“O, Father, Where Art Thou?”

“O, Father, where art thou?” We have all wondered it, especially during trials of our faith. Where is our spiritual Father—really? He is not where we just think He may be. He is not where the preacher thinks He is. He is not where we hope he is. He is not where we imagine Him to be. He is not where we feel He is. No. No. The answer to this question does not come from a feeling. Feelings will let you down. So, how can we really know where He is?

“O, Father, where art Thou?” We will find the answer to this question in God’s words that have been written down. He is where He said he is. The word says that the Father is in His Son. Christ said that the Father is inside the Son. In fact, Christ commands us, “Believe me that the Father is in Me.”

The Son of God is the head of the spiritual body of Christ, which is the church. We are “members in particular” of His body. He is the head; we are His body. Because the Father dwells inside the Son, and because we are a part of the Son’s spiritual body, the Father dwells inside of us, too. That is if we have received His Spirit within our hearts.

“O, Father, where art thou?” The Father lives within the hearts of His children. We need only look in the mirror to see the Father’s dwelling place. He is in His temple—you and me. I wrote a song right after my conversion to Christ some 50 years ago called “He’s Living Here.” He is living here, deep inside, and it’s so clear this love I can’t hide because with Christ my old man is crucified…

His sweet presence can only be enjoyed when the Spirit of Truth is in our hearts. For the Father is the Spirit of Truth. If we have error within us, we are blocked from the Father. Because He is Truth. 

How Our Father Communicates with and through Us

Hearing from our Father is through words that the Spirit of Truth speaks. These words are from the Word. The words from the Word comes to us through thoughts. Our thoughts come from primarily two sources–our Father and the adversary Satan, who oversees dispensing evil thoughts and confusion into the earth (see Job 1). Remember Satan’s lies in the garden of Eden? “Has God really said that? God didn’t mean that. God just does not want you to know the best things.”

Satan is the accuser of the brethren. He accuses through negative thoughts running through our minds. Consequently, not every thought is from God. How can we discern? How can we tell which thought is from God and which is from Satan? For the answer, we must go back to the written word of God, for His thoughts will coincide with His written word. So, let’s not be waiting for audible words spoken to us by God in order to receive His words to us. We waste time doing that. No doubt that is what the five foolish virgins were doing. They did not study the written word, and they wound up with no oil in their lamps (Matt. 25:1-13). Go to the written word; these are His thoughts which outlines His plan and purpose. By studying His written words, we will have a library of His thoughts that the Spirit within can draw from. But do not go down every rabbit hole that Churchianity provides. They are in error; I didn’t say it; He did.

Christ said, The words I speak, they are spirit, and they are life. Our thoughts, no matter how lovely they sound to us, must agree with the written word of God. Dreams and visions do not always come from God. That is why we must “study to show ourselves approved unto God.” That is why we are told to “bring into captivity every thought unto obedience to Christ.” It helps to have the Teacher, the Spirit of Truth, teach us.

“O, Father, where art Thou?” His word says that the Father, the Holy Spirit, resides in the Son, of which Christ is the head, and we are the Son’s body. The Father dwells in us if we have indeed His Spirit residing within our hearts. But the Spirit will not dwell in unclean temples filled with error. It will not happen. Why? Because His word says so.

Where is the Father, the invisible Holy Ghost/Holy Spirit? I leave you with this quote. We will let the Spirit in Paul answer: “There is one body, and one Spirit…one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all and in you all” (Eph. 4:4-6). Kenneth Wayne Hancock

The Secret Purpose: “The Seed Is the Word of God”

You are seeking God. You would not be reading this if you were not. You want to dig deeper and find more understanding of God and His plan and purpose.

You love the people, but you realize that organized churchianity will not take you to where the Spirit is leading you. It is not delivering that depth that you know you need. You want to build on the rock of His word, and you wonder, “But what is the word exactly? Is it just the written word in the Holy Bible? What is the spiritual secret hidden in the lines of The Book?

Understanding God’s Purpose

We learn from the inspired written word of God that His purpose is to reproduce Himself. And to understand God’s plan and purpose of reproducing Himself, we must understand the Law of Harvest. “Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” (Gal. 6: 7). Since the beginning, man has sown seed and has harvested that very seed.

This law was enacted by God Himself in the beginning. It is a law that governs both the celestial and terrestrial realms. God reassured Noah and all of mankind, “While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease” (Genesis 8: 22).

Seed time and harvest. There is a “a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted” (Ecc. 3: 2). A time to plant the seed, and a time to harvest that seed.

The Son of God referred to Himself as a seed, the grain of wheat that must be buried in the earth before it germinates and springs up out of the ground. Thus that seed begins its life cycle that culminates in much fruit, the many grains of wheat at harvest time. “The hour is come that the Son of man should be glorified…Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone: but if it die, it brings forth much fruit” (John 12: 23-24).

The much fruit is the “many sons unto glory” (Heb 2: 10). Just like the harvest of wheat yields many grains of that same wheat, identical to the seed, so shall it be in the harvest of this present world age. The sons of God will be the harvest that will “make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings” (Heb 2: 10). Their destiny as kings sitting on the throne with Christ is the fulfillment of Christ’s own life cycle–just like that solitary wheat seed finds its fulfillment when it multiplies itself at harvest time.

The Secret

“Now the parable is this: the seed is the word of God” (Luke 8: 11). The parables reveal “things that have been kept secret from the foundation of the world” (Mat. 13: 35). The seed is the Word, and “the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). And that Seed, the Son of man, died, was buried, and sprang up from the dead. And that Seed germinates in the ground of our hearts when we believe the Savior rose from the dead.

