Jesus says we “must be born again” (John 3:7, NIV) because it’s the only way we’ll understand God (1 Cor. 2:14). But to fully understand and not get spiritually deceived we have to be faithful born again followers of Christ. I summed it up on this graphic.

We Must Learn from the Father

God, our Father, gave us the Bible. As covered on the previous post, there’s more than enough evidence revealing that the Bible is the most reliable ancient book humanity has on hand. In it Jesus says “Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me” (John 6:45, NIV). We learn from the Father by earnestly seeking God in His world and in His Word, the Bible. He says “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart” (Jer. 29:13, NIV).

Therefore, born again Christians have typically sought out different religions and read plenty of philosophical books including the Bible. Being earnest in our hunger for truth we were eventually led to Christ who personifies the truth (John 14:6, KJV) as well as food (John 6:55, NIV), satisfying our hunger and thirst for righteousness.

Understanding What Jesus Did. Being honest about our own lives we get convicted as we earnestly consider Jesus’ life and ministry. We experience revelation about ourselves and what He did for us. Before we became born again, we’d been living for ourselves, and that’s a spectrum from having been as bad as a murderer to being very studios and clean cut, for example. Either way, we’d been sinning against God because the greatest commandment is to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30, NIV). God’s wants it all because every good aspect of our lives comes from Him, as with our brain as well as loving family and friends, health, opportunities, all of it (James 1:17, NIV). In turn, He wants us to express our appreciation to Him for everything He’s done for us. He wants us to become a born again follower of Christ.

God Works By Way of Revelation. You see conversion experiences in movies all the time, especially Christian movies, but not only. Having been living for ourselves, often on the fast track to Satan’s deceptions of money, popularity, and materialism, what’s described in the Bible as “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16, NIV), as those things start revealing their evil consequences, we tend to become more open to what God has been saying to us about ourselves, that we’re not the “good” or “smart” person we thought we were, whatever we thought we were we’re a whole lot worse! We are sinners in need of His grace and salvation. So here’s a great scene from Sergeant York.

Pagan Churchianity

While Christianity as most know it, and as pictured on the movie clip, is not real Christianity as I summed up on this table, God uses everything for His purposes (Eph. 1:11, KJV). According to Scripture God has taken all of our sins and worked them all into His Plan. In other words, while Satan has used that fake version of Christianity to “deceive the nations” (Rev. 20:3, KJV) for centuries, as revealed on my first post, God has also been using it for His purposes.

But that doesn’t mean that we should continue to go to those so-called churches once God has revealed to us that the system is pagan. God wants us to come out of the world and out the fake spirituality.

God says Come Out of the World: “Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you” (2 Cor. 6;17

God Says Come of Churchianity: “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues” (Rev. 18:4, KJV).

The real Church, the one Jesus is building (Matt. 16:18, NIV), is made of people, the born again, “living stones” (1 Pet. 2:5, NIV), who typically meet in houses.

But it’s nearly impossible to find a biblical house church these days since “the body of Christ” (1 Cor. 12:27, KJV) has thoroughly fulfilled “the rebellion” (2 Thess. 2:2-3, NIV). We are living in the worst days of Christianity where lies rule, just as they do in the world. It’s humanity’s biggest problem (Jer. 17:9) and the reason Jesus prophesied that only a “few” from this present evil age would be saved (Matt. 7:13-14, NIV). But that doesn’t mean they’re going to hell as I’m explaining in this blog and cover in free books and videos.

Biblical Fellowship, Real Church

God says to the born again “Ye are God’s building” (1 Cor. 3:9, KJV). Having become born again we have to keep seeking, believing, and obeying Him, praying for genuine fellowship while doing as He leads (John 10:27). Eventually, He’ll provide us with a local body of believers. But it might take a while. I’ve been waiting for 24 years! In a way 34! Again, because we’re living at the bottom of the barrel having fulfilled the “falling away” period (2 Thess. 2:3, KJV), the darkest days of Christian history which have landed us in the darkest days of world history.

Real Church is made up of people, born again followers of Christ along with earnest seekers of truth who have not yet become born again. We do not need a pope, priest, or pastor because “we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God” (Heb. 4:14, KJV). Paul and the other early Church leaders where facilitators. But they all functioned as a “body” under Christ who is “the head” of the body (Eph. 5:23, NIV). Under Christ’s lordship they all did their part (Eph. 2:10), some better than others. On my second YouTube channel I’ve put together several playlists of others explaining real Church very clearly and by example.

In contrast, institutional church leaders are paid professionals who Jesus said don’t even care for the sheep (John 10:11-13). Rather than care about others or about God, whom they profess to know and love, they care more about their career and everything that comes with it. They’re just like the Pharisees and teachers of the law of Jesus’ day. They Lord over people as if they’re God when Jesus says “Those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant” (Mark 10:42-43, NIV).

