Whether they were church-goers or not, every so often on the streets I was asked, “What does ‘born again’ mean?” Thanks to the Internet today there are some wonderful, in-depth, theological answers to the question, but for the purposes of this post, it literally means to be “born from above by the Spirit of God.” In other words, a spiritual transformation takes place by the power of God, whereby eternal life (God’s life) is imparted to the individual who believes (entrusts one’s spiritual well-being) on Jesus Christ as their Saviour and Lord.
Naturally enough, their next question was, “Why do I need to be born again?”Firstly, because Jesus said so. Secondly, the Bible tells us that we have all sinned and fall short of God’s glory. Therefore, we must be born again in order to have our sins forgiven and have a relationship with God. Trusting in Jesus Christ alone, the only One who paid our penalty for sin when He died on that cross, is what it means to be born again, spiritually. If we act on those meanings, the Bible gives us the good news that we are new creatures (creations) – the old has gone the new (fresh) has come 2 Corinthians 5:17.
Jesus also told us that unless we are born again, we cannot see the kingdom of God. That means we cannot perceive or understand the rule or the realm of God’s reign, as it applies here and now and, in eternity. That is why people mock and ridicule God, Jesus Christ, the Bible and non-compromising biblical believers. They don’t get it, because without a spiritual rebirth, they can’t get it. And they will never get it, unless they humble themselves before God, acknowledge their sin and then, acknowledge Jesus Christ alone, as the one and only Solution to their sin problem.
As practicing Christians, it is most important that we grasp this, because if we fail to do so, we run an immeasurably high risk of being chewed up and spat out by the false doctrines of religious men and their institutions. Jesus told us that the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him because He (the Spirit) had appointed Him as the Anointed One (Messiah) to preach the good news to the poor (beggar, as cringing); to announce release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed (downtrodden, bruised, crushed, and broken down by calamity) Luke 4:18.
As a public messenger of Christ, I spoke with literally hundreds of church-goers, but it was an extremely rare occasion to encounter one who was born again. Roman Catholic or Protestant, it made no difference. One of the ways to discern if a church-goer is born again is to listen and observe their response to the Bible’s declaration about the need to be born again. Responses with anger, abuse, insults and guilt gave me clear indication that such a one was not. But often the same applied to those whose response was one with fear – fear of God certainly, but equally, fear of church leaders and their doctrines.
A typical response of one trapped by fear went something like, “I don’t care what your Bible says, my faith is in my church and their teaching and I will never leave it. Ours is the one true church! I was born a (Catholic, Jehovah Witness, Mormon etc) and I will die a ……..!” These responses sounded good, faithful and noble, but the reality was they were not made by people grounded in faith. They were grounded in fear. They dare not leave their “faith” because if they did, in their thinking, they would lose all hope of heaven. They were taught that, they believed that and they dare not shift from that.
These are the very people Jesus Christ came for. People in all sorts of captivity, spiritually blind, downtrodden, bruised and crushed by the weighty, false doctrines of men, none of whom will lift a finger to help them. They can’t help them, because they themselves are trapped by the same stuff. It has been said that the great defect of all man-made religious systems is that they demand obedience but they do not provide the power or the dynamic needed to do so. It’s true. Leaders who are not free cannot led others to freedom. In other words, you cannot take others where you can’t or won’t go yourself.
The Scripture tells us in New Testament Galatians that Christ has made free (completely liberated), all who claim Him as Saviour and Lord. It also tells us to stand in that truth and not to be hampered and held ensnared and submit to a yoke of slavery. So here is a test as to how free you are. Whether you belong to one of the above mentioned denominations or some other – are you free? What do you believe would happen to you if you made a decision to leave your denomination or group? Regardless of whether you were “born into it” or not, what do you believe your state of mind would be? Would it be one of freedom – or fear?
It is most important for a Christian to be able to answer that because we devalue Jesus Christ and His word if we fail or refuse to do so. To place one’s faith in one’s church, believing it to be the true one, is not placing one’s faith in the biblical Lord Jesus Christ and His Bible. Therefore, it is not faith at all. And the Bible tells us that what does not originate and proceed from faith, is sin Romans 14:23. What is not of faith, can be the sin of presumption (speaking or acting without warrant) and the Bible gives us plenty of examples of people who paid a very high price for indulging in that.
