** They are manipulated by man rather than born of God, and it has filled our churches with false converts,” he said. **
Ummm-Hmm.
Correct, that’s why you get someone who “said the sinner’s prayer” when they were 12 but now they live with their girlfriend. Doesn’t work that way.
In a lifetime, you need to say the sinner’s prayer more than once.
A Biblical Alternative to the Sinner’s Prayer - Paul Washer
https://youtu.be/_9hd3pV2VxU
Ugh. Nobody needs Ray Comfort’s—or MacArthur’s or Platt’s or Washer’s— permission to be saved correctly. It is as it has been from the beginning:
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And THIS IS NOT YOUR OWN DOING; it is the GIFT OF GOD, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”—Ephesians 2:8-9
and
“I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by BELIEVING WHAT YOU HEARD?”
A little leaven leavens the whole lump. Imbibe these men’s compromised “gospel” and you’ll suffer for it. Ignore them and go sit under God’s Word. Good News for sinners can be found there!
“Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.”—1 Timothy 1:15-16
I have led people in prayer to give their lives to Jesus Christ and to receive him and his gift of salavation. You can see the relationship they have with God now with some and with others you can’t. Leading someone in prayer doesn’t lessen the possibility it is real faith.
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, Eph 2:8
We don’t choose Jesus, he chooses us. John 15:16
A prayer won’t save you, the gift of God’s grace does, including his gift of faith.
I don’t see much wisdom in someone who is part of the Left Behind baloney.
Suppose a man really wanted to marry a woman, and he wanted to make some vows to her. If some preacher told him what to say, then they would not be married, right? In order for them to be sincere, they have to make up their vows on the spot, right?
Preacher, “I, Brian, take thee Judy...”
Groom, “I, Brian, take thee Judy...”
Preacher, “to my lawful wedded wife...”
Groom, “to my lawful wedded wife...” etc.
The “Sinner’s Prayer” is an actual prayer that a sinner prayed in scripture. (See Luke 18:13.) There have been many who have prayed it in salvation. It does not become insincere just because you learn it somehow before you pray it.
The “Model Prayer,” sometimes called “The Lord’s Prayer,” is an actual prayer in scripture that many believers have prayed every day all their lives. It does not become worthless just because somebody taught it to you or because you prayed it before.
While not objecting to what the man is doing, for there is no requirement in the Bible for a soul-winner to “lead someone in the sinner’s prayer,” we must not create some new rule against it, for that is NOT in scripture either!
The whole problem with the *sinner’s prayer* thing is that I fear many people have been led in a prayer that they don’t really mean and think that simply because they recited some words, they are saved.
It’s almost the same in my book as what baptism has become for many, that if you’re baptized, you’re saved and because osmeone told them that if they prayed it, they were saved.
But when I see many people led in a sinner’s prayer and you can tell they feel coerced into it and there’s never any change in their lives, then they weren’t saved.
I suppose the best sinner’s prayer is the one in the gospel’s by the publican, *Be merciful to me, a sinner.* because Jesus Himself said that was the man who went away justified.
I think of my brother who was involved in a supposedly Christian pyramid scheme many years ago and this scheme presented itself as having many converts.
Well, my brother was at one of their Rah, Rah rallies and at the end they asked everyone who wanted to accept Christ to stand and pray. He stood and *accepted* Christ. I asked him about it and he told me that he did it because that was what you did as part of the group if you wanted to get ahead in the organization.
That was almost 40 years ago and he has NEVER shown the least inclination or interest in God. NOTHING changed. At all. Not in that entire time.
So he prayed a sinner’s pray. So what? He’s not saved.
Leading a repentant person in some version of “the sinner’s prayer” is a necessary final step in the evangelism process. This person is correct - the person may not be ready to fully surrender. Many people go through several cycles of “I prayed the prayer but I’m still under conviction” only to discover that there are things they have not surrendered yet. If a person has been convicted to seek salvation, the Lord wants them to fully surrender, so the evangelist must lovingly (not coercively) give them that opportunity. Not doing so is a copout.
So was that it??? Is that all it took??? If you believe in God and believe Jesus is God in the flesh are you saved??? Thankfully the Bible gives us that answer...
Jas_2:19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
Why do the devils tremble??? And why don't we believers tremble like the devils...
The difference is: while the jailer and the devils believe in God, it was the jailer who wanted to be saved...The devils don't want it...
So that was the beginning...
Act 16:32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.
This guy had just witnessed some pretty strange things with these two Jesus freaks so he was all ears...And they preached...They preached the Gospel and other things that Jesus taught them...And no doubt at the end of the conversation Paul asked this man, 'do you believe the words that I told you??? And do you want to be a follower of Jesus as we are'??? And the guy may have said a simple 'yes'...
'That' is a sinner's prayer...
What some people don't understand is that when a Baptist preacher call sinners out of their seats and to walk the isle to ultimately participate in a sinners prayer the sinner is already walking down the isle hand in hand with Jesus...
Once you make that decision to get out of your seat, and many don't get out of their seat, Jesus knows what's in your heart and he's already standing at your side the millisecond you make that decision...
The sinner's prayer down there in front of everyone doesn't do anything except give the person saying it confidence and acknowledment to him/herself that he/she had made Jesus his/her Savior...And I con't care how much you believe in Jesus, if you don't accept him as your Savior, you ain't a Christian...
What really happens in those situations is the person under conviction heads to the front...The pastor or deacon or maybe another Christian will again go over the Gospel with you...No one else hears the conversation...The person will then ask you if you believe the Gospel...He will then ask if you want to be a Christian...And like I said,, at that point it's a done deal...Then the person will lead you in a prayer because Christians pray, and a new convert doesn't know what to pray...
Although a person is saved before a sinners prayer is started, the prayer certainly doesn't hurt anything...And it IS biblical...
As an overt evangelical myself--actually a daily active public confessor of personal blood-bought relationship to the Father through the work of Jesus The Christ, and guided by the Holy Spirit--I have observed over the years the remarkable lack of sincere disciples coming from the pray-the-sinners-prayer approach which tries to convey an assurance of salvation.
Actually, the subtle purpose of counting the respondents to this "prayer" mechanism in a "revival" campaign is to obtain a handle on the persuasiveness of the evangelist, and therefore a testimony as to his effectiveness in getting public professions; hence to convince an ad hoc council of evangelical leaders in another area to get him to come to their geographical area and fund his "crusade" there.
The problem with this approach is that it is not up to the evangelist to provide such assurance to the individuals. Assurance of salvation only comes to the individual when he/she knows that a total change of mind toward God has occurred, which change becomes evident in one's practice of sinful habits through the power from Above exercised by control of the Holy Spirit, and not alone through one's determined willpower.
That effect comes from a very personal interaction between the human and the saving God, the validity of which is not immediately accessible to the people involved in the "crusade." Neither they nor the preaching evangelist ought to be pretending to confirm such an assurance. God is the Judge of all, not they themselves. And the public confession is that of personal behavior, not merely saying "the sinner's prayer," or attending subsequent church meetings.
The true attitude of a faithful evangelist is, that if he preaches the unvarnished Word consisting of the basic Articles of The Faith, committed trust in The Christ as Master will ensue, and changed lives that go on to spiritual maturity will be seen. He can be confident that God will support his Gospel-preaching ministry, send him to areas to which he has not even been invited or wanted, and see to support of his ministry and his needs.
The response of a Spirit-born and Spirit-supervised individual will be to seek a qualified discipler in a Bible-preaching and teaching local assembly of Christians that can show him/her how to live the abundant life in Christ. He/she might stumble in finding a true church, but God will guide in that, also, to where Christ is preeminent.