I NEVER KNEW YOU

By Akin Ojumu

What would it be like if after all you think you’ve done and accomplished for God in this life and then you get to the pearly gates of Heaven and you are told, “I never knew you?”

It’s such a scary thought to contemplate, isn’t it? But guess what! The vast majority of self-professed Christians will find themselves in that exact situation. You’d be surprised to know that a significant number of the General Overseers, Apostles, Prophets, and Pastors, these men and women of God that you adore, revere, and worship will be denied entry into God’s kingdom.

How do I know this? Well, the Lord Jesus Himself told us so.

Matthew 7:21-23

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”

If you thought Matthew 7:21-23 is talking about some slacking unbelievers, you are sorely mistaken. The people being rejected by God in these texts are professing Christians who, in all appearances, seem devout and pious. Included among those who’ll be barred from entering into God’s kingdom are the so-called powerful men and women of God, the high and mighty God’s Generals.

Matthew 7:21-23 is not referring to Sunday-Sunday or New Year Crossover Christians. These are not benchwarmers who like to sit in the nose-bleed section of the Church either.

The Lord Jesus is here referring to supposedly spiritual Christians and powerfully anointed ministers of the Gospel, people who have performed great and mighty supernatural feats. These are people known for their prophetic declarations and apostolic proclamations. They not only cast out all kinds of demons, but they also performed many miraculous deeds.

Yet, it’s to these people that God says, “I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.”

Wow!

When we look at the supposedly heavily anointed pastors today, everyone thinks they epitomize the Christian living; they are living their Christian lives to the fullest, we are made to believe. We put on a highly esteemed pedestal, they serve as role models, and their lives are the ultimate of the Christian experience. The aura of righteousness pours out of the General Overseers and the General Superintendents everywhere they do. Consider the way they themselves portray their relationship with God. With them, it’s always “Daddy says this, and Daddy says that.” They leave people believing they’ve got Heaven in the bag.

In reality, though, the aura they ooze is the stench of the rottenness of death in the nostrils of God. While in the human eyes it seems as though these folks live perfectly holy lives, in actuality, they are nothing but whitewashed sepulchers full of dead people’s rotten bones.

What’s terrifying about this is the fact that it’s quite possible for a man to fool himself into believing his impressive deeds and remarkable actions are in service to God, when in reality, they’re not. In actual fact, all their great deeds are in service to self.

If that doesn’t make you want to re-examine yourself and stop the nonsensical tendency of pouring adulation on ordinary flesh and blood as though these men of God are the fourth person of the Trinity, I don’t know what will.

What the Lord Jesus is telling us in Matthew 7:21-23 is that the performance of supernatural spectacles is not evidence of divine stamp of approval on the performer of the great spectacles. The fact that someone gives prophecies that come to pass does not mean the person is upright before God. Just because your Pastor performs miracles is not a proof that he is walking in the will of God. It’s not enough that your General Overseer refers to God as “My Daddy,” living a life that pleases God entails a whole lot more.

Those who measure their faith and faithfulness, primarily, by their encounters or by what they’ve done for God have placed their faith in something other than Christ. Doing the will of God is much more than putting on spectacular shows of supernatural occurrences.

Discipleship is measured by fidelity to Scripture. The evidence that you are a true disciple of Christ is your faithfulness to Christ’s teachings, i.e., sound doctrine, as contained in the Bible.

John 8:31

“To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.””

What makes an individual a true believer in Christ is their willingness and desire to stay true to the doctrine taught by the original Twelves Apostles, and not inventing their own new ideas.

Acts 2:42

“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”

Similarly, you can’t claim to be a man of God, and yet you perpetually twist and distort the Word of God. What qualifies an individual for the office of a Pastor or Overseer is not only moral, it’s also doctrinal. You can’t claim to be a man of God, and yet mangle and mishandle the Word of God.

Titus 1:7-9

“For an Overseer, as God’s steward…….must hold firm to the trustworthy Word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.”

Unless and until you truly and fully do the will of the Father, you are not going to enter the kingdom of Heaven. If your faith in Christ is not characterized by the simplicity and trust of a child, you can be sure you won’t make Heaven.

Matthew 18:3

“Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of Heaven.”

If you are the type who sees God as a transactional deity whom you can placate with your tithes and offerings or you are the type who thinks God is a petty trader with whom you can trade favors, trust me, you’ll be barred from eternity with God.

2 Corinthians 13:5

“Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”

May you not be told, when you get to the Gate of Heaven, “I never knew you.”