Now he’s talking Hebrew.

22:1 Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defence which I make now unto you.

2 (And when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence: and he saith,)

“Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defence which I make now unto you. (And when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence.” A lot of them didn’t know he was a real Hebrew. They heard all kinds of things about him. And now he’s talking real Hebrew, and of course the Pharisees and the Sadducees, they know his background. But the multitude doesn’t know. He gets to talking Hebrew and they say, “Well, maybe we made a mistake. Gonna listen.”

Here he goes:

22:3 I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day.

4 And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.

5 As also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders: from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and went to Damascus, to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem, for to be punished.

6 And it came to pass, that, as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me.

7 And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

8 And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.

9 And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me.

10 And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus; and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do.

11 And when I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus.

12 And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there,

13 Came unto me, and stood, and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him.

14 And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth.

15 For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard.

16 And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.

17 And it came to pass, that, when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance;

18 And saw him saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem: for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me.

19 And I said, Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee:

20 And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him.

21 And he said unto me, Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles.

“I am verily a man which am a Jew.” That’ll get to them.

“Born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia.” A Jew of the Dispersion. That’ll get to them.

“Yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel.” Picked out the chief high rabbi, the best doctor of law they had. And that’ll give you a hearing. I mean, did you ever stop to think what a thing it’d be, you know, if somebody like Cardinal Spellman suddenly got saved? And got up, you know, and began to talk to the church and say, “I was raised under Pope Paul,” and so forth, “and a cardinal,” and this and that, “and came over here and experiencing salvation” — boy, that would shake you up, man!

“And taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day.” Now he’s got the sympathy of the audience.

“And I persecuted this way.” Now that’s the name of his religion. He saw “the way.” “This way.”

And when he said, “I persecuted this way,” he means those people that followed Christ.

“I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.” True.

“As also the high priest doth bear me witness.” Do you see all that Jewish appeal? “I persecuted Christians. I wrote a high priest. I was with Gamaliel. I learned the law. I’m a Jew.” He’s getting their report.

“As also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders: from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and went to Damascus, to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem, for to be punished. And it came to pass, that, as I made my journey,—” give your testimony. You have a chance to get before a mob? Give your testimony. Tell them how you got saved.

I was “nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me.” And we covered this in Acts 9.

“And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me.” They heard “a” voice, he says in Acts 9, but not “the voice of the one that spoke.”

“And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus; and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do. And when I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus. And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law,—” see how he puts that in? He knows his audience is Jewish. And he comes down, every chance he has to put it in there, he puts it in there.

“A devout man according to the law.” If you’re converted Catholic and never had a chance to talk to Catholics, remember that. And say, “I was raised in such-and-such a family, and my mother was a good Roman Catholic, my father was a good Roman Catholic, and I was catachized as a Christian, and I took convolation, I went to —” start right down through there. “I used to go to St. Francis Church, my priest was Father Sullivan” — see, come right on down through there. And, say, “Here’s my rosary!”

And, “A devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there.” See, the idea is, if the guy who baptized me had a good report of all the Jews, then you shouldn’t be mad at me. You ought to have a good report of me, too.

“Came unto me, and stood, and said unto me, Brother Saul.” Great verse for a Campbellite. That goes to show Paul was saved before he got baptized. Ananias called him “brother.” Called him “brother” before he baptized him.

Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him. And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth. For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard. And now why tarriest thou?” We covered this passage in “Problem Texts.”

“Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.” Dispensationally, he’s a Jewish proselyte, so he still lays some emphasis on baptism’s purification. In explaining the verse practically, you explain that the only verb there that’s in the passage is “baptize,” and explain that a man washes away his sins by calling on the name of the Lord.

“And it came to pass, that, when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance; And saw him —” that’s the Lord “— saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem: for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me. And I said, Lord,—” You don’t know the facts, Lord. If you read the New York Times this morning, you’d know different.

