Secrets of the Sabbath, Part One

Men have fought and died over which day is the Sabbath day and how to keep it holy. They died not knowing the spiritual secrets of the sabbath.

Most denominations say it is Sunday. Several claim that it is on Saturday, most notably of which are the Jews. Saturday is the 7th day of the week, after all. But their angst is misdirected; sadly, they are all missing the boat.

Most Christians will tell you that the Sabbath day is important, for God gave the 4th Commandment to men: “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8). Christians endeavor to keep all Ten Commandments the best they can. But they fail, and by their own volition declare that after their conversion to Christ, they still sin, which is breaking the Ten Commandment law (I John 3:4). God, of course, knew that natural man could not keep the law; He made him that way. And yet, spiraling down through the centuries, sincere men and women have tried unsuccessfully to keep the law in their own strength.

The Law Is for Lawbreakers

Nevertheless, despite all their ruminations, there is a curious passage of Scripture that the followers of Christ have not discovered nor understood: “The law is not made for a righteous man” (I Tim. 1:8-9). The Ten Commandment Law was given by God to man, to reveal the sin in his heart, to show man his sin. “The law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners…” It is just like the law against murder in the natural sense; it is for murderers, not you and me. The Sabbath is for sinners–to show them, along with the other nine commandments, of their sins and their need for the Savior.

The Law, the Ten Commandments, is a good thing, if it is used lawfully and properly (v. 8). The way that we use the 4th Commandment lawfully and properly is to know that it was instituted for sinners. The Sabbath commandment is not a hoop that we are to jump through to prove that we are righteous before God. Nor is it a way for us to become righteous in God’s eyes. Believing Him is the only way. Believing His word that says our old sinful nature has died with Christ and that now we have a new heart that beats in concert with the rhythm of the Spirit of truth now residing in us (Romans 6:1-12).

Ironically, every denomination says that they believe every word of God. But do they believe the previous paragraph. But “without faith (belief) it is impossible to please Him.” Us working keep the sabbath law in order to please God is a bondage wrapped in a cloak of well-meaning. And it is work, not rest.

Being Made Free from Sin

Understanding the secrets of the sabbath weaves together three threads: the Ten Commandments which includes the sabbath commandment; sin, and the cross of Christ. One who has died with Christ on the cross, been buried with Him, and have risen with Him by believing in His resurrection—is “freed from sin” (Rom. 6:7). We are resurrected with Him. We believe His promises that by faith His Spirit now lives within us, and our faith in Him is counted for being right with Him.

“Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness” (Romans 4:3). Yahweh imputed, reckoned to Abraham the ability to live in an upright manner, keeping Yahweh’s laws and not sinning, by just believing His word! God accounted righteousness to Abraham because of his belief–before he was righteous. This is how our old nature is put to death on the cross. We must “reckon also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God” (Romans 6: 11). [See pp. 154-159 in my book Yah Is Savior: The Road to Immortality available free with free shipping. See details at the end of this article.]

We have seen what the sabbath commandment is not, and how it is impossible to keep through man’s own strength. In Part Two we will see scripturally just what the sabbath is and how to enter God’s sabbath rest. It is a beautiful secret that will make the chains of worldly wisdom drop to the stone floor of the Sure Foundation.

[I know that this is new wine for many of you. Christ said that one who drinks this new doctrine will at first say that the old teachings are preferred. I implore you: Go by the scriptures of truth. Study these truths out. They will make you free.] kwh

[Ordering My Free Books in Paperback]

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

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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.}  

Sexual Mores of a Lost GI–Saigon, 1967

A lawless invincibility permeated the atmosphere.  It was like being out in a Wild West town like Tombstone, Arizona, in 1880. That’s the feeling I got. But it was a Tombstone that was  stoned and fully armed. We were the cowboys in town, where even a medical lab technician like myself was locked and loaded. Only thing was, we had M-14’s and M-16’s instead of Colt 45’s and Winchester 30-30’s.

And many of us relished the freedom at first. Most of us were a year or so out of high school, thrown out of those rigid classrooms taught by Victorian spinsters, their long hair severely pulled into a bun. We were extracted from high schools and homes that thoroughly supported corporal punishment. “You get swats at school, you get swats from me,” said most every father to their sons.

