The Ebb and Flow of the Abiding

I have noticed that there is an ebb and flow of the Spirit’s presence in my life. I say this not as a criticism of our merciful Savior, for He does all things well.

But I have observed that after a wonderful welling up of His presence within me, His Spirit subsides. Of course, it is I that backs out of the light that He shines. The rays of understanding engulf me, and then, I must back away a bit. I realize that it is “line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little.”

It is as if this old wine skin of my mind and body cannot stand the constant pressure of the new wine, so I recede a bit. It’s like being in the heavenlies for a while, and then needing to return to the earth’s atmosphere where I may breathe again the accustomed mixture of gases suitable for my current mortal tabernacle. I ponder this ebb and flow of His Spirit, or rather, my drifting away from His rarefied heavenly atmosphere.

I recall passages of scriptures describing what happens to his children who abide in him and not ebb and flow, but rather stay in him.

Our Savior said much about the abiding that we are to maintain. He believes that it is possible and necessary for us to have His Spirit remain, stay, dwell, and continue in our vessels.

Oh, how we need our new spiritual bodies that He has promised us! He knows our frailties, our weaknesses, and our faults. But He has promised us that He would raise us up at the end of this earth age. If we are alive upon His return, He will change us, as “mortality is swallowed up” by  our new spiritual body. If we expire before He returns, He will change us when He sweeps down to earth. We are coming back with Him, our Captain and leader. The ebb and flow will be no more, for we will be full of His Spirit. A glorious time is coming. Now we must wait until our time. “If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come” (Job 14:14).     Kenneth Wayne Hancock

(From a Journal entry, 3-29-19)

Thoughts on Death and Life–He Is Trustworthy

(From a journal entry, 5-30-19)

Humans are the only beings that contemplate their fate after death. Even the self-described atheist fears death. If it is not a door to another destination, why fear death?

Of all the living, it is mankind that wonders about eternity and their place in it. Where do I fit in, he asks himself. Why did I as a youth believe I would live forever and never die? Why did I act like I was an immortal one—only to splash down into the mud of mediocrity?  This dethrones our high thoughts—thoughts of a Christless immortality, which come from the good/bad cycle and the wretched throes of war and peace and abundance and famine.

Of all the living, only humans ponder eternity. The human is the only species that is wired with waves of eternity’s thoughts. The singsong cadence of the lives of mortals—living today, dying tomorrow—confuses them when clothed in their first earthen body. They do not know when mortality’s final trip is scheduled.

But we who have died and have risen with Christ have taken the first step on the way to immortality. He has promised us passage into His immortal kingdom. He has promised us a new spiritual body, free from the physical decay of our weakening “mortal coil.” HalleluYah! Praise Yah for His “way, truth and life.” He is the answer to all questions.

The Father plans to “gather together in one all things in Christ.” That means things in the heavens and earth. He has predestinated you and me to fulfill His purpose of spreading His love in a sublime oneness. He is working it all out through His will (Eph. 1:10-11).

It is all Him, brothers and sisters. Christ is the head; He is running the whole shebang. It is His feast and festival; we are the invitees. He is “the feature; we are just the trailer.”

All Human Beings Should Trust Him

The earth we stand comfortably on is hurling through space around the sun at 67,000 miles per hour. We are spinning at about 1,000 miles per hour (How fast is Earth moving? | Space). Yet we do not feel it; we do not see nor hear anything about these astronomical speeds. It is a well-planned miracle that our Creator has done for life on earth. He has provided the perfect amount of gravity to counterbalance the speeds we travel. We trust Him to continue providing for us.

Death and eternal life. There is no death without first a life being taken. And there is no eternal life without death being conquered. Christ is the “resurrection and the life.” He is trustworthy. It is our honor to serve Him. 

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

“The Sure Mercies of David”

(from journal entry, 9-11-16 and 9-13-16)

Yahweh through His prophet Nathan spoke to David. “And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.” What promises! What enduring love and steadfastness Yahweh showed to David, and by extension, 1000 years later, to Christ.

It is by God’s mercy that He saves us from sin and sinning. In so doing, He saves us from sin’s major consequence—death. We enter oneness with Christ, encouraged by His promise of immortality through Him.

In Acts 13:34 we see the “sure mercies of David” equated with the granting to us of eternal life—the opposite of death. He speaks of the resurrection of Christ and how Christ’s body did not see corruption [decay]. Believing in Christ’s resurrection will bring to us that same incorruptibility of the body when we receive our new spiritual body at the end of this age. Christ’s body not falling into decay insures for us that same future in Christ, to wit: We will receive from Him the “sure mercies of David,” mercies that He has promised us, also.

It is God’s mercy to extend to us and provide the way from utter destruction caused by sin in our lives to the eradication of sin on into the immortality of our spiritual body.

This promise of immortality in our new spiritual bodies that we receive at the end of this age is called the “sure mercies of David.” We are assured the same spiritual grace and mercy that was given to David. Hence—the “sure mercies of David.” God is inviting us to hear His words and to come to Him, to draw near to Him, trusting Him. We hear these same words from the Savior. “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Mt. 11:28). The rest comes to us when we believe in the “sure mercies of David,” when we believe we shall be blessed with a new spiritual body.  

He continues in Isaiah 55:3 by stressing the importance of listening to His words. “Hear and your soul shall live.” Take in the truth that I am saying, and your soul will live and not die. “And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.”

