"The Churches of God Outreach Ministries provides leadership, information, and biblical teaching in spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Matthew 28:19-20"

"Just what do you mean...BORN AGAIN?"

Even Preachers Deceived
   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 5column 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!

A Contradiction!
   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 willfully, 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 10). 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 willfully. 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!

The Source of Error
   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-o). 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"

Misleading Translation
   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?"

Let CHRIST Explain!
   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 whither 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" (I John 3:1-2).

WHAT We Shall Be
   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 marvelous 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 24:31). 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, 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!

WHEN Born Again?
   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. 3:20-21)
   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,"—that was more than 1900 years ago— "afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming" (I Cor. 15:22-23).
   That is WHEN—at Christ’s COMING! And, notice, Christ is the "firstfruits"—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!" (I 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!

Christ Only the First
   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 FIRSTfruits 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 Colossians 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).

WHAT is MAN?
   Now will you believe what God says in the Book of Hebrews?
   WHY should God be concerned about human beings? From a small airplane 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 HONOR.
   What is the GLORY with which Christ is now CROWNED? A crown denotes KINGship—rule— authority—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 Moffatt 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 1:1 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 HONOR—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 11 Jesus calls us His BROTHERS.
   Oh, what matchless, transcendent GLORY God purposes for us—when we are BORN AGAIN!

WHY Not Now?
   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 LAW Sin 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 (II 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 hath bestowed upon us, that WE should be called THE SONS OF GOD!!" (I 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 be 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, so called "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!