This spiritual life cycle begins anew in us when we believe. And the Spirit within us now grows, and it will end in a harvest of many sons and daughters with the same  spiritual DNA that Christ has. That is us that I am talking about! Not some heavenly apple pie in the sky by and by. Not floating around heaven all day. No. I am talking about being like Christ. Okay. If you are not quite ready to go that far, then how about Peter, James, John, and Paul.

The Seed is the Word. The Word is the logos, which is the whole plan and purpose of God written out and spoken and wrapped up into it. And this logos/purpose/plan/kingdom/vision is all in the mind of God, in His thoughts, which are comprised of words.

And this Word/Logos was made flesh, the Son of God, our Savior. This is the Seed. Inside any seed is contained the whole life cycle of the plant-to-be, from the time of its germination, resurrection, and new life to its full harvest when the seed has reproduced itself. The seed’s destiny is foreordained inside the husk of that seed. With the proper nourishment and moisture, the seed will reproduce to its potential.

Now Christ is the Seed, the Word made flesh. And we, the children of God, are inside that Seed! We are in that Word; we are in that Seed. We are in that purpose, that plan, that kingdom, that vision. We originated in the very thoughts of God; we are in His mind, and He has poured all into His Son, the Seed. We are all in the Seed’s DNA. We who get it are part and parcel of God’s heart and mind. We are inside the mind of Christ, inside the Word, the Seed of God. For “He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1: 4).

The Word/Seed contains us. We are in His mind, thoughts, and plan. And inside this Word/Seed is the complete plan, including the pre-destiny of those who will be used in God’s plan–those who will be exactly like Him. That is us, “for in Him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17: 28). And “we are in Him that is true, even in His Son” (I John 5: 20).

That’s the long and short of it. God believes all this about Himself and us. Now we just need to stretch our small minds and hearts to believe like He believes. When we believe in Him, we are believing in our personal destiny that He has written down about us, written in the Logos/Word/Seed, written in the Son, the Word made flesh.  The Word becomes light, for it makes His purpose and plan manifest; light reveals and makes known God’s secrets.    Kenneth Wayne Hancock

[This is an excerpt from my book, The Royal Destiny of God’s Elect. It is free with free shipping. Just send your name and mailing address and title of the book to my email: wayneman5@hotmail.com . And I will get it right out to you. Thank you for strolling with me down Immortality Road.]

 

Steps of Knowledge to Get to Christ’s New Commandments

How can I pen mere words that will serve as a key that unlocks the vault where knowledge of the Creator’s holy things are stored? What audacity! To think that we can access the treasures of the Almighty.

And yet, our Creator has already moved on holy men of old with words—words that plainly map out directions to the vault, and instructions for the treasures of wisdom found there. They expound on God’s purpose and plan. It is already written in plain English (or your mother tongue) in the Holy Bible.

But the Bible is in riddles and much mystery. You can look right at the words, yet its true meaning eludes the reader. You can stand right over the vault and not be aware of His treasures hidden inside. For most, it remains a sealed book that collects dust on a lonely shelf. Isaiah put it beautifully: “The whole vision has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed” (29: 11; Rev. 5: 1). The hubris of mankind brings spiritual blindness and confusion. Consequently, the book of truth remains sadly closed to most. But now is the time for those seals to come off the book.

So, help me, Father, to explain clearly how and why your Spirit of love grows within us to full fruit production.

First: God’s purpose in creating us is to reproduce Himself. It is not about us, per se. Life is about Him using us to reproduce Himself. That is why the earth and everything in and on it exists.

Second: “God is love” (I John 4: 8). Agape love. His purpose is to grow this divine Spirit of love to its fullest extent in human beings.

Third: He is sovereign. He is in complete control of the operation of the production of His nature of love in us. He chooses whomsoever He desires to use, to fulfill His purpose. It is all Him and for Him.

Fourth: Humans are the garden that He plants His seed of love in. It is planted in us through faith when we believe the testimony of the Father’s Seed/Son. Belief in His resurrection springs to life a new seed of love inside us. As we are touched by the love that Christ showed, we receive a new life of love that begins to grow within our hearts. “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (I John 4: 10).

Fifth: This little light of love wants to grow. But it is fed nutrients that stunt its growth. Christ, His apostles, and His prophets warn us of false teachings fed by false teachers (Mt. 24: 11; Jude 1; II Peter 2: 1-22). We will know them by the fruit in their followers’ lives. If the flock is still floundering in sin, then that is bad fruit, stunted fruit.

Six: Young Christians begin bearing the fruit of love, and then the Father begins to purge or prune them so that they can bear “more fruit” (John 15: 1-2). These purging can be severe. Many are taken aback with the sufferings they go through, the worst of which are the betrayals endured. Many cannot understand why God would let “bad things” happen to them. This knowledge is crucial: God is the Giver of “good things’ in our lives; He is also the Instigator of the “bad things” that happen to us [Just think of Job]. Without this knowledge, many walk away and stop trying. Most do not know that all sufferings are a part of God’s plan for our perfection/maturity. Our perfection fulfills His purpose of reproducing full blown agape love within us.

Seven: Our perfection is the maturity of God’s divine nature with us. I.e., it is full grown agape love in us and manifested out to others. “Christ in you, the hope of glory” is His goal for those chosen for this honor: To fully house LOVE. To be just like the Son of God Himself. Nothing less. He calls this bearing “much fruit.”

Eight: To accomplish this high growth in human beings, God showed Peter that we need to add seven aspects of God’s divine nature to our faith. Hence, the title of this new book is The Additions to the Faith (II Peter 1). The first six additions lay a foundation for the seventh, which is agape love.

Nine: When we bear “much fruit,” agape love will be fully reproduced in us.

Ten: Abiding in Him, and Him in us, produces “much fruit” (John 15: 5).

