They used the wrong evidence to defend themselves - By Elizabeth Prata

Found here. Our comments in bold.

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Ms. Prata wants Jesus' remarks about those who say "Lord, Lord" to be about the cessation of the miraculous. She thinks that all contemporary prophecy is false, tongues have ceased, and God does not give the gift of healing today. So she reads the passage through the lens of her preconception.

Let's consider the subject verses, Matthew 7:21-23. This is part of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus was speaking to the Jews about misconceptions they had regarding what constitutes righteousness (Mt. 5:20). "You have heard that it was said" occurs five times in the sermon, each time to correct a common teaching they had heard. Jesus frequently corrected them, saying, "But I tell you..." It's important that we understand the context and purpose of Jesus' remarks before we draw conclusions. Jesus is speaking to Jews about the Jewish leaders.

Let's quote a larger part of the passage:

Mt. 7:15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.

Mt. 7:16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?

Mt. 7:17 Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.

Mt. 7:18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.

Mt. 7:19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Mt. 7:20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

Mt. 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, `Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

Mt. 7:22 Many will say to me on that day, `Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’

Mt. 7:23 Then I will tell them plainly, `I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

Mt. 7:24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

Jesus was making a veiled warning about the teaching of the Pharisees. We can clearly see that He was explaining the need to showing evidence [fruit] of obedience to His commands [put them into practice]. Therefore, those who said they did things in His name were evildoers because they were not bearing good fruit in obedience to His words. 

Further, according to the verses right before, they were going to be denied entry via the narrow gate [Mt. 7:13-14]. So they were false, they were bad trees bearing bad fruit. The axe is at the root of the tree of Israel [Mt. 3:10]. New branches were about to be grafted in [Ro. 11:17]. 

Ms. Prata does not take the time to understand the context. Nor does she quote any Bible verse apart from the subject verse and one other irrelevant verse. What we are left with is empty assertions from her, rather than an explanation of Bible principles.

This passage is not a commentary on the cessation of prophecy, driving out demons, or miracles. 

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21“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 will enter. 22Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; LEAVE ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’ (Matthew 7:21-23)

Here, the surprised, shocked, and dismayed false Christians are revealed ‘on that day’. They had been busy for the Lord, laboring in His churches, working and doing religious-type activities. They knew the Lord and they knew His name. (The passage says none of this.)

But he didn’t know them. He consigned them to outer darkness.

That set of verses are deeply convicting, scary, and worrisome. All people reading them should examine one’s self (sic) to see if they pass the test of faith and assure themselves they will not hear those words. Ask the Spirit to testify to you that you are a child of God. (??? Ms. Prata will write below that Once the canon was complete, new revelation was not necessary. So how can the Spirit testify?)

The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, (Romans 8:16).

First of all, too many people today, when they pray, sign off at the end with “In Jesus’ name” as if it is a mantra. It’s not a mantra. It isn’t a magical covering. (We doubt anyone prays this as a mantra or magical covering. Rather, Jesus commanded us to pray in His name:

John 14:13-14: “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” )

Michelle Lesley wrote:

♦ If you’re tacking the phrase “in Jesus’ name” on to your decreeing and declaring and binding and rebuking as some sort of way to harness the power of God into making your words a reality, you’re taking God’s name in vain because you’re doing the same thing witches and pagans do when they use incantations and cast spells. “In Jesus’ name” isn’t the Christian version of “abracadabra.” To pray in Jesus’ name means to pray that what God wants – not what we want – will be done.

Now as to the verses: the three religious activities these false Christians hurled at Jesus in desperate attempt to prove their identity as a child of God:

1. prophesy in Your name,
2. in Your name cast out demons,
3. in Your name perform many miracles

These 3 activities were part of the collection of sign gifts. (There is no such thing as "sign gifts." The Bible does not use the phrase.)

These were the showy gifts (No they weren't. That is a value judgment 2000 years after the fact. The first century Jews wree well-acquainted with supernatural occurrences. There is no biblical evidence at all that anyone regarded certain spiritual gifts as "showy.")

whose purpose in the first decades of the new covenant was to affirm the messenger’s authenticity because the canon was not completed yet. (This is false. There is no place in the NT that indicates these "sign gifts" were ever used to prove an apostle's legitimacy. There is no church or person in the NT that ever requested a "sign gift" be demonstrated to prove the apostle was real. There is no place in the NT that connects the "sign gifts" to the canon. 

Ms. Prata makes this whole thing up.)

The sign gifts also included tongues and interpretation of tongues. (No, they did not.

Ms. Prata is making her assumptions based on an unquoted passage, 1Co. 13:8-10:

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 

Notice what's not in this list: Casting out demons and miracles. Ms. Prata is attempting to parallel Matthew 7:21-23 and 1Co. 13:8-10, but only one item matches: Prophecy.)

What was the purpose of the biblical sign gifts?

Once the canon was complete, new revelation was not necessary. (Where does the Bible say this?)

