15:1 And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.

2 When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question.

3 And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles: and they caused great joy unto all the brethren.

4 And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them.

5 But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.

Now, chapter 15 is what we call the council at Jerusalem, although the word “council” doesn’t occur anywhere in the text. Now, you might better call it the “assembly” or the “meeting,” because “council” has a bad connotation in the New Testament.

But this is a meeting to decide the issues of salvation. Up to here, they’ve gone progressively from baptismal regeneration to laying on of hands to salvation by faith — and they’re preaching salvation by faith — but it has never been solidified. It’s never been concrete. Nobody yet has put in a formal statement what a man has to do get saved.

Peter’s getting ready to preach, “Repent and be buptized” — the Lord interrupts the message. Old Philip jumps in the chariot and runs into blood atonement by accident. Acts chapter 13, Paul’s preaching salvation by grace through faith to a bunch of Gentiles, and back there in Jerusalem they hadn’t even heard about it.

So there has to be a meeting to decide how is a man saved. And Acts chapter 15 determines how a man is to be saved. And Acts chapter 15 is the one chapter you’ll never hear a Pentecostal or a Campbellite preach on if you listen to him for 130 years. Because Acts chapter 15 settles two problems. The first one is in verse 1. And the second one is in verse 5.

Now, the problem in verse 1 is, “Does a man have to do anything to be saved?” Is that in verse 1? Now, in verse 5, does a man have to do anything to stay saved? Those are the two problems.

The first bunch come up in verse 1: “Certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except...” that is, unless “...ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.” There’s works to get saved, see?

All right, now, verse 5: “But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed,...” they’re already saved! “...saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.” There’s a bunch who think you have to do it to stay saved!

So, the question they’re going to gather to discuss is, one, does a man have to do anything to get save? And, number two, does a man have to do anything to stay saved? That’s what they’re going to discuss.

And that’s why no Campbellite or Roman Catholic has ever preached on that chapter, and never will. They’re always messing around in Acts chapter 2 and Acts chapter 19 and Acts chapter 10. You’ll never find them in Acts chapter 15. And the reason why is, in Acts chapter 15 — look who makes this decision! Boy, you talk about authority! Look at this decision, verse 6: “The apostles and elders.” Verse 23: “The apostles and elders and brethren.” Verse 26: “Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus.” Verse 28: “The Holy Ghost, and ... us.” Now, you talk about authority, man! You talk about a papal and cyclical letter! Look at thing there! That’s the official banner of the apostles and the Holy Spirit determining New Testament doctrine. And that’s why no Campbellite or Pentecostal will touch that chapter with a ten-foot pole, cause they’re a bunch of heretics.

QUESTION: One of them said to me I’ll give you a hundred dollars if you can show me where a man gets saved by faith without baptism. And I took him right to Acts 15.

ANSWER: Didn’t give you a hundred dollars? Why, that dirty crook! It’s 15:11. 15:11. There it is, right there. 15:11. And look who is saying it. The guy who said that is the man who said, “Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.” He’s come a long way, hasn’t he?

So, they’re always fooling around with Simon Peter in Acts chapter 2; they don’t like to come over Acts chapter 15. Some folks like to start with the Acts, but they quit “acting.” You’d better go to Heaven in Acts 15 rather than go to Hell in Acts 2.

All right, Acts 15:1: “And certain men which came down from Judaea...” there’s your Judaizers “...taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension...” there’s an argument “...and disputation...” they’re fighting about it! “...with them.” See, Paul and Barnabas, they’d been preaching salvation by grace.

“They determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question.” Well, the apostles and elders were in Judaea.

“And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phenice and Samaria.”

QUESTION: The letter to Corinthians — the second letter — was it wrote about this time?

ANSWER: No, it’s a little bit later.

All right, now they’re coming south. They’re coming down the coast through Phoenicia to Tyre and Sidon and down through Samaria to Judaea, “...declaring the conversion of the Gentiles: and they caused great joy unto all the brethren.” Now, Gentiles are getting saved right and left.

“And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them.” Now, that’s the New Testament pattern. The missionary goes out and reports back to the home church. When he comes back to the home church, he tells them what he’s been doing. He said, “We went over here, and we did this, and we did that, and we had this convert, and we had this place here, and we had our brains knocked out over here,” so forth and so on — that’s how it’s done.

“And declared all things that God had done with them. But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed,...” there’s saved Pharisees “...saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.” Now, those are the two questions that have plagued the church ever since the New Testament was written. And why the leaders of the church have never found Acts 15 in their Bible is more than I can understand. I mean, the Roman Catholic Church, with more than 45 million members, never got the problem settled. The Methodist Church, with more than five million members, never got the problem settled. The Episcopal Church, with more than seven million members, never got the problem settled. And the Church of God and the Assembly of God and the Pentecostal and the Charismatics and the Nazarenes and the Wesleyan Methodists never did get the thing settled. And it’s settled clear back here — in Acts chapter 15 — settled! Isn’t any question about it. Now, here they settled it.

15:6 And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter.

7 And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.

8 And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us;

9 And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.

10 Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?

11 But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.

12 Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them.

13 And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me:

14 Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name.

15 And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written,

16 After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up:

17 That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.

18 Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.

19 Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God:

20 But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.

21 For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.

Verse 6: “And the apostles and elders...” now, what more authority do you want? “...came together for to consider of this matter. And when there had been much disputing...” I’d like to have been there and had a tape recording of that. I could see Peter and James and John and Barnabas and Titus and that bunch argued — well, James wasn’t there; he had his head cut off — but James was the brother of Jesus, you know — all that bunch arguing and saying, “Well, it’s good to say,” one guy quoting, “Yeah, what about David? He said, ‘Take not thy holy Spirit from me’?”

Some guy said, “Well, that’s Saul. Saul lost the...” you know.

All that kind of stuff went on. They probably argued three or four days.

QUESTION: They argued in Hebrew, yeah?

ANSWER: Probably, yeah. Maybe Greek. Spoken language, Greek.

“And when there was much disputation, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth...” Acts 10 “...should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.” Acts 10 — that’s what he’s talking about.

“And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us.” Now, that brings up the question, How did Peter get the Holy Ghost? Not by being baptized in the name of Jesus for the remission of sins! And if you want to mess a Campbellite up, ask him why no apostle was ever baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. There isn’t one apostle who was ever baptized according to Acts 2:38 — not a man! And they all got the Holy Spirit before Acts 2:38. Ask him to tell you about that. Make him talk.

I know when you get that, he’ll say, “Well, in Matthew 28,” — well, shut up, you fool, and I don’t let him say it. “Now, listen, stupid, just shut your mouth and let’s try again. Now, they’re in Acts 2:38. Would you tell me why no apostle was ever baptized according to Acts 2:38?”

