God’s Will Is His Harvest

We have seen that Christ’s spiritual meat is spiritual food that gives him strength and power. His spiritual food is “to do the will of Him that sent [Christ] and to finish His work.” Doing the Father’s will is spiritual food for Christ and His body. It is what energizes Him.

 So, what is the Father’s will? “Will” is translated from the Greek word meaning “desire.” What are His desires? And how are we to be used by God to fulfill His desire, which is His will?

His Will, His Desire—The Harvest

Christ’s thoughts are about the harvest of souls that will populate His Kingdom.

We are working with Christ’s operative statement: “My food is to do the will of Him that sent me and to finish his work” (John 4:34). Christ in the very next verse tells us what the Father’s will is. It is to make sure that the harvest at the time of the end takes place. To insure it, He needs laborers.

His will is to harvest His seed, His promises, and His word. Christ speaks of the harvest: “Open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” Then He mentions the sowers and the reapers, which are to be taken spiritually and not literally. “I sent you to reap what you have not worked for.” Christ sends us to be reapers of precious souls in His harvest (4:35-38).

In the mind of Christ, He has sent us to reap what the patriarchs, prophets and apostles sowed in the earth. “One sows and another reaps is true,” He said. They sowed the seed of Yahweh’s creative genius in turning darkness into light. Pre-Adamites were scattered all over the earth. Yahweh then planted the seed of light by creating a new people—Adam and his offspring, about 6,000 years ago. The Bible is the story of how God used Adam and his seed to bring spiritual light to world.

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob/Israel, Joseph, Moses, the Judges, the prophets—they all sowed the seed while they looked forward to the promise of His harvest. God promised a new spiritual body upon His return to earth. These sowers labored under the old covenant, looking forward to our day of the new covenant. These sowers did not get to see the harvest. They now await the reapers—the elect, those chosen to serve in our end time era.

God has chosen us to be reapers. “I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor” (Jn. 6:38). [More about being “sent” later.]

God’s will is to bring all things to harvest at the time of the end. He desires to use his elect to be the laborers in that harvest. “Time” is the key to understanding His will. The Father has a timetable for everything. He has a time for the harvest of souls. He has called and now chosen certain people to be used as laborers in his harvest. They are the sons and daughters of God, shining forth as lights, exposing a present, crooked, and dark world.

The old patriarchs and prophets longed for our day. They died in faith but did not receive the promise. And that promise is eternal life in a new spiritual body, living in New Jerusalem. That promise includes living in the Kingdom of God that shall never be destroyed (Heb. 11:39).

End Time Reapers—A Special Relationship

The saints of old were the sowers of Yahweh’s plan; we have been chosen to be the reapers of His harvest. The reapers hold a special place in God’s will. Christ spells it out clearly: “And this is the will of Him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those He has given me but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day” (Jn. 6:39-40).

He will raise us up to reap souls for His kingdom. We can look into the future to see what the reaping is about. It is found in Matthew 9:35-38: Christ was teaching and preaching the kingdom of God and healing all who came to Him. “But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest.” It is all about the harvest. Christ’s mind was on the Father’s will, which is praying and asking God to raise up laborers.

The Father’s will is that Christ will lose none of us that the Father has given to Christ. The Father has given to Christ a set, certain amount of reapers for the harvest. God’s will/desire is that none will be lost. He will have His hand on us, leading and guiding us by the Spirit of truth, delivering us from danger, both spiritual and physical. For examples, look to the characters in the Bible and see how God protected them from Satan time and time again. God will do the same for us; He does not change.

This is what election is about. “If God be for us, who can be against us?” He knew us before we ever came onto this mortal plane. He has delivered us, gathering us up with a “strong hand and a stretched-out arm.” He helped our moms and dads, providing a path for us to enter the earth. He forgave our treachery and unbelief time and time again, using each sinful episode as a learning opportunity for us, readying us to be used—after true repentance—as one of His reapers in His long-awaited harvest.

There is much talk about what the will of God is. Here we have it straight out of the mouth of the Master Teacher Christ. Don’t know how or what to pray for? He commands us to pray that the Father will send more laborers into the harvest of souls. That is His thoughts on the matter. This is the truth and the way to have our prayers answered. “If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us” (I John 5:14). In agreement with His will. Now that we know exactly what His will is, we can confidently communicate with Him about His harvest and how He wants to use us.  

We now know what His will is. Our prayers to Him should be petitions that center in on His harvest. For that is His will; that is His desire. The Father is joyful when we talk to Him about the things He is thinking asbout. He will help us.

