Born AGAIN!?! Say WHAT?!?

 

Born AGAIN!?! Say WHAT?!?

A muslim friend has been curious for a long time now about Christianity, the Bible, and how to interpret all it says, and so much about it, and recently he asked me about being born again. Seems like an easy subject to understand, and yet, many neither understand it, nor can some others explain it deftly with diction. May the good Lord help me do it so well...

"There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto Him, 'Rabbi, we know that Thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that Thou doest, except God be with him.' Jesus answered and said unto him,

'Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.'" (John 3:1 - 3) What an interesting Pharisee this was, in that he did not doubt Jesus was from God. He also knew the rest of the Sanhedrin would not approve of him confessing Jesus was from God, so he came by night, and perhaps also he wanted uninterrupted time with the King of kings!

Unbelievers may be totally stumped by this concept. Others may be familiar with the term, but not fully grasp the total picture of being born again. See here what Nicodemus' response is to Jesus; "Nicodemus saith unto Him, 'How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?' 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; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.'" (John 3:4 - 6) While Biblical scholars debate the exact meaning of Jesus about the water, it is unmistakable what He meant of the Spirit - a new birth from God through the 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 every one that is born of the Spirit.' Nicodemus answered and said unto Him, 'How can these things be?' Jesus answered and said unto him, 'Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.'" (John 3:7 - 15) Unsaved mankind does not pay much attention to the comings and goings of the saved, because both pay attention only to the travels of their own. The born again and unsaved may be found anywhere, just as wheat among the tares. An unsaved "Christian" may even be found preaching from the pulpit! Jesus further speaks to Nicodemus of how no man has been to heaven and back to witness of heavenly things, and while He tells of earthly things and they fail to believe Him, how can they believe of the heavenly things He speaks of, as He is witness of how it is there? What follows is how Jesus explains that He is the door and the gate, and how one gains access to heaven through Him...

"'For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.'" (John 3:16 - 21) So many preachers fail to give the whole picture; they love to preach John 3:16, but I feel they do people an injustice not giving them John 3:17 - 21 as well, so they can see how they need only make a choice, and find salvation. Choose: do you want to believe in Jesus and go to heaven, or do you reject Him and go to hell? Do you want to be evil and hate and behave wickedly, or do you want to do good, and love and behave righteously? Amazing how many people reject Him!

Let's look a little deeper into this born again concept. "Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain." (Gal. 4:8 - 11) Paul spoke to the Galatians how he did not understand why they would act like they were not heirs of God, because they were supposed to be born again, that is, they repented of their old ways and false gods, and accepted Christ as their Savior. He was afraid of the way they were acting, because the saved are supposed to be new creatures in Christ. New creatures, you say?

Those who are not yet born again do not recognize Christ as the Son of God. If they respected Him for His position, they would do what the saved people do. "Born again" results in a new lifestyle. The grace of God not only justifies, but makes us new! Starts us out afresh! Salvation causes a decisive change from our past lifestyle! "Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." (2 Cor. 5:16 - 20) I have related to some before how I was born again, how my behavior has been very different from what it was 12 years ago. Oh, I habitually went to church, but God only received one hour of choredom, and then I behaved as I wanted, and even then, even my car was witness of my lack of being born again. I had bumper stickers on that thing that even made the priest wince to read them! I did not donate to charities, I did not know about tithing, and because the priest had never taught me on it, to the hurt of the church! I gave $2 every Sunday, and $3 if I liked his sermon! I had no interest in reading the Bible, and if I had, I would have found out in Malachi that I was being a God robber out of ignorance! If anyone had told me 12 years ago that I would be writing Bible studies, witnessing to all nations, preaching in the pulpit, giving good sums of money to churches and charities, even feeding families, giving clothing to strangers...I'd have said they were crazy!

