What Does It Mean To Be Born Again?

Please note the following scripture:

John 3

1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council.
2 He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."
3 In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."
4 "How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"
5 Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.
6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.
7 You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.'
8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

The above scripture is explained partly by the following scripture:

Pistis Sophia

Chapter 115

"Now, therefore, he who shall receive the mysteries of the baptisms, then the mystery of them becometh a great, exceedingly violent, wise fire and it burneth up the sins and entereth into the soul secretly and consumeth all the sins which the counterfeiting spirit hath made fast on to it. And when it hath finished purifying all the sins which the counterfeiting spirit hath made fast on to the soul, it entereth into the body secretly and pursueth all the pursuers secretly and separateth them off on the side of the portion of the body. For it pursueth the counterfeiting spirit and the destiny and separateth them off from the power and from the soul and putteth them on the side of the body, so that it separateth off the counterfeiting spirit and the destiny and the body into one portion; the soul and power on the other hand it separateth into another. The mystery of baptism on the contrary remaineth in the midst of the two, continually separating them from one another, so that it maketh them clean and purifieth them, in order that they may not be stained by matter."

Now the identity of the mystery of the baptism is provided in The Apocryphon of James:

"Do you dare to spare the flesh, you for whom the spirit is an encircling wall?"

Therefore the spirit or Holy Spirit, is the mystery of the baptism who both purifies and encircles your soul, and accompanying spirit. Therefore when someone is born again / of the spirit, he is assigned the Holy Spirit who: purifies him through the process called "the mystery of the baptism"; lives in him (2 Timothy 1:14); and protects him.

In addition to above, please note that when someone is born, he is automatically born of the flesh. When this happens, his soul becomes a platform for an array of evil spirits, headed by a main counterfeiting spirit:

Pistis Sophia

Chapter 111

When then the Saviour had said this, he continued again in the discourse and said unto Mary: "Now, therefore, hearken, Mary, concerning the word on which thou hast questioned me: Who constraineth the man until he sinneth? Now, therefore, hearken: "Is the babe born, the power is feeble in it, and the soul is feeble in it, and also the counterfeiting spirit is feeble in it; in a word, the three together are feeble, without any one of them sensing anything, whether good or evil, because of the load of forgetfulness which is very heavy. Moreover the body also is feeble. And the babe eateth of the delights of the world of the rulers; and the power draweth into itself from the portion of the power which is in the delights; and the soul draweth into itself from the portion of the soul which is in the delights; and the counterfeiting spirit draweth into itself from the portion of the evil which is in the delights and in its lusts. And on the other hand the body draweth into itself the matter which senseth not, which is in the delights. The destiny on the contrary taketh nothing from the delights, because it is not mingled with them, but it departeth again in the condition in which it cometh into the world.

"And little by little the power and the soul and the counterfeiting spirit grow, and every one of them senseth according to its nature: the power senseth to seek after the light of the height; the soul on the other hand senseth to seek after the region of righteousness which is mixed, which is the region of the commixture; the counterfeiting spirit on the other hand seeketh after all evils and lusts and all sins; the body on the contrary senseth nothing unless it taketh up force out of the matter.

"And straightway the three develop sense, every one according to its nature. And the retributive receivers assign the servitors to follow them and be witnesses of all the sins which they commit, with a view to the manner and method how they will chastize them in the judgments.

"And after this the counterfeiting spirit contriveth and senseth all sins and the evil which the rulers of the great Fate have commanded for the soul, and it maketh them for the soul.

"And the inner power stirreth the soul to seek after the region of the Light and the whole god-head; and the counterfeiting spirit leadeth away the soul and compelleth it continually to do all its lawless deeds, all its mischiefs and all its sin, and is persistently allotted to the soul and is hostile to it, and making it do all this evil and all these sins.

"And it goadeth on the retributive servitors, so that they are witnesses in all the sins which it will make it do. Moreover also if it will rest in the night {or} by day, it stirreth it in dreams or in lusts of the world, and maketh it to lust after all the things of the world. In a word, it driveth {?} it into all the things which the rulers have commanded for it and it is hostile to the soul, making it do what pleaseth it not.

(Please note that the above is consistent with what I wrote here.) Further:

Gospel of Philip

"As for the unclean spirits, there are males among them and there are females. The males are they which unite with the souls which inhabit a female form, but the females are they which are mingled with those in a male form, through one who was disobedient. And none shall be able to escape them, since they detain him if he does not receive a male power or a female power - the bridegroom and the bride.One receives them from the mirrored bridal chamber. When the wanton women see a male sitting alone, they leap down on him and play with him and defile him. So also the lecherous men, when they see a beautiful woman sitting alone, they persuade her and comple her, wishing to defile her. But if they see the man and his wife sitting beside one another, the female cannot come into the man, nor can the male come into a woman. So if the image and the angel are united with one another, neither can any venture to go into the man or the woman."

(Please note that the image above is your soul, and the angel is the divine angel of the Holy Spirit - who is identified in the Bible as the Holy Spirit who lives in you.) Further:

Pistis Sophia

Chapter 140

"He continued in the discourse and said: "The second order is called Ariouth the Æthiopian, a female ruler, who is entirely black, under whom stand fourteen other [arch]demons which rule over a multitude of other demons. And it is those demons which stand under Ariouth the Æthiopian, that enter into strife-seekers until they stir up wars and murders arise, and they harden their heart and seduce it to wrath in order that murders may arise.

