Renewing Our Minds Changes Us

To renew our mind—how do we do it? We do it by adding Christ’s divine thoughts to our faith.

Peter tells us to “gird up the loins of your mind” (I Peter 1:13). The first item of the armor of God is to stand, “having your loins girt about with truth” (Eph. 6:14). Every Christian knows that the truth is in Christ. But the young Christian [and the old as well] has thoughts and concepts about Christ that are not Christ’s thoughts.

The apostles were writing to Christians who evidently needed to have their concepts of Christ’s gospel straightened out. Or they would not have been receiving those letters to the churches. It is the same today. The spiritual battleground is in the mind. We are led by our thoughts.

And God has given us the power to chase negative thoughts away and banish false concepts out of our minds. When our thinking has been purged and cleansed, then we will have been transformed, or changed. How is one transformed? “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove [discern, reckon as genuine] what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Rom. 12:2). We will be able to know what God’s perfect will is and how to walk in it. But our minds must be free from false doctrines. That is how the renewal begins.

Definition of Renew

To renew means “to make new again.” You mean, our minds were new once upon a time, and then they got sullied, and now they await a cleansing and a restoration to the purity they once held?

Could this “renewing of our minds” entail us thinking what Christ thought? We are admonished to let Christ’s mind be in us (Phil. 2:5). Think like Christ thinks. Let Christ’s mind be in you. You mean we must allow it to reside in us? We do this by moving out our old thoughts to make room for the new thoughts, which are Christ’s thoughts, thoughts that require faith/belief.

So what did he think about?  He thought of the invisible heavenly things, not the things consumed by the five senses. “Take no thought for your life,” your visible earthly life (Matt. 6:25-31). He was submissive to the father in all things and taught us to do the same. In so doing, he was humble, giving glory and praise to the Father.

We must “let” His mind take over our mind. To do this we must know the plan and purpose of God. Christ always said, “I must be about my Father’s business” (Luke 2:49). He always did those things that pleased the Father.

Knowing the true plan and purpose of God is a big chore, but what is bigger is eliminating the old desires we had for our lives– our plans and schemes, our dreams for our own little futures. And they are little “compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us.”  Our old lives are but “dung” compared to eternally being at His side.

The Cross

Christ always taught His followers to repent from sin. This is the first step in getting rid of the false concepts about Christ. It is the cross that puts to death our old sinful selves, along with its desires, and enables us to “be raised to walk in a newness of life.” This shows us where our old thoughts were leading us and where the thoughts of God now bid us come.

First, we must get to that place of submission. We must leave the old life at the cross and take on Christ’s mission, which is establishing His Kingdom of love and righteousness throughout the earth and sharing his throne with his elect. That takes much study and prayer.

All this is for those human beings who renew their minds with Christ’s thoughts and are changed from selfish sinners into compassionate monarchs, soon ruling with Christ in His Kingdom right here upon earth. “To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with me in my throne…” (Rev. 3:21).

Christ Says, “Repent!” Repent from What? “Sin.” How Do I Do That?

Imagine yourself in a small town, and Christ Himself began to preach in the town square. His message would be the same: “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Now some in the crowd would think that they would need to quit drinking beer on Friday night and go to church with their girlfriend Sunday morning. Some would take his short message to mean that they must straighten up. And some would take the word “repent” a little deeper to mean stop lying and cheating and doing bad things.

The latter is a step in the right direction, but it goes much deeper–way down into the selfish heart of the hearer of Christ’s command, “Repent.” Repent from what? Repent from sin. But it is difficult to repent from sin when there are so many different definitions of it. What does the Bible say?

Sin Defined

What is sin?  Sin is the breaking of the law.  Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. I John 3:4. “But which law?” someone will ask. There are hundreds of laws in the Bible and hundreds more made by man.  Which law is John talking about?  It is the Ten Commandments. How can we be sure?  Paul clears up the matter irrefutably.  I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. Romans 7:7. “Thou shalt not covet” is one of the Ten Commandments.  Coveting or desiring your neighbor’s possessions is prohibited in the Ten Commandments, given to Moses on Mt. Sinai.  Therefore, sin is  breaking one of the Ten Commandments.

And we have all broken them.  “All have sinned and have come short of the glory of God.”  Our old carnal fleshly nature is corrupt and sinful and depraved.  A person cannot please God if they are led around by its selfish ways.  Paul flashes back to this sordid state in Romans 7, letting the reader know that someone out there does understand what it means to be a slave to the sinful nature.  When we were in the flesh…You mean when you were in that old carnal nature?  You mean, Paul, that you are not now in the flesh?  …the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. Romans 7:5. For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. Romans 7:5, NIV. He goes on in that chapter to relate the utter confusion and frustration that a sinner feels when they want to do good, but the sin within them prevents them from being the righteous person they really desire to be.

