Objection: Jesus Said That Those Who Came After Him and Did Miracles Would Be Unsaved Deceivers (Matthew 7:22-23)

Jesus definitely said that there would be people in this category.  However, that doesn’t mean that everyone who does miracles in His name after His ascension to heaven is an unsaved deceiver.  Positive proof of this is in Mark 16:18, where He made it clear that believers (not unsaved deceivers) would lay hands on the sick and they would recover.  Then, after the Lord has spoken to them and was received up into heaven, they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the Word with the accompanying signs (Mark 16:20).  Jesus did miracles and said believers would do the works He did, which means that there will be saved non-deceivers doing miracles!

The Bible promises that false teachers will abound in the last days, too, telling people what their itching ears want to hear (2 Timothy 4:3).  By the objector’s logic, anyone who serves in the ministry office of teacher today day must be a false teacher.

Stating that false minsters will be around isn’t logically the same as saying that all ministers are false!

Here is the passage in question cited by the objector, with the two preceding verses that clarify the context:

Matthew 7:20-23:
Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

So the point is that there WILL be false prophets and miracle workers – and what, that they will be the only prophets or miracle workers?  NO!  Quite to the contrary!  There will be real ones as well as false ones, and you shall know them by their fruit (not their deeds).  You’ll be able to tell by the way they live which ones are real and which ones are fake.

If ALL were fake, you would not need to distinguish them by their fruit as Jesus said – you could just distinguish them by the fact that they do miracles in His name (at least allegedly) because real believers allegedly don’t!

The fact that FAKE believers say “Lord, Lord” today does not negate the fact that there are REAL believers who call Him Lord, too!