So opening Lydia's heart means softening Lydia's heart? But there is nothing there that says that Lydia or God had hardened her heart such that it need to be softened.
Born Again or Christian? Is there a difference and what is your biblical support ?
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I will check that scripture out.
Look at this also.
| Audio Crossref Comm Hebrew Verse (Click for Chapter) New International Version But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart and he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said to Moses. New Living Translation But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and just as the LORD had predicted to Moses, Pharaoh refused to listen. English Standard Version But the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not listen to them, as the LORD had spoken to Moses. Berean Standard Bible But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said to Moses. |
Look at this as well.
Here is what he promises in Ezekiel 11:19–20: “I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them.
Davy
Well-Known Member
Are you, or have you ever, been a member of a mystical secret society?
What you stated above that I underlined-in-bold is an idea they teach while trying to pass their Gnostic doctrine off as Christian doctrine. Their key words are like your "achieved this level of conciousness".
Being "born again" like Jesus said in John 3 cannot... be "achieved", because to achieve something automatically means you did it by your works, and by yourself. It indirectly leaves Lord Jesus out of it. And that is a doctrine of the occult secret societies, as they teach the lie that you don't need Jesus, and instead that you can do your own salvation, even become your own Christ, by 'achieving the state they call CHRIST CONSCIOUSNESS.'
But what God's Word teaches instead is, that His Salvation through His Son Jesus Christ is not by works, but is a FREE GIFT to those who believe. Thus it is not something "achieved", nor created by an increase in the a "level of consciousness", nor is it earned. It is by FAITH only.
And here is what happens when one BELIEVES on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ with Jesus as God come in the flesh to die on the cross for the remission of sins of those who believe... Their spirit-soul that dwells inside their flesh body is literal and physically 'changed', and shall never die. Call that a spiritual operation, The Holy Spirit making one's spirit-soul alive in Christ Jesus, or whatever. One thing it has nothing to do with, is the operation of one's flesh. Modern science is still way... behind in understanding that our mind is not located in our flesh body, but with our spirit-soul that dwells inside our flesh and is not made up of flesh. So when they speak of changes of consciousness they are speaking in the flesh sense, which the "born again" idea has nothing to do with.
The phrase "born again" in John 3 is actually 'born from above' in the Greek.
Lambano
Well-Known Member
I was wondering when someone would bring the "M-word" into play.
Davy
Well-Known Member
Lot of folks don't understand how modern-day Gnostics are still alive and well today pushing 2nd century Gnostic doctrines linked with New Age occult mystical teaching.
Waiting on him
Well-Known Member
I thought that the Christian’s had murdered all of the Gnostics by the end of the fifth century?
Perhaps you might peruse some of my posts. I think I've got threads titled that you can pick out some that may answer your question for you.
Much love!
Zachariah.
Active Member
Achieving enlightenment is hard work. Yes it requires work. There is nothing in this world you achieve by doing nothing. Yes its by the grace of God but Jesus states Seek and you will find. Seeking correctly. Seeking the truth. Seeking requires work and intuition as most people today SEEK THE WRONG THINGS, or worse, they are told that they already have everything when they haven't even begun to look.
Wisdom is acquired through TRIAL AND ERROR as stated by the bible. Hence you cannot achieve anything that you want by doing nothing. You also cannot achieve anything by being told you have achieved it.
Yes things require right action, if it didn't Jesus wouldn't of had to come in the first place. But it is only by the grace of God that we are able to do so.
If you think you have achieved admission into heaven just by simply undergoing an initiation ritual you don't understand, your are sorely mistaken.
And do not suggest me of evil and blasphemy just because you think differently and have different beliefs. It's rude.
I got mine from the Lord Jesus and it was a free gift that came with my salvation package!
Davy
Well-Known Member
Watch the Da Vinci Code movie. It is based on Gnostic doctrines that Jesus of Nazareth did not really die on the cross, but was removed by His Apostles before He died, and that Jesus lived to old age, married Mary Magdalene and that they even had children. ALL LIES FROM GNOSTICISM, and in a modern movie with Tom Hanks (before he became a Christian).
I watched a History Channel program just the other day about the Knights Templars. In the first part of the program, they covered how the Templars when returning to Europe from the crusades, brought back all sorts of occult 'black arts' from the middle east that were against Christian doctrine. So the Catholic Church banned the Templars, and executed their leader Jacques de Molay, and several others.
Then further into the History Channel program, modern commentators came on during it, and started proclaiming the Templars had evidence that Jesus did not really die on the cross. Those commenters drafted by the History Channel even pushed the lie that the Catholic Church wanted to destroy the Templars because the Templars had amassed such wealth as the first bankers, and that one of the royal heads in Europe had borrowed money from them and wanted to get out of that debt by destroying them.