The discipline was demanding and yielded an artificially quiet classroom, despite the internal rumblings in the groins of those red-blooded American teenagers. Teens who yearned for freedom to explore, teens who could not “get no satisfaction” from the plastic play they were asked to audition for by their teachers, parents, sheriffs, and mayors.

They wanted freedom.  In thousands of classrooms across America, they were demanding freedom. But they were just too young and inexperienced to know this truth: Better be careful what you ask for.

Because your Uncle Sam has just the answer. You want freedom?  Okay.  How about I send you to a place where you can do just about anything you want to do. No fathers leaning on you to be someone you don’t want to be. No sheriffs poking a flashlight into your car, breaking up a nice session with your girlfriend. No society dictating how you should look, walk, or talk. Yes, you’ll miss your mom, but you’ll get over it in a little while because you’ll be free.

I mean total liberty to drink all the beer and whiskey you want to drink without fear of getting caught; all the marijuana you want to smoke. What? Never seen a joint before? That’ll come soon enough. And you will have all the human beings you want to kill. And you’ll have all the girls you want to copulate with. What if I send you to a place where no one in authority will correct you about your morals, about what is right or wrong for you.

You just do a good job, and then you will have a license to do just about anything you desire. You want to run naked through a house of ill repute at two in the afternoon, chasing oriental girls clothed only in sheer pink lingerie? That can be arranged.  You want to be able to buy a pack of Kent cigarettes, seemingly straight out of the carton, shipped directly from the States, except after pulling the red cellophane ribbon and opening the pack, you realize that they have a funny texture to them and instead of being clipped straight across at the end you light, they are tapered, twisted at the end.  The filter end is intact.  You light it up, and then you will smile because for two dollars, you have just purchased twenty filtered marijuana cigarettes.

Never fear. As your Uncle Sam, I’ll make it that you will never run out of these sophisticated joints because I will pay you $240 a month, enough to buy 120 packs of them.  How is that for freedom?  Nobody is going to bust you here because nobody really gives a damn about you here.  Just as long as you do your job.

And don’t worry about the sex.  You’ll get plenty where I am sending you.  You see, these wars take a toll economically on people.  To eat and get by they will sell their daughters. They will work in bars and clubs, which are fronts for whorehouses, and they will be waiting for young men with money, and they will lie in wait for you young bucks panting after the scent of easy virtue–young bucks who think that they are now finally free. I’ll make it real easy for all who want to be free from the constraints of society’s codes of conduct.

How easy will I make it?  How about this little dream.  They let you and your buddy out on the corner, and you light up a “Kent,” and you saunter down to the middle of the block, and you go into this large, smoke filled dance hall.  Scores of pretty Vietnamese girls are all over the place.  And when I say “girls,” I mean girls–not women.  Don’t worry.  They’ll get prettier each month you stay in country.  It’s amazing how that happens.  In fact, the girls will actually begin to morph into Anglo-Asian beauties by the time your year is up.  Their eyes will begin to look sympathetically upon your angst. In fact they will begin to look like the girls from your very own home town. Don’t worry about it; it’s just a little trick that a lonely brain plays on you the longer you stay here. Very magical, indeed.

And so, you slide over to the bar and get a beer.  Three girls approach you, smiling demurely at you. You think you hear one ask, “Dance?” as she reaches, yes, she reaches out to you.  You don’t even have to speak first and come up with some stupid pick up line, as if you really knew what you were doing.  Is that easy enough for you?  You like this kind of freedom?  And then you follow her to the dance floor.  “Chain of Fools” is screaming and rumbling out the corners of the building, the bass and Aretha trading primordial moans.

Then you notice that the girl has a name tag pinned to her blouse.  “Suzy,” it says.  Right.  And then you notice a curious stamp confirming that she has actually been inspected by a physician and is cleared to work there.  You think, Grade A, and at first you’ll think it’s pretty cool, except it’s not very romantic and you can’t really communicate with her as you begin to realize that sex is a great goal, but romance and companionship and someone to kid and laugh with–that’s what really meets your need.