I want now to focus on the bottom part of what I wrote concerning the previous Scripture: "And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Cor. 5:18 - 21) Was that a deep message, or what? There is a trade-off when we accept Christ as Savior. Our relationship is changed now, because we no longer have condmenation for our sins! "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." (Rom. 8:1) We are now bondservants of the one true God. We have entered into the spirit of adoption, and in so doing, we have committed ourselves to being ambassadors of Christ; this requires us to read the Bible cover to cover, and to get learned through our reading what Christ wants of us, how we should act, that we might demonstrate a Christian walk unmistakeable to Christians and unbelievers alike, because both expect it! Now one might say they like this emancipation from sin, but what's with this "bondservant" I mentioned?

"What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." (1 Cor. 6:19 - 20) Remember what I wrote of John 3? How one has a choice? Well, Jesus paid our sin debt, so acceptance of Jesus makes us acceptable to God. But acceptance of Jesus means we accept living God's way! We behave as the new creature we are thereby expected to be! No booze, no drugs, no sex outside of with our marriage partner, church weekly, and constant Bible study; how else would we come to understand how to be a Christian? We have to read what He wants of us! We may choose to act as though we are our own before being born again, but when we behaved so, we were only fooling ourselves. After all, in the end is the white throne judgment, and there is also judgment at the bemis seat, so the unsaved deny His ownership, and the saved confess it, even revel in it!

Now there was also a question from my muslim friend concerning the Holy Ghost teaching the saved, and it is written how Jesus said He would teach the apostles; "

But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." (John 14:26) When I became born again, I picked up a Gideon pocketsized Bible and was looking for something on being forgiven, because I wanted someone to forgive me. I found it, but I couldn't throw that Gideon Bible away. After reading it, I was attending my usual church, but I noted a very discernable discomfort of being there; I was given the conclusion I was in a false doctrine church, and had to come out from among them! "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, 'I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.' Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters', saith the Lord Almighty." (2 Cor. 6:14 - 18).

So let my muslim friend read and accept the invitation, knowing what it means to be born again. Let all who are weary and laden with sins and all the troubles of the world come to Christ, and be born again! Believe the Bible promise; Jesus gave it Himself out of His own mouth! Believe on Him, and find salvation. Choose Christ, and live in heaven eternally; damnation's fire is never quenched in hell, and there is guaranteed weeping and gnashing of teeth!

10 Commandments Or 2?

10 Commandments Or 2?

I thought it would be neat to expound on the Old Testament 10 Commandments and the New Testament 2 Commandments, and to show that they are different, and yet, very much the same! First, let us print both versions, the Old Testament, and then the New Testament and then discuss what we have.

"I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me, and keep My commandments. Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's." (Exod. 20:2 - 17) Okay, now let's see these two New Testament Commandments; "Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.'" Matt. 22:36-40 (KJV)

Are Jesus' Commandments different than those of the Old Testament, or no? I tell you, they are the same! The new are a consolidation of the old! Look very closely at the first 4 Commandments of the Old Testament; are they not inclusive of loving God with all your heart, soul and mind? Look at the other 6 of the Old Testament; are they not crafted in wisdom such as that one in obedience of them has no alternative but to love thy neighbor as thyself? And here is another wonder to you, because Jesus' 2 new Commandments are yet of old! "And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:" (Deut. 6:5 - 6) "Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD." (Lev. 19:18) So what have we got here? Jesus has abbreviated the wording out of the 10 Commandments into 2 derived from Deuteronomy and Leviticus, and look what He said; "ON THESE TWO COMMANDMENTS HANG ALL THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS." His 2 Commandments give us that we have to think before interacting with our neighbors, don't we? Whatever I do, will my neighbor appreciate it? If I were my neighbor, would I like what I'm doing? Sort of a "WWJD - (What would Jesus do). Then also there is the greatest and first that He gave. We can all be in deep pondering as to what all we can do to demonstrate our love for God, and our best source for that information is right there in the Bible, cover to cover! Jesus made it easy to know how to love Him; "If ye love Me, keep My commandments." (John 14:15) One can see how Jesus equates love with obedience here. So it's really quite simple: read and obey. Whatever commandments He has in the Bible, commit them to our behavior, and we are loving Him!