Only those with immortality can partake in an everlasting agreement. God is saying, I am making this agreement with you that if you hear my words and believe Me, that you will live forever. It is an everlasting covenant, for you will be around forever to enjoy the life I give you.

This is the “sure mercies of David,” when Christ, David’s son, makes all this possible. It is for this reason: Yahshua is “the root and the offspring of David” (Rev. 22:16). The “root of David” is Yahweh; the “offspring of David” is the Son of God incarnate, with the Father residing within Him. The Son of God is “the image of the invisible God [the Father] …for by Him was all things created…all things were created by Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.” And now, through Him and his mercies toward us His body, we have everlasting life in Him (Col. 1:15-17).

The Key of David

The promise of immortality granted to believers is at the root of God’s mercies. I believe that these mercies correlate with the “key of David” in Revelation 3:7. It also goes with the “open door” given to overcomers—”doors of the shadow of death” (Job 38:17). Yahshua the Anointed frees the prisoners who are locked up behind the doors of death. I believe that it is the key [the sure mercies] of David that unlocks them.

The door was shut at the marriage feast. Those not ready were locked out. They obviously did not have the key to unlock the door; they did not have the key of David, a “man after God’s own heart.” Yahshua is the door. Enter through Him and you shall be saved (John 10:7,9; Acts 16:26-27).

After Receiving the Mercies and the Key of David

When you receive from Him the Key of David, you receive David’s power as an anointed king—the power to open doors and to shut doors.

Power. But the power that God will give to His “kings and priests” will be awarded to the sons and daughters on their merit according to their study and prayer and seeking His perfect will for their era.

At the beginning of the 1,000-year reign of Christ, the earth will lay desolate. Even a casual reading of Revelation of the events of the Tribulation Period confirms this. He will send out His spiritual offspring, resplendent in their new spiritual bodies. They will go out to the furthest reaches of the globe to help the survivors, to heal them, to feed them, to get them on their feet. They will comfort them, for most will have lost everything dear.

This is a new age, for these sons and daughters sent forth by the “King of kings” will have received their spiritual bodies. They will stride forth as immortals amongst the needy. They will walk in the full authority of the King Yahshua; they will serve their King as His viceroys and heralds, ministering in His stead.

They will attain this position, not through hubris, but through humility and brokenness and mercy and love for the unfortunate and needy. They will bring peace to the ravaged land and joy to the saddened faces. They will grant strength to the feeble and righteousness and justice to all those who long for them. They will be touched by the feelings of their infirmities.

They will, consequently, share with them the “sure mercies of David.”

Our Hope of Immortality–Chapter 1 of My Book, The Apostles’ Doctrine

To live on.  To not have to die.  It is the common thread tying almost all cultures, religions and philosophies together.  Is it not what every nation has clamored for?

The furtive longings of a billion souls from a thousand civilizations have whispered their desire for it.  The baked clay tablets of Mesopotamia speak of it.  Fragments of Egypt’s fragile papyrus pages still share the dream.   The Gilgamesh Epic of Babylonia around 2,200 B.C. chronicles the hero’s quest for immortality.  The ancient Greeks thought that immortality was attained through courageous effort on the battlefield.  Shakespeare imagined immortality coming through the longevity of the lines he wrote.  The Philosopher’s Stone, with its lead-into-gold alchemic dream, symbolized transcending our leaden mortal existence into a golden immortal elixir of life and rejuvenation.  Time would fail us to include the Egyptians’ mummies, the Indians’ nirvana, and on down to our present day where actors and directors try to immortalize themselves in celluloid.

Each of these attempts have flickered and failed.  But the thirst for immortality will not be quenched.  Is it not the most important possession one could ever attain in this life?  To live on and silence the tears shed at your passing.  To trump and triumph over Death.  To laugh at Death’s rude intrusion into all you hold dear.  To negate Death’s mayhem.  To expose him to be a liar when he says that your expiration date is a welcomed conclusion to the human condition, and his boast that he is a friend to the infirm and decrepit.

And Then a Man Came on the Scene

Though a universal longing, all these attempts have collapsed in the dusty halls of darkness.  And then a man came on the scene some 2,000 years ago–a man said to have “brought life and immortality to light.”  He brought good news, announcing the way to conquer death.  He would know, for He defeated Death.  For He was raised from the dead Himself after “three days and three nights” in the grave, seen by hundreds of witnesses.

“After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God” (Acts 1: 3, NIV).  He taught them during that time how to become citizens of His immortal kingdom.  In a word, He taught them how to become immortal.  He, of course is the Savior of mankind, known to the English speaking world as Jesus Christ and known to those very early disciples as Yahshua, which means in the Hebrew, Yah is the Savior.

He shared His Hebrew name with the Hebrew patriarch Joshua, the Anglicized rendition of Yahshua.  Many biblical scholars admit that their names are interchangeable [http://www.blbclassic.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G2424&t=KJV].

In fact, the angel of Yahweh told Joseph to name Him  “Yah is Savior” because “He shall save His people from their sins.”

The Words He Spoke…

Now many have a problem with Him, but all that know of Him will at least say that He is a wise man, a great teacher, and a prophet.  If He was such a great prophet and spiritual teacher, then why don’t those same people believe His words?

And it is the words He spoke about life and immortality that tests us in our search.

What did He teach?  He taught us that the Father Creator is an invisible Spirit, that He is Love, that the Father has a kingdom and a government, that there is a way to enter that kingdom of God and become the children of the Father God, and that He and only He is the way to eternal life, which is immortality.

