…With Me from the Beginning

(from journal entry, 12-8-21)

It was early morning, and I was still in bed. I opened my eyes, and the first thought that crystalized out of the foggy dream mind was – “The Beginning.” The “beginning?” Why was I thinking that? Then another thought came that answered the question: “… with Me from the beginning.” With ME. I was with Christ. I knew that it was the Spirit speaking to me through thoughts. I began then to ponder these cryptic words. What did the Spirit mean?

So, I looked the word “beginning” up in the Greek. The “beginning” comes from the word arche, #G746 in Strong’s. It means “the origin, the active cause, used absolutely of the beginning of all things.”

Christ said, “I am the beginning and the end.” Christ is the “active cause.” He is our origin (Revelation 1:8-11,17-18). “In the beginning was the Word.” Christ is the beginning. Therefore, in Christ was the Word. Word = Logos [the purpose and plan of God]. Christ is the “active cause” in the creation of heaven and earth. “All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made” (John 1:3).

Our Savior, the “Word made flesh,” came to earth to bear witness to the truth, that He is the truth. And we, too, are to bear witness to the truth because we were with Him in the beginning. Christ said, “And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning” (John 15:27). This is not speaking of the beginning of Christ’s earthly ministry. The Greek word arche is used for the beginning of all things. It is used as such in this verse: “In the beginning was the Word…” (John 1:1).

 We are a part of the record in heaven of the things that will occur on earth. We were with him in the beginning. He knew us before because He created us as a member of His body in heaven before the earth was formed. Then He dipped us into the earth as we slid out of the matrix of our mothers’ wombs, and then we were cast out into the sea of lost mankind.

We, who had once basked in the glorious light of our Father in heaven, were now left to grow up, barely afloat in the treacherous rip tides of sin. Sin was our task master, and we obeyed his desires. The bondage to sin weighed heavily to the point of us drowning, and then we cried out in anguish and disillusionment, and then a hand reached down, a strong hand of love, and He pulled us up out of the quagmire.

He cleaned us up at the cross. He allowed us to identify our sinful selves with the Lamb, the sin sacrifice, and we died with Him. With the death of our old man, we believe that we are now buried with Him and raised with Him, now to walk in a “newness of life.” We now know and believe that “he that is dead is freed from sin.” We now spiritually step out on the water and walk in the Spirit (Rom. 6:1-11).

And then our earthly past died, and we began to grow as a seedling, tasting its first rays of light. Through study and communication with the Spirit, we grew and grew until He showed us that we had a special calling to fulfill, a special job to do. We are to share the love that saved us, by telling others the story of deliverance through His great love.

As we grow, we become a part of the witness in the earth of the record in heaven. God already knew that we would respond to His voice. He knew us and knew what we were made of. He made us, before the things we can see with our earthly eyes were made. For we were with Him in the beginning. And He has chosen us and given us a destiny way back there at the “Beginning.”

“…God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son…  And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified” (Rom. 8:28-30). Yahweh predestined us, not to just be saved, but to be “conformed to the image of his Son.” At Christ’s return to earth, He will change our weak, earthly body, “that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body” (Phil. 3:21).

We are talking about being like Christ and His apostles! Nothing less. But before this greatest of honors is bestowed upon us, we must “arm ourselves with the same mind.” We must know and do the apostles’ doctrine and add to our faith seven spiritual attributes of Christ.

We have so much knowledge to receive. Knowing His mind will finally drive out every thought that is contrary to His purpose and plan. The mind is the battlefield where we conquer the enemy’s errant desires for us. Amid the battle, it is easy to forget that we have already won, for “we are more than conquerors through Christ.” In Him lies our power, strength, and will.

O, let us shower Him with thanks for granting us the exit visa at the cross. Repentance from sin comes when we realize that we “are dead and our life is hid with Christ…” We are a part of His body now, unencumbered by that spiritually corrupt old life. We now believe that we are a part of Christ, and the Father’s heart of love dwells within us. All this happens because He mercifully allowed us to be with Him in the beginning.     Kenneth Wayne Hancock

The Need for the Additions to the Faith

When the Spirit of Christ says through Peter, “Add to your faith” certain attributes, He is not saying that we must add them in order to be saved. Personal salvation is not the issue, though it is the first important step on our spiritual quest. The additions are the key to our spiritual growth after salvation. They are the key that unlocks the door to our spiritual perfection.