Eleven: Obeying Christ’s New Commandments leads to the Abiding. Christ said, “If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love…This is my commandment, That you love one another, as I have loved you” (John 15: 10, 12).

Summary: God’s purpose is to fully manifest Himself (agape love) in us. He has a plan to accomplish this goal. To get there we must add seven aspects of His divine nature to the faith. The seventh is agape love, God’s divine nature. To add agape love, we must obey Christ’s New Commandments; this leads to the abiding. And the abiding produces much fruit. [Note: Nine through Eleven above sound so simple, yet they are so profound. It takes a quiet mind through much study to grasp their meaning.]

What are these New Commandments? Here’s two of them: “Love one another as I have loved you” and “Continue in my love” (John 15: 9, 12).     Kenneth Wayne Hancock

To be continued…

If You Ain’t Knowin’, You Ain’t Growin’

A wise voice once spoke to me, “If you ain’t knowin’, you ain’t  growin’.”

And so later I asked myself, “Knowing what exactly?” And then a few scriptures came to me.

“Be still and know that I am God.” First, be still. Get out of the traffic of your life, slow down, and take that country road and pull over, and with a calm mind, know that He is God.

But which God, or rather which version of the God of the Bible? “What is His name?” Moses asked. “I AM THAT I AM” was God’s reply. YHWH in the Hebrew. And it was the same I AM that spoke through Christ when He said, “Before Abraham was I am.” Know that “the fullness of the godhead dwelt bodily in Christ.” “Be still and know that I am God” (Psm. 46: 10) [For much more on this subject, read Chapters 11-14 in Yah Is Savior: The Road to Immortality found here:  https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/book-yah-is-savior-the-road-to-immortality/ ].

Knowing and growing in Him. And then the much quoted passage from Christ’s lips came to mind: “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8: 32). But free from what exactly? He answers that two verses later. “Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.”  I.e., if you are sinning, it is because you are Sin’s slave. Sin is your master. You do Sin’s bidding. You are not free from sin. You don’t know the truth that will free you from sin and sinning (the breaking of the Ten Commandments [I John 3: 4]).

To know the truth that will free us from having to sin. What is that knowledge that will liberate mankind from sin’s slavery? HalleluYah! This is gigantic information!

“Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin” (Rom. 6: 6-7). Same verses in the NIV: “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.” We have got to know that our old sinful first nature “was crucified” with Christ on the cross. It is already accomplished! The only thing that we need to do is believe it. That is all. And through believing it, we know that it is done by Him. It just takes faith/belief.

I don’t get it. This is so fundamental. Why aren’t pastors and ministers preaching this in their churches? Oh, I don’t know. Could it be that they just do not believe it? And it is not a very popular message. Hey, people, repent of your sins and die with Christ on His cross! Not real popular. Probably it will get you fired. Hirelings get fired. God’s prophets and apostles and teachers don’t. They are not in it for the salary. And so, the pastors and ministers blather platitudes about Christ and never by His Spirit speak of this knowledge.

Brothers and sisters, we’ve got to know this: God gives us His word that if we submit our old sinful selves to spiritually die with Christ on the cross, that He will free us from sin and sinning. Because “he that is dead is freed from sin.” And now we also know that being spiritually buried with Him, and being raised up with Him secures a brand new life in Him, free from the bondage to sin and its consequences. It is all laid out there in the sixth chapter of Romans. This is where the knowledge of the truth that will free us from sin is crystallized.

Of course, there are many passages of scripture that deal with knowing. But I will close with one that seems to fit nicely here, again from Christ’s lips: “If you know these things, happy are you if you do them” (John 13: 17). And we are growing when we do Christ’s things. Knowing and doing equals growing. “If you ain’t knowin’ you ain’t growin’.”       Kenneth Wayne Hancock

[Order your free copy of any of my books—free with free shipping in the USA. Just email me your snail mail address, mentioning which book—the latest being The Royal Destiny of God’s Elect.  wayneman5@hotmail.com ]

Four Major Concepts Illuminating God’s Plan for the Jews Today

One of my readers asked some very important questions concerning the Jews and their place today on the world stage. He asked, “So Jews no longer exist in the OT sense as world history? Does the evolution of God’s Plan through Jews no longer exist.”

Discussing anything about Jewish people is a touchy subject. I want to say up front that I love all peoples of the world. That is what I am told to do by our Master Christ. I am a student of history and so I will limit my answers to sharing historical facts and the Holy Scriptures. Most theologians do not believe nor teach the following things in their seminaries. Because of this, trying to understand anything about the Jews is like untangling a skein of yarn that has many loose ends.

To answer these cogent questions, we must clarify just what the word “Jew” means. Most people think that any descendant of the Hebrew patriarchs is a Jew, which they are not. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob/Israel were never called Jews in the Bible. Jacob had a son named Judah, and it is through him much later that his offspring began to be called “Jews” (II Kings 16: 6, c. 740 B.C.). “Jew” is to “Judea” as “Texan” is to “Texas.” Actually, “Jew” is another word for a “Judean.” Judea was the promised land that the descendants of Judah inherited upon entering.

So, to gain understanding that will answer the questions, four major concepts must first be clarified.

First, many peoples down through history have converted to Judaism. About 85% of Jews today do not descend from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel, according to Arthur Koestler in his book The Thirteenth Tribe. That may be a jarring statement for some, but it is true. Many Jews today claim that they descend from the Hebrew patriarchs, but the vast majority of Jews today are descendants of ancestors who converted to Judaism. History confirms this. The whole nation of Khazaria, a Turko-Mongol tribe in southern Russia during the Middle Ages, converted en masse to Judaism.