And so it kind of turns you off, but it’s too late now.  You are going through with it.  The song ends, and I’m sorry to say, so does your little secret dream of having, shall we say, a more substantial romantic tete a tete, as sentimental as that sounds (for you are very old fashioned still).  For she now, with a whisper of her porcelain fingers, leads you, much like a calf to the killing floor, to what you have longed for, when you sat there in those boring biology and chemistry classes as you stared at the virgins back home who would not let you be–well, free!  Free to do with them whatever you wanted, when you wanted it.

But this oriental princess (I hope I’m not making this too easy; I thought that this was what you wanted), this little Asian girl of leisure, now leads you past the lines of vertical beads and out of the dance hall, down a hall way and into her nest, a windowless room, a bit bigger than the  bed, and proceeds easily without moral ambiguity to disrobe. Oh, yes. I know. Too easy. But this is what you wanted.  Freedom.  Freedom from morals, from laws, from the chains of protocol. You want more freedom?  I got more for you here in the land of freedom, Vietnam.  After all–isn’t freedom what we are fighting for?

Freedom. Yes, how about those anger issues that have been seething in your heart that you could not express in the States, where you could not actually strike out and smite your fellow man, like those bastards in school that picked on you, that treated you with so much disrespect that you yearned to wreak vengeance on them but couldn’t.  Well, just wait, my little nephew, you will get your chance, yes, even you lab techs pull guard duty during Tet, where you’ll be overrun. You won’t be in one of those candy-striped hospitals at Da Nang or Cam Rahn Bay.  No, no, no.  That would be too sheltered from the fruit of anger, too cloistered by protective squadrons of Air Force jets and semi-permanent installations that would shield and prevent you from the ravishes of war and the revenge that seeps up in your craw as you tend to the fresh, wild wounds of once angry young men.  Now sedated, defeated, resigned to their fate, staring off into the distance, vacant-eyed, cold and shivering now, looking into your eyes, wanting you to comfort them, knowing that you probably can’t save them, but maybe you could just…well, love them in the hour of their call to the other side.

Death, the fruit of anger, you’ll see plenty of it. But you will be still too young to realize that the root of murder is hate and its cousin anger.  You’ll find out all about it this year though.

During your twelve month baptism of fire, you’ll have plenty of time to freely “run the gamut” and “plumb the depths,” as they say, the depths of the dark emotions of the heart.  You’ll be able to see revenge creep up into the upper chest of a medic, making him crazy with hate for the NVA soldier, lying peacefully there with three holes in his chest.  You’ll get to see this medic look around and then start pounding that NVA soldier’s face with his fist. Before you judge him, though, keep in mind that the medic lost three patients this morning. In his mind, he’s reeking a justified vengeful justice upon his enemy. Sometimes un-corralled liberty does that to you. Don’t be concerned. You’ll be okay.

Yes, we wanted freedom from the mundane. We got it in a place where all that mattered is surviving one more day. Funny how raw freedom negates civility. And it’s funny how mortars make agnostics cry out to God. And it’s funny how war seldom makes a saint. Well, except that handful who died saving others.

But for most of us who made it back home, we are left with memories that only we can share. Some memories are scenes from a macabre comedy, despite our uncle’s dark sarcasm. But they are for another day, even though you probably wouldn’t believe me if I shared them with you.

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

[The above is a my portrait of the young man in Proverbs 7.]

The Symbiotic Relationship of God and Mankind

Life is a growing and a maturing. Just look out your window at the living things. They are growing into maturity that they might reproduce themselves. We not only are growing physically, but also mentally and spiritually. And we are created in His image and likeness. So why is the thought that God grows so unbelievable?

Yahweh, translated “the LORD,” grew into His perfect maturity when He manifested Himself in the Son. Some will take offense, so let me explain. “God is Love,” agape love. The universal law of love states: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15: 13). In order to fulfill this law, the Father would have to lay down His life for others. But the Father is an immortal Spirit and cannot die.  He could not fulfill this law and thereby express the greatest love while in His first spiritual estate.

So in His brilliant plan, He would pour out His Spirit into a specially prepared mortal man who would then submit to the death of the cross to save down fallen mankind, who were before prepared for this purpose. In a word, the sacrifice of Christ, the Son of God, would fulfill the greatest love explained in the above quote.