Preachers for ages have erroneously taught that Paul was talking about his sinful present state at the time of the writing of the letter to the Romans.  No!  The apostle Paul had seen  the  risen Savior, had been on at least two missionary journeys over the space of twenty-four years, had written much of the New Testament, had raised the dead, healed the sick, and cleansed the lepers—no, we had better get this right—Paul in Romans 7 was not speaking about himself in 57 A.D!  He was flashing back to that time when he was a slave to sin.  He was sharing in the sinner’s sad plight, with great empathy.  He was feeling a sinner’s seemingly hopeless condition without the Savior.  He is explaining in Romans 7:14-24 just how hellish it was to be in the bondage to sin.  He has flashed back and writes in the present tense for the reader to feel the immediacy of the horrendous bondage the sinner is in.  He mentions what it was like being in bondage to sin, a slave to sin and sinning twenty-four years earlier.  The thing that he hates to do (sin) is the thing he does.  In this sinful state he has no power in and of himself to stop sinning, even though he knows that it is wrong and wants to stop it.  That is bondage; that is a slave to the sinful nature.

But just before Paul’s description of a sinner caught in the bondage to sin, he contrasts two states of being.  When we were in the flesh, the motions of sins which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.  But now we are delivered from the law…Romans 7:5-6. He contrasts the two states. “When we were” in bondage to sin, and “now we are delivered”—these are the two contrasting conditions of a human being.  One is before the Spirit of God comes into a life, and the other is after.

Somebody wants to tell me, “My pastor has never taught this.” And I’ll say to them, “Look, I’m just teaching what Paul taught. That is my job. Welcome aboard.”

Our Old Nature Must Die on the Cross

So how does one get out of the bondage of sin and sinning?  How do we deal with this sin problem in our lives?  The scriptures say that “He shall save His people from their sins.”  How does this happen?  Can we ever get in a “right” state with God?  What must we do?  There is only one thing to do with the carnal sinful self and that is to confess our depraved state, identify it with Christ on the cross, and let it die with Him, our sin sacrifice.  There is only one way for sin to be destroyed; it must be crucified.  But we cannot really do anything to bring this on.  It is a total work of God that has already been done—at the cross.  We cannot do anything to deserve this wonderful deliverance from this death caused by sin and sinning.  All He wants us to do is believe what He has already done to deliver us from the bondage of sin.

First, we must know this one thing: our old man, our old ego, our old self, our old nature, our old heart, our old carnal nature, the flesh, the depraved body of sin within us—it is put to death with the sacrificial Lamb.  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. Romans 6:6.

This death is not a physical death, but it is a spiritual death. Paul did not say that our old sinful nature was going to be taken care of some day when we all get to heaven.  No!  He said that it is dead, already put to death on the cross! That is not a misprint or a mistranslation.  The sacrificial Lamb of God took our sins upon Him at the time of His death.  He was our scapegoat, as when the Levitical priest laid hands on the goat transferring the sins of the people onto it.  Christ died as a sinful lost man that day, for He “was made to be sin for us, who knew no sin that we may be made the righteousness of God in Him” (II Cor. 5:21).

He wants us to believe this—that our sinful nature died with Him on the cross, and that we were buried with Him, and that we were raised up with Him as well.  For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. Romans 6:5.

Is this hard for us to believe?  Is it hard to have faith in this teaching?  Yet the elect will believe this word.  The others will fall as the children of Israel did through unbelief.  For you see that God is not asking us to do anything except believe what He has already done for us.  He first believed in His work in us long before we got here on this earth.

Repentance from sin is the first of Christ’s teachings/doctrines. It is the foundation upon which the rest of His teachings are laid. His sons and daughters will humble themselves and make the sacrifice.

To read much more on this topic, click here: Ebook: The Unveiling | Immortality Road (wordpress.com) .

{This is an excerpt from my book The Unveiling of the Sons of God. Order a copy; it is totally free with free shipping to my readers. Just send your mailing address to my email: wayneman5@hotmail.com Include your name and the title of the book.}  

I Have Chosen You

Chosen to Be Free from Sin

As Christians, God has chosen us “to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound” (Isa. 61:1). That is our goal.

“I have chosen you.” These are Christ’s very words. And we need to decide right now if we believe these words. If we do not believe them, then, like in The Matrix, we can go back to the inevitable, heart-sickening drone of our old lives, never to sniff the sweet air of freedom…

Somebody just squeaked up in back. “I am already free,” they say quite indignantly.

Really? Free? Everybody quotes John 8:32: “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” But very few know what the “truth” is or how it frees you. Everybody seems to have their own “truth” and their own definition of “free.” So, I must ask: Free from what exactly? What was Christ talking about here?

He answers our questions two verses later. “Whosoever commits sin is the slave of sin” (8:34). [Sin is breaking the Ten Commandment law [1 John 3:4]. He who sins is the slave; he is the one who is not free. He is the one who obeys the old sinful nature’s commands.

The truth that makes us free from sin  

Christ is talking about being made free from sin and sinning. Sin is the slave master of him who sins. And, “No man can serve two masters…” (Matt. 6:24).  It is the truth that shall make them free.

So, what is the truth that frees someone from sinning? Christ said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). He is the Truth, the Deliverer and Savior, and He has provided the way to put an end to sin in a person’s life, thereby making them free. That is good information. But how does Christ make us free from sin?

