—Once Saved‚ Always Saved!7/88DO 2495

1. I finally realised I was really saved & that it wasn't off again, on again, gone again, when I was reading the Gospel one day & came across that verse. Of course, I'd read it many times before, but it just really hit me. In fact I'm sure it's because I had been having doubts & fears because I'd made so many mistakes, I wondered if I was ever going to be able to stay saved!

2. Then I came across that verse: "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life!"—John 3:36. Of course, there are plenty of other good verses besides that one as well. (Maria: In other words, if you've ever asked Jesus into your heart, if you've ever sung that song, "Into My Heart"...)—You have everlasting life! If you've received Jesus, I believe that even if you make mistakes, even commit suicide or murder or whatever, that you will still be saved.—But "raised to everlasting shame & contempt" (Dan.12:2), that's where the difference comes, if you don't repent. Of course, if you repent‚ well‚ I'm sure the Lord will forgive you‚ at least as far as He can, but He still has to make you suffer for your sins.

3. "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. And he that believeth not the Son, shall not see life!"—Jn.3:36. Those who really believe in Jesus & really have faith‚ really believe that He is the Son of God, "confess with their mouth & believe in their heart that God has raised Him from the dead", are saved!—Rom.10:9,10. You just either believe those verses or you don't!

4. People have got to have at least one verse of Scripture to hang onto!—Or, even if they don't know the Scripture, if they believe your word because you told them it says in the Bible that if they'd believe on Jesus & receive Him, they'd be saved, if they really believe that, then the Lord comes in & they are saved!

5. I am a firm believer in Eternal Security! (Maria: If you've ever sincerely prayed that prayer, "Jesus come into my heart", then Jesus is in your heart, there's no question about it, you're saved.) Right!—Just like Techi & David are our children. No matter what they do, they're still our children, right? No matter how bad they are, we'll still love them & we'll still acknowledge them as our children.

6. (Maria: So in a case like Mene, who received Jesus when she was little, she was saved, so she didn't have to get re-saved.) I think she was saved.—I think she just really let the Devil in & it just happened to be worse than with most people. A lot of people have done things that were wrong under temptation, under the inspiration of the Devil. She just went quite a bit further than most people.

7. Apparently, if people are weak & yield their will, it looks like such people can be temporarily controlled by the Devil, if they yield to him. But I don't believe they'll stay that way. I believe that the Lord will eventually deliver them. The Lord lets it happen to them as a punishment for yielding their will to the Devil. But they'll finally come back. The Lord promises He's married to the backslider!—Jer.3:14. There are oodles of verses on it!

8. I'm a firm believer in Eternal Security if they really receive Jesus! But also I'm a firm believer that a lot of people are going to be in everlasting shame & contempt & doing some weeping in Heaven—even if He wipes away their tears!—Rev.21:4. And they'll be way down at the bottom someplace, & maybe never get near the top because they were so bad.—But saved nevertheless!

9. And put this in your pipe & smoke it, saved—even if God has to send them to Purgatory for awhile to purge & purify them! Even according to Catholic doctrine, Purgatory is a temporary thing. Jesus Himself said‚ "They that knew not their Father's will & did things worthy of stripes will be beaten with few stripes, & others that knew their Father's will & did things worthy of stripes will be beaten with many stripes."—Lk.12:47,48. But to both of those there comes an end‚ whether they be few or many. A parent doesn't spank his child forever!

10. I'm a firm believer in Eternal Security, but somebody like Deborah certainly has got a long ways to go! It'll be people like her that'll have to remain in Purgatory for awhile, & afterwards they're certainly not going to be in our part of Heaven, that's for sure, not after all the lies she's told & all the dirt she's spread & all the damage she's done!—No doubt even damage that went as far as keeping people from believing in us, & therefore from believing in the Lord! I wouldn't be surprised if she's damned souls!

11. All of those statements in the Bible that talk about Hell forever & smoke forever & all that stuff, all of those are from the Greek word "aeon", meaning "for an age", for awhile, not absolutely forever. It uses a different word when it talks about the eternity of God's throne & that sort of thing.

12. (Maria: I am completely convinced without any question, without any doubt whatsoever in my mind‚ that Mene was saved a long time ago when she was young.) I believe so! She memorised Scriptures, she used to even preach & win souls ... with Mother Eve, she was a very sweet child! But she finally just let the Devil take over.—But it was not permanent! Look at her now! She's resisted the Devil & gotten rid of it & is now really serving the Lord again!

