BORN AGAIN By the BIBLE and TRADITION OF MEN. What is it to be “born again”? It depends in what religion the term is used. Surprisingly it is not only used in Christianity; but also in Buddism and Hinduism. In those it is known as “Arhat or 'arhant',” the Buddhist conception which succeeds the earlier Dvija concept in the Dharmic tradition. “Dvija,” the concept of being "twice-born" prominent in Hinduism since classical times. In Christianity it refers to spiritual rebirth and salvation. In this study I will only focus on the Christian usage and whether it is accurate. The term comes from three verses in the New Testament. Mainly the first. Joh 3:3 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. Joh 3:7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 1Pet 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. However, like most of today’s Christian understanding or misunderstanding of bible verses, this one comes from its origins traced to 1738, with various theological streams contributing to its foundation. Here I will only mention John Wesley and other early Methodists were at the root of sparking this new movement during the First Great Awakening. Today, evangelicals are found across many Protestant branches, as well as in various denominations not subsumed to a specific branch. Hence the widespread belief in and adoption of the term. The movement has long had a presence in the Anglosphere before spreading further afield in the 19th, 20th and early 21st centuries. The movement gained great momentum during the 18th and 19th centuries with the Great Awakenings in Great Britain and the United States. Simply, today’s denominations i.e. of Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal etc were all cut from the same cloth and, though may hold variations of some other doctrines, all subscribe to the “born again” interpretation of a change in heart or intentions. Generally the change of heart is not from the world towards God’s bible commandments; but their denominations theology. Is not a permanent change of heart where “1John3:9 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” is satisfied; but one of which a believer can “backslide”, and be “born again” more than once. Even getting re-baptised. Remember verses relating to from a good tree comes good fruit and a bad or corrupt tree comes bad fruits? (Mat 3:10, Mat 7:17, Mat 7:18, Mat 7:19, Mat 12:33, Luk 3:9, Luk 6:43). Such does not conform to John’s “born again” not of corruptible seed; but of uncorruptible. Born of God means cannot sin, cannot backslide etc. They do not have the choice as humans. The devil and a third of the angels sinned by disobeying God. They were not born of God; but created “Gen 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made”.

INTRODUCTION: Before we start this afternoon’s study I am curious to take a poll on present belief then see if the information studied made any difference to you. 

To save time, I am going to show that being “saved” is the same as having one’s name in the “Book of Life”.  It is not a study on when or how one is saved, we have studied that before.  This is confined to when is one’s name written in the Book of Life.  Though scripture does say one is saved after enduring to the end Matt 24:13; Mark 13:13.          When one is saved, what are they saved from? Not mortal death as all suffer that Heb 9:27  And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:.  We are saved from the eternal spiritual death, called the second death.  [Rev 2:11  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death. Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. Rev 20:14  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. Rev 21:8  But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.  Rev 20:15  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire].

God’s Biblical Marriage. Many are against polygamy yet approve of men marrying divorced women. Many women have children, yet claim they are not married. These can be biblically contradictory. A wrongly put away woman is still married so either the man is committing adultery (as the bible calls it) or polygamy as the world should call it. We shall also study what makes a mother married. For Bible believers and seekers of YHWH God we ought to separate things of Him from things of the world. Whether of governments or religious traditions. The latter two have frequently imposed their way on societies to the extent most Bible believers and seekers of YHWH put ways of the world above those of God and think some ways of the world originated from God. Departure from God’s ways have led societies into problems that could have been avoid and that can be cured by return to God’s ways. This article is a Bible study of one such way, marriage. What constitutes it and how it is accomplished according to God’s way? By “2Tim 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Prov 3:7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil. Act 5:29 Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men” We may avoid accusations of Prov 30:12 There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness. Mark 7:9 And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. See also Mat 15:3, Matt 15:6, Mark 7:13. I think this is a delicate topic to present; not because of it is difficult to deliver; but difficult to receive because of the western world modern practices and opinions embedded in such minds. A mindset and practice that does not or may not exist in some other cultures or mindsets. For example I know of a woman who converted from Islam to Christianity. Her Muslim father had four wives. He them and their children saw no problem in their culture. I also heard a radio presenter talking of an experience visiting an African country. He observed several children and women in a house court yard and could not guess which children belonged to which woman because they all got along. Only in the evening, being invited to dinner by the husband and father he was told they were all his wives and children. I shall therefore tackle the topic from three view points. God’s as per His instructions, Paul’s as per his advice and if time allows, which I doubt, my comments taking in some of the practices and thoughts of society and maybe some of you. Firstly the instructions of God: These are on various situations. I think all situations and if a situation is not mentioned, it is because it was not meant to arise i.e. same sex marriages.