Believers had the word in print and/or preached to them. Prophesying ceased. Miracles performed by believers ceased. Casting our demons by the hand or word of a believer ceased. (Where does the Bible say this? Previously we told you that 1Co. 13:8-10 is where she derives this, but she can't be bothered to tell us herself. 

Even worse, 1Co. 13:8-10 does not teach what Ms. Prata thinks it teaches. We discuss this passage in detail here.)

The word prophesy means in the Bible either preaching the word, or foretelling something about the future. (No, it doesn't. Preaching is the proclamation of the Gospel. Teaching is the explaining of Scripture. Neither is prophecy.)

The word prophesy as it’s used in the Matthew verse is the latter, foretelling. AKA a sign gift. (Again, there is no such thing as a "sign gift.")

Yet these false Christians persisted in faking their prophecies, working at casting out demons (who likely laughed at them, Acts 19:15), and pretending to do miracles. (The passage does not tell us these were fake.)

The same continues to this very day. Their efforts are vapor, not done in Jesus’ name, and will be uncovered as false on the day. (From her false assumption she draws a false conclusion.)

Now, let’s contrast their fake religious activity to real religious activity. (Building on her false conclusion, she makes a false application.)

They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. (Acts 2:42)

1. Teaching & Learning
2. Fellowship
3. Breaking of bread= communion/meals together
4. Prayer

This day-by-day, persevering in spiritual disciplines, is the true religious activity. It was noted in Acts and lauded. (Sigh. Ms. Prata fancies herself as a teacher of women, a discerner of truth. Yet she makes vapid statements like this one all the time. The verse mentions four things, so Ms. Prata thinks that this means they did only these four things. And since those other things Jesus mentioned are not on this list, they are not to be done. And all the things believers are commanded to do aren't relevant either.

The intellectual bankruptcy of this ought to be self-evident.

Let's discuss this a little bit. The VERY NEXT verse reads,

Ac. 2:43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.

The "real religious activity" of the early church did not stop with four things. It also included "many" wonders and miracles. That is, the very things Ms. Prata errantly excludes were a very prominent part of the nascent church. And we can easily speculate that their devotion to the apostles' teaching included much attention given to these wonders and miracles.)

“The foremost of the disciplines is that involving the Word of God and constitutes the reading, study, memorization, and meditation of Scripture.” ~GotQuestions

Notice the false Christians didn’t say, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we pray, and study, and memorize scripture, and devote ourselves to worship?’ (Hmm. Didn't the Pharisees regularly do these things? Yet Jesus condemned them.)

Not that false Christians don’t do those things too, (Oops, she walks it right back.)

but just note the three religious activities the false Christians chose to use as their primary defense when trying to argue their way into the Kingdom. (No one was actually making these arguments when Jesus spoke these words. His purpose was to make a point about real fruit and real righteousness, not about some supposed ending of the miraculous, or the falseness of these believers, or even the falseness of miracles.

In fact, the subject of much of Jesus' criticisms were the Jewish leaders, who also didn't make any of these arguments. They didn't appeal to miraculous credentials at all. Rather, they appealed to their lineage: 

Jn. 8:33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants...'

Jesus criticized their public displays of righteousness:

Mt. 6:2 So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets...

He spent a lot of His time targeting the unrighteousness of the Pharisees:

 Lk. 13:26 “Then you will say, `We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 “But he will reply, `I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’ 28 “There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out.

The evildoers are inevitably the Pharisees. Jesus had very little, if anything, to say to the regular people in condemnation of their behavior. Nor was Jesus targeting the miraculous for condemnation. When there's condemnation of behavior, it's almost always aimed at the Pharisees.)

The very ones that have passed away. (??? The Holy Spirit had yet to be poured out. The Corinthian church had yet to be formed. Paul was still Saul, a Pharisee. How is it possible Jesus was condemning things that had yet to be installed?

Further, if Jesus was speaking against doing miracles, then why did He tell us it was better He went away so He could pour out the Holy Spirit? Why would He promise that our sons and daughters would prophesy? Why did the Corinthian church get told to seek the greater gifts, like prophecy? Why did Paul explain the spiritual gifts to the Roman church?

Ms. Prata is making no sense at all.)

Many will discover this to their eternal regret.

The word many as it is used here, means:

4183 polýs – many (high in number); multitudinous, plenteous, “much”; “great” in amount (extent).

4183 /polýs (“much in number”) emphasizes the quantity involved. 4183 (polýs) “signifies ‘many, numerous’; . . . with the article it is said of a multitude as being numerous” (Vine, Unger, White, NT, 113,114) – i.e. great in amount.

It breaks my heart to think of the shock of the MANY as they are confronted by an angry Christ. They are thrown into the fire. (Matthew 7:19).

If you, dear reader or listener, are one who believes you are hearing from Christ, or casting out devils, or performing (fake) miracles, consider those sobering words from Jesus.

If you, dear reader or listener, are growing weary with your spiritual disciplines, thinking that such a ‘insignificant’ walk surely must be displeasing to Christ- it isn’t. It’s laudable. It’s worthy of Him. Devote yourself to the teaching and breaking of bread and fellowship and prayer. And you will rejoice on the Day!