He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No man comes to the Father but by Me” (John 14: 6).  Anybody who comes up another way is a “thief and a robber.”

He also taught a duality–that there was an enemy Satan, who has a kingdom here on earth, and that he and his evil spirits are warring against God and His children’s kingdom.

Christ taught that sin is the breaking of the Ten Commandments (I John 3: 4-6).  And we humans break the law early on in our lives because of the old nature we are born with.  And He taught that it is this sin nature in us that causes our death.  We are mortal because of the sin within our hearts.  Sin brings on death.  Plain and simple.  “But you know that He appeared so that He might take away our sins. And in Him is no sin” (v. 5).

“He shall save His people from their sins,” said the angel.  He “takes away our sins,” says the apostle John.  So if Christ takes our sins away, then we are free from sin, which opens up the way to immortality because it is sin that brings on our death.

Summing up, Christ “has abolished death and has brought life and immortality to light” (II Tim. 1: 10).  He has “abolished death.”  He has abolished death by abolishing sin in our lives, and thus, He brings immortality to us.

He came to “save His people from their sins” by destroying sin in their lives.  But how does He do this?  It is through His death, burial and resurrection.  He took on our sins upon His sacrificial body, and He died.  He died, we died; our old sinful self died.  He was buried; we were buried.  He raised from the dead; we are raised from the dead–by faith in His resurrection [for much more on how He takes away our old sinful heart, see Romans 6: 1-12 and https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2010/08/21/life-out-of-death-the-ultimate-paradox/ ].

So the Savior destroyed the sin in our life, and thereby destroyed death, thus bringing “life and immortality to light.”  He destroyed sin and death, “for the wages of sin is death.”  Destroy sin and you destroy its after effects–death.

But He also said that most would not comprehend and do His teachings.  He said that broad is the way that leads to destruction and many will enter that wide gate.  But narrow is the way to eternal life, and few will find it.

And that last clause–“and few will find it”–should give us great pause.  He said, “Many are called, but few are chosen.”  Oh, to be one of His chosen, chosen to sit with Him on His throne, helping Him rule the nations during the greatest reign of peace this earth has ever seen–ruling alongside of Him for 1, 000 years, ruling as one of the immortal princes and princesses in His kingdom.   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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Knowing Him As He Really Is—The Definition of Immortality

[Chapter 11 of the book Yah-Is-Savior: The Road to Immortality]

We are well down the road to immortality now. We have learned that wisdom is being in awe of God.  It is the first step; it is the main thing, for it is the first key that begins to unlock the treasure house of God’s knowledge. Without this awe of Him we won’t get anywhere. Then we took step two, knowing His name. Moses got some wisdom, some awe of God, at the burning bush, and then he had to know His name. It was a crucial step, to know God’s true name Yahweh.

And now we have come to our third step: Knowledge of Who He Really Is. The farther we go down this road that leads to immortality, the more is at stake. We cannot turn back now; our own hopes of transcending a certain death hangs on our steadfastness and perseverance at this time. Immortality, the elixir that our mortal mouths must drink, is the knowledge of who God really is. This knowledge is the key to unlock the secrets of eternal life. We have arrived at nothing less than the information that will catapult us over this valley of the shadow of death. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Yahshua the Messiah, whom you have sent. John 17:3. NIV.

Our hopes for arriving at immortality hinge on how well we really know Him—how well we really know His nature, His essence, His Deity, His Godhead. For us, eternal life depends on whether we really know Him as He really is. We must straighten out misconceptions of who He is and how He is. 

Those of us on this road to immortality must realize that only He can grant us true knowledge of Himself.  It will not come through man’s conception of who and how He is. We must believe upon Him in true knowledge “as the scripture has said,” the way the scriptures really portray Him.

But that, of course, is the problem.We all have our own conception of Him.  We think that we have just “come up with it,” but we have received our personal conception of God through what we have been taught by other human beings that we have come in contact with. It really gets tricky when people have studied out minutely different denominational doctrines, and even though they have “come out” of that organization, they cling tenaciously to its teachings—teachings about who He is. 

     The Savior, 2000 years ago, standing before them in a human flesh body, told them that they were searching the scriptures. They thought that eternal life was contained in those scriptures of truth. But, as the  Master  was , the very writings that they thought would yield immortality for them were the very writings that spoke of Him—the One that they were rejecting!  You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life.  These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life. John 5:39-40, NIV…You study the scriptures diligently, supposing that in having them you have eternal life: yet, although their testimony points to me, you refuse to come to me for that life. NEB.

They were studying the scriptures diligently, thinking that immortality would be derived through them.  What writings were they studying that spoke about the Messiah, the Savior? What scriptures existed then?  They were the books commonly referred to as the Old Testament. Now  Yahshua, the Savior, said that those old books written by the prophets of ancient Israel, those old books spoke about HIM!     

The prophets spoke and wrote about the Savior by His very Spirit within them

Let’s go, then, to the prophets where they speak about the Messiah, specifically using the word “Savior.”  He just said in John 5 that the scriptures do testify of Him, so let us go there and see for ourselves what they are saying. Now Peter tells us that the spirit that was in those prophets was the Spirit of the Savior, Yahshua the Anointed One.  And they spoke and wrote down with the Spirit of Yahshua about this immortality, this salvation from a certain death. This salvation was the theme which the prophets pondered and explored, those who prophesied about the grace of God awaiting you.  They tried to find out what was the time, and what the circumstances, to which the spirit of Christ in them pointed. I Peter 1:10-11, NEB.

