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³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead 1st Peter 1:3

Introduction

In modern day so-called Christianity it is very common for you to attend a church service and at the end of the service for the pastor to lead everyone in an invitation to "repeat a prayer, ask Jesus into your heart, or to make your decision for Jesus."Is this methodology of preaching Biblical?Does the pastor have the Biblical authority to lead you in a prayer, tell you to make your decision, and then declare you to be saved and welcome you into the family of God after you pray the prayer or make your decision?The foundation for answering these crucial questions must of necessity come from the Word of God, which is the Bible.In this article I will answer these questions from Scripture, plus give you more information about these methodologies for evangelism and preaching addressed above and why they are not only wrong but damnable heresies.

What is the Pastor, Evangelist, or any "Man of God" to preach and Why?


What we see in these Scriptures is that the Bible is God's Word to man, that if we want to know what God wants from us, and what He has to say to us, we need to read the Bible.God will not speak to anyone outside of His Word.His Word is complete and sufficient.If the Scriptures declare that they are able to make the man of God (i.e. pastor, evangelist, teacher, etc) adequate, equipped for EVERY good work, then we should not preach or teach anything that is not in accordance with the Bible.If the Bible does not give us authority to preach it, then we do not preach it.That is if we want to be obedient to God and His word.When it comes to the sinner's prayer method of evangelism it is nowhere to be found in Scripture.Nowhere in the Bible did Jesus or any of His apostles ever stand up on a mountain, or in a boat, or in a synagogue and say "With every eye closed and every head bowed now repeat this prayer after Me and ask Me into your heart, now keep your eyes shut and if you prayed it raise your hand, I see that hand, thank you and thank you." Jesus and His Disciples never gave any type of a sinner's prayer and nowhere in Scripture does it command us to do so either.The "man of God" is only to preach the Gospel given in the Scripture and is to use a methodology in his preaching that is consistent with the Scriptures because the Scriptures are God's means for salvation, preaching, teaching, exhorting, reproving, sanctification, training in righteousness, discerning His will, and everything in the Christian life.(Cf. John 17:17, 2^nd Timothy 3:16,17, Romans 12:2, Galatians 1:8,9)

Pragmatism and Humanism: the Reasons Why we see these Methods Used and why they're Wrong

Pragmatism is the practice of using a methodology that works.It is all about using a system that works, that gives you the most success with what you are trying to achieve.If it doesn't work we throw it out and try something else until we find what system works the best.The reason why we see the sinner's prayer given in the church today is because it has been found by the ones using it as something that works and gives them the most results (numbers).Pragmatism is wrong because we as the people of God are to be about truth and not about what works (Proverbs 14:25, John 18:37, 1 Corinthians 13:6).You might hear someone who is pragmatic say something like this "Well you try preaching that and see how many people listen or respond to you."Preaching the Gospel is not about trying to gain numbers or looking for what makes people respond the best, it is about the truth, glorifying our God by obeying Him in His Great Commission, and a true Biblical love for people.Another reason it is wrong is that it does not produce a true convert but a false one, it ignores the truth about God's Word and what it truly says about salvation and instead focuses on getting as many people as you can to make a decision for Jesus which also is not Biblical.
Humanism is catering to the person or people (so called seekers) instead of God (the Seeker).It is all about using a method of evangelism that is not so offensive and appeals to his particular audience, something that is accepted and not hated.We might hear someone who is a humanist say something like this when preaching about sin and hell "We have all made mistakes and because of our mistakes we will be separated from God, now you don't want that do you?"A humanist caters to emotions above all else, even when it involves the denial or watering down of the truth as it is presented in the Bible.
The sinner's prayer is both a pragmatic and humanistic method of evangelism.Think about how it is presented in the church.The lights are dimmed, music is played (songs often themed around coercing you to make a decision), you are asked to bow your head and close your eyes while all of this is going on and are told that if you want to be saved all you have to do is repeat a prayer after the pastor, as simple as 1,2,3 or in our case the ABCS (Admit, Believe, Confess).After he is done with the prayer you are asked to raise your hand or even come to the front if you prayed it and then welcomed into the family of God and assured that you are saved and can not lose your salvation no matter what you do because you have been forgiven.Just that simple and non-offensive as well, and a complete neglect of what the Bible really says.

Biblical Assurance and the sin of declaring others to be saved


After a pastor/or any "man of God" has led you in a prayer it is common for him to assure you that you are saved and cannot lose your salvation because you prayed the prayer and that God will forgive you no matter how much you sin. No one has the Biblical authority to tell you whether you are saved or you are not just based on a profession of faith and his authority.The Scriptures declare that it is the Holy Spirit's role to give you assurance that you are saved as we read in Romans 8:20. But most modern day preachers upon your profession of faith that you believe in Jesus are quick to commend you and confirm that your profession is true, but what did Jesus do?In John 8:30,31 we read, "As He spoke these things, many came to believe in Him. So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine." Here we see that these Jews believe, but Jesus does not commend them, He does not baptize them, but He gives them an evidence of true saving faith, that they will prove to be His disciples, that they will prove they are truly saved, if they continue in His word.In fact if you do a study of what Jesus spoke about and taught, you will find that the majority of His teachings revolved around true and false faith and the evidence that would prove if your salvation is true or false.This was true not only of Jesus but also the rest of the New Testament writers.We see Paul in 2^nd Corinthians 13:5 admonishing the people in Corinth to "Examine themselves, to test themselves to see whether they be in the faith", and in his letter to the Philippians in Chapter 2 verse 12 concurring that they must "work out their salvation with much fear and trembling for it is God who is at work in you both to work and to will for His good pleasure." Peter in his 2^nd letter in Chapter 1:10 calling his readers to "make their calling and election sure." James admonishing those who were in dispersion that "Faith without works is dead" in Chapter 1:18-20 and the apostle of love writing 1^st John as an epistleto those that believe in the name of the Son of God so that they may know that they have eternal life (1^st John 5:13). The letter goes through a series of tests that are given to the readers with the purpose of testing your life by them to gain assurance or to lose it. To summarize the 'man of God' does not have the Biblical authority to declare that anyone is saved based on his/her profession. To be Biblical, he should seek to give the person who has made a profession assurance by going to the Word of God, showing them what it says about true genuine faith, and having them test their lives by that standard praying that the Holy Spirit would work in that endeavor.

