We Must Be Born Again By Believing in The Gospel of The Water and the Spirit (John 3:1-5)
(John 3:1-5)
“There
was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 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.’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Most
assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the
kingdom of God.’ Nicodemus said to Him, ‘How can a man be born when he
is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?’
Jesus answered, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of
water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.’”
As
we know by now there are Christians who think they can be cleansed from
their sins if they offer many prayers of repentance, so that’s all they
do. Some Christians give lots of offerings, thinking that they will be
loved by God for doing this. While others devote their whole lives
planting new churches, convinced that by doing this God will approve of
them.
There
are also Christians who think that God will be pleased if they do a lot
of missionary work, so they are faithful to this task. Determined to
spread the love of Christ to every nation even if they have to sacrifice
themselves, so they willingly go and work anywhere no matter how
inhospitable that might be. Such Christians are trying very hard to
devote their lives to God. Leading such works-oriented lives of faith
they become full of expectations hoping one day, they too, will be born
again. They think that God would eventually bless them to be born again,
since they are dedicating their lives in the spreading of the gospel.
But the reality is, it is absolutely wrong to think like this.
These
misguided Christians are leading such fleshly lives of faith trying to
be saved from their sins and to be born again. They are full of their
own convictions, convinced that if they attend church regularly, make
lots of offerings, and serve God diligently and faithfully, they would
somehow receive His blessings to be born again. They think to
themselves, “If I am faithful to the Lord, He will work in my life and
bless me to be born again one day. Without even realizing this, I will
become a born-again person in no time!” They may have such thoughts, but
the reality is, this is not how the Lord blesses anyone to be born
again.
There
is nothing they can do about this, since the Lord is saying that His
thoughts are different from theirs. Unlike what people may think, God
gave clear guidance that to be born again one must believe in the gospel
of the water and the Spirit without fail. He said that people can be
born again only by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
God made it abundantly clear that no one can be born again by any
fleshly means of his own, but only by believing in the gospel of the
water and the Spirit.
As
our Lord said in John 3:1-5, if we wish to be born again, we must be
born again of water and the Spirit. This means that we cannot be born
again by offering God anything else in this world but only to believe
from our hearts in the gospel of the water and the Spirit He announced.
No matter how much devout people devote themselves to God and how hard
they work and try their best, this cannot enable them to be saved from
their sins. By one’s own carnal efforts, no soul can be born again and
freed from all their sins. Many Christians mistakenly think, “No one
knows how to be born again. Only God knows, just as the Lord said, ‘Wind
blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell
where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the
Spirit’ (John 3:8).”
But
they only think like this because they do not know the gospel Truth of
the water and the Spirit the Lord spoke of. Sure God knows all about us.
God also knows clearly that people can be born again from all their
sins if they meet and believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
God Himself planned that people would be born again only in the gospel
of the water and the Spirit. However, there are still many people who do
not know the Truth that one is born again by believing in the gospel of
the water and the Spirit, and as a result, they are living in ignorance
and great misunderstanding. Countless Christians are trapped in
delusion. They think to themselves, “As long as I continue to carry on
with my life of faith, I will somehow be born again one day.” But this
is akin to counting on luck. Moreover, when today’s Christians hear the
gospel Word of the water and the Spirit, many of them reject it out of
hand, thinking, “This is way too different from what I’ve learned so
far.”
But,
if they really pay attention to the gospel of the water and the Spirit
and grasp it’s Truth of salvation by casting away their thoughts, then
they will become overjoyed, saying, “Wow! All my sins have indeed
disappeared! I have now been truly saved from all my sins!” Sadly, not
that many people have come to understand the gospel of the water and the
Spirit right away reaching salvation when they first encounter it.
Consequently, most people end up turning to something else other than
the gospel of the water and the Spirit seeking for confirmation of their
salvation from sins. Some people say that they were born again while
praying, while others say that the Lord appeared to them in a dream and
told them that they were saved. This is because of the tendency for
people to have a different take on the meaning of being born again and
being regenerated. Sometimes when I ask people if they have been born
again and regenerated, often times they respond, “Yes, I have been born
again and regenerated. But nevertheless, I still have sin in my heart.”
