The Bible is very clear on the necessity of a person being "Born Again" if they are to receive eternal life. Jesus coined this term, in John 3:3-7, when he told the young religious ruler, "You must be born again" to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Since this necessity is so critical, Satan has attacked it with all his might for two thousand years, causing most "Christian" churches to stop teaching this doctrine, even though no one can be saved without undergoing this wondrous spiritual conversion. However, Satan's most effective weapon against being Born Again has been, and still is, confusion.

Fortunately, Jesus lovingly made this transformation process very simple, so simple that even those who are retarded or not educated can understand. There are several steps to becoming Born Again which I have listed below:

1. Understand that ALL men ever born are sinners. Romans 3:23, says, "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." This message that all men are sinners is amply repeated through Scripture, both Old and New Testaments.

This means you are a sinner in the eyes of an angry God, Who must punish all sin. Do you believe you are a sinner?

2. Since man is an imperfect sinner, and God is a perfect God, no man can save himself. Jesus made this fact very plain in Matthew 5:48, when He said, "Be ye, therefore, perfect, even as your Heavenly Father is perfect."!!!

If we all have to be perfect in God's eyes, how can there be anyone in Heaven, especially since the Bible declares, repeatedly, that ALL people are sinners? Obviously, no one is going to get to Heaven this way, by trying to be 'good enough' to merit Heaven. Since the Bible says there are going to be untold millions of people in Heaven, there must be some other way to get there, other than by trying to be 'good enough'.

You must also be very sorry for your sins, and want to have them forgiven. This is known as Repentance. The word Repent means to both be very sorry for your sins, and to want to not sin anymore. Repentance means the desire to turn your life around 180 degrees. This does not mean you will never sin again, but it does mean that sin will become the exception in your life, not the rule. Don't worry -- the Holy Spirit will give you the spiritual power to become this type of person]

3. Jesus Christ, offering His shed blood on Calvary, died as a substitute punishment for your sins, and is now offering eternal life in Heaven to you as a Free Gift!! Sound too good to be true? In Romans 6:23, we read, "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Wow!! Eternal life is a gift, a free gift, of God through Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross. You can't earn it, and you sure don't deserve it, but it is yours as a FREE GIFT.

4. In Ephesians 2:8-9, the Apostle Paul reiterates this teaching that eternal life with God is a free gift. "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God; Not of works, lest any man should boast." No man can stand before God in eternity, and boast that they 'earned' their way to Heaven. Rather, all people in Heaven will be there only because of Jesus' FREE Gift, which He obtained from God because of His substitutionary death sacrifice on the Cross. Rather than punishing each person's individual sins, God heaped all those sins on Jesus on the Cross Isaiah 53:2-12]

Now, you are probably thinking, 'How can I receive this free gift of eternal life'? Again, the Bible is not silent. In Acts 16:25-33, the jailer anxiously asked Paul, "What must I do to be saved"? Paul answered "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved ..." verse 31" But, what exactly must we believe about Jesus Christ that will attain us unto Salvation? We must believe what the Bible teaches about Him.

5. In John 1:1, 14, we see that Jesus Christ is God, equal with God, present with God from before the beginning of time, and the actual Creator of the Universe and all that is within it. Jesus repeatedly made these claims during His ministry. He is 100% God and 100% human at the same time, which is why He used both titles during His ministry, Son of God and Son of Man. To become Born Again, you must believe this about Jesus Christ.

Verse 14 is most important, the teaching that Jesus God became man. This teaching becomes a point of separation between the followers of Christ and Antichrist. In 1 John 4:1-3, we see that anyone who denies that Jesus has come in the flesh is the spirit of antichrist. Of course, that is just what the Gnostics of that day were saying, i.e., that Jesus the human was not God Messiah come in the flesh; rather, the 'Christ Consciousness' the 'Messiah' Consciousness, came on Jesus at His baptism and left Him on the Cross. But, they believe Jesus was not God and Man. The New Age Movement has resurrected this blasphemy with a vengeance.