Like Jeremiah, Yahweh has known us by name before our earthly mothers brought us out into the light of day. We add these heavenly attributes of God’s “divine nature” because we are called and chosen by Him to do just that. Our names are written down in the book of life before the worlds were ever spoken into existence by our God and Savior Yahshua, the Son of God.

Consequently, we have no choice in the matter. My readers are a rare group of humans who have seen through the plastic façade of churchianity and have “come out of her.” He has predestined a vanguard who will be the first fruits that will show their brethren the way to the glory land. They have been “called according to His purpose [the reproduction of Himself—Love].”

“For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified” (Rom. 8:28-30). He knew us before we were born into mortality. He gave us our destiny to be like the Son before we came here. Because of our pre-destiny, He called us; He “got our attention” that He is real. He showed us the phoniness of human society and culture and began to teach us His way. He saved us out of the quagmire of sin by justifying us. And in His mind, He has already glorified us. For He declares the end from the beginning.

All I can do is shake my head and go, “Wow!” For the Spirit is speaking to me as I write this down. What a precious privilege—to join the ranks of our brethren like David, Jacob, Daniel, Paul, John, and so many more. Their fame lives on because they answered His call upon their lives, just like we are doing. He is working the same way today as He did two, three, and four thousand years ago. He said, “I change not.” There is not one single scripture that says the miracles ceased being performed by His followers 1,900 years ago.

Our Lives Now Are His Doing

It is His ball game now since our surrender to Christ. When we really believe Romans 6:6, we enter into His rest. How do we enter into rest? When we die with Christ on the cross and are raised up from the dead with Him, we have ceased doing our own works for our old self. It is because our old man Adam is dead. And so we begin our Sabbath rest when we cease working for our old selves. This is what brings the love, joy, and peace and the other fruit of the Spirit. This is what casts out fear. There is nothing to be afraid of now. What are they going to do, send me to Vietnam? Once our old ego dies with Christ, what are they going to do? Kill our body? “Death has no more dominion over us.”

So we wait on the Spirit of truth to lead us into all truth. And He shows us that we are to grow spiritually, that we are to finally mature by bringing forth “much fruit.” And then the Spirit through Peter tells us that in order to bear “much fruit,” we need to “add to your faith” seven additions, seven facets of His divine nature. These seven things are crucial in order to come to full maturity/perfection. With them we will be able “to make our calling and election sure.” What calling? God has called us “to be conformed to the image of His Son.” In other words {Oh, words that will get you thrown out of churches} to be like the Son of God!

“Nobody can be like Jesus! That’s blasphemy!”

“Well, if you won’t let me be like Jesus, will you let me be like Peter, John, and Paul? They performed miracles like Christ. They bore much fruit.”

Bearing Much Fruit

To become a mature Christian, we have to add these seven attributes of His divine nature. If these seven things are pulsating and abounding in us, then they will enable us to bear much fruit   of the Spirit, never to be barren of love, joy, and peace (II Peter 1:8).

Those Christians who do not add them to the faith will be blind to the vision of our true destiny, for they will have forgotten that they were purged from their old sins (v. 9-10). Old sins are like blighted branches that are lopped off at the cross. Belief/faith in His resurrection gets them started in Christ, but they need the additions. If they don’t add them, then blindness overtakes them. They will get stagnant, which stops spiritual growth.

Such is the state of most church houses. Every gathering in them is a cookie cutter copy of the last meeting. Because no new light is being shared, the manna becomes stale and spoils, and most of the clergy and laity languish in the stalls of forgetfulness.

It is sad really. I still want to reach out and touch them like I have endeavored to do, but they say that they are “increased with goods and have need of nothing” (Rev. 3:18). I am learning to not be dismayed nor frustrated. For one who speaks God’s message is honored, but not “in his own country and in his own house.” (Mt. 13: 57). This explains why we can’t get any respect from those in our own home. [Perhaps you have experienced this. Please share in a comment].

The Need to Add to the Faith

Finally, those foreordained and predestined will feel the need to add the seven additions to the faith. God will reveal the need to them. No man with man’s wisdom will do it. “It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy” (Rom. 9:16). But those who are called and chosen will soldier on to complete the quest. That quest is “to be conformed to the image of His Son.” The gainsayers will tell them that it can’t be done, that they are crazy for thinking such a thing. But the elect will hear His voice. The others will just hear a rumble off in the distance, shrug their shoulders, and ask for seconds on the apple pie.

