14-15). He goes on to say that if the unbelieving spouse wants to stay, then they are to stay in the marriage, for the Christian spouse will help win them through their witness of Christ.

A true husband is the one who cherishes and nurtures his wife as his own flesh. That is a husband. The wife abuser is not a husband in God’s eyes. He is a despicable creature who does not deserve a wife.

I wanted to tell my colleague of Paul’s high standard for men’s actions toward their wives. I never did share with her how Paul of Tarsus is the greatest advocate for women. For he first deals with the husbands, getting them straight with God. And we all know that when that happens, things go a lot smoother in a marriage.

The Manifestation of the Sons of God—The Rise of the Immortal Ones

When you first read Romans 8: 18, the phrase “the manifestation of the sons of God” rang a bell in your heart. Something inexplicable clicked inside. Something wonderful dawned upon you, creating a thirst for more knowledge about it.

And you were not alone, for all of creation, whether conscious or unconscious of it, is longing and groaning for the revealing of these mature offspring of God to come on the scene. It is as if the earth is the woman in travail groaning to be delivered of this man child company. The “whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now” (v. 22).

No, you are not alone. There are a few of us who have sensed that we are on the cusp of something quite extraordinary. At the end of this current age, a comparatively small number of human beings will be transformed from mortals to immortals. This “manifestation of the sons of God” is the culmination of mankind’s spiritual sojourn here on earth for the past 6,000 years. It is when God will have multiplied Himself or reproduced Himself—in His offspring. The Creator is the Seed within Himself, and each Seed bears its own kind.

God reproducing Himself is the Bible’s theme from Genesis to Revelation. It is what the book is all about. Stripped of preconceived retread traditions of what man thinks it says, the pages of this Holy Book tell of a soon coming Kingdom, a government headed by the King of kings. These kings are a cadre of ruling monarchs, reigning with the Son of God, and with their Father’s full authority to rule justly and righteously. These princes and princesses of God are His offspring. They are the “manifestation of the sons of God,” the first fruits, the remnant, a “royal priesthood” and a “chosen generation.” They are you and I potentially, if we follow on to “know Him and the power of His resurrection” in us.

The gospel is the good news of this government coming to earth. And it will be headed by a company of immortal beings, who have been “redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.” These few will have overcome all things and will have reached full spiritual maturity. These will meet the Lamb on the holy mount. They will be glorified with the same power as the Son of God. They are God’s crowning creation and will be the “saviors [who] shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau…” And they come from regular human beings, having been “redeemed from among men” (Rev. 14: 1-6; Obad. 1: 21).

It is at this time in the not too distant future that the harvest of the world will be completed. This is when the world system, the kingdom of Satan, shall be conquered by the Father and these sons of God. “Babylon is fallen, is fallen…” is the victorious cry (Rev. 14: 8). The world system shall be vanquished; it is called “the vine of the earth,” and it shall be “cast into the great winepress of the wrath of God” (v. 19). This is the Great Tribulation Period. And these mature spiritual giants will be right in the middle of it here on earth.

This Is No Fantasy

All of this may sound like a fantasy novel, a phantom fiction dreamed up by Hollywood writers. Immortal beings walking the earth in a spiritual body that can’t die? Come to think of it, Hollywood’s biggest hits nowadays  feature immortal superheroes. But they are creatures of fantasy. The manifested sons of God will be like the risen Christ, and they  can be seen walking in the pages of your Bible. The signs of the time confirm that these manifested sons to be are in the earth right now, growing spiritually, being drawn by God into His sphere of influence—drawn by dreams and whispers and quiet revelations, when no one else is around to muddy the heavenly waters of thought that we are privileged to swim in.

And you very well may be one of these future immortal ones—one of the elect—one of the ones He has chosen to reveal Himself through at the end of this age during your life time. You are, after all, reading this right now. And this “now” that we live in is extremely important because we are living in the “time of the end.” The calendar since 1948 is a prophetical time piece that tells us when the “manifestation of the sons of God” will take place.

The Generation of the Fig Tree

The nation of Israel is symbolized by the “fig tree.” Christ said that “when its branch is tender and it puts forth leaves, you know that summer is nigh.” Harvest time is near. This happened in 1948 when the nation of Israel was reestablished. When you see this, the kingdom of God is near. Then Christ makes another profound statement. “This generation shall not pass, till all these things  be fulfilled” (Mt. 24: 32-34). These things are detailed in the turmoil presented in verses 1-31 of Matthew 24.

“This generation,” Christ says. Which generation? The only generation that He has been speaking about. It is the one that is alive in 1948. In other words, the generation that sees the fig tree nation sprout again will not pass out of the earth until the fulfillment of the prophecies of the kingdom of God come to pass. And that includes the glorification of the first fruits, the “manifestation of the sons of God.”

1948 was the year that Israel became a nation again. There will be people born in the post World War II era that will still be alive when the end of this age comes to pass. This includes Christ’s return to earth to establish His kingdom. And a large part of establishing His kingdom is the crowning of the manifested sons of God who will sit on His throne with Him (Rev. 3:21).

This is 2019. It has been about 70 years since the fig tree nation of Israel sprouted again. Those born in 1948 are 71 years old. Since living to 100 is possible, then there is about 30 years or so before He comes back, under this supposition. He said, “There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom” (Mt. 16:28). I believe that those are from this generation of the fig tree that sprouted once again in 1948.                Kenneth Wayne Hancock

{What’s your thoughts about these things? I would love to hear what you think. Please leave a comment. For more on this subject: https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2018/03/10/fig-tree-is-the-sign-of-christs-return-rapture-debunked/

And be sure to order your free copy with free shipping of my new book The Apostles’ Doctrine. We want to be like the early Christians. To be like them we must do what they did. They “continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine” and then the miracles and mighty works of the Spirit happened (Acts2: 42-43). You need this book. Just send your mailing address in the USA to my email: wayneman5@hotmail.com  I will send a pdf of the book to those outside the USA. Get yours while supplies last.}