But who are these who He will raise up at the last day? Who will be His faithful reapers? Who will walk and labor alongside Christ? Those who have His vision will respond. They will come, for they have been sent to work in the fields of His harvest.    Kenneth Wayne Hancock

The Cross, Repentance from Sin, and the New Birth

You are a Christian. You want to win souls to Christ. But what is the exact message that you need to deliver? Christ is our example. What did He say to them?

Christ did not mince words. The first words out of His mouth were these: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Abrupt, perhaps. Straight to the point. Yet that short message is packed with meaning. He is saying, You must repent of your sins because God’s kingdom is right here, right now, waiting for you to enter. But you must make a spiritual entrance. If you do not change your old ways, you will miss this opportunity to be with Me in My kingdom, for I am its King.

The Spirit of Christ in the apostle John continues explaining what He is talking about. Unless you are born from above—born again—you cannot see nor enter the spiritual kingdom of God. This is being born of the Spirit. Except a man be born again [born from above], he cannot see the kingdom of God…Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. John 3: 3-5.

Everybody has heard that, but few know what it means. In order to be born of the Spirit, thereby guaranteeing your entrance into His kingdom, there must be a dying of the old seed within us. And that old seed is the old heart, the old Adamic sinful nature. “Except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone. But if it die, it brings forth much fruit” (John 12: 24).

Our old sin nature is like a bad seed that keeps producing sinful actions. And there is only one way to rid ourselves of it, and that is to surrender it to the death of the cross with Christ. That will bring the change of heart when we believe that He plants a new righteous seed in our hearts. This new seed germinates by faith in His resurrection. It sprouts forth love, joy, and peace. This is the born again experience. It comes out of repentance from sin. When a man gets this right, then he will have seen and entered the kingdom of God.

The Cross Experience

Many preachers speak about Christ suffering and dying on the cross for us. They say that He was our substitute; they say to just believe in His death and resurrection and you are saved. Many speak of this, but few explain what God requires of us concerning the cross. Just acknowledging Christ’s death is not enough to get rid of the old sinful nature. The old nature that we are born with has to die, or it will keep sprouting up. That’s why so many people back slide into sin. They back slide because their old sin nature is still there.

What the preachers fail to realize is that when Christ died on the cross, mankind’s old sinful nature died with Him. We are to examine ourselves. God is now asking, Has your old sin nature died on the cross with Christ? As professing Christians, have you laid down willingly your old sinful life, letting it die with Christ? Or have you just felt sorry for your sinful ways and “walked the aisle” like they encouraged you to do? Most mistake this experience as being “born again.” It is good to feel sorrow for the sinful way we have lived. “Godly sorrow leads us to repentance.” However, it is not repentance from sin (II Cor. 7: 10).

To the Cross

Godly sorrow leads you to the cross, the spiritual place of your repentance, which is the first of the apostles’ doctrine. Next, you must realize that Christ took upon Himself the sins of all mankind, and He died as a lost man. For He has made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. II Cor. 5: 21.

When Christ died on the cross, the sin of all mankind died with Him. In God’s eyes, everyone’s  old sinful self died when He died. He could take all the sins of the whole world on Himself because He is the only man in history who was perfect–a perfectly sinless human being. He was the only One pure enough to be the sacrificial “Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world” (John 1: 29). He was the only One pure enough to wash away your sin and mine.

This is how the shedding of His blood cleanses us of all sin. The life is in the blood. When Christ bled out on the cross, the life of sin, the strength of sin, the force of sin died. That is the power of the blood of Christ—because sin’s life force, sin’s blood, drained out, leaving sin lifeless within us. God just requires us to believe it, to believe His word about it. It is through belief that we become new creatures whose life force is restored by the power of His resurrection.

Our old nature died with Him on the cross. It is a spiritual death, not a physical one. Our old selves are already dead in God’s eyes. Why would any one knowing this continue to go on sinning? “Light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” And they won’t come to the light lest their “deeds should be discovered” (John 3: 19-20).

But I Am Baptized

Yet, some believe that after they are baptized in water, somehow mystically they are okay. But baptism is an outward symbol of a spiritual event called the cross experience. Do you not know that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? We are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 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. Romans 6: 3-6.

Our sin nature died on the cross. We are free! Free from the guilt, the shame, the mental torture, the indignity, the pain, and the fear. Free!

Sin is the breaking of the Ten Commandments, and it is the written record of what the old sinful nature can and will do (I John 3: 4). Sinning is the old nature still manifesting itself through actions that break the law. “And we know that He was manifested to take away our sins; and in Him is no sin” (I John 3: 5). By dying with Him, we are freed from the bondage of sinning!