“Well, the Scriptures say in 1 Peter 3 — “

“Now, wait a minute, stupid! I know you’re stupid. I know you’re dumb and ignorant and stupid. But, I mean, just get your wits, just a minute, just don’t be a, you know, jackass all your life. Just, kinda get ahold of yourself now. Careful, now! Careful, now! Now, I’m going to give you one more chance. And then I’m very busy, I’ve got to go. Now, one more time — “

And then, if he starts, say, “Bye-bye!” Leave him!

No apostle is ever baptized according to Acts 2:38. They all got the Holy Spirit by grace through faith. The Holy Spirit came on them at Pentecost, right? Acts 2? What were they doing? They were sitting. They were sitting. They weren’t doing anything.

Verse 9: “And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by...” water. See? “Purifying their hearts by...” what? “Faith.” Faith! Paul says in Galatians 3, “The Gentiles receive the promise of the Spirit by faith.”

“Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers —” Old Testament saints “— nor we —” the disciples “— were able to bear?”

Now, here it comes. This is Peter the prince of the apostles talking. This is the first pope. “We believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.” PERIOD! Don’t let some dumb Stamite or Bullingerite tell you Peter’s still preaching Acts 2:38, and Paul’s going on preaching one gospel to Gentiles, and Peter’s preaching another gospel to Jews. Peter says a man is saved by grace — PERIOD! No baptism to it! He’s not preaching baptismal regeneration in 1 Peter chapter 3:21. Simon Peter said that twenty years before he wrote 1 Peter chapter 3:21. You think baptism has anything to do with your regeneration? He said, “We believe through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.”

Now, if Peter was the “first pope,” wouldn’t you think some pope would find that verse?

Twelve: “Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them. And after they had held their peace,...” Now, there are three witnesses to salvation by grace — Peter, Barnabas and Paul. In the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established. Peter, Barnabas and Paul say a man is saved by grace through faith, plus nothing.

“And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me: Simeon —” that’s Peter “— hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, —” that’s Acts 10 “— to take out of them a people for his name. And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written, After this —” after God takes out from the Gentiles a people for his name.

“After this.” There’s a reference to the Church Age. “After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: That the residue —” here’s the Millennium “— of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles.” Now, look at that. Two calling out of the Gentiles. These hyper-dispensationalists never could get verse 14 right for love nor money. Verse 14 says that He first visited the Gentiles. Sixteen, then He comes back, and then in 17 the Gentiles get saved in the Millennium. There are two callings out in that chapter.

All right, now he says in 14, “Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name.” There’s a remnant. “And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written, After this —” after they were taken out for His name “— I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David —” Second Advent “— which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up.” Temple’s going to be rebuilt.

“That the residue of men —” what’s left after the Tribulation “— might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.”

Let’s go back to Isaiah 2 and see about the Gentiles in the Millennium. Isaiah chapter 2 in one hand, Isaiah 11 in the other. All the Gentiles are going to know about the Lord. All right, Isaiah chapter 2. Isaiah 2:2: “It shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations —” OH! “All nations.” “Nations” See the Gentiles? “All nations shall flow unto it.” Verse 4: “And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people.” Verse 3: “And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.”

Isaiah chapter 11. Isaiah chapter 11, verse 9. Isaiah chapter 11, verse 9. Isaiah 11:9: “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth —” there’s the whole thing “— for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.”

All right, back to Acts chapter 15. Then the Gentiles are getting saved before the Second Advent and after the Second Advent.

Fifteen, verse 18: “Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.” Which is an admission on his part that it could have gone either way in Acts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. And the Lord knew which way it was going to go, and made ways to work it out — foreknowledge.

“Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. Wherefore my sentence is,...” So we say a judge passed the sentence — see that? “Wherefore my sentence...” What is a sentence? It’s just a bunch of words put together. But the King James says, “My sentence.” So this day we say, “The judge sentenced him,” or, “He passed sentence” or “gave sentence.”

“Wherefore my sentence is.” This is the verdict. “Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God: But —” now here’s the rules: “We write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols.” Idolatry is out for a Christian. “And from fornication.” Fornication is out for a Christian. “And from things strangled.” That is, animals killed improperly because the blood is left in them. “And from blood.” Which can be either from eating blood or drinking blood, or it can be from murder, from killing.

Now, those are the rules. And, when these rules are given out, they’re not given out to get saved or to stay saved. Look at verse 29: “That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves,...” what? “Ye shall do well.” That’s it. He didn’t say if you kept yourselves from those things you’d be saved. And he didn’t say if you kept yourselves from those things you’d stay saved. He said, “You’ll do well.” You’ll do well.

All right the main sentence is that there are no rules for Christian conduct in regards to getting saved and staying saved. Their rule is, the only rules that are for Christian conduct are for a testimony and to stay in good health and prosper — you’ll do well. But they’re not connected with salvation.

QUESTION: What does he mean by “things strangled”?

ANSWER: Well, the idea is, if you eat an animal that’s been strangled, the blood is still in it, because the blood hasn’t been led out of it. When an animal is strangled, he dies with the blood in him, and the blood stays in him. And then, when you eat the meat, you’re eating flesh with the blood.

QUESTION: We do that a lot nowadays, don’t we?

ANSWER: I imagine we do. I don’t know enough about a packing house to know how it’s done.

QUESTION: What about shooting ‘em?

ANSWER: Well, that’s just about as bad.

QUESTION: They say when they butcher a cow, they roll him. And the hide is taken off, then his tongue, then it’s bled.

ANSWER: Then it’s bled? After its tongue? Well, then, everybody in the cotton-pickin’ country is violating the Book. I used to have a friend that worked in a packing house with a big canvas. And he told me, “If you ever worked in a meat packing plant, in that line, that you would be a vegetarian.” And he worked there! Ha! Ha! And he told me about taking those sheep and things, and the stockyards in Kansas City, they used to — they probably don’t do this any more — but the guy would walk across these tops of the cattle with a twelve-pound sledgehammer and hit ‘em on the head, and knock ‘em unconscious, and then haul ‘em up by the feet. They weren’t shot. And the goats and sheep followed a black goat named Judas up in the chute, and they’d pull them in by their hind feet. And the guy would stand there with a butcher knife about that long, and with one cut across the throat, and the thing going on down the assembly line bleeding to death. Boy, you talk about guys there, you know, bring up a cup with them, and get some of that blood and drink it. And talked about guys there, you know, with the blood and guts spilled the wrong way, and they’re standing, their ankles and feet in the floor, squishing around there. Many told me about how they’d take all that was left and mash it up — all of it — I mean, nothing wasted. I mean, nothing wasted, man! And grind the whole thing up, and then you’d buy your bologna — that’s what you’d get!