And you know how we are. “Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue.” Do you think the Lord didn’t know that? Did you ever get talking with the Lord, you know, and trying to explain our case? Which is all right. The Lord wants to hear that. But, you got to admit, it’s kind of funny, you know. I mean, He knows all about it.

And I said, Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee.” True.

“And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death.” He just can’t figure it out. Paul just figure out why they won’t believe him. I mean, he loves them. He said, “I could wish myself accursed for my kinsmen according to the flesh.” He just can’t understand it. and kept the raiment of them that slew him.

QUESTION: What about calling on the name of the Lord?

ANSWER: Where’s that at?

QUESTION: In verse 16.

ANSWER: Verse 16? It’s got “on the name of the Lord” out?

QUESTION: Yeah, it’s in the Spanish.

ANSWER: Is that a Scofield version of the Spanish?

QUESTION: Yes. That’s the one we use.

ANSWER: That’s the Scofield version. I’ll tell you, man. Boy, don’t you know some people that work. You know, that’s the old Scofield Bible, isn’t it? That’s not the old Scofield Bible?

QUESTION: Yes it is, but it’s made in 1569. It was revised again in 1602, and then the original was in 1960.

ANSWER: But it has the Scofield notes?

QUESTION: Everything.

ANSWER: They didn’t print the Scofield text. The Scofield text is King James. Boy, I’m telling you, man. You see the stuff goes on in Bible publishing now. Technically, you could take that book if you had a lawyer at the time and the money, and you could go say, “Lookie here, when you put out this Scofield edition of this Spanish Bible, you did not print the Scofield text and did not translate it.” You could put that on, and get a lawsuit going.

QUESTION: It’s the same thing in Korea. They got a King James Version here, in the Korean translation, and it is not the translation of the King James. In Colossians 1:14 I had a Korean read it to me, and the passage was exactly what the Korean said — not what the English said — only what the Korean said — and “his blood” is not in it.

Boy, you talk about the Satanic activity, boy. It’s there. You want to find the devil? You’d find him on a revision committee.

All right, Acts 22, verse 20, and he can’t figure it out: “I ... was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him.” Now to Paul that’s conclusive. Paul said, “Why, I was there when the guy was murdered, and they saw me what” — you know, he can’t figure it out. The Lord don’t even bother to argue with him.

“He said ..., Depart.” “Get out!” “I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles.”

And, boy, when he says “Gentiles,” that ties the rag on the bush.

22:22 And they gave him audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live.

23 And as they cried out, and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the air,

24 The chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle, and bade that he should be examined by scourging; that he might know wherefore they cried so against him.

25 And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned?

26 When the centurion heard that, he went and told the chief captain, saying, Take heed what thou doest: for this man is a Roman.

27 Then the chief captain came, and said unto him, Tell me, art thou a Roman? He said, Yea.

28 And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was free born.

29 Then straightway they departed from him which should have examined him: and the chief captain also was afraid, after he knew that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him.

30 On the morrow, because he would have known the certainty wherefore he was accused of the Jews, he loosed him from his bands, and commanded the chief priests and all their council to appear, and brought Paul down, and set him before them.

“And they gave him audience unto this word.” One word. “Gentile.” Boy, he said “Gentile,” “And then lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live. And as they cried out, and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the air.” And the old Gentile Roman, he don’t even know what the guy said. He said it in Hebrew!

And when he said “Gentile,” boy, the fur hit the fan!

Now there are certain words that are dynamite. And certain words, a lot of blood has been shed over. Certain words have a votative content. If you want to get a reaction from somebody, say them. You go to Texas, say, “J. Frank Norris.” Now, things are still flying, and he’s been dead for twenty years.

If you want to get a riot in the Southern Baptist Convention, say, “J. Frank Norris,” you know. Or say, “Bob Jones Sr.” If you want to make friends over in Korea, why, say, “President Eisenhower.” If you want to make friends down in Cuba, say, “CIA.” Ha! If you want to make friends in Vietnam, why, yell, “Jack Kennedy,” or something, or “Wall Street” — that’d be a good one, Red China — “Wall Street Bogurth.”

