Just What do You MEAN-BORN AGAIN!
Don't be too sure you know! Many religious people talk about being "born
again"-yet they don't really know what Christ meant by those words. The TRUTH is
surprising, startling-here made so plain you will UNDERSTAND!
Introduction: I was taught by the Church in which I grew up, that when you
repented and were baptized (some churches teach when you "receive Christ") that
you were "Born Again." I had puzzled over John 3:6 which says, "That which is
Born of flesh is flesh; that which is Born of Spirit is Spirit." I knew I was
still flesh because when I cut myself I still bled. I couldn't walk through
walls as Christ did after He became Spirit. In mid-1955 I came across a booklet
that made the meaning of "Born Again" very clear to me. I am reproducing this
booklet hoping that it will help you with Bible truth on this subject.
Tom Justus, Minister
Church of God, Sabbath Day
Springdale, Arkansas
December, 1996
Presented By:
Church of God UK
Let's be honest-don't some of these religious terms seem vague, meaningless,
when you stop to think about it?
Do you know that most people who think they have been "born again" actually
have no more real conception of what it means than the young man who said he
"gave his heart to the Lord" at a revival meeting. When asked if he had his
chest cut open so he could reach in, take his heart out, and hand it to the
Lord, he stammered confusedly that he guessed he didn't really know what it did
mean, when he had been told that he "gave his heart to the Lord."
It's about time the TRUTH of what Jesus Christ meant by being "born again" is made so plain you will UNDERSTAND! For He did not say or mean what most religious people think! And NOTHING IS SO IMPORTANT!
When Jesus said we cannot enter into the Kingdom of God except we be BORN
AGAIN (John 3:3-6), Nicodemus was confused. He didn't understand-but he did know
that he had been BORN-once! And he knew that to be BORN meant that he was
literally delivered out of his mother's womb, after having been begotten by his
human father, and having been nourished by food through his mother so that, as a
growing fetus, he developed and grew physically large enough to be finally BORN!
That was no ethereal, imaginary, mystic, unreal event.
Yes, Nicodemus knew what it meant to be BORN! But Jesus was talking about
being born AGAIN-A second time-not of material flesh-not after being physically
begotten by his human father-but of the SPIRIT, after being begotten by the
heavenly Father!
WHY cannot people understand? It's hard to believe, but YOUR BIBLE says that
this whole world is DECEIVED!
Incredible though it seems, that is true!
Yes, even the clergy! Many large denominations of this world's organized
religion ignore this subject altogether. Some refer to it, as a mythical,
mystic, meaningless expression, casually and rarely, putting no emphasis on it
as a doctrine or teaching. But a few put major stress on "a born-again
experience"without the slightest conception of what it means!
WHY this confusion of tongues? Actually, it has resulted from the greatest,
more colossal and diabolical conspiracy ever perpetrated on mankind, which
occurred between the years of 70 and 120 A.D. actually beginning as early as 50
A.D.
The most tremendous discovery of this 20th Century-the most important
acquisition of new knowledge-is the discovery of the true factual and authentic
history of that gigantic organized conspiracy that resulted in deceiving the
entire western world!
If it were truly UNDERSTOOD today what Jesus meant by being BORN AGAIN, the
subject would be neither ignored, nor misrepresented in a pseudo spiritual,
mystic sentimentalism.
One religious leader, victim of the Great Delusion, gave this definition of a
Christian: "One who has been born again, and washed in the blood of Christ." It
will sound incredible to some, but emphatically that is not the Biblical
definition. We shall make that PLAIN!
I have before me a religious weekly, in newspaper style, with a 3-column headline across the top of a 5 column front page, which says: "What 'Born Again' Means." It is a long article,
continuing over on, and almost filling an additional whole page. But I read
in vain to discover what this evangelist, with the title of "Doctor," thought
the words really mean. He listed eight conditions, or religious states, which he
thought resulted from the "experience." But what the words "born again"
mean-what actually takes place, and how and when-or just what the "experience"
is-he simply didn't know. After talking all around his subject, never getting
down to it, he finally said the new birth is a ,'mystery" which we cannot
understand!
But WE CAN UNDERSTAND!
God intends us to understand! YOUR BIBLE makes it PLAIN-yes, the PLAIN
TRUTH-if you will only quit "interpreting," reading into it a supposed meaning
carelessly assumed because it has been popularly taught-or representing it as a
system of double-talk in which words do not mean what they say.
The BIBLE says what it MEANS-and it means precisely what it SAYS. Let's quit
interpreting! Let's BELIEVE CHRIST, the Living Word of GOD!
There is a particular verse that has puzzled millions, discouraged thousands
who didn't understand, and caused some to accuse the Bible of contradicting
itself.
Look at this verse! It says-and means, literally:
"Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for His seed
remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God" (I John 3:9).
Look at that! It says plainly, that after a man is "born of God" it is
impossible to sin again.
Now is that a contradiction of verse 8 of the first chapter of the same Book?