6. Isaiah 53:6 foretells exactly what Jesus Christ did for us on the Cross; "the Lord [God the Father] has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." Praise God!! Only the Wisdom, Grace, and Power of God Almighty could conceive of such a gracious Plan of Salvation!! God's Nature is such that sin must be punished. Period! But, God set up a Plan whereby an innocent substitute was to be punished instead of the guilty person. In the Old Testament, God allowed the lamb to be the substitute sacrifice for sin; Jesus then became the ultimate substitute sacrifice, for all the sins of the world. His was the Perfect sacrifice, that never needs to be repeated, and that saves all people forever more.

You must believe in, and understand, this principle of Substitute Punishment, before you can become Born Again. And, you must believe that Jesus Christ became the Perfect Substitute Punishment for YOU, before you can become Born Again.

Now that you understand these Truths, and believe them for your life, you now need to understand how you can receive this FREE Gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ. After all, if I were to attempt to give you a FREE gift, that gift would not become yours if you were to refuse to reach out and take that gift from my hand. So it is here. You must reach out and take this FREE Gift of Eternal Life from the hand of Jesus Christ. How is this done?

Through Saving Faith.

Notice I said Saving Faith. There are types of faith that will not get you saved. You may have faith that merely intellectually assents to the facts of Jesus Christ's person, but that is not Saving Faith. You may be in a 'church' or a cult that teaches many truths about Jesus Christ, but who teach that you must do many things to earn your way to Heaven. This is not Saving Faith.

Saving Faith is trusting in Jesus Christ, and Him alone, for your Salvation. If you think you need to do anything for Salvation except trust in Jesus work on the cross, you are guilty of violating Ephesians 2:8-9 and Isaiah 53:6b.

Does this make sense to you? Most cults and false Christian religions err at this point; they add things that are "necessary" for Salvation, or they offer a counterfeit way to Heaven, i.e., Salvation by Baptism.

You receive this wonderful FREE Gift of Eternal Life by reaching out in Saving Faith and accepting it. This is the greatest story ever told, about the greatest offer ever made, by the Greatest Person who ever lived. Truly, only an all Wise, Gracious God could conceive of such a wonderful Plan whereby men could have their sins forgiven, and obtain eternal life. Think of it!! Since God must punish sin, but because He is Merciful, He offered this Plan of Substitutionary Punishment, through Jesus Christ. We have historically called this wonderful Plan the Gospel, i.e., Good News!!

Do you want to receive this Gift of Eternal Life that Jesus left Heaven and died on a cross to give you? If your answer is, 'Yes', you can immediately receive Eternal Life.

Let me clarify exactly what this involves. First, you are going to transfer your trust, your hope of eternal life from what you have been doing to what Jesus Christ has done for you on the cross. Jesus will take your sin and transfer TO YOU His right standing with God the Father, what we call His righteousness. This means that though we have failed repeatedly to keep God's commandments and to live consistently by the Golden Rule, Christ perfectly obeyed all the laws of God. He lived the perfect life, so He could be the perfect, innocent substitutionary sacrifice that God would accept for your sins, and the sin of the entire world, for all who will accept this gift.

Are you willing to repent of your sins right now, and become a responsible member of God's forever family, following Him and serving Him as a member of His forever family, following Him and serving Him as a member of His body, the Church [the body of Christ - those who are in Him]? If your heartfelt answer is, "Yes", then we can go to Him now in prayer, and we can tell Him that you want to cease trusting in anything else for Eternal Salvation, especially in what you can do for yourself. You can place your trust in Him and Him alone for salvation, receiving Him now as your personal Savior. Before we pray this simple prayer, I need to point our that the Lord Jesus Christ is looking at your heart more than His is listening to your lips. As He promised, "Ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when [after] ye shall search for Me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13).

