Born Twice Book

The most dangerous words in the Christian Vocabulary are the words “Saved” & “Born Again”. Both words have been ill understood and therefore have wreaked havoc in the paradigm or mind set of the modern church. We plan to prove in this writing that no-one, includ- ing yourself has been “Born Again” . . . if you dare to read further you will fully under- stand WHEN you will be... Born Again by Shane Vaughn First Harvest Ministries John Calvin Into the theology of the 18th century church, a new doctrine was presented and accepted by many from a gentleman of faith by the name of John Calvin. His teaching which is commonly summed up in the following acronym T.U.L.I.P included the theological argument of eternal security or as com- monly called “onCe saved always saved.” Although this booklet is not intend- ed as a treatise on all the points of Calvinism nor as a teaching of all the nu- ances of T.U.L.I.P; for the sake of your understanding, I will simply explain the meaning of T.U.L.I.P and then deal with only one of Calvin’s doctrine, the doctrine of so-called eternal security in this chapter. (Order my book “Walking through the TULIPs for a complete understanding of his teachings). T - Total Depravity of Man U - Unconditional Election I - Irresistible Grace L - Limited Atonement P - Preservation of the saints Sadly, many of the truths presented by Mr. Calvin have strong elements of truth hidden away in them. But as always, when taken to extreme positions and when placed in the wrong ages of Yahweh’s (Gods) plan for eternity, the result are always extremism and false doctrine. Mainly for this chapter we will be looking at his position on the “P” of his TULIP teachings, the “preservation of the saints” or in other words, eternal security. This aforementioned doctrine basically espouses the understanding made popular by and religiously held by the whole of Presbyterians, many Baptist and a lot of evangelical Charismatics. This is the teaching that states, once a person “accepts Christ into their hearts” that they are then guaranteed eternal life, no matter their future actions in this life. Basically, they can never be lost according to Mr. Calvin’s postulations and theories. In fairness, Calvinism does not necessarily agree with Christians living sinful lifestyles. Theoretically, they espouse, that should someone continue in a life of sin that they were not truly saved to begin with and thus we enter into a circular and never ending argument of which there is no end. I will now explain to you how I wrestled with this theory of Eternal Secu- rity for many years and eventually accepted it as truth before Yahweh (God) divinely showed me the error of my way and corrected me with his Holy Word. Before we delve into this subject, allow me to explain why this is so very important in your understanding of God’s plan for the ages. If you plan to walk with Yahweh then you must understand this vital truth presented in this booklet concerning the subject of being so-called “born again.” I first began my spiritual journey among the old-time holiness, Pentecostal or Apostolic people. As a young child preacher, beginning my ministry at the age of fifteen (15) (I was in fact ordained on my 15th birthday) I preached across the nation and in a few foreign countries the only message that I then knew and that was the Pentecostal message. One of the tenets or beliefs among the Pentecostals, especially the Apostolic branch of the Pentecostals was the doctrine of holiness living. Basically, we grew up with a horrible fear of dying lost and going to hell. Everything was preached against as a genuine effort to keep the influences of the world out of our hearts. We were diabolically opposed to the “onCe saved always saved” message in those days as we took it to be a license for sinful living without any eternal consequences. In our churches you had to “pray through” for the smallest of sins or else you might die in those sins and go to an eternal, boiling lake of fire. As you can imagine we lived in constant fear of losing our salvation. We never knew which sinful thought or action might be the very one that robbed us of our eternal life so of course we lived very fearful lives with absolutely no security at all in our salvation. Our salvation depended upon our ability to remember to repent. With the above painted picture in your mind you can easily see how the thoughts of Calvinism found an easy resting place in my mind when it was presented to me later in life. As I grew older in my ministry and as sin begin entering into my life and as I began to need an excuse for those sins and ad- dictions, the entire message of eternal security began to appeal to me and find its way through the cracks of the door of carnality. Howbeit, I would never have admitted in those days that this was my reason for accepting Calvinism. I would have told you that indeed the scriptures supported Calvinism. In fairness and to bring a balanced approach to this entire subject, Calvin- ism doesn’t stand alone in the area of unbalanced extremism. The church of my childhood could have preached their message with more of a balanced approach as well. They truly believed that a lifetime of serving God could have been made obsolete by one sin un-repented of. While I have now come to understand their message more fully and I have in fact rejected Calvinism, I would caution the Pentecostal people to season your message with grace and you may very well find the perfect balance that your members are so in need of. So, how could I have accepted Calvinism? Well, of course only if someone could prove it to me in the scriptures and with a well reasoned argument. Naturally, when the eternal security message came to me it actually caused me to admire the sense of rest that these folks displayed in their salvation. They didn’t seem to fear losing out with God, they were just resting in the finished work of the cross. They didn’t seem overly concerned with a dutiful prayer life or a daily crucifying of the flesh, they seemed to not allow condemnation over their personal sins to become a factor in their thinking; my old Pentecos- tal mind was actually jealous of their ability to be secure in their salvation. So, the more time I spent with them and heard their teaching and their “scrip- tural proof ” the more and more that I became systematically convinced of the truth of Calvinism. Please be reminded that both sides of this argument can present very valid and