Free! Free from sin and sinning! Free now to grow spiritually to the point where we will bear much fruit like Peter, James, John and Paul. Free! Are you kidding me? Believe this truth in Christ, and you’ll be walking in a new life, freed from sin, for He has given us a new heart (Ezek. 18: 31).

This is true repentance. This is being born again of His incorruptible seed, the word of God (I Peter 1: 23). By faith we have to reckon our old self dead and gone with Christ on the cross, and also reckon ourselves alive unto God by faith in Christ’s resurrection. He said it; we believe it, and now we walk in its light. He gave His word on this. He is way ahead of us. He already sees us as righteous before Him. He is just waiting on His elect to believe His word, to believe like He believes. He with great patience waits for His chosen ones to awake unto righteousness, thus fulfilling His purpose of reproducing Himself.

This freedom from sin and sinning is the fruit of repentance wrought at the cross. It is the key to being born again and entering into His kingdom. This is why, to win souls, Christ spoke these words: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”      Kenneth Wayne Hancock

{If this article helped you, hit the “like” button. Comment, share if the Spirit moves you. And be sure to send for my book The Apostles’ Doctrine. It is free with free shipping. Just send your name, mailing address, and the name of the book you desire to my email: wayneman5@hotmail.com }

WAR! Good God, Y’all! What Is It Good For?

“Absolutely nothing!” answers the choir resolutely.  

I get Edwin Starr’s sentiment. War. I hate it. I was in a big one. Vietnam. It was sickening to see and hear the dying young men, day in and day out. And for what? Of course, most are going to agree that there is absolutely nothing that war is good for. But according to the Spirit in the prophet Isaiah, God sees it differently.

I have learned that war is history’s twisted tale. And war is like tribute that must be paid for a tribe to move into supposed greener pastures. But the pastures putrefy in the slosh of conflict. And the pride and hubris of the leaders won’t let them pause and think about what they are unleashing on the people.

Wars—A Sign of the End Times

Christ speaks of “wars and rumors of wars.” He is talking about wars that have a connection to ­the Holy Land. As you know, war is raging in Gaza, Israel, and Lebanon. Rumors abound about a regional war between Iran and their proxies and Israel and the U.S. Today’s middle east wars and rumors of a wider war are imminent. Israel at war is one of the major signs that we are living in “the time of the end.”

Christ was teaching His disciples at the temple. They asked Him what we are asking Him today, “What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world” (Matt. 24:3). The first sign was not to be deceived by counterfeit false prophets (vs. 4-5).

The second sign was about war. “And when you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom” (Mark 13:7-8).  

Wars in and around the Holy Land must take place, says Christ. Must? To Get to Christ’s return and the end of the world system, there must come wars and more wars. So don’t be troubled, Christ is saying; wars must happen. “These things must come to pass” before the end comes.

But, why? These many wars shall happen because Yahweh has ordained it. Seeds of hatred have been sown. They must come to harvest. God wills these things to be. For the wars all over the world will help prepare for Christ’s return as King of God’s Kingdom. The wars will also bring on the end of the present world system. God gives a clear picture of how He will use war to prepare the way for Christ’s return.

Yahweh Foments the Wars

The Spirit of Christ in Isaiah reveals it in detail in a prophetic picture called “the burden of Egypt” in chapter 19. “Egypt” is universally recognized as a symbol of the world. Isaiah 19 is an extended metaphor of how the whole world will disintegrate at the time of the end through the wars that God allows. We see in 19:1 that Yahweh is directly involved in fomenting wars in the world. Yahweh is a Spirit that “shall come into Egypt.”

Yahweh will enter the minds of the peoples of the world. The result? “The idols of Egypt [the world] shall be moved at His presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.” God will shake it up. A man’s idol is who or what he is in awe of. But God will shake the people’s confidence in whom or what they have trusted. He will do it through His presence. The people of the world will have their hearts melt in fear.  

God will challenge and shake up their whole belief system. “And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight everyone against his brother, and everyone against his neighbor; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom” (v. 2).

God will do this. And all this turmoil, commotion, and war will cause the world’s spirit to fail and be emptied of its efficacy and strength. The world system and its leaders and followers will be consumed by war and its fears. For God “will destroy the counsel” of the world. Entities that were trusted will fail. “And they shall seek to their idols, and to the charmers” and to all the purveyors of peace. But to no avail. War will have consumed all reason.

Then Yahweh will deliver the world [Egypt] “into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them…” (verses 3-4). This is obviously a reference to the “man of sin,” the counterfeit world savior, the anti-Christ, the head of the one world government as seen in Revelation. How could the anti-Christ take over and rule the earth? Through national exhaustion caused by incessant war! It has always been “divide and conquer.”