Furthermore, the Edomites, the offspring of Esau, the twin brother of Jacob, were  converted to Judaism in 125 B.C. under the Judean king John Hyrcanus (“Edom,” Wikipedia). The Jewish Ency. backs this up saying that “Esau is in modern Jewry.”

This knowledge has profound prophetical importance for the last days. The man Esau in the Bible hated his brother Jacob and terrorized him throughout their lives. Consequently, Yahweh declared, “I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste” (Mal. 1: 2-3; Ezk. 35: 1-15). Moreover, the whole book of Obadiah speaks of the complete destruction of Esau and his descendants. We read of this destruction during the time of the end in Revelation 18. Again, Yahweh is doing the hating here; He told me to love all people, and He told me to above all love the truth.

Esau’s descendants converted to Judaism in 125 B.C. By the time Christ appeared on the scene, they had taken over the power positions of high priest and headed the major religious factions, the Pharisees and Sadducees. Even Herod the king was Idumean or Edomite. Understanding this major point explains why Christ exposed them for masquerading around as the true offspring of Judah. Christ told the Pharisees, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do…He that is of God hears God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God” (John 8: 44, 47). Christ later references those who “say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan” (Rev. 2: 9; 3: 9). This is some heavy stuff that our Savior was saying. It is left to each of His followers to connect the dots.

Second, the true Jews are the offspring of Judah and Benjamin (with some Levites).  Today they are the 15% of the total Jewish population. The apostle Paul was a true Jew of the tribe of Benjamin. Because they lived in Judea, they were called Jews, short for Judeans.

Descendants of Judah and Benjamin are definitely in the earth today. Biblical prophecy mentions their important appearance in the latter days. Of the 144,000 servants that the angels seal in Revelation 7, 12,000 are of Judah, and 12,000 are of Benjamin, and 12,000 are of Levi.

Third, Judaism of today is not the religion that Moses introduced to the twelve tribes of Israel. Judaism today is based on the Talmud. The Talmud is “the collection of Jewish law and tradition consisting of the Mishnah and the Gemara and being either the edition produced in Palestine a.d. c400 or the larger, more important one produced in Babylonia a.d. c500” (“Talmud,” Dictionary.com). The Talmud contains some very anti-Christian rhetoric, denying our Savior’s divinity. Many of its claims are blasphemous, according to Christian theology, and I will not quote them here. You need to do your own research; many will be shocked and dismayed. Most of the tenets of Judaism is based on the Talmud and not the Old Testament of the Bible.

Fourth, the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel are in the earth today, and they are not Jews. They are Israelites, descendants of the ten tribes of Israel that made up the Kingdom of Israel when the twelve tribes broke into two separate kingdoms (I Kings 12).

700 plus years after their dispersion, Christ said, “I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the House of Israel” (Matt. 15: 24). Paul mentions them, saying that they were “serving God day and night” (Acts 26: 7). The book of James is written “to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad” (1: 1). If you and I are not one of the twelve tribes, then we are reading someone else’s mail when we read the book of James.

The Lost Tribes of Israel are lost as to who they are in God, but God has a plan to restore them to Himself, as in the parable of the dry bones (Ezk. 37: 11). This is the “whole house of Israel” not just the two tribes of the Jews. The same goes for the future joining of the House of Israel and the House of Judah, the two sticks (Ezk. 37: 16-28). Here we see that the Jews of the House of Judah are not the Israelites of the ten-tribed House of Israel.

Proof that the Lost Tribes are in the earth today, we go back to Revelation 7. We see that the tribes that are sealed in the future include the “lost sheep of the House of Israel.” They are mentioned by name by the heavenly angel that spoke to John.

Finally, defining clearly all of these historical terms—Jews, Israelites, Lost Tribes of Israel, Hebrews—is paramount in understanding “the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter” (Rev. 1: 19). The past is the crystal ball illuminating the present and the future.

Jewish people today do have a prominent role to play for the end time. The problem is that the truth as to their identity has not been taught. Confusion reigns, and we know where that comes from.  Furthermore, the Jews are not the only players. The ten tribes of Israel are in prophecy to be restored back to God (Rom. 11: 1-1-6), too. And don’t forget all the nations of the world.

Knowing the truth about the House of Judah and the House of Israel—that they are not the same–is important to understand God’s plan. The elect of God, who will become the 100 fold fruit bearers, will unravel this puzzling ball of yarn.      Kenneth Wayne Hancock

{I recommend that readers unfamiliar with these things look them up and prove them whether they be right or not. Some will be offended because the above does not agree with what they have been taught…Send for my latest book, The Royal Destiny of God’s Elect, which is free with free postage to all who ask. In the USA, just send your mailing address to my email: wayneman5@hotmail.com and I will send it on to you. Chapter 42 has much more on the above.}

Eating the Hidden Manna

Christ makes an exciting promise to His followers who overcome a specific shortcoming that is hindering their spiritual growth. “To him that overcomes will I give to eat of the hidden manna” (Rev. 2: 14).

“Manna” appears throughout the scriptures. Manna first fell from heaven miraculously for the children of Israel in the wilderness. They called it “What is it?” because it had never happened before. They also called it the “bread from heaven.”

Christ said that the original manna was not the true bread from heaven. “The bread of God is He which comes down from heaven and gives life unto the world…I am the bread of life: he that comes to Me shall never hunger, and he that believes on Me shall never thirst” (John 6: 30-35). The manna in the wilderness was physical; the heavenly manna is spiritual.

“The Jews murmured at Him” in unbelief. The true bread from heaven was staring them in the face, and they could not see Him. The True Manna was hidden from them. For, you see, the Son of God is the “hidden manna.” He is hidden from those whose eyes only see the outward appearance. Because “seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear neither do they understand” (Matt. 13: 13). Unless God opens a person’s eyes, they will be blind to spiritual things—even though they read the same Bible and go to the same church house. Few realize that He fulfilled this scripture: “I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.” (Matt. 13: 35 NIV; “kept secret” in KJV).

