Blog note.

“I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness” (Matt. 7:21-23). The Lord Jesus will declare those horrifying words to many, not a few, who will boast in the many works they did in His Name. They called Him Lord but did not obey His first command to “Repent and believe the Gospel” (Mark 1:15).

Who are the “many” who will be turned away on Judgment Day? They are those who thought they could merit eternal life by the works they were doing instead of trusting in the work Christ had done. They also never turned from their sin to follow Jesus Christ in faith. Since they never obeyed the Gospel of Christ, they will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord (2 Thess. 1:9). Tragically, when Jesus declares to them, “Depart from Me,” there will be no second chance, no excuses, and no blaming the false teachers who deceived them.

The Lord Jesus also referred to the “many” when He spoke of the two paths to eternity. Many will travel the broad road to destruction instead of the narrow road to eternal life (Matt. 7:13-14). Rather than striving to enter the narrow gate by testing every man’s teaching, they foolishly follow false teachers, who are wolves disguised in sheep’s clothing (Luke 13:24; Matt. 7:15).

With so many false converts, the church has become a mission field. Many professors of Christ are not really possessors of Christ! They are strangers to the new birth. They have never passed from death unto life. They remain condemned because they have not been justified. They remain enemies of God even though they profess to be His friends! They remain enslaved to sin because they have never been set free. They profess the Savior with their lips, but their hearts are far from Him. They deceive other people with their external righteousness, but they cannot deceive God! They are unaware of their pending peril, because they have never examined themselves to see if their faith is genuine (2 Cor. 13:5) The apostle John wrote his first epistle so that those who believe in the Lord Jesus may know that they have eternal life (1 John 5:13). We also see many characteristics of false converts in God’s Word. Some of them are listed below:

You think you are a good person (Romans 3:12).

You have a zeal for God without knowledge (Rom. 10:1-4).

You have knowledge of God without obedience (Titus 1:16).

You do not pursue sanctification (Heb. 12:14; 1 Thess. 4:3).

You are self-righteous without repentance (Luke 18:9-14).

You seek to establish your own righteousness (Rom. 10:3).

You think you can merit or earn eternal life (Titus 3:5).

You are unwilling to forgive others (Mat. 6:15).

You have no desire to follow Jesus (Luke 9:23).

You call Jesus ‘Lord’ but do not do what He says (Luke 6:46).

You do not love other Christians (1 John 4:20-21).

You love your sin (John 3:19).

You have not departed from iniquity (2 Timothy 2:19).

You condone or promote things God hates (Prov. 6:16-19).

You are a mere hearer of the Word, not a doer (James 1:22).

You are full of pride with no humility (James 4:6).

You walk in darkness (1 John 1:6).

You live according to your sinful nature (Romans 8:5).

You do not love the truth (2 Thess. 2:10-12).

You take Jesus as Savior but not as Lord (Romans 10:9).

You desire Jesus as a priest to pardon sin, but not as a prophet to instruct you or a king to rule over you.

The True Gospel vs. the Fatal Gospel of Rome

There is only one Gospel that has the divine power to save souls. Therefore, if there is the slightest deviation, distortion or perversion, it is no longer the gospel (Gal. 1:6-9). Anyone who distorts the gospel is accursed. It does not matter who you are: a pope, a bishop, a priest, or a pastor. It does not matter how many works you have done in the name of Christ, or how diligently you have served, or how sacrificially you have given, or how fervently you have prayed. If you preach a false gospel, you are accursed. Only the pure Gospel of grace is good news; in fact, it is the greatest news anyone will ever hear. The false gospel of the Roman Catholic Church does not offer any good news, only a false hope.

Revelation 22:18 … “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:

Revelation 22:19 … “And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

End of note.

Pope appoints Chilean bishop accused of child sex cover-up.

May, 2018 GlobalPost

(AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File) In this Jan. 18, 2018 photo, Juan Barros, Bishop of Osornos, smiles as he leaves the altar at the end of a Mass celebrated by Pope Francis on Lobito Beach in Iquique, Chile. The pope’s remarks defending Barros during his January visit drew shock from Chileans and immediate rebuke from victims and advocates worldwide, prompting him to later send the Vatican’s sex crimes investigator to investigate Barros, who is accused of helping to cover up the sex crimes of pedophile priest Rev. Fernando Karadima.

