God is a family which, all human beings are potential members (see our message, “the universal family of God”). But for man to belong fully in it, he must be borne by God Himself. That being the case, it’s important to know what it takes to be born into that family. We do here of many claims by those who profess Christianity, saying they are born again, and so, they are also saved. According to them, one is born again after receiving the holy spirit which enters one’s heart once one accepts and believes in Jesus Christ. Having known the bible to be God’s word through which He reveals Himself and life in general to human beings, can we confirm this claim from the bible? Is it Christ who taught that we are born again after receiving the holy spirit? What exactly does it take to be born again, and so be saved? God is spirit and so is His life. It therefore means that, He can’t be understood through our physical minds, for He says, “the physical minded does not understand the spiritual things of God, for they can only be spiritually discerned-1 Cor.2:14”. God knows this very well. He therefore has designed a way by which, He makes known the spiritual through the physical, for He wrote, “ Ever since the creation of the world, His invisible nature, namely, His eternal power and deity, have been clearly perceived in the things that have been made—–Rom.1:20”. That being the case, what physical creation is there which can explain, or demonstrate to us how God’s family is and how one can be born into it? After creating Adam and Eve, God commanded them saying, “ Be fruitful, and multiply and fill the Earth- Gen.1:28”. When Christ was on Earth, living a physical life, He introduced God to us as, “… our heavenly father-Mat.6:9”. This was in agreement with what God had earlier on revealed to Isaiah, saying, “…..and I will be a father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord-2Cor.6:18;Hosea.1:10; Isa.43:6”. Jesus also forbade that anybody should be called a father, but God alone, yet He had ordained that men be called fathers- See Mat.23:9; Exodus.20:12. What is He trying to teach us here? Its plain clear, if we are truly being given to understand. God ordained the physical family so that by it, He may teach us about the true spiritual one into which all those who qualify will be born, and become gods like Him- John.10:34. So, if we will understand the spiritual birth, all we need to do is follow the process into the physical one.
THE FIRST BIRTH
God has a process through which He is creating man to make him a spirit being at last. It begins with the physical as He says, “….it is first the physical, then afterwards, the spiritual- 1 Cor.15:46”. In this physical body, God created Adam and Eve with the power to bear kids, so that they can fill the Earth with human beings, for God wanted many sons into His glorious family. Now we ask; how does a birth take place in this physical life? A man enters into sexual intercourse with a woman. The male ejects eggs(sperm) into the female body which combines with the female egg in the woman uterus. Once this two eggs meet, they combine and form an embryo, and a human life begins. It takes a period of nine months for this new creature to develop and be born into the world, into this physical life, being a physical person just like the father who bore it is physical. This is the first birth. Once the female egg is fertilized in the womb, we say that a child is begotten(sired), and not yet born. It will take the God- ordained- nine months, for development, to be fully formed into a real human being. Not all begotten children end up being born. Due to some abnormalities, some children get miscarried and so the creation process aborts. This embryonic stage is short lived. Its only nine months, in which period, the child in the womb is supposed to be fully formed, or miscarried, never to be born. Everything Godly is dual. It is first the embryo (unborn child in the womb), then the fully formed child(the born child). Friends, this is the process for the first birth which is physical, and into the physical life, the human beings we are now. Now, God says, “And as we have borne the physical nature, so we shall bear the spiritual also-1 Cor.15:49”.
THE SECOND BIRTH (BORN AGAIN).