13. The Lord just said of her that she's feeble-minded‚ weak-minded. Some of those people are weak, & if they're weak-minded, they're probably weak spiritually, & they have a hard time fighting those things. They're feeble–minded, & it says, "Comfort the feeble-minded."—1Thes.5:14.

14. There are lots of people who are not very good Christians‚ but I'd hate to think that all of those church people & Baptists & whatnot who really believe in Eternal Security are all going to Hell just because they don't seem to have the fruits of Salvation. Maybe they won't bear the fruits until the Millennium! Maybe they won't wake up until then when they see it & realise what it means & how much it counts to serve the Lord & witness & win souls etc.

15. Eve once had a vision of those people in the Protestant Center at the World's Fair, that we were like nurses there taking care of all these little kids‚ & the Presbyterians & the Orthodox priests & all those people were sitting on the floor playing with blocks & toys! That's a pretty good picture! Maybe that's about where they'll be at in Heaven! They're just going to be at the bottom & having to get trained from scratch all the way up. Right now they're like little children, that's all they know. They're just playing around with little toys‚ playing around with religion & church & all that.

16. Let's face it, church & churchianity is just a childish game, very childish. Those people are not really working, really serving the Lord, they just come there once a week & put some money in the basket & listen to pretty music & sermons & tickle their ears & go out & live for themselves & their family all week long. They try to be good, that's about all. They might be a little different & there are a lot of things they don't do, they have a religion of dont's, but there is very little that they do do!

17. (Maria: Even our kids in the Family, even a few of our teens who have been real rotters, it's very hard for me to believe that any child who has been in the Family for years is not saved, no matter how bad they've gotten!) Yes, I'm inclined to agree with you by all means. ...

THE PRODIGAL SON!

18. Look at the Prodigal Son, he was an example! No matter where he was, way off in the far country, spending his substance in riotous living, doing everything against the will of his Father, he was still a son! And he eventually came home & he was eventually back in the Father's house. But what was his punishment? (Maria: He said, "Make me as a hired servant."—Luk.15:19.) And he almost was! (See ML #2229.)

19. The older son complained about the Father being so nice to the young son, he said, "I've been with you all this time & faithful, & you put on this big party for that rotter who's wasted everything & comes back with nothing!" But the Father said, "He that was dead is alive again, the lost is found‚ that's why we're rejoicing. But all that I have is yours now!"—Lk.15:20-32. In other words, he was going to get the rewards‚ he was going to get the property, he was going to get the house, the land, the cattle, be the head of the family, everything!

20. And this other lazy lout, this younger son, was going to be like nothing, almost like a hired servant. He would have to work on the farm & never see anything that was actually going to be his. He had to work just like the rest of the servants. He'd lost it all, he'd lost his inheritance, lost his birthright, lost everything!—Well, maybe not his birthright, maybe you can't say that, because his birthright was to be a son, & he was still a son & acknowledged as a son & received by the Father as a son & allowed to live in the Father's house! What better example of salvation can you have than that? But he'd lost all his rewards! He had lost everything but a place in the Father's House & at his table. He'd lost everything but his salvation. That's one of the best examples.

21. The Father said to the older son, "Son, all that I have is thine! It's all yours now, your brother wasted his share away, threw it away, so now it's all yours! But he's still a son, he still can live in the house, work on the farm‚ eat at the table." What he was saying to the older son is, "He is now living in your house, working on your land & eating your food, only by your mercy, that's all!"

22. After years of watching those Holiness people & their fruits & how sad a lot they are, you ought to know, you ought to remember, they never could be sure of their salvation & were up & down all the time‚ wondering if they're going to be saved or not, whether they're going to make it. (Maria: But you know they were saved because they asked the Lord to come into their heart so many times!—Ha!) Yes, of course!

23. They were saved but they were constantly doubting their salvation because they didn't believe the Scripture like they should have! And boy, they were hard to convince, I'll tell you! They were just as hard to convince that they were saved as the Baptists were for the Holiness people to try to convince that they weren't saved! (Maria: If anybody was saved they sure were because they asked for it so many times!) Every day, all day, "Lord‚ please keep me saved!" (Maria: They got "re–saved" so many times, every time they went down to the altar they got another good dose.) Every time there was another evangelist‚ everybody in the church got saved again!—Ha!