convincing proof of their doctrinal positions. While the Calvinist would present pages of scriptures to me about the so-called truth of eternal security, I could always counter them with scriptures such as “he that endured to the end shall be saved” or Paul’s warning about himself “becoming a castaway” or the teaching in Hebrews about those who have “once tasted the heavenly gift” and turned back and their inability to ever repent. On and on the arguments would go and they always have a response to my response. However, here was the question that they always stumped me with. No matter how much I would try to argue with them, no matter how much scriptural proof I pre- sented against the Calvinist, they always stopped me in my tracks with the following arguments of reason for which I could find no tenable answer. As is the natural so is the spiritual At first they would present the principle of the spiritual being represented by the natural and the scriptures do teach us that “as the earthly so is the heavenly” (I Cor 15:46). With this principle in mind they would present the following questions; How many times can a person be born? Then they would ask; Can you ever not be a son of your parents? Of course the undeniable answer to those questions presents loads of trouble to those of us who didn’t believe in eternal security. It is a fact that a person can only be born one time and of course there is nothing that you can ever do that would cause you to no longer be a child of your parents. So, we find ourselves in a dilemma; if we answer those two questions of the Calvinist in the affirmative; and we must, then they win the argument and as a truth we must all believe in eternal security. The cases seems to be won for the Calvanist without even a good fight, with this one argument they silence even their most ardent opponents. However, one day as from out of nowhere, a thought came to me. What if, just what if in fact we have totally misunderstood the entire concept of the new birth? What if in fact we have failed to understand the truth about being born again? Maybe they are absolutely right and yet absolutely wrong. Indeed, you can only be born one time. Indeed, you can never be un-born. It was at this moment that another question came that brought sense for it all to me! Perhaps, we’ve put the cart before the hose and in fact we have never been born again as of yet! This one questions changed my entire mindset.....Are you willing to find out perhaps the most perfect answer to this difficult question? Are you truly willing? According to our traditional understanding of being “born again” we have all, upon receiving the Holy Spirit, been born again; saved, redeemed and given eternal life. If that is in fact the case then we can all rest assured that we are all eternally secure. You can only be born-again one time, let that settle into your thinking. You cannot ever be “unborn again” nor can you ever be “unsaved” if you can then you were never saved. If you have ever been given “eternal life” then if you could ever lose it, it was not very eternal was it? It was “temporary” eternal life. Can you see the absurdity of the whole argu- ment? Unless we can find the greater truth and the deeper understanding of the new birth then we must believe in eternal security, the scriptures opposing eternal security notwithstanding. But, what if our traditional thinking was wrong? As always the Holy Spirit leads us and guides us into all truth when we sincerely seek for answers with a pure heart and not a prejudiced and traditional mind-set. As I sought the answers from Yahweh (God), this one question began forming in my converted mind; Did you actually receive eternal life and were you actually born again? Of course I was taken aback at the question and responded as the majority of you that will read this book “Of course I was saved, born again and of course I received eternal life when I repented of my sins.” To think oth- erwise was completely outside of my theological framework and traditional mind-set. It just so happened after God begin dealing with me about this subject that I ran across a book by “happenstance” entitled “Born Again, just what does it mean” and in those pages, to my amazement was the very same questions and answers that I had been dealing with in my own mind. After twelve months of constant study of this subject I have come to fol- lowing conclusions that I wish to share with you: Both groups, the Calvinist and the Holiness (Armenians) each have elements of the truth but both are out of balance and have gone to the extreme. As always the truth lies right in the middle of both schools of thought. Someone can definitely, without a doubt turn their back on their faith and be lost! However, human frailties, forgotten sins and weakness of the flesh cannot and will not deny you the gift of eternal life. So, what’s the difference? When a person quits repenting of sin, when a person no longer feels the pull of conviction, that is a person that is dangerously close to turning their backs on THE FAITH. However, as long as you feel that split system (good and evil) warring inside of you, that’s a good sign, that means that you are still spiritually alive. You have not turned away from the truth, you still have the seed of God inside of you. Sinless Lives If indeed you have been born of God or born-again as we evangelicals use the term then in fact you could not ever sin! I John 3:9 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. The above scripture is where we must begin this study about being born again because this scripture gives great headaches to the body of Christ and exposes their desire to rip this scripture from the Holy Writ. First ask your- self, are you without sin? Honestly, is your life sinless? Have you obeyed all the commands of God, all Ten? Have you loved your neighbor as much as you love yourself? Have you forgiven 70x’s7 times? Have you visited the sick, the widows, the prisoners as Christ commanded? Have you observed His Sabbath, paid His tithe? Have you forsaken gossip and talebearing? Have you been faithful in your prayer life, in putting Him first? If you have any sIn In you at all, accordIng to the verse I just quoted the you have not been born agaIn! Now, we are going to find out if in fact any of us has been born again yet! We are going to see if any of us have eternal life in us at this time or if it is rather a promise for the future. This chapter is going to help you so much if you