QUESTION: That verse that talks about eating blood, does that apply to Catholics?

ANSWER: Yeah! Sure! Sure, the Catholic — if that wine is turning into Christ’s blood, the Roman Catholic is a cannabal. And he has violated three testaments. He has violated before the law, where Genesis chapter 9 says not to eat the flesh with the blood. He’s violated the law, Leviticus 17, the life of the flesh is in the blood. And he’s violated grace, Acts 15 — busted all three of them. That thing — literal blood? It can’t be literal blood — no way in the world!

QUESTION: Didn’t they used to eat real red, rare meat?

ANSWER: You’re going to take a little blood. Of course, Japheth, you know, like I say, your ancestors, they’re rough, man! That German blood pudding, you know — that stuff is — you take those Europeans, they’re just, they’re the cannibals.

QUESTION: That’s pretty bad!

ANSWER: Yeah, but the way some of you eat steak, it’s just about out, too. I’d seen many a steak, you know, you know, it was sorely wounded, you know.

QUESTION: Is there any connection with people not eating meat being into spiritism?

ANSWER: Yeah, there’s a connection. Nearly all people who are spiritists and spiritual who try to fool around with spiritism and that stuff are vegetarians. But their reasons for not eating is, in the first place, the meat makes you kind of carnal, supposedly, where the high protein activates the body. So a vegetarian diet would make you less carnal. Which may be true, physically.

QUESTION: Wouldn’t it make you passive?

ANSWER: It would tend to make you passive, yes. And the, but then, finally, all of them eventually have convictions about eating animals because they think animals have something to do with God, and something to do with — they get kind of Hindu. They get where they’re kind of afraid, you know, to squash the cockroach.

QUESTION: The fundamentalists seem to be jumping on this vegetarian bandwagon. All the cults and Charismatics are moving along with it too. Is there some connection there?

ANSWER: Well, it’s a half-truth. Now, all these things are half-truths. There’s no clear-cut line there. For example, now I’ll show you what I mean. Probably the man most responsible for that stuff among fundaentalists was Lester Roloff. Now, he’s probably more responsible for the fundamentalists in that approach than anybody. But, you’ve got to take this consideration. Roloff was very sick and weakly when he was a young man going to school, and in very bad health, and he learned to take care of himself by exercise, eating and drinking right, and maintaining health when he ordinarily would have had very poor health. And with the strain he’s under — he’s under a strain — and the load he carries, it’s a wonder he doesn’t have bleeding ulcers and isn’t dead. And so he’s had to be careful. And he’s had to be real careful. And what he’s giving is a standard health food store approach, and any health food store will tell you the same thing. I ran into this stuff back in 19 — oh, 50 or 60 someplace — before I ever knew who Roloff was. I mean wheat germ, you know, and buttermilk, all that stuff. You learn that stuff.

And the half-truth is, that in America, people, most all people in America are overweight. Now, going to school you’ll have a chance to reduce! But the average man in America is twenty pounds overweight. Now, I’m eight. I ought to weigh 172. I weigh 180. I ought to get down. Every year, I’m trying to get down there; haven’t got down there yet.

But you take, when you start getting overweight everything goes to pieces. All right now, but the truth in it is, if you eat bad, don’t get enough exercise, it’s bad for you, and your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, then you start — that’s preaching material. Because man who has defiled the temple of God, which temple is holy, him shall God destroy. Then, if you’re not taking care of yourself — Paul said, “I keep my body and bring it under subjection” — if you’re not taking care of it, then it does come under the heading of sin. See? Because the body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, we have this treasure in earthen vessels. So you’re obligated to take care of it. But, now, when you start putting out legal rules on how to take care of it, then you have problems.

Now, for example, I preach all over the country. And, preaching all over the country, I hit every kind of thing you can imagine. And, when a guy has a problem, I can right away give him information that he couldn’t get in a magazine or newspaper because he’s down in every end of the country, where they don’t print it. But, if you’re having hardening of the arteries, or high blood pressure, if you go down to Tampa and St. Pete — and that’s where everybody is, with hardening of the arteries and high blood pressure — every Yankee from north of Kentucky, from Montana to New England — is down in Tampa and St. Pete. Now, what are they doing down there? They’re drinking celery juice. There’s celery juice in every other corner, going into those cities. Now, everybody knows that juice is good for you. But what’s celery juice? See? Now, when those fellows start messing around here and there, there’s fiber in that, gets in, gets in the blood stream, and that opens arteries and that opens veins.

Now, you think about this. Just practical things. Take deer meat. Soak it in vinegar overnight. Take the wild taste out of it. Try it. Catch you a bonita. Cut the tail off and leave it in the boat. Bring it back home and cut it up in steak, soak it up in vinegar two days — and you can eat it. Nobody eats bonita! Nobody eats bonita. If you soak that stuff in vinegar, that stuff will go into your icebox red-brown; it’ll come out white. It’ll come out white meat.

Now, what’s going on there? Vinegar — whatever vinegar is — it thins blood. Now, I mean, I’m not going to tell you to start drinking vinegar, see? But, my blood is so thin, man, that when it gets below 70 degrees, I’ll start getting cold. I’ll wear a blanket all summer without the air conditioning. I’ll put the blanket on without the air conditioning. But I don’t know how much vinegar I take in a week — maybe a quart in a week. Well, you take the vinegar on salads, and the vinegar on those jalapena peppers, and the vinegar in pepper sauce, all that stuff together, see, it’s just vinegar — my blood is like water.

Now, suppose I said to you, I said this; I said, “Now, you’ve got to start drinking vinegar.” All right, you drink a lot of vinegar, you go over there in the spa, and you go into the sauna, and you go into the whirlpool, and you get into the whirlpool, and you pass out, and your heart stops, and you die. See?

Now, I’ll go down to land on Tampa and St. Pete in a meeting. I’ve got a car. I’ll go into a spa down there. They got what they call a polar bath in there; it’s about 50 degrees. I’ll go in and start; those guys say, “Don’t go in! No way, man! You’re over 50, man! You’ll have a heart attack. We don’t carry insurance! blah blah blah blah,” you know, that stuff. No difference to me, I could care less, man. I get in that thing, and to me it’s just like getting plugged into 220 volts. ZOOM, man! Boy, I get awake, man! The thing is, my blood is just vinegar. I get in that cold thing, and it thickens, see?