If this is what you mean, then the Lord will hear your prayer and grant you eternal life, right now, in the privacy of your home. Let me pray.

"Father, I pray that You would grant the FREE gift of eternal life. May thy Holy Spirit draw him or her unto Thyself. Grant him faith to believe Thy wonderful promises. Grant him or her repentance to turn from his sins. Reveal unto him Jesus Christ crucified as the perfect substitutionary sacrifice, today."

Jesus Christ is right with you right now. You are not talking to anyone now, but to Him. If you really want to be Born Again, into the Eternal Family of God through Jesus Christ, pray this prayer, from your heart.

"Lord Jesus, I want you to come in and take over my life right now. I am a sinner. I have been trusting in myself and my own good works, and in other things. But, now I place my trust in you. I accept You as my own personal Savior. I believe You died for me. I receive You as Lord and Master of my life. Help me to turn from my sins and follow You. I accept Your offer of the FREE gift of eternal life. I am not worthy of it, but I thank You for it. Amen."

Now, allow me to pray. "Father, you have heard the prayer which has been prayed. I ask that in this quiet moment, Thy Holy Spirit will grant unto him Your absolute assurance of life eternal; grant unto him the certainty that his sins are forgiven. Grant that he may hear, in the depths of his soul, Thy voice saying, 'Thy sins be forgiven thee. Go in peace'. Grant, O Jesus, that he may hear Thy voice saying, 'As far as the east is from the west, so far have I put thy sins from thee, never to remember them against thee anymore. [The person] that believeth on Me shall not come into condemnation. He that trusts in Me is passed from death unto life. He that believeth on Me shall not perish but has everlasting life [paraphrased from Psalm 103:12; John 3:1 8; 5:24; 3:16]. In Jesus' Name, I pray. Amen."

You have just prayed the most important prayer you have ever prayed in your life. If you were sincere in this prayer, I want you to see what Jesus says about what you have just done. In John 6:47, Jesus says, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on Me has everlasting life." In your prayer, you didn't hear any angel choirs or see any visions; however, by a simple act of faith, you have placed your trust for your eternal salvation in Jesus Christ.

Saving Faith is trusting in Jesus Christ ALONE for your salvation. If you meant with your heart what you just said with your lips, you have the promise of Jesus Christ that He has forgiven your sins, and has adopted you into the kingdom, and has given you eternal life in Heaven with Him.

If this sounds so simple you have trouble believing that it could be true, the Bible assures you that it is most definitely true. Over the centuries, man has deliberately complicated this simple Plan of Salvation that most people simply do not know how simple and uncomplicated God has planned Salvation through Jesus Christ to be!! If you were genuine in your prayer, you now have eternal life, and are as assured of it as if you were already there!! This is why Jesus said, that no person can ever take any of His who are Born Again out of the Father's hand. You are now in the Father's hand, and no power on Earth or in Heaven can take you back out!!

But, He has done much more!! In Revelation 3:20, Jesus promised, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock He has been knocking at the door of your heart, and you have just opened that door to let Him in]; if anyone hears and listens and heeds My voice, and opens the door I WILL come in to him and will eat with him, and he will eat with Me." Jesus Christ has just entered INTO YOUR HEART through the work of the Holy Spirit, to live in your heart for the rest of your life!! What great news, for now we have the same Holy Spirit power within us that raised Jesus from the dead [Romans 8:11]. In fact, I encourage you to read Romans 8 to see all the advantages we have because the Holy Spirit indwells us daily.

Salvation through Jesus shed blood on Calvary gives you a deep, abiding Personal Relationship with His Holy Spirit while you live on this Earth!! As you read the New Testament, you will come to understand the wonderful depth you can reach between you and your Creator!! Salvation produces a relationship that will deeply enrich your life daily!! You will never have believed, prior to becoming Born Again, what kind of life you have been missing out on for so long! Because of His Love On Calvary, David Bay