Questions & Answers
Questions 156b (COD Page 672)
...and the group that call themselves fundamentalists, are these two groups saved?
Now, I don’t know. See, I wouldn’t know how to answer that. Now, “Are these groups saved?” I don’t know.
Explain the difference between the spirit and...
Well, it’s a different question now. Now, “Are these two groups saved?” Let me make that just a little bit more sensible to you, and say, “I don’t know. I wouldn’t know.” Now remember, here is my thoughts, it may be wrong. My thoughts is, that, if a Roman Catholic, or whoever he might be, Methodist, Presbyterian, church of Christ, Lutheran, wherever he is, if he believes on the Lord Jesus Christ and solemnly trusting Him for his salvation, I believe he is saved. But, you see, the Roman Catholic church doesn’t do that. They believe that the church saves them. See? Their–their salvation is in the church. Like this priest was put off the air, here sometime ago, for saying, “There is no other salvation, only in the church, see, the Roman church.” Now, that’s wrong. Salvation is by Jesus Christ. That’s right. Not by the church; but by Christ. Now if he is apostolic, or, yeah, apostolics and fundamentalists now call themselves... Now like a fundamentalist come to me, here sometime ago, and he said to me, said, “You kind of lean Calvinistic, don’t you?” I said, “Well, as long as Calvin is in the Bible, I’m with him.” I said, “I just go with the Bible, and if Calvin stays in the Bible. But he gets off the Bible, then I’ll just go along, believe the Bible.”
He said, “Well,” he said, “I want to say something to you. You told, I’ve heard you say that if a man was once saved, that he could never be lost.”
I said, “That’s exactly what the Scripture says. ‘He has
Eternal Life, and shall never come into condemnation or judgment, but has already passed from death to Life.’” I said,
“That wasn’t me said that. That was Jesus Christ said that.”
He said, “I want to ask you something then.” Said, “Do you believe that Saul was saved?”
I said, “The Saul, the–the king Saul?”
He said, “Yes.”
143 “Why,” I said, “sure!”
He said, “Now remember, he was a prophet.”
144 I said, “Correctly, the Bible said he prophesied with the prophets.” He had a gift of prophecy. He wasn’t a prophet, but he had a gift of prophecy, ’cause he was down there with the prophets when they were prophesying. But we know that Samuel was prophet in that day, so, but Saul was prophesying with the prophets.
He said, “Then if he was a prophet, then he was saved?”
I said, “Absolutely!”
He said, “Then I want to ask you something.” Said, “I want to ask you something.” Said, “And then you say Saul was saved, and he–the Bible said that the Lord departed from him and he become a enemy to God, and he committed suicide, and then say that he was saved?”
145 I said, “And you’re a fundamentalist?” I said, “Brother, you’re just not reading it right; that’s all. You’re not reading what the Scripture said.”
He said, “Well, Saul could not be saved if he become an enemy of God.”
I said, “Saul was saved.”
“Oh,” He said...
146 I said, “He was a prophet, he had to be saved. See? God saved him, and God’s not a Indian giver, as we call it. He don’t...Well, if God give you the Holy Ghost knowing that
He is going to lose you right down here, why, what a foolish thing it would be for Him to give you the Holy Ghost in the first place.”
147 You might impersonate the Holy Ghost and act like you got the Holy Ghost, but if you’ve got the Holy Ghost, God knows your beginning from the end. That’s right! That’s a loose way to run business. God don’t run His like...He’s infinite, He knowed the end from the beginning and knowed everything that’d ever be here. Every fly, or every gnat would ever be on the earth, He knowed all about it before the world ever began. So see, what would He run His business like that for. He doesn’t do that.
148 If you’ve once, if you’ve really got the Holy Ghost, you’re saved eternally. I can prove that through the Scriptures, and we have time after time. But to conserve the time to get these questions, I might say this (you see?), that this fellow said,
“Well, then what would you say about Saul?”
149 I said, “Sure Saul was saved.” I said, “Remember, Saul backslid; I’ll admit that. He backslid and went away from God, because he was greedy. He liked money.” He’d brought up all them sacrifices and things, when Samuel through the Word of God told him to destroy everything. But he even saved the king, and he saved a lot of stuff, and brought it up because...See? Instead of following the Word of God just exactly like It says, you put your own opinion in it; there’s where you backslide.
150 That’s what I think about denominations and things, they backslide, because they don’t follow the Word. And you show them the Word, they turn their back from It, say, “Oh, our church teaches this.” That’s not right, it’s what God said!
151 And Samuel was commissioned to go down there–or Saul was–and destroy everything utterly, “Everything, you destroy it all.” Instead of doing that, he saved some for sacrifice, and he spared the king’s life, and he done everything. And Samuel walked out to him and told him the Spirit of God had departed from him and–and all like that.
152 And Samuel died. And about two years later, well then, Saul had got...The Spirit of God departed from him, but he wasn’t lost. Sure he wasn’t, the anointing went off of him. Now watch, and see if it was now.
153 Saul got so far away from God till when he went to the battle...He started to go to battle. And he was worried about going to battle, and he–he asked the Lord for a dream. The Lord wouldn’t give him a dream. There was no prophets in the land in that day, no prophets. Samuel was a prophet. They had prophesiers, but so forth, but they–he couldn’t get a answer from God no way. He even went down to the Urim Thummim and asked there. And the flash of the lightnings upon the Urim Thummim wouldn’t even answer him. And what did he do? He crawled off into a cave where there was a witch, a fortune-teller. And this witch...He disguised himself like a footman and went down there, and he said, “Would you divine unto me the spirit of Samuel the prophet?” And she said–she said, “Well now, you know what Saul has said.” (She was talking to Saul, but she didn’t know it.) Said, “Saul said all that’s got familiar spirits, he must be killed.” He said, “I’ll protect you from Saul, but divine unto me the spirit of Samuel.” So the witch went into her enchantments, and first thing you know, when she seen Samuel raise up, the spirit of him coming, materializing in front of them, she said, “I see gods rise from the earth.”
154 That’s one of the consolations. Look at old Samuel standing there. He had been dead two years, but there he stood. Not only...He was standing there with his prophet robe on. Not only was he still alive, but he was still a prophet. Hallelujah! She said, “You’ve deceived me.” To the pro-... And Saul said, “Samuel, I don’t know what to do; I’m going to battle tomorrow, and the Spirit’s gone from me.” He said, “I can’t even get a dream from the Lord. And the Urim Thummim won’t speak to me. I’m in a terrible shape.”
155 He said, “Seeing you become an enemy of God,” said, “why have you called me out of my rest?” See? Samuel said that. Said, “Why did you call me from my rest, seeing that you become an enemy to God?” And then he went ahead and told him. He said...But however, he’d tell him the Word of the
Lord. And when he did...Now remember, he’d been dead two years. See? But he said, “I’ll tell you the Word.” He told him the Word of the Lord. Said, “Tomorrow you’re going to fall in the battle, and Jonathan your son is going to fall with you. And,” he said, “by this time tomorrow night you’ll be with me.” If he was lost, so was Samuel the prophet. That’s fundamentalism; you see what’s so-called. See, see? He said, “You’ll be with me tomorrow night by this time.” See? Then if Saul was lost, so was Samuel, ’cause they was both in the same place.
156 No, no! Fundamentalist, you...Fundamentalist so-called, like Church of Christ so-called, and Christian so-called, Christianity so-called. Today because you’re an American you’re supposed to be a Christian, because you’re–you’re an American. See? That–that’s so-called Christianity. But a real Christian is a borned again man of the Spirit and borned again women of the Spirit. That’s really...These others are impersonating, but real Christians are called of God.