Christ the Hidden Manna

Brothers and sisters, we are talking about the secrets of the universe being revealed! It is there for us. He has laid it all out. Christ is the hidden manna. But, What is it? The true manna from heaven consists of His purpose, His plan, His thoughts, and His dreams about His kingdom of love and joy and peace. The hidden manna is hidden only to those who cannot see. But those born from above do see and enter into His kingdom and governance (John 3: 3-6).

Christ wants to share it all with us. He wants us to eat the true bread from heaven, which is Himself. But how do we partake of the bread of life? Man’s wisdom cannot teach us these things. Man’s wisdom only sees the physical, such as the magical mystical tour of   transubstantiation. “No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden…None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” [And who are the “rulers of this age” that crucified Christ? Obviously Rome, the 4^th beast world empire, and those “which say they are Judean, of Judah, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan” (Rev. 2: 9; 3: 9]. Do not trust these two rulers of this age to guide you spiritually. This is part of the overcoming.

Conversely, the “hidden wisdom” looks after the Spirit and teaches us to spiritually ingest His purpose, plan, words, thoughts, teachings, commands, doctrines, and desires. And we partake of them by believing them, which is believing Him. We take His words into our thoughts, and make our thoughts His thoughts. This is having the mind of Christ (Phil. 2: 5). It’s not a physical thing; it is spiritual. He said, “The words I speak, they are spirit and they are life.” When we believe His words and think His thoughts, then we walk in His Spirit of life; we walk as a member of His body. Christ is still asking us, “Believest thou this?” (John 11: 26).

The Overcoming

To eat of the hidden manna, one must overcome a “few things” that Christ has against us. When Christ appeared to the apostle John on the island of Patmos around 96 A.D., He laid out a series of spiritual growth expectations for His body of believers, both on a personal and corporate scale. “The Alpha and Omega” spoke to John and told him to write down these things that have happened, is happening, and will happen in the past, the present and the future (Rev. 1: 19). In chapters two and three, we see the Seven Church Ages and their requirements for each level of spiritual growth.

Whole books are needed to expound fully their content, but let us glimpse at the third one–Pergamos. Christ is speaking to individuals, church bodies, and historical church movements in His words to the overcomers. He always acknowledges the good that we have done. Then He tells us the things we are to overcome in order to grow to the next level. If we repent of that thing, then He rewards us with a spiritual truth that helps us reach the next level. And so on through the seven ages of growth.

In Pergamos Christ appreciates the walk thus far, but…“I have a few things against you: There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality…Repent…” (Rev. 2: 12-17).

Background: God in the Old Testament had human beings physically live out a life that He directed. Their physical actions in ancient times serve as types, shadows, and examples. Their actions are a spiritual template for us during the “time of the end.” In short, the false prophet Balaam was hired by the Moabite king Balak to curse the children of Israel. He could not curse what Yahweh had blessed, so Balaam taught Balak to bring on the beautiful Moabite women to seduce the Israelites to go after their false gods.

The Pergamos Overcomings for Us Today

We must overcome through repentance these things in the Pergamos growth level:

1. Eating food sacrificed to idols. The original OT story has Israelites eating physical food that had been roasted in sacrifice to literal gods of stone and wood. Interesting. They ate food tainted by a false doctrine of worshipping idols. Spiritual application for today: Repent of false doctrines in our worship of the true God. Do not ingest false teachings about Christ. We must repent of the old leaven, the false teachings of churchianity.
2. They literally “committed sexual immorality” with the Moabite women. To be blunt, they committed fornication with the whorish Moabite women. You may ask, How can this apply to us? The answer is found later in Revelation 17. We see “the judgement of the great whore that sits on many waters: with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication” (v. 1-2). She was richly arrayed and on her forehead was this name written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH…And the woman which you saw is that great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth.” We know that city is Rome, whose pope crowned emperors and kings. Even the notes in the Catholic bible say that it describes Rome.

God is warning us and requiring us to repent of the false doctrines taught by the great whore, the Roman Church and her daughters. And we must “come out of her” and not  be in fellowship with others who are saturated with false teachings.

Those who repent and purge out the old false doctrines about Christ will receive a reward. The Spirit is saying this to the churches: To him that overcomes will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone” (Rev. 2: 17).

In Summary

Christ is the hidden manna, the bread of life. The word “Christ” means the Anointed One. The Anointing is truth. Therefore, the Anointing is the Spirit of truth. Consequently, the Hidden Manna = the Spirit of Truth. And when the Spirit of Truth comes into your life, “He will guide you into all truth…for He will show you things to come” (John 16: 13).

As we eat the hidden manna, we will find that it tastes very sweet like honey at first, but afterward, it will grow bitter in the belly. The first flush of love, joy and peace is sweet, but as we grow closer to the day of the Lord’s vengeance, the bitter misery of tribulation fills the air.

But right now, let us eat of the hidden manna that He has given us.  Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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Knowing Christ as He Was in the Beginning

We now realize that God wants to glorify a certain group of Christians for the last days. They will have grown into full maturity; they will no longer act like little children of God who are mostly alive for what they can receive from the Father. They are His first fruits. They are called the manifested sons of God; they are the ones for these last days that will fulfill the Father’s purpose of reproducing Himself.

They are the over comers in the church ages of Revelation 2 and 3. They will bear 100 fold spiritual fruit. They will rule with Christ in the Kingdom of God upon His return to earth. They are the “kings” in the phrase “King of kings.”

John refers to spiritual Christian growth levels when he writes to “children, young men, and fathers.” These mature Christians are the fathers. And John writes to the fathers “because you have known Him from the beginning” (I John 2: 13-14).