But this is an absurd claim, reflecting their ignorance of the true Word
of God.
Does
it make any sense when people say that while they have been saved from
their sins, they at the same time still retain their sins? If one has
received the remission of sins once and for all by believing in the
gospel of the water and the Spirit, then such a person has been
regenerated. This word “regeneration” means being washed clean and
renewed by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and,
being born again means the same thing. When we say that we have been
saved from our sins by believing in the gospel of the water and the
Spirit, this is another way of saying that although we had been sinful
in God’s sight in the past, now we no longer have anything to do with
any of our sins. It means that even though we had lived as sinners in
the past, we have now received the remission of sins by hearing and
believing in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit preached to us
by its witnesses.
That
we have been regenerated means the same thing: although we had been
sinners in the past, we have now become new men and women, as we have
been washed clean from our sins by believing in the gospel of the water
and the Spirit.” In other words, even though we had been sinners from
the day we were born from our mothers’ wombs, now that we have found the
gospel of the water and the Spirit, heard it with our ears and came to
know and believed in it with our hearts, we have received the remission
of sins to be born again. Even though we remain the same when it comes
to our bodies and our appearances, but in our hearts we were able to be
born again by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Who
stirs up and moves the winds blowing in this world? It is God. Who
controls the jet streams in the atmosphere, forms weather systems,
changes the flow of the air, has command over the tidal moves, enlivens
everything, and makes this planet earth so full of life? It is none
other than Jesus Christ our God. That’s why we must be born again by
hearing the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit with our ears and
believing in it with our hearts. For this to come about, we must believe
wholeheartedly in the Truth of salvation that has come by the gospel of
the water and the Spirit.
The
Truth God has given us to save us from all our sins it not anything
else but the gospel of the water and the Spirit. It is a fallacious
belief for you to say that you have received the Holy Spirit just by
praying even though your sins remain intact in your heart. The Holy
Spirit is the hallowed Spirit of God, and therefore He can come into
only the hearts of those who believe in the gospel of the water and the
Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes into our hearts only if we believe that
Jesus Christ accepted all our sins once and for all when He was baptized
by John the Baptist, and that He bore the condemnation of all our sins
when He gave up His body to be crucified and shed His life blood. It is
when our hearts are washed clean from all our sins by believing in this
Truth that the Holy Spirit can enter into our hearts as the believers.
The gospel of the water and the Spirit is what makes our hearts sinless,
and it is only when we are truly saved by believing in this gospel that
we receive the gift of the Spirit of God into our hearts. The Holy
Spirit is the Spirit of Truth who dwells only in the hearts of those who
have obtained the washing away of their sins.
Genesis
1:2 says, “The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on
the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face
of the waters.” That the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the
water means that the Holy Spirit could not come into our hearts when we
were sinners because our hearts were without form and filled with the
darkness of our sins that defiled us. But when we met and believed in
the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit, the Holy Spirit could come
into our hearts and dwell in us, just as light came into being when God
commanded it to be.
How Can People Be Freed from Their Sins?
The
answer to this question is found in what our Lord said to Nicodemus:
“Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom
of God” (John 3:5). Nicodemus, being perplexed, asked Jesus, “How can a
man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his
mother’s womb and be born?” (John 3:4). Nicodemus had taken Jesus’ Word
literally, thinking that being born again meant that one had to enter
into his mother’s womb a second time and be born once more time. So he
couldn’t understand what Jesus was saying. It would of course have been
impossible for Nicodemus’ mother to give birth to him again when he was
already much bigger than her. So the Lord rebuked him, saying, “Are you
the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?” (John 3:10).