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

How the Spirit Abides in Us

Christ gives us a staggering promise of power in exchange for just believing Him about Him and the Father. We are to believe Him when He says that the Father abides or dwells in Himself. “He who believes in Me [believes His word that the Father dwells and abides in the Son], the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do…” (John 14: 12). The Father will dwell in us and do the same miracles that the Son of God did—if we believe Christ’s words about the Father/Son relationship.

The Abiding is when the Father, who is the Holy Spirit of Truth, comes into us and walks around in us and performs the works that He has always done.

Moreover, Christ promises that the Spirit of truth “shall be in you.” We see a correlation here. The Father dwells in Christ and does the miraculous works. And then Christ says that He will send the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, and that Holy Spirit is the Father, for the Holy Spirit will dwell in us and do the works just like the Father dwells in the Son (John 14: 17).

This is the abiding, and it is our belief of the Oneness of God that engages all these promises. If we can’t believe that Yahweh dwelt in the Son Yahshua, then Yahweh will not dwell in us like He dwelt in the Son. If we obey His commandment and believe that it was the Father dwelling/abiding in the Son, then He will dwell in us, too. And with the Father in the form of the Holy Spirit inside us, nothing shall be impossible for us to accomplish. He calls this bearing much fruit (John 15: 7-8).

This is where it is at. This is the apex of the Christian growth cycle. You few who are reading this: This is rarefied knowledge that only a few are privy to. Study it out. Reread it again and again. Clutch it to your heart and cleave to its principles. Christ spent many hours expounding on these things. The apostle John got it down on paper for us.

The precepts and teachings about The Abiding have been ignored for centuries. Blathering voices on TV don’t teach it. Their desires do not reach to the higher realms of heaven. Most of the local pastors all over the world will not comprehend what John wrote about The Abiding. God ordains a spirit of slumber over the masses, and He will open the eyes of a few. He chooses to show mercy to a few, and He will harden whomever He chooses (Rom. 9: 18).

Only the few who are chosen will understand. The Spirit speaks about the few: Mat 7:14 “Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads unto life, and few there be that find it.” Mat 9:37 “…The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few.” Mat 20:16 “…For many be called, but few chosen.”

If this teaching about the abiding makes your head to start reeling, I understand. I am there with you. It is because we have not heard it before. Yet His words are couched in the “simplicity of Christ.” It is difficult to wrap our heads around these truths because of all of the old leaven false teachings that we have been subjected to.

It Is About Understanding the Godhead

To understand the Godhead, we need to see it as an equation. It reads: The Comforter = the Spirit of Truth = Holy Spirit = the Father = who dwells/abides in the Son. Christ promised us that “another Comforter” would be sent to help the disciples. The first Comforter was the Father/Spirit that dwelt in Christ. The Father abode/dwelt in the Son. But the Son was being called back to heaven. And we know that by Christ’s own words, the Father dwelt in the Son. That is what Christ commands us to believe.

This is not a happy little Sunday school song that we sing and then go about our merry way. No. This is the real deal. This is what determines our spiritual Christian destiny. Will we remain “babes in Christ” always looking for a blessing from the Father? Or will we bear much fruit by believing and receiving the Father, in the form of the Spirit, coming down into our vessels and performing the miraculous works and thereby glorifying the Father. We are talking about the great Creator/Spirit named Yahweh coming down and dwelling and abiding in us (John 14: 16-17).

“And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever.” [This should be our prayer—that the Spirit would be given to our brothers and sisters. The laborers are few with this access and knowledge. Our prayers should be for them, that the Father would abide in them.]

The Comforter = the Spirit of Truth = the Holy Spirit. Christ said, “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit…” (John 14: 26). We know that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is the Father Yahweh. And we know that “God is a Spirit.” Christ was speaking to the woman at the well about how we all should worship the Father. “True worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth…God is a Spirit.” So we have to worship the Father in a spiritual and truthful manner (John 4: 23-24).

Consequently, the Comforter = the Spirit of Truth = the Holy Spirit = Father = who dwells/abides in the Son and the members of the Son’s body—us!

How He Dwells/Abides in Us

When the Father sends us the Holy Spirit, He is sending Himself to take up residence in us, His temple. For He is an invisible Spirit. Faith and belief of these precious truths activates His Spirit within us. We begin to grow. Faith, like water, resurrects a dead seed, causing us to spring up toward the light of truth.