"And the souls which this authority will carry off in ravishment, pass one-hundred-and-thirteen years in her regions, while she tormenteth them through her dark smoke and her wicked fire, so that they come nigh unto destruction.

Counter to what is described above, when someone is born of the Spirit, he becomes a platform for an array of godly spirits who live in him and protect him:

Gospel of Philip

"The human being has intercourse with the human being. The horse has intercourse with the horse, the ass with the ass. Members of a race usually have associated with those of like race. So spirit mingles with spirit, and thought consorts with thought, and light shares with light. If you are born a human being, it is the human being which will love you.If you become a spirit, it is the spirit which will be joined to you. If you become thought, it is thought which will mingle with you. If you become light, it is light which will share with you. If you become one of those who belong above,it is those who belong above who will rest in you. If you become horse or ass or bull or dog or sheep or another of the animals which are outside and below, then neither human bein nor spirit nor thought nor light will be able to love you. Neither those who belong above nor those who belong within will be able to rest in you, and you have no part in them. He who is a slave against his will, will be able to become free."

Therefore being born again means that instead of your soul (which is a seed of God) remaining a platform for evil spirits who relentlessly defile you and force you to sin (resulting in the death of your soul), your soul becomes purified and protected by the Holy Spirit, and becomes a platform for godly spirits who cause you (and specifically your soul) to grow up as a baby or child god, bearing godly fruits. (See here for related information.)

Hidden Scriptures

There are a number of works on the web that have been inspired by God, which did not make it into the Bible. I will be compiling them in an adjunct blog, and discussing them in this blog.

Contrary to what many believe, the Bible does not offer a safe haven for knowledge of the truth, per se. Safe haven only exists in the practice of having faith correctly. (I.e. in the practice of asking God for things and believing that you will receive them - Mark 11:22-24.) That is what is meant by the following scripture:

Romans 9

30 What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith;
31 but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it.
32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the "stumbling stone."
33 As it is written:
"See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall,
and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame."

In other words, it is impossible to know the truth about things (including what the scriptures in the Bible are actually saying) without having faith correctly.

Note also the following scripture:

1 Corinthians 2

6 We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.
7 No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.
8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
9 However, as it is written:
"No eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love him"
10 but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.
11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
12 We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.
13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.
14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
15 The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment:
16 "For who has known the mind of the Lord
that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.

Given the fact that someone receives the Spirit by having faith (Galatians 3:14), the above scripture indicates that those who have faith are given understanding of the scriptures and the ways of God, by virtue of the Spirit they receive. Further, (verse 15) it is the prerogative of all those who have faith to make judgments about all things - including works that claim or suggest that they are inspired by God.

With this in mind, I will be delving into many genuine scriptures surfacing on the web, and I will be shedding light on them, as well as the meaning of many scriptures in the Bible. All of this is legitimate to do, since all Christians have the prerogative to make judgments about all works that claim or suggest that they are of God, and comment and expound on them. Further, what offers safety in the knowledge of God is a person’s faith – not the Bible. Therefore if a person has strong faith and becomes convinced that a range of works are genuinely inspired by God, then this body of works become seen as being true, by virtue of that person’s faith – which lets him identify and appreciate them.

All of this will be a something of a dangerous enterprise, since I will be wading through some materials that are true, and some materials that are false, to determine the truth about all things. In a sense it hardly matters that I will be venturing outside the Bible, since the Bible is just as lethal as everything else in this world - without having faith correctly. Also, remember Jeremiah 31:33-34 indicates that God promised that with the Church, He would put His law in its members' minds, and write it in their hearts - meaning that by virtue of their faith, Christians would realize the ways of God from the things around them, and desire to pursue them. It would no longer be necessary for God to place His words or the law in clearly delineated books.

The fact of the matter is that God's truth is everywhere: even in the filthiest of things. It just takes a lot of faith to see it and pull it together.

So why am I doing this? Because that is the reason we are here: to have faith and overcome insurmountable odds, by taking on the qualities of God - made possible through His holy angels, who have been assigned to us. Among the things we are to overcome, is our ignorance of why we are here on earth, and the vast, excellent mysteries of God.

The Way You Know Matters Of Christ And God Are True

Someone might ask, “How do you know that the things Christ talked about are true? Why isn’t science, or any of the other religions unharmonious to Christianity, or the many inconsistent philosophies out there, alternately true?” When someone has faith the way prescribed by Christ in Mark 11:22-24, strange things start happening to that person in subtle ways – consistent with things written in the Bible. (It really is amazing!) Among the unusual things that start happening to that person, is his fundamental behavior starts improving in a natural fashion – and this emergent goodness, can be seen to be constant in all situations in his life.

Now consider a good / just society, and also a lawless society. Which one is more likely to be in line with, and to speak the truth about things? The good / just society. Now when someone has faith correctly, he exhibits a constant goodness that cannot be found anywhere else (i.e. through the pursuit of science, incompatible religions, incompatible philosophies, etc.). This means that that person is uniquely aligned with the truth. Therefore having faith the way prescribed by Christ in Mark 11:22-24 causes a constant goodness to arise in someone, attesting to the fact that the path that person has taken, is true. Also, when someone has faith the way prescribed by Christ, he notices that things around him are as described by Christ in the Bible and other texts.

Therefore the way you know matters of Christ are true, are: 1) due to the fact when you have faith the way Christ said you should, unique, emergent, fundamental good arises in you, which attests that you aligned with the truth; and 2) you get to see for yourself, that the things Christ talked about in the Bible and other texts, are true.