Can a group of pastors or church leaders truly determine whether a person is saved?

Les explains that in 1 Corinthians 12 there is a baptism for this age of grace that human hands cannot touch and that a lost person can have no part in, unlike water baptism where we can never be sure as to a person’s salvation. He notes he was brought up in a congregation that thoroughly examined candidates for baptism, yet later concluded that no group of men, pastors, or ecclesiastics of any kind can truly determine a person’s salvation. We can hear their testimony and come to human conclusions, but we can never look on the heart; only God Himself can do that. Scripture also says, “judge not,” because we cannot judge whether a person is a child of God. Only God knows. He adds that if we could see into glory, we might be surprised and disappointed, because we can look at someone’s outward veneer but not the heart, so we must be careful.