Knowing Christ as He Was in the Beginning

Brethren, if the Father has laid on our hearts to answer this high heavenly calling and election to be His sons, then we need to know Him that is “from the beginning.” In the gospels, we see the Son of God, the Father clothed in human flesh, loving the people, healing them and teaching them.

But to know Christ “from the beginning,” we must know of His actions and deeds in the beginning. We must go back to that primeval epoch, when on the earth everything “was good” in the Garden of Eden. We must see Him during the Exodus, communing with Moses and sitting on the mercy seat in the old tabernacle. We must see Him in the fiery furnace of Babylon with the Hebrew children and in so many other scenes.

When we know of Christ’s literal exploits on earth in OT times, we are one step closer in being what He wants us to be—one step closer in being His friend like Abraham—one step closer in knowing Him that is from the beginning—one step closer in being a spiritual father—one necessary step closer in becoming a vessel God will use to reproduce Himself in. That is what it is all about. We must decrease so that He can increase in us.

And just who was this Holy Entity that appeared and communed with the prophets and patriarchs hundreds of years before the Son would be born in a manger? That Holy One that was from the beginning, that we believe was made flesh and dwelt among us, we call God.

The Hebrew scriptures declare Him to be Yahweh. Over 6,700 times His name Yahweh appears in the Old Testament. He came to this earth many times bodily, taking a personal interest in His eternal purpose and plan in reproducing Love.  This God, this great Spirit of Love, who poured Himself into a human body and laid down that life willingly, has proven by His resurrection that He is worthy of our praise.

The First and the Last

Christ said that He is the first and the last. The Father Yahweh also said that He is the first and the last (Rev. 1: 11; Isaiah 48: 12). This is the great mystery of the Godhead. This is the one that we must get right in order to grow to full maturity. We must get this in order to “know Him that is from the beginning.”

The Son said that He is the first and the last, and the Father said the same thing. They both cannot be the first and the last. A father by definition is first and then the son is last. How do we solve this mystery? The answer is that the Father and the Son are one. The Son said that they were one.   “I and my Father are one.” The Father is the invisible Spirit, who inhabits His body, the Son. It is Yahweh, the Spirit, the Father, speaking through Isaiah, and it is the invisible Father speaking through the Son in Revelation.

God spoke to us through His prophets in times past, but has in these last days spoken to us by His Son (Hebrews 1:1). God spoke to His people through the old prophets with the same Spirit that He spoke to the Israelites through Christ. There is only one God; there is only one Spirit. And God, who is a Spirit, is invisible. Yet, He resides in a spiritual body, His Son.

On the road to Emmaus, Christ after His resurrection appeared unto two men with little faith. They talked to Him, and “beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Luke 24: 27).  These scriptures are the Old Testament, and Christ says that they speak of Him! This proves that the OT scriptures speak of Yahweh-in-human-form—in other words–Christ.

Christ delivered His people many times in the Old Testament; His mercy endures forever. His love carries the same power to heal in every era of time–past, present, and future. Christ’s deeds give universal comfort to all who just believe His report. When we believe that He is the Word made flesh, and contained the Father Yahweh inside His vessel, when we really see Him as He is—then we have seen the Father. We then will know Him that is from the beginning.   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

Purging Out Erroneous Concepts of the Godhead

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We have learned that the apostles’ doctrine is Christ’s teachings. His apostles “continued steadfastly” in them. They are called the “milk of the word” and are utterly necessary for spiritual growth in Christ. And spiritual growth is what our Father is all about. Learning these teachings and applying them in our life enables us to grow from “one degree of glory into another.”

Applying them is what insures our spiritual growth. At each level of fruit production—30, 60, and 100 fold—each of the seven apostles’ doctrines are seen.

The first doctrine is “repentance from dead works.” This doctrine is the entry point into the Kingdom of God, for one must repent from sin and be born from above before one can see or enter into it. Christ came preaching, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Repenting once and for all of sinning in your life enables you to bear 30 fold fruit.

But to grow into 60 fold fruit bearing, one must repent from erroneous teachings passed down to us from purveyors of false doctrines. Just living on this planet subjects us to old leaven concepts. They come from sermons, Sunday school lessons, gospel songs, televangelists, books, movies, next door neighbors, parents, grandparents, and our own dreams.

False doctrines must go, for they are teachings, traditions, and concepts conjured out of the fervid imaginations of deceived minds. They must be excised from our thoughts. The apostles called it “purging out the old leaven.” To bear optimal fruit, a young tree’s wayward branches must be pruned.

Which Doctrines Must Go?

Where do we begin? How do we find one of the false teachings in our thinking? I suggest that we start with our concept of the Godhead. I know that it is perhaps the biggest and grandest concept of them all. But once we get this one straightened out in our minds and hearts, it will open doors of light to see other wonders in the next room.

Our goal and purpose in life is to be like Christ and His apostles. That is His goal and purpose for us. To accomplish this, we must “know Him that is from the beginning.” We must see God before man was created out of the dust of the earth, before man’s governments and armies and religions and societies ever came into being. To be like Him we must stand before Him, filled with His Spirit. We must have decreased so much that it is no longer us standing there but Christ in us doing the greater works. We must see God as He really is; we must see Him before man was deceived by Satan’s wiles, before the devil’s whispered lies about God took root in man’s imagination.

In order to fully understand the Oneness of God, we must get back to the beginning, before sin and self and Satan, and before false teachings marred the mind of man. We must go back to that time before sin entered the world, before tears and sorrow, before greed and hatred. We have to go back to the time in the Father’s heart when it was good, “when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy” (Job 38: 7).