Now, you take some Yankee coming down here, been working up north in Michigan about thirty, forty years, come down and jump in that polar bath there. SLAP! Heart stop just like that! Folks up north — they’re blood’s thick. Now, how do you know they’re thick? You can tell by the coffee and tea they drink. Now, if anything, you can’t legalize that thing; you can’t say, “Your tea’s too thick; your tea’s too thin.” It’s just that, when you get up there and they give you tea, it’s like radiator cleaner. And they serve you that stuff with one lump of ice in it. Yeah, it’s ice, you get one lump of ice in there. I take that thing, and I say to the waitress, “Bring me three glasses of ice.” Then I pour it out and I make me three glasses out of one glass.

Now, you take that diet up there. It’s white bread. See, starch. Pizza. It’s starch. Potatoes — it’s starch. Macaroni — it’s starch. It’s starch, starch, starch, starch! Then, it’s pork and beef, pork and beef, pork and beef, pork and beef, pork and beef. No fish, no chicken. When you find the fish, it’s that patty-cake, iced, refrigerated square that tastes like sawdust. And when you find that chicken, it’s got a batter on the outside just like metal. And when you cut that thing open, it’s raw inside, and lying in a deep freeze six months. Got a bad smell to it. I mean, not all of them — most of them.

Now, you can’t take a Northerner and say, “Now, you’ve got to eat this, and not eat that.” Because, everytime you get legalistic, you’re telling people how to handle stuff in their body, and their body doesn’t run like your body runs.

Now, for example, some of you, I’ll bet you drink coffee tonight. Back here, you drink coffee tonight at ten o’clock — wouldn’t keep you awake. How many? Let me see your hands! I can’t even imagine that! I can’t even imagine it, man. When I drink a cup of coffee at ten o’clock at night, I’m good till one o’clock in the morning. If I drink it at twelve o’clock, I’m good till five in the morning. Just anytime. Anytime.

Now, there are certain things — now, you fellows are young. Your bodies are going to burn the stuff up, see? A guy gets up there and says, “Don’t eat this. Eat this. Don’t eat that. Don’t eat” — you can’t do that for anything. The age is different, see?

Now, for example, it doesn’t hurt any of you folks to eat white of eggs. Or eat sugar and get some energy. Or I suppose even get salt. But, you take, when a person has trouble with high blood pressure, hardening of the arteries, you know what a health doctor will do, or a neuropath, one of those fellows, you know what he’ll say? I’ve heard ‘em say this a dozen times. I’ve never heard a medical doctor say it yet; when you’re in the hospital, they’ll put you on a diet and take you off everything white. If it’s white, it goes. Brown sugar — not white sugar. Sweet potatoes — not white potatoes. Rye bread — not white bread. Buttermilk — not white milk. No vanilla ice cream. Dark meat — no white meat. Eat the yolk out of the egg — don’t eat the white of the egg. See? No someone won’t even get that down; he’s probably just on raw vegetables and fruit juices.

But, you can’t put a guy nineteen or twenty or twenty-one years old on raw vegetables and fruit juices. They’re diggin’ ditches for a living, man! You can’t do that! I mean, it might ought to do well for a 55-year-old man flying down the country in an airplane, you know, staying in a motel room. But good night, man! You think he’s lying down here, fixing these telephone things here, at ten below zero, and fifteen, going to get by all day on raw fruit juice and raw vegetables? They ain’t gonna make it. Man, you got to have some meat!

QUESTION: They keep telling us we’ve got to quit things, you know — get back to the land.

ANSWER: You can’t get back to the land! No, and once you start putting that stuff on, you’re putting food bills on them they can’t buy. That stuff at the food stores is expensive, man! They’d say, “Get back to the land, get back to the land.” What will you do when you get back to the land? It’ll all polluted with insecticides. Then, you get into “natural gardening,” “natural fertilizer,” “compost pile.” I’ve been through all of that. Well, who can afford to have his own compost pile. I mean, go down and take Cordova Park and Norwood and Belvedere. And have each one of them plow a half-acre land with a compost pile and natural, organic minerals. They can’t do it!

I’ll tell you what you do. Turn to 1 Timothy. I’ll show you what you do. First Timothy 4. Take no thought what you shall eat or what you shall drink, for all things the Gentiles seek. First Timothy 4. Verse 4: “For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving.” So, you take the old preservatives and ask God to bless it.

QUESTION: What about if we run to the law?

ANSWER: If we run to the law? Yeah, it might be. Yeah, if we’re under the law, it might be. That might be equivalent to drinking blood, if it gets into your blood stream.

QUESTION: If you’re eating something that’s bad for you, you couldn’t pray that prayer over it, could you?

ANSWER: Well, it depends whether or not you can give thanks with a clear conscience. Roloff says you’d just as soon give a child poison if you give him milk. When I went to school where you’re sittin’, that meal, six days a week, was rice with corned salmon or corned tuna fish, and Tobasco and soy sauce put over it. Now, that was it, brother! You had to live off that.

Now, like I say, people are different. I had a meeting one time with Brother Roloff, and we always had a good time. I’ve been in three Bible conferences with him, and we always had a good time. He’s a German; he doesn’t take any argument, you know. But I kind of kid him, you know. I’ll go out and eat with him, and sit down and he’ll order, you know, it’s always an old salad with no dressing on it, you know, no salt and no pepper. And I’ll order me, you know, a double big slop of hot dog and pack it with mustard, stuff all over it, you know.

We ate one time at Hugh Pyle’s house, and Brother Roloff was going to fix the noon meal, and he fixed an avocado salad, and he ground it up in his grinder, you know, and whooped that thing in there. Looked like something somebody dropped on the back porch! Ha! Ha! It was rough looking, man! It was rough looking.

But, you talk about now, you talk about what you can thank God for before you eat. I’ve got to eat in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and Buffalo and Rochester and Cleveland and Detroit and Cincinati and Dayton and Orlando and St. Petersburg and Tampa and Jacksonville and Memphis and San Antonio and Fort Worth and Los Angeles. Now, if the Lord will call you to be an evangelist, you’re going to have to have a good stomach. And the Lord blessed me where I can sit down at the table and bow my head and ask the blessing on anything they put in front of me. And I eat it with a clear conscience — whether I like it or not.

QUESTION: You’ll sit down and eat with Brother Roloff and do that in front of him, and then sit down and eat fish with a Catholic on Friday! Ha! Ha!

ANSWER {raucous laughter throughout the class}: Well, you know, Brother Roloff is a little stronger in the faith than a Catholic! I tell them, I ask them, when I go out in a meeting, they say, “What do you like to eat?” I’ll say, “Anthing that doesn’t move before I stick it!”

