wHO IS SAVED?

By George Card

As a minister of the gospel I am sometimes asked who is saved? Some wonder which denomination is the true denomination. Well unlike some of my fellow ministers, I am going to be candid with you. I don’t know! Yes I do not know, that is my final answer.

I know some people expected me to say this or that person is saved, or this or that denomination is the correct one. Most preachers would say their denomination is the correct one and the only one where you find salvation. Well I am going to go in the opposite direction and tell you that I haven’t got a clue as to which is the correct denomination and who is saved or who isn’t.

There you have it. I haven’t got a lick of an idea which denomination is correct. All I know is that God has sent me to preach the message of salvation. I was not sent by a denomination or group, my calling comes from God. Yes I know that someone will point out that I was ordained by a certain denomination. Well that is not true, I had my calling from God many years before a certain organization ordained me. They only confirmed what God had already done. But eventually I let my ordination expire, for some years now I have no ordination by any denomination or group.

There are plenty of preachers saying you have to be in their denomination, group or sect to be saved, others are a little bit more generous and say you can be saved even in you are not in their denomination as long as you hold certain beliefs and of course they tell you what those beliefs are.

Well I am not here to preach my denomination or religious group, as most of you can see I have never mentioned or intend to mention any denomination. Not because I am ashamed or have something to hide, but because denominationalism creates barriers among Christians and I want to avoid barriers.

I know that if I said I am Baptist, there are certain groups of Christians who would immediately would close their ears to any teaching I may teach. If I say I am Lutheran, there are many who would prejudge me before hearing me. So no I am not about to promote any denomination, I am here to promote the word of God.

You see salvation is basically an individual thing. You could be in the most perfect denomination upon earth, the one and only true denomination of God, yet if your heart is not right, you will still not be chosen by God. Just because you are in the correct group doesn’t mean that you are saved. You could have just happened to be born or raised in that denomination, but your heart could be far away from its teachings.

It is not about being in the perfect denomination or having perfect theology. It is about having the perfect God in you. If your heart is right with God, the rest is not a problem you get right with God and he will guide you to the right place you should be in.

The Pharisees had this problem, they were Jews born of the stock of Abraham, they were extremely religious but their hearts were far from God. They had all the advantages to be saved, but actually they were lost.

The sons of Aaron the high priest perhaps thought because they were children of the High priest they could do whatever they wanted, but that was not so. Salvation is not a family thing; salvation does not work by nepotism; there are plenty of preachers whose children have abandoned the faith and die lost in their sins.

The churches in revelation had many false teachings but even though the churches were flawed, yet among them existed people whose heart was right with God. Jesus promised them that they would be saved. Not on account of their church, for their church was controlled by false teachings, but on account of their own individual right standing with God. He was not going to save them because they belonged to certain churches, but despite them being in those certain churches.

I am not going to give you any address, phone number, or mention any denomination or group. But I am going to tell you how to find the right church for you. Go out into a secluded area and confess your sins before God. Clear your heart with God and sincerely ask him to guide you into the truth. Speak with sincerity and with a willingness to follow his guidance.

God does hear a sincere prayer and he doesn’t lie, he is not a cruel father that if you ask him for a piece of bread, he will give you a serpent. Actually God wants you to be saved more than you want it yourself. God is not an evil God that hides his salvation among thousands of denominations, so that you will never find his salvation.

Salvation is actually within your heart. If you truly desire to be saved you will. God said “in the day that you seek me with your whole heart you shall find me.” Finding God is a matter of seeking him with your whole heart.  God does not lie, if you truly seek him you shall find him, it would not matter if there were a million denominations, he would guide you to the one you should be in.

Jesus promised that his Holy Spirit would guide you into all truth. God might even guide you to a different church, to the church where you should be in. It might be a church from a different denomination.  It will not be a perfect church for there is no such thing, but it will be a church that teaches from the Bible the correct doctrine. It might be very different than your previous church but that doesn’t mean it is the wrong church. You just have to trust God that he is guiding you into the right place.

Walk in the light you have received and ask the Lord for more light and he will give you more light. If you are faithful to the truth God has given you, and you ask for more, God will give it to you, trust him.

