Soulwinning or Salesmanship?

"Do you believe you have ever done anything wrong, and that you are a sinner?"
"Yes."
"Do you believe that Jesus died on the cross to take away those sins?"
"Yes."
"Then will you bow your head with me, repeat a short prayer, and ask Jesus to come into your heart?"
"Yes."

"Now, you are saved!"
"I am?"
"Yes, the Bible says you are saved. Don’t you believe the Bible?"
"Well, of course I do."
"Then you are saved, right?"
"Right."

At first look, the method and message of the above illustration might seem beyond criticism. As a vast throng of "personal soul winners" canvasses our land from door to door using the above method, it becomes very difficult to downgrade their zeal and enthusiasm. To their credit, it must be stated that they are certainly on the job. The enthusiasm, earnestness, and persuasiveness which this well-trained group of so-called "fundamentalists" exhibits is certainly admirable, to say the least.

However, is this zealousness and persuasiveness mis-directed? Is the method which is being used a scriptural method? Are the folks who are following the step by step instructions of the "soul winner" being genuinely saved?

This is a very delicate yet crucial problem today in the world of Biblical Christianity as we know it. Several thought provoking questions and intricate situations are being brought to the attention of God's people everywhere. Certainly, a few of these conversions are genuine. It is the opinion of this writer, however, that the majority of these "decisions" for Christ do not pan out and are not genuine.

Where are all the converts? Where is all the fruit? As the hundreds and thousands of souls which are being saved are counted and recorded, where are they all going? Why is our land not in the midst of a great spiritual awakening and revival, rather than being in a downhill slide into sin and depravity? Could it be that instead of being born again, people are being stillborn as a result of slick salesmanship techniques? A closer study of the method of "easy-believism" certainly reveals to any rational believer that today's gospel has been watered down and grossly over-simplified.

First of all, the Easy-believism type of evangelism usually does not emphasize genuine repentance toward God. No one can be save without a recognition of sin toward God, and a repentance of turning away from that sin. It is quite obvious that when someone is asked if they have ever done anything wrong, they are going to say, "Yes". However, to agree lightheartedly that you have erred, and to experience the convicting influence and power of the Holy Spirit are two completely different things! Until a person has experienced the Spirit relayed consciousness that he is a totally depraved sinner, he can never exercise a saving faith in Christ. It is absolute folly to tell an unconvicted sinner to merely believe in Jesus and expect him to be saved. Before a person can be saved, he has to realize that he is lost.

This conviction comes from the Holy Spirit. To sweeten the gospel for the sake of numbers by de-emphasizing the sinfulness of man is unscriptural and ungodly! For man to realize that he is exceedingly sinful, he must first be shown the exceeding sinfulness of sin. That conviction does not come, however, through a planned program of quick responses by way of rehearsed questions.

Conviction of sin comes when God's people preach and teach the power of repentance through the Holy Spirit. As the Holy Spirit convicts of sin, people are saved. My father used to tell me: "Son, a sinner can feel it in his head, and not believe it in his heart." His words are true yet today. A mental assent of sin is far different than a heart belief of conviction and sorrow toward that sin.

A second emphasis which is missing in the easy-believism, door-to-door method of soul winning is an acknowledgment of the Lordship of Christ. To coax someone into lightheartedly admitting that Jesus is Saviour is missing the target entirely. Jesus is first and foremost Lord, and then Saviour! As one falls at the feet of Christ, experiencing the conviction of the Holy Spirit and realizing the all encompassing Lordship of Christ, he is then in a position to accept Christ as Saviour. Easy believism leaves this out entirely. The sovereign Lordship of Christ is omitted and skipped completely, while the message of "only believe" is placed easily within one's grasp. Consequently, shallow and frivolous decisions are made, and the very crux of the gospel is left unsaid.

Thirdly, while the joy and wonderfulness of salvation is over emphasized, the easy-believism method totally ignores the terms of true discipleship. When one gets saved, life does not suddenly become one big joy ride into Heaven. The cost must be counted! The cross as well as the crown must be preached and taught. Genuine salvation does not produce a constant bed of roses. People should not be conned into thinking that it does, just in order to get them to make some sort of decision. Let it be said that a life of service for Christ will result in joy, peace, contentment, hope and purpose. Along with this, however, comes sacrifice, tears, anguish, persecution, and oftentimes death. Certainly, the genuine soul winner should make the potential convert aware of this fact. Not as a condition for salvation, but rather as a result of following Christ.