will simply make yourself study these scriptures and open your spirit for the truth of God’s word, no matter how different it sounds from what you’ve always heard. Dear friend, my ministries goal and purpose is to teach you the importance of selling out to God, to obeying God’s word and to never again be deceived into thinking that you are currently born again or saved or that you now have eternal life. According to the beloved of Jesus, John the Apostle, if you were born again or born of God, it would be impossible for you to sin. By your own admis- sion, you have not reached that point as of yet? Correct? So when do you believe you will reach that point of sinless perfection? According to Jesus, when you become like the angels in your resurrection, only then will you be unable to sin. That is when you will be born again, in the resurrec- tion, not now! Here’s the question that you and I will seek to answer in this study; Is the “new birth” a present or a future reality? Did Christ promise the new birth while we are still flesh? Or does he promise it to us when we have become spirits (spiritual bodies) in the resurrection? Have we entered into the Kingdom of God now or can that only happen in the new birth in the resurrection? Did Paul plainly teach us that “flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God”? If so, are you still flesh and blood? The Calvinist are very correct on several issues such as Original Sin, Predes- tination and Unconditional Election but on eternal security they have emaci- ated the scriptures. However, on the following point they are also correct; as the earthly so is the spiritual, In other words, we learn lessons of the spirit by the ways of nature. Paul tells us that even those who don’t know God can see God in the works of nature. With that understanding let us actually look at the work of nature in the birthing process. Begotten or Born? Paul teaches that he had “begotten us by the Word.” Now I want you to notice carefully the original word for begotten. This word means conceived. Paul tells us that he has “conceived us” by the preaching of the Word. He did not birth us but rather he began the birthing process. As is the natural, so is the what? (The Spiritual). So, are we now “conceived of the Spirit” or “Born of the Spirit”? If in fact we are now born of God or born of the Spirit then we have a huge scriptural problem because Paul says in Romans 8:19 that the entire earth is waiting for a very special day; a birthing day, a giving birth of the children of God. Now, if we are already born, if we are already manifested then I ask you; what is the earth waiting for? When the sons of God shall be born we shall be “Deliverers on Mt. Zion” we shall be used of God to rid this earth of the curse placed on sinful man. If we have indeed been born again as sons of God then why is the earth still groaning and begging for our birth? Because beloved, our new birth shall take place at the resurrection. Our first birth was by water through the womb, our next birth shall take place by Spirit through the tomb. When Jesus speaks of the “gates of hell” not prevailing against his church do you have any idea of what he was actually saying? Notice that he gave Peter, keys to the kingdom. Now, think about this for a moment. What does a key do? It un- locks a door, it gives entrance into another room or dimension. What was the key that Christ gives to Peter? “A Promise” that is what the key was, the only way to enter into the Kingdom of God is revealed to Peter by these words of Christ; “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” What gates? And what Hell? Oh beloved, how wonderful is his Holy Word. The word Hell in this verse is not gehanna (lake of fire) nor is it “Hades” (place of darkness) it is the word “Sheol” which simply means “the grave.” What was placed over the tomb or the grave of our Lord? A gate! The word “gate” here means “entrance or exit.” What Jesus actually said were these words: “The key that will allow you to enter into the Kingdom of God is your ability to pass through the entrance of your grave. When your grave cannot hold you back, when the gate, the door, the dirt of your grave doesn’t prevail against you and when you pass through that gate you will then enter into the Kingdom of God”. Until you have passed beyond the “gate of hell” or “the door of your grave” you cannot see nor inherit the Kingdom of God. So, please tell me how any- one could preach or believe that we are now in the Kingdom of God? How could anyone believe that we are now born again? When scriptures tells us that “he that is born of God cannot sin” and yet we all sin. Abortions and Still-births As long as a still birth in the natural is possible, so is a still birth in the spiritual possible. As long as abortion is possible in the natural so is abortion possible in the spiritual. Are we at this moment “born again”? If so then we can never be “un-born” but if we are in fact only “begotten of the Spirit” then we are in fact still waiting for our new birth! Is it possible that none of us have experienced the new birth yet? Absolutely! Is a human born at conception? No, yet it is still a child, is it not? An unborn human is still a human and called a child. This is the very reason that we can be called children of God right now or sons of God right now and still not yet be born. We are legally and positionally children of God. How- ever, should we fail to mature and to come to full faith and an overcoming life then we will not receive the “crown of life.” If we already have eternal life inherit in our being then pray tell why must we receive a “crown of life” or eat of the “tree of life.” Because, eternal life “is in the Son” and we have a promise of eternal life if we remain in the Son. Only at our resurrection will we receive eternal life inherently in our beings and then we will no longer depend upon the Son for eternal life, we shall have it inside of us. Isn’t human life in the sperm? Even though you have a conception and you have the elements of life and you even have a child, still you do not have a born child and only a born child can fulfill his potential in the family and on the earth. You and I have been conceived or begotten with the Spirit of God but if you and I refuse to mature, if we refuse to stay connected to the umbilical cord of Christ which is His Church then you and I can and will be still born or aborted by Satan, the first abortion doctor, he aborted Adam and