The Worldwide Church of God, founded by Herbert Armstrong, has a number of doctrines that make them a minority within the broad Christian spectrum (Saturday Sabbath keeping; dietary laws [e.g., abstinence from pork]), but one of the most unique doctrines they teach is that they do not believe anyone can be regenerated/born again until the Second Coming of Jesus and the resurrection!
David C. Pack, the editor-in-chief of The Real Truth, the magazine of The Restored Church of God which has its roots in the Armstrong movement, wrote the following:
[N]otice Jesus’ statement in [John 3] verse 6: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” How clear! This means it is IMPOSSIBLE for anyone who is a human being—flesh and blood—to have been born again. Those who are born of the flesh, or of a woman, are flesh—period! But those who are born of the Holy Spirit are Spirit. It is that simple . . . Likewise, when an individual is born of the Spirit, other human beings will not be able to see him, because he will be composed of spirit—not flesh and blood. God is a Spirit and cannot be seen; the same will be true of Christians at the resurrection.
We must ask: Of those who claim to be born again, do you see anyone who is a spirit being? No. They are still flesh! Yet they erroneously assume they are born again, despite Jesus’ plain teaching.
When is one truly born again? At the resurrection of the dead, when Christ returns in full power and glory! “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming” (1 Cor. 15:22-23).
Christians are born again “at His coming”—not before!
Now here is what happens at the resurrection: “Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump [the moment of Christ’s return]: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal [body from human birth] must put on immortality [divine body at spirit birth]” (vs. 51-53).
Just one verse prior, Paul stated, “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God” (vs. 50). Paul clearly revealed that those who believe they are born again and in the kingdom of God now, while in the flesh, are in error. Human beings CANNOT inherit the kingdom of God before they have been changed—born again!—into spirit brings. (David C. Pack, The True Jesus Christ: Unknown to Christianity [The Restored Church of God, 2008], 263-64, italics in original, first comment in square bracket added for clarification)
Needless to say, such is based, in part, on a belief in "soul sleep" (see this paper for a refutation of this doctrine). Furthermore, among the many biblical texts that show believers are presently "born again," consider 1 Pet 1:23:
For you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God. (1995 NASB)
The Greek underlying "for you have been born again" is ἀναγεγεννημένοι, the perfect passive nominative plural participle form of ἀναγεννάω which means to "beget again, cause to be born again" (BDAG). In this passage, Peter is speaking to Christians who have already been regenerated.