Through either ignorant or uninformed preachers and pastors, the church has foolishly perverted the truth that will deliver the sinner.  Preachers proclaim that they “sin every day”! They say, “I am a sinner saved by grace.” And, sure enough, they continue sinning. Worse yet, they teach their congregations that they will always sin. According to Christ’s words, which they claim to go by every word, they are telling them that they will always be in bondage to sin, that they will always be a slave.

Pastors need to teach their flocks this truth

Here is the truth that “makes us free,” written down for us by our apostle Paul: “For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been freed from sin (Romans 6:6-7  NIV).

When Christ died, our old self died! When He was buried, our old self was buried. And when He was raised from the dead, so were we. And Christ gave us a new heart, a heart that is free. We are freed from sin and sinning, folks! It is already done; we just need to believe it! This truth will transform your life. It will slay the old dragon Sin and place Christ seated on the throne of your heart. This is the truth that Christ was talking about, the truth that makes us free! “Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him” (v. 8).

The Missing Ingredient

What is the missing ingredient that makes all this happen? It is faith. Belief. Believing without concrete visible evidence. It is believing His word when He says that our old sinful life is dead and gone. Our belief starts when we reckon it so. We must reckon our old spiritual nature dead. This is not a natural death of the earthly body. “Reckon you also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:11).

To complete our initial spiritual transformation, we count (reckon) ourselves to be “buried with him in baptism, wherein also you are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who has raised Him from the dead” (Colossians 2:12). HalleluYah!

This is the truth! But they will not believe this truth that frees them from sin and sinning. They do not believe that anyone can do what Christ and his apostles say we can do! They don’t understand that it is the Spirit of Christ that lives within us now. We could not walk a righteous life before. Now it is Christ who lives within us. This is repentance from sin, the first of the seven doctrines of Christ and His apostles. [Order my book The Apostles’ Doctrine, free with free shipping. You need it. It gives much more information. Info here: https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/donate ].

Oh, that the pastors and preachers all over the world could get this message! Then they could free the precious members of their congregations, who are slaves and don’t even know it.

But a few will respond. Would you help me get this message out to a preacher or pastor or someone hungering for the truth—truth that will make them free from sin? You can share this article with anyone and everyone on any platform. Let us become the “fishers of men” by casting the truth out into the sea of mankind, thus giving the people a chance at freedom.

I’m talking about freeing the slaves with the truth. The truth is Christ’s life now residing in our hearts. There’s no greater calling than to be used by Christ to free the captives.

“I have chosen you.” He has chosen you to share the truth that will make the people free from sin. And he has “ordained (appointed) you, that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain” (John 15:16).

What kind of fruit is He talking about? It is the good fruit that we bear after our cross and resurrection experience. (Matthew 7: 18).

“I have chosen you and appointed you to bear fruit”

Understanding His message in Romans 6 is believing Him when He declares, “I have chosen you.” His chosen ones are not slaves to sin. They have been made free by knowing the truth of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection in us.

One caveat: The people do not believe they are slaves to sin, and they will fight you all the way. But they are really fighting Christ. So, “do not be dismayed at their faces”.

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

[What do you believe Romans 6 to mean? What are your thoughts about the truth that Christ spoke of? Make a comment, share and hit that like button if you appreciate the content.]

God Is Doing a New Thing, and It Starts with a New Heart after Repentance

If doubtful thoughts are arising in your mind, like, “I don’t know if I can believe the teachings on this website because I have not heard it before.” If that is happening to you, don’t jump ship. Stay in the ship. Take some time to sail away from the bustling crowd and the yap, yap, yapping of the different birds of religion who flap their Raven wings, fluttering, garbling His word into imaginations that sour the mind. Stop. Rest in Him.

Take in the new things that you are hearing here. You feel that they are right. You would not even be reading this far if you did not believe that. So, just take it easy. The concept of new things is all the way through the scriptures. God said, “I will do a new thing in the earth.” But you will not want the new wine because you will say that the old wine is better. No, it is not. God is doing a new thing with new concepts. Oh, it is in the written word. But these new concepts are sometimes directly opposed to the organized churches. If it is not happening, then someone is stuck in the mud of old churchianity. Very few plants can grow in mud. So, He says to us, “Come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord.”

When the “Spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into all truth.” Make no mistake about it. If you are not being led into more truth, one of two things is happening in your life. Either you already have all truth or the Holy Spirit is not working with you at this stage of your life.

We must believe that He has teachers. He has apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. They are humble and not exalted. They are not egoistic narcissists clamoring for money. They are part of the mighty hand of God, and they are very, very rare in the earth. Please listen to me. Very rare. You will not find them on every church corner. God is inviting us to turn the droning music of our existence off. Meditate upon His word. If you do not get it, go back and reread it. Study it. He’s the one that is giving us this new truth. It will make more sense if you know His purpose is. For all truth after the knowledge of His purpose explains how He will fulfill His purpose.

The problem with many modern Christians is that they think that they must be the star of the show. They think that they’ve already arrived.  But they don’t realize that God has a plan. They don’t understand that there is much knowledge that must be received from his offices. We are told in the scriptures to “humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God that in due time he may exalt us.” Growing to full maturity is part of this humbling process.