You know, some people — discussing people — there are some people who can eat ice cream and cake and pie and cookies and never gain any weight. Yeah, but you’re young. My father-in-law is, you know, up in years, and he can sit down and eat shakes and lemon maringue pie and cheesecake and just throw that stuff down and never put on a pound, man! That’s disgusting, isn’t it? Ha! Ha!

All right, Acts chapter 15, coming back to verse 21: “For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.” Now, you see why he told them to do it. He told them to do it for testimony’s sake. You’re to do it because, in 21, Moses is still read and preached all over Europe and all over Asia Minor, and that’s a testimony to the unsaved Jew. So that defines Christian conduct. Christian conduct is to get along well with the Lord and to get along well as a testimony to others; that’s what it’s for. It has nothing to do with your salvation — before or after.

15:22 Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren:

23 And they wrote letters by them after this manner; The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia:

24 Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment:

25 It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,

26 Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

27 We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth.

28 For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things;

29 That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.

30 So when they were dismissed, they came to Antioch: and when they had gathered the multitude together, they delivered the epistle:

31 Which when they had read, they rejoiced for the consolation.

32 And Judas and Silas, being prophets also themselves, exhorted the brethren with many words, and confirmed them.

33 And after they had tarried there a space, they were let go in peace from the brethren unto the apostles.

34 Notwithstanding it pleased Silas to abide there still.

35 Paul also and Barnabas continued in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also.

“Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole church.” Now, if that isn’t enough authority and weight, you never saw it. That’s the apostles, the elders, the brethren, the men that hazarded their lives, the Holy Ghost, and the whole church.

“To send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas.” Barsabas — that’s a third Judas. There’s a Judas not named Iscariot, one of the apostles, and there’s Judas Iscariot, now a third one.

“And Silas, chief men among the brethren: And they wrote letters by them after this manner; The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia: Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us —” from Jerusalem “— have troubled you with words, subverting your souls —” putting them down “— saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment: It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Now there’s a good recommendation. If you’re going to argue about who’s holy and who’s not, there’s a couple of fellows who have laid down their life for the Lord. That’s going to say a lot more than somebody who doesn’t do this and doesn’t do that and does do this and does do that. If a man sticks out his neck and jeopardizes his life for the Lord, that tells you a lot about what his consecration is. You don’t have to guess about what he does or doesn’t eat.

Twenty-seven: “We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth. For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things.” Necessary for what? Verse 21, a testimony. And verse 29, to do well, pleasing in the Lord’s sight.

“That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well. So when they were dismissed, they came to Antioch: and when they had gathered the multitude together, they delivered the epistle: Which when they had read, they rejoiced for the consolation.” All right, we’ll stop there, verse 31.

Now, we need to get some pictures taken, the preacher’s class, and I guess we’ll use one of the rooms over there, at eight o’clock. And I wish some of you third-year guys would’ve worn your suits and ties. Did any of you third-year fellows wear them tonight? I know, but when I said preachers, first and second year, I wanted the first, second-year preachers’ class. But, of course, you guys that are called to preach and have gone on and had two years of it, you ought to be there too.

When we all get together again then, I guess, yeah. OK, we’ll do it that way. OK, if you’re first or second year, meet over in the room over there, the first one over there.

You race alongside Acts 2 and Acts 7 and Acts 10. And in Acts 15 they just discussed with the assembly what they’re going to do about the teaching that a man has to do something to get saved, or that he has to do something to stay saved. And they’ve come to the conclusion that a man is saved by grace and that conduct only has a bearing upon testimony and welfare. It has no bearing upon salvation. And they’ve sent the message on out in verse 33 and 34.

Now, Father, we ask your blessing upon the class tonight. May the Holy Spirit be our guide and teacher. We’re thankful for the word of God that we have to refresh our souls. Thank you for the good clothing and food you’ve given us. And we’re thankful for a heated building. We’re thankful we’re not out in the rain and the snow tonight, or hail, or getting shot at, or shooting somebody else. We’re thankful we’re not on the run tonight with our families starving to death, and all the good things you’ve given us. And we pray you might bless us now and make the word real to us, as it is to thee. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.

All right, Acts chapter 15, verse 33: “And after they had tarried there a space, they were let go in peace from the brethren unto the apostles. Notwithstanding it pleased Silas to abide there still. Paul also and Barnabas continued in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also.” All right, now they’ve come down through here, and they’ve come down this way and they assembled at Jerusalem and had this council, or assembly. And they’ve decided what they’re going to do. And now they’ve gone back up this way. And Silas has stayed down here, and Paul and Barnabas have gone back here to Antioch, and they’re teaching and preaching up in Antioch.

Then we have a church split here in verse 36.

15:36 And some days after Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they do.

37 And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark.

38 But Paul thought not good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work.

39 And the contention was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one from the other: and so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed unto Cyprus;

40 And Paul chose Silas, and departed, being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God.

41 And he went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches.

“And some days after Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they do.” Meaning back up in Asia Minor.

“And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark.” Now John Mark was the one back in chapter 13 that defected on verse, oh, verse — where is it? — verse 13. Thirteen:13. John was the one that went with them from here down to here, and then quit and went back when they went on to the Asia mainland.

So, now Barnabas says, “Let’s take him.”

And Paul says, “Nothing doing!”

Verse 38: “But Paul thought not good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work.” So, when they sail off here and got to here, he wouldn’t go on in. In Pamphylia, he went on back. He wouldn’t go into the Asia mainland. So Paul says, “Nothing doing.”

“And the contention —” they’re arguing! “— was so sharp —” it’s a sharp contention “— between them, that they departed asunder —” that’s a split! “— one from the other.” Now, that’s one of the most amazing passages you ever read in the Bible when you think about it. You know, there’s only one man in the Bible who it ever said he was a good man? That’s Barnabas. The Bible said Barnabas was a good man filled with the Holy Ghost. Maybe Joe of Arimathea is a good man or a just man who waited for the kingdom of God. But this fellow is said, after the Resurrection, is said to be “a good man and filled with the Holy Ghost.” Where’s that passage on Barnabas? Chapter 9 somewhere? He was a good man and filled with the Holy Ghost. Anybody find that? Eleven:24. Eleven:24: “For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost.” That’s Barnabas.

Was Paul full of the Holy Ghost?

Then how do you explain that? Is Christ divided?

You know who that is who’s splittin’? That’s the guy who said, “I pray, brethren, that ye all be of one mind and one spirit. And I hear there be divisions among you, and that I partly believe. For one saith, I am of Christ. And one saith, I am of Paul. And one saith, I am of Cephas,” you know. “Are ye not yet carnal?” Remember that thing? “While ye strive, one say this, are ye not carnal and walk as men?” That’s the guy who said that, see!

