Leaders who shape the minds and hearts of the people must understand the need to be born again through Jesus Christ.

John 3:1-3

Click for a description of the mark of the beast.
Click for a description of the image of the beast.

“There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.” John 3:1 

This scripture portion begins by describing a man who was the ruler over a nation, the Jewish nation. He was a very important person who was influential in shaping the minds and hearts of the people. In that respect, he would be like any ruler over a nation of people, and especially like the thing in this world which directly forms what people think, feel, do, and speak.

Nicodemus was entrusted with the word of God, a Holy book which revealed the “scarlet cord” from Genesis 1:1 throughout the Bible. The “scarlet cord” points to Jesus Christ, but the rulers entrusted with God’s word were not able to see Him in the scriptures. The rulers led the hearts and minds of the masses of people astray when it came to Jesus Christ as being the Messiah. It sounds like the world we live in today.

“This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” John 3:2 

There is a big difference between those who look at external signs to see God and those who see God through the “scarlet cord” which the Spirit reveals. The “scarlet cord” is all about Jesus Christ, who God sent to this world to make atonement for sin. The disciples of Jesus saw the “scarlet cord” and believed that He was the Messiah. They walked with Jesus in broad daylight, sharing the testimony of Jesus, and did not hide in the cover of night to declare that Jesus is the Son of God who came to bring the forgiveness of sin.

Today, this world has another version of God which is all about physical and external signs. They associate their god with the thing which has power over physiology and is able to do physical miracles and forms what they think, feel, do, and speak. It enables the image of the beast to speak and live through a person, and as it lives and speaks through people, they are blind, deaf, and mute to the Spirit. They are conformed to their place in life, their mark in life, as they are groomed to the mark of the beast. It sets itself up as God within us, the temple of God, as people in every city around the world follow it for its power in this world.

The “he” in the verses below is the beast, which is behind the thing which has power over physiology to form what people think, feel, do, and speak. It enables the image of the beast to live and speak through people.

…he opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast. 

2 Thessalonians 2:4 nd also Revelation 13:3

“Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3 

The only way which anyone will ever see the Kingdom of God is by being born again within the spirit. The thing which forms what we think, feel, do, and speak will never allow anyone to see the Kingdom of God because it does not allow the Spirit to live within a person. It intends to harden the human spirit to build a wall against the Spirit of Christ. It denies the existence of the Divine God, discards the need for Jesus Christ, and blasphemes the Holy Spirit.

As followers of Christ, we want the image of Christ to live in us through the born-again experience. We are born again as the human spirit grasps to the Spirit of Christ. We see the Kingdom of God within us, and that is our foresight of the eternal Kingdom of God to come. We believe in God, acknowledge the need for the remission of sin through the Lord Jesus, and we embrace the Holy Spirit. We are born again by an eternal seed which gives eternal life,

Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because

“All flesh is as grass,
And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass.
The grass withers,
And its flower falls away,
But the word of the Lord endures forever.”

Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.1 Peter 1:22-25

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“….to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,“
‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’”
“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”
Revelation 2:24-25, 3:1