The New Birth
Spiritual Building-Stone No. 132

St. John 3:1-8, "....Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again...." (V. 7).

We know the old seed must die, before the new seed can come out of the old seed, it must rot, absolutely, not die only, but rot after it's dead. We know that to be true. That's the same thing in new birth. We never go back, but we go forward when you're borned again.

And that's why I think today we have so many-- not so many rather, genuine new births, is because the seed is--maybe will sympathize with the Word or the person, but they don't want to rot away from the old system that they were in. They don't want to come out of it. They want to stay in the old system and claim the new birth or the message of the age.
We found that under the Luther, Wesley, Pentecostals, and all other ages. They still try to hold on to the old system and claim this, but the old system age must die, rot, in order to bring forth the new one. They still want to cling. Notice, they know the old system is dead, but they just don't want to rot out of it. Now, rot is when it's really done away with.
When a claim is made that they are newborn... But a claim is only a begotten sign; rotting brings forth the new birth. You got to rot away from it just as we did in all ages, through the Wesleyan and the all forth... But the thing of it is, after that new birth is born... Luther came forth with one word: "The just shall live by faith" (Rom. 1:17). Well, he could not no longer cling on to the old system. He had to come out of it.

And then when the Calvinists got the Anglican church in such a condition (under the Calvinistic doctrine) until God raised up an Arminian doctrine (which was John Wesley)... The old system had to die in order for the new to come on. And when Wesley's age ceased and all the little ages or blades that come out on the stalk of the tassel in Wesley's time... See, when Pentecost come out with the restoration of the gifts, they had to come out of Baptists, Presbyterian, Pilgrim Holiness, Nazarene, Church of Christ (so-called), and all that; they had to come out of it, rot away from it, to accept the new birth.

Beyond a shadow of doubt we're in the Laodicea church age. Now, her messenger is promised in Malachi 4:5-6. He's promised to do it, and the Message is to bring back the Word--bring the people back to the Word. She's to be delivered of a new birth from--according to Malachi 4.

Everything in the natural types the spiritual. Are you aware of that? Everything in the natural types the spiritual, regardless. For instance, like this, when we're born in the Body of Christ, there's three elements it takes to bring our birth. And that's the three elements that came out of the life of Christ when He died. There come from His body, Water, Blood, Spirit. Is that right? Three elements. And that's the elements we go through when we're born again, justification, sanctification, baptism of the Holy Spirit. Now, that can all be in one act, but it takes... But you can be in a justified state without being sanctified. And you can believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and still carry your filth with you. But you can absolutely live in a both justified and a clean holy life, and without the Holy Ghost.

Now, we understand also that God is perfected in three. Now, God is perfected in three. Grace is five. Seven is completion, like the world. God is perfected in Father, Son, Holy Ghost. That's the perfection of the Godhead: all one God in three manifestations of three attributes of one office--or three offices in the one Godhead.

Now, there is also three in perfection of the steps of grace to the church: justification, sanctification, baptism of the Holy Ghost. That consists of the new birth. Just like a natural birth is typed by it. Which a woman giving birth to a child, the first thing comes forth is water, blood, then life. The Bible said in I John 5:7, "There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word (which was the Son), and the Holy Ghost; these three are One. There are three that bear witness in the earth: the water, blood, and spirit; these three agree in one."

Now, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are One. You can't have the Father without having the Son; you can't have the Son without having the Holy Ghost. But you can be justified without being sanctified. You can be sanctified without being filled with the Holy Ghost. We proved that in the order of nature.

What is the Baptism with the Holy Ghost? It is the Spirit Baptizing you into the body of Christ (I Cor. 12:13). It is the new birth. It is the Spirit of God coming in and filling you after you have repented, (having heard His Word) and been baptized in water as an answer of a good conscience toward God (Acts 2:38).

If you are true seed, you will hear that Word; the Spirit will baptize you into the body of Christ, filling you and empowering you, and you will receive the Word for your day and age (I Thess. 1:2-6).

And so is the new birth a mess. Amen. It'll make you do things that you didn't think you'd do: stand on a corner and beat a tambourine, or sing "Glory be to the God. Hallelujah. Praise God. Glory to God." Why, you'll act like a maniac. That's what it done to the apostles; that's what it done to the virgin Mary; she act like she was drunk. She was a mess in society, but it takes a mess for life to come out of. Amen.

Unless anything dies and rots, life can't come from it. Unless a man dies and rots in his own thoughts, Christ can't get into his heart. When you're trying to think for yourself, "Now, if I walk up to the altar and say, 'Yes, Lord, I'm a fine fellow; I'll take You. I'll pay my tithes. I'll do this,'" you got to die and rot right there to your thoughts. Let the Holy Ghost take over and just do whatever He wants to with you. Get kind of messy with it. That sounds horrible, not sacrilegious, but it's the truth. It's the only way I know how to punch the thing out to make you understand it.