“God was manifest in the flesh” (I Tim. 3: 16). “God was in Christ…” (II Cor. 5: 19). Christ said that it was the Father in him that was doing all the miracles. And Christ has given us this new commandment: “Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me…” (Jn 14: 11).

Symbiosis

The Father Yahweh is Love. He completed the first leg of His own everlasting life cycle, by demonstrating the greatest and most perfect/mature love in the history of the Creator and the Created. The Immortal One had to create a mortal being—the human being—in order to be able to show that He is the greatest Love through the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. It was through Christ “laying down His life” for others that proved God is the greatest Love.

So death is an instrumental part of the Creator’s plan. For the Creator Yahweh cannot be the Creator without the Created. And in like manner, neither can Yahweh fully become the Savior without someone who needs saving. And that someone that needs to be saved cannot exist without sin entering into his heart. The evilness of sin must be a reality in fallen man in order for God to have someone to save and thereby show His great love and mercy to us. And make no mistake; Yahweh, and only Yahweh is the savior.

That is what His Spirit spoke through the prophets Isaiah and Hosea. “I, even I, am Yahweh; and beside me there is no savior…” (Isa. 43: 11; 45: 21; Hos. 13: 4). Christ’s words confirm this. “The word which you hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me…The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwells in me, he does the works…” The Father does the miracle of salvation (John 14: 10, 24).

How important is believing this true knowledge about the Father and the Son? Christ answers: “He that believes on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do…” He has just promised us that if we believe on Him according to the above, then the Father in us will perform the same miracles that He did through Christ and His apostles and prophets. Furthermore, He states that “whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14: 12-13). Asking in His name. His Hebrew name. {I am going to put this in capital letters because it is so important} CHRIST’S HEBREW NAME MEANS “YAHWEH IS THE SAVIOR!” Christ came in His Father’s name Yah. “Yahshua” is the same name as the patriarch Joshua. {I wrote a whole book about this entitled Yah Is Savior: The Road to Immortality. Free copies are still available with free shipping. Details here: https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/donate/}.

The symbiotic relationship of God and mankind is thus: God needs man to fulfill His own destiny as the glorious wise and loving Creator and Savior. And man certainly needs God to escape a certain trip to dark oblivion. We need Him more than He needs us, but nevertheless, He does need us to fulfill His plan and purpose of reproducing Himself, agape Love.

The Plan in Making Adam Weak

Our omniscient Creator moved on this by creating Adam and Eve weak—on purpose. It was not an experiment in the Garden of Eden that accidently ran amuck. No. He who knows the number of hairs on our heads, and He who sewed together our sinews, and spun and wove the exquisite optic nerves into our brains—no, He did not make a mistake. It was all planned. And “it was very good” (Gen. 1: 31).

In Adam God did not build a robot-like tower of strength. He could have, but that kind of creation would not serve His purpose of revealing Himself as the Savior. In His infinite wisdom and fore thought, He chose us long before He ever created the worlds. And He chose us to be with Him, with His purpose in mind.

And through this grace, He secured our destiny, before ordaining our steps here on earth. For this reason: We are to be earmarked to be used by Him for His purposes. When we surrender completely to Him, then He will have our backs. Many try to manipulate the Creator, trying to get Him to do their bidding. But that never works out well. Just look at the unanswered prayers that we all have flung heavenward. Just look how the plans of well-intentioned men “have come to naught.”

But He has His hand on us, long before our entrance as infants into this world. He has “predestinated us” for this purpose: that we could be placed as His spiritual offspring through Christ, who is the saving Son and who is the Creator/Father. That is not a misprint. Everyone will quote the following passage as a distinct prophecy of the coming Son of God. But somehow this part of the quote just doesn’t click. I know that you have read it.  “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given…and His name shall be called…The everlasting Father…” (Isa. 9: 6).

Once we understand and believe why we were created in the first place, then we will realize that this present life upon this planet is all about God—Agape Love—reproducing Himself. And it can only happen through God saving a human being who sits humbled in the chains of sin.