The Idolatry of the Sinner's Prayer/Decisionism

The majority of people that I speak with on the streets, in shopping malls, in contemporary Southern Baptist Churches, or wherever, when I ask them the question "Why are you a Christian?", the response that I am most of the time given is because one time in their life they prayed a prayer led by a pastor or off the back of a tract.Their entire reasoning for saying that they are Christian is the genuineness or sincerity of that prayer, when the Bible is clear in teaching that we have assurance and know that we are Christians because the God who began a good work in us is being faithful to finish what He started (Philippians 1:6), that we endure until the end (Luke 21:18,19), that we abide in His word (John 8:31), if we hold fast to the Gospel which we received (1^st Corinthians 15:2), and so on.The emphasis is if we persevere in the faith (according to the tests that the Scriptures give) then we have and gain assurance and if we do not then we can have no assurance that we are saved at all.No writer in the Scriptures when writing about the subject of assurance ever wrote and asked if there was ever a time in your life when you prayed a prayer but this is exactly what modern day pastors do when confronted with church people struggling about whether they are saved or not.This causes the person to thrust all of his/her trust into the decision that he/she made at one point in his/her life instead of into the person of Jesus Christ and His finished work.Thus we have the idolatry of the sinner's prayer or decision they made for Jesus.In the word of faith movement we see prosperity preachers preach a "name it and claim it" gospel and the sinner's prayer is the same thing.Because you prayed, now God is obligated to save you.You named Salvation and now it is yours because of the power of the individual and his/her prayer or decision for Christ.Beloved if you indeed are saved it is not because of anything that you have done, it is not because you prayed in such a way that it coerced God to move and save you, it is because God in His sovereignty when the true Gospel was preached moved on you to give you a new heart, to re-birth you, to regenerate you, and you responded by repenting of your sin and placing your trust in Jesus Christ.
Salvation is not a decision that we make in our own will.If it were there would be no need for regeneration (God's sovereign act of making you a new creature).The Bible states that we are spiritually dead creatures.In the beginning when God created man and woman He told them that they would die when they ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and that is exactly what happened.Though not physically but spiritually they died.To be spiritually alive is to possess the ability to glorify God.When Adam and Eve disobeyed God's commandment in the Garden they lost that ability and because of their disobedience God cursed the whole creation.Not only did He curse Adam and Eve, but He also cursed everyone that would proceed after them with Spiritual death.We are all born spiritually dead.So when you are presented with the spiritual commands to repent and believe the Gospel (they are spiritual because they are acts that glorify God) you being spiritually dead do not possess the ability to do them in the same way that a physically dead man does not possess the ability to get up and walk.Unless God gives you Spiritual life, through your super-natural re-birth, then you will not live.Salvation is not to be manipulated down into a decision we make for Jesus!(Ezekiel 36:21-28, John 3:1-14, Genesis chapters 1-3, Ephesians 2:1, Colossians 2:13, 1^st Corinthians 10:31, Isaiah 64:6, Romans 14:21, Ephesians 2:8,9, Genesis 6:5, Jeremiah 31:31-34, Romans 3:10-15, Galatians 3:10, Deuteronomy 27:26)

A Biblical Response to the Sinner's Prayer Methodology and those who use it


How much do you have to add to or take away from the Gospel for it to be a gospel contrary to the true Gospel?Not much!In reading that it is a false gospel we know that it is not just a different teaching rather the Gospel either with something added to it or taken away from it to make it a gospel that is contrary to the true one.Just like counterfeit money, it looks like the real thing but it is not; it is false.We should not be surprised for the Devil masquerades as an angel of light and his servants as servants of righteousness (2^nd Corinthians 11:14,15).Someone once wisely said when asked if the Devil could have his way what would he do? He responded by saying that he would have all of the bars and liquor stores shut down, all the pornography destroyed, the crime rate reduced significantly, and have everyone go to churches where Christ is not preached.The sinner's prayer is not the true Gospel, it is a different one, it is a gospel contrary to the one in the Scriptures, and it distorts the true Gospel, as we should be well aware of from this article.We should then respond by obeying the command stated twice to express emphasis of the importance of obedience to let these people who would distort the Gospel of Christ be accursed.Know that all Scripture is inspired. This is not just an admonishment from the apostle Paul, but also a clear command from God Himself.Failure to obey is sin. Sin is Lawlessness (1^st John 3:4).
One might now ask how to let someone be accursed?I would respond by saying that the Greek word found here in this text is "anathema", which means that the wrath of God still abides on these people.In love you would let them be to you as a lost person and treat them that way.If they are your pastor/elder, get out from their leadership and teaching.Admonish them in the true Gospel and pray for their repentance.If you have professing Christian friends who advocate this supposed gospel, then you should break fellowship with them and admonish them in repentance and pray for them as well.You can find several Biblical presentations with the true Gospel on this site.Study it, know it, and let no one distort it or preach a different one.