I'm going to say something, and I want it to sink deep, and may God help. There is the emotional side of the so called Holy Ghost church today. They get a lot of build up of fanaticism, and run off out there, because they disregard the Word. They go only together, "Oh, we had a great meeting. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah."

Now, when you do that, and don't bear the fruit of the Spirit, then you die in the new spirit. You didn't used to do that; that's right. But God had to give you a new spirit (Psalm 51:10-11). Why, the spirit you had, you couldn't even get along with yourself. So how are you going to get along with God?

So God had to give you a new heart, not a patched up one, a new heart. That's your intellects that you think with, a new way of thinking. Then when He give you a new way of thinking, "Yes, that's right. The Bible looks to be reasonable. I used to didn't believe that. I believe it now." Now, there's your great revival. See?

They say, "Yes, sure I don't want to go to hell. I want to accept Christ." That's all right. That's good. That's just your first...?...
Then He said after that, "Then I'll give you a new spirit."
What's that? A new desire, "I want to do right."
"Now, I know I'm a Christian, I got to... I'll smoke one more and then I'll throw it away. I'll just stay home tonight, and you know, I'll just..." all these little just, just, that's exactly... Eve stopped just for a moment. That's all she had to do.

But now, that's the new spirit. Then notice the order of the Scripture. After you get a new heart and a new spirit, He said, "Then I'll put My Spirit..." See? Oh, what? That's the what the Scripture says here. That's the order, the numatics and numerical order of the Scripture: a new heart, a new spirit, and then My Spirit (Ezekiel 36:24-29).

God's new heart that He put in you, sets right in the center of you. That's your impulse, where your emotions goes out. And the new Spirit sets right in the center of the new heart. And God's Spirit, the Holy Spirit, sets right in the center of your new Spirit, and there It controls your emotions.

But there's only one Church, and there's only one way you can get into it, and that's by birth. You're born into the Church of Jesus Christ and a member of His Body, of the spiritual delegation of heaven. And then the signs that Christ is with you, lives through you.

Christians, oh, you must have a personal relationship to God. In order to be a son of God, you must become relation to God. He must be your Father in order for you to be a son. And only His sons and daughters are saved, not the members of a church, but sons and daughters. There's only one thing that will produce that; that's the new birth. The new birth is the only thing that will produce relationship to God. Is that right? Sons and daughters...
Then when this takes place, then "What do we do then after we've been born again?" So many ask me that question. "What should I do then, Brother Branham?" If you are borned again, your entire nature is changed. You are dead to the things you once thought.

"Well," you say, "Brother Branham, when I join church, I got that." Well, then when God said Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever; He still heals the sick; He still shows visions... "But, Brother Branham, my church..." Now, you're not born again. See? You can't be, for if the very God, if His Life is in you, like you're in the life of your father, and if the very Life of God is in you and the very Spirit that was in Christ in you, how can the Spirit live in Jesus Christ and write this and then come back down in you and deny that? See? Can't do it. It'll punctuate every word to be so.
When this takes place, the thing you'll do then, you'll find out that the Spirit that comes in you from the new birth, you will believe and do everything that God says in His Word's for you to do. And everything that the Bible quotes for you to do, you'll punctuate it with a "Amen." And you'll not stop day and night until you receive it. That's right. That's right. And in all this time, you'll certainly above everything bear the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22).

You say "Will I speak with tongues?" You might do that, and you might not. "Will I shout?" You might do that; you might not. But there's one sure thing you will do. You will bear the fruit of the Spirit; and the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, faith, long-suffering, meekness, gentleness, patience. Your temper will not be... Just remember, when you got that, that poisons the Holy Spirit away from you. See? When you get to a place that you want to fuss with everybody you come along to, there's something wrong. When you get a place where a minister will read from the Bible that it's wrong to do a certain thing, just remember, there's no Christianity there at all. "By their fruits you shall know them," it's what Jesus said (Matt. 7:15-20).

If it's the Word and God said so, that Spirit in you will cope with that Word every time, 'cause genuine Holy Spirit will cope with the Word, 'cause the Word is Life and Spirit. Jesus said, "My Words are Life" (John 6:63). And if you've got Eternal Life, and He is the Word, how can the Word deny the Word? See? What kind of a person would you make God? That's one thing to know that you're a Christian, when you can fully agree upon every Word of God, and you find yourself in love with your enemies (Matt. 5:43-48).
Somebody said, "Well, he's nothing but a holy-roller." And you start to get... Oh, be careful; be careful... But when you really find yourself that you love him, regardless of what they do, you still love them, then you've begin to find...