We were made for God. God created us humans as His future dwelling place. In His eyes it is already a done deal. God sees us already sitting next to Him on His throne. After all, He created us to be overcomers. He has faith in His plan, purpose, and His word that explains all this. And, oh, yes. He has faith in us, His creation. The faith that the Bible keeps referring to is God’s faith and belief in His own genius and power to make it all happen. When we believe what and how He believes, then we are walking in faith. It is not our feeble little belief system. It is the faith of the Son of God, the Creator.

The few overcomers, the elect, the remnant, will answer the call. Because He fashioned us to do this. For in the end, we will see that it is all Him. He is the One, so merciful, so kind, so loving, that He would choose us to sit with Him on His throne. This is how He said it, “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne…” (Rev. 3:21).

Many are called to this honor, but only a few are chosen. It is like seed being sown in a field. Some will come up and some won’t. May we all who read these words come up and rise up to be what He wants us to be.    Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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Exposing the Spiritual Darkness of Political Correctness

“Something there is that does not love” political correctness [1]. Something deep down in the human soul repulses attempts by our fellow man to dictate how we should feel, speak, and act. Perhaps that something is that little spiritual spark that our Creator has placed in our hearts. That tiny luminescence is intended to kindle a fire that will illuminate the path back to our Father’s heart.

Thus, that little light that He has given each person knows that in the end, we all were made for God’s purposes and not to be slaves to the whims of other men.

Political correctness is just that–a subtle tyranny of thought control, enabled by fear. For it is fear of retribution from the herd that debilitates most. When their heads raise up in indignation at the despotic dictums foisted upon them by the P.C. police, most merely glimpse the woolly fleece in front of them and continue following, lowering their heads once again in resignation.

But “Something There Is that Does Not Love” Political Correctness

Politics is natural man governing other men. So when a small group of men dictates to the masses what to think and say, and the people acquiesce, then a quiet totalitarian regime is born, and the masses become compliant subjects of the few.

Therefore, it is an honor for me to say that I am not politically correct. For I am endeavoring to follow our Example, the Son of God. He shrank not from those who dictated “correct” thought and speech 2,000 years ago. He followed completely the spark within to its full growth cycle conclusion: the manifestation of the Son of God.

Our Example

And He is our Example, and He has shown us the way to the goal and vision of being just like Him. And He was not politically correct. He did not need for somebody to tell Him how men should think, “for He knew what was in man” (John 2: 25). He stood up and exposed the lies and deceptions of natural sinful man.

He even told the Pharisees, “You are of your father the devil” (John 8: 42-47). Hey, you hypocritical little tyrants, running around here, sitting in Moses’ seat, you stone my followers for loving their neighbor as themselves, and you bind heavy burdens on the people and never lift a finger to help them. Your father is Satan, and you are acting just like him. Satan is a serpent and you are a den of lying vipers just like him.

No, Christ was not politically correct. He told the truth and exposed the bastardized Judaic religion of His day for the hypocrisy that it was. He came against it vehemently. He is our Example. Are we doing what He did? Are we exposing the half-truths and outright errors that riddle organized Churchianity? Are we purging out the old leaven concepts?

Light Versus Darkness

Almost everything Christ said was not politically correct. Take the Sermon on the Mount. He said that we are not to hide the light that He gives us, but to let it shine. Light by its nature exposes and reveals what darkness hides. Light, therefore, is much more powerful than darkness, for it dispels and finally annihilates the darkness.

Political correctness is a form of darkness, demanding its victims to remain quiet and not expose its nature. P.C. says, Don’t let the light of truth and freedom shine because it will reveal just how small and petty I am.

Oh, something there is in the human heart that does not love political correctness. Truth and Love says, Letting your light shine glorifies the Father. For He is the Light, “the true Light, which lights every man that comes into the world” (John 1: 9).

Our wonderful Savior is the Light that has shined into our hearts with His Spirit and spark of new life in Him. He has promised us freedom from the slavery and bondage of sinful man’s expectations of how we are to think and speak in their new world order.

Oh, something there is that does not love political correctness, and that something is a Someone, and He is God. And man was created by Him to be the glory of God.  Our whole purpose is to exalt our King. It is branded into our DNA.

That is why we fairly bristle at political correctness. Agents of the kingdom of darkness impose the ideals of their father upon us. They are against the divine nature that we are to exhibit. This is the righteous spiritual nature that will glorify God. P.C. is against God and His sovereignty in our lives. It totally forgets God and His word and plan and purpose, superimposing “great swelling words of man’s wisdom” in their stead.

