When someone becomes born again they are changed into an entirely new creation by Christ. Everyone that knew them before will see a dramatic change in their life, attitude and general response to life.
If there has been no change at all then there has been no salvation. Yes, someone can pretend for awhile and even make us believe them, but if they slip right back into what they were before it is an indicator that they were pretenders or attempting to live a Christian life in their own flesh, having never been changed by Christ.
Pretenders can put on a very good show, they can lie with a straight face in their continual attempts to prove they are good people, but when challenged to examine their lives they will rage as though something bad were happening to them.
Shame ought to be the response of those who have been challenged. Only the truly born again believer will feel genuine shame, but they never fight to justify themselves.
Discerning people are able to feel the bad spirit around these pretenders. The Spirit within us does not bear witness with the spirit in them. In fact, there is a sort of mild repulsion experienced in the authentic believer in the presence of the pretender.
Most often the born again believer will know their sin before anyone else tells them about it. They will have been sensing conviction of the Holy Spirit before they were challenged. The challenge just confirms what God had already been telling them. With these authentic believer there will be on angry rages leveled against the one who challenges.
We have so many people who are pretenders and worse those who become angry that we suggested those pretenders were not authentic, these are the enablers. So many people are deeply invested in believing words that they refuse to see the spiritual and physical signs of those who are not born again.
Matthew 7:21-23
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