The lie that Jesus did not die on His cross is one of the basic doctrines of 2nd century Gnosticism. So tell me, what are commentators on the History Channel doing pushing that lie in modern times, if Gnosticism is dead? And those commentators showed their conviction that the Templars were innocent, when they in reality were not. Ah, Satan's host of deceivers in today's media, the new babe in Christ has little chance of understanding the deceptions unless they stay in God's Word instead of listening to man.
“Christian” means “follower of Christ”. It’s really about obeying His commands (John 15:10,14), and ‘following his steps closely.’ (1 Peter 1:21) Jesus said many would claim to be, but they wouldn’t be genuine. — Matthew 7:21-23
Now, being “born again” is a special designation. Those who are, are “chosen” to be (1 Peter 2:9). Just as Jesus *chose* his 12 apostles. Not everyone could be an apostle, could they?
John 10:16 indicates there are “other sheep” belonging to Jesus which are “not of this fold,” but are still “one flock under one Shepherd.”
The “born again” loyal sheep serve a divine purpose: to “rule” with Christ (Revelation 5:10; see 1 Corinthians 4:8) over the Kingdom’s earthly subjects: the “meek”, the “other sheep”, who will inherit the earth, forever. — Matthew 5:5; Psalms 37:11,29
(Not everyone can be a king, but kings do have subjects…)
I hope to live here as a subject on this cleansed earth, under their rule with Christ.
This is what I was taught.
Take care.
Now, being “born again” is a special designation. Those who are, are “chosen” to be (1 Peter 2:9). Just as Jesus *chose* his 12 apostles. Not everyone could be an apostle, could they?
John 10:16 indicates there are “other sheep” belonging to Jesus which are “not of this fold,” but are still “one flock under one Shepherd.”
The “born again” loyal sheep serve a divine purpose: to “rule” with Christ (Revelation 5:10; see 1 Corinthians 4:8) over the Kingdom’s earthly subjects: the “meek”, the “other sheep”, who will inherit the earth, forever. — Matthew 5:5; Psalms 37:11,29
(Not everyone can be a king, but kings do have subjects…)
I hope to live here as a subject on this cleansed earth, under their rule with Christ.
This is what I was taught.
Take care.
Davy
Well-Known Member
Might be what you are taught, but not what God's Word really teaches.
All... those that are 'saved' in Christ's future Kingdom will have been "born again".
The actual meaning of "born again" in the Greek is 'born from above'. It means our spirit being born from above by God's Spirit, i.e., via The Holy Spirit.
Rom 8:9-10
9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.
10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
KJV
On a deeper note, in 1 Corinthians 15, Apostle Paul showed that in order to be saved, one's body of corruption must put on incorruption (spiritual body), AND "this mortal" (the mortal soul) must put on "immortality". That means only by our spirit-soul being made immortal through Faith on Jesus Christ may we enter into His future Kingdom. It's those whose spirit-souls will still reject Jesus Christ that won't put on immortality, and thus will perish in the "lake of fire".
Agreed.
Yes and no. Although John uses the Greek word, ἄνωθεν [anōthen] which from Strong's Greek dictionary carries the meaning "from above; by analogy from the first; by implication anew: - from above, again, from the beginning (very first), the top", Peter in 1 Peter 1:3 uses the Greek word ἀναγεννάω [anagennaō] which, also according to Strong's means "to beget or (by extension) bear (again): - beget, (bear) X again".
It seems apparent that there is a lot to be considered and understood about the subject of "born again". There is no end of articles, papers, and even books that have been written on the subject. It is generally accepted that born again is one and the same as regeneration. It is interesting that the term "born again", no matter which Greek word is used, occurs on four times in the entire NT (John 3:3,7 and 1 Peter 1:3,23) and the term "regeneration" is found only twice in the entire NT and only one of those two times is it used in the sense of or relation to salvation (Titus 3:5).
Even so, the subject matter of born again and regeneration is a common theme throughout the NT. It is variously described as "passed from death to life" (John 5:24), "walking in newness of life" (Rom 6:4)," united with him in a death like Jesus' and united with him in a resurrection like his." (Rom 6:5), "putting on Christ" (Gal 3:27), " made us alive together with Christ" (Eph 2:5), "a circumcision made without hands" (Col 2:11), "made alive together with him" (Col 2:13), "renewal of the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:5).
It is true that our spirits are made, formed, born, come from God. In the case of born again, a critical issue is that it is made, formed, born, come from God AGAIN; our spirits are REborn, REgenerated. Our spirits having first been born, generated, formed in us at birth (or before at conception) by God (i.e., from above) then the question is, "Why REborn, why REgenerated?" The reason is that the spirit was not dead when first given us at birth. God would not, did not form dead spirits in us. They were alive and well until we sinned and we became "dead in trespasses and sins" (Eph 2:1). It was necessary, therefore, that we be made spiritually alive again. that we be spiritually born again, that we be spiritually regenerated.
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