Obeying His New Commandments shows that we love Him. Christ’s own words, which are the Father’s words, say as much. “If you love me, keep my commands…Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father…Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them…[This is The Abiding.] Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching…” (John 14: 15, 21, 23-24).

He will abide in us by us taking in and obeying His words to us. And there is a beautiful conditional promise to us. “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you” (John 15: 7). His words are His new commandments; if we obey them and they remain/abide/dwell in our thoughts, then we are in. We are in His will; we are doing His will. And He will show us what to ask for to accomplish His works in this earth. He will give us what we need and ask for to fulfill His plan and purpose. Of course He will. He will not send us out to battle without the proper armor and training.

We only need now to “continue [abide, dwell, remain] in the faith” (Col. 1: 21-23). All of this agape love and belief and the Father dwelling in us, and the abiding—all of this is a whole lot of invisible action going on. Consequently, it takes a lot of faith to believe that the invisible Creator Spirit God would or could take up residence inside our bodies. But this is what God is asking us to do—trust Him and His word and promises and walk in it.

The Key That Opens the Door (“I am the Door,” Christ Said)

The key in doing all of the above is to believe that it is not our puny faith in Him, but His powerful faith in us. It is the Son of God’s faith that will see us through to the end. It is not about us mustering up enough faith to believe the word of God. But rather it is His faith/belief in His own power to fulfill His own plan.

Sometimes we forget that we are dead and our life is hidden “with Christ in God” (Col. 3: 3). The following says it all: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2: 20). These words of the Spirit through His apostle Paul is speaking to us. I died with Christ on the cross. But I am still living. Yet it is not the old me that is walking around, but it is the Spirit of Christ that lives in me. And this new life now that I am living in this earthly body, I live by Christ’s faith, “who loved me, and gave himself for me.” It is Christ’s belief in His resurrection that gives birth to our own resurrection with Him now inside our hearts.

This is how we will “abide in Him.” And He abides in us by His Spirit (I John 3: 24). He abides in us through us believing His word about all of the above.

And we will really need faith/belief when we arrive at the next step in abiding in Him, and He in us. Who is it that will dwell in Christ and Christ in them? Who will abide in Him, and He in them? Christ gives this direct yet enigmatic answer. “He that eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, dwells [abides] in me, and I in him” (John 6: 56). Man’s religions have totally butchered the meaning of His statement. “When the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth,” and “He shall teach you all things…” (Jn. 16: 13; 14: 26). I am excited to see what the Spirit has to say about this mysterious subject called Holy Communion, the Eucharist, or the Lord’s Supper. Eating His flesh…drinking His blood. What a mystery that is about to unfold…         Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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I Need to Cry Today

Way, way down deep in the human heart, a faint voice begins to breathe, stronger and stronger. It is a voice of need, a voice of desperation.

And as this voice reaches the surface of our consciousness, it seems to say, “I need to cry. I need to fall down and lament the loss of love in the earth. I want my tears to flow, a river of saline that washes my heart of its stubbornness and fear and callousness.

“I need to cry hard, so hard that my tears become a torrent gushing through the cracks in the stony wall inside, a wall that has protected me from being human, a wall that separates me from pain and suffering and from the pangs of sorrow endured by those on life’s front line.

“I need to weep, uncontrollably and unabashedly, like a little child. I need to feel the pain of a hundred wars and a thousand famines and a million gaunt faces crying for bread, crying for peace, crying for mercy and love.

“I need to cry. I need to break up the depths, to fearlessly go down, down, down there where the brokenhearted dwell, where we will find them sitting there at the feet of the…King.

“For that is where we will find Him. That is where He dwells—in the land of broken hearts.  That’s where Love is. For Love is conceived in a pool of tears. And mercy flows on a broken-up  river bed.”

The King knows that we can do it, that we can be as a little child again, that we can feel again—not just the joys of life, but more importantly, the sorrows. That we can feel the agony of the freshly made orphan, who sits wounded and alone in a desert minefield, or the pain of a mother falling to the ground in grief over her daughter’s decimated body.

He knows that we can feel again, that we can crumble down the wall and let His love out in crashing sobs that seem to say, “I need to cry today.”