Set Apart for the Gospel

One of the reasons Christianity is just like the rest of the world today and nearly totally ineffective is because the born again have historically not stood firm in their faith. And “if you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all” (Isa. 7:9, NIV). Christian history proves God’s Word.

Therefore, we really don’t want to water down the truth for the sake of convenience. What we need to do is what Paul modeled for us. He wrote “When God…set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace…my immediate response was not to consult any human being” (Gal. 1:15-16, NIV). Instead of giving in to his own opinions or those of other Christians, Paul spent time earnestly seeking the Lord and getting to know Him. It’s what we want to do as well keeping in mind the powerful magnetic pull of peer pressure. It’s what I’ve been doing for decades.

If you’ve been convicted that you’re a sinner and that “salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12, NIV) you are no longer of the world (John 17:16) but set apart “created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that [you] should walk in” (Eph. 2:10, KJV). It’s a calling to go against the grain as you follow Christ. I just watched this movie last night and it pretty much sums it up. (That’s what the Bible calls “walk[ing] in the Spirit” (Gal. 5:16, KJV).

Jesus Purchased Us for God with His Life. The New Testament says “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45, NIV). By going to the Cross even though He was “without sin” (Heb. 4:15, KJV), Jesus took our place and paid the price for our sins. Scripture says “You were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies” (1 Cor. 6:20, NIV). Again, He means with everything we’ve got. If we genuinely love Him we’ll be a born again follower of Christ. And we reveal our love for Him not by saying “I’m a Christian” or “I’m a believer” but by following Him. “Let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth” (1 John 3:18, NIV).

As noted on my first blog post, this life isn’t actually the real thing. It’s been a test (Deut. 13:3-4, NIV). While He was speaking to the Israelites in the passage, it’s just as true for all of us. Real life is the one after this one. The next life is “the life that is truly life” (1 Tim. 6:19, NIV). The best anyone can experience in this so-called life won’t even compare to the next life since He says “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” (1 Cor. 2:9, KJV).

How to Become a Born Again FOLLOWER of Christ. Scripture says “He rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Heb. 11:6, NIV) and says “Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me” (Matt. 11:6, KJV). But since “the heart is deceitful above all things” (Jer. 17:9, KJV) EVERYONE gets offended by Him, including the born again!

Therefore, in order to not get offended by the truth (John 14:6) we have to ignore our opinions along with the pack mentality and rely instead on the evidence which points to Christ, therefore, rely on Christ. We become a born again follower of Christ by “tak[ing] captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5, NIV).

And to be able to do that we have to be very familiar with the life of Christ as described primarily in the Gospel books (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.) The born again are told to “Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully” (2 John 8:8, NIV). Except most of the rewards aren’t for this so-called life. We’ll receive them during the next life. That point is made clear in the New Testament section referred to as The Hall of Faith of Hebrews 11:1-40, NIV.

Therefore, the way it plays out for faithful born again followers of Christ during this so-called life is like receiving a blood transfusion which didn’t have an allergic reaction. He says “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching [but]…Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching” (John 14:23-24, NIV).

• Jesus Chose to Be Crucified for Us. Since “life is in the blood” (Lev. 17:11, NIV), Jesus shed His for us on the Cross because we are under Satan’s curses, the worst of which is death (Heb. 2:14, NIV). He was crucified so that we might live, have a more abundant life during this age (John 10:10, NIV) and more quickly experience the “life that is truly life” (1 Tim. 6:19, NIV).
• We Choose to Be ‘Crucified for Jesus. Admitting we’re a sinner in need of salvation we become born again and continue to earnestly seek, believe, and obey the Lord. We continually die to self as Jesus modeled for us (Matt. 26:39, NIV). As the apostle put it “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20, NIV).

Shedding His pure blood for our sins, our bad blood, becoming born again followers of Christ adds up to spiritually receiving a blood transfusion. His healthy blood in exchange for our waste product. This describes born again followers of Christ, the faithful.

Christian Rebellion Has Hidden the Truth

Anyone who understands what Jesus has actually done for us would be willing to give up anything and everything required in order to honor Christ, like the first disciples who chose to die brutal deaths rather than dishonor Christ. And that’s just it. Most of today’s Christians aren’t born again followers of Christ because they don’t really understand what God has done for us. And the majority who are born again don’t understand because “the body of Christ” (1 Cor. 12:27, KJV) has been in rebellion for centuries (2 Thess. 2:2-3, NIV). And if the majority of Christians don’t understand what God has actually done through Christ, then neither do those who don’t claim to be Christian. That was the reason Jesus harshly rebuked the Jews who had be granted the information (Matt. 23:13, NIV). Like the Jews, Christians have “nullif[ied] the word of God by…our tradition[s]” (Mark 7:13, NIV). Another translation uses the term void (Mark 7:13, ESV). Christianity’s rebellion has voided out the work Jesus did on the Cross!