I mean, you can’t find a sinless man in that Bible! There’s a fellow who said, “Let each esteem the other better than himself.” “I ain’t gonna take him!”

“What’s wrong with him?”

“Ah, he’s a backslider!”

“Oh, now, you know better than that. He’s a good fellow.”

“He’s a compromiser!”

“He ain’t no compromiser! He’s a soul-winner!”

“Oh, yeah, when the going’s good. When the going gets rough, he’ll quit.”

“Well, he didn’t quit. You know, he had to go back. He had to back, you know.”

“Nobody’s got to go back! Any man who puts his hand on the plow, looking back, isn’t fit for the kingdom of God.”

“Yeah, but you know, Paul, you know he’s just not rough-and-tough like, you know, he’s more easy-going.”

“That’s it! That’s the length of him!” you know — “just leave him behind!”

And those two fellows split up. Now, that shows you that two men can be filled with the Holy Ghost and not get along. That’s the truth. And you wouldn’t see how it could be, but that’s just how it is. Now, I’m not saying they shouldn’t be able to get along, but let’s just face it — they didn’t, and they don’t. And the Lord often has to split His people up to get more work done.

A fellow came for a time here recently from Texas, and he said, “I thought every Baptist church in this town came from Brent!”

I said, “Well, fifteen of them did!” Ha! I said, “We’re doing a great missionary work here, brother! Getting the word out!”

I was up there, had a meeting up at Rawlins’ church one time. He was singing me the blues, you know, been a good while back, he’s kept things together pretty much since then. But about twelve years back he was talking about a split he had, that split off a split, or something. You know, it took seventeen families, and this and that.

And I said, “Well...”

And he said, “Well, that’s the third bunch we had go. They’ve got six churches going now, and two of them split last week!”

And I said, “Well, you’re doin’ a great missionary work, brother! I mean, if you fellows keep on, the Catholics won’t be able to do nuthin’ in this town!”

That’s why the Catholics can’t get a foothold in Texas. Did you realize if there’s one state in this country the Catholics ought to run, it ought to be Texas, with that Mexican population? They could never get a foothold! You know why? The Baptists keep splittin’, they just split, and the splits spin other splitter, there ain’t nuthin’ left but sawdust!

{A woman in class talks about a split in her home church.}

ANSWER: Yeah! Well, you’re doing a great missionary work. And Brother Bonham, see, is training leaders. You go to those churches and you’ll find the leaders in those churches come out of his church.

Down at Smyrna Avenue Baptist Church, there weren’t any young fellows in the ministry, and sent them up to a church in Lebanon, Ohio. And, “We’ve had a young fellow called here to preach, and God has mightily blessed him.” Why, he was called to preach at Brent and led Bruce MacDowell to the Lord and was trained at this school right here, and the church he got was one that Jim McGaughey had recommended for him. Just a bunch of cuckoos trying to rob the nest! Now, at that young man, I’m going to be disappointed in him; if he had any guts, he would have said, “No thanks, I’ll get ordained out here.” He could have been ordained; we’d have ordained him in a minute. But, you know, it’ll all come out at the Judgment.

Anyway, so they split up like this and split up like this. And Harvey Springer said about Texas, he said in Texas you don’t go fishing for men, you just swap fish out of the aquarium! Ha! And you get out there, in Fort Worth and Dallas and San Antonio around in there. San Antonio isn’t as bad as Fort Worth and Dallas. You get in Fort Worth and Dallas, and I’m telling you, man, you have one Baptist per square foot, man! You get out West, and you got Campbellites. You got Campbellites floating around. And then you have all these wild Charismatics and healing stuff. But it’s Baptists — just Baptist, Baptist, Baptist — I don’t know how many Baptists that place has got! Texas is the only state in the union that I ever witnessed to a medical doctor and a college professor in the same week. A professor of physics. When I came to speak at the university, he said, “Are you a minister?”

I said, “Yes.”

He said, “Are you acquainted with the new birth.”

You wouldn’t hear that out at West Florida, I’ll guarantee you!

And I was down there getting some teeth fixed at a place in San Antonio, a dentist down there, and he said, “Oh, you’re a preacher, are you? Well, brother, when you preach the gospel, you’ve got to have a good set of teeth, you know. You know, the Bible says, ‘Open your mouth’ —”

Just Scripture, just like that, you know! Everybody down there is a — that’s J. Frank Norris, a lot of his work, see, and it splits off, it splits off to splinters. And God’s people are so designed that when they reach the place where they can no longer live peaceably with one another, they need to just move out to different places and do different work.

One state couldn’t hold J. Frank Norris and Bob Jones Sr. and Dr. DeHaan and Theodore Epp and Charlie Fuller and Lee Roberson and John R. Rice. One state could not hold them. And the Lord put Theodore Epp out in Nebraska, and put Fuller up in California, and put DeHaan up in Michigan, and put Bob Jones off in South Carolina; he was in Tennessee. The Lord had to get him out; Lee Roberson was there! The Lord left Lee Roberson in Tennessee and got him out over in Carolina, see, and put Norris down in Texas, and somebody else over here, and somebody else over here. Of course, those guys are all good men, and they love the Lord, but they got convictions. They got convictions. They wouldn’t have a lot of grace when dealing with each other.

Now, I don’t have a lot of grace for a lot of things. I know where I’ve got grace, and where I don’t.

For example, I’ll tell you, a car, automobile or a lawnmower will try my religion more than any saint in the business! Now, if I got to lose my religion over something, it’ll be something like a broken typewriter or a washer or a telephone — something like that. But, you take when it comes to the brethren, if I was invited to a meeting, Brother Fleming said to me last year, he said, “I’m going to have a Sword conference here next year.” And he said, “Would you come up if I had a Sword conference?”

I said, “Sure! Sure, man! It’s all right with me,” you know.

And he laughed, you know, and his wife said, “Well, wouldn’t you object?”

And I said, “No, I wouldn’t object.”

He said, “Well, what if this thing were you and Rice, here, and Hyles, and —”

I said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Don’t know what you’re talking about.”

A guy phoned me up and said, “Well, have you got something personal against Rice?”

I said, “No, I don’t even hardly know the man. I don’t have anything personal against him.”

“Yeah, but writing that stuff —”

I said, “I never step on a guy’s toes till he steps on this Book. When he steps on this Book, I’ll tromp down his toes and come down hard. I’ve got nothing against him; he’s probably a fine fellow and loves the Lord.” I said, “He’s probably more of a gentleman than I am.” I said, “If he wasn’t, it’d be pretty tough.”