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

Vain Worship–The Opposite of True Worship

Truth is free from error, by definition. The Father is searching for “true worshipers.” Christ said, “The true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him” (John 4: 23-24). You want to get God’s attention? Start repenting of error filled worship and get into worshiping Him in a true way, and He will definitely take notice of you. Because He is seeking out somebody like you–somebody who will get rid of the errors and get into the true way of worship.

Christ taught us that our worship of the Father must not only be spiritual in nature, but also full of truth and free from error. Since He is the truth, our worship of Him must be grounded in truth, or it becomes “vain worship.” Vain worship is fruitless, futile worship. There is no profit in it; it affects nothing. God tells us to repent of error filled worship. This is part of “continuing steadfastly in the apostle’s doctrine” of repentance from dead works.

For vain worship happens when erroneous concepts about God are taught by the preachers, pastors, and priests. When natural men concoct doctrines out of the thin air of their imaginations, vain worship is born. “In vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” They disregard God’s words and teach unregenerate man’s traditions (Mark 7: 7-8). Their imaginations become doctrines, and these talking points become traditions, and then finally these false traditions become commandments for the masses to obey. This is error-filled vain worship.

Some Examples of Vain Worship

Churchianity is rife with false doctrines. Its foundation lies rotting on the sand. They say that repentance occurs when a sinner feels sorry for their sins and accepts Christ as their personal savior. Sorrow for sinful past actions is a good thing, but “godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation” (II Cor. 7: 10). The sinner wants to change his ways, but the preachers won’t tell them how He effects that change in their hearts.

They have prospective Christians being baptized in water as a mandatory action before joining the church. But they don’t teach them that the real baptism happens when the old sinful self is immersed into Christ’s death. The sinner’s old heart and spirit must die with Christ and be buried with Him, and be raised with Him through belief in His resurrection. This is the truth that we should rejoice in and worship in! This is true repentance from sin. But does anyone ever speak of our escape from sin and sinning, symbolized in water baptism (Rom. 6: 1-12)? Sadly, no. We all should ask the preachers, “Why aren’t you teaching Romans 6? Just read it aloud to the people, and let the Spirit reveal His truth to those that can receive it.”

Then there’s the matter with being “born again.” They say that feeling sorry and “coming down to the front” in an altar call is being born again. But there can be no new birth without the old seed of man’s sin nature dying first. Christ said, “He that loses his life for my sake and the kingdom’s sake will save it.” There has to be a losing of one’s old sinful life before one can be “born again” or born from above, which is being born of that incorruptible seed, the word of God” (I Pet. 1: 23).

Furthermore, they teach that “faith” is us believing God’s word—accent on “us” doing the believing. They say to the young Christian, “You gotta have faith,” as if that person’s faith is a different commodity than the one that God has. There is only one faith; the Spirit in Paul made that clear in Ephesians 4: 3-5. The true faith is “the faith of the Son of God.” It is His faith. When we receive Christ’s Spirit we receive His belief system; we now possess in our hearts the very same faith/belief that Christ displayed in the gospels!

It is not, “I have faith in God.” But rather it is, “God’s faith now is in me!” Paul gives us the secret that he lived by: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2: 20). Paul was dead, yet alive with Christ living in his earthly body. And the life on earth that he was living, he lived by Christ’s faith. Nobody else’s. Notice that Paul did not say, “I live now in this flesh body because of my faith in God.” No.

Newsflash! The Spirit of Christ is not just living in apostles like Paul; Christ lives in our hearts, too!

We are told by Christ to worship the Father “in spirit and in truth.” But the Christianity of the churches lies seething in error taught today by their preachers, pastors, and priests. These false concepts prevent sincere Christians from worshiping in truth. You cannot worship God in truth if your mind is full of error. When we comprehend that the Father is the Spirit of Truth, then we will realize that no room exists for error in His house of worship. And we are His house.

His Love Is Greater than Falsehoods about Him

And yet, despite the false teachings about our King and Savior, His love still touches hearts. The story of Him giving up His earthly life as a ransom for us all reaches down deep into the core of our existence. When we glimpse that inscrutable, boundless love—the greatest love the world has ever heard of—it still pierces harden hearts and leaves an indelible imprint. Today, at this very moment while you read these words, Christ’s story is touching thousands in spite of all the false concepts and traditions about Him.