The Spirit of Messiah, which was in Isaiah the prophet said this: But now thus saith Yahweh (the LORD) that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel…For I am Yahweh thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. Isa. 43:1,3.

Several important points emerge from this passage that are vital for our understanding of His essence, which in turn is vital for our obtaining immortality. First, the Spirit of Christ that was in Isaiah said that He was Yahweh! Thus saith Yahweh…I am Yahweh. When the prophets wrote down the words, “Thus saith Yahweh,” they were saying that Yahweh is speaking through me the following words.  Yahweh is speaking thusly.  Yahweh, the Father, the Creator, the Supreme Being is using me by speaking through me! Oh, to be used that way, the way He used the prophets!

Second, the Spirit of Christ is saying that He created and formed Jacob/ Israel.  John confirms this. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. John 1:3. Paul confirms this as well. For by him were all things created, that are in the heaven, and that are in the earth, visible or invisible…Col. 1:16.

Third, I am Yahweh thy God, the Holy One of Israel…The  Spirit  of the Messiah speaking through Isaiah now says that He is Yahweh, that He is one God and that He is Israel’s Holy One (the whole House of Israel or the 12 tribes of Jacob/Israel).

Fourth, the Spirit of the Messiah, God’s Spirit, Yahweh, breathing and speaking through Isaiah says, I am thy Savior…I, even I, am Yahweh; and beside me there is no saviour. Isa.43: 3, 11. Here Yahweh, which is the Spirit that was in the Messiah, says clearly that He is the Savior and that there is no other savior!  Yahweh, then, was inside the man Yahshua who was called the Savior, for Yahweh says that there is no other savior except Him. We trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those who believe. I Tim. 4:10. God was in Christ (the Anointed One) reconciling the world unto Himself. II Cor. 5:19. It was Yahweh in the man who was the Savior. Or, in other words, Yahweh-in-human-form is the Savior.            

Bottom line: the same Spirit that spoke through the prophets, that created Jacob/Israel and everything else, this Great Spirit God dwelt bodily in the man Yahshua the Messiah. His name Yahshua means “Yah-Is-Savior.” It was Yahweh of old, the Yahweh of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob/Israel, the Yahweh of Moses, David, and all the prophets— that same Yahweh came down, leaving His spirit-body dimension.  And He came to earth in a flesh and blood human body, walked in our midst doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil.  And in due time, He laid down that human body, yielded it up to a sacrificial death, and raised that body in three days to life again, so that we could be restored to His original plan of reproducing Himself. “To tell the old, old story about our Savior and His love…”

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God Chooses Our Destiny in Becoming the Manifestation of the Sons of God

Human beings in the 21^st Century really do think that they are in control, that they call the shots, that they are the captain of their own destiny. And no wonder—we have been taught that since childhood.

And it admittedly does seem so. A thought enters our mind, and we act on it, and—voila!—we have made a choice in life. We are in control. We commandeer our own successes or failures. We, we, we…

Today mankind is swimming in a pool of existentialism and humanism. And they will drown in that pool unless their Maker and Savior chooses to throw them a life line and reel them back to shore.

Mankind is so humanistic that they think that they make the choices that govern their existence. Christians the world over are some of the staunchest purveyors of the doctrine of man’s free will, professing their belief on the Bible.

But upon deeper reflection, the scriptures reveal a God who has pre-written the script of life and has already assigned parts for us to enact. He has made His choices, according to the script that was sealed with seven seals. He chose us before we ever grew in our mother’s womb, before we awoke from that watery tomb, before we began to breathe the good air provided to us.

Yahweh said to Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations” (1: 5). This proves that God provides a personal destiny to man.

Isaiah concurs. “Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name…Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified” (Isa. 49: 1-3). God’s servant is no longer in prophecy one lone prophet, like a Jeremiah or Isaiah, but a people, a nation that God calls Israel. And with this expansion of destiny, God reveals His plan for His glorification. It will be in a body of people.

He calls it “the manifestation of the sons of God.” The whole creation is waiting for this. It is that glorious time when death will be defeated for all of us. The doors of immortality will blow open, and we shall enter that dimension where physical suffering and decrepitude will no longer exist (Rom. 8: 18-23).

He Chose Us

The point is that He chose us; He is in control. Christ said, “You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit…” (John 15: 16). Think back to when you were converted to Christianity. Before that day of deliverance, He had already chosen you for that honor—to be His son or daughter. He chose you for His purpose, to fulfill His plan. And this “much fruit” that we are to bear is the glorification He spoke of in Jeremiah above.

It is with this choosing that He exercises His sovereignty. We see a glimpse of it in Proverbs 16: 1. “The preparations [disposings] of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD (Yahweh).” “Preparations” is translated from a root word in Hebrew meaning “to arrange in order, or in a row, to put in order.” Consequently, we see an arrangement of the things of the heart, which God answers—through our mouth. Remember when Christ told His disciples to not worry about what they should say when they are delivered up before powerful world rulers, for “it is not you that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaks in you” (Matt. 10: 19-20). We have been ordained by Him to be His mouthpieces.

God is in charge of preparing our hearts. Yes, He has given us a mind that thinks of things to do or say. He puts us into situations, predicaments, and struggles to help us grow spiritually. “The answer of the tongue is from Yahweh.” He prepares us to answer and to respond to the very stimuli that He brings.