Eve from their potential spiritual birth; and thus with this understanding we can solve the eternal security and the loss of salvation mystery. You cannot lose salvation because saved means saved. However, if I throw you a lifeline on my boat are you saved at that point? No, you are saved when you leave the water, if you hold on, if you don’t let go, if you endure until the end only then are you saved. Right now, as you hold that rope you have salvation in the rope but when you touch land you will have salvation within yourself, you will be saved. At this point in your walk with God, Christ is your rope. Until the day that you become one of his brothers in the resurrection and until you have eternal life inherit within yourself, you must hold on to him because at this time your eternal life is in him and in him alone. He said “if you abide in me and I abide in you” The Church, our mother Right now, you are an unborn child abiding in him, in his womb which is His Church and the church has one goal according to Ephesians 4:13, to bring you into the maturity of Christ so that you can “be just like him” and therefore experience the same new birth that he did, through the tomb! According to Galatians 4:26, “the Church is the mother of us all”! The Church of Jesus Christ is his bride and her job through the Apostles, Prophets, Pastors, Teachers and Evangelist is to nurture you, to equip you, to mature you in the “stature of Christ” until you look just like him and to follow him in the new birth through the tomb. Eternal life, when? In all twenty-three references in the New Testament concerning eternal life they all speak (when read carefully and in context) of eternal life in a future tense, except for one and it’s possible to even interpret that verse in a future reference. For example: Titus 1:2 In HOPE of eternal life which God that cannot lie PROMISED before the world began Does Paul tell us that he has eternal life or that he has HOPE of eternal life? Beloved, you and I have a promise, strong and sure that if we hold to our faith which is Christ that after we have died and slept we shall receive eternal life, in the future. I wish to say this to you; if you have eternal life in you right now then you could never die or go to a grave, it would be impossible for anything or anyone to take your life if you have eternal life right now. Unfortunately I don’t have time to teach on this much needed understanding in this book but unfortunately most Christians believe the pagan lie that we all have immortal souls and that we go to heaven or hell the moment we die and thus we do have eternal life. How sad, that we as Gods church willingly remain so uninformed of Bible truth. No one goes to heaven or hell until they’ve had a fair judgement. Poor Lazarus, to think that Jesus pulled him back from heaven to this life. (Order my book: “The Hereafter” for biblical proof that the saints of God are resting, no one is in heaven or hell) Even Jesus Christ didn’t have eternal life inherit in his mortal body until “God raised him from the dead.” His eternal life was a gift he earned by his obedience to God in this mortal body. Titus 3:7&8 . . .we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life . . . .that they which believe in God might be careful to obtain good works Did you see that verse plainly? Hope of eternal life? Also, an admonition that the way to obtain what we now hope for is by keeping the laws of God, good works Prince William What is an heir? Someone with a promise. What is Prince William right now in the royal lineage of the honorable House of Windsor, literal descen- dents of the House of David? He is an heir! Is he royalty? Yes. Does he have a promise of a future reign? Yes. But he is only an heir at this time, he is not a ruling monarch. He has the promise but not the “fullness” or the “reality” of the promise. However, should he attend his studies, should he keep his royal focus, should he keep his person under subjection to the House of Windsor and all of its tutelage and intricacies then the throne is a good as his, right now. However, should he turn from his understanding of his royal respon- sibilities then the very throne that is as good as his right now will be taken from him. So it is with the child of God who has been conceived by the Gos- pel into the church and they fail to mature, they fail to understand their part of the Dream Team, they fail in recognizing the responsibility of their future royal duties then their name shall also be blotted out of the Lambs book of Life. Doesn’t the scriptures calls us “heirs of the promise” or “inheritors of the promise?” Plainly we are called “the heirs of salvation.” As of yet, we are still believing in the promises of God. As much as the modern Christian wishes to believe that we are now possessors of the land, I declare emphatically unto you that we are heirs that shall soon posses. For the next Christian that tries to sell you the bill of goods that we are now possessing the land, ask them if they have looked at the land lately? It might not be something that they are to proud to attribute to the works of God. The acorn and The Oak The acorn; the small, obscure and little acorn is the promise of an oak tree. All the elements of an oak tree is in that acorn. Everything that you can find in the oak tree you can find in the acorn except shade from the sun and fruit of the vine. You see, the oak tree serves a purpose for humanity. It is used to build our houses, shade our workers on a warm die, supply firewood during winter cold and for the fruit of its vine. Although the minerals of that tree, the very essence of that tree, the life of that tree is in the acorn; if that acorn does not mature then in fact the oak tree will never be born. As a child of God in the womb of his church, you have the essence of the Kingdom; you have what shall govern his future kingdom already living in you and that is: righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit; You see, the essence of the Kingdom was given to you as down payment, as a foretaste of what the future, literal and earthly kingdom of God will be like. How many times have you been to church and hated to go back to the real world? The reason is because among the Church of God, among the people of God, the spiritu- ally begotten children of God, the very essence of love and righteousness and joy and laughing and peace is shared among those growing in the womb of the church. The Apostolic Church of God