Pollycy

I appreciate the many valuable insights everyone has provided. Still, I must confess, I remain uncertain exactly how a person can actually perform miracles in Christ's name and still be considered 'evil'. In my simpleminded approach to this, I think I'll try to remember the admonition to TEST THE SPIRITS. Then, in theory, it would not be possible to be mislead by any of them, or to do the will of an evil spirit, even if it seemed to be an act of goodness. 1 John 4 New International Version (NIV) On Denying the Incarnation 4 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. 4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5 They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us.This is how we recognize the Spirit[a] of truth and the spirit of falsehood.

I thank all of you very, very much for your thoughtful, caring replies. Indeed, this question is the one that vexes me most as I try to be a Christian in a deeper way than I have in the past. I don't want to be a hypocrite, but I sin repeatedly, knowing that I am doing so. I reach out to the Spirit of Christ among us, but my attention wavers and I lose focus and intensity. When Christ says in the scripture that those he disavows never knew him, I try to strain at really knowing the very person of Christ, but I falter because it seems a daunting, almost impossible thing to do. I do pray that Christ's mercy, guidance, help, and protection will always rest upon all of us who approach God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit with a sincere, earnest heart, and that He will forgive us (me!) our shortcomings and inadequate efforts to KNOW the Christ of God in the way that we should for Him to acknowledge our sincerity, if not our consistency. Again, my thanks to you all. I hope to get to know the Christian community here better as we go along together.

Like most Christians, I try to live by what we are taught in the Holy Bible, and especially the teachings of Jesus Christ. But it is very confusing to me, and almost terrifying in a way, to read what is written in Matthew 7:21 - 23: Matthew 7:21-23 New International Version (NIV) True and False Disciples 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 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 in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ What I find so disturbing is the idea that someone could be such a devout Christian that they could cast out evil spirits and perform miracles in Christ's name, and yet be named as "evildoers" by Christ, and for Him to say that he wanted them to get away from Him. I am nowhere nearly devout or "good" enough to cast out evil spirits or perform miracles, although Christ has been very, very good to me, and has blessed me greatly in my life. But, if He wanted nothing no association with people who obviously were 'stronger' in the faith and more 'productive' in the faith, what must the Christ of God think of people like me? I am deficient, obviously, but I don't even really know where to start to correct this situation. BTW, I've read Matthew Henry's commentary on these verses, and I still don't have a good understanding of the issue. How can you perform miracles in Christ's name and yet be repugnant to Christ?