Hey everybody, Pastor Steven Anderson here from Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, Arizona.
I've got here the Hindu scriptures known as the Upanishads, and I'm gonna be reading from the Isha Upanishad, verse 3.
Those who deny the self are born again,
blind to the self,
enveloped in darkness,
utterly devoid of love for the Lord.
So, according to the Upanishads, and this comes up again and again in the Upanishads,
one of the worst things that can happen to you is being born again.
Well, what they mean by that is reincarnation, being born again as in coming back in another life.
But what does the Bible say about being born again?
Well, according to the Bible, being born again is a good thing. In John chapter 3, verse 3, it says,
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.
Marvel not, that I said unto thee, ye must be born again.
Now, obviously, Jesus meant something completely different by born again.
He's talking about being born of the Spirit after you've already been born of the flesh.
They're talking about reincarnation.
But in Hinduism and Buddhism, you have this term being thrown around over and over again, born again, born again, born again.
Always bad. You don't want to be born again. The goal is not to be born again.
In fact, legend has it that Buddha's first words when he was born were, I shall never be born again.
And so people who follow these false religions are getting this brainwashing from the devil
that being born again is a bad thing.
Whereas Jesus said you must be born again to see the kingdom of God. And when Jesus taught the teaching of being born again,
this wasn't a new teaching because of the fact that he rebukes Nicodemus for not understanding it.
He said, art thou a master of Israel? And knowest thou not these things? People were born again in the Old Testament and in the New Testament.
Not the Hindu version of reincarnation,
but being born of the Spirit when they called upon the name of the Lord. That's what the Bible means by being born again.
There's no such thing as reincarnation. It's a point unto men once to die and after this the judgment.
But it's pretty creepy when you're reading the Hindu or Buddhist scriptures and
constantly see being born again as a bad thing when according to the Bible if you're not born again, you're going to hell.
You must be born again to enter into the kingdom of God. What does born again mean?
It's when you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior and
you're not just born of the flesh, but then at that point you are born of the Spirit and you become a child of God.
But as many as received him, talking about receiving Jesus Christ as Savior,
but as many as received him, to them gave you power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name.
So being born again is just simply believing on the Lord Jesus Christ and at that point you're born of the Spirit.
God becomes your Father and
you're begotten again unto a lively hope. You're on your way to heaven at that point.
So being born again is a good thing according to these Hindu scriptures which are of the devil.
Being born again is a terrible thing.
You