Unarguably, some of the scariest verses in Scripture are found in the Gospel of Matthew:
Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many miracles in your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness! (Matthew 7:21-23)
These verses reveal that, in the end, there will be Christians who truly thought they would be saved, turned away and told that our Lord never knew them. These are Christians who performed miracles in the name of Jesus, who foretold futuristic events in his name, and who cast out demons in his name. I know when I first read these verses, I had not performed miracles, prophesied, or cast out demons. Logically then, if these Christians who had done these things did not know Christ, then how could I be sure of my salvation, knowing that I had not even done that much? This chain of thinking is what makes these verses terrifying for many who read them.
I was confused by and concerned over these verses for many years… until one day, their meaning was revealed to me. Now, I do want to preface this revelation by saying that I am not condemning all believers in any specific group of Christianity. I truly believe that God’s people exist in every denomination, just like there are some who are not His in every denomination. We are saved by our individual faith, not by which denomination we belong to. Therefore, if you are truly seeking Him and you are in a false denomination of Christianity, God will bring you out of it and into his truth. He is faithful to save us in this way when we put Him first in our lives. As a matter of fact, this works for any religion; it is not isolated to Christianity. There are countless stories about how Yahweh, the one true God, has pulled people out of every false religion there is, in many creative ways; from Muslims and Jews to Buddhists and Animists, even true Satanists have repented and become His. Without a shadow of a doubt, we are saved by our faith and choosing to walk closely with Him, not by being in the one right denomination, if there even is such a thing. Again, this is not an attack on any one group, just what was revealed to me.
Without further delay, Matthew 7:21-23 is speaking of Catholics. They are the church that is known for performing exorcisms, albeit without teaching their members how to keep the demons from coming back seven-fold (Luke 11:24-26); they have had prophecies related to the Pope and the future of the church come to fruition, such as the prophecy of Saint Malachy, which foretold the succession of Popes; and finally, many miracles of healing and others have been confirmed in the church, including over 7,000 cases of scientifically attested miraculous recoveries from the intercession of Lady of Lourdes, as well as Eucharistic miracles and the Miracle of the Sun at Fatima. According to catholicmiracles.org, “Miracles are often attributed to extraordinary saints of the Catholic Church…” and therein lies the problem: the miracles that are done for Catholics are done through false idols. They don’t pray directly to the Father, as Jesus instructed us to do. Instead, they pray to Mary or the past saints of the Catholic Church. Not only are they praying to these idols, they are often literally bowing down to a statue of that saint as they pray. 1 Corinthians 10:20 explains that idols are actually demons. Understanding this fact brings clarity as to why Jesus casts these people out and says he never knew them. One reason is because they practiced lawlessness, having rejected the Law, the Sabbath, the name of God, and the command to stay away from idols. The other reason is they were praying to idols and creating a relationship with demons instead of a relationship with the Father through the Son.
Unfortunately, Catholicism does not have a trustworthy, or Biblical, background. It has a history of corruption, mass murder, and sin that has continued to tarnish it to this day. The intentions of the Catholic Church leaders throughout history becomes more evident when we understand that they would not allow a translation of the Bible into the language of their congregation for centuries, and burned at the stake those who fought for it. Blocking a translation that could be read and understood by the common people allowed the Catholic Church to create false doctrine with no one able to challenge it. Although the Catholic Church has made some positive changes since the Reformation, the clergy are misleading their flock with non-Biblical teachings, even today.
This highlights the importance of being accountable for our own faith. We must read the Bible on our own and be in relationship with the Father through his Son in order to arrive at Yahweh’s truth. As Yahshua’s (Jesus’) words warn us in Matthew 7 above, placing our salvation in the hands of another being or entity could have dire consequences.