is experiencing right now, internally, what all of the nations of the world will someday experience, we have the foretaste. However, we make our mistake in thinking that God’s kingdom is on the earth just because the essence or qualities or attributes of the Kingdom are inside of his church. Just as that acorn has the essence of the tree inside of it, if that acorn fails to understand it’s purpose then the tree will never be born. The acorn must be planted, nurtured and matured to ever be BORN. You and I have the Kingdom Essence but we must die completely to self and changed into the image of Christ if we are ever to be born again! The oak tree is not guaranteed, it is promised upon conditions. Salvation, eternal life and new birth is not guaranteed to even the Apostle Paul; no wonder he didn’t count himself as to have already apprehended but he was determined to press forward until he was born again! Romans 2:7 To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and hon- our and immortality, eternal life. The questions begs an answer; what in the world can this scripture mean if we already have immortality or eternal life? Paul knew better than this mod- ern gospel, he knew better than this false gospel. He said in Gods holy writ that the only way you and I will ever receive our throne of royalty, our eternal life and our new birth is if we continue in patience and well doing. What is well doing? Keeping Gods commandments! The child’s potential The unborn child has no life in itself. If he loses contact with the umbili- cal chord then all hopes of his future life dies; he is totally dependent upon the life of his mother. The child has no independent or inherent life until he breathes the breath of life, his first cry. This is why God hates abortion because the potential of the child is never realized until the child is born. The potential of the unborn children of God is aborted when they lose their faith in Christ and when they quit maturing in obedience to the laws of God. What if Dr. Martin Luther King Jr had been aborted? What if Henry Ford or George Washington had been aborted? Their potential would have died with them. This is why Satan fights against the unborn children of God who are struggling in the womb of the Church to just hold their faith. This is why he wants you right now. As long as you are unborn then you won’t be one of those that will be there when he is bound by Christ, you will not take part in putting him under your feet, as Paul said the sons of God would one day do. But as you overcome him, as you hold on to a bleeding cross and an empty tomb, as long as you know your potential as royalty in the coming Kingdom of God, as long as you realize that you are part of God’s Dream Team for the earth then you will never be aborted or still born. You will keep maturing until the old you begins looking just like Christ. The only way that you can meet your elder brother at the resurrection of the Family of God is if you look just like him. Paul said that at the resurrection “we know not what we shall be but we shall be just like him.” The family of God When will be just like him? At the resurrection, our bodies will be changed just like his, we will be a Son of God just like him, we will have his author- ity and his power over the nations and we will rule over the earth! This is the reason to stay in the race, this is the reason to never give up... Not because of hell and not because of heaven but because of your God given potential to reign with Christ, to bring healing to the nations, to convert the souls of bil- lions and to literally save the world! At this moment our eternal life is still in Christ (I John 5:11) but then at the resurrection when “this same Spirit that was in Christ shall abide in you, it shall also make alive your mortal body and you shall be changed” then and only then will you be eternal, then you will have earned the crown of life, the tree of life and the Lord of life. The entire earth is waiting for your birthday because when you are born then the entire family of God in heaven and earth will move to this planet and set up headquarters in New Jerusalem and Christ will destroy all of his enemies that fight against him at his coming and will show the whole world his power and then every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that he indeed is Lord, everyone on the earth will know him as Lord of Lord and King of Kings and then he will pour out his Spirit upon all flesh, the little children, boys and girls will rejoice in music and dancing (I’ll prove in the chapter Joel’s prophecy that prophesying in this verse means exuberant singing and dancing) Your teenagers will have divine revela- tions, your old men will be plump and healthy, all of this will happen in the Lords Day, the eternal Sabbath. (Joel 2:28) According to Romans 1:4, Jesus was proven to be the Son of Man by the water birth through the womb but he was proven to be the Son of God by the resurrection. You and I will be no different, we can all call ourselves children of God right now but the proof, the declaration will come if “the gates if hell” cannot hold us back. While we are indeed unborn and legal children of God today, we shall soon be born and fully adopted sons of God in our resurrec- tion. Interestingly enough this is a subject you rarely hear preached anymore, the resurrection and yet it is the entire purpose of the church and our birthing process. When did Jesus announce that all authority in heaven and earth was now given unto him? After his resurrection, after he earned the right to make that declaration. The power over death was his last enemy and death shall be our last enemy and like Christ when we are resurrected, we shall have the same authority and power over the nations. Rev 2:26 He that overcometh and keepeth my works until the end, to him shall I give power over the nations. When will this authority and power be given? When you have matured enough to be born in the resurrection, when you have earned God’s trust as a member of his Dream Team. A lot of the misunderstanding comes from the lacking translation work done by the King James translators. Allow me to explain: The original word for “begotten” is the same word that several times, for reasons unknown, the translators used the word “born” instead of “begotten” in certain verses and sadly this is very confusing because they themselves had to rely on their own understanding to know when to use the word “begotten” and