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The New Testament has two original Hebrew words translated as ―shadow‖. One, ―skia‖(G4639) used seven times in the bible, meaning something permanent (or also used to mean a shade as in cooling place out of the heat of the sun) and the other ―aposkiasma‖(G644), a derivative of G4639 used only once in the bible in James 1:17, meaning shading off or gradual reduction (Strong‘s Hebrew / Greek dictionary). However, James only uses it to state God has not variableness, shading off or gradual reduction. Whether the Sabbath or the feast days, some people think they are not to be kept, have passed away, because were a ―shadow of things to come‖. This phrase is mentioned twice in the bible, Colossians 2:17 and Hebrews 10:1; dealt with in a moment. When told they ought to, they reply ―so are we still to kill animals as sacrifices then?‖ They confuse the old animal blood sacrifices of Aaron and the priests with everything pertaining to, all the various laws or even law and commandments (distinction already given earlier). If you have been told to state that as a justification, you are wrong. The answer is no; Christians are not to kill the former animal sacrifice of old. In line with God‘sprediction, He destroyed the temple in which these sacrifices were to be made and scattered the people because they constantly polluted His house with Baal worshipping (i.e. 2 Kings 21:3-5). Even the Jews of today no longer do the annual or daily animal sacrifices for lack of the temple (daily sacrifice mentioned in Exodus 29:36). God replaced the animal for the annual sacrifice with His own pure sacrifice similar to what He did with Abraham and his son. As for the ―red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish and upon which never came yoke‖ mentioned in Numbers 19:2, none can be found today. So apart from the animal sacrifices, everything else stands.

What is God like? The same question appears in the bible. Psa 89:6 For who in the heaven can be compared unto the LORD? who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the LORD? Psa 89:7 God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him. Psa 89:8 O LORD God of hosts, who is a strong LORD like unto thee? or to thy faithfulness round about thee? Psa 89:9 Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them. Isa 40:18 To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him? Isa 40:19 The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains. Isa 40:20 He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved. Isa 40:21 Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? Isa 40:22 It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in: Isa 40:25 To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. Isa 40:26 Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth. Isa 40:28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. Isa 40:29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Isa 40:30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: Isa 40:31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. Isa 46:5 To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like? Isa 46:9 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Isa 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: Isa 46:11 .. I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it. Some of you may remember a saying when we were younger “what are you like”. Today, the youth use the phrase “it’s like..” a lot. They compare what they are talking about to something else rather than describe the actual thing.

The title of this study should more accurately be what non religious things can we personally learn from the feasts days of God. Or something along those lines. It is about asking and answering what type of person keeps them, what do they teach us about such people or what changes do they go through. If that description does not accurately cover the content, you can re-title or describe it as more appropriate to your view. God has seven annual holy days, commonly called Feast days and are listed in Lev 23. More accurately, they are called appointed times. Specific times God has set aside for His people to have holy convocations either as memorials of things He has done for them as a group or in recognition and acceptance He is their God as oppose to the other claims gods. The idea of this presentation came to me as I ran out unleaven bread one day before the 7 day period ended. I buy what is called the Jewish Matza biscuit type square unleaven bread that comes in box packs of about 14. I eat about 3 for breakfast as bread replacement. A box would be too many. Nevertheless I stopped off in the shop. The four foot high floor stack of them, I saw a few days earlier, at the far end of the shop had surprisingly gone. I searched and could not find the stack. That was a lot of biscuit to sell in a few days. Finally the staff directed me to some on a shelf. Well at least a lot of other people are apparently keeping the feast. Almost like Elisha in 1Ki 19:18 “Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him”. Later that evening Joy texed to asked when is the last day of the feast. So what kind of a person are God’s feast day keepers or what behavioural characteristics does the feast teach us? Firstly, it is having the fear of God and from that gaining wisdom. Wisdom to perceive it is not about the money, inconvenience, surplus or waste being left over; but a desire to be obedient to God.