Tape Gems
Oscar M. Baker

What Makes A Saint

    There are actually only five degrees you need to go through to become a saint. Where in man-made organizations you have to go through at least 32 degrees to get anywhere. But you know if a man is in Christ, he's a saint. If he's a believer, he's a saint. You know that Paul wrote to those Corinthian people, and I think they were the worst bunch he had (things that they did were hardly mentionable) and yet he addressed them as saints. And he addresses the Ephesian letter to saints and faithful at Ephesus. And so you see that 'saint' doesn't mean what a lot of people think. Living people who believe are saints. You don't have to die to be a saint, and you don't have to have a lot of people do some 'mumbo-jumbo', and a lot of ritual to make you a saint either. You see our relationship is to God not to men, AND MEN CAN'T MAKE SAINTS.

The five degrees of sainthood are:
1) To die with Christ.
2) To be buried with Him.
3) To be quickened with Him.
4) To be raised with Him.
5) To be seated with Him.
[From T.F.T. Tape 4-27-82, entitled, “The Five degrees Of Sainthood”.]

Object Of The Father

    The object of the Father: “...that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love”, Ephesians 1:4. the qualifications that make us fit for glory, life  in Christ, and all the blessings, are here and we have no fitness of our own. We can see that right away! You see, what we are and what we will be is all in Christ. That isn't anything new particularly. Back in First Corinthians, those people, an earth people with the Kingdom in view, had the assurance that all of them would be made alive in Christ because they were saints. It didn't say that they had any particular fitness, or that they deserved it, excepting that by the fact that it was by faith.
[From T.F.T. Tape of same title, 2-9-82.]

Do You Know Your Calling?

    We're to make our calling and election sure! God has several families, and different kinds of creatures. Some of these will be on the earth in the future, and some of these will be in the heavens. I'm afraid many professing to be Christians today are walking about in a haze not knowing whether they're going—-whether they're to be on the earth in a kingdom, or whether they're to be in the heavenly places with Christ, or maybe just in heaven where Satan is (for now). Don't forget God's plans and purposes are both for the heaven and the earth. We find those that figure into the dispensation of the Mystery have the realization of their hope before Israel. [From T.F.T.Tape, 8-19-85, “God's Goal”.]