To comprehend how God really is, to perceive of His purity, we must go back, back, back to the beginning, when we were together in His heart, when we were in one body, with one Spirit and one hope and one faith and “one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all” (Eph. 4: 4-6). Those chosen by our Father to go on to full perfection and maturity will go back there, back to the beginning. The future manifested 100 fold sons of God will repent of self and go back to the beginning before ego ever existed.

But we who have the “high calling” aspire to grow into the 100 fold manifested sonship walk. We desire to become spiritual fathers to those whom our God is calling and choosing. John addressed the fathers: “I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known Him that is from the beginning” (I John 2: 13, 14). Knowing Him from the beginning is knowing Him before sin entered in and shrouded men’s eyes, before imaginations supplanted the Truth that our elders in the faith saw and knew. The apostle John is telling us, “And now, you, like them, know.”

John, what do we know that is from the beginning?

“You have an unction from the Holy One, and you know all things” (I John 2: 20). We have an anointing of truth, an unction, from the Holy One. The Holy One shares Himself, the Spirit of truth, which is the anointing, out of His reality of Oneness. God is One, not two or three persons. He is the “Holy One of Israel.” The “truth” spoken of in the Scriptures of, well, Truth, is the  Oneness of the Godhead. There, I have said it—again. If we get this one right, it will carry us on down the road a long ways.

Ferreting Out the False Doctrines

If you want to know what is not the truth about the Godhead, just go to the source of falsehoods—“the woman arrayed in purple and scarlet color and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: and upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus…” (Rev. 17: 4-6). This proves that John saw the Catholic Church as this Mother of Harlots (denominations).

The Mother Church, the Roman Catholic Churcht is born of Babylonian confusion, its existence a great mystery. Its teachings are false in every way. Find out what they say about the Godhead and the truth will be its polar opposite. Case in point: the Trinity. The concept of the trinity has permeated almost all of Christianity. Hundreds of books have been written about it, but most will admit that it is unexplainable. The word “trinity” is not in the Bible, yet the whole world accepts the concept of “three persons” in the God head. And all that is left is confused minds after trying to understand it.

So before you call me a heretic, let me share a couple of chapters that illustrate and bear witness to the truth that our God is One. [To be continued]     Kenneth Wayne Hancock

 

Why Most Christians Need the Milk of the Word and Not the Meat

We have been talking about a few concepts considered the meat of the word in the last two or three articles. The meat of His word is the deep things of God. They are difficult to discern and comprehend by minds clogged with worldly thinking. We have seen things about the Kingdom of God and its capital city New Jerusalem, the city of God, literally coming out of heaven and setting down where Old Jerusalem now sits upon Christ’s return.

These are rare things, deep things, that only the Spirit of truth deals with and reveals to whomsoever He will. These rare things are the meat that we should be digesting and assimilating into our spirit and heart.

But most professing Christians cannot digest the meat because they do not have the “first principles of the doctrine of Christ” firmly planted in their hearts. The Spirit of God through His apostle says that because of the dullness of their hearing, he could not expound on the more glorious things of God. For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongs to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil (Heb. 5: 11-14).

Why Professing Christians Choke on the Meat of the Word

They are dull of hearing because they do not know the “first principles of the oracles of God.” These are none other than the “principles of the doctrine of Christ,” which is the foundation of the temple of God–us (Heb. 6: 1-2). And Christ’s doctrine is the apostles’ doctrine, and it is listed in vs. 1 and 2.

The devil does not want us talking about and studying the doctrine of Christ. The devil works subtly; your eyelids will get heavy and begin to close, and your mind will wander to earthly things. It is not by accident that this happens. Satan wants to prevent us from attaining our royal destiny.

Nevertheless, God wants to take us into the deep waters where the treasures of His heart lay like gold doubloons on the bottom of the sea. In this natural world, many would train rigorously to dive for this gold if given an opportunity by the treasure hunter and his company. Many would go all in to get a cut of the massive shipwreck. But few will get serious and train to become the manifested sons and daughters of God, the future princes and princesses of God’s Kingdom.

Trouble with the Green Tree

God wants to take us there. But as was the case 2,000 years ago, the apostle cannot go into the more glorious things of God, the meat of the word. Can we blame God? If a brother still persists in putting up a green tree in his home every winter solstice, how can he expect God to trust him with the more precious, deeper truths?

Most denominations affirm that the Bible is the written word of God and that they go by it. And yet, in the plainest description in the KJV we read, “Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen…for the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not” (Jer. 10: 2-4). Come on. It’s the Christmas tree. It is a heathen custom, and it is vain to decorate it and “ooh and ah” over it. God Almighty is against it. Period. Yet, take a poll of the 2,400 sects and denominations, and the vast majority of them not only condone, but justify the green tree as part of their winter celebrations.

How can God entrust these participants in this gross error with His pearls of holy knowledge? “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you” (Matt. 7: 6). These people need the milk of the word and not the meat. They need the foundational teachings on repentance, faith, and the baptism into Christ’s death, for starters.

That is why Christ told us to forsake all things from our past—where nothing comes before His way. “Whosoever he be of you that forsakes not all that he has, he cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14: 26-33). That “all” includes not only material things but customs and traditions of men that one follows. Then a brother will say, “My spouse would leave me if I made a stand on these things!” If he or she loves you, they’ll come back. I know. And if they do not love you…Well,  the greatest revivals often happen when an unbelieving spirit in your midst walks out.