I told him I’ve been accused of a lot of things, but being a gentleman isn’t one of them. But I told Furman, I said, “If I sit down and had Jack Van Impe here and Jack Hyles here and Falwell here and Roberson here and Rice here and Bob Jones III here at the table, I wouldn’t get nervous. What’s to get nervous about, man? Some of them might get indigestion, you know, and have ulcers or something. It wouldn’t bother me. What would it be to bother me? I never tried to tell those guys how to run their business. I’d enjoy the meal. Pass the chicken, brother! Give us some more gravy!”

QUESTION: Is that meeting really going to happen?

ANSWER: I don’t think he really is going to do it. I think he was kiddin’. That was last year. He hasn’t done it yet. He was going to try me out.

QUESTION: Where’s the church?

ANSWER: It’s in Dayton. Dayton Baptist Temple. I’ve been on the platform there with Tom Malone and Zodhiates. Now, when Spiro Zodhiates got up there and corrected that King James Bible every other word, I didn’t sit there, you know, and raise my hand and stop him, you know, or, you know, said, “BROTHER, YOU’RE A LIAR!” and so forth, I didn’t mind that, you know. I mean, some people think, I’ve had guys meet me, you know, and thought I had foul teeth and breathing fire, you know, or something. I’m not that way. I’ll behave myself and act like a gentleman. Tom Malone sat through it one morning. And Zodhiates got all through, and Malone got up and said, “Well,” he said, “Thank you, brother.” He said, “I didn’t understand any of that, but it sounded good.” Always changing the Greek.

But I did do this. I laid wait for Zodhiates every day at lunch and tried to get at the same table with him, to talk with him, and he kept moving on down to the end of the table. Every time they’d drive me to a restaurant, there’d be eight or nine of us eating, I’d get one place and he’d be down at the other end. The next time I moved down, he’d be down at the other end. And that kind of thing went on through the whole meeting. The last day, I caught him going out the door at his bookstand and just put him on the spot. And I said, “You’ve got a little pamphlet here, brother, that says this thing is from the original Greek text. You know, all these little pamphlets have that on them: ‘from the original Greek text.’” And I said, “Hey, have you got the original Greek text?”

And he said, “Well, no, no, not the original.”

I said, “Well, why do you say that then? You’ve got the original Greek text.”

“Well,” he said, “the best text.”

I said, “What is the best text?”

He took a Greek out of his pocket and said, “Well, the Greek text, of course.”

I said, “You talking about Stephanos? Erasmus? Or Beza? Tegelles? Or Tischendorf? Or you talking about Lachmann? Or Westcort and Hort? Or Nestle’s? Or Aland and Metzger? What you talking about, ‘the Greek text’?”

He said, “Well, all the schools accept Nestle’s as the most authoritative text.”

I said, “You ever check the critical apparatus in the footnotes?”

“Well, it’s — uh — obviously, it’s the best text. It’s recognized as the best text.”

I said, “Have you checked the critical apparatus in the footnotes?”

And he got kind of red in the face and he said, “Well, everybody accepts it! The majority of the conservative scholars —”

I said, “Did you check the critical apparatus in the footnotes?”

He hadn’t.

He couldn’t even read them.

Now, listen! That’s a native-born Greek, Greek-speaking Greek! See? He no more knows what he’s doing than if he wasn’t even in the program.

So, you get all those guys together, and I say something like that about him, and he probably would say something like that about me. Now, you get them all in the same room, and what you gonna do? I told somebody, I said, “If you put Jack Wyrtzen and Percy Crawford and J.J. Ray and Dr. Hills and Lee Roberson and John R. Rice and Jack Hyles and Maze Jackson and Harold Sightler and Frank Norris in one room and shut the door, there’d be blood come out of the door in fifteen minutes!”

And the thing is, the way that thing works is, when you have convictions about the Bible, you have convictions about other things. Now, I have convictions about clothes. I don’t like suits and ties. When I come home from a meeting, I get into the oldest, dirtiest thing I can get into, and get my shoes off my feet and go barefoot in December and February, with a stocking cap on, and try not to shave for two days if I can get around it. And folks say, “Well, what a way to live!” Man, you’ve got your convictions; I’ve got mine, see? I mean, see what I mean? I mean, I just get sick and tired of parading around in a monkey costume all over this country. And after I’ve been out in a meeting three days in a row, have to be nice and have to pick the spoon up and pick the fork up and keep the tie on, and the collar here, and all that kind of business, when I get home, man, I’m home! I’m home, brother!

Now, you take, people have convictions about those things. I’ll sit down a table and begin to eat, and I may have dirty fingernails. Somebody said, “He didn’t clean his fingernails before he went to dinner.” Well, you can’t carry a fingernail brush with you all over the country, unless you carry a toothbrush and a fingernail brush and a file and a comb, and your perfume and your Right Guard — I’m a MAN! I ain’t some cotton-pickin’ woman!

And you take those things, you take those things. A lot of people don’t consider that when I draw, every time I draw, that stuff gets on my hands, and all over my clothes, and all over the fingernails. You try to keep clean doing charcoal work! You just try, brother. You just try it! And get through the meeting and turn around, and there’s no wet rag there. And you say, “Would you please get me a towel?” And the guy brings back a paper towel. And you smear that stuff until it all runs down your cuff and ruins your suit —

You see, after awhile you get convictions about things, see. Now, you take a bunch of fellows and put them in a room like that, a guy’s got convictions about his hair, he’s got convictions about brushing his teeth, he’s got — Roloff has convictions about his food, see? Now, I haven’t got any convictions about that. I’ll eat anything that doesn’t move before I stick it. And it won’t bother me. But, you take a bunch of fellows that have got convictions it like that — Bob Jones Jr. and Bob Jones III have tremendous convictions about neo-evangelicalism and neo-othodoxy. I don’t have hardly any! I know they’re a bunch of bums; I don’t worry it. They spend half their time worrying about it, preaching about it, and fighting it, and putting on a big show — I don’t waste five minutes with it.

Now, you’re all different. The reason why the Catholics get along so good is none of them have any convictions about anything. The largest denomination in the world is the Roman Catholic Church. And the reason why is, you pin them right down and none of them believe anything! They believe in Mary and Jesus — that’s about it, you know — holy water, and beads and candles, you know, and get by as best as you can.