If you don’t get enough attention, there’s always ways to get it. And there are certain little words that have been little trigger things. There’s words like “nigger.” Yeah. And “wop” and “kike” and “spic” and all of them. And “okie” and “Yankee” and “cracker” and “redneck,” those kind of words.

COMMENT: And “Ruckman”?

ANSWER: Yeah, “Ruckman”! {boistrous laughter} Amen! Amen! Amen! If you want to botch some Christian service, you can say “Ruckman!” You’ll see the fire light up and the wheels begin to spin.

And when you get that kind of reaction off one word you’re dealing with a prejudiced bigot. Now, there’s no way in the world you can get that kind of rise out of a reasonable man. When you say, “Billy Graham” to me, or “Oral Roberts” or “Kathryn Kuhlman” or “Bob Jones III” or “Jack Hyles,” it does nothing to me, one way or another. I mean, you know. I mean, maybe you can fish tomorrow, maybe you can’t.

If a man is reasonable, you can’t scare him with that kind of stuff. You know, come around and say, “Oral Roberts!” and watch his face! What’s he gonna do? Well, there isn’t that much to it.

But you get these bigots, you can drop these little magic words, and boy, they’re gonna offend well.

Up there in Birmingham, Alabama, I had a friend who was getting ready to go off to Tennessee Temple, and one of the Southern Baptist big whigs found out about it, and he came around that kid and said, “Uh, where you going to school?”

He said, “Tennessee Temple.”

He said, “You ought to go to the school in Alabama.” What is it? The Southern Baptist school in Alabama? No, Clark College is in Mississippi, Wake Forest is in North Carolina. Mercer, Stetson. Carrey College? No, it’s the Southern Baptist school in Alabama. Samford? Mercer in South Carolina? Samford? Whatever one it was. And he said, “Why don’t you go there?”

This kid says, “No, I’m going to Tennessee Temple.”

And that Southern Baptist pastor of a large church in Birmingham said, “You ought to be shot!”

Now, he meant that, see? Now, when I say it, I’ll say it sometime in overstatement and exaggerate it. But when that fellow said that, he meant this. If he could have got away with shooting that guy and got away with it, he’d have shot him. Because that’s subtracting his income. You hit a fellow’s pocketbook, you hit him where it hurts.

One time I was offered the moon by a Southern Baptist evangelist named Eddie Martin. I don’t know whether he’s still in tow or not. But anyway, he told me this. He said, “If you just won’t mention the name of Bob Jones Sr. from the platform, I’ll set you up in the meetings I can’t take.” And he was having an associational meeting with the largest in the South back there in the ‘40s and ‘50s. And that old boy offered me his big campaign with forty or fifty churches cooperating. And I could preach anything I wanted to — just as long as I didn’t mention Bob Jones Sr.’s name in public.

That turned him down.

Then he accused me of carrying a torch for Bob Jones Sr.

And I said, “I ain’t carrying a torch for nobody.” I said, “But no man’s gonna send me in the pulpit with a qualifying clause before I get in the pulpit. When I go in the pulpit, I’ll say whatever comes into my head. There’ll be no strings when I get up in there.”

But that fellow there, to a Southern Baptist at that time, the name of Bob Jones was equivalent of Lucifer or Satan — just like that. And those people are bigots. They’re bigots. They’re bigots.

And you have to have a sense of humor about it. I used to kid Bob Percimon sometime. He’s a big old Swede, you know, and I wake him up in the morning and say, “Bob, what’s dumber than a dumb Irishman?”

He’d forget the joke every time. And say, “What?”

I’d say, “A smart Swede.”

“Ah, that ain’t funny, Ruckman, ain’t funny, Ruckman,” you know, that kind of thing.