After all, He is Love Incarnate and is come down from above, filled to overflowing with abundant mercy upon all who opens their heart to Him. No matter the dastardly sin nor the craven crime, He will touch all who come to Him sincerely. Even as He prayed for His mocking torturers, “Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do.” That’s our King; that is who He is.

His love calls many, but He chooses but a few to fulfill the spiritual life cycle and be His elect; they are chosen to grow to full maturity during these latter days. When you read the gospels, you will hear Christ speaking to those destined to be “conformed to the image” of the Son of God. Christ does not dumb the message down. It is open to all; “whosoever will may come.” That’s the God we serve.

But He now commands us to learn of Him. Learn the true path, the uncharted narrow path that the eagle of Rome has not seen. The time has come to put away childish things—things that will stunt our spiritual growth, things that will prevent us from becoming like Peter, John and Paul, things that will block us from becoming fit to inherit the earth upon His return to this sad, corrupt globe.

When Christ returns to earth, little children of God will not be admitted into Christ’s inner circle where He will assign His manifested sons and daughters their duties for the rulership of the planet.

If we want to be one of these 100 fold over comers, it is time to put away the childish desires for oneself. It is time to seek Him and His purpose and plan and not material things that will all waste away. It is time to lay hold of the plow that will turn this world over, instituting His righteous government in its stead. It is time to quit playing church and begin to repent of the errors in our worship. For He is the only hope for the survival of mankind. Our destiny is to be used by Him to save the world. He is seeking a people who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. When He returns, will He find us doing that?       Kenneth Wayne Hancock

Connecting the Dots–Starting With Agape Love

Revelation comes from the Spirit of Truth connecting dots–in us. The  “dots” are statements of truth found in the written word.

Anyone who has a Bible can memorize passages of scripture. But it is only the Holy Spirit that leads us into all truth (John 16: 13). And He leads us into more and more revelatory truth by tying things together–“…line upon line…precept upon precept.”

It has been said before and we all should take heed: If we are not receiving more and more truth and light in our Christian walk, then one of two things is happening. Either we have all the truth already or the Holy Spirit is not guiding us “into all truth.” I believe that it is the latter.

Only God can make the light bulbs come on, and He does it by connecting the dots of truth together into a bright wall of meaningful light, a light of Love.

Take the divine council of Yahweh that we see in the book of Job 1 and 1 Kings 18: 20-23. Upon seeing this we ask, What is the significance of this for my life right now?

Then other scriptures come to mind, tying in with them. We remember Peter miraculously being broken out of jail by an angel of God (Acts 12: 5-17). Peter was imprisoned by Herod. The church prayed for him, and God sent an angel that delivered him. Peter goes to the house where the body of Christ is praying for him. He knocks on the door. A young woman named Rhoda goes to the door, hears Peter’s voice, and turns and goes back and tells everyone that Peter is at the door. They, knowing the severity of Herod’s prison say, You are crazy. That could not be Peter; it is his angel (v. 15).

Connecting the Dots

Peter’s angel? There is deep truth here in Acts 12; we need to connect the dots. They did not believe that Peter could escape Herod’s prison. So in their minds there was only one explanation: The personage at the door had to be Peter’s angel. I mean, if it walks like Peter and sounds like Peter, and if Peter, who was with Christ for 3 1/2 years, is in Herod’s prison, then it must be Peter’s angel.

Why would they say that? There must have been a current teaching in the  early church that we don’t have today, saying that members of Christ’s church have a heavenly counterpart that can visit the earth. Each member has a heavenly spiritual body that looks and sounds like them and that can visit earth–an angel, if you will. [Wow. That just gave me a shiver.]

If this is not the case, then why did they think it and say it? They thought it and said it because they were taught it by the apostles and teachers in the body right after the resurrection. I know of no denominations that teach that. So either the early church was in error or today’s churchianity is. Very few Christians are going to take that leap. Why won’t they? Because their church don’t teach it.

Yet the apostle Paul confirms the above by speaking  about the two bodies that we have–an earthly one and an eternal heavenly one (II Cor. 5: 1). He calls it our “house which is from heaven.” The Spirit through him also writes that “there are also celestial bodies and bodies terrestrial” (I Cor. 15: 40).

Most preachers won’t touch this for fear of being ostracized by their denomination and congregation. They just won’t connect the dots–not on this one.