The human creation was planned to be in three stages. The first is this physical one which we have explained here. The second stage is also the beginning of the spiritual one, and it starts with the acquisition of God’s knowledge which gives us the necessary understanding to live godly life by which, we develop the godly character. For this to be possible, God puts His holy spirit in the mind of man. It is this spirit which empowers the physical mind to comprehend spiritual things. At this point, the spiritual birth process begins. The reception of God’s spirit is equated with the male egg fertilizing the female egg. God’s spirit is the spiritual male egg. The human mind is the spiritual female egg. From this point, one who has received the spirit begins to address God as father, for, “ Because you are sons, God has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts, crying Abba! Father!-Gal.4:6”. “For all who are led by the spirit of God are sons of God- Rom.8:14”. On reception of this spirit, God says, “….you are my son; today I have begotten you-Psalm.2:7”. If we are willing to understand, the word, “begat” simply means, to sire, or impregnate, and we all agree that this takes place in the womb. What do we say then? Once somebody receives the holy spirit, he/she becomes an embryo and the spiritual birth process begins. Such a one is not yet born but is a child of God though not yet born, for, “ now we are children of God, but it has not yet appeared what we shall be, but we know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him….1 John.3:2”. Why are we unable to know what we will be? Because we are still in the womb. We can’t see what is forming in there. But since Christ came and foreran the course we will pass, then we know we will become what He became after completing the course. This being that clear, why do people confuse “begotten” with being born? Yes, why should one confuse impregnation with a birth? Christ is speaking a very plain clear language saying, “….unless you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God-John.3:3”. Here, Christ is already aware of the first birth which we have seen, which is physical, by the physical father. But now he is talking about a second one, to fulfill what He promised when He said, “And as we have borne the physical body (through the process we have seen), so shall we also bear the spiritual one(through the process we are now seeing)-1 Cor.15:49”. He went ahead and clarified what He meant by the second birth, Yes, of what nature it will be, for He clearly pointed, “………..that which is born of the spirit is spirit. To make sure that we understand properly, He gave an example of what a spirit being is like, saying, “The wind blows where it will and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from , or where it goes. This is how one who is born of the spirit is like-John.3:6-7”. In the same way we can’t see wind, so also, Christ said it is impossible to see the spiritual kingdom of God. Do you know we are surrounded by billions of angels, but we cannot see them with our naked eyes, just in the same way we can’t see wind?
THE SPIRITUAL WOMB
Brethren, everyone who has the spirit of God has entered the stage two creation of man, which is dealing with developing the mind and behavior of God. We are still physical not spiritual, only, “…we don’t walk(live) the physical way-2 Cori.10:3”. Anyone who has received the spirit of God has also been “…..baptized into(put into) Christ………thus beginning to walk in newness of life-Rom.6:3-4”. Christ is “….the church which is His body-Eph.1:22-23”. Now, symbolically speaking, the Church is our mother, and we were put into her womb, for, “…….the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother- Gal.4:26”. Christ is also the word of God into which we were baptized. So the Christian life which is the stage two creation of man, and does with knowledge and character development can only be possible if we remain put in Christ (the spiritual womb), and this is by remaining in the word, for “..apart from Christ, we can do nothing-John.15:5”; and again, “…we only share in Christ if we remain in Him firmly until the end-Heb.3:14”. Understand if you can please. In the same way an embryo can’t survive outside the womb, in the same way the embryo can’t digest its own food and only takes digested food from the mother through the umbilical cord, so are those who are in this spiritual womb. We are likened to a branch, which has to continually get its nourishment from the stem, apart from which, it will dry up-see John.15:3-5. In this impregnation period, we don’t have life inherent in ourselves. We are continually receiving from Christ through the holy spirit (the spiritual umbilical cord). This is the most dangerous stage in man’s creation. As an unborn child is not assured of being born; as it is faced with miscarriage, abortion and such like things, so are we in this time of developing character. For this reason, if anyone claims to be saved, then they are telling us that the embryo is assured of a birth into the world. Is such a one talking the truth? God forbid. We are in a spiritual battle ground, “……battling against principalities, against the spiritual hosts of darkness-Eph.6:12”. Spiritually speaking, there is a danger of being shot in the head. It’s a big lie for anyone in this begotal, this spiritual womb to claim to be born or saved, for we see a people who receive the spirit, enter the spiritual womb(start living by the word), “….who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the holy spirit, and have tasted of the goodness of the word of God, and the powers of the age to come; if they commit apostasy, it is impossible for them to repent- Heb.6:4-6”. These have been begotten, and stayed in the womb, but here they are, not born. Why? They have miscarried? Now if they were claiming to have been born again, to have been saved, then what is not happening? Why are they now awaiting death in the lake of fire? All of us who are in this Christian life, which is the spiritual womb are in this danger of aborting. This is why we are neither born nor saved. This is why Christ is cautioning us, saying, “See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble,………Heb.12:15-17”. “Fight the good fight of faith (develop God’s mind and character)……-1 Tim.6:12”. “ He who by patience in well doing seek for honor, glory, and immortality, God will give eternal life-Rom.2:7”( read our messages, “seek Honor”, and “Are you a Christian” for details. Find them in our web> www.endimecog.org please). This is the second stage of man’s creation which has to do with developing the mind and behavior of God in man. It is also the spiritual gestation(impregnation) period, and one that is packed with all kinds of dangers. So, how can we escape them and be born into the kingdom? ( Or message, “The secret of overcoming” has information on how to do it. Visit our Web >www.endtimecog.org and read please).