LIMA, Peru — Perhaps none of Pope Francis’ vaunted reforms of the Catholic establishment has been as urgent or necessary as his unveiling of a “zero tolerance” policy towards pedophile priests.  For decades, child sex abuse scandals, from Poland to the pontiff’s homeland of Argentina, have dogged the church. Victims have gone public and priests have been defrocked and jailed, yet still new allegations of this vile crime continue to surface. Since being named pope in March 2013, Francis has made all the right noises, describing pedophilia as satanic and unveiling a new high level commission reporting directly to him in a bid to draw lessons and prevent future abuses.

Yet those fine words and gestures have all been called into question by the pope’s controversial appointment of a Chilean bishop accused of covering up the activities of one of the Catholic Church’s most notorious child abusers. Earlier this month, amid chaotic scenes as hundreds of protesters shoved their way into the cathedral, Juan Barros took up his post as Bishop of Osorno, a sleepy provincial capital 600 miles south of Santiago. Barros, who was personally appointed by the pope, is accused of having been present during the abuse and of shielding the Rev. Fernando Karadima, a charismatic, high-profile Santiago priest — and serial abuser of young boys — from investigation.

Barros, who insists he was “never” aware of Karadima’s crimes, was a protégé and longtime friend of the cleric. A criminal prosecution against Karadima, 84, was thrown out in 2011 because the abuse he was formally accused of took place between 1980 and 1995, meaning the statute of limitations had run out. But that same year, the Vatican found him guilty of sexual abuse and ordered him to live in a monastery and dedicate himself to a “life of prayer and penitence.” “We are used to getting slapped in the face by the Chilean hierarchy but we didn’t expect this from Francis,” Juan Carlos Cruz, one of Karadima’s victims, told GlobalPost, of Barros’ appointment. “We had such high hopes of him as pope.” “Francis knew about Barros. He knew about my case. If he was from Japan or Serbia, maybe. But he is from next door [Argentina] and he knew all about Karadima. How could he still make Barros a bishop?”

Carlos Lombardi, a lawyer in Argentina advising former victims of pedophile priests there, agreed, accusing the pope of “demagoguery” and failing to tackle the “epidemic” of sexual abuse of children within the church.  “The pope says he wants zero tolerance but he has not changed a single internal norm in the church regarding child sex abuse,” added Lombardi. “He is great at giving us inspiring words and messages, but when it comes to concrete actions, there have been none.” Others aghast at Francis’ appointment of Barros include Chile’s Christian Democrat former President Eduardo Frei and 30 priests from the Osorno diocese who took the highly unusual step of writing a letter to the Vatican’s ambassador in Chile, Archbishop Ivo Scapolo.   In his own public letter, to Scapolo, Cruz, now 51, outlined the serious accusations against Barros, who he maintains was in a relationship with Karadima, including destroying letters reporting the crimes to senior Catholic officials.  “When we were in the room of Karadima and Juan Barros, if he [Barros] was not kissing Karadima, he watched as one of us, the youngest, was touched by Karadima,” wrote Cruz. “Juan Barros was witness to all this, and he was uncountable times, not just with me but with others too.” Barros has largely avoided responding in public to the accusations — other than writing an open letter to his new diocese in which he lamented the pain caused by Karadima.  “I never knew about nor imagined these serious abuses that this priest was committing with his victims,” Barros wrote. “I have not approved of nor participated in these seriously dishonest acts.” Barros went on: “I ask you, with great humility, to pray for me.”

The Vatican has not publicly commented on the furor over Barros’ appointment, but Scapolo, its ambassador in Chile has accused the protesters of violence and not representing most Osorno Catholics. He also warned that the faithful now just needed to “accept” their new bishop and move on.  Yet there seems little sign of that. Indeed, Barros’ appointment seems to have called Francis’ own credibility into question. “The church views itself as the moral rector of society,” said Lombardi, the lawyer. “There is a preoccupation in defending the institution of the church, its reputation, and that is taking precedence over protecting people, in this case, children, and their human rights.” The pope, however, does have his defenders. One is Felipe Monroy, editor of the Mexican edition of the Catholic magazine Buena Vida. “The pope’s actions have obliged other bishops and lay Catholics to be more open to talking about these problems, to dealing with them, and to attending to the victims,” he said. Yet even Monroy conceded: “Francis has maybe not been sufficiently clear that the ecclesiastic concepts of forgiveness and pardon may not prevail when these kinds of detestable, painful crimes occur.” Cruz, the Karadima victim who remains a practicing Catholic attending church every Sunday, puts it more strongly: “Francis has marketed himself like no other pope. Because of the things he has said, we have come to expect more from him.” “Francis has said there will be zero tolerance for child abuse in the church, so why has he made Barros a bishop?