Remember that in New Testament language the pronoun "we" or "us" refer to
converted Christians. The unconverted are referred to as "they" or "them." An
example is I Thes. 5. "For when they shall say, 'Peace and safety'; then sudden
destruction cometh upon them ... and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren,
are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a
thief" (Verses 3 and 4).
Now compare the verse in I John 3:9 with the following, in I John 1:8-9: "If
we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth
is not in us. If we "-(already Christians who repented of, and had forgiven and
wiped out, all previous sins at the time of conversion-so this is here referring
to sins committed, though of course not deliberately and wilfully, after being
converted)-"confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins,
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we"-(we CHRISTIANS)-"say that we
have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us" (Verse I 0).
Then, the next verse, I John 2: 1: "And if any man sin, we (Christians) have an
Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."
Of course the Bible teaches that Christians should not sin. The first part of
I John 2:1 (not quoted above) teaches that. The emphasis all through the New
Testament is on rooting out sin-overcoming sin growing in God's righteousness,
always toward perfection.
But these and numerous other verses (especially the Apostle Paul's
experience, Romans 7:14-25) says plainly that converted Christians do sin-though
not deliberately and wilfully. Certainly it is not impossible!
Look at Jesus Christ Himself! The Scriptures say He did not sin-yet they
teach plainly that at all times it was entirely possible for Him to sin. Jesus,
in the human flesh, "was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin"
(Heb. 4:15). No Scripture says that He could not sin.
So here we have many Scriptures showing that it is NOT IMPOSSIBLE for converted Christians to sin-it was NOT IMPOSSIBLE even for Jesus! Yet, in I John 3:9, we have the flat statement that, if and when we are actually born of GOD, we shall not be able to sin-IT WILL THEN BE IMPOSSIBLE.
THERE IS NO CONTRADICTION BETWEEN THESE SCRIPTURES!
Nearly every error is based on a false assumption, taken carelessly for
granted. The universal error, in this case, is the untrue ASSUMPTION that when
one is converted-when one has fully repented, accepted Christ in faith, and
received God's Spirit-or, as some state it, "been baptized by the Holy
Spirit"-that he has then been "born again."
The colossal error is merely one of using incorrect
terminology-yet the error is far-reaching, and totally hides from the world the
overwhelming, ALL IMPORTANT MEANING of being BORN of GOD! By this apparently
slight misuse of terminology, a cunning devil has DECEIVED THE WHOLE WORLD as to
what salvation is-what is the reward of the "saved"-what is the real PURPOSE of
LIFE the MEANING of SALVATION-the goal of God's Plan!
This misapplication of one word of religious terminology has deceived a confused world into viewing the matter of being "born again" as some ethereal, mystic "experience" one is supposed to "feel," or, somehow, though he sensed nothing, to have gone through when he professed Christ!
What most religious people-if they use the term call being "born again" is
simply MISNAMED. Actually, the term "born again" does not apply at all, nor
refer to, the experience of a true CONVERSION-the receiving of God's Holy
Spirit-or, as some phrase it, the "baptism of the Holy Spirit." Most, however,
who use this latter term are as deceived as to what it is, as they are about
being "born again."
The real SOURCE of this whole stupendous error is this: In the English language, we have two different words to express the two phases that occur in the reproductive process of all mammals.
The one, which is the very start of the new life, we call conception, or a
begettal. All human and animal life comes from an egg-cell, which must first be
fertilized, impregnated, conceived, or begotten (yes, we have all four of those
words for this first initial phase of the reproductive process) by a sperm-cell
from the FATHER. But NO ONE EVER calls this beginning of the process a BIRTH!
In the case of all mammals, the begotten egg cell is called a fetus. In the human family it starts
as small as a very tiny pencil dot. It cannot be BORN until, nourished on
material food through the mother, in the uterus or womb of the mother, it
develops and grows, physically, to a size averaging 6 to 9 pounds in the human
family.
The phase of the process which in the English language we call being BORN is
that process by which the fetus is delivered from the mother's womb, and out
into the world comes a little baby to gasp its own first breath. It has then
BEEN BORN!
But if you would try to tell a doctor, or a nurse, that the yet unborn fetus
had already been born, as soon as you knew it had been conceived, or begotten,
the doctor or nurse would surely think you ignorant, and probably try to
explain.
The New Testament of the Holy BIBLE was originally written in the Greek language. And, in this case, the Greeks had only one word for the TWO vitally different phases of the process!
That Greek word is "gennao "(pronounced ghenah-5). The Greek-English
dictionary (lexicon) gives this definition of the Greek word: to procreate
(properly of the father, but by extension of the mother); beget, be born, bring
forth, conceive, be delivered of, gender"
Four of those definitions mean to beget or to conceive-but NOT to be BORN. To
procreate means to beget. To conceive has the same meaning. Webster's dictionary
defines "gender" as to beget, breed, generate. It does not refer to the birth.
But three of the lexicon definitions of "gennao " mean the actual BIRTH: "be
born," "bring forth," and "be delivered of."