There
actually are many learned clergymen in this world who are trying to
lead others even as they themselves are ignorant of the gospel of the
water and the Spirit. They are like Nicodemus, and many such people
exist even in this present age. During the days of Jesus, Nicodemus was
one of the 70 members of the Sanhedrin, which, in today’s terms would
put him as a legislator. Religiously speaking, moreover, he was a
Pharisee.
So,
in secular terms, Nicodemus was a member of the Sanhedrin, and in
religious terms, he was also a Jewish leader. Nicodemus was therefore a
man of learning, virtue and honor. However, he did not know the Truth of
being born again of water and the Spirit. Even though he was erudite
enough to teach the people of Israel in all things, he did not know how
to be born again of water and the Spirit himself. There are many such
people in Christian communities today. Even now, we see many people
acting as the leaders of Christianity even though they do not know the
gospel of the water and the Spirit. Some of them are famous revivalists,
others are pastors, and still others head various missionary
organizations.
Yesterday
I dropped by a Christian bookstore as I had some free time. While
browsing through the many books at this bookstore I couldn’t find any
books on the gospel of the water and the Spirit. What all of us must
realize here is that being born again is not something that depends to
any work or effort. We must know that it is only by believing in the
gospel of the water and the Spirit that one’s heart obtains the washing
away of sins. You, too, must be truly born again by understanding
firstly, and then believing in the God-given gospel Word of the water
and the Spirit.
To
both Nicodemus and us alike, Jesus is saying, “I have told you earthly
things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you
heavenly things?” (John 3:12). Even though people ought to know that
they can be born again of water and the Spirit, many of them do not have
this knowledge. The people in the days of Jesus did not believe even
when He told them earthly things. Likewise, even though the believers in
the gospel of the water and the Spirit have preached this gospel to
many people, and they have taught them how to lead a spiritual life of
faith after being born again, they still do not believe.
Through
the baptism He received from John the Baptist, our Lord bore all the
sins of mankind once and for all on His own body; He then shed all His
blood on the Cross and died; was buried and rose up from the dead again;
and He has thereby saved us the believers from all our sins at once.
Using the Old Testament, our Lord once again explained to Nicodemus
about being born again, explaining, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that
whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John
3:14-15). As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so did Jesus
have to be lifted up; and God has made it possible for those who
believe in this lifted Jesus to receive everlasting life.
When
our Lord said, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,” He was speaking of the gospel
of the water and the Spirit. Our Lord could be crucified to death
because prior to this He had been baptized by John the Baptist. That’s
why He was able to shoulder the sins of the world and cry out just
before passing away on the Cross, “It is finished!” For our Lord to be
crucified and lifted up, He had to first bear the sins of this world
through the baptism He received from John the Baptist. Biblically
speaking, Jesus could never die on this accursed Cross unless He first
shouldered our sins as our sin sacrifice. It’s for this reason that our
Lord was baptized by John the Baptist before being crucified, and having
thus accepted all the sins of mankind, He was able to die in our place.
So, as Jesus was crucified and shed His blood to be accursed for all
the sins of mankind, He becomes absolutely indispensable to every human
being. We can now be born again by believing in Him as our Savior. This
is what our Lord is teaching us now with the Word He spoke to
Nicodemus.
God’s Blessed Word
The
Word Jesus spoke to Nicodemus is equally a huge blessing to all of us
now. Because Nicodemus was well-versed in the Old Testament, Jesus said
to him, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so
must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should
not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:14-15). With this blessed
Word, the Lord is making it known to Nicodemus that He would bear the
sins of the world by being baptized by John the Baptist, be crucified to
death, and thereby become the Savior.
After
leaving the land of Egypt, the people of Israel faced numerous
difficulties while wandering in the wilderness, and they blamed Moses
and the Lord God for their troubles. So God sent fiery serpents amongst
them for their insolence, to bite them and kill them. Those who were
bitten by the fiery serpents became all swollen, foaming in their mouths
and dying in excruciating pain. Seeing the people of Israel suffering
and dying from the fiery serpents’ venom, Moses, their leader, prayed to
God earnestly. He prayed, “Lord, please save the people of Israel!” God
then said to him, “I am punishing them personally for their insolence!”