the word “born.” Remember well this reminder: The King James Version nor any other ver- sion of the Bible it inspired by God. Only the original text (the Masoretic Text) in their original language and text are inspired writings. Always do a word study on words and find their original meaning and context. In this case, “born” and “begotten” are used interchangeably from the exact same greek word. now lets study even deeper: Romans 8:11-25 Vs 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the Sons of God. Please note that the above verse does not say that as many as “accepted Christ” or that “believed in God” were sons of God. It says that only those who are being led by the Spirit of God or the Word of God into full maturity or into full truth, only they are the Sons of God. Now, someone might read that and say “See, we are the sons of God right now, born again right now” How- ever, you might want to hold off on that declaration because the future verses will set this whole verse in context for you, let’s continue. Vs15 For you have not received again the Spirit of bondage but the Spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba Father. What have you received right now? The Spirit of Adoption, not the full adoption. You are not a fully adopted son right now, you have the SPIRIT OF ADOPTION or the SPIRIT OF SONSHIP. Just as the acorn has the essence of the oak tree inside of it and the potential to become an oak tree if it meets the conditions, so is the conceived Child of God. What is the condi- tion to grow according to this verse? Crying Abba Father! Leaning on, obey- ing and trusting fully in your father. If you are truly a conceived Child of God, you are leaning on and trusting in your heavenly Father for everything you need and in doing so, you are being led by the Spirit of God and as such your throne is as good as yours, if you remain in the “Crying Abba Father” position! Vs16 The Spirit of God bears witness with our Spirit that we are now the children of God If you have been conceived of God Spirit then you will know it and he will know it because of your continual crying of Abba Father, help me Father, let me please you Father, teach me your ways oh God, teach me your laws oh God, I only want to please you. This is the proof, the witness that you are a conceived Child of God and on your way to your full birth. Vs17 And if children then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with him, that we also may be glorified together. If we do what? If we suffer with him! Only then will we receive the promise that we’ve been promised; to be glorified with Christ! To rule with Christ, to sit on Christ throne! Right now, we are heirs not receivers of the promise. Like the Old Testaments saints mentioned in Hebrews 11, we will all die in the faith not having received the promises but seeing them afar off. We are heirs right now! Nothing more, but oh my that’s so much more than the world is. They are heirs of eternal death and we are heirs of a glorious king- dom and eternal life. Vs 18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us The sufferings, oh my how the message of the gospel has changed. How the message of the 1st century Apostolic Church of God has changed. In those days a message was preached of “the Kingdom of God’ and of the reward promised to those who “patiently endured with well doing” and upon doing so they would receive eternal life. Today’s message is this: Accept Christ, believe that he was the Son of God and you will walk into an abundant life here on earth and you will be blessed beyond all your neighbors; you never have to worry about being lost again, your reserva- tions are secured, and don’t worry about pleasing God, no one can do that, Jesus did it and that’s enough; and then you will die and go to an eternal paradise in the sky. Paul says that there is only ONE WAY that this promise of eternal life, this glory will be revealed in you; through suffering. This is why scriptures tell us that Jesus had to “learn obedience by the things he suffered.” Before you’re allowed to reign in an eternal kingdom; many, many test will be sent to you to prove your character, to prove your fidelity and your love for the ways of God. You will be given that crown after he has said “Well Done” that means that you did some things well, you obeyed his Word, you hid his Word, you loved his laws; you were faithful and now you can be made a ruler over many people, nations, cities and lands. Have you ever seriously wondered what that “ruler over many” verses meant? Think about it, if your in heaven with all saved people and everyone gets the same reward, who are you going to be ruling? Vs19 For the earnest expectation of the creature WAITETH for the birth (mani- festations) of the Sons of God. If we have already been born then what is the creation waiting for? Oh, there’s coming a day when the earth will blossom like a rose at our birth when the “Deliverers shall stand on Mt. Zion” to deliver this earth along with Christ from her curse. All her deserts will blossom with roses, there will be streams in the deserts, all of her waters will be healed, all of her animals will be fed from the land rather than off of one another, all of her children will never be sick again, all of her elderly will be made healthy and whole...... But that cannot happen until “thy kindom comes” and until you find your place in that kingdom. Vs21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of decay into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Just in case you thought I was going overboard in describing your role in the coming kingdom, allow verse 21 to sink in to your converted mind. Why is the earth waiting for your new birth? Because the earth is decaying, it is in corruption and you will deliver this earth from that decay!!!!!! When will you do that? When you are set free from this house of clay and given your glorious liberty and when the tomb opens up for the world to see on public display the glorious birth of the spirit born sons of God! Vs 22 For we know that the whole earth groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now Paul said, even right now, the earth is still waiting and groaning. Well, how could that be if Paul was a born again child of God at that time? Dear reader, if you were born again at this moment, you would be just like the wind. Just like Jesus was after his resurrection, he walked through walls, he appeared and disappeared, he changed his physical