Since the original Greek, in which the New Testament was written, has only
the one word for both meanings-and since the "scholars" of our comparatively
recent years who translated the Bible into English did not, themselves,
understand God's Plan-they often translated the Greek word "gennao " into the
English word "BORN" where it actually meant "BEGOTTEN."
Notice a few outstanding examples!
In John 1: 13, the Authorized, or King James version of the Bible renders it:
"...which were born, not of blood, not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will
of man, but of God." This is an incorrect translation of the Greek word
"gennao." In the American Revised version a marginal rendering says: "or,
begotten," as it should be.
Other examples appear in John's first Epistle. Notice:
In the American Revised version I John 2:29 is correctly translated: "is
begotten of Him"; but in the A.V. it is, incorrectly, "...every one that doeth
righteousness is born of Him."
I John 4:7: The A.V. incorrectly has it: "...and every one that loveth is
born of God, and knoweth God." But the Revised version corrected this error,
rendering it: "...is begotten of God."
I John 5: 1, in the A.V., incorrectly: "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the
Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth Him that begat loveth him also
that is begotten of Him." Here, this same Greek word, "gennao," was inspired by
the Holy Spirit three times in the same verse. The first time, the King James
translates erroneously rendered it into the English word "born." The second time
"gennao" is used in the Greek they could not render it "Him that was BORN" or
"Him that "borned"-for it refers to the human believer, not God. Here they were
forced to choose the correct definition of "gennao," in the past tense, as
"begat." Then, since they already had to use the past-tense "begat" in that
instance, they also correctly rendered it, in the third place the word occurred,
"is begotten."
The Revised version also corrected this error, rightly rendering it:
"Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is begotten of God, and whosoever
loveth Him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of Him."
One final example: I John 5:4-the A.V. erroneously renders it: "For whosoever is born of God overcometh the world,..." but the Revised version corrected it to read: "For whatsoever is begotten of God overcometh the world..."
Now quickly notice a few instances where the SAME GREEK WORD was correctly
translated "begotten."
I Cor. 4:15 the Apostle Paul is talking to those converted under his
ministry. "For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye
not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel."
There, it is correctly translated, showing that Paul's converts at Corinth, as
his "spiritual children," had been begotten of God, but not yet BORN.
The experience of conversion, in this life, is a begettal-a "conception"-an
impregnation"-but NOT YET A BIRTH! This we shall make PLAIN!
One more-Heb. 1:5-speaking of CHRIST'S begettal in the Virgin Mary. This verse shows that
Christ, later BORN of God by a resurrection from the dead (Rom. 1:4), was an
actual BEGOTTEN SON OF GOD, in a manner that no angel is, or can be. Angels are
merely created beings. They are not actually begotten of God, so that in this
sense they become His born sons, as Christ now is-and as we may also be Notice
the verse: "For unto which of the angels said He at any time, "Thou art my Son,
this day have I begotten thee?"
If those who are deceived would listen to JESUS, and be willing to believe He
meant what He said, THEY COULD UNDERSTAND!
Let's look at all that Jesus said! Let's understand what it means to be BORN
of God-in what respect one shall be different after he is BORN of God-let's see
WHEN this spiritual BIRTH takes place!
This man Nicodemus was a Pharisee, in an office of authority over the Jews.
The Pharisees considered Jesus as "a religious independent"-they didn't endorse
Him, they sought to discredit, persecute, and kill Him. Nicodemus didn't want to
be seen talking to Jesus. So he came around under cover of darkness.
But Nicodemus did recognize that Jesus was actually sent by God, with a
Message from the Creator to mankind.
Jesus said to him: "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born
again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God" (John 3:3).
Immediately carnal-minded Nicodemus was as puzzled and confused as
carnal-minded religionists today. But he knew one clear and specific fact they
seem not to grasp-he knew what being BORN means!
"How can a man be born when he is old? asked this Pharisee ruler. "Can he
enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?"
Jesus was here talking about the actual spiritual BIRTH-not the begettal. Let us understand that. In this passage, the Greek word "gennao" is correctly translated "born." So, let us now see how Jesus explained this final spiritual BIRTH.
"Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of
water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is
born of the flesh is flesh; that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel
not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it
listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it
cometh, and wither it goeth; so is everyone that is born of the Spirit" (Verses
5-8).
Now LOOK AT THAT! Nicodemus had defined the only kind of BIRTH he
knew-physical birth-and he knew it was not the conception, but the actual
delivery out of a human mother's womb. Jesus accepted this explanation of the
actual BIRTH. He did not say, "Oh, I'm not talking of being actually BORN, but
merely of the conception." Jesus was here talking of being actually BORN!
But He was talking of being born of GOD, not of a human father He was talking
about a different, and a second BIRTH-A spiritual birth, not a human or physical
birth. Yet Jesus used the physical birth as the exact type or illustration!
NOTICE! "That which is BORN of the flesh, IS flesh," He said. When an infant
is delivered out of its mother's womb, it is born of a fleshly, human, physical
mother whose ovum, or egg-cell, was given physical life by the fleshly FATHER.