Still, Moses begged God, “Even so, Lord, please save these people!” God
said to Moses, “Put a bronze serpent on a pole and lift it high. Tell
the people of Israel that whoever looks up at this bronze serpent will
be saved.”
Moses
relayed this instruction to the people of Israel. And whoever obeyed
and looked up at the bronze serpent on the pole was indeed healed from
the poison and saved. Like this, just as the bronze serpent was lifted
up high, so was our Lord this after being baptized by John the Baptist;
lifted up high on the Cross and bore the curses of all our sins in our
place. Bitten by sins venom, we were all inexorably destined to be put
to death and cursed, but to save such people like us, the Lord was
crucified to death. And just as the people looked up at the bronze
serpent nailed on a Cross in the Old Testament were saved, so has God
given the blessing of being born again to all those who believe in the
righteous work of God that Jesus achieved by being baptized by John the
Baptist in the Jordan River, and who believe in the crucified Lord as
their Savior. God the Father made our Lord bear all the curses of all
the sins of this world, and He also made Him shed His blood to death.
By
being baptized by John the Baptist, dying on the Cross, and rising from
the dead, Jesus has given more than enough grace for every sinner to be
saved from the condemnation of sins. The Lord told Nicodemus that no
one has ascended to heaven but He who came from heaven, the Son of Man.
With the gospel of the water and the Spirit, our Lord has opened up the
way to receive the remission of sins and everlasting life. Jesus said,
“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father
except through Me” (John 14:6). By bearing all the sins of mankind and
being crucified, our Lord has opened the Door of Heaven for the first
time, so that all who believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior may enter
into the Kingdom of Heaven by this faith. The Lord has saved us
perfectly from all our sins once and for all through the gospel Truth of
the water and the Spirit.
Jesus
said, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of Man be lifted up” (John 3:14). What reason was there for our
Lord to be crucified? Did He sin like us? Was He weak like us? Did He
have flaws like us? No, of course not! Yet despite this, our Lord still
had to be crucified and be nailed on the accursed tree. This was all
done to deliver you and me from our sins and to save us. It was to save
not just you and me but also everyone in this world that Jesus Himself
bore all the sins of all the people in this world once and for all
through the baptism He received from John the Baptist; it is because
Jesus took upon our sins like this that He was able to be crucified to
deliver mankind from the judgment; and that is how the Lord has blessed
us to be born again wholly at once through the gospel of the water and
the Spirit (1 John 5:3-7).
Anyone
can receive the remission of sins and be born again of water and the
Spirit only when they truly believe in the work of the baptism of Jesus
and His blood on the Cross. God blesses only those who truly believe in
the gospel of the water and the Spirit to receive the washing away of
their sins once and for all, and to become God’s own children once and
for all. It’s only by faith, by believing in the baptism Jesus received
from John the Baptist and the blood He shed on the Cross as it is
recorded in the Word that we can be born again.
The
water here refers to the baptism that Jesus Christ received from John
the Baptist, and the Spirit refers to the fact that Jesus is God
Himself. God Himself came to this earth incarnated in the flesh of man,
accepted all the sins of mankind once and for all by being baptized by
John the Baptist, bore the condemnation of all these sins by being
crucified, and has thereby saved those who believe from their sins and
judgment. This is the work of the Holy Spirit. We had all been sinners,
but the Lord has saved us by being baptized by John the Baptist and by
shedding His blood on the Cross while shouldering the sins of mankind.
It is our Lord who has saved us through the gospel of the water and the
Spirit. Jesus said that only those who are born again of the gospel of
the water and the Spirit can see the Kingdom of Heaven and enter it.