Therefore, since it’s been a historical rebellion taking place for the last 2000 years getting worse with time, as soon as we became born again most of us believed the same old lies. Most of today’s Christians bought the lie that Jesus got ‘em a ticket out of hell and they’re set, so they live for this world thinking they’re getting the best of both worlds when they’re more than likely not even born again. And even the born again today are mostly fulfilling Matthew 13:22. Today’s Christians are for the most part NOT faithful born again followers of Christ. Not even close.

The care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.
Matthew 13:22, KJV

The Parable of the Sower. The graphics sum up this very important parable (Matt.13:1-9, NIV) revealing that only one type of soil produces born again followers of Christ.

The only seeds which produced a crop were planted in good soil. It points back to what God says about earnestly seeking Him (Jer. 29:13, John 6:45, Heb. 11:6). It’s the genuine desire to know the truth coupled with a decent level of effort that produces spiritually fertile soil. And, as any gardener knows, planting the seed in good soil is just the BEGINNING of our work! Spiritually, we have to keep seeking, believing, and obeying in order to “bear fruit—fruit that will last” (John 15:16, NIV).

We Must Die. The seeds which land on good soil DIE in order to produce a crop for harvest. While God hasn’t called all of us to physically die for our faith, He has called all of us to die to our own will, again, as Jesus modeled on the Cross and about which He spoke right before heading there. “He fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will” (Matt. 26:39, NIV). Only faithful born again followers of Christ will produce “fruit that will last” (John 15:16, NIV) doing it by giving up our personal desires. In every way it’s following in Jesus’ steps, because everyone will ridicule us for it just as they’ve been scorning Him for these 2000 years even using His name as a curse word (John 15:20, ESV).

We Need to Try to Understand

Scripture says “where there is no vision, the people perish” (Prov. 29:18, KJV). When you don’t have God’s full vision of what this life is all about, you don’t die to self but instead live for this world, Satan’s world (John 12:31, YLT & 2 Cor. 4:4, KJV). In turn, you will perish in his wicked schemes (Eph. 6:11, NIV) without anything to show for it. While the faithful also perish in this life because of Satan’s wicked schemes, we earn rewards for it which will benefit us for the next life (2 John 1:8, KJV & 1 Cor. 3:11-15, KJV), the “life that is truly life” (1 Tim. 6:19, NIV).

Yet 2000 years ago, speaking to those who supposedly knew the truth, the apostle wrote “We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand” (Heb. 5:11, NIV). And it’s that much harder today! God has had me reaching out to professing Christians for 24 years and I’ve yet to meet one who will even try!

All Things Were Made By Him and for Him

Today’s Christians are such blind hypocrites that they sing of the truth yet call you nuts when you point it out! (Hosea 9:7, NIV). For example, they sing The Reason by Unspoken, part of which says “If we could pull back the curtain of heaven we would see God’s hand in everything, every hour, every minute, every second, He’s always been in it. ” That’s true. Having worked it all out for His purposes (Eph. 1:11, NIV), if you are born again, know the Bible decently enough, and are a close follower of Christ, you will see His hand in everything. It’s called being spiritually discerning.

For example, the movie Edge of Tomorrow (2014) is a great visual of the real Christian life as played by Tom Cruise. If you know the Scriptures in relation to the “new covenant” (Luke 22:20, NIV) you should be able to see a clear parallel between every single scene in that movie and what’s going on in this world along with end times prophecy. For example, the main character (the Church) was asleep (Rev. 3:1) and his Sargeant (Jesus) kept telling him to “Wake up!” (Rev. 3:2, NIV) because “It’s judgment day.” The were in a brutal war which they were losing, as we are, and it was because they were fighting their enemy as they’d always fought their enemies. Except this enemy had supernatural powers (Eph. 6:12). Anyhow, he had to Live. Die. Repeat over and over and over again, partly because he couldn’t get through to his peers since they were all so proud. That’s my testimony. And Tom Cruise’s role, when he finally stepped into it, is exactly it for the born again who are supposed to be good soldiers in the Lord’s army (2 Tim. 2:3, NIV). “For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body” (2 Cor. 4:11, NIV).

Many Will Be Shocked. Jesus has this very clear warning which, like most of His teachings, has been ignored:

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Matthew 7:21-23, KJV

“Praying always for you” (Col. 1:3, KJV).