His loving hand leads and guides our hearts and mouths. “The way of man is not in himself. It is not in man that walks to direct his [own] steps” (Jer. 10: 23). God is orchestrating our walk here on earth. We sometimes pray that He will lead and guide us; He is already doing just that. He is behind our thoughts, reactions and movements. He is the “wise master builder who is constructing stone by stone His holy temple, the body of Christ.

How our inner heart and spirit is arranged—its development spiritually, its trials and triumphs, the heart’s pain and joy—all of the things that our hearts go through, is arranged and ordered by the LORD.     Kenneth Wayne Hancock

[Ordering My Free Books in Paperback

I am now able to send you a copy of my books absolutely free with free shipping.  Please specify which one.

Yah Is Savior: The Road to Immortality explores the deeper meaning of our Savior’s Hebrew name Yahshua, which means Yahweh is the Savior.

The Unveiling of the Sons of God explains how the whole creation is waiting and longing for the manifestation (the unveiling) of the sons of God for these latter days. Christ will be totally formed in His elect as they will have grown and matured spiritually into His likeness and power.

The Royal Destiny of God’s Elect. It explores God’s vision for us, to be kings with Christ and how He will use us to reproduce His nature of Love.

My latest book is The Apostles’ Doctrine. Their doctrine was Christ’s teachings. And the early church walked in those teachings. This book reveals just what they are and how to walk in them.

Send your request, specifying which one of my books you desire, to my email address:  wayneman5@hotmail.com Include your name and mailing address. For those outside the United States, or who may prefer a pdf copy of the last two books mentioned, please specify.  Also, you may read the first two books online at my website Immortality Road found here:   https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com

God bless you and your family, and thank you for taking a stroll with me on Immortality Road.]

Answering the Biggie: “What’s the Purpose in Life”

As God’s sons and daughters, we search, and we receive from Him insights as to what He has done, is doing, and shall do.

Man’s most often asked question is “What’s the purpose in life?” To understand what the Father is doing, we must begin with His purpose. What is He up to? He has written the answer in the pulsing vibrancy of nature. We can look at the natural created world and see what is going on in the spiritual invisible world. “For since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse” (Rom. 1: 20 NIV).

Nature is not God; it is not to be worshipped. But we can gain understanding about what nature’s Creator is doing by observing nature. The living things in both animal and vegetable kingdoms are reproducing themselves. It is in their drive, their DNA, their instincts to reproduce; it is their purpose. Look outside and you’ll see squirrels in trees with insects crawling and flying by. And their actions are derived from one purpose: to reproduce themselves.

God’s purpose? He is reproducing Himself. And that is where you and I come in. He is using you and me. That is what distinguishes humans from nature. God created us as a medium to be used to reproduce Love, for “God is love.” Agape love. That is our purpose.

It Starts with a Seed

In the natural world, it all starts with a seed. You bury a seed in the earth; it dies, and then it springs to life. It is the same with God and how He is reproducing Himself. The man Christ was the Seed. He was chosen by the invisible Father to be the Seed that through the Son, we humans could be used by God to reproduce Himself. The Seed, the Son of God, had to be sacrificed and buried in the earth, and be resurrected after three days and three nights.

He gave up His life so that those who followed His example might be resurrected with Him. To be used by God to reproduce Himself in us, we, like Christ, must choose to give up our old selfish life by letting it die on the cross in revelation with Christ. Then we are “buried with Him in baptism, and “by faith in the operation of God” who raised Him from the dead, we, too, have been “quickened together with Him” (Col. 2: 12; Rom. 6: 1-12).

We rise with Him and become new creatures that can mature like that little blade of corn in springtime’s field. He gives us of His Spirit, and He leads us into paths of growth all the way to His throneroom.

But God is sovereign and will use both “good things” and “bad things” to achieve our spiritual growth. It is like a gentle rain upon an early crop of corn. A good thing. And then a storm smashes down those tender blades with strong winds and hail. And yet the next morning the sun comes out, and its rays caress the stalks and blades of corn, and the crop raises up and dances with the joy of summer’s warmth. So it is spiritually with us.

Those whom He has called and chosen to reproduce Himself will embrace this message. They will be guided by the Spirit of truth, as He leads us into all truth—the truth as to why we are here and where we are to go and what we are to be.

The Son of God is the Great Teacher and has outlined in John 14-17 how the Father will hasten our growth. Christ has given us a series of New Commandments, that when followed, will pave the way to the door of His difficult to see Kingdom. Obeying them produces agape love growing inside our hearts. This is the Abiding. And His Spirit within will enable us to bear “much fruit.”

We are on the ultimate treasure hunt. “Its price is far above rubies.” Gold and silver cannot touch this treasure. For this treasure is what all of the civilizations that have ever populated this planet have wanted. This treasure is nothing less than Everlasting Life, nothing less than being complete Love Incarnate, with joy radiating out from the pure heart of God within us. It is nothing less than fulfilling what all of us humans have longed for—to be loved and appreciated. And those who answer this “high calling” will be in God’s family, and He will move over and let us sit with Him on His throne.

Sound farfetched? As a competent teacher, I am merely relating now what is in the text concerning sitting on God’s throne. I am not extrapolating. I am getting this knowledge from Christ’s own lips, written down by the apostle John on the isle of Patmos. “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne…” (Rev. 3: 19-21 NIV).