Now back to the question of who is saved. Well the only one who truly knows who is saved and who isn’t is God. Of course you have preachers who presumptuously place themselves in the seat of God and with great confidence or audacity, tell their church members who is and who isn’t save. A person who is not living right with God today, may repent tomorrow and will be saved by the grace of God. So no you cannot be certain that someone is going to hell.

This is a disease that is rampant among many preachers and denominations. According to a certain church outside of its walls there is no salvation. Of course most churches have this same philosophy and it is reflected in their members. There is always the subtle insinuation that if you don’t belong in their group or it you are different from them then you are lost.

Well I do not feel up to the task of sitting in the throne of God and declare this person is saved and this one is not saved. I pass on this great opportunity to be sit in the place of God and pronounce judgment. I will rather let God decide for himself who is and who is not saved, I do not think he needs any help in making that decision or needs my input. I am a patient man and I do not mind waiting to find out who is and who is not saved. I much rather wait for God to give the final judgement, since he has the final word.

The truth is that it is not my job to judge who is or isn’t saved. My job as a servant of the Lord is to preach his word. I have been called by God to preach his word. That is it; that is all. I am not called to be a champion of the poor, I am not called to be a great reformer, I am not called to be a super theologian, I am only called to be a simple preacher of the word of God.

My duty is to teach the Bible and what God has told me to teach. If God hasn’t shown me some truth from your denomination well I am sorry, but you will just have to take that up with God. I know this is hard for some of you to accept but just because you believe something is true doesn’t necessarily mean it is true.

What about those scriptures that speak of salvation being assured. Like Acts 16:31 "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved”. This is a truthful statements, if you truly believe in the Lord Jesus, you will be saved. All those scriptures that gives us assurance of salvation are quite true, but belief is an individual thing, nobody can look inside of a person and see that belief. A person can say they believe in Jesus Christ but be in reality lying about it.

I too want to be saved, but I am sorry if I do not believe X doctrine of yours, but God teaches me what I need to know. If he hasn’t taught me something, then either I am not worthy of receiving it or it is not a true doctrine. If I am not saved because I do not believe certain thing, then the truth is that I did not deserved to be saved. I believe God is righteous and he will be very just as to who will be saved and who will not.

Of course by not believing in your X doctrine, I may have been reduced in your eyes from a true Christian preacher to a false prophet. Well yes, it is possible that I am a false prophet, but then I rather let God judge me if I am such an one. If you truly feel that I am a false prophet then pray for me that God will open my eyes to the truth and grant me the wisdom to change my ways. I am still studying the word of God, I am still searching for more truth, so God may still reveal more truth to me.

Do not berate me, nor call me nasty names, I am used to it. I do not change my doctrines to please people no matter how angry, thunderous or religious they sound. Do not prejudge me and say I am a hopeless case, any disrespectful behavior will not cause me to change my mind. I am also deaf to sentimentalism or pious pleadings.

Yes I am open to instruction and correction from the Bible. But you must be willing to show your doctrine conclusively from the whole Bible.  If you can not show your doctrine from the Bible save your time and your breath, I am not going to listen.

I may not agree with your religious views and I really do not want to be judged a false prophet, by my Lord. I want to be with Jesus, I want to walk with Jesus, I want to be in heaven with him. I am willing to change if the Lord wants me to change. But I am not going to change my beliefs just to please some person, denomination or group. I will only change my beliefs to please my Lord Jesus Christ.

I believe the Bible, I teach only the Bible and I follow only the Bible. I do not follow or accept any creeds; I do not accept or follow any human created theology. I do not accept any new revelations or books. I do not accept any denominational doctrinal statements. I have one book out of which I teach, and it is called the Bible. The Bible and only the Bible, if it is not in the Bible, I am simply not interested in knowing about it, my time is too valuable to read such garbage as the Book of Mormon or any of the other so called holy books by those false religions and their false prophets.

Yes I know that I could only teach from the Bible and I could still be a false prophet. However I will not accept such judgement from men. I will rather wait to see what Jesus my Lord and my God determines I am. For after all only he truly know who is saved and who isn’t and he knows who is a true man of God and who is a false prophet. So who is saved? Don’t ask me, since I do not know. Just make sure that you are saved.

In the day of judgment some will come to Jesus and make great claims of knowing him,

“Lord, Lord, have we. not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast. out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?”

And then he will profess unto them, “I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”

In that day of Judgment we will get the real answer of who is saved and who is not.