Being
born again of water and the Spirit is possible only if we believe that
Jesus has blotted out our sins with the baptism He received and the
blood He shed on the Cross. Jesus is the Son of God Almighty, and He is
also God Himself and the Savior who created us and the heavens and the
earth. Having come to this earth incarnated in the flesh of man, He gave
up His body on the Cross to bear the curses of mankind in their place,
was buried and rose from the dead again in three days, and through this
has thereby made it possible for whoever believes in Him to enter the
Kingdom of God. That is why our Lord testified that He had become the
High Priest of the Kingdom of Heaven.
The Lord Is the Door of the Sheep
The
Lord said that He is the door of the sheep. Who is then standing by the
door of Heaven? Our Lord is standing there. Who opens this door? It is
our Lord who opens it. Therefore, to enter through the door of Heaven,
one must have faith in the baptism of Jesus and His blood on the Cross.
Such a confession of faith is indispensable to all of us. Those who
believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit will enter through
this Door, but those who do not believe in this heavenly gospel have not
been born again, they will be cast into another place. Whoever denies
the divinity of Jesus, His incarnation, or the baptism through which He
bore all the sins of mankind will not be able to go through the door of
Heaven.
God
blocks all such unbelievers who do not believe in the God-given gospel
of the water and the Spirit from entering Heaven, those who do not
believe that Jesus is God Himself, who do not believe that He took upon
all their sins, and who do not believe that He bore all the condemnation
of sins. In contrast, those who believe in the gospel of the water and
the Spirit will be allowed to enter the Kingdom of Heaven to partake in
all its glory and enjoy everlasting life, for they have received the
remission of sins. None other than this is the power of the gospel of
the water and the Spirit and God’s merciful salvation.
Like
the bronze serpent lifted up high on the pole, so was our Lord lifted
up high on the Cross after bearing the sins of mankind by being baptized
by John the Baptist. Having shouldered the sins of the world, He bore
all our condemnation. This is the gospel Truth of the water and the
Spirit. This is mankind’s salvation from their sins. This gospel power
of the water and the Spirit is the only Truth through which mankind can
receive the remission of sins from God by faith. Do you now understand
what it means to be born again of water and the Spirit? What is the
Truth of being born again? How can we be regenerated? How do we become
new men and women? How can we be saved from our sins? How are we made
sinless from our sinful and defiled state? How can we be transformed
into the righteous from being sinners? The Truth of all these things is
made possible only by believing in the gospel of the baptism of Jesus
and His blood on the Cross.
Tragically,
countless people in this world are oblivious to this Truth, and in
their ignorance, even Christians today, believe in Jesus just blindly.
Nothing could be more lamentable than this. It’s heartbreaking to see so
many Christians trying so hard to find their deliverance from sin, but
all in vain, and in the end turning themselves into hypocrites. Just as
Nicodemus in today’s Scripture reading did not know how to be born again
of water and the Spirit, so do the theologians in this age, ministers,
and Christians alike, do not know how to be born again of water and the
Spirit. Nicodemus was a man of great knowledge and honor. Even so, he
could not understand the Word of Jesus at all, and like him, countless
number of Christian ministers today are also unable to understand the
Word properly. Although in carnal terms these so-called leaders of
Christianity may have impressive positions and titles, they are
spiritually blind.
Much
of John chapter 3 is about the conversation Jesus had with Nicodemus,
running from verse 1 to verse 21. Jesus was speaking like this to open
the eyes of a spiritually blind man. The light bulb finally went on in
Nicodemus’ head, and he realized, “Aha! I knew that Jesus was no
ordinary man, but now I know for sure that He is the Son of God and the
Savior of mankind. I know that He is the Messiah who came to save me by
bearing my sins and being condemned in my place! I know it now!”
As
the result of this conversation, Nicodemus’ spiritual eyes were opened
and he came to have the true faith. That’s why when Jesus died on the
Cross, Nicodemus willingly took care of His funeral even though he was a
member of the Sanhedrin. He brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes to
prepare the body of Jesus for burial. Because Nicodemus was saved from
his sins when he heard and believed in the Word of Jesus, he was now
born again of water and the Spirit and was standing at the entrance to
the Kingdom of Heaven.
