The Bible Column - Ye Must Be Born Again

“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.” John 3:3
The story is told of a new pastor who for many weeks brought the very same message. His repeated phrase was taken from verse 7 of the passage in which the verse above is found. There the Bible says, “Marvel not that I say unto thee, ye must be born again.” He would say over and over again “Ye must be born again”. After some time the church leaders went to their new pastor with their concern. “Pastor, we are glad for your able speaking ability, but do you not have other messages? Why have you only brought the message on ‘Ye must be born again’?” The pastor’s simple and calm answer was, “The reason I am binging this message is because ye must be born again.” No doubt he felt than the congregation was largely unsaved.
This Bible mandate is mostly not being preached in churches today. Rather a message of social change or human goodwill is presented. Folks are made to feel “Fulfilled by doing” and “good by soothing” but not “born-again by the Holy Spirit of God”. While the general idea of human betterment and eternal bliss may be the shared theme of all religions, only Bible Christianity teaches “Ye must be born again”. The words “except”, “cannot”, and “must” in these verses account for the words in Matthew 7:14 where we read, “Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”
Those who find this way must seek it and those who seek it can find life eternal. Others who are unconcerned and too busy in this life will be eternally lost. False religion does not save from Hell!