Too many boast of being “born again” and “Spirit-led” but have no idea what they are saying. They are not really convinced by the teachings of Jesus, Peter, Paul and John about it. They do not know what these teachers meant by these phrases. They simply want to identify with others who say it, or with a movement like those begun in the late twentieth century by Billy Graham. I know lots of people who call themselves ‘born again’ and claim to have the Holy Spirit, thinking they are following leadings of the Holy Spirit, but in thirty years I have known them, none of them have ever visited me when I was ill or in hospital. Those who give me what I need when I am ill or hungry or poor, they don’t go around saying they have the Holy Spirit, nor do they claim to be born again. They simply listen to good Christian teaching and do what it says because they are persuaded by it.