So, this human infant is born of the FLESH-and it is physical, material
FLESH. Yes, Jesus was speaking of literal BIRTH.
NOW notice! Just as the infant born of the flesh actually IS flesh-a physical
person-SO, in like manner, the man or woman, when BORN of the SPIRIT, actually
will BE SPIRIT.
Is that so hard to understand?
GOD is not composed of matter. GOD is A SPIRIT-He is composed of SPIRIT-as
Jesus explained, in John 4:24. But, God says He formed MAN of the "dust of the
ground"-of MATTER (Gen. 2:7). So MAN is material FLESH. And those born of
material, fleshly parents ARE FLESH-that's what they ARE. But God is A SPIRIT,
composed of SPIRIT, and those BORN of GOD, the heavenly Father, become SPIRIT.
They are no longer composed of material flesh-no longer human-no longer MORTAL;
they then shall be, as Christ now is, composed of SPIRIT-then actually
divine-IMMORTAL!
What is matter? It is anything that occupies space, and has weight. You can
SEE matter-or feel it or taste it, or smell it, or HEAR the vibrations of matter
which we call sound. But you cannot SEE spirit. You cannot hear, feel, taste or
smell spirit. But Jesus took the sense of sight as an example.
He compared the SPIRIT, of which those BORN of God shall be composed, to
WIND. Nicodemus was a carnal-minded man. He could receive knowledge into his
mind only through one of these five senses. So Jesus took a material substance,
which this man could UNDERSTAND, which, so far as SIGHT is concerned, resembles
spirit.
The WIND, he explained, blows wherever it wills, But it is INVISIBLE-and
although you HEAR the sound of it, you cannot SEE where it comes from, or where
it goes. "So," he explained, "is everyone that is BORN of the SPIRIT." After
people are actually BORN of God, they, too, shall BE SPIRIT, just as GOD is
Spirit. They will be INVISIBLE to material human sight, just as angels are.
Now that ought to be plain. A converted person-one who has repented, accepted
Christ as Saviour, received God's Holy Spirit, does have a changed attitude and
outlook and purpose-his whole character begins to change, and travel in an
opposite direction.
BUT HE IS NOT INVISIBLE TO THE HUMAN EYES OF OTHER PEOPLE! He is not composed
of SPIRIT. He is still composed of material flesh, even though God's Holy Spirit
has entered, and now dwells in, and leads and influences, his HUMAN MIND.
He is now BEGOTTEN of God. The very LIFE and NATURE of GOD has entered into
him, impregnating him with immortal spirit-life, exactly as the physical
sperm-cell from the human father enters into the ovum or physical egg-cell when
a new HUMAN LIFE is first CONCEIVED, IMPREGNATED OR BEGOTTEN. But, just as that
tiny ovum, as small as a pinpoint, is merely BEGOTTEN of its human father-NOT
YET BORN-so the converted human is, at what we properly call conversion, merely
BEGOTTEN of GOD the heavenly Father-NOT YET BORN.
He is still material FLESH, even though God's Spirit has now entered into his
MIND. He is still VISIBLE.
And now he has about as much of God's Holy Spirit in him, by comparison, as
the tiny human sperm-cell compares in SIZE to a baby being born. A human
sperm-cell from which human life generates is about one-hundredth part as large
as the egg-cell, which is about the size of a pinpoint. The sperm-cell is much
too small to be seen by the human eye, without a microscope.
Once entered into the human ovum, it might grow, from material food received
through the mother, to a size averaging 6 to 9 pounds before it is ready to be
BORN.
A newly converted human is actually BEGOTTEN of GOD. Such a person is,
already, an actual begotten SON OF GOD. He can call God "FATHER." But he is not
yet BORN of God.
Notice this, in I John 3: 1: "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath
bestowed upon us, that we should be called THE SONS OF GOD. ...Beloved, NOW ARE
WE THE SONS OF GOD, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know
that, when He (Christ at His second coming) shall appear, WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM,
for we shall SEE HIM as He is " (1 John 3:1-2).
Now notice that! Understand WHAT we shall be, when we are BORN of God! Then,
next we shall see WHEN we shall be born of God.
This Scripture, in this marvellous 3rd chapter of I John, plainly says that
"WE"-meaning begotten, converted CHRISTIANS-are, now, already, the SONS of God.
Yes, of course, and the tiny fetus no larger than a pinpoint in its mother's
womb is, already, the SON (or daughter) of its human father, even though not yet
BORN.
Next, this Scripture reveals that "it doth not yet appear WHAT WE SHALL BE."
Grasp that! Isn't it PLAIN? We are, later, to BE something different. Of
course! Although we already are begotten SONS of God, we are still FLESH-still
matter-still VISIBLE. But WHAT WE SHALL BE has not, yet, appeared. As Jesus
explained to Nicodemus, we SHALL BE immortal SPIRIT. That is what we shall,
later, be!