Why, you know, you can’t take yourself that seriously. I’m always suspicious of a man that can’t take a racial joke in a right attitude. I really am. If you can’t take a racial joke with a right attitude, you got an overestimation of yourself and you can be brought down. There are no races immune from comical things.

Did you ever stop to think about, what if you had a picture of you, what if you had a moving camera on you from the time you got up in the morning to the time you went to bed at night? Do you mean to tell me you would look dignified and cultured the whole time? All that time? There is nobody in the world that cultured and that dignified. I mean, people put on airs, you know.

And if you can’t take yourself that seriously — I know good jokes about Baptist preachers, and they’re funny, too. They’re funny. I got a lot of jokes about Krauts, too, you know. They’re funny, too.

Not too funny, but they’re funny! Ha! Ha! Ha! {laughter}

And you’ve got to have a sense of humor about that thing, brother.

He says “Gentile,” and they just come apart at the seams. You look how funny hypocrites are when you say “Ruckman,” and he starts coloring and stammering and stomping and blinking his eyes and looking around the room and slammin’ doors and stuff. We got a little spoiled brat down here in town; his name is Horton. Arlin Horton. And they watched us have two big successful graduation banquets down at the Holiday Inn down at the beach — three of them, three years in a row. So this year they got in ahead of us and got the room ahead of us so we couldn’t get it. Pensacola Christian College has room enough to seat 500 people in a banquet. So they went down there and got a little ol’ room as big as we could get, you know, to kind of put on the air and get their name on the billboard, too.

That’s the work of a mean, nasty, cheap little sissy. That fellow right there, a couple years back, one of the girls going to our church, and he called her in and told her not to go to the church. She said, “Well, I thought we were under liberty and under grace.”

He said, “If you go to that church, we’ll fire you!”

And she said, “I’m in love with a young fellow at that church, and I intend to marry him.”

And he — STOMP! STOMP! STOMP! — stamped his feet under the table. “Dr.” Horton! STOMP! STOMP! STOMP! STOMP! Parrots on Asian rattle.

Now you know what’s wrong with those people? They’re cheap and mousy and little and mean. That’s the trouble.

One of our board of directors right now, one of our trustees, got a boy going to that school. And he quit that school. Jimmy Littlejohn. He quit that school this fall and went to Faith for awhile, and then tried to get back in. And he got back in, and they began to lay for him. They were finding this wrong and that wrong and this wrong and that wrong. My wife — that’s his oldest sister — she warned him that “they’re going to try to get you out of there, you’re not going to graduate, and you’re not going to get to play ball.”

And, sure enough, they stopped him from playing ball. Now they got him suspended and are going to try to keep him from graduating.

And three-hour grilling about, “Did you drag your tires in front of the school when you left?” And, “You’ve been smoking because you were seen in a car with a kid whose daddy’s cigarettes were found in his car two days later.” That kind of thing, you know, that kind of thing.

Now, they’re after that little 17-year-old boy to ship him, because those people, they know that spiritually they’re a bunch of fakes. And they take their vengeance out on children.

I been downtown here in Pensacola and had a lawyer show me photographs. They beat his kid black and blue, and he took them to court. I mean, kid about seven, eight, nine years old, took him to court, and then the Christian school teachers got up there and lied under oath. When I tried to witness to that lawyer, it was like breaking my hand on a brick wall. He said, “Don’t you talk to me about Christians!” He said, “My girl goes to that Christian school, and they said I put those three Christian teachers on that stand, and put them under oath. I saw all three of them lie up and perjure themselves. Don’t you talk to me about Christians.”

Now, you know what that is? That’s the work of little, small, ratty people. Now, they have a big organization. They’ve got a lot of money. They got some good teachers. They’ve got good standards, they’ve got good discipline. If you send a kid there, he’ll get a good education. See? But those little individuals, those little midget individuals hide in a thing like that, and they submerge in the organization and get swallowed up, and they live off the reputation of the organization. And as individuals, they have no spirituality.