Quiz Time

If you would like to know where you’re at in spiritual growth, answer this question: Can you explain in detail how one repents from sin. Repentance is the first of the apostles’ doctrines. Life or death stuff. Remember? “Except you repent you shall all likewise perish.” That’s our Savior talking. If you want to be like Peter, James, John and Paul, then you must have this knowledge in your heart. It must be a river of living water. But first comes the knowledge of the cross. There, I gave you a hint. The offices of God will know this answer. So will the prophets and the evangelists and the pastors and the teachers. That’s your test. And it is any preacher’s test. Go ahead. Ask them if they can explain repentance to you.  

Try to answer the question with a closed book. Write down what you know  about repentance. Then go back to Romans 6 and check your work. And then study it until it’s in your heart. Then share it with others. That is how the word is made flesh and dwells among us. You then will become the word. This is the basic teaching of how to repent, which was the very first word that Christ spoke when he went out to preach in the villages: “Repent and believe the gospel.” When you get this–and there is only one place to get it–you will be sharing with me the wonderful deliverance He has done in your life! [See pp. 83-124 in my book The Apostles’ Doctrine. Also, pp. 138-150 in Yah Is Savior; also, pp. 10-19 of The Unveiling of the Sons of God. It is all there; I wrote it down for you.]

And so God tells his fivefold ministry offices: I am going to use you to perfect the Saints, to teach them maturity, to show them the way to become like Me. They will not come to full maturity without you, My teachers. My little children will not accomplish perfection without My fivefold ministry offices (Eph. 4:11-15).

There are many preachers and teachers who do not have the message. If you see somebody walking around, crowing, yearning to be a great man of God, he doesn’t have it. Take money out of the equation and the landscape clears up fast. Christ would not even be recognized if he were to walk into a church service today. He would have “no form nor comeliness that they would desire Him.” He wouldn’t be recognized. His teachings would not be believed. Most are not going to listen to him. In fact, that is what happened to the prophet Ezequiel. Yahweh appeared to him magnificently, and told him, “I want you to go to my people. But they are stiff necked, and they will not hear you. They will not listen to you because they will not listen to Me.” All part of the plan. But first we need to know His doctrines–backwards and forward–if we want to get a place on the front row so we can see His face up close.

 Kenneth Wayne Hancock

From My “Beginning” to THE BEGINNING

I say, “In the beginning was the ________________.”

And you say, “Word.”

And I say, “Right. The Word is in the beginning. The Word is the beginning.”

Many confuse God’s initial call on their life as the end all, be all. And they keep going back to those first experiences when God made Himself real to them. I know because God gave me wonderful revelations while I was a stark raving sinner. While others were seeing imaginary pink elephants and purple paisley wall coverings visually melting, I was seeing the oneness of God and how we should all be living together and loving each other. I called these experiences my Jesus trips.

And I held on to them as my life became unbearable because I was unbearable. In fact, one of the revelations became my sign: The old self had to die. This began my search for the truth. And I vowed that I would follow the philosophy or religion that could teach me the death of self.

For I was studying all the religions at the time. And none of them could tell me how the old selfish ego dies—until I heard the answer from this preacher who had just set up a Missionary Training Center in East Texas twenty miles from where I was visiting my mother and stepfather. I had no idea that the Bible would give me my sign. But there it was all along. The preacher taught from Romans 6, where the Spirit through Paul speaks about how our old man is crucified with Christ.

My early experiences were preparing me for the day when I would meet my mentor who would teach me the intricacies of being crucified with Christ. But at first I held on to those original experiences. I wanted to stay at my “beginning.” I did not fully realize that God reveals things to us—wondrous things—as a way to call us out of darkness. But that initial calling is not Him choosing us to be like His Son. Those that are chosen by Him to be in His first fruits company of manifested sons and daughters must go into basic and then advanced training. I learned from my mentor that there was so much more knowledge than those first experiences that God used to call me out of darkness.

Yes, they are wonderful experiences where He shows us a glimpse of what our walk here on earth can be. Those experiences were our alarm clock that woke us up to the fact that God is very real. And it is not that we are to totally forget those experiences. But we are to use them to get to the real purpose that He has for us. They are the first stepping stones that lead us across the creek. If we keep going back to that first stepping stone, we will never get to our destination, our destiny in Him. The objective and purpose of the stones is to get across. We are not to stay on the first stone and admire its attributes.

­­­­Remaining in our past, in the “beginning” of our new existence with God, will never help us to grow to be like Christ and His early apostles. We need to speak what they spoke. They “continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine. They spoke the words of Christ’s teachings (Acts 2: 42; Heb. 6: 1-2). They spoke of God’s purpose, and His plan to fulfill His purpose. This purpose of reproducing Himself in us will not be found in our “beginning,” in our initial experiences when God was calling us out of darkness. His purpose will only be found in THE BEGINNING—Him and His words. If we are to ever be counted as one of God’s future kings, sitting alongside the King Himself, we must realize that it is all about “His beginning.” He must take pre-eminence in our thinking.