However, by Yah’s great mercy, we see at the end of the chapter how the whole world transitions into blessed territories under the rule of Christ the King. It ends in a picture of reconciliation for the world and its nations, under the wings of God. After the establishment of His government throughout the earth, He will say to the nations, “Blessed be Egypt my people and Assyria, the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance” (Isa. 19:25). Assyria is the work of His hands!  

All these wars and the strife they cause is all orchestrated by God himself: “The work of my hands.” Through the fiery crucible of war comes God’s destiny for the nations, a glorious lasting peace throughout the earth, headed by the Prince of peace, the Son of God and the world’s Savior. HalleluYah!

Man has his own noble thoughts about war. But we must remember what He said. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD [Yahweh]”. The good news is that we can make our thoughts His thoughts by “casting down imaginations…and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (II Cor. 10:5).

All this is why wars “must come to pass” before Christ returns to establish His Kingdom.     

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

—

Oneness, the Abiding, and God’s Gift of Healing

(From a journal entry, 1-12-18)

Healings are a gift from God. God is that Spirit in the phrase “gifts of the Spirit.” Or we could say, “The Spirit’s gifts to us.” One of them is the gift of healing. It is God giving health to a person. It is a miracle-gift from the Father to a human being.

We usually envision God, the Spirit in heaven, shining down this gift upon mankind. But we must ask, Where is the Spirit when He gives the gift of healing to someone? The Spirit is in us, His body. He is in us, flowing through us on out to the sick by the laying on of His hands–our hands now being His hands. That is the way it goes down.

For the gift of healing to flow, we must realize that we are dead, and our life is hid with Christ in God. We must see that He lives in us in the form of His Holy Spirit, which is the Father. The Father resides in us!

A Call to Oneness–One, One, One

We must get past the “us and Him” duality and begin walking in the Oneness that Christ prayed for. “Neither pray I for these alone [the twelve disciples], but for them also which shall believe on me through their word [that is us!]; that they all may be one [That includes us!]; as you, Father, are in me and I in you that they also may be one in us that the world may believe that you have sent me, and the glory which you gave me I have given them; that they may be one even as we are one” (John 17:20-22). Christ has already given to us the glory that the Father bestowed upon Christ. In His thinking, it has already happened.

We must have the sensation that it is the Father, the Spirit, looking out through our eyes with compassion and love upon the sick. This is the reason why we must Get a clear picture of the godhead. It is not us running around, being still in the picture, laying our hands on the sick. It must be His love, His mercy, His Spirit, His compassion, moving through His hands that are laid upon the sick. This is the gift. The gift is Him! Soundness and wellness are anywhere He is.

Just ask the poor demoniac who was naked and tearing himself, torturing himself, crying out for someone to help him. After Christ gave him the gift of healing, he sat there in utter tranquility at the feet of his Savior in his right mind.

Someone will ask, Why aren’t more real healings being done by Christians today? The answer has to do with not seeing ourselves as God sees us. Most Christians see themselves as recipients of God’s blessings, instead of channels. They think that God is up there; we’re down here, and we need that blessing.

But that’s not the way God’s apostles saw us. They saw us as “more than conquerors through Christ.” They saw us the way that God sees us–spiritual powerhouses that by faith in Christ can move the mountains of doubt. And through His Spirit, our eyes will witness the crushing of the kingdoms of this world. And by His Spirit, He will establish His righteousness throughout the earth.

God sees us having overcome all things; He sees us having secured a seat upon His very throne (Rev. 3:21). That’s His faith that He has given us. With that gift we will be used to bring healing to the nations (Rev. 22:2).

However, there is a growth involved in being used by the Father to heal others. Many sincerely long for this power, with less than apostolic results. That’s okay. But before miracles can come through us, we must grow spiritually. It takes time and much patience as we “purge out the old leaven” of false concepts of Christ and His work in the earth. The “healing” is done by the Father’s presence in us. We then must realize that He is the Spirit of truth. We cannot fully have the truth in the form of the Spirit of truth, until the Father makes His abode in us. We must surrender ourselves as a “living sacrifice.” We must decrease; He must increase in us (John 3:30).  

Christ makes it plain about how the Father makes us His dwelling. “If a man love me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him” (John 14:23). This is a major tenet in my soon-coming book, The Abiding. 

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

Worshipping God in Spirit and in Truth

“…You shall not worship any other god, for Yahweh, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God” (Exodus 34:14). This should bring us to our knees in reverential awe of our Father. How to worship Him and no other is on the top of the list of what we must get straightened out.

Christ, Yahweh-in-human-form, elucidated: “God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). God is an invisible Spirit. Therefore, we are to worship Him in the spiritual realm, not in the material realm. The worship must also be according to the truth. His “word is truth.”