And the reason why independent Baptists have more trouble than anybody is cause independent Baptists have more convictions. They split more often than the Southern Baptists. Southern Baptists split once in a while, but not a good — they can get along. But people who have convictions are hard to get along with! And God’s people are the hardest people in the world to get along with. Have you ever noticed that? There are unsaved people who are easier to get along with than God’s people. Because they don’t believe anything! You get a bunch of saved folks, they already got convictions about music, they’ve got convictions about art, got convictions about prayer, got convictions about his dress, got convictions about what a woman ought to be, got convictions about what a man ought to be, got convictions about what his kids ought to be, got convictions about a job. Some of them won’t eat in a restaurant if they sell liquor there. They’ll eat in one where they smoke. I don’t know why. I mean, the surgeon general says that smoking is bad; he didn’t say anything about liquor yet.

QUESTION: Well, when a church goes against the word of God, is it time to move on?

ANSWER: Yes sir. The best thing to do is move out, and move out cheerfully and sweetly and kindly, and don’t cause any trouble when you go, and don’t tear up the place. Best thing to do. And the Lord will bless you for it.

All right, Acts chapter 15, verse 39: “And the contention was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one from the other: and so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed unto Cyprus.” That’s going by the first trip. Barnabas and Mark’s getting the rehash; he’s getting to go down here again, where he quit last time.

“And Paul chose Silas, and departed, being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God. And he went through Syria.” This is a land trip. So the second missionary trip goes up through here. Now, you want to know that. You want to know that the first missionary trip is down here, and a loop, and back. The second missionary trip’s a land trip for Paul. And the second missionary trip goes up through Syria “...and Cilicia, confirming the churches.”

So, now, the Lord’s got two missionary trips out of the church split. Whereas, before, He only had one. And now the Lord has one bunch of missionaries going down through here and up through here, and another bunch of missionaries going off through here and eventually coming off over here. So the Lord is getting glory. The only thing about it is, the bitterness involved. The bitterness God will not bless, and the unforgiving spirit God will not bless. And, as I told you in church splits, you make sure, if you ever get into one, that even if you don’t agree and can’t support, that you don’t go away bitter, and that you don’t go away unforgiving, and that when you go away you don’t try to take advantage.

Now, that’s the trouble with Christians. When they break up like that, then they “get back at ‘em! Get back at ‘em!” Folks would leave our church with seventeen families, went up the road and got them a new church and got it going. And they tried to call three pastors, and every pastor who came in there, the first question they asked him was, “Are you going to have any fellowship with Brother Ruckman while you’re in town?” And they wouldn’t call a guy to preach if he said, “I’m going to have fellowship with Brother Ruckman.”

That is no requirement for a pastor! You can’t find that anywhere in the Bible — anywhere in the Bible! Get this bitterness and hard feelings, and split your church!

We had a woman die here recently, in her forties, early forties. And she was involved in a church split at Brent. And I haven’t seen the woman or seen her family for six years. And when she died, some of the old hands in the church who broke off in that last split said, “Brother Ruckman killed her! If he treated her nicer, she’d still be alive.”

What you talking about? That’s crazy!

Now, Christians get like that. They get just as mean as the devil. Some of the meanest people you’ll ever meet in the world are Christians. And you’re going to have learn to live with them and love them. And, I’ll tell you, if I can learn to do it, you can learn to do it. That’s right! If I can do it, you can do it.

I’ll tell you, if I knew about Christians what I knew, if I knew when I got saved what I know right now, I would have never gotten saved. I’d rather go to Hell and get fixed up! It’s a good thing when I got saved I didn’t know what I know right now; I never would have gotten saved. But I got saved, and living with Christians for me has been a great stroke, brother — and it’s been tough. It’s been tough.

I’ve had to get you here in my environment to get along with you! I’ve had to get you in a rundown building with cracked cement and old chairs and insufficient heat with your jackets on and without your ties and your blue denims and your jeans — I’ve had to get you like this to get along with you. Because the bunch that I was out with, they wouldn’t accept me for nothing. I believe, in the six years I was at Bob Jones, I don’t believe they ever really did accept me. When they let me go, they let me go kind of with reservation. And it was hard for me to learn about them.

I’m going to give you one incident, then I’m going to get back in the text. When I got drunk one night over in the Philippines north of Manila, I had a fight with my company commander. We were out there, oh, in the caribou mud wallow, someplace out there at two o’clock in the morning after a dance, and beer cans and bottles and stuff. And I got a good full Nelson on him, and scissor-locked knee and sicker than a dog, and finally turned him loose. And he gave me a low rating for an officer, you know, for beating him, I suppose — if I let him beat me, it probably would be a high rating! And, after that thing was over, I didn’t get my advance for the first lieutenant. You know something? In less than two weeks, we were both right back drinking at the same old bar. “You know, old buddy, I’m sorry, buddy. Oh, my good buddy, buddy,” you know, that kind of business.

Unsaved people! They get things fixed up!

Now, you watch Christians. They get mad at each other, and they stay mad for weeks, months, years, man! Years! I know Christians getting mad at each other and stay mad at each other for twenty-five years, man! And, you know what makes it so bad? The thing that makes it so bad is, when Christians have trouble, they keep thinking in spiritual terms instead of fleshy terms. They’d do better if they think in fleshy terms. But Christians think, now, “I know I’m right,” right? “And I know he’s wrong.” Right? All right, now, whose side is God on — the right side or the wrong side? And once you get that thing made up, you know that God’s on your side. Now, if God’s on your side, and you’re right, whose on his side? The devil, see? You get that thing going. And you get that thing going where it’s a spiritual warfare, where you think that everything depends upon you getting back at the other person, or staying at odds with him — and it doesn’t. It doesn’t.

The Bible says, listen, “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers.” So you can’t keep making grudge and just holding it and holding it. I get over it quick, brother. Quick. When I find some guy I can’t hang around without the old stuff coming up in front of me, I stay away from him. I don’t come near him. I don’t phone him, I don’t look him up. I don’t want to have fellowship with him. I don’t cut him off because, “Why that dirty so-and-so, I’ll show him! He can’t keep company with a consecrated fellow like me!” I don’t do it that. When I cut him off, I say to myself, “My life and testimony depends upon me having a sweet attitude and a forgiving spirit, and if I can’t keep it around that guy, I am not going to hang around that guy.”

Amen, brother! All right! If you think you can do it, hang around.

QUESTION: Where it says in verse 40, “being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God,” do you think that means that Paul’s position was in the Spirit and Barnabas’s was in the flesh?

ANSWER: I don’t believe that shows it in the flesh. But it is significant. I hadn’t noticed it. It is admitted.

QUESTION: Is “missionary” a Bible word?

ANSWER: No. It’s not in the Bible. The word is “apostelo,” a “sent one.” The nearest thing to a missionary in the Bible is an apostle. The word “apostelo” means “one sent.” And that’s what these people are.

All right, verse 41: “And he went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches.”