form many times in his new spiri- tual body. He could manifest in flesh if needed so that he could eat with his disciples. This is what your new body will be like and when that happens the creation will no longer groan because all of the brothers of Jesus Christ will seize this world, cast out Satan and bring the laws of God to the nations. V23 Not only they but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our bodies. Did you see it? Did you see that even the conceived children of God are groaning with the rest of this cursed earth because we know that “something isn’t right” we are decaying right along with the earth. We are just as bound as the creation is . . .we are waiting . . . .we are waiting. But, what are we waiting for you ask? Oh read the verse again, WE ARE WAITING TO BE BORN! We are waiting for the ADOPTION which will happen when? At the redemption of our bodies! Beloved, you are not a fully adopted son of God right now, you are conceived, the image of Christ is FORMING in you as a child in the womb is forming. However, the day of full birth, the day of full adoption is coming and Paul tells you right here when that day is AT THE REDEMPTION OF THE BODY, at the resurrection you will be born again! The first time through the watery womb, the second time through the darkened tomb! V24 For we are saved by Hope . . .then do we with patience wait for it Wait a minute! We are saved by what? Hope! Hope of what? A future resur- rection, a future kingdom, a future government of God. We hold on to that hope and patiently waiting for it,,,, we are BEING SAVED. The patience is forming us into his image. Dear friend, you are not saved right now, you have Hope! You are patiently waiting and in that waiting you are “saving yourself from this evil generation.” V29 For whom he did foreknow he did predestinate to be conformed unto the image of the Son of God. Now for the truth of predestination! You are predestined not for hell or heaven but rather to rule with Christ and you if you have been called in the church age you are called or predestined to be changed into the image of Christ and counted worthy to rule with him. Yes, there are those who he has not called, their turn will come. At this moment, he is calling you, your turn is here, you are predestined to hear this call and to be conceived by his Holy Spirit and to be matured in to the exact image of your elder brother, the Lord Jesus Christ. Nicodemus Now let us consider the words that Jesus spoke to Nicodemus that for so many years I have completely misunderstood until these times. If you will remember this is the conversation between Jesus and a man who wanted to enter into the Kingdom of God when it comes to the earth. Jesus proceeded to tell him about the new birth and how he must be born again before he can enter into the kingdom of God. Before I can deal with this conversation allow me to digress and touch upon an important principle that’s necessary in order to under this conversation between the man named Nicodemus and the Christ. What is God? He is a Spirit! What is his composition, what is his matter, his make up or his chemistry? Absolutely Spirit! Is God flesh and blood? Eternal bodies do not need blood nor oxygenated air, the life that flesh and blood bodies receive now comes from the blood and the air, the new body will have life inherit within itself with no need of blood nor air. This spirit body will depend on nothing for its life flow. While it most certainly will be able to enjoy food and it may enjoy sunlight but it will not need any of it as we do just to live. This glorified spirit body will be like the angels according to Jesus teaching and he tells us that the angels cannot die. So, God is not flesh and blood, correct? However, is being a Spirit being what makes God who he is? Spirit is What God is but it’s not Who he is. Actually being Spirit doesn’t make God any more God than being a spirit be- ing makes Satan what he is; indeed both God and Satan, they are both Spirit! Even the angels are spirit beings. So, being Spirit doesn’t make God who he is only what he is. Demons are spirits because they are none composed of flesh and blood. All spiritual beings have the same composition or make-up as God has. So, what makes God, God? Not his composition but rather his character.! His composition is the same as all the heavenly family but the only flesh and blood being that ever attained to his character and his composition is Jesus, his son. Besides Christ, only the faithful angels have his character and that is the character of Agape Love! Love, that you cannot begin to fathom (the next chapter will describe this love of God). God is light and God is love. Light is invisible like an X-Ray light, it cannot be seen. This is why light was created before the sun was created in Genesis Chapter 1, think about that one. The reason is simple; God is light, his invisible matter, his Spirit is light or invisible but his character, no one shares his character in the whole of cre- ation but Christ and the faithful angels. Now, who is the only one from earth that has his character? Jesus Christ - His what? His SON! Now, read this care- fully! God will never trust anyone in his government who does not have his character. Satan had God’s composition but not his character. God can create a lot of things but there is one thing that even he cannot create instantly in you and that’s character. That is the very purpose for your earthly journey: before you are given an eternal, never dying body you will first develop a Godly character that can be trusted inside of that eternal body. Until the love of God permeates you, until you feel his agape love for human- ity you cannot and must not be given an eternal body. If you have hate in your heart here on earth, that hate must never find an eternal body to live in, it must be conquered and overcome and transformed into the love of God. How dare the modern preacher tell you that you are going to be given a God body (spiritual body) without developing God’s character! God reproduced his character in Christ before reproducing his composition in Christ. In other words the second Adam had to pass the character test, the agape love test and the very character of God had to be found in him before Christ would be given all power in heaven and earth just as you shall be given all power upon your change and upon your full birth as a joint-heir with Christ. All of the conceived “brothers of Christ’ must also “learn obedience by the things we suffer” we must also allow men to hate us without ever fighting back, we must allow “the mind of Christ” or the “Character of God” to be formed in us while we’re still in the womb yet unborn before we can ever be born into the Family of God as spiritual beings with eternal bodies. If you want an eternal body you must get an eternal mind-set. Remember this well! The human sperm carries life but it doesn’t carry maturity! The mother brings the life to maturity. The Holy Spirit brings you the essence of life, the new nature but the church must bring you to maturity and Christ is in his church, Christ operates in his church. Pity the man who think he will rule with Christ in a coming Kingdom and he cannot go to a local church and submit to local authority nor get along with his brethren. How will you judge the world if you cannot even love those in the household of faith? Gods reproduction laws Please read in it’s entirety Gen 1:20-25 Notice that all of the animals are created “after their own kind.” Like al- ways begets Like, apples always produce apples. Baptist always produce Baptist, Pentecostals always produce Pentecostals and so forth. There is a law of reproduction in place that demands that “like begets like” or anything that you produce will be just like you. All creation is placed under God’s reproduction laws, all is demanded in these verses to produce “after it’s own kind.” Now would God establish this law and not keep it himself? Wouldn’t his sons, his offspring have to follow the same pattern, wouldn’t they have to be of his same composition and character? Just as a dog doesn’t have cats, a spiritual being doesn’t have flesh and blood children. That is not “like beget- ting like.” Spiritual beings must reproduce spiritual beings and natural flesh and blood beings produce the same. God’s purpose for your earthly journey is this! After he has called you and predestined you to be begotten of his Spirit and conceived by his preached Word, after you have learned obedience in suffering and after you have learned to love his laws and his way and when you have been found worthy as an overcomer then you are to FINALLY BE BORN AGAIN after GODS KIND, born of the SPIRIT and of THE WORD! GEN 1:26. He made us in his image in our mothers watery womb but he will make us after his LIKENESS through the tomb! This life journey is for us to be changed, transformed first in character and then in composi- tion, formed into his likeness! Sons who have been tried in the fire and found faithful. Now we can be born of the Spirit! Yahweh is not a man and therefore his sons will not be men, his sons will be in the family of God which is a spiritual family, spiritual bodies that can cross the galaxies at the very speed of thought. He is not looking for flesh and blood sons because all flesh is the enemy of God and cannot please Yahweh. As long as you struggle with flesh you are struggling with the very enemy of your father in heaven. God’s only plan for flesh is to destroy it and burn it up and let it die. So the question now is, When will we be like our elder brother? I John 3:1-2 Behold what manner of love the Father has 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 shall appear we shall be like himfor we shall see him as he is. Notice that Paul says that we should be so thankful that Yahweh in his sovereign grace and mercy is willing to even refer to us or call us sons in these flesh and blood bodies. However, even as conceived children still in flesh and blood he calls us sons. However, we know that when we are born again in the resurrection that we shall be changed and at that moment we will be just like Yahshua in a glorified and resurrected body and the scriptures tell us that Je- sus won’t be ashamed to call us brothers. Think about that, if Yahshua has to rule with you for all eternity and at this moment it was your time for judge- ment, would be ashamed to call you brother? Just as my son was my son in his mothers womb he was yet unborn, un- manifested and unrevealed, legally and positionally he was my son; so in the same manner God now calls us sons even in the womb of His Church. How- ever, it wasn’t until my son took the breath of life that he could ever be of any use for the family sake. So it is with the conceived sons of God. So finally here we find Nicodemus and Christ talking about the Kingdom of God. Yahshua (Jesus) told him that until the resurrection or until he had the key to the kingdom which is the resurrection key, until he had that new birth that like all flesh, he could not receive the Kingdom of God. Of course, like so many today Nicodemus didn’t understand the sayings of Yahshua. Christ proceeded to explain to him; Whatever is born of man is a man, he’s natural, he’s flesh and blood, he’s sinful. Whatever is born again or born of God is an offspring or son of God, he’s a Spirit just like God and he cannot sin. As long as your in the flesh and blood body then you cannot inherit the kingdom of God because the key to that kingdom is a resur- rection and at this point in time Nicodemus you those gates of hell will prevail against you, the gates of the grave will hold you back from that first resurrection and because of that cannot enter into the kingdom of God. So, Nicodemus looks at Christ perplexed and still not understanding, so Jesus continues; Nicodemus when a person is born of the Spirit or Born again they will be just like the wind, you cant see them, you cant hear them but they are always there. They come and go as they wish undetected or like the wind that can manifest physically. Just like the wind can manifest in the blowing leaves or the bending trees so can the Sons of God manifest if they so desire. Nicodemus still wants to enter the Kingdom of God and Christ preaches to him the whole gospel. He tells him about the Love of God and how that he, Christ, was sent to save the world. However, he said that the world wouldn’t receive him. He proceeded to tell him that everyone who forsakes their law- less ways and their evil deeds could indeed be born again in the resurrection. Jesus said “he that loveth truth Nicodemus, will come to the light that his works may be on display.” (St John 3:3-21) Yet, the modern church says that works has nothing to do with salvation! My oh My how different their gospel is that the one Jesus just preached to Nicodemus In closing; No, you cannot lose your salvation but you can lose all that you have; your Hope of salvation!