BUT, this Scripture continues-READ IT!-UNDERSTAND this wonderful, WONDERFUL
TRUTH!-we know that, when He, Christ, shall appear at His second coming to
earth, WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM!
Now what shall HE be like? If you can know that, you can know what BORN-AGAIN
Christians shall then be like-for they shall be LIKE HIM!
After His resurrection, Jesus was INVISIBLE, except
when, by a process that is not explained, He was manifested, or made visible, to
human eyes. Angels are normally INVISIBLE to mortal sight. Yet in many instances
the Bible describes incidents when angels were made visible, so they could be
seen-and they appeared like MEN.
After Christ's resurrection, two disciples were walking that Sunday
afternoon, on the road to Emmaus. Suddenly Jesus appeared beside them. But,
later, He "vanished out of their sight" (Luke 24:3 1). The twelve disciples were
in a room, with the doors closed, and probably bolted, because they were afraid
of the Jews. There was no knock on the door. No door opened. Suddenly, as if
from nowhere, Christ APPEARED.
HOW does Jesus Christ appear, NOW? What does He look like? He has now been
BORN of God (Rom. 1:4). He was begotten of God, from the instant of conception
in the womb of the Virgin Mary. He was HUMAN and MORTAL-although begotten of God
(differently than we may be, since His conception was divine, not human)-He was
composed of MATERIAL FLESH, subject to human DEATH. He did die!
But, He was then BORN of God! HOW? By a Resurrection from the dead (Rom.
1:4). WHEN? At the time of His resurrection!
He ascended to heaven,[1] to the very THRONE of GOD, that RULES THE ENTIRE
UNIVERSE. He was GLORIFIED! He has been ever since. It is the GLORIFIED Christ
who shall return to earth.
What does the GLORIFIED Christ look like? His eyes blaze forth like flames of
fire! His feet glow like finely burnished brass. His face shines like the SUN,
in FULL STRENGTH-so bright, it would blind your eyes if He were visible to you
now! (Rev.1:14-16; 19:12-13; Mat. 17:2.)
And THAT is the way YOU and I shall look, if and when we are finally BORN of
GOD! These deceived people who talk about having had a "born-again experience"
certainly don't look like THAT!
That tremendous, glorious event of being BORN of God is to take place AT THE
RESURRECTION OF THE JUST-at the time of Christ's second coming to
earth! Notice these PLAIN Scriptures! BELIEVE them!
Notice: "For our CITIZENSHIP (marginal correct translation) is (now) in
heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ (at His
Second Coming): WHO SHALL CHANGE OUR VILE BODY, THAT IT MAY BE FASHIONED LIKE
UNTO HIS GLORIOUS BODY" (Phil. 3:20-2 1)
We are now FLESH-vile, corruptible flesh subject to rotting and decay. But,
at Christ's coming, when we shall be BORN of God, this vile body shall be
CHANGED, and made exactly like Jesus in His GLORIFIED BODY!
Yes, I know-this is probably TOO WONDERFUL for you to grasp!
But Scripture after Scripture piles up on us, CONFIRMING THIS TREMENDOUS
TRUTH!
Look at the very Resurrection chapter, I Corinthians 15.
The BIBLE, which is GOD's MESSAGE and INSTRUCTION to MANKIND, nowhere teaches
any such thing as the PAGAN doctrine of an "immortal soul" going to heaven at
death. It teaches that the soul is MORTAL, and shall DIE (Ezek. 18:4, 20).
But it does teach the RESURRECTION of the DEAD.
Now WHEN? At Christ's SECOND COMING!
"For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive, but every
man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits,"[2]-that was more than 1900 years
ago"afterward they that are Christ's at His coming" (1 Cor. 15:22-23).
That is WHEN-at Christ's COMING! And, notice, Christ is the "first
fruits"-the first of those who have been human to be BORN OF GOD by a
resurrection from the dead! The true Christians-those that are Christ's-shall be
made alive AT HIS COMING!
NOW HOW? What kind of BODY? That question is asked in verse 35. Notice GOD'S
answer:
"...that which thou sowest"-bury in the ground"thou sowest not the body that
shall be" (Verse 37).
The IMMORTAL body that comes up in the resurrection will NOT be this vile,
rotting body of material flesh-but a DIFFERENT body. Continue: "But God giveth
it a body as it hath pleased Him, ... So is the resurrection of the dead. It is
sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption. ...It is sown a natural
body"-that is, of NATURE-MATERIAL FLESH-"it is raised a SPIRITUAL BODY"composed
of SPIRIT! "And as we have borne the image of the earthy"-material flesh-of the
earth- earthy (verses 47-48)-"we shall also bear the image of the heavenly"-like
GOD-like CHRIST in His glorified body!
"Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood" (human people of material
flesh) "cannot inherit the Kingdom of God." (This is precisely what Jesus said
to Nicodemus. This proves that the CHURCH is not the Kingdom of
God. It proves also that no human of material flesh has been BORN of
God.)
