Question 05: What, then, do you think about the salvation of those undeniable witnesses of truth ...

Question 05: What, then, do you think about the salvation of those undeniable witnesses of truth who appeared from century to century, even during that time? Were they not members of Christ and His fellowship or true church which is united by the living spirit, just because they had not been baptized in accordance with the original ordinance?

Answer: Christ says (Matthew 7[:16]): "You will know them by their fruits." We believe that writing fine books and even prophesying are not the fruits of a good Christian, by which alone he is recognized. We cannot, therefore, consider a person to be a Christian for that alone. Yet, we will not judge anyone. Since we did not know those men in their lifetime, we leave them to their God. Neither all their writing nor even their prophesying can make us suspicious of the teaching of Jesus. We cannot consider them to be the church of Christ just because of their prophesying, if they did not walk in the teaching of Jesus, in baptism and the other ordinances.