Christ’s Promise to Sup with Us

A few of us have been given a whiff of this savory meat of the word, causing us to hunger for more. Christ has promised to eat supper with us. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him and he with me.” He is knocking right now on the elect’s doors. He is calling us. If we can discern His voice speaking His word and not some manmade traditions, then He will come into that door we open to Him. And then, He promises to sup with us, or to eat supper with us (Rev. 3: 20-22). Do we think that we are going to just have a glass of milk (of the word) with Him? No, He will be expounding on the meat of the word, and we will be ready to partake, or He would not have knocked and entered. Like after the crucifixion and resurrection, Christ will be “speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God” to us (Acts 1: 3). Christ is promising a spiritual supper, where He in person will share with us like He shared His vision with the early apostles.

After we partake the spiritual meat with Him, having overcome the worldly traps, He then will grant that we sit with Him in His throne! This is what the Spirit is saying. “To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with me in my throne…” (Rev. 3: 21).

That’s the meat! No more milk! The milk was important for our growth, but we need the meat now, not baby formula. No more baby cereal! It is on to the throne!

A throne. Wait a minute. Thrones are where kings and queens sit. Monarchs sit as the sovereign heads of governments. God will be sharing this power with a few thousand of His sons and daughters because He can trust them. After all, He has been over for supper. But can He trust you and me?     Kenneth Wayne Hancock

 

Called, Chosen, and Predestined–Who Can Be Against Us?

It’s funny how we can read a verse of scripture for decades, thinking we understand it, and then one day, when it is pointed out, we “get the revelation.” We stared at it with open eyes, and we did not get it until it was time.

So it is with what Paul the apostle called “the manifestation of the sons of God.” “Manifestation” means “unveiling or revealing.” This unveiling, this making known of God’s sons for these last days is what this book is about. Certain people, in all likelihood living right now on the earth, have been chosen by their Creator to “overcome all things.”

These are the “elect” of the title of this volume. These have been elected or chosen by their Maker to sit with Him on His throne at the end of this age. They have a royal destiny to become kings sitting alongside Christ when He returns and sets up His kingdom.

They are described at length in Romans 8. They are “free from the law of sin and death” (v. 2). The righteousness of the law is fulfilled in them because they walk in accordance with the Spirit of God (v. 1, 4). They are spiritually minded and have the Spirit of God dwelling in them (vs. 5-9). They have received the Spirit of Christ, which is the Spirit of the Father; the Spirit has promised them that He will make alive their mortal bodies. They are “heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ” if they endure the sufferings that will come because of this commitment. If they suffer with Christ, then they “will be glorified together” (vs. 10-17).

Paul continues to say that “the sufferings” that we endure “are not worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us” (v. 18). The Spirit of God in Paul is telling these future chosen ones that God will reveal His glory in them! Furthermore, the whole creation is eagerly waiting for them to be revealed during these latter days. “For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God” (v. 19 NKJV).

Every living thing in the creation is dying or will die. We all have bodies made of earth that will give up the ghost and melt back to clay. We are all slaves and are in bondage to this mortal fate. Why is the whole creation waiting for the revealing of the immortal sons of God? “Because the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of decay into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (vs. 20-21).

In a harvest, there are always first fruits. A few human beings will be glorified first, thus showing the way for the rest of the creation. Paul likens it to the whole creation groaning in birth pains, how we are all groaning and travailing, waiting, waiting for somebody to transcend death and decay. We do not want to die, and we certainly do not desire our loved ones to wax cold as the ground that receives them. Impending death is so horrid, that we refuse to think on it. If only we had a  champion to show us the way to immortality. Even we who have the down payment of the Spirit are groaning right along with the whole creation, “waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (v. 22-23). We are waiting for the antidote.

We now live and walk around in these aging, decaying bodies, but some of us can take comfort in that we have a measure of His Spirit within. But we “are saved by hope”—hope that though we do not yet see the immortal bodies that God has promised us, “we with patience wait for it.” It is a tough and sometimes lonely road, but the Spirit helps us to pray, and Christ our High Priest makes intercession for us (v. 24-27).

In the last few verses of Romans 8, we get to the meaning of the title of this book, The Royal Destiny of God’s Elect. We see that those that love God are the ones He has “called according to His purpose.” He has a definite purpose (v. 28). He foreknew these; He knew them from the beginning, and He gave them a destiny beforehand; He “also predestined them to be conformed to the image of His Son” so that Christ would be the firstborn among many sons and daughters (v. 29). The remainder of the chapter insures us of God’s love for us in seeing us through to the end. After all, it is His plan and purpose.

The premise of this book is that the future sons and daughters of God must go through a rigorous unlearning and learning. The false teachings fed to us by the world must be purged, and the thoughts of God, the mind of Christ, must be learned in their stead. For the wide highways of the world are paved with poisoned stones, smooth for the tread of the bygone masses. The way of the elect is a narrow path that winds its way up the mountain of God. It is rocky and rough, and few are able to finish the race. Those that do will overcome all the sufferings and sacrifices and will be the forerunners for the whole creation. They already are chosen and predestined to win. Their confidence is in their Father who created them for the fulfilling of His purpose. They will have a hunger for God’s purpose; they will long to get the truth about why we are here, and why we are dodging death during our earthly sojourn. They will learn of His plan and purpose, His thoughts, His ways. And the old teachings about God they will gladly shed, and they will marvel at how small and suffocating churchianity’s dogmas were.

For these overcomers, soon to be glorified and revealed to the world, will return and “build the old waste places.” They shall be “the trees of righteousness” and the “planting of the LORD.” They shall bring great glory to God through their humble service to Him.

This book speaks of the beginnings of the mind of Christ, the thoughts of God, which are some of the first lessons about God that these future sons and daughters must have “to make their calling and election sure.” They will ask, What is this purpose of God that Paul speaks of? What is His plan to implement His purpose? What are His thoughts that are not our thoughts? Why are we really here? What’s really happening?

[This article will serve as part of the Preface of the above mentioned book that I am finishing at present. Hopefully, it will be published next summer. Kenneth Wayne Hancock]