24. Well‚ I'm convinced that once saved, always saved! I'm convinced of Eternal Salvation, Eternal Security, because there are so many verses about it! The Holiness people try to use other verses to convince you that you're not secure & you can fall from grace & all this sort of thing. Well, you may fall from grace out of the Father's favour like the Prodigal Son did, but you didn't fall out of God's Family! You didn't fall out of being a son!

"EVERLASTING SHAME & CONTEMPT!"

25. The Holiness people always say, "Well, that means that you're teaching that you can go out & live like the Devil & still go to Heaven!" And I have said to them, "Well, yes, I've known some people like that, but they'll lose all their rewards & they'll be in shame & contempt forever in Eternity that they didn't do their job, all the good things they didn't do & all the bad things they did do!" Whew!

26. Where is Deborah going to be in the Holy City?—Somewhere way down on the bottom maybe amongst the pots & pans, or a scullery maid or shining shoes! Wouldn't that be a terrible punishment for her to have to be my slave & wait on me hand & foot? (Maria: Most people wouldn't think that was such a punishment, you'd better think of a better example than that!—Ha! They'd think that's the top, not the bottom! I do!) I mean when she's hated me so & looked down on me so & smeared me so & done me so much evil, how could she have the nerve to even shine my shoes! She should be so ashamed of herself, I think she'd be ashamed to face me. I think that would be almost the worst punishment of it all!

27. I used to think about that when I was naughty, "Boy, I don't want to die this way & face the Lord right now! I would be so ashamed, I wouldn't want to see the Lord!" Remember when you thought things like that? "I wouldn't want to get caught this way & die this way & have to go see the Lord in this shape!" Well, I didn't doubt that I was going to see the Lord, but I was a bit ashamed to see Him in that condition right then.

28. Think about my sister. She was saved & baptised with the Holy Spirit, & yet she hated my guts! I don't know how she was when she died, but the last I ever heard from her, she cussed me out & said I was a false prophet who was leading people astray! She just ranted & raved against me! Think of all the other Christians who've said the same thing about us, think of your own parents who have as good as cursed us & won't have anything to do with us & are ashamed of you for being in the Family. But you know good & well they're saved! And I know my sister was saved, & I think she was very ashamed when she had to go to Heaven not long ago & saw the truth! Amen, Ginny, I'm sure you know better now! Amen? PTL! Amen, I'm sure she knows better now & she's going to be sorry for all Eternity!

29. I'm not sure the Lord is going to wipe away all that kind of sorrow, because He says that they'll be ashamed‚ "raised to everlasting shame & contempt!"—Dan.12:2. It looks like they're going to be ashamed for all Eternity! He may wipe away tears & sorrows & they'll be thankful they're even There, but they can't undo the past‚ they can't undo all the damage they've done. They're bound to be sorry about that, to be ashamed & held in contempt by others that they did what they did, that they caused us so much trouble.

30. ... [Deborah] really did seem to be saved & love the Lord. But she was a very rebellious, cantankerous‚ disobedient child just like her Mother, only worse! (Maria: But you don't question that her Mother was saved.) No. (Maria: I mean there's just no way that they haven't been saved.) They're just bad children, but they're still children.

31. The Prodigal Son was disinherited! The only thing he still had a right to was being a son, he could come home & see the Father & stay overnight in the guest room or whatever, & had a party at his table. But I'm sure every meal was not a party & he probably sat there ashamed at every meal thinking how he let his Father down, wasted his goods & squandered away part of the inheritance & lost everything—except his seat at the table.

32. Who knows? Maybe he sat out in the pig sty or something. It was up to the brother to do with him whatever he wanted to do because the house, property‚ fortune & everything was his. The Father said, "All that I have is thine, Son." He was just as good as saying, "Don't forbid me this pleasure & this thankfulness to be happy & glad that my son has at least come home, come back. He's still a son & he still recognises me as his Father." Right? So there you are!

33. There are plenty of Scriptures on it! But that's the one that I was finally convinced that I was saved on: "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life!" But goodness gracious, the Lord prophesied of me before I was born, & named me & told my Mother what I'd be & everything. And I used to testify that I must have been born twice at the same time because I can never remember being born again, that I'd always loved & believed in the Lord, & I think I did from the time I was a child, I understood the Words & the message about Jesus.

34. (Maria: A similar question of our teens might be, "Well, I don't remember when I actually asked Jesus into my heart. So since I'm a bad teen, maybe I didn't.") Well then, just do it right now! (Maria: Yes, but in spite of the fact that they don't remember, if they've grown up in the Family‚ it's almost 100% sure they've been saved.) If their Mother & Father remember when they did it, they don't necessarily have to remember it. (Maria: I don't remember when I did it.) I don't remember when I did it either, but I'm sure I'm saved! (Maria: So that shouldn't be a problem for them, because they couldn't have possibly gotten this far in the Family without being saved! But I agree that if they have any doubts they should immediately ask Jesus to enter their life.)

