Saved, Born Again or Lost?
Pastor Jerry Wilhite,
author Before you start I ask you to do two things. First take some time and make sure you are at peace before reading this. Sit there for a few minutes meditating, praying and relaxing. Second and foremost ask yourself the following questions in regards to any ideas you do not agree with: "Am I 100% sure I am right? What if I am wrong?" If you can honestly ask this and still disagree with what you read then one of us is wrong. Know this - I have spent decades learning and growing but just over one decade with the author of the Bible. The main truth I know is that when I get offended at what I read it is usually due to a lie in me from this world that I have not dealt with (may not even realized it was there). It’s that or I am just tired and not at peace so am reading it the wrong way. All I am trying to get a cross is that you should not just agree with me, but you should seek the truth. More times than not we will debate the truth because it is hard for us to accept that another knows it and we do not. The concept that ideas we hold close are not the truth is the hardest to overcome. However, if you truly want the truth and not to just hold on to some ideas of this world that you can not honestly state you know the origins of them for sure, then you will be blessed. Remember, to be blessed you must open your mind and heart to what you read. Whenever it goes against what you believe take the time and try to prove what you read is true and do not just assume that what you already know is true. I have found it is easy to prove what we believe is real and true, but when we try to prove what we do not believe is real and true we either find it is or proof to show that we were wrong all along. Many have been misled by this world, religion, the law, etc. I do not believe anyone set out to mislead anyone, but Satan controls the world. He has had thousands of years to analyze mankind, the kingdom, etc. He has learned how to deceive, mislead, and to flat-out lie to us in order to take as many people to Hell with him as he can. If something is of this world it is more than likely a complete lie. At the very least the lie has gotten laced in it some where along the way. If it is not of this world, of the Spiritual, it is of the truth. The truth will shine on the lie and the lie will be no more. Just as the dark shrinks away from the light so does the lie recedes in the presence of the truth. Do not read this thinking that a man or woman wrote it trying to get them to change what they believe. It was written to help all understand and know the truth, not based on man or even man's knowledge, but on the word, the source of the word, and the truth. Saved, born-again, and lost are just words and nothing more to most people. If you ask someone of the Hindu, Muslim or Jewish beliefs they will all give you the same answers about what they mean. They are not as fractured as Christianity. Depending on whom you talk to, Christianity has more differences than Swiss cheese has holes. How can there be so many religions all teaching basically that they are the one and only true way to God or the next life. The truth lies in the word religion. In most cases religion has become a bad word. You can be religious to God, or your favorite TV shows, music, and so on. Being religious to a TV program is when you will not miss the 8PM showing of that TV show no matter what. To be religious to a religion means to be there every time they open the doors. Both have the equal amount of power to help you grow in God or even be saved; that is 0, none. It is not being religious that counts, but our relationship with God that counts. If we are religious to our relationship with God then we have found the one and only religion that counts. Webster's Dictionary for Religion: Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English religioun, from Latin religion-, religio supernatural constraint, sanction, religious practice, perhaps from religare to restrain, tie back -- more at
1 a : the state of a religious <a nun in her 20th year of religion> b (1) : the service and worship of God or the supernatural (2) : commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance
2 : a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices
3 archaic : scrupulous conformity : CONSCIENTIOUSNESS
4 : a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith
- re·li·gion·less adjective
You may have had a group come to your door talking about Jesus, the Jehovah witness or Mormons, but both are more religious to their religions than they are to God. Oh yes, this does not exclude others either. It is that these two get out more than all the other denominations put together.
We need to understand Jesus came here to re-unite us with God the Father. He did not die for us to join a religion.
What about church?
Matthew 16:15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
Matthew 16:16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Remember in our study on Christ, that Christ is a Greek word, which in English means The Anointed One. (Luke 4:18, Is 10:27)
Matthew 16:17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed [it] unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
Jesus told Peter here that he did not understand or come to know the Christ (The Anointed One) by mental knowledge, or being there with Jesus. God revealed it (a revelation) to him; so Peter had a revelation in his spirit.
Matthew 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Here is where Jesus named Simon "Peter" and in Greek the word is "Petros";
Strong's Number: 4074-GSN
Transliterated: Petros
Pronounced: pet'-ros
a primary word; a (piece of) rock (larger than 3037 GSN); as a name, Petrus, an apostle:
KJV--Peter, rock. Compare 2786 GSN.
As you notice it is a piece of the rock, not the rock. Jesus is the cornerstone, but the rock is revelation knowledge from God via the spirit of who Jesus is as the Christ and Son of God.
Matthew 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Now the Greek word for rock here is petra;
Strong's Number: 4073-GSN
Transliterated: petra
Pronounced: pet'-ra
feminine of the same as 4074 GSN; a (mass of) rock (literally or figuratively): KJV--rock.
So what is the rock (petra) to which Jesus is referring? It is not Peter because Peter is a piece of the rock. Jesus said, "upon this rock". Well, He was just talking about the revelation Peter had. So the church is built upon the revealed (revelation) knowledge from God of Jesus as the Christ and true Son of God. Jesus translated is salvation. So if you are of Jesus you have salvation, and when you are of Christ you are of the Spirit of God, in, on, and through you. The Son of God refers to our inheritance in God's kingdom.
So we are the church as far as the revealed knowledge goes, but we are not the church. The church is when we are connected to God through the Spirit, and operating in the revealed knowledge of Christ. If you have any problems with this, read the following verses:
John 14:26 But the Comforter, [which is] the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
John 15:26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, [even] the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:
1 John 2:27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
Strong's Ref. # 2356
Romanized threskeia
Pronounced thrace-ki'-ah
from a derivative of GSN2357; ceremonial observance:
KJV--religion, worshipping.
Acts 5
5.
|4267| before knowing
|3165| me
|0509| from the first,
|1437| if
|2309| they will
|3140| to testify,
|3754| that
|2596| according to
|3588| the
|0196| most exact
|0139| sect
|2251| of our
|2356| religion|2198| I lived
|5330| a Pharisee.
Strong's Ref. # 139
Romanized hairesis
Pronounced hah'-ee-res-is
from GSN0138; properly, a choice, i.e. (specially) a party or (abstractly) disunion:
KJV--heresy [which is the Greek word itself], sect.
Acts 5
5. Which knew me from the beginning, if they would testify, that after the most straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.
As the Pharisees had sects, so do religions today. Jesus did not come and die for a building or a belief built on interpretation instead of understanding. You have divisions as we do today based on man’s interpreting the Bible instead of understanding it. This happens when man, without God’s Spirit guiding, tries to understand His word.
1 Corinthians 1
11. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.
12. Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.
13. Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?
Don’t get me wrong; I am not saying that all of the different denominations are lost, but a lot are. There are individuals in each that are there to guide and help, but since they did not go through man’s way, they are not accepted. Look at Paul. Jesus chose him as the 12th apostle, but what happened to the one the 11 chose?
It is time we unite under one, the Spirit of God, led by God and God only. Cast out the spirit of religion, and of law, legalism, and replace it with the Spirit of love.
For God so loved, not so judged, or condemned, but loved and in John 3:17 we are told that Jesus did not come to condemn or judge, but to save.