What is the result of all of this? People all across our land are believing, but they do not know what they are believing! The seed has not been sown properly, the doctrinal watering has not taken place, and God has not given the increase. Shallow decisions to "repeat the sinner's prayer" are being substituted for heart felt belief in the regenerating power of God. Listen: a slick smile, a hearty handshake, a manufactured speech, and a quick command for someone to bow their head and ask Jesus to come into their heart is not New Testament evangelism! People in the New Testament were never pressured into salvation. I challenge anyone to show me where they were! In all instances, the heart of the individual was prepared by the Holy Spirit through the teaching of God's Word, and a soul winner was then led to that person.

Of course, today's high powered soul winner hides behind the feeble excuse that if only one conversion in twenty is genuine, then we should rejoice in the fact that the one genuine convert is saved and on his way to Heaven. Are people actually that naive? If this reasoning is logical, then is it not logical to also say, "Okay, let's have twenty people line up against a wall. We'll take a gun and shoot at all twenty of them. However, if only one escapes with his life, we will rejoice in the fact that the one is alive, even though the other nineteen people may be dead!"

To take the unscripturally loaded gun of easy-believism and aim it at twenty people with the hope that maybe one will actually get saved is basically the same type of logic. What about the other nineteen? They have been deceived, are oftentimes bitter, have been given a false hope, and are usually on their way to hell by means of a false profession. They have been shot and killed by the gun of easy-believism.

It is time for many of us to re-evaluate our methods of soul winning. Time needs to be set aside to patiently teach people the gospel. The necessity for true repentance and faith in Christ needs to be the very foundation of our message. We then need to wait on and pray for the convicting power of the Holy Spirit. We then need to prayerfully and honestly lead them to the Lord. After a person gets saved, strong Baptist doctrine from God's Word needs to be taught and rooted into the life of the new child of God. Certainly, scriptural baptism needs to be taught and administered, and the new convert should be brought up as A new babe in Christ, in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

Of course, by doing it this way, we may not have as many "decisions" for the Lord. It is my belief, however, that the majority of those who do believe will be genuine, and that New Testament evangelism will be more accurately followed and practiced.

Where are the throngs from stadium conversions? It is all emotionally driven, IMHO.

I agree that true repentance is absolutely necessary. The Bible is very clear on this. However, you have left out something else that the Bible speaks very clearly about: baptism.

Acts 22:16

“And now why do you tarry? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name.”

Jesus didn't hand out tracts. He loved, and he led by word and example.

We're to do the same, if we truly desire to win souls to Christ. In my experience, altar calls that aren't followed by the dedicated support of mature believers usually fail.

It's like tossing someone a pair of keys but not teaching them how to drive.

Act 16:31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved,

Confession, Baptism, Dedication, Yielding... these are all things that we do AFTER we are saved, they are the results of being saved and filled with His Holy Spirit.

We do not do these things to be saved or filled with His Spirit. That would be heresy and salvation by works. God enables us to do the above after we believe in Him.

This is not "easy believism" as some would call it, but what God's Word says. Man is the one who seems to want to place hoops there for us to go through. God does not.

I like MacArthur but some as most know are still concerned with his "Lordship Theology". He is Lord, we do make Him Lord, but not as a basis for salvation, again that would be salvation by works, by our doing something.

http://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/Gal/Gal003.html#1

It's like tossing someone a pair of keys but not teaching them how to drive.

True. But we should be ever mindful that it's God who tosses the keys, teaches us to drive, holds the title to the Chevy and owns every car lot on the planet.

All driver's licenses were ordained by God from before the foundation of the world according to His will alone.

Knowing this is the only way I can get to sleep when our sons are out with the car. 8~)

"He is Lord, we do make Him Lord, but not as a basis for salvation, again that would be salvation by works, by our doing something."

Agreed that there is nothing we can DO for our salvation, but only to have faith- to believe. I think MacArthur's point is, however, that part of that belief has to be in Jesus' Lordship. A casual assent of the diety of Christ is not enough- the demons believe that