“In the beginning was the Word.” Our King Yahshua is the Word. In Him are all of the Father’s details and plans to accomplish His purpose. And we can only get to where He desires us to be by studying Him, the Word.

We must study His plan to know it inside and out. What future king worth his salt does not prepare himself through studying his father’s will for the kingdom? The apostle Paul was clear on this: “This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3: 13-14).

How do we change our words and speak of His purpose and plan? “We” cannot get it done. It will be the Spirit of Truth abiding in us that will change our speech from our “beginning” to The Beginning. The Spirit of Truth is the Comforter, the Holy Spirit. Christ promised to send Him to us. The Spirit of Truth is our guide into all truth. His presence in us insures that we will not speak about ourselves. When He abides/remains/stays in us, He will take over our words that will only speak from the mind of Christ (John 16: 13).

Someone will say, “Well, what should I talk about then?” Study out His vision of sonship and share it with others. Share about His soon coming Kingdom. Learn the apostles’ doctrine and give it to others. Study out true repentance in Romans 6. That is the message for new followers, not our initial experiences. It is not about “us.” It is about Christ and His vision for us all. Study out the armor of God and teach it to others. Study out the Father’s purpose and plan to fulfill His purpose.

Finally, my brothers and sisters, feed His lambs and sheep. Not with old manna that was good for the purpose of calling you out of darkness. Feed them with the hidden manna that the Spirit of truth channels through us to others. Thank Him for those initial experiences and for the change He has made in your life. And then thank Him for the truth, for Christ is the truth, and He is the Word that was from the beginning (I John 1: 1; John 1: 1). kwh

[All these things and more are explained in my books—The Apostles’ Doctrine, The Royal Destiny of God’s Elect, The Unveiling of the Sons of God, and Yah Is Savior. They are free with free shipping. To order one of the books: https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/donate/ ]

Reviewing the Plans for Your Perfection

Our minds are finite, poorly attuned to the Infinite One’s thought. Our Father said as much. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways…” (Isa. 55: 8).

Even when a heart yearns for the truth, when new light dawns, often that heart refuses to believe. And even if the new truth is not rejected by us, it can fade in the darkness of trials and temptations. Such is the word about God’s purpose and His plan to fulfill it. We all need a review of what matters the most to our Father, according to His own thoughts.

His purpose for His creation is to reproduce Himself. You have heard it here before, but until it becomes the lyrics to the song our heart sings, we must hear it again. God is in the process of reproducing agape Love—in us. He will use the human being to do this—not an animal or vegetable or carved pillar of stone.

Because He does all things well, He has an exact plan to accomplish His purpose. He is sovereign and knows what He is doing. To fulfill His purpose, He will fill certain human beings with His Spirit, which is unselfish divine love.

They will be led by His Spirit to seek Him. First, He will place a desire in them to know the truth about our existence on this planet. They will seek for the meaning of life and will give up their old selfish life in exchange for a ticket to join this spiritual quest. Little by little, their new spiritual Father will answer their questions of Who? and What? and How? and When? and Where? and Why? He will eventually lead them into all truth and help them solve all the mysteries of God.

The Initiation

Their initiation into this new spiritual family will begin at the cross where they will willingly yield up their old sinful selfish life. And from there He may use direct revelation to unveil His plan. But most often He will reach them through His teachers of truth. For they, like the apostles and prophets, are offices of God. They are God’s gifts to His body of believers “for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ”  (Eph. 4: 12). They not only teach true concepts, but also help those coming up to purge out false concepts about the Father and Son.

This relationship concerning the Father and the Son is the key ingredient of knowledge that we need to fulfill God’s purpose in the earth. He will fulfill His purpose of reproducing Himself when He fills you and me with His Spirit of agape Love.

Unlike what many Pentecostal and charismatic voices teach, this filling us up with His Spirit comes slowly and deliberately. First, His presence will only come into a clean temple. He will arrive after a proper foundation of sound teachings is laid. These teachings are called “the apostles’ doctrine.” They are the teachings that the early rain apostles had in their hearts. They were Christ’s teachings; His teachings were His doctrine. And His became theirs. [Send for my latest book The Apostles’ Doctrine. It is free with free shipping. Just send me an email requesting it by name with your mailing address in the USA. If you live overseas, I will send you a pdf. Send to wayneman5@hotmail.com ].

The Spirit Growing

Once we are fed the “milk of the word, which is Christ’s teachings, we begin to grow into inquisitive spiritually healthy children, growing day by day. “Growing” signifies that the Spirit is growing in us, whereby, if we continue through much study and prayer, we will grow up to become strong men and women of God, just like the apostles and prophets.

So, how does the Spirit grow within our hearts? Christ, the Master Teacher, gives us the answer. He has given us several commandments. The first one is the first word He spoke to the crowds. “Repent.” All must go to the cross and let our old self die with Him. And then we are raised up with Him by believing in His resurrection, now within us. Our belief in His resurrection brings our own resurrection in Him. [All of this is explained in The Apostles’ Doctrine.]