And your patience gets from about that long till it just don't have no end. Anybody just keeps saying things about you, "Well, I don't care what you say..." Don't get stirred up. If you get stirred up, you better go pray first 'fore you talk to them again. See? Yeah. Don't get in fusses. Don't like to get and fuss. If you like to see somebody raise up in church and say, "You know what? I tell you So-and-so did so-and-so," you say, "Now, Brother shame on you."

And if you say, "Oh, is that so?" Listen to that scandal? Watch out, the Holy Spirit's not a cesspool. See? No, no, no, no. The heart that's occupied by the Holy Spirit is full of holiness, purity, thinketh no evil, doeth no evil, believeth all things, endureth, long-suffering.

Don't fuss. When the family gets in a fuss, don't fuss with them. Now, don't fuss. See? Temper breeds temper. First thing you know you grieve the Holy Spirit away from you and you'll be fussing back. Then the Holy Spirit takes Its flight. That's right. Temper breeds temper, and love breeds love. Be full of love. Jesus said, "This will all men know you're My disciples when you have love one for another." That's the fruit of the Holy Spirit: love (John 13:34-35).

And did you know, you are a little creator yourself? Did you know that? Certainly. You've seen people that you just love to be around; you don't know why, just that loving type of person. Haven't you seen that? Just as kind they're... You like to be around them. They create that atmosphere by the life they live, the way they talk, their conversation. Then you've seen those that every time you shun them. All the time they want to talk about something evil, and talk about somebody, and say, "Oh, my, there they come, they're going to criticize somebody. He's in here now; he's going to talk about this man. All they're going to do is tell dirty jokes, or something about women, or something like that." You just hate to get around them. See? They create. Seemingly pretty nice people, but they create that atmosphere. And the things that you think on, the things that you do, the actions, the things you talk about creates an atmosphere...

You let me see what you look at, what you read, and the kind of music you listen to, the crowd you associate with, and I'll tell you what kind of a spirit's in you. See? Yeah.

You hear a guy say, "Me, do so-and-so? That bunch of..." Just remember, I don't care what he says; his action speaks louder than what anything he could say. He could testify, say he's a Christian (Sure.), and maybe do anything, but you just watch the kind of a life he lives. That tells what he is.

Let me tell you; just don't join church now. That won't work. You've got to be borned again, not an emotional workup, not some little something you said, "Well, I shouted. I spoke with tongues. I done this, that, or the other." When really down in your heart, Something comes to change you, and you become a new creature in Christ Jesus, you receive the Person, Christ Jesus, when old things die out, and new things are borned again; you make things right, that you did wrong; you love your enemies; you pray for those who despitefully use you. That's when you're a Christian. The tree's known by the fruit it bears.

In St.John 12:20-25 we see the Greeks wanted to see Jesus. They never found Him in Christmas, never found Him in some organization, never found Him in some creed; He never pointed them to such. Have you got that well? But He pointed them to the cross to die, to die. A real disciples says, "You've got to die." "How do I know when I'm dead?" When you recognize all this Word to be the Truth, then the Word begins to live in you.
As Jesus said, "Whenever you accept this Word, this Word will be made manifested in you. It'll do the same thing that It says It'll do in you."

Oh, so many try today to hold theirself and maintain your own idea, "I've got my way of it. I believe this." But you cannot find Christ until you die to yourself and accept Him, the Word, then you find Life.

Therefore Jesus said, "Ye must be borned again." In order to be borned again, it's letting yourself go and die, and the Spirit of Christ come into you. Then you're no more yours; it's Christ in you, the Holy Spirit. Paul said, "I die daily (I Cor. 15:31); yet I live, not I, but Christ liveth in me" (Gal. 2:19-20). See, Christ...

Now, they say, "Too much religion will make you go crazy." Too much of the wrong thing will make you go crazy. But the religion of Jesus Christ, if you are crazy, it puts you in your right mind. See? You are not right until you are borned again. You're not mentally right until you have been borned again. A man is not in his right condition until he's borned again. He's a beast at heart, until he has been borned of the Spirit of God, and the spirit of nature is taken out of him, and the Spirit of God takes It's place to rule. That leads him and guides him into all truth and light. That's right. And if a man does not do that, knowing without that he's hell bound, there's something wrong with his mind. Why, doesn't the people receive it? Why?
They refused to take the doctor's medicine, the new birth.

