Some time ago the members of a local church decided to show people how holy they were by walking through the business area of my home town asking those they met: “Do you know Jesus?” It is safe to say that few, if any, of the people they questioned actually knew Him, though I am certain that the majority answered in the affirmative. Located in the “Bible Belt” of America, Athens, Texas is as religious as any of the other church-bloated towns and cities in America, the nation that has printed and engraved on her currency: “In God We Trust.” There was a time when that was true. Today the statement is an embarrassing, globally known lie. Churches are everywhere. If not for obstructions like trees, buildings, etc., I could see three of them from my back yard. Each “house of the Lord” is different from all others, yet each one “knows” that its denomination is THE ONE AND ONLY RELIGIOUS SYSTEM CREATED BY GOD TO REPRESENT HIM TO THE WORLD. If asked, each could show proof of their supposed preferred status by producing using large numbers of adherents, congregations, foreign missionaries, etc. And the people believe it because of the brain-washing that goes on from the pulpit.

I know this is true because I was part of THE ONLY TRUE CHURCH for most of my life. Admittedly, throughout all of those wasted years, God was teaching me His Truth and calling me to obey His command found in Second Corinthians 6:14-7:1. There He tells all who are unwittingly trapped in Satan’s religious system to “Come out of her (the Catholic/Protestant Religious System) and be separate from her. Do not touch that unclean thing.” He goes on to say that only THEN will He be one’s God and one will be His child.

Extracating oneself from that soul-destroying religious magnet is not either easy or simple because most of one’s relatives and friends are involved in the organization that forms what is known as “Christianity.” But one must either escape the sinking (apostisizing) ship or go down with it. Read about the church’s apostasy using that word as the key. Escaping is the first step in the right direction which will lead to eternal life IF one then gets on the right path and remains on that path until the end of life or Christ’s return, whichever comes first. I include the last part because the Lord has graciously given His people signs designed to warn us of Christ’s imminent return to earth. According to those signs, THE GENERATION ALIVE AT THIS TIME WILL WITNESS THE SECOND ADVENT OF JESUS CHRIST AND THE END OF THIS WORLD. Read The Signs of the End of the Age. Key word–Signs.

If asked, everyone who has ever “taken Jesus as their personal Savior” believes that, if Jesus returned today, He would know them. That group would number in the tens of billions. However, Jesus said that, at the end, His true saints would be FEW in number (Mat. 7:13,14). He explains why that would be the case in that passage as well as in several other passages, one of which is Matthew 7:15 through 23. Here we find Him finishing His Sermon on the Mount in which He laid out in plain language what would be required for a believer to rise to meet Him in the clouds upon His return to earth to establish the Kingdom of God. Read about the eternal home of His Very Elect saints using the key word–Kingdom. In verses 15 through 20 He warns about false prophets who, in the last days, would deceive the masses who would seek salvation by following them. The “fruit” He refers to consist of obedience to His Law, which consists of the entire Bible which He graciously condensed into Ten Commandments.

In verses 21 through 23 Jesus refers directly to the false prophets who would lead the salvation-seeking masses into Satan’s welcoming arms. Read Bait and Switch. Key word–Bait. Remember, those who follow their false leaders (“hirelings”–Jn. 10:12,13) teachings are as guilty as those who teach them. God’s Truth is available to them in the form of the Holy Bible. However, they have been convinced that they need only believe what they are being told and they are automatically “saved.” What they are taught is known as “church doctrine,” which is man’s version of what God said. I recently heard a television preacher tell his vast congregation that all one needed to do in order to get to heave is to “obey church doctrine” which tells man what God “should have said” and what He “really meant.” Sound familiar? Reading Genesis 3:1-4 reveals that the Satanic tactic is as old as mankind.

In Matthew 7:15 Jesus told the people who had gathered before Him, as well as us today: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’ (calls Him their Lord) will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who DO THE WILL OF MY FATHER (will enter therein). Many (false prophets) will say to Me on Judgment Day, ‘Lord, Lord, we have prophesied (preached) in Your name (power), and in Your name have cast out devils, and in Your name have done many wonderful works.’ Then I will say to them, ‘I NEVER KNEW YOU. Depart from Me, you who commit INIQUITY.'” “Iniquity” is a Greek word that means “LAWLESSNESS.“ One who commits iniquity does not obey God’s Law, an act He defines as SIN in First John 3:4 where it is written: “To transgress (break) the Law is sin, for sin is the transgression of the Law.” This is the Law Satan’s false prophets tell us was “nailed to the cross” of Jesus Christ. However: JESUS DID NOT NAIL THE LAW TO THE CROSS; THE LAW NAILED JESUS TO THE CROSS. He was crucified because man disobeys His Father’s Law–sins. He died for those who repent of their iniquity, turn from their sinful ways (are converted) and obey God’s Law for the remainder of their lives. That Law includes commandment #4.

Jesus and His messengers have much to say about religious messengers who lead their flocks astray by convincing them that they do not need to obey God’s eternal (Deut. 11:1/ 1 Pet. 1:25) Law, even if they could. We are told that we CANNOT OBEY GOD’S LAW. God tells us that we MUST OBEY HIS LAW. The church believes her hirelings. Who do you believe?

Concerning the local church zealots asking people if they knew Jesus, a better question, which they should have asked themselves is: “DOES JESUS KNOW ME?” In the following segment we will look to the Lord to answer that all-important question. We are told that God created the billions of stars found in numerous galaxies, and that He knows each star by name (Ps. 147:4). For such a God with such a mental capacity, why would He not know those in professing Christendom who meet to worship Him each week, read His Holy Word, preach and teach in His name, wear crosses, etc? As we will see, the Biblical answer involves the difference between God’s knowing us and His “KNOWING” us. The difference between His “knowing” us and His “KNOWING” us determines our relationship with Him in this life, which in turn will determine our infinite future. L.J.