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.

Irish archbishop urges pope to speak frankly about abuse

NICOLE WINFIELD. Associated Press. August 19, 2018

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The archbishop of Dublin said Sunday he hopes Pope Francis will speak frankly about the “darkness” of priestly sex abuse during his upcoming visit to Ireland, which has been clouded by new revelations of misconduct in the U.S. Catholic Church.

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, who has spent years trying to recover the Irish church’s credibility following decades of abuse and cover-up, dedicated his Sunday homily to Francis’ Aug. 25-26 trip. He said it comes at a time of heightened anxiety over the future of the church in Ireland and beyond.

Martin acknowledged that sex scandals had produced “deep-seated resentment” at both the abusers and the church leaders who facilitated their crimes and sought to protect themselves. In addition to clerical abuse, Martin cited Ireland’s mother and baby homes, where unwed mothers were often sent to avoid scandal and where they experienced “extraordinary harshness” by the church.

“It’s not enough to just say sorry,” Martin said. “Structures that permit or facilitate abuse must be broken down, and broken down forever.”

He said the pope won’t be able to answer all the questions that might be asked of him, but he said he hoped Francis would speak kindly and frankly.

“The recent history of the church in Ireland had its moments of real darkness,” Martin said in the Dublin cathedral. “We need a church of light, a light that exposes darkness for what it is, and a light that is such that the mechanisms of cover-up and self-justification cannot extinguish or tone down.”

Martin is co-organizing this week’s World Meeting of Families, a once-every-three-year Catholic rally meant to energize and encourage Catholic families around the globe. Francis will close out the final two days with a quick, 36-hour visit next weekend.

But the visit has already been marred by events across the Atlantic: Accusations that one of the most prominent U.S. cardinals, Theodore McCarrick, molested minors and seminarians, and revelations in a sweeping grand jury investigation in Pennsylvania that detailed the abuse of at least 1,000 children at the hands of around 300 priests since the 1940s.

The two developments, which both suggest complicity of the U.S. church leadership in covering up sex crimes and misconduct, have prompted two U.S. cardinals to withdraw from their planned speeches at the Dublin family congress.

Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the pope’s top sex abuse adviser, canceled his participation in a panel discussion on child protection, citing a new investigation at home that he has launched into his diocesan seminary after reports of sexual misconduct went public.

Washington Cardinal Donald Wuerl, meanwhile, cancelled his keynote speech on “The Welfare of the Family is Decisive for the Future of the World,” which was to have highlighted the first day of the family congress Wednesday.

The Washington archdiocese declined to say why he had pulled out, but Wuerl has come under fire for his comments about the McCarrick scandal and revelations in the Pennsylvania grand jury report about his actions while bishop of Pittsburgh.