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.

Second cardinal withdraws from Ireland congress amid abuse scandals

By Padraic Halpin. Reuters. August 18, 2018.

DUBLIN (Reuters) – The Archbishop of Washington, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, withdrew on Saturday from next week’s World Meeting of Families in Dublin, the second senior cleric to pull out of the Roman Catholic event amid clerical sexual abuse scandals in the United States.

The meeting, a major congress held every three years, will be closed by Pope Francis during the first papal visit in almost 40 years to Ireland where a series of abuse scandals has also rocked the church’s standing in the once staunchly Catholic country.

The withdrawal from the Dublin event followed a bombshell grand jury report this week that detailed widespread abuse by hundreds of priests in Pennsylvania and a systematic cover-up campaign by their bishops over a 70-year period. Wuerl, who was Bishop for the Diocese of Pittsburgh in western Pennsylvania from 1988 to 2006, has not himself been accused of any wrongdoing against children.

The report found that Wuerl notified the Vatican in 1989 of several priests who had been accused of sexually abusing children but that over subsequent years he granted requests by some to be reassigned to other parishes or to retire early, and in one case approved a loan to assist one such priest with personal debts.

In a statement on Tuesday, Wuerl said that while he understood the report may be critical of some of his actions, he believed it “confirmed that he acted with diligence, with concern for the victims and to prevent future acts of abuse.” A spokeswoman for the World Meeting of Families said she could confirm that Cardinal Wuerl would no longer be attending the Dublin event. No reason was provided.

In the most wide-ranging U.S. investigation into sexual abuse by priests since the scandal burst into the public eye in Boston in 2002, the two-year Pennsylvania investigation found evidence that at least 1,000 people, mostly children, had been sexually abused by some 300 clergymen.

The report said the numbers of actual victims and abusers could be much higher. The Archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, who was due to host a panel discussion on safeguarding children at the congress, withdrew earlier this week to oversee an investigation into separate allegations of inappropriate behavior at a Boston seminary.