In Spirit

To arrive at the kind of worship that Yahweh desires, we must worship “in spirit and in truth.” “In spirit” entails having a “contrite spirit,” a broken spirit, a humble heart, being “poor” in spirit–not rich and fat spiritually (Revelation 3:16-18; Isaiah 66: 2). For it is these that Yahweh will accept. “But to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembles at my word.” That is what Yahweh is after in our worship of him.

Worshipping in spirit means entering with our hearts in that invisible spirit world of humility and gratefulness to God. Moreover, it leads a humble and grateful heart into communicating to God that gratefulness. In a word, we enter His presence with prayer. In this prayerful state we offer  the sacrifice of the “caves of our lips,” thanking him (Hosea 14:2).

God is not interested in material things scattered within and upon worship—candles, cups, incense, offering trays, et al. These only serve as the traps and snares of the human mind. Is all about the heart of each of us. He is interested in us trusting Him, even though He is this invisible spirit of love. Will we allow His sacrifice on the cross, His ultimate declaration of love, melt our adamant hearts? Will our walls of doubt and belligerence finally crumble and crash down at His feet? Will we gratefully with broken hearts thank Him for having mercy on us? Will we tremble at His Majesty and His word?

In Truth

Those are the questions we must be honest enough to ask ourselves. By answering in the affirmative, we will be entering into true worship—if our concepts of Him are true. God is the “Spirit of truth.” If there are false concepts of Him in our thinking, then our communication with God is at least partially blocked. We must rid ourselves of the untruths about Him, His purpose, and His plan.

We have seen that the worship of the Father must be in spirit and in truth. That we be in the proper spirit and attitude in approaching God–this is having a broken and contrite heart and spirit towards God that leads to communication with God in prayer. But after expressing gratitude to him, what do we say to him? It’s all in the Lord’s prayer. By praying thusly, we get on the same page as our Father in heaven.

It’s all about walking in the truth. And that truth is His word (John 17: 17). “Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth.” The truth is what sets us apart for His work in the earth. That is what sanctification is. At this point in our growth, we are mostly alive for what we can do for the Father. We are no longer children in this growth but young men and women in the spirit.

However, if we are walking in error, if we are doing (or not doing) things in our attempt to worship God that is against His word—then we will not grow from justification to sanctification and on into glorification. Not obeying his word equals no growth.

The spirit (pneuma) in us breathing out of our mouths the word of God—that is worship. Submitting our bodies to be used by the Spirit of God within to utter His words of life to others—that is worship. Presenting our “bodies as a living sacrifice,” and allowing the Spirit to minister through us—that is worshipping Yahweh.     Kenneth Wayne Hancock

[All this and much more is in my book The Eleventh Commandment. It shows that the Lord’s prayer is a model prayer that line by line shows us the things Yahweh is thinking about. It is not a magical incantation to be repeated. It is the kind of prayer that God will listen to. It is a blueprint of prayers that will reach God. Everyone needs this book. It is free with free shipping. Just send your name, mailing address, and name of the book to my email: wayneman5@hotmail.com]

God’s Sovereignty in the 2024 Election

Listen, O Democrats and give ear, O Republicans, and all you Independents who will vote in the presidential election of 2024.  

You agonize in vain because following man’s governments is like chasing the wind; there is no profit in it. Why? Because it is Yahweh who “rules in the kingdom of men, [and] gives it to whomever He will, and sets over it the lowest of men” (Daniel 4:11). God determines who will be the next president. At present He has set up flawed candidates, the lowest spiritually of men—Biden and Trump. He has His reasons that are steeped in secrets and mysteries, but He reveals them, as He desires, to those He chooses.

The takeaway? We should not yearn nor fret about politics. Yah is ruling as we speak. He has universal sovereignty, or else He would not be God. God is on the throne; He rules, and He allows unpleasant things to happen to us so that we will cry unto Him. Think about the twelve tribes of Israel in Egypt. God hardened pharaoh’s heart toward Israel. It was Yahweh who hardened his heart—so that His children would cry out to Him (Rom. 9:17-18).

God is in control of our personal lives, for everything that happens to us, God not only knows it, but He orchestrated it. “In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus [Yahshua] concerning you” (I Thes. 5:18).  

It is God’s will that we learn what will come very shortly in politics.  “But there is a God in heaven that reveals secrets, and makes known… what shall be in the latter days,” said the Spirit through Daniel. The literal Kingdom of heaven is coming to this earth upon Christ’s return. It is the stone kingdom that will destroy the present world system as a great stone crashing onto the feet of the world Gentile empires. It will finish it off. And this stone that “smote the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth” (Daniel 2:28-45). This was the Babylonian king’s dream that Daniel interpreted. The God of heaven shall set up His kingdom with Christ as King.