Continuing: "...We shall not all sleep" (be dead) "but we shall all BE CHANGED, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump" (the time of Christ's Coming): "for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we" (if then still living)
"shall be CHANGED. ...So WHEN this corruptible shall have put on
incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on IMMORTALITY, then shall be
brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory!"
(1 Cor. 15:38-54.)
All true Christians who shall have died before Christ's coming shall rise first-in a resurrection-
and then all Christians still alive, in moral flesh, shall be
instantaneously-in the twinkling of an eye CHANGED from mortal to IMMORTAL-from
material flesh to immaterial SPIRIT-from HUMAN to DIVINE, at last BORN of GOD!
I have been the father of two sons. I am human -they, born of ME, were born
HUMAN, as I am! When we are BORN of GOD, we shall be of His VERY FAMILY-we shall
be SPIRIT as He is Spirit- immortal as He is immortal-divine as HE is divine!
WHY does not organized professed "Christianity" KNOW that? WHY should that
seem incredulous, impossible, or, even, to some, like blasphemy? WHY? The NEW
TESTAMENT of YOUR BIBLE teaches that all the way through! Jesus taught it! Paul
teaches it! Peter teaches it! John teaches it! The Holy Spirit INSPIRED IT,
repeatedly!
You have seen, in Philippians 3:20-21, how, as stated just above in I Cor.
15, at Christ's coming our vile bodies shall be CHANGED, changed into SPIRIT,
made IMMORTAL, fashioned like Christ's GLORIFIED BODY. That is when we shall be
BORN of God. And THAT change does not take place in THIS LIFE! All these
religious-professing people who think they have been "born again" HAVE NEVER
EXPERIENCED THAT CHANGE!
Now we saw, I Cor. 15:23, that Christ, who was BORN OF GOD by His
resurrection, was the FIRST fruit of those to be resurrected-those to be BORN
AGAIN!
Now believe other Scriptures which say the same thing!
Believe Romans 8:29: "For whom He did foreknow, he also did predestinate"
(write for free booklet on meaning of predestination) "to be conformed to the
IMAGE of His Son (Christ), that He might be the firstborn among many brethren."
Christ was born a SON of God by a resurrection from the dead (Rom. 1:4). He was
only the first to be BORN of GOD, of MANY BRETHREN. We are to be in His same
IMAGE-as He is NOW! We are put on His SAME PLANE-as His BRETHREN-to be also BORN
OF GOD-to become GOD'S SONS!
We are already begotten sons-IF really converted but we SHALL BE, in the resurrected GLORIFIED BODY-does not yet APPEAR-cannot yet be seen (I John 3:1-2).
God is to have MANY SONS born of Him. Of all these. JESUS was the first to be
BORN. He is the ONLY human so far BORN of God, though many have
already been BEGOTTEN!
Believe Calescence 1:15, 18: Speaking of Jesus who is the IMAGE of the
INVISIBLE GOD, the FIRSTBORN of every creature... the FIRSTBORN from the dead."
Yes, just the first of many BRETHREN, in the very IMAGE of bright shining GLORY
of the INVISIBLE GOD. And we are to be conformed to the SAME IMAGE (Rom. 8:29).
Now will you believe what God says in the Book of Hebrews?
WHY should God be concerned about human beings? From a small air plane we
look like little ants down here. From a jet 5 to 6 miles high, people on the
ground have shrunken so small they can't be seen. HOW TINY must we look to GOD?
WHY should He have concern for us?
The question is answered in Hebrews 2, beginning verse 6. God made man a
little lower than angels, but, in God's PURPOSE and PLAN, He has CROWNED man, as
He first has Christ, with GLORY and HONOUR.
What is the GLORY with which Christ is now CROWNED? A crown denotes
kingship-ruleauthority-power. Jesus Christ said, just before ascending to
heaven, that ALL POWER in the universe-in heaven and in earth-had been given to
HIM.
In Heb. 1:1-3, it is revealed that Christ is God's HEIR-heir of ALL
THINGS-the ENTIRE UNIVERSE -which He now has already inherited!
He now is the BRIGHTNESS of God's GLORY!
Yes, His eyes like flashing flames of fire-His face shining bright as the
full-strength SUN. He is the express image of GOD'S PERSON-and here the inspired
Greek words mean stamped, or engraved with God's own perfect spiritual
CHARACTER. He UPHOLDS ALL THINGS-see Moffat translation, Heb. 1:3-He sustains,
controls, RULES, the ENTIRE UNIVERSE! God Almighty the Father has delegated to
Christ the administration and executive power, rule, GOVERNMENT, of the
UNIVERSE!
Christ's GLORY is such that now He sustains, upholds, controls, every force,
energy, and power that exists EVERYWHERE-supreme POWER over the universe!
Yes, and as a BORN Son of GOD, Christ IS God! God Almighty
His Father is God. They are two separate and individual Persons
(see Rev. 5:1, 6-7).