Several articles on the New Commandments, the Abiding, and the Spirit of truth have been published here over the past several months. It is my wish that this overview will increase understanding as to God’s purpose and how He will use us to fulfill it.

{Links to Articles: https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/?s=new+commandment+commandments

https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/?s=abiding }

[Ordering My Free Books in Paperback

I am now able to send you a copy of my books absolutely free with free shipping.  Please specify which one.

Yah Is Savior: The Road to Immortality explores the deeper meaning of our Savior’s Hebrew name Yahshua, which means Yahweh is the Savior.

The Unveiling of the Sons of God explains how the whole creation is waiting and longing for the manifestation (the unveiling) of the sons of God for these latter days. Christ will be totally formed in His elect as they will have grown and matured spiritually into His likeness and power.

The Royal Destiny of God’s Elect. It explores God’s vision for us, to be kings with Christ and how He will use us to reproduce His nature of Love.

My latest book is The Apostles’ Doctrine. Their doctrine was Christ’s teachings. And the early church walked in those teachings. This book reveals just what they are and how to walk in them.

Send your request, specifying which one of my books you desire, to my email address:  wayneman5@hotmail.com Include your name and mailing address. For those outside the United States, or who may prefer a pdf copy of the last two books mentioned, please specify.  Also, you may read the first two books online at my website Immortality Road found here:   https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com

God bless you and your family, and thank you for taking a stroll with me on Immortality Road.]

A Closer Walk Through the Abiding

All of us desire a closer walk with God. We desire a proper prayer life with a doubtless trust that He hears us and will answer. God has promised us this closer walk with Him—but under certain conditions. He explains in His word how it will happen.

We notice that the abiding comes with two conditions. They both hinge on an understanding of the Son of God. Christ says, “If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, then you can ask what you will and it will be done unto you” (John 15: 7). That is an astounding conditional promise of unlimited answered prayers. That is a closer walk with Him.

The First Condition

The first condition is “If you abide in Me.” The Greek word translated “abide” is also translated “remain” and “stay.” So, He is saying, If you remain in Me, if you stay in Me, and my words stay and remain in you—then I can trust you to receive My power to teach, heal and show forth Me to the world.

I have accented the “Me” here for a reason. His elect will remain in the real “Me,” the real Christ, the real truth as to who He really is. It is about staying in the real Christ. We cannot abide, remain and stay in Christ if we have an incorrect concept of who He really is.

It is like this: A new football coach has arrived. He wants to run a completely different offense than last years. The team only knows what they were taught last year. The team cannot continue, stay, and remain in the new coach’s system if they don’t know it. The team can only abide and stay in the new offense after they learn and practice it. To be successful, they must let go of the old system and embrace the new.

Likewise, to abide (continue, remain, stay) in the Son of God, we must know who He really is and walk in it. We must let go of the old leaven concepts as to who He is and cleave unto the “new.” He did not say, If you abide in one of man’s many concepts of who Christ is, then you will have a closer walk with God. No, Christ said to remain or abide in Me, or remain in the truth of who He really is. Those whom He has chosen to reveal Himself to will find the real Christ.

Many False Concepts about Who Christ Is

There are many false concepts of Christ out there that are confusing the masses. The word “many” keeps cropping up in unhappy scenarios. “Many false prophets are gone out into the world” (I John 4: 1). False teachers will be among us in the last days, “and many shall follow their pernicious ways…” (II Pet. 2: 1-2).

Christ warns us to enter into His kingdom by the narrow gate where “few there be that find it.” Many will enter through the wide gate into the broad and easy way that leads to destruction. And “there are many who go in by it” (Matt. 7: 13-14). In the very next verse, Christ shows us clearly who ushers the masses through the wide gate that leads to destruction. “Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep’s clothing…” They will attire themselves to appear to be Christian preachers, pastors, priests, and evangelists.  They are difficult to spot because they talk about Christ, “but inwardly they are ravening wolves” (v. 15). These are Christ’s words of warning.

We have all read these passages, but have you ever wondered why pastors do not warn us about the false prophets and false teachers? Much is written on the subject. The Spirit in Paul even warns us that they transform themselves into the apostles of Christ. “For Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.” And Satan’s ministers are transformed into “ministers of righteousness” (II Cor. 11: 13-15).

There. Three apostles—John, Peter, and Paul–and the Chief Apostle warn us about the many false teachers, preachers, and prophets in this world. This must be extremely important for us, since so much of the word of God is devoted to warnings about false teachings. They are pervasive. It is everywhere. These false teachings present a false picture of who Christ is and what His purpose is. As long as Christians are remaining in a false concept of who Christ is, they are not obeying His New Commandment: “Abide in Me…” The real Me.

So, who is the Son of God?  “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself.” Yahweh, the Father, dwelt in Christ, the Son, who is the “expressed image of the invisible God.” There is only one God. “Hear, O Israel, the LORD (Yahweh) our God is one” (Deut. 6: 4; Mark 12: 29). The Father is an invisible Spirit, and He dwells in the Son. He that has really seen the Son has seen the Father. For the Son of God houses the Father, who is invisible.

This is why Christ commanded us, “Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me” (John 14: 11). He also gave us another New Commandment: “Abide in Me, and I in you” (John 15: 4). Very few ever hear about the abiding. He also said for us to “seek first the kingdom of God.” Not many speak of a kingdom headed by Christ. He said that He would return at the end of the age. Very few speak of this government that will “fill the whole earth.” His apostles speak of “the manifestation of the sons of God” in our era (Rom. 8:19).