I’ll bet you at Pensacola Christian School, I’ll bet there are thirty-five teachers over there that are more spiritual than Arlin Horton. I’ll bet there are thirty-five of them. Might be more than that.

Boy, so much for tonight’s lecture!

Anyway, now, if you were to come up to me and say, “What do you think of Arlin Horton?” You know what I’d tell you and you were a stranger? I’d say, “Boy, I don’t know much about him. I guess he’s allright, got a pretty good school down there.” And I can go fishing. You think I wouldn’t do that? I’d do that just as sure as you are sitting in that chair. I’ve had a few come to this town that didn’t know them or anything else and say, “Brother Ruckman, where’s a good place to send my kids? I want to get them in Christian school.”

I’d say, “They’ve got a good one right down there. One of the biggest in the country.”

I wonder how many people they’d recommend to come out here?

Now, you know why I can do that and they can’t? Because I have more grace than they have! I’m a humble fellow, you know. And I’ve got more grace than they’ve got. I’ve got more grace than they’ve got.

No, it isn’t that. It’s just I made up my mind I am not going to let Christians ruin my life for me. They’re not going to get me sour and get me — boy, I just say, I’m not going to do it. I’m just going to enjoy my Christianity.

COMMENT: Last week over there, they had that thing over there. And they mentioned your name. Something about a church twelve years ago that you pastored.

Ha! Ha! He said the magic name, huh? I’ll bet when he said the magic name, Arlin ducked.

All right, that’s all for tonight.

Twenty-two:24. All right, and “The chief captain —” he’s the one who rescued Paul “— commanded him to be brought into the castle, and bade that he should be examined by scourging; that he might know wherefore they cried so against him.” Now, when Paul got up and spoke that thing back in chapter 22, he spoke in Hebrew. So that chief captain has no idea what his trouble is. All he knows is that Paul got up and talked Hebrew awhile, and then the whole crowd came unloosed, and everybody began to cast dirt in the air and tear their clothes and curse and scream. He doesn’t know what Paul said. So he has Paul tied, and he’s going to bring him in and have him whipped, so he tells him what he said in verse 24.

“And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned?” Now he claims his Roman citizenship. Now, he didn’t do it before. Now he’s doing it.

“When the centurion heard that, he went and told the chief captain, saying, Take heed what thou doest: for this man is a Roman.” Now, the Roman law was, you could not whip a Roman citizen without a fair trial. And so, if he’s a Roman citizen, he has special privileges other people don’t have.

“Then the chief captain came, and said unto him, Tell me, art thou a Roman? He said, Yea.” Well, he’s a Jew. But he’s a Roman Jew. He’s a citizen of Tarsus. Look in chapter 21:39: “But Paul said, I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city.” It’s a Roman settlement. And so, being born there, he’s considered to be a Roman citizen. It’d be like a Jew born in America. A Jew born in America’s considered to be an American citizen. But he’s a Jew.

“And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was free born.” And the chief captain is saying that he was an alien, or he was a slave or something, a gladiator and got his citizenship through fighting or through working for money, and bought his freedom finally. But Paul was born free.

“Then straightway they departed from him which should have examined him: and the chief captain also was afraid, after he knew that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him.” You couldn’t even bind a man and put him in jail if he was a Roman citizen. You could arrest him, but you had to bring him before a trial and give him a chance to answer. And this thing is brought out now in chapter 25. Compare this with chapter 25, and look at verse 16. Twenty-five:16: “To whom I answered, It is not the manner of the Romans to deliver any man to die, before that he which is accused have the accusers face to face, and have licence to answer for himself concerning the crime laid against him.”

All right, back to 22:30: “On the morrow, because he would have known the certainty wherefore he was accused of the Jews, he loosed him from his bands, and commanded the chief priests and all their council to appear, and brought Paul down, and set him before them.” Now Paul goes again.