And here is the icing on the good news of His coming kingdom. He will invite a few thousand of His elect to sit on His throne with Him. They will be judges and will bring justice to the earth. This is the ultimate calling—to be like His Son—to be in a special place where all bitterness, disappointment, envy, and sadness is banished. And to sow this love and peace throughout the Kingdom. For it will be the Kingdom of God, full of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. So, keep this in mind when the weight of man’s political systems start to smother you. They will only come to power if God wills it. He sets over the governments of the world with the lowest of men. He is sovereign that way.   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

From Death to Everlasting Life—From Earthly Bodies to Heavenly Bodies

(from Kenneth Wayne Hancock, Journal entry, 9-20-21)

Mankind’s trouble is traced from his realization that the earthly body that he walks around in will one day die. It is dissolving even now in a slow march to the grave. Ashes are its destiny. Unless he is a child or a fool, man knows that his body will melt back into the earth.

Our “days are consumed, like smoke” (Psalm 102:3). When the dawn of death’s reality shrouds are minds, we groan under its weight. For we know that in a few short years our earthly body will succumb to our Creator’s will. For He has subjected all humans to the “bondage of corruption (decay unto death)” in hope that we will see the futility of living only for ourselves in this earthly life (Rom. 8:20-23).

The aging visage we see in our mirror is a witness to these things. But then we see Him! High and lifted up, waiting for the few, the remnant, the first fruits to realize the Answer to all their trepidations.

In Adam, all will wither and fade to dust and ash, but “You, Yahweh, shall endure forever” (Psalm 102:12). And because of your great mercy, You see our plight of impending doom, and you reach down and help us live.

“Yahweh looked down from His sanctuary on high; from heaven he viewed the earth, to hear the groans of the prisoners and release those condemned to death.” And why does He save us? “So the name of Yahweh will be declared in Zion and His praise in Jerusalem, when the peoples and the kingdoms assemble to worship Yahweh” (102:19-22).  

But now the whole of creation groans with us, waiting for “the manifestation of the sons of God.” (Rom. 8:19). We all wait for the unveiling of the sons and daughters of God. This body of humans will have received their new, spiritual bodies, like the body that the Son of God resides in now. That kind of spiritual body is an everlasting body.

These 100-fold fruit bearing followers of the Lamb will come on the scene at the appointed time of the end. God’s Spirit through them will govern the earth. God will “restore all things” that He prophesied through His prophets. He will establish his kingdom and all peoples and nations will praise his name. But now, He humbles us as we learn that only He will endure. The heavens and the earth “shall perish, but You shall endure” (Psm. 102: 26-27). As we await the appointed time when our earthly body will be “swallowed up” with our new celestial body, we have joy knowing that He will deliver. This vision is the “law [the instruction] and the testimony,” which is “the spirit of prophecy” (Isa. 8:20; Rev. 19:10).   Kenneth Wayne Hancock 

In the Beginning Was the Seed—Part Two

(Knowing Christ from the beginning is the key to maximum spiritual growth)

Knowing Him from the beginning is so profound that we need to slow down—way down—in our perusal of its meaning. We must not rush past this truth in hot pursuit of more knowledge. Knowing Him from the beginning is deep, though it is taught in the simplest of words: seed, garden, sow, reap, harvest. Our Savior used these very words to bring Light to our eyes. We must slow down and savor His words of inspiration. We must not bolt this food, for this is “strong meat.”

The apostle John writes to little children, young men, and fathers—30, 60 and 100-fold fruit-bearing Christians. “I write unto you, fathers, because you have known him that is from the beginning” (I John 2:13). The fathers know that God is the Word in the beginning. “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:13). Fathers know Him who is from the beginning. They know that all those who receive the Word/Seed are regenerated from the Seed/Son, who is the impetus of all life. God/Spirit/Word/Seed was at the beginning of everything. And we are in Him; we are inside the Seed! Therefore, we were in the Seed at the beginning, too!

A Seed, a Promise

A seed is a promise of the fruit to come. We receive the seed, having not seen the future fruit. It is a word of promise, a covenant, a pact, that if you take the Seed and believe the word of promise, then you will bear “fruit, more fruit, and much fruit.” This is 30, 60, and 100-fold growth explained.

Christ is the Seed. His earthly life is an enactment of the spiritual seed reality. Christ, the Son of God, is the Seed that is planted in us humans. We are the spiritual seed bed, that the Seed/Son is planted into. “The seed is the word of God.” Christ is the Sower; He sows the word of His promises into our hearts. When we walk with Christ in a higher growth, we are a part of His spiritual body. We become one with the Sower as we begin to sow the seed, the word of God.