Our modern day political correctness is just the latest version of the same spiritual sickness. It is ultimately against God and His desire for us, which is this: He wants us to be exactly like our Example. He is known by English speakers as Jesus Christ, but known by a few as Yahshua, His Hebrew name.

But then, using the name “Yahshua” may not be politically correct in some quarters. I better let the Father Yahweh sort it all out.     Kenneth Wayne Hancock

[1] Robert Frost. Adapted from “Mending Wall.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Christian Growth Is Stunted by False Teachings

Growth. That’s what every living thing needs—especially Christians. To grow spiritually, we need clean spiritual food and water.

But Christians are being fed false food and fetid water, if we are to believe the apostle Peter: “There will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies.” And “many shall follow their destructive ways…In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories” (II Pet. 2: 1-3). Who are these false preachers? It is important to know, for many Christians are following them.

The apostle Jude warns us of them, also. “For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people”(v. 4). They secretly slither in to the congregation, sharing their tainted teachings. The apostle Paul warns us that in the latter days, many will leave the true faith and will be deceived by “seducing spirits and doctrines of devils” (I Tim. 4: 1). In our time false teachers in sheep’s clothing are teaching doctrines about Christ that are straight from Satan. And these are so-called “Christian” teachers, preachers, pastors, evangelists, priests, and prophets!

Sadly, “many” are following these false teachings about Christ and what He is doing here on the earth. The word of God says that many are being fed false spiritual food and are being deceived.  Where are “the many” today? The lambs and sheep of God have been herded into corrals with names like Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Episcopal, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Charismatic, et al. Funny thing. The vast majority of these denominations believe that they are just about the only ones with the truth.

Hundreds of millions meet together. But Christ said to be careful not to follow the masses. He commands us to “enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Mt. 7: 13-14).

Most just read over these words, never taking the time to let them sink way down into their hearts. The “wide” and “broad” way is the easy way. The wide, easy way has you to just “accept Christ as your personal Savior,” be baptized, and you are good to go. Conversely, the narrow gate is the cross experience where we place our old sinful selfish heart on the cross with Christ and let it die with Him. Then by believing in His resurrection, we receive His Spirit that raises us up to walk in a “newness of life.” Few get this deep, for they are seduced by false teachings about salvation. And until the day that my lips and fingertips fall silent, I will continue to testify for Christ, whose truth has translated me from darkness to light (Rom. 6).

Why Do We Hold on to the False Doctrines?

How do human beings get stuck in the mire of false teachings? First, no one’s pride encourages them to admit they were wrong. And there is a tendency in human nature to cling to the traditions taught them by their elders. However, going through the “cross experience” cures all this. For when we “die” spiritually with Christ on the cross, we abdicate our own will and desire and fling ourselves into His embrace. We, like a babe in arms, trust Him to care for us. We have faith in Another who is much wiser than we are. And we believe that He will raise us up and give us of His Spirit to lead us and guide us through this new spiritual landscape. This is being “born again” or “born from above.” And thereby the sin nature is gone. And He gives us the Spirit of Truth that “leads us into all truth.” It is His Spirit now within us that helps us know what is false and what is true.

This “cross experience” is there for all of us, whether we came to Christ yesterday or forty years ago. This experience is the narrow gate that allows us to enter into His kingdom. Without it, we cannot see nor enter the kingdom of God (John 3: 3-6).

So dig deep. If gigantic waves of people are following a certain teaching, it is probably a false doctrine. The cross is the starting point for Christian growth. If a person is still breaking the Ten Commandments, then how are they growing spiritually in Christ? Just remember: With God all things are possible—even to be free from sin and sinning.

False teachings are bad food for the flock of God, which stunts their growth. The true doctrine of Christ is a portion of the “hidden manna” that Christ promised to those of us who purge out the “doctrine of Balaam” (Rev. 2: 14). This spiritual bread from heaven is hidden from those who have not entered the kingdom of heaven. But it is being revealed to you and me. It has long been hidden and “kept secret from the foundation of the world” (Mt. 13: 35).