Can’t Help But Wonder

The question arises: If it be so that our spiritual body was in heaven with God before our life on earth began, then why should we have this earthly experience? Why go through all the pain and suffering? What is the point? Why could we not have just lived in our heavenly bodies, happy ever after?

This is an age-old question. Knowing His purpose gives us the answer. He desires to reproduce Himself–agape Love. Knowing this is the starting gate of all understanding and knowledge. To duplicate, to multiply, to reproduce Himself, sufferings must come to the vessels He is using for His reproduction. That’s us. We need to get over it; we are being used by Him. We must endure human sufferings, for they are the only experience that will shape and mold us into vessels of agape Love and mercy.

God cannot reproduce Love (Himself) without suffering. Suffering with Him is the crucible that forges us into becoming His kings and queens, vessels fit to reign. The scriptures declare as much. You have read them: “If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him…Joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be glorified together…Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice as you are partakers of Christ’s sufferings…” (II Tim 2: 12; Rom. 8: 17; I Pet. 4: 12-13). Paul welcomed sufferings knowing that they were his calling card to God’s throne room.

But human sufferings make no sense without the knowledge of His eternal purpose of reproducing Himself (Love). When we believe that they are a necessary to fulfill His purpose, then the sufferings become more comprehensible.

The only reason that Christianity has worked in the hearts of men for the past 2000 years is because of Christ’s love shown to human beings through Him sacrificing Himself for others. He said, “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15: 13). He did not just say it; he did it.

That kind of love breaks up a hard heart. In our first earthly Adamic sinful state, we got beat up by others, betrayed and abused. And as a defense mechanism, we hardened ourselves and grew cynical. If we ever thought of God, we more than likely blamed Him for our spiritually destitute condition.

It was only the greatest love–the love that lays down his life for another–that will melt a cold bitter heart. That kind of Love is God, and He wants to sow it as a seed into the earth–through us. As we lay down our lives for others in following Him, the seed of agape love is sown into the hearts of other human beings. And that love for Him and His people will grow and grow, and it will become a great harvest of love in the earth at the end of the age. It will grow until Love “is all in all.”

God’s unselfish love in laying down His life is the first dot that we need to connect from. And the second is us laying down our lives for others. We are the offspring of Love and Light. In Him we are the light of the world, making manifest His Love to the world by letting love shine selflessly.

The Seed is the Love that we find in Christ, our example. And that Seed of Love is now within us, and we now have become the sower of that seed in the parable of the sower (Mt. 13). He now through us His body is sowing His love abundantly for the abundant harvest coming soon.

{Don’t sit on this article; share it.}

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We Are All “Damaged Goods”–On Becoming a Fountain of Mercy

Very rarely will we ever come to know someone so intimately that they would reveal their innermost darkest secrets with us.  When it does happen, they tell us about how they were hurt as a child in some way.

Digging a little deeper into the human psyche, we will come to the conclusion that all of us are damaged goods.  Everyone has been either molested, abused–either sexually, mentally, emotionally, or physically–lied to, or used in some nefarious way where our trust in mankind and his institutions have left us cold and bitter.

So knowing that we are all damaged goods, we can now look at everyone differently–not as an adversary, but as someone needing love and understanding.  They are not just someone else to use, but as another human being who needs consolation, compassion, healing, and redemption.  For only love from above can buy back the lost and wasted years of fear and doubt and dismay in this vexing world.  Only agape love can lay down its life for its friends.  Only Christ’s love in us can heal the pains and hurts of an injured heart–injured by another lost and injured soul.

But we, with God’s help, can end the vicious cycle of hurt.  We can become a part of the solution and not the problem anymore–the problem of being the victim.  We can join up with Him and be a part of Christ’s cadre, His body of people with new hearts, forgiving and loving and understanding hearts that can conquer all pain and suffering and stand with Christ as one of His elect in the new kingdom of love that He is bringing to this earth.

But the catch is that it starts with us to whom He has revealed His plan and purpose to–you and me.  Right here.  Right now.  A rebirth of mercy one toward another.  Mercy from on high trickling down through us–mercy that is born from the knowledge that every single one of us walking around today–right there in our town, in our neighborhood, in our city, and, yes, even on our facebook list of friends–everyone is damaged goods–injured spiritually in some way, vulnerable, though few would admit it.  And we all have the same need, which is God’s love–a love from above that will only distil like dew upon this earth through the mercy and compassion we show toward each other.     Kenneth Wayne Hancock