How can this be? I suppose most people think of GOD as one single individual
Person. Or, as a "TRINITY." THIS IS NOT TRUE. Genesis 1: I
gives God's name as, in the Hebrew, "ELOHIM." This is a uni-PLURAL name. It
means more than one Person, but combined into the ONE FAMILY, which FAMILY is
GOD.
Yes, the name "GOD" as God revealed it in the Hebrew language, is
a name like FAMILY, CHURCH, or TEAM. There may be several individual
members in ONE FAMILY. In I Cor. 12:12 we find MANY individual MEMBERS form the
ONE CHURCH. And Jesus prayed that we, in His CHURCH, might be ONE in the same
manner that He and God the Father are ONE GOD! (See John 17:11, 21.)
Notice Heb. 1:6-the very angels are to WORSHIP CHRIST! If He is not GOD-that
is, one of the members of the FAMILY, or the KINGDOM of GOD, then that would
break the first Commandment! He is CALLED GOD in verse 8.
Now remember, the true Christian is an HEIR of God (Gal. 3:29), and a
JOINT-HEIR with Christ (Rom. 8:17). We are to be GLORIFIED TOGETHER WITH HIM
(same verse). Christ is now an inheritor a possessor. WE are still only
HEIRS-not yet inheritors-not until we are BORN AGAIN!
Now back to Hebrew 2. Remember we are coheirs with CHRIST-begotten SONS of
GOD. Christ has INHERITED the entire UNIVERSE, which He now RULES. And in Heb.
2:6-8, we are told plainly that God's PURPOSE is to put ALL THINGS in subjection
UNDER US. The Greek words translated "ALL THINGS" mean, simply, THE WHOLE
UNIVERSE. God "left NOTHING that is not put under him"-verse 8-only, WE SEE NOT
YET this entire universe put under the dominion of mankind!
No, you'll read in Genesis 1:28 that God, so far, has given HUMANS dominion
only over the solid earth, the seas, and the AIR.
But, God continues, verse 9, we see Jesus ALREADY CROWNED WITH GLORY AND
HONOUR-which, in chapter 1:2-3, is explained to mean KING with dominion over
the whole UNIVERSE.
Now notice verse 10: "For it became HIM ... in bringing MANY SONS UNTO GLORY,
to make the Captain (margin, Leader, or Predecessor, or Pioneer) perfect through
sufferings." And in verse II Jesus calls us His BROTHERS.
Oh, what matchless, transcendent GLORY God purposes for us-when we are BORN
AGAIN!
But, as we read in Heb. 2:8, we do not see YET all this GLORY having been
inherited by any but CHRIST. WHY, then are we not YET born?
Because, when we are, we are to be given such POWERS to guide, direct, and
control, that we have to BE TRAINED, and have the PERFECT SPIRITUAL CHARACTER
developed in us so that we may safely be entrusted with such vast powers!
Scientists have learned to harness and control certain physical powers -
nuclear energy, for example. And men DO NOT YET HAVE THE CHARACTER to be able to
control rightly and guide such colossal power into safe and productive and
beneficial channels. Men have turned that POWER into such tremendous stockpiles
of DESTRUCTIVE and WAR-making force that there is now the power more than 50
times over to ERASE ALL HUMAN LIFE FROM THE EARTH!
So, before we may be even BEGOTTEN of God, we must REPENT of transgressing
GOD'S SPIRITUAL LAW of LOVE-God's WAY to peace, happiness, abundance, and joy.
Then, we must BE LED BY God's Holy Spirit which He gives us, IN THE WAY of God's
RIGHT SPIRITUAL LAWS in the way of RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Now LOVE is the fulfilling of God's Law. But it is a SPIRITUAL Law that is in
inexorable motion-and it requires SPIRITUAL LOVE to fulfill it. This is "the
LOVE of GOD, shed abroad in our hearts BY THE HOLY SPIRIT" (Rom. 5:5), which God
gives only to those that OBEY Him! (Acts 5:32.)
God CREATED this universe. He is the REAL Supreme Ruler! He is not going to
turn over that power to rule to any except those who will rule HIS WAY-who will
OBEY HIM-obey His GOVERNMENT, and carry out HIS GOVERNMENT, UNDER HIM!
So, it is ONLY those that are LED BY God's Holy Spirit, in HIS WAYS who are
the SONS of God (Rom. 8:14). And we have to begin OVERCOMING our own
self-natures, the wrong WAYS of this world which have become fixed HABIT, and
the devil. We must GROW in grace and Christ's KNOWLEDGE (11 Pet. 3:18).
Yes, even as the unborn, but begotten human baby must GROW from its beginning
size no larger than a pinpoint, fed on physical food-SO, once we are impregnated
by GOD'S HOLY SPIRIT-HIS LIFE WE MUST GROW SPIRITUALLY-fed on the SPIRITUAL FOOD
of God's Word the BIBLE, and by PRAYER, and what fellowship is possible with
truly begotten BRETHREN in God's TRUTH.
