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.

The Catholic Church is guilty of a grave moral failure for allowing massive sexual abuse of children.

By Jeremiah Poff | Fox News. Opinion.

A stunning grand jury report issued Tuesday that said over 300 Catholic priests in Pennsylvania sexually abused more than 1,000 children over seven decades – and accused church leaders of covering up the wrongdoing – shows a massive and indefensible moral failure of the Catholic Church in the U.S.

The Catholic priests and bishops of Pennsylvania and the rest of the United States have failed the church. They have failed American Catholics. They have failed to uphold the dignity of the priesthood. They have failed God.

In the next few days much will be made of the damning 800+ page report issued by the Pennsylvania grand jury that named priests in six of the state’s seven dioceses as sexual predators who targeted vulnerable children – the most innocent of all the faithful. While the report identified 1,000 children it said were victims, it said there were probably thousands more child victims whose identities are not known.

The grand jury report states: “Priests were raping little boys and girls, and the men of God who were responsible for them not only did nothing; they hid it all. For decades.”

And sadly, the report said most of the terrible crimes it documents happened too long ago to be prosecuted because of statutes of limitations.

In a time when the number of people worldwide who associate with and practice a religion continues to decline, the bishops and priests of the world and of the United States had a calling to share the joys of Catholic Christianity to those who do not have it.

They had a duty to guide and form the members of the church in the teachings of Jesus Christ and His apostles, and strengthen their understanding of the truth.

But they failed.

As a lifelong faithful Catholic, Tuesday was a difficult day for me. I am angry, I am horrified, I am sickened, but I still have faith. The church established by Christ Himself shall endure even this great evil.

Now the Catholic Church in America needs to purge itself of this great evil and regain the sacred trust of millions of God-fearing Christians that has been so horrifically squandered.

Predator priests and the bishops who enabled them deserve to see the inside of a prison cell – the fact that many will not be prosecuted because their crimes happened long ago is a grave injustice.

The culture within rectories, chanceries and seminaries that allowed this behavior to fester must be purged. And there must be stiff consequences for these horrible actions committed against the most innocent of God’s flock by the very people who are supposed to guide humanity to Him.

As for those priests, bishops, deacons and lay administrators who turned a blind eye to such evil and are still working, they must be sent packing – and not by the Church hierarchy. The faithful should be the ones who determine which priests and bishops can keep their jobs. Only such a commission of the faithful can guarantee that the culture of secrecy and the evil in the church is weeded out and destroyed.

And if that means that half the priests and bishops in America must be defrocked and forced into retirement, then so be it. The terrible evil that these men have wrought on God’s Holy Church is so unspeakable that no price is too high to rectify it.

No Catholic should be giving a cent to the collection basket until the predatory monsters within the priesthood, and bishops of the Catholic Church who enabled them, are cast out in a visible, transparent process that makes crystal clear that the church will never permit these terrible crimes to take place again.