In all of Romans 8, the apostle Paul speaks of a sublime time for mankind. Nothing less than a conquering of death for us humans, a time at the end of this age that God will wipe away all tears from mankind’s death swept eyes. God has chosen out a few thousand human beings to be the first fruits of His immortal harvest. The astounding thing is that it will happen right here on this planet. For He is coming back to earth to reign in righteousness for a thousand years! A new era of immortality will supplant the old ways of death for humans. Through His abiding in us, He will sustain His life in us in a new spiritual body, a body impervious to disease and death. This is all conceived of and delivered to us by our King.

Very few have ever heard of such a thing happening. Yet these things comprise Christ’s words to us. The reason it’s very few is because they are not taught this truth. They are taught false doctrines that give a false picture of the Savior. The Savior is coming back here to reign for a thousand years. We may rise up to meet Him, but we are coming right back down here to earth with Him. Until the old leaven (false teachings) is purged out of Christ’s followers, they will never be able to abide, remain, and stay in Him. The elect will purge out the false teachings about Christ and will repent of them.

The Second Condition

The first condition consists of us abiding, staying, and remaining in the true concept of Christ. The second condition is for His words to abide or remain in us. It boils down to the interpretation of His words. There are interpretations many, and they are dictated by our concepts of just who He is.

Christ said “and if my words abide in you…” His word is truth. When the Spirit of truth is come, “he will guide you into all truth…and will show you things to come” (John 16: 13).

Let’s see what His written word says about His words. “The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life” (John 6: 63). “Thy word is truth” (John 17: 17; I Kings 17: 24). So when Christ speaks of His words abiding in you,” He is saying that it is the truth that abides in you. If people are deceived by false teachings about Christ, then how can the truth ever abide, remain, and stay in a person?

Therefore, it is paramount that we understand that His words are His New Commandments and the Apostles’ Doctrine. And if we hope to receive this wonderful promise of full answers to all of our prayers, then we need to know His New Commandments and the Apostles’ Doctrine, which are Christ’s teachings. If we do not know them nor do them, then the Spirit will not abide in us, no matter how much we scream and holler.  [Order your free copy of my latest book The Apostles’ Doctrine. Ordering info at the end of this article.]

Our personal understanding of His words are colored by the words that we have heard about Him since childhood. Sunday school and church services and picnics paints a picture of Christ for protestant churches. And the Catholic mass with its rituals, confessions, and bazaars and bingo nights paints another. Both are woefully short of the words of the Spirit of truth.

Yet Christ said, “If my words abide in you…” His words are found in His New Commandments and His doctrine. It is only through cleaving to them that we may abide in Christ. Let John tell you: “Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son” (II John 1: 9).  Kenneth Wayne Hancock

[Ordering My Free Books in Paperback

I am now able to send you a copy of my books absolutely free with free shipping.  Please specify which one.

Yah Is Savior: The Road to Immortality explores the deeper meaning of our Savior’s Hebrew name Yahshua, which means Yahweh is the Savior.

The Unveiling of the Sons of God explains how the whole creation is waiting and longing for the manifestation (the unveiling) of the sons of God for these latter days. Christ will be totally formed in His elect as they will have grown and matured spiritually into His likeness and power.

The Royal Destiny of God’s Elect. It explores God’s vision for us, to be kings with Christ and how He will use us to reproduce His nature of Love.

My latest book is The Apostles’ Doctrine. Their doctrine was Christ’s teachings. And the early church walked in those teachings. This book reveals just what they are and how to walk in them.

Send your request, specifying which one of my books you desire, to my email address:  wayneman5@hotmail.com  Include your name and mailing address. For those outside the United States, or who may prefer a pdf copy of the last two books mentioned, please specify.  Also, you may read the first two books online at my website Immortality Road found here:   https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com

God bless you and your family, and thank you for taking a stroll with me on Immortality Road.]

Christ’s New Commandments and the New Promised Land

The following is for those who, like Joshua and Caleb, are saying, “The giants are not too big. We can take the land, the land of promise.” In their Old Testament story, God promised to give them their own literal land, land occupied by the Canaanites. In that land, in Jerusalem, they built a temple for Him to dwell in. In our day He has promised to dwell–not in temples made with man’s hands–but in us, the temple that He created for Himself to dwell in. One of Christ’s greatest teachings is how we become His temple in a reality, just like the apostles and prophets.

In this last generation before Christ’s return to earth, after winning a spiritual war, those called and chosen will receive God’s promise for these latter days. What exactly has our Father promised us? He has promised that if we walk in His teachings, we shall spiritually grow up to become—just like Christ when He walked this earth. The Promised Land for our day is the vision God has for us, His sons and daughters.

If we will get rid of the false teachings and walk in His true ways, He will grow in us—Christ the Vine and us the branches. If we stay in Him and He and His teachings remain in us, then we will abide in Him and He in us. And if we abide in Him and He in us, then He has promised that we will bear “much fruit.”

“Much fruit” is 100 fold fruit; it is the fruit that the manifested sons of God will bear at the end of this age. These offspring of the Almighty shine forth in the pages of the New Testament. “Much fruit” is seen in the actions of Christ and His apostles. They are coming. That is His promise to His elect. “But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name” (John 1: 12). Receiving Him and His power is the first step in bearing “much fruit.” That is a promise.