So let us obey the 2 Commandments, and in doing so we will be obeying the 10! Treat others how we want to be treated at all times, and obey God in all the commandments and statutes that He gave, and we have done all He wants of us!

Shades Of Heaven And Hell

SHADES OF HEAVEN AND HELL

A man in Africa was telling me of a spot in the Bible where it is written that Christ was in hell, and not able to recollect where that was, for I never remembered seeing it written, I asked him where, and he told me where in Acts to find it, and it gave me inspiration to write this new study. “I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.” (2 Cor. 12:2-4) Well, now, that’s an interesting passage of Scripture; “third heaven”? So there’s more than one heaven? Yes, there is, according to the Bible. In this case, this is the third heaven, paradise, Where God sits on the throne. It is the invisible heaven, the one only a small chosen number have ever had a glimpse of before dying. So what about the other two? Which are they?

“And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. And God said, ‘Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear:’ and it was so.” (Gen. 1:7-9) Now this makes it apparent that this is the first heaven, the one we can see with our naked eye, what we call the sky, what the Bible also calls the firmament. Now we need to see an example of that second heaven which Paul mentioned there were three of…

“Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Thy servants, to whom Thou swarest by Thine own self, and saidst unto them, ‘I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.’” (Exod. 32:13) Can you see stars during the day? You cannot, because the first heaven is lit, and the only star you can see is the sun. But at night, you can see the second heaven, where the stars and comets and other heavenly bodies can be seen outside our atmosphere, which is the first heaven. This is why the things above the first heaven are called “heavenly bodies”.

So in knowing now there are three heavens, does that mean there are perhaps more than one hell? “Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and cast them down, even her, and the daughters of the famous nations, unto the nether parts of the earth, with them that go down into the pit.” (Ezek. 32:18) This is the hell called the grave. The Bible says Jesus was in hell, and indeed, He was in the grave for three days, as we know. “He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that His soul was not left in hell, neither His flesh did see corruption.” (Acts 2:31) This is the physical hell, the one where, as we know, if our body is in a grave for even a short time, it begins to decay, or corrupt. “Jesus said, ‘Take ye away the stone.’ Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto Him, ‘Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.’” (John 11:39) Lazarus was in the grave four days, and Martha expected he would have a stench, typical of the corrupting of the body in the grave.

Now let’s look at the spiritual hell, the one where souls are tormented. “Hell is naked before Him, and destruction hath no covering.” (Job 26:6) The grave hell is not naked, it is covered with dirt, isn’t it? The grave is covered, but the hell for lost souls, it has no covering, else how could it burn with unquenchable fire? Let’s get a clearer picture of the hell for lost souls from Jesus Himself! “And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.’” (Luke 16:22 - 26)

Is there yet another hell? Or perhaps, something worse than hell? Consider this Bible passage: “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” (Rev. 20:13 - 15) “Death and hell were cast into the lake of fire”. If all the lost, including Satan’s angels, are in hell, and the lake of fire is big enough to contain hell and the entirety of the unsaved, this is certainly the way it is written worse than hell. After all, it’s a lake of fire! Now there is no further mention of the lost, so as it is written “This is the second death”, I don’t see any reason for debating whether the souls are destroyed or not. Some people will say it means the souls are destroyed and you are no more, while others will say you have a resurrection body that doesn’t get destroyed, you just get eternally burned in the lake of fire without death. Well, it says second death, and since they are not mentioned hereafter, what’s the use of debate?

So here we have three shades of heaven, and at least two, debatably three shades of hell, the last not named hell, but it is written that hell is thrown in it. Both are lost soul burners. May God bless all whom He will with faith in Christ Jesus, that they only taste the grave, except that they taste the joy of His second coming before tasting death!