My
fellow believers, we are born again to reach our salvation only when we
believe in the Truth of the baptism Jesus received from John the
Baptist and the blood He shed on the Cross while shouldering the sins of
the world. It is by our faith in the baptism of Jesus and His blood on
the Cross that we are truly born again. Jesus has made it possible for
all of us who believe in His baptism and blood to be born again, as He
has done this for everyone in this world who also believes in this exact
same Truth. Through what are we born again then? It is through our
faith in the baptism Jesus received and the blood He shed on the Cross.
When Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, all our sins were passed to
Him. Jesus is God Himself and the Creator, and He has blessed us to be
born again by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Jesus Is God
To
each and every human being, Jesus is God Himself. It’s written in John
1:1-3, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made
through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” Who is
this Word? He is Jesus Christ who has saved us from all our sins through
His baptism and blood. It is Jesus who came to this earth incarnated in
the flesh of man, received baptism, died on the Cross, rose from the
dead, and by this salvation, has enabled us to be born again - by
faith.
The
Bible says in 1 Peter 3:21 that the baptism of Jesus is the antitype
that saves us. I heard that when one of our brothers preached this to
someone, this person became furious immediately and rejected it angrily,
claiming that this was not what the Bible was saying. But rather than
getting angry like this, you should rather listen to the Word of God
carefully, and if God’s Word is right, then you should believe in it.
That is the wise thing to do. If you hear the Truth from the righteous
who have been born again by believing in the gospel of the water and the
Spirit, you will begin to understand what the Bible is saying. Where,
then, could you hear this gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit? It’s
only in God’s Church where you can hear this Truth. Although we were
sinners, Jesus has saved us from all our sins by being baptized by John
the Baptist and shedding His blood. And whoever teaches this Truth is
undoubtedly a precious servant of God.
The
Bible says that Jesus was lifted up on the Cross so “that whoever
believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:15).
What about you then? Have you really received the remission of sins and
everlasting life by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit?
Have you really been born again by believing in the righteousness of
the Lord? It doesn’t matter who you are. As long as you believe that the
Lord has saved sinners like you though the water and the Spirit, you
will receive the remission of sins and be born again. Indeed, it’s to
your own loss if you do not believe in the salvation that has come by
the baptism of Jesus and His blood on the Cross. You will not see the
powerful work of the gospel unfolding like dynamite in your life. It is
only when we believe in the Word of God that has come by the gospel of
the water and the Spirit for the remission of sins that we can enjoy all
its blessings. From our Lord’s incarnation on this earth to His
baptism, His death on the Cross, and His resurrection, all these things
were the work of salvation that Jesus did on this earth. The undeniable
Truth is that if we believe in this Jesus who came to us by the water
and the Spirit, we will indeed be born again, reach our salvation, and
live forever. That is what our Lord meant by “heavenly things” when He
said to Nicodemus, “If I have told you earthly things and you do not
believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” (John
3:12).
The
very gospel through which Jesus has saved us from the sins of the world
is the gospel of the water and the Spirit. God has saved you and me
from the sins of the world and delivered us from Satan through the water
and the Spirit, and this is all Jesus’ work of salvation. It is the
grace of God that has made it possible for us to be saved - only if we
believe in the water and the blood as fulfilled by our Lord. So, there
are two types of Grace that Jesus has given to mankind. One is His
universal grace, and the other is His special grace. The universal grace
of the Lord refers to the grace of God that is evident in the bounties
of nature, from the sun to the air to everything else that sustains our
lives on this earth.
This
is the grace that God has bestowed on everyone equally, to the
righteous and sinners alike. In contrast, the special grace of God is
the fact that Jesus has blotted out all our sins by coming to this earth
incarnated in the flesh of man, received baptism from John the Baptist,
and being crucified while shouldering the sins of the world. It is by
believing in this special grace, the salvation that has come by the
water and the Spirit, that we are born again and saved. Hallelujah!
Praise be to the Lord!
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