35. Most of our children especially are saved at a very young age‚ & they're not likely to remember it at all. Ask David or Techi, I wonder if they can even remember when they were saved! But you know there's a time when some of our people who took care of them can remember when they were saved‚ & I bet you Sara can remember. (Maria: Even if nobody can remember, I still know they are saved. They couldn't have gotten this far in the Family without being saved. I mean that's our whole message: Receive Jesus!) You know they're saved!

36. Some may not be very good children, & some of our teens may be very bad teens‚ but I even believe those backsliders that have gone back to the System, when they get enough of the hog-wallow & the husks & the mud & the hogshit of the Pit, I believe most of them will actually come back. When they've had their fill, & see that the System is not what it's cracked up to be by some of its proponents, they'll be back! (Maria: We've had quite a few come back already.) Yes, & even if they never come back to the Family, I believe they're still saved & will come back to the Lord. And even if they never seem to come back to the Lord, when they die, the Lord will take them, even if He has to kill their body to save the soul!—1Cor.5:5.

37. One thing I'm sure of, & that's that you're saved, but sometimes I wonder about me, I'm so naughty! (Maria: Honey, come on!) No‚ I'm only kidding, I don't think I ever really doubted that I'm saved. (Maria: See, that's an example of how I have to tell people sometimes, "Well, Grandpa goes a little overboard sometimes, he sort of exaggerates in some of his statements that so–&-so must not have been saved. He didn't really think that!")

38. Well, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that, because I don't think I've ever doubted my salvation.—Except when some of those "eternal insecurity" people got ahold of me when I was young & began throwing all kinds of verses up to me with their crazy misinterpretations that they said proved that you couldn't be saved for sure & you couldn't really know unless you're good & behaved & obeyed & did everything, unless you were a saint, a sinless saint, & you'd had "the perfect work of grace" done upon you, 'cause that's what saves you eternally‚ so they say. They do believe in a sort of eternal security, you know‚ sanctified, holy & all that.

39. When my Mother was a little girl about 12 & was visiting in the home of her Great Aunt Amanda, she was telling my Mother that she was a sinless saint, she had reached sinless perfection & she could not sin, it was impossible for her to sin, because she had that "third work of grace"‚ whatever that was. And my Mother looked at her with great awe to think that she was a sinless saint, she couldn't sin! Because my Mother knew she was often doing naughty things‚ & she was kind of wondering whether she could be saved. But here's this saved, holy sanctified, sinless, "couldn't sin" Great Aunt Amanda‚ & she just looked at her with great awe!—Until the next week she threw a flat iron at Uncle John!

40. Brother Brown at Valley Farms was one who believed in that business of sinless perfection, that he was holy sanctified. I said, "Well, why then do you pray the Lord's Prayer, 'Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive others'?" He said, "Well, a trespass is not a sin, a trespass is more like a mistake." I said‚ "Well, then why does it say in the other Gospel where the same prayer is translated, 'Forgive us our sins'?" (Maria: He didn't have any answer to that one, huh?) He said, "Well, I still think it just means mistakes", that he couldn't sin. Because according to their doctrine, if you sinned at all, you were lost again forever!

ETERNAL SECURITY SCRIPTURES!

John 3:36: He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: & he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

John 10:28,29: And I give unto them eternal life; & they shall never perish‚ neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all; & no man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand.

John 6:37: All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me; & him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.

Hebrews 13:5b: I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

1John 5:13: These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, & that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

2Tim.2:13: If we believe not, yet He abideth faithful: He cannot deny Himself.

Psa.37:24: Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with His hand.

1Pet.1:5: Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto Salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

SHAME FOR SHAMERS!

Daniel 12:1-2: Everyone that shall be found written in the Book (of Life). And many of them that sleep in the dust of the Earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, & some to shame & everlasting contempt.

Mark 8:38: Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of Me & of My Words in this adulterous & sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when He cometh in the glory of His Father with the holy Angels.

1John 2:28: And now‚ little children, abide in Him; that, when He shall appear, we may have confidence, & not be ashamed before Him at His coming!

(—AMEN! GBAKY!)

Copyright (c) 1997 by The Family