I agree with a lot of what you say
@Mark C, but here is where we part ways:
God looks at man's heart, not his outward actions only.
"
The human heart is deceitful above all, and desperately wicked - who can know it?"
That same prophet (YermeYahu/Jeremiah} had just before written these 'words in red':
"[those] ...'Gentiles' [
goyim] shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and
things wherein
there is no profit.
Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they
are no gods?
Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that My name
is YHVH."
I can't help but suggest that they can, and do, craft a 'christ' in their own image. (Yahushua, IMHO, said they would, too.) Which is relevant to what follows in a bit.
What he is interested in is sincerity, not getting all the details right. As such, I believe that God will accept a deeply sincere but theologically mistaken Catholic, before a nominal Christian who happens to do all the things right (whatever that means, interpret as per your own understanding) for cultural reasons but never really knew Him in his heart. The latter may hear "I never knew you".
Who He accepts, and Who He tells,
"depart from Me, I never knew you," is above my pay grade.
I don't claim to know their heart. (He also says things like "
I will heal whom I will heal," etc)
I only know, and teach, what He SAID, and Wrote down for us. And maybe 'blow a shofar'.
[You know this, I recognize, but it bears repeating for others. I don't claim to tell people that they're "damned," or "going to hell;" just that He promises blessings for obedience to Him. And His Word is True.]
I am obviously aware of this next point, but believe you take it far too far:
Obviously when people teach incorrectly about Him, they can be said to be "preaching another jesus, whom we have not preached". But that does not mean another Jesus actually exists - there is no other.
So far, so good. And I continue to point out, re: the Real One, that "His mama never, not even once, called Him 'jesus.'"
So why does Yahushua Himself warn (Matthew 24, etc) about false 'christs' and say
"see that you are not deceived"? *EVEN* - note - the 'elect,' if it went on long enough.
This simply means that the preacher was wrong. It does not mean that the people who heard him will end up following a different Messiah - it means that they'll attempt to follow the true Messiah but have some of the details wrong (e.g. they may have an incorrect understanding of what His instructions are regarding the law). But they're still trying to follow him, as there is only one of him.
Anyone who tries to follow Messiah, is for Messiah. Anyone who intentionally rejects him is anti-Messiah.
OK, still largely in agreement. Do some who intentionally call Him a "liar"
know that's what they are doing? Are they culpable?
Look at Matthew 23 again in this context. Why did He - repeatedly - call the 'Pharisees' (who even 'sit in Moses' seat, kinda like a 'papal analogy'
) - "hypocrites."?
Those warnings, I continue to contend, apply well to BOTH 'whoring houses'.
Obviously some of those who follow will have things wrong, and many who reject him will also do so because their understanding of him is wrong. These details are important and very worthy of correction. But neither changes who is for Messiah and who is anti-Messiah.
I'm not sure how to react to that part. If they don't know Him, can they stay on His "
narrow path"? (He says the way that leads to destruction is broad, and "many" will go that way!)
And why then does Paul warn,
"work out your OWN 'salvation' (His name, note!) with fear and trembling"?
I don't think, on some issues, that we're
that far apart. But I am lead to warn, as I contend He did, that, "
the Way is narrow," and
"few there be that find it."