Now, false teachers will bring false births. True prophets will bring the Word, the birth of the Word, Christ. False prophets will bring false birth, the birth of churches, the birth of creeds, the birth of denominations. And here you are, Pentecostal brother, false sensations, and tell a man he's got the Holy Ghost 'cause he speaks with tongues. I've seen devils speak with tongues, pencils lay down and write in unknown tongues. That don't mean a thing. See, it's got to be a life: by their fruit you shall know them. "Brother Branham, do you believe in speaking in tongues?" Yes, sir. "You believe in shouting?" Yes, sir. To be a Christian, I believe that. I believe God's Word. But if the life isn't there to back it up...

Get out there a stuffed shirt, "Glory to God, hallelujah," and then tell me that that's Christ? Christ was humble, meek, and gentle.
And listen, now I'm saying something here; I want you to listen. Them kind of false conceptions (You know what a false conception is?) lead millions of people to a false birth. False teachers lead the people to believe in a sensation, "'Cause you jerked all over, you got It. Oh, because you got a real funny feeling went over you, you seen lights in front of you, and got blind and staggered, that's Elijah's jacket put on you. That's right, you got It. Oh, you know what you are? You're a manifested son of God." Where do you find yourself? Defeated. That's right. "Glory to God, I went one night and I had a dream." Oh, yes. "Oh, I seen this, that..." Yeah. "Don't you believe in dreams?" Yes, sir, I certainly do. But if that dream didn't back up God's Word, then it's wrong. This is the Truth here; stay in This. Yes, sir. Lead million to false birth, just think...

If you're borned of God, you're washed in the waters of the Word (Eph. 5:25-27), separated from the things of the world, and believe God. You're dead. You're dead to your own thinking, dead to your own ideas, dead to everything else but God's Word (Col. 3:1-4); It lives in you, working back through you, proving that it is God's Word. You say, "I'm dead to the world. I'm dead to the world, Brother Branham." And deny God's Word?
Jesus said, "These signs shall follow them that believe." Now, we're getting down to what borned again means. See?

Still with tempers, still mean, arrogant, somebody say something about you, you right up ready to fight, then borned of the Spirit of God? No. God's Spirit don't do like that. No. God's Spirit is humble, meek, sweet, long-suffering. That's God. loving, kind, forgiving, that's God's Spirit. Oh, yes.
But they'll hold to that denomination, and speak in tongues, prophesy, do all kinds of works. Jesus said they'd do it: "Having a form of godliness" (II Tim. 3:1-5). Hold to the denomination because that's their father; they was born in that denominational father. But if you're borned of God, This is your Father; He is the Word, the Word. No matter how many sensations you have, still a child of Satan until you become dead to the world and alive in Christ.

A soul, good or bad, death doesn't change it. I had a lot of Scripture wrote down here on this one that I wanted to comment on, what a soul is. What is a soul? It's you. You are a soul, the part inside of you. And when you die, ever what shape that soul's in, that's the way it goes. It goes to its destination. You couldn't pull it up no matter how much you'd do for it; that soul's got to be changed here, born again.

Don't try to have any sensation or anything to take the place of the Holy Spirit. When the new birth is come, you're changed. You don't have to do anything to prove it, your life proves it. As you walk, your love, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, patience, that's what you are. And the whole world sees the reflection of Jesus Christ in you.

Now, speaking in tongues, shouting there, that's just attributes that follow this kind of a life. And you can take and impersonate these attributes and never have that Life. We see it. How many knows that that's true? Surely, certainly you do. My, you see it all around you.

So, there's nothing you say that's the evidence of the Holy Ghost, unless it's your life that you live. Now if you want to speak with tongues, that's perfectly all right if you live the life to back it up. That's right. And if you want to shout, fine, that's good. I shout, too, get so happy sometimes I can't hardly wear a pair of shoes, I like to jump out of them. And that's wonderful. I believe it.

Reference:
"Birth Pains", pg. 13, 27
"Demonology - Physical Realm", par. 56-57
"The Seed Is Not Heir With The Shuck" (65-0218), par. 48-50
"Smyrnaean Church Age", CAB pg. 154 / "Ephesians Church Age", CAB pg. 96-97
"Impersonation Of Christianity", par. 110-114
"Is Your Life Worthy Of The Gospel", par. 137-153
"Their Eyes Were Opened", par. 88
"Sirs, We Would See Jesus", pg. 15 + 30
"End Time Evangelism", par. 57
"Why" (60-0309), par. 19 / "You Must Be Born Again", par. 129-131, 107-111

Spiritual Building-Stone No. 132 from the Revealed Word of this hour, compiled by: Gerd Rodewald, Friedenstr. 69, D-75328 Schömberg, Germany
Phone: (+49) 72 35 76 13, Fax: (+49) 72 35 33 06

There's coming one with a Message that's straight on the Bible, and quick work will circle the earth. The seeds will go in newspapers, reading material, until every predestinated Seed of God has heard It.
[Bro. Branham in "Conduct-Order-Doctrine", pg. 724]