[Be sure to order my new book The Royal Destiny of God’s Elect. It discusses these things and will be a help to you and your spiritual growth. It is free with free shipping. Just send your mailing address to my email, and I will get it right out to you. wayneman5@hotmail.com ]

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

Distinguishing 30, 60, and 100 Fold Spiritual Fruit Bearing

The Spirit admonishes us: “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?” (II Cor. 13: 5). We test ourselves by answering this question: Do we know and believe that it is the Spirit of Christ that dwells within us by the love that is shed abroad to all? I.e., we are examining how much of Christ’s Spirit is flowing through us.

Someone will ask, “How do we know how much of the Spirit of Christ is in us?” The short answer: If we are in the “knowing” stage of most things, then it is 30 fold growth. To distinguish 30 fold from 60 fold growth, one must look at 30 fold fruit from a childlike perspective. Just like natural children accumulate knowledge of their surroundings and nature and other people, children of God are doing the same in the spiritual realm.

A 30 fold fruit bearing child of God is attaining truth and how it relates to them personally. They are “knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him” (Rom. 6: 6). And they will “know the truth and the truth shall make you free…Whosoever commits sin is a slave to sin…” (John 8: 32-36). That’s the knowledge that the child of God is gaining. A natural child is mostly alive for what he can receive from his father. So it is with the spiritual. A child of God is interested in receiving from his Father—receiving peace, contentment, joy, and love. And this only comes when our old self is crucified with the Lamb of God.

A Christian, bearing 60 fold fruit, has matured to the point where he or she desires to not just receive the fruit of the Spirit, but rather channel to others of those fruits. It is the developing of interpersonal relationships. One bearing 60 fold fruit is mostly alive for what they can do for the Father.

The 100 fold Christian is like Paul and Peter and John. They have Christ’s Spirit of agape love being manifested to others. They are agape love, insomuch as Christ is manifested through their  vessels. They have the mind of Christ, and the will of their Father, foremost in their thinking. And the Father’s thoughts are rarified. Only a few will attain this position with Him. And they are those who are doing the will of the Father. They will be spiritually seated at His round table. They will know His purpose and His plan to accomplish it. They are His cadre who He will use to implement His government. Their thoughts are His thoughts, for their vision is His vision—a vision that subsumes and transcends national, international, worldwide, galactic and universal concerns. Christ is the exiled King, and “of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end” (Isa. 9: 6-7).

Those who grow spiritually into 100 fold fruit bearers will be in His inner circle. And don’t tell me that Christ does not have an inner circle. Think about the twelve disciples. And now there are  positions to be filled. They will be leaders and administrators and ambassadors of the King as He establishes righteousness and judgment throughout the earth after the tribulation subsides. You will know that you are on the right track to become one of these princes or princesses of God if you are thinking His thoughts—His kingdom thoughts.    Kenneth Wayne Hancock

[Order my new book The Royal Destiny of God’s Elect. It discusses these things and will be a help to you and your spiritual growth. It is free with free shipping. Just send to my email your mailing address and I will get it right out to you. Helping you is my offering to God.  wayneman5@hotmail.com ]

Seven Teachings with Three Levels of Growth

I greet you now with encouraging words, words from the heart of Christ who grants us courage and strength and power. He is that positive One, the “Holy One of Israel,” who is all “Yes” and  all Love for us all. And His Spirit now lives in us.

And we are His body, despite the world that tries to corral us into a box of their own imagination as to who God is and what He want us to do and to be. We must continue to walk worthy of His great calling and election that rests upon us.

I know that many of you are seeking God fervently, longing to know His will for your lives. As I stated before in my latest book, The Royal Destiny of God’s Elect, God has a steadfast purpose, and that purpose is to reproduce Himself in us. “For consider what He has done—before the foundation of the world He chose us to become, in Christ, His holy and blameless children, living within His constant care” (Eph. 1: 4-5 Phillips).

He chose us before the foundation of the world! We are His elect, His chosen ones. (“Elect” and “chosen” are translated from the same Greek word). Brothers and sisters, the Almighty is for us! And “if God be for us, who can be against us” (Rom. 8: 31). He has chosen us to be recipients of Christ’s most precious and endearing qualities.