After we get this solid in our hearts, Christ gives us several “new commandments” to obey [See https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/?s=new+commandment+commandments ].  Many of these are found in the four gospels. These will trigger the growth of the Spirit in our hearts. Obeying these “new commandments” is like when you feed your garden rich compost. It jump starts the growth of the Spirit within us. And this Spirit is the Father, and is Love, and is the fulfillment of His purpose of us becoming like the early apostles and prophets and Christ Himself. He said that we would do “greater works” than the miracles that He had performed.

Finally, obeying Christ’s commandments insures His growth in us through His abiding presence in us. “For without [Him] we can do nothing.” [https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2019/10/]

{I would like to know what you think. Be sure to comment, subscribe and like.}

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

Healings—Physical and Spiritual: How God Uses Them to Reproduce Himself

God’s story is a story of healings, both physical and spiritual. The healing of man’s body, soul, and spirit is one of the signs that “shall follow them that believe” (Mark 16:17-18).

And just as “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,” all human beings have been physically sick.  Both the sinner and the righteous have endured physical sickness. It seems that it is the red badge of being human. And especially when we are down physically, it is difficult to see the spiritual side of our malady. Yet, physical health is spiritual, insomuch as when illness strikes, it seems to force the mind to think mortal thoughts—sometimes literally.

I wrote in my journal on February 27, 2005, about a serious bout with the flu that I was experiencing:

“I have been sick for the last two weeks. Very sick. Unable to read or write sick. Unable to smile sick. I have forgotten what laughter is, what a baby’s smile can do for you. I have forgotten what joy is. I have begun to contemplate my own mortality. Days ago, accomplishments and interests that I have pursued in my life fell into a worthless pile of discarded actions—things like playing the guitar, singing, speaking Spanish, teaching literature, travel…

They all fell away into a pit of hopelessness. The pursuits of this world’s dimension suddenly seemed vain, a thing of no real profit, especially for all the energy we put into them. In the final scheme of things, my daily endeavors seemed trivial, of little consequence…The will is there, but the weak body prevents any movement toward activities.Momma just called and told me, ‘Always remember that I love you.'”

As you see here, it is difficult to think on the invisible Spirit/Creator when you are sick. Therefore, physical sickness is in the end a spiritual attack because it pulls our mind down from heavenly thoughts to the frailties of the earthly body. Physical sickness drains our mind of its will and capacity to elevate its thinking to rarified realms of unselfish love. When the body lies in weakness and in pain, it is difficult for our spirits to climb the ladder of perfection.

Sin and Sickness Linked

Physical sickness and the spiritual state of sin are inextricably linked in the mind of God. Christ taught that the healing of the body poured forth from the same fountain as the forgiveness of sin. He asked, “For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralytic, “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house” (Matt. 9: 5-6).

The key word here is “to say.” To say, “I forgive you” is a powerful declaration by the divine nature in a regenerated individual. He gave us a New Commandment to forgive others. We have that power as God’s offspring. He wants us to exercise it. And He has given us power and authority to also say, “Rise and walk.” Christ said that both forgiveness and healing come from the same source—speaking the words of physical healing as well as the spiritual.

Healings originate out of God’s merciful heart of love. With great compassion He healed all those oppressed during His walk on earth. But He made it plain that at the root of this gift of healing lies a spiritual concern.

Christ’s major thrust was for the healing of man’s spiritual heart. His command for man to repent of his sins took center stage. When He came into a village and gathered the people together, He did not first say, “I am going to heal all your diseases. So bring those that are sick to Me.” No, He said, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” He dealt with the spiritual sickness first. What good is a healthy body that has just been healed, if the heart inside is still sinful? “But that you may know that the Son of man has power to forgive sins, I say unto the sick of palsy, Rise, take up thy bed and walk.” The physical healings took place as proof that the spiritual healing was indeed real. Did not Christ also say, “First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean” (Matt. 23:26). First get rid of the sinful nature inside of your body, and then the physical body will be healed as well. Death of the earthly body comes because of the sin within. “The wages of sin is death.”

We see this in Isaiah’s vision, where he showed Yahweh lamenting for His people. He called them a “sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity,” with their head “sick, and their whole heart faint” (Isa. 1:4-5). We see here in chapter one how Yahweh likens Israel’s sinful state to a physical sickness. Their sin to God seems as “wounds and bruises, and putrefying sores” that have not been treated (v. 6).

The evil state of the world is described in Isaiah 59:1-21. The answer to the desperate cry of the earth’s inhabitants who are trapped in the misery of sin is found in Isaiah 61. It is Yahweh’s promise of the healing that will take place upon His return to earth: “To give unto them beauty for ashes and the oil of joy for mourning…” The kicker for us is that He will use the over comers during the “manifestation of the sons of God” to pour out all of His love to them.     Kenneth Wayne Hancock

The Sabbath Rest in God’s Temple

We become the temple of God when the Spirit of God begins to dwell in us. Things happen, and after our initial conversion, we may not feel it sometimes. We might be going through a trial that tells our mind something that is against the truth of His word that said, You are the body of Christ, the temple of the Holy Spirit, Yah’s dwelling place.