The Promised Land

In a word—we are the modern day “Promised Land.” Yes, of course, there is an extremely important geographical fulfillment of this. But the spiritual fulfillment is just as important.

Our bodies are made of earth and are divinely supported with breath and water and nutrients. When these earthly bodies expire, they go back to dust. They become part of the land where they are buried. When His Spirit fills us, God fulfills His promise to “dwell in us,” His temple. He has promised us (I Cor. 3: 16; II Cor. 6: 16).

God has chosen by His grace and mercy a few to manifest Himself in. They will be the first fruits, the first humans to bear ultimate spiritual fruit. They will walk in a high growth of the Spirit within them. Christ calls this “much fruit.”

Little children of God who never grow up spiritually will bear “fruit.” He will prune these Christians to purge out impurities so that they can bear “more fruit.” This is 60 fold fruit. In this growth we learn to “abide in Him and He in us” to the point that we bear “much fruit” (John 15: 1-8).

When we abide in Him, and He in us, then we may ask what we will, and He will do it. Why? Because we will have had all the old leaven false doctrines purged out of us. Then He can trust us and will fulfill His promise to fill us with His agape love. It will be “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Through this process of spiritual growth, we become the New Promised Land.

So What Do We Do Now?

Since bearing “much fruit” is God’s promise to us, how do we grow to that point? How is it done? One of Christ’s new commandments to us is this: “Abide in Me, and I in you…He that abides in Me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit” (v. 5). We see here again “much fruit,” the ultimate growth level.

It is here that Christ makes this promise: If we abide, stay, remain, and continue in His teachings, unfettered by false doctrines and claims—if we continue in His teachings, He has promised us that we will bear “much fruit” (vs. 4-7).

Bearing “much fruit” is the only way to glorify our Father. “Herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit” (John 15: 8). In the next verse Christ gives us the key. He gives us this command: “As the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love” (v. 9). We are to continue loving the way Christ loves.

The word “continue” is translated from the Greek word meno. It is also translated “abide, remain, and dwell” [1]. So, abiding, remaining, dwelling, and continuing in His love will lead us to bearing “much fruit.” But how do we abide and continue in His love? Christ answers us in verse 10: “If ye keep my commandments, you shall abide in My love…” Keeping Christ’s commandments. Someone is thinking, “I thought it was just the Ten Commandments we are to be concerned with.” Keeping them is just our duty. He wants us to bear much fruit, which is going beyond the call of duty.

Christ’s New Commandments

Christ magnified the law and gave many new commandments for those answering the “high calling.” We have seen already a couple of Christ’s new commandments: “Abide in Me” and “Continue in My love” (John 15: 4, 9).

In fact, His promise to us is wrapped in the understanding and keeping of His New Commandments. Christ promises: “He that has my commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves Me, and he that loves me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him and will manifest myself to him.” One of the disciples asked him how He will make Himself known unto us and not unto the world. He answered, “If a man love Me, he will keep My words [commandments], and My Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him” (John 14: 21-23). This is the abiding. This is where Yahweh, our Father and Creator, will truly live in us, and He will abide and remain in us. This is the promise; this is the spiritual “promised land.” So, what are Christ’s “New Commandments”?     [To be continued…]

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

[1] https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/Lexicon/Lexicon.cfm?strongs=G3306&t=KJV

Aging, Humility, and Immortality

The aging of our physical bodies humbles us and brings us low. The decades crumble us down, and the years of storms and winds weather us. We sense a melting back into the earth like the old adobe walls of a Santa Fe cabin, left open to the elements. It is only the joy and laughter and love that once abode inside those walls that make it all mean something.

It is a lot like God’s Spirit as He inhabits His people, bringing love and joy into our hearts during our brief sojourn here on earth.

We bear the burden of aging that we might walk more humbly before our Maker. Speaking of the Spirit, He said through His apostle Paul that “we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us.” Our finite, mortal bodies at present actually serve to draw us closer to the immortal God. For He “resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

We gaze into the mirror and see the face of vulnerability, the face of one incredibly close to death, yet we now are not dismayed. For we are reminded by Him that it is no longer “I” that lives but the Spirit of Christ that lives in us. “We are dead and our lives are hid with Christ in God.” And He said that if we faithfully follow Him, He will give us a new spiritual body at the end of the age. Furthermore, if we are physically alive when He comes back, these old earthly bodies will be swallowed up by the new spiritual body He has prepared for us. It is all good (II Cor. 4^th and 5^th chapters).

Moreover, it is fascinating to see how God works out His plan. He has ordained the weakness of the human body as a tool to manufacture divine attributes, made to be displayed in the arena of human relationships. “All things [‘good’ or ‘bad’] work together for good for them that love God, who are the called according to His purpose.”

It is God’s will that we suffer with Him in these fragile earthen bodies, as we face the fact that man must go “to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets…Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it” (Ecc. 12: 5-7). Facing our own mortality has a way of humbling us. He favors those who know they are weak and need Him.

Nevertheless, through God’s grace, you and I have hope of an everlasting future in an everlasting body composed of spirit. That’s the word of His promise to us. He loves us and has given us His best—Himself. It’s just that before all this can take place, He has us walking “through the valley of the shadow of death.” That painful and sometimes lonely trail is the only road to immortality.     Kenneth Wayne Hancock

{I would love to read your comments and thoughts. Be sure to send for my latest book The Royal Destiny of God’s Elect. It is free with free shipping. Just send your mailing address to my email: wayneman5@hotmail.com   And I will get it right out to you}