He has a plan to accomplish our transformation. His will is that we surrender to His commands to be holy as He is holy. We become holy when we set ourselves apart for His purpose. And His purpose is to magnify and multiply Himself in a “chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people” (I Pet. 2: 9).

Enduring the Sojourn

I know that many of you have been bounced around from church to church, rejected and ostracized and betrayed by those you loved. Think not that God has turned His back on you. Oh, no. He allows these things for our good. He ordains hardships, reluctant goodbyes, and mindless  misunderstandings to temper and then hone the sword of the Spirit within us, that we can “endure hardships as a good soldier of Christ.”

And, yet, we wander on, like Paul, shipwrecked at sea. We still cling to a bit of driftwood called “hope.” And as we are tossed to and fro, longing for a spiritual home that’s true, we wait like those poor souls in Casablanca. We wait for a word that signals passage into the Captain’s good ship.

I write to you who are still hoping to find a clarification as to what God wants for you to do. Your vision will clear as you simply believe His vision for your life. His vision for you is His purpose for you.

Doing His Purpose

To fulfill His purpose, our feet must tread in the footprints of giants—the giants of the faith, the apostles and prophets. Step one is to acquire true knowledge of their teachings. Then we must study and continue in their doctrine, which are Christ’s teachings (Heb. 5: 12-14; 6: 1-2). Then we share them, and sharing His teachings is breaking the bread of life. This is the communion so dear to His heart.

Seven doctrines of Christ were paramount in the early church. The early church “continued steadfastly” in them (Acts 2: 42). There are three levels of spiritual growth in each of the seven.

We see this three-leveled motif at work in several passages. In the Parable of the Sower, the word of God produced three levels of fruit production—thirty, sixty, and one hundred (Matt. 13: 3-9, 18-23). John writes to “children, young men, and fathers” (I John 2: 12-14). Christ likens the kingdom of God to a man who sows seed. It grows, and he does not know how it all works. “For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head” (Mark 4: 26-29).That’s how the kingdom grows. Then you have Justification, Sanctification, Glorification. And the three sections of the Tabernacle. There are many more examples of the three levels of spiritual growth. There importance is indisputable.

7 Teachings, 3 Growth Levels in Each

Each of the seven doctrines of Christ have a 30 fold growth, a 60 fold, and a 100 fold growth. Let’s just look at the 30 fold level of understanding.

1. Right now, let us take the first teaching of Christ—repentance from dead works. The 30 fold fruit of that doctrine in one’s life is the crucifixion of the old self on the cross with Christ. It is the getting rid of the sin nature we are born with. Our old self is dead already in God’s eyes. We must reckon it so. This is true repentance from sin and sinning; it frees us. “For He that is dead is freed from sin” (Rom 6: 6-11). This speaks of a spiritual death of our old sinful nature. When we really believe this, way down deep in our hearts, then we will experience the chains of sin falling off of us. Before, we are slaves to Sin; now we are free. Why? Because our old sinful heart died with Christ, the sin sacrifice. This is the cross experience. Someone says, “I know that.” But the churches rarely get into the death of our old man  nature.
2. “Faith toward God” is the second apostles’ doctrine. In the 30 fold child-of-God context, we then believe that Christ was raised from the dead, and that we are raised with Him. He had faith that He would be raised. Now we have faith that we are raised up along with Christ—raised from the death that sin had held us in. [For much more on these first two doctrines, read online Chapters 26-32 of Yah Is Savior: The Road to Immortality found here: https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/book-yah-is-savior-the-road-to-immortality/ Or better yet, order your free hard copy with free shipping by sending your mailing address to wayneman5@hotmail.com Mention the book]
3. “Doctrine of Baptisms” is the third teaching that the apostles stayed in. There are several baptisms, but for a 30 fold child of God it is their immersion into Christ’s death. When He died, our sin nature died with Him. “Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death” (Rom. 6: 3-4)?

{To be continued…I will share a 30 fold understanding of the other teachings a bit later. These first three are what the people need. We must understand them first and then share these keys to those trapped in sin. Be sure to order my latest book The Royal Destiny of God’s Elect. Absolutely free.}

A big agape-love hug to all of you.

Kenneth Wayne Hancock