Speaking of trials—they are for the purification of our faith. Peter says that these “fiery trials” burn out the dross of our faith, which he likens to gold. It operates in a cycle. Revelatory truth comes flooding over us, and we exult in the thrill of getting a little closer to God. But then the thrill is gone for a while. It is like low tide and high tide—ebb and flow. And then the fog lifts, and our hunger for truth returns, and we seek and then find more truth once again. We love the flow, but not the ebb.

Many young Christians are unaware that God’s plan uses this technique for our growth in Him. So, “Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you…” It is not strange at all. We should rejoice because we are “partakers of Christ’s sufferings.” These sufferings are prerequisite for ruling with Him (I Pet. 4: 12; Rom. 8: 17).

The Mind of Christ

We are the body of Christ. Why? Because He said we are. Any thought or action or word that supersedes this reality—that we now are God’s house, that He is living inside of us—is against the truth. For it is His thought that places us in Him and Him in us, not our own imagination. Christ thought it and then said it, and His apostles wrote it down. It is His word; we just believed it. And that last four words—that is the faith that He is looking for in us.

Once we believe that our old sinful heart is crucified with Christ, and once we believe that we have “been raised to walk in a newness of life” with our risen Savior, then we are agreeing with God’s thought straight from His mind. I mean straight from the glorious brain of our Creator! Such power! Such glory! And He wants to place this creative power fully in us. But to receive fully we must believe fully. There is a growth in all this.

His thoughts do not change or deviate from the Logos (Word) which comprises the Mind of God. How does God see us? He sees us not as the pathetic selfish sinners we once were, but as His dwelling place.

Through belief, we surrender to Him and His plan. When we do this, we find refuge and enter into His rest. When we believe Him and begin to live for Him and His plan and not for our little plans, then we do enter into His rest because we have ceased from our own labors for ourselves.

This rest is our Sabbath rest. Just by believing Him and walking in the Spirit, we enter into rest and keep His Sabbath. Scurrying around, wondering if we are breaking the Sabbath is not entering into His rest. To many “law keepers,” the Sabbath is treated like a petulant old rich man who demands reverence of his every whim. That is not it, folks.

When we realize that the Sabbath was “made for man and not man for the Sabbath,” then we will rest from our own old-man-Adam-works. I pondered upon these passages in Hebrews 4 for many years, and now they are being revealed. The Sabbath day is part of the Law, and the “Law is not made for a righteous man.” Besides, “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes” (Rom. 10: 4).

Entering into His Rest

As we believe His word, we do enter into His rest. And His rest is His confidence and belief that the plan contained in the Seed/Word/Logos has come, is coming, and shall come to pass just like He created the “incorruptible seed, the word of God” in the beginning.

He believes in us more than we believe in Him. Or rather, He believes in His plan working itself out in our lives–even though we don’t even understand it fully as of yet.

He knows that His thoughts, which are formed into words, “will not return unto Him void, but will accomplish” what He sent them to do. And believing this solidly, God now rests and waits with great patience on us to finally believe the same thing.   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

Apostles’ Doctrine Explains How God Reproduces Himself—In Us

God is reproducing Himself. This is His eternal purpose that has been “kept secret from the foundation of the world.” He revealed His purpose to His holy apostles and prophets in the early rain era, and now He is revealing His plan to us in the latter rain era. The seven teachings of Christ that became the apostles’ doctrine explain how the Father will accomplish His purpose—in us. [For much more on this, order your free copy with free shipping of my latest book, The Royal Destiny of God’s Elect. Send your snail mail address to my email wayneman5@hotmail.com  No gimmicks, no follow up, just love from above, down and through. You need this book].

Yes, His purpose is to multiply Himself. He likens the process to the law of harvest where a man plants a grain of corn in his garden. After harvesting that lone seed, hundreds of seeds—just like the original—are ready to be either eaten or replanted. Quite elementary are these teachings of Christ, and yet they are profound. Christ’s doctrine spoke of the growth cycle in nature, a metaphor of the spiritual growth that transforms natural man into the “manifestation of the sons of God.” In fact, it is through viewing nature’s “seed time and harvest” cycle that we get our first glimpse of Christ’s doctrine of “the resurrection of the dead.”

In nature, a tiny seed loses its identity by being buried in the earth, and then the resurrection power from God surges into that seed, causing it to spring to life. It is a rebirth, a classic type of life out of death. It is from this matrix that we may extrapolate the spiritual life cycle of man. It is all about life out of death.

God is Love, and He is reproducing Himself through you and me. We have seen that “the seed is the word of God.” And seeds are created by God to grow. And they grow until harvest, when His word in our hearts comes to full fruition. This is when His word is magnified, and through it He is glorified when He sees Love expressed one to another through us. Our destiny is the harvest of many sons and daughters just like Christ.

