Religious man proclaims that one is born again the moment one completes the rituals prescribed by his particular religious system.  This mode of entry into the church’s version of Christendom is universal.  Having followed the prescribed steps outlined by a representative of the particular sect, one is declared “born again”/”saved.”  But God provides a totally different method by which one is saved/born again, as well as a totally different result of the change having taken place.

In John 3:5-8 Jesus tells us that when one is born again one will become like the wind in that he will do things and cause things to happen that can be seen by men while he, himself remains unseen.  This is the proof of having been born again, as provided by the Lord Himself.  The Institutional Church refutes the Words of the Lord concerning the born again experience, claiming that 1) rebirth takes place immediately upon completion of the prescribed ritual, 2) that there is no bodily change following rebirth, and that 3) the rebirthed one cannot do what Jesus said he/she can do (be like the wind).  Someone is lying–the church points the finger of guilt at Jesus.

That born again saints will have the power to make themselves visible and invisible at will was demonstrated by Jesus as recorded in Luke 24:36-40.  Here we find Him suddenly appearing inside a room whose door is closed.  We do not know how long He had been in the apostles’ midst, only that at a specific point in time He suddenly allowed Himself to be seen, touched and heard before again becoming invisible.  The born again saint will be able to take on physical or spirit form at will, exactly as did Jesus in His born again state.  Those in the church claim that they, in her physical state, have been born again.

To fully understand what “born again” means we must study those scriptures that speak to the issue, not man’s doctrinal statements relative to the subject.  The Bible is clear: to be born again means to have a total change in bodily consistency–a change enacted by God which renders the saint visible or invisible at will and able to do things mortal man cannot do, such as pass through a solid object.  Until rebirth takes place at the resurrection of the saints at Jesus’ return, man will remain flesh and blood–mortal–and forced to deal with the various things that confront all men just as did Jesus when He walked the earth as a man.  It was said of Jesus that, as a man, He was tested, tried and tempted as are all other men (Heb. 4:15).  Following His resurrection/rebirth He was no longer subject to the circumstances of life on planet earth.  Like Jesus, until man is born again he remains flesh and therefore must deal with whatever takes place around him.  At present, only Jesus Christ has been born again.

First Corinthians 15:51-53 tells us that (only) those IN CHRIST at His second coming will be changed (born again) from mortal (flesh–subject to death) to immortal (spirit–not subject to death).  At present, the only man to be changed from mortal to immortal is Jesus Christ (1 Tim. 6:16).  Spirits cannot die.  Jesus died, proving that, while on earth, He was totally man, making Him a legitimate model for man to emulate.  Now in spirit (born again) form, He cannot die again.  Such will be man when he is born again.

Because saints are referred to as “sons of God,” many believe that they have already inherited eternal life–are “saved.”  The Word of God, however, refutes this.  The relationship between “sons of God” in this age and sons in the hereafter is revealed in Acts 13:30 and Romans 1:3,4.  From Acts we know that God raised Jesus from the dead.  But what did He become following His resurrection?  Romans tells us that Jesus Christ was BORN OF A DESCENDANT OF DAVID according to the FLESH (born of a human woman).  But then what?  He was “… DECLARED (REVEALED, PROVEN) TO BE THE SON OF GOD BY HIS RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD.”  Here we have the two births of Jesus.  As a man, God called Him His BEGOTTEN (flesh-conceived) Son.  He was MADE a SPIRITUAL SON by being BORN AGAIN (made spirit) and RESUR- RECTED.  And so it is with saints–saints are now BEGOTTEN sons of God–HEIRS of salvation, not yet inheritors.  Like Jesus, being born again will TRANSFORM saints into SPIRIT-BORN SONS OF GOD.

Contrary to the popular rapture theory, every saint who has ever lived will be either alive on the earth or dead in the earth when Jesus returns to earth to set up the Kingdom of God.  First Thessalonians 4:16,17 tells us that upon hearing the shout of the archangel (which Revelation tells us will come at the end of the Great Tribulation at the seventh trumpet), those who have died in Christ will rise (from the grave) first to meet Him in the air, followed by those who are still alive.  This is the point at which all true saints from all ages will be BORN AGAIN.  God describes the resultant change in the saints’ bodily compositions in Philippians 3:21.  Our human body, as 1 John 3:2 tells us, will BE LIKE HIS BODY for, “… when He appears we will BE (look) like Him, for we will (visually) SEE HIM AS HE IS.”  Born again saints will be like what they see–Jesus Christ in His glorified body.  Revelation 1:13-16 describes Christ’s born again body: He has hair like wool, eyes like flames of fire and feet like burnished brass.  His countenance is like the sun in its full strength.  According to Jesus, His saints’ born again bodies will be exactly like His glorified born again body in appearance, consistency and alterability, as He revealed on the Mount of Transfiguration.  As the Psalmist (17:15) said: “… I shall behold Thy face when I awake (from death) “WITH (HAVING) THY LIKENESS.”

By rejecting the above scriptural description of one who has been born again, the church masses have been deceived into believing that they are already saved/born again and need only stay the religious course in order to join Jesus at the time of the supposed rapture.  And Satan smiles.  L.J