And UNLESS we do continue to GROW in spiritual character development, more
and more LIKE GOD, we become like the unborn babe that miscarries-or like an
abortion! AND SUCH SHALL NEVER BE BORN OF GOD!
Perhaps a basic error that has blinded nearly all professing "Christians"
since the Great CONSPIRACY crept in as a Fifth Columnist-by
which religious leaders of the BABYLONIAN MYSTERIES actually conspired to
STEAL the NAME "Christian"-between 70 and 170 AD., is founded
on a MIStranslation of Romans 8:15.
In the A.V. it reads, "...but ye have received the spirit of adoption,
whereby we cry, Abba, Father!" The marginal rendering for "adoption" is,
properly, SONSHIP. But the theologians and "Higher Critics" have blindly
accepted the heretical and false doctrine introduced by PAGAN
false prophets who crept in, that the HOLY SPIRIT is a THIRD PERSON-the heresy
of the "TRINITY." This LIMITS God to "Three Persons." This DENIES that Christ,
through His Holy Spirit, actually comes now INTO the converted
Christian and does His saving work on the INSIDE"Christ IN you, the hope of
GLORY" (Col. 1:27).
Peter plainly shows that the Holy Spirit entering INTO us means that we then
become "Partakers of the DIVINE NATURE." The "Trinity" doctrine DENIES this. (2
Peter 1:4)
Any Church, or preacher, that DENIES that CHRIST is actually COMING INTO each
converted Christian, through His HOLY SPIRIT, IS ANTI-CHRIST!
And those are MANY, today. See I John 4:3, and II John 7. The expression
"Jesus Christ IS COME in the flesh," as inspired in its original Greek language
means, literally, PRESENT TENSE-that Christ is NOW COMING-and the way He now
COMES in human flesh, is that He comes literally INTO every truly begotten child
of God, BY AND THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT.
If the Holy Spirit were a third PERSON that would be IMPOSSIBLE!
That false doctrine, beautiful as it may have been made to sound, DENIES the
presence of God's Holy Spirit within, to impregnate or BEGET us with the NATURE
and the very LIFE of GOD!
That heresy DENIES the true BORN-AGAIN experience!
That false teaching DENIES that the Church is the true BODY OF
CHRIST-because, as it was the HOLY SPIRIT of God working IN the individual BODY
of Jesus, who started God's present work, so it is that SAME SPIRIT, now working
IN THE COLLECTIVE BODY of His CHURCH, which carries God's work on. Thus the true
Church is the BODY of CHRIST.
But the Holy SPIRIT is the SPIRIT that emanates from both
the Father, and from CHRIST, and literally enters INTO us, begetting us, so that
we may BE BORN as the VERY sons of GOD!
Yes, "BEHOLD, WHAT manner of love the FATHER bath bestowed upon us, that WE
should be called THE SONS OF GOD!!" (1 John 3:1) Yes, if converted, then
already, NOW, we are the begotten SONS of the Eternal Living GOD!
SIN is humanity's one super ENEMY! SIN-the transgression of GOD'S perfect
spiritual LAW-has robbed the world of PEACE-has brought poverty, emptiness,
misery, crime, heartache, WARS, and untold DESTRUCTION! But, when we are finally
BORN of God, we SHALL NOT BE ABLE TO SIN-it shall then he IMPOSSIBLE-and we
shall know only HAPPINESS, and JOY, and productive ACCOMPLISHMENT!
As CHRIST already, now, HAS GLORY, and POWER, so WE SOON SHALL INHERIT THE
SAME!
For, as we read in Romans 8:18-19: "...The sufferings of this present time
are not worthy to be COMPARED with the GLORY that shall be revealed in us. For
the earnest expectation of the CREATION yes, the entire CREATION!-waits for the
MANIFESTATION of the SONS of GOD-(when we shall be BORN of GOD!)
What WONDERFUL, almost INCOMPREHENSIBLE, GLORIOUS GOOD NEWS!
And the BEST NEWS is, that the COMING OF CHRIST is now drawing VERY NEAR!
Just a very few more years! And then-the PEACEFUL, HAPPY, GLORIOUS WORLD
TOMORROW!
All who NOW are begotten sons of God shall then be
BORN-elevated from mortal to immortal, from decaying FLESH to SPIRIT-from HUMAN
to DIVINE! And THAT TRUE BORN-AGAIN EXPERIENCE will be incomparably more
GLORIOUS than the fake, vague, meaningless, socalled "born-again experience"
that deceived THOUSANDS think they have had, now, as the present transcending
GLORY of CHRIST is superior to the status of sickly, diseased, sinning,
suffering HUMANITY TODAY!
But, the Scriptures that break before our eyes this GLORIOUS GOOD NEWS, also
warn us to TAKE HEED, and to MAKE OUR CALLING AND ELECTION SURE!
Editors comments.
[1] At the time of His resurrection Christ did not ascend direct to Heaven.
He was on earth for forty days after this; Acts 1:3
[2] It should be Christ, the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christs at his coming. 1 Cor.15:23