To presume upon God, if not acknowledged and repented from, brings defeat, loss of power (especially spiritual power), rejection and destruction. I saw that outworked in seventy-eight year old Roman Catholic lady Mrs Lang. She was bed-ridden, riddled with arthritis and fear. With rosary beads in her hands on each visit, she often told me, “the Bible is a load of blabber! Jesus started the Catholic church at the Last Supper and He gave Peter the keys.” She said she had great faith; but in Christ, it was nowhere evident. Fear of death was written deep into her. It was a religious spirit of fear that prevented her from hearing Christ’s word in context.
If one is born again by the Spirit of God, he or she will know by experiencing the witness of the Holy Spirit, that the same power given to Peter, in fact belongs to every disciple of Jesus in all ages. Nowhere in the New Testament is there any hint of authority either claimed or exercised by Peter, or conceded to him above the rest of the apostles. But in his second epistle, we see that Peter has plenty to say to the church about the trustworthiness of the prophetic biblical word and the destructive doctrines, the doom, depravity and deception of false teachers and, for us to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ alone.
Mary, an ex Roman Catholic, now Jehovah Witness, could not admit it but it was not love for Jehovah that put her out on the street door-knocking. It was fear and terror of Him. Like Roman Catholic people, JW’s believe that they are the one true religion, all others are an abomination in Jehovah’s sight. The basis for their theology is reason and they build on that foundation, the teachings of Scripture. They are taught to use reason to attack the beliefs of others in their conversations. They decide what is “logical” to believe and then twist and change Scripture so it supports those beliefs. See my post: Tell me the difference between you both.
JW’s must accept without question the interpretations of the Bible as presented in their literature. That alone is what they accept as truth and they are excommunicated if they don’t accept that. They have to work hard for their salvation. That is the reason they are so zealous, dedicated and persistent in their evangelism. Each member must maintain an active one-hour house to house witnessing a month, minimum. But many struggle to do so and live in fear as a result. Ten hours is the quota for a person in good standing. JW’s may appear self-assured about their beliefs, but most are not.
Michael told me that he would “feel lost indeed” if he was to leave his “one true church.” He was a Mormon. Mormons talk a lot about faith, but what they really mean is feelings. Mormonism is based on subjective experience – that is, praying about something and having God confirm it to their hearts. That is the basis for accepting Mormonism and the test for all truth as far as they are concerned. The Bible tells us that our hearts are “desperately wicked” and that is why we must be born again and renewed by the Holy Spirit as He dwells within us and teaches us according to His written word.
They say they believe the Bible is the word of God, but that it’s unreliable. Therefore, it has to be interpreted through the Book of Mormon. Mormons need an “unreliable” Bible, because the Bible contradicts almost all of their doctrines and practices. Most Bible doctrine that mainstream Christianity has accepted as truth down through history has been disputed and rejected by them. God the Father is viewed as one who was once a spirit child of a previous God, born on another earth who had to earn and attain god-hood. They teach that He is married and lives with His wife, the heavenly Mother!
Mormonism teaches that Jesus is a created being, the first-born spirit child of a long line of children who were sexually conceived in spirit form by this heavenly Father and heavenly Mother. They teach that Jesus and Lucifer were brothers in the spirit world and that the Father chose Jesus to be the Saviour of the world. Lucifer argued with that decision. He wanted to force mankind to be saved, but Jesus wanted to allow man to choose, which God the Father preferred. Lucifer, being angry, rebelled against the Father, who threw him out of heaven, taking one third of the angels with him to become Satan and his demons.
The Bible declares to all who are born again in Jesus Christ that it is no longer fear and dread that exists, but rather it is a full-grown, complete and perfect love. A Divine love so powerful that all fear is cast out, along with every trace of terror. Fear brings with it the thought of punishment. Every church-goer who is not born again and who willingly allows the word of God to be substituted or replaced by the word of religious man will continue to remain in captivity, spiritually blind, oppressed and downtrodden – here and in eternity. “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7.