Christ’s Doctrines Explain How God Is Reproducing Himself

Using this truth as a jumping off point, we look to Christ’s doctrine that He taught His early apostles. They learned from the Chief Apostle and High Priest Yahshua. His doctrine became His apostles’ doctrine. These seven specific teachings are extremely important, for they explain how God reproduces Himself. Each one of the seven sheds light on a facet of how He produces light out of darkness. Through the apostles’ doctrine, Christ shows us how He takes the dark heart of a selfish wretch and transforms him into a shining minister of light. “Let there be light,” is the seed/word from God in Genesis. And sure enough, that scripture is fulfilled in our hearts. He earnestly wants this for us all. But, if we do not have thorough knowledge of His doctrine, then it is doubtful that He will use us to fully reproduce Himself. I.e., we will lose our opportunity to become a member of God’s first fruits, the first to have Christ fully formed in us.

It was asked, “I understand, but what if we follow this way and die before Christ returns, and Christ is still not fully formed in us?” Then we join the other apostles and prophets awaiting Christ’s return to earth. He has promised that He will resurrect His followers upon His return. Those who are alive when He returns to earth will be changed “in a twinkling of an eye.” So whether we live, we are living His plan, and whether we die, we expire having lived and worked for His plan to come to fruition.

It All Begins with the Seed

It starts with the Seed, the word of God, being planted in our hearts. The sower sows the seed by telling others about Christ’s love for us all. The Seed is the Word, and in that word is a promise of a new clean life, free from the sin that has darkened our actions toward others. When we believe in Christ’s resurrection, He energizes that very word, and like a seed, it begins to grow. Seeds grow. That is their destiny. And now that the Seed of God in the form of Christ has taken root in our hearts, we begin to grow.

But like any seed, the new spiritual man inside of us needs good soil, water and sunshine to grow to its potential. Good soil is earth that is free from contaminants. The problem with quick spiritual growth is that our new man sits in a mind that has been contaminated. What are the contaminants? Erroneous concepts concerning God’s purpose and plan and kingdom, salvation. You name it. Almost anything you have heard about God needs some straightening out. All of the apostles and prophets of the Bible warn us incessantly about false prophets, false teachers, and false pastors.

But you rarely hear a word on Sunday morning about it. The people in the pews are told to accept Jesus, go to church, pay your tithes and offerings, pray, support your local communities, and just be a better you. All of which sounds so correct and good.

Especially the last one. Be a better you. What’s wrong with that one? You may ask. Christ did not tell you to be better. He said that there was no one righteous, no not one. He said, Take up your cross and follow Me. Back in the day, that meant only one thing. You would be dying very soon on that cross. Be a better you? No. In fact, He says that “you” must spiritually die with Him in revelation on the cross, the place where your sinful nature finally expires. There is no “cleaning up your old self.” No. For He says that “our righteousness is as filthy rags.” To be better, we must submit to death on the cross and then receive His Spirit into the new heart that He gives us. Our vessel gets “better” when we are no longer there [we must decrease] and when He is growing in us [He must increase] (John 3: 30). That is the message. Everything else is just smoke and mirrors and falls woefully short of what the Master requires.

Nevertheless, “Be a better you” sounds so right to the natural man. However, we must get rid of the old concepts about Christ. The truth found in the apostles’ doctrine contains the nutrients that we need to grow spiritually into Him.

For we see that Christ is the Seed, the Word that was made flesh and that walked among us (John 1: 14). And He fell into the ground and was raised up the third day. His resurrection power now courses through our mortal flesh. “God is a Spirit,” and He now lives in us, and through Him we are raised up with Him and now walk in a brand new life (John 4: 24; Rom. 6: 4).

The early apostles stayed in Christ’s doctrine, making it their own. They continued in His teachings because they knew that they contained the secrets of sonship. Christ’s teachings explain how God will reproduce Himself in us. If we are serious about going all the way and being like the early apostles, then we must do what they did. They studied Christ’s seven doctrines and got rid of false teachings. That is the bottom line.      Kenneth Wayne Hancock

{Brothers and sisters, you made it through the 1,300 words to this short addendum, proving that you, like me, are hungry for the meat and are tired of playing church house games. The Spirit is going deeper and deeper, explaining His plan and guiding us into all truth. The above is a chapter in the new book The Apostles’ Doctrine. I am writing it to leave to you, that you would have a guidebook that will afford you comfort and instruction for the long journey to the end of this age. It is for you who desire to overcome all things and sit down with Christ on His throne. This calling of manifested sonship (and daughtership) is a rare spiritual commodity, and it takes a rare breed of cat (a Lion, perhaps) to enter through its doors into the Father’s good graces. I have great respect for the future manifested sons and daughters who will “rule and reign with Christ” right here on earth upon His return. It is my privilege to be able to share with you a little milk and meat of the word to strengthen you on your quest. Keep studying. Dig deep, for only those who do will be approved by God to do great things in the earth. Can you hear Him knocking? Can you hear His voice?}

Eating the Hidden Manna

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

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

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

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

Christ the Hidden Manna

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

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

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

The Overcoming

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

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

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

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

The Pergamos Overcomings for Us Today

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

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

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

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

In Summary

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

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

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

[Order your free copy with free shipping to the USA my new book THE ROYAL DESTINY OF GOD’S ELECT. Just send your mailing address to wayneman5@hotmail.com]