OUR EXAMPLE
For those who will successfully develop this mind and character, God will take them to the third and final stage of man’s creation. Which is it? They will be born again and also saved. We have had the holy prophets who lived long before Christ came into the world, who lived in the spirit, looking forward to this spiritual birth. Did they receive it at the end of their lives? We ask, did God finish creating them? Here what answer He is giving us please. “ All these died in faith, not having received what was promised, but having seen and greeted it from afar……Heb.11:13”. What was this promised award? “……and this is what He promised us, eternal life- 1 John.2:25”. Here, it is very clear that they never entered into the kingdom, because they were not as yet born again, without which, no one can see, nor enter it. In their lives, they lived only as begotten sons of God. This is why, when Christ came into the world long after the prophets, He was later on named the first born. If surely, receiving the holy spirit was being born again, then Christ would not be the first born; the prophets would have been, since they were before Him. So, what example do we have, of what it takes to be born again, at which stage, one is also save from our biggest enemy, i.e., death? There can be no other example except Christ Himself for He says, “…….i have set you an example that you follow my steps-John.13:15”. This is confirmed by Paul for he says, “…Christ is the pioneer of our faith-Heb.12:2”. So, for us to be born again, and so be saved, we must undergo all the stages which Christ underwent. We find that, Christ was conceived by God’s power into the womb of Mary-Luke.2:35. He went through the nine-months gestation period like every other human being. After that, He was born into this physical life, like every one of us. At this point, He was, not a born again son of God, but, “….begotten son……Heb.1:5”. As we saw how we are free moral agents, and have to choose what life we need to live before the second stage of man’s creation begins, which starts with the reception of the holy spirit, Christ chose to live God’s life and received the holy spirit-Mat.3:17”. So, God began the phase two creation in him, “ and Jesus increased in wisdom, and in stature, and in favor with God and men-Luke.2:52”. He battled it with Satan ( Eph.6:12)-Mat.4:4, 7,9. He was tempted like we are, in every way, but He stood the truth, rejecting every satanic appeal-Heb.4:15, for, “ Even though He was a son, He learned obedience through what He suffered, fully depending on God for deliverance-Heb.5:7-8”. After going through it all till they crucified Him, He was perfected in knowledge and character-Heb.5:9. After staying in the grave for three days, God raised Him from the death and completed His creation by giving Him the a spirit-body. It is at this point that Jesus became the first born, for, “….He was designated, the son of God in power according to the spirit of holiness by His resurrection from the dead-Rom.1:4”. Who else has ever undergone the full creation course like Jesus, up to this point of being made a spirit being? Yes, who else has been born a spirit being like Him, fulfilling the saying that, “what is born of the spirit is spirit”? Not the prophets, not the apostles, not anybody else except Him. After going through the whole creation process, Christ lives, a spirit being, as God the father is spirit, and is the first to be born again with many more others awaiting this birth, based on their qualification. He is also, the only one who is saved from death, for being like God, “…death has no power over Him, neither can He be tempted by sin- 1 cor.15:55”. As we have seen, even though the prophets and the apostles qualified, they weren’t completed like Him. “…….these all died without having received it-Heb.11:13”. This being the case, when will we be born again, with spirit bodies, a time also when death will have no power over us, yes-when we will be saved? “When the perishable puts on imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying,…..death is swallowed up in victory-1 Cor.15:54”. When will this be? “……, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound and the dead shall be raised imperishable (with spirit bodies like Jesus), and the qualified living ones will be changed-1 Cor.15:52”. Yes, it is at the end, when Christ we are waiting for, “…..will come and change our lowly bodies that they may resemble His glorious one- Phill.3:21”. Is anything clearer than this? We can’t be born again until that time when we will be made spirit beings. We can’t be saved until after being made spirit beings, when death will have no power over our bodies, which is when we will have attained eternal life. You who claim to be born again or saved, do you still want to continue with that lie after such a clear explanation from your God who alone can save you, and who has given you the way to it? Whoever has ears, let him/her hear what the spirit is saying to the Church. It is your savior, Jesus Christ speaking to you through His Church, THE ENDTIME CHURCH OF GOD, KENYA, NAIROBI >E.AFRICA: EMAIL >endcog@gmail.com. WEBSITE >www.endtimecog.org( see our contact centers from the web please).