All this is activated by faith–His faith. He believes in this spiritual miracle that changes us. He believes and has faith that what He has instituted will stand forever. When we take the leap of faith, we are really beginning to believe what the Son believes. He has faith that we will change and witness in us His glory.

Look at us! Despite our pitiful weaknesses, Christ believes in His own word of power to change us. We just need to ask Him for the strength to believe what He believes. And this power is not just about our earthen vessels. Upon His return to earth, those who are walking in 100-fold growth will wield power, executing His will for the earth.     

When we bear witness to the testimony of the Seed/Son, we will have explained and walked in 100-fold fruit bearing growth. The caveat is that the closer we get to bearing much fruit, the more persecution we can expect from our adversary the devil. For he does not want this truth out there. The word “testimony” is translated from the Greek word martyria. “Death works in us” (II Cor. 4:12).

The Seed Must Die

But the seed must die when planted. Christ in His earthly ministry did it all. He raised the dead and healed the sick, by the thousands. With His power He could have called down ten thousand angels to take over the world, but He didn’t. Why? Because in His first advent, He was the Seed, not the harvest. He had to die because seeds must die and lose their identity to bear fruit.

“Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone: but if it die, it brings forth much fruit” (John 12:24 KJV). In another version: “Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (NIV).  Christ, the Son of God, is the kernel of wheat that had to die to bring forth “many sons unto glory.”

The harvest of “many sons” is fast approaching. His sons and daughters are rising out of the long-neglected seed beds and are springing forth into the Light. Like blades of corn, they have bent toward the Light. They are expanding their roots into the moist earth, and they are now hungry for the pure spiritual nutrients needed for their growth.

The sons and daughters of God will grow until the time of the harvest, which is fast approaching. The evil seed is planted and grows alongside the wheat. It is careening and stomping through God’s field of wheat, crushing some good fruit in the process.

Satan, the god of this present world system, “knows that he has but a short time” before the harvest. He is marshaling his forces, pushing toward that day when–he thinks–he will be crowned the god of all creation. It is the same spirit that was in the garden of Eden, the same irritant that Yahweh allowed to strut on to the world stage, the same “accuser of the brethren,” who is the deceiver in charge of this world system. But His word promises this: “And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a Kingdom, which shall never be destroyed… it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms and it shall stand forever” (Daniel 2:44). That is His word of promise. It’s the Kingdom. That is the “mind of Christ.” It is what the King thinks on. The Kingdom is the gospel, the good news (Matthew 4:23; 24:14; Mark 4:14). It is what we are to seek first. He is asking us to think on these deeper truths, truths that, when obeyed, will make His will our will.      Kenneth Wayne Hancock

In the Beginning Was the Seed—Part One

(Every garden begins with a seed. The Spirit is saying, Come with Me and dig deep in the garden of God)

We must “dig deep” because the garden holds a secret. But the garden gate is locked; we need the key. Christ is the key to the mystery of the locked garden gate. Christ’s words enfold this truth: “The parable is this: the seed is the word of God” (Luke 8:11).

Seed = Word. Word = Seed. Therefore, “In the beginning was the Word [Seed]…And the Word [Seed] was God” (John 1:1). And the Seed was God. In the beginning of all things was the Seed. And those that are His have been “born of that incorruptible seed, the word of God” (I Peter 1:23).

We now believe that the Seed, the Son of God, died, was buried, and was raised from the dead. Our belief in Him generates a new birth of that same Seed/Word in our hearts. We have that same seed in us. We are created in His image–both physical and spiritual. Like a garden seed is programmed to die, be buried, and spring to life, so it is in the spiritual realm.

What do seeds do? They grow. They are designed to spring to life and grow. Be it animal, vegetable, or spiritual, we are all designed to grow from a seed. In the Holy Bible, Christ and his apostles have commanded us to do certain things to spur on this growth.

The book The Additions to the Faith deals primarily with one of His commandments: “Add to your faith” the seven additions of the divine nature (I Peter1:5). Your faith is really His faith. There is only one faith (Eph. 4:5). Faith is the seed-beginning of all potential spiritual growth. It takes believing the word/seed faith, having not seen the physical evidence.

We should pause before exploring the seven additions to our faith. We must hold this truth tightly. The faith we have now from God is Christ’s actual faith/belief system. Christ believes  His own plan to spread agape love all over the earth in human beings.

God’s purpose is the reproduction of Himself, which is Love. He does this by using the age-old Law of Harvest: Each seed bears its own kind. “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap” (Gal. 6:7 NASB). Spiritually speaking, we reap what we sow. But this sowing and reaping has nothing to do with Christians giving money to evangelists and believing that they will gain a return of money “one hundred-fold.” This prosperity doctrine is insidious. It preys on desperate people who fall into the trap of always looking after the flesh, thereby missing the Holy Spirit.

The Law of Harvest has to do with spiritual growth, as well as physical. Christ said, “The words I speak they are spirit and they are life” (John 6:63). There is no spiritual growth except through a germinated seed. The seed is the word of God. Then the word, like Christ, is made flesh in our mortal bodies. But the seed must be sown in good ground, in a “good and honest heart.”

Spiritual growth is how much of God’s Spirit of love grows in our hearts. He wants us to bear the peaceable fruit of righteousness in a fully mature growth which Christ calls bearing 100-fold fruit. To bear this amount of spiritual fruit, we must “know him that is from the beginning,” the beginning of all things. “Beginning” is from the Greek word arche. This “arche/beginning is not a recent, little beginning. It is big and deep and goes back before the worlds were framed by the word of God. The same word is used in John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word.” Or, we can now say, “In the beginning was the Seed.”

This study gives us the key to the garden gate. This study about the Seed/Son opens it. And it gives us knowledge on how to enter the 100-fold fruit bearing growth. For knowing Christ from the beginning is the key.      Kenneth Wayne Hancock

[Order your free copy of The Additions to the Faith, with free shipping. Just send your name, the name of the book, and your mailing address to my email: wayneman5@hotmail.com ]

Abraham, Faith, and the City of God

(An excerpt from Chapter 29 of  The Apostles’ Doctrine)

Abraham “looked for a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Heb. 11: 10). He looked by faith. God appeared to Him several times and told him about New Jerusalem. And Abraham believed God, having never seen the city. “And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God” (James 2: 23). God’s friend looked for God’s city. If we want to be God’s friend, we better start looking for the heavenly city. We better study it out thoroughly. We better start walking this faith walk like New Jerusalem really exists.

Faith Is the Only Path to the Invisible God

Abraham looked for the heavenly city because he believed God. He had “faith toward God,” which happens to be the second of the apostles’ doctrines. Faith is being assured of something’s existence before seeing the evidence that it indeed exists. Believing before seeing (Heb. 11: 1).

But this world lies in deception. It is designed to lure every human who is striving and seeking God to rely only on their five senses for their reality. God transcends our five senses, which are like five blind guides falling with their patrons into a ditch. Furthermore, citizens of the five-senses-world rush to rescue us every time we get a little closer to God by exclaiming, “Come to your senses!” How deceived some are, for they do not understand that God is not in the ceremonies that you see, nor canned chants you hear, nor burning incense you can smell, nor wafers you can taste, nor hymnals and trays you can touch. He can only be grasped by faith.

So, like our father Abraham, we are to look for this New Jerusalem. It is what we are to seek after, just like the father of our faith and the other prophets did. This grand and glorious city, located on the real estate of old Jerusalem, will be our home and will be the governmental offices and throne of our King Yahshua.

This is what the story of the Hebrews is all about. And this Kingdom will bring to the earth the peace and love that we all have desired for thousands of years. It is a peace that only the Prince of Peace can bring. Un-regenerated man cannot bring peace to this earth. He has had 6,000+ years to get it done, but he has only left misery in his wake. Christ will get it done; that is the gospel, the good news—Christ the King bringing in His Kingdom that will correct the wrongs and bring judgement upon the evil doers, thus paving the way for peace and prosperity.

This is what we are working for. This is the only thing worth working for. For “all is vanity and vexation of spirit.” All else is fruitless and futile in the end. Nothing else will stand. All things besides His Kingdom will crumble and dissolve into the sands of time.

The sad part is that the masses will not cry unto God for His return to earth until they have lost everything. Historically in the Old Testament, the Israelites waited until they were conquered and made destitute by a foreign power before they cried to Yahweh. Then He would send them a man of God to be their champion. We in the West are living on borrowed time, for all our governments have borrowed trillions of dollars and are in debt to international bankers. It is only a matter of time before we go belly up. Then we will cry unto God for deliverance. Hate to say it, but history is a strict teacher of the truth. We all will reap what we have sown. The sands of time are running out.

We are told to “walk by faith, not by sight.” Christians can only do this by believing His word to us: “I will dwell in them, and walk in them” (II Cor. 5:7; 6:16). Where are we walking to? It is New Jerusalem.      Kenneth Wayne Hancock [Send for my book, The Apostles’ Doctrine. It is free with free shipping. For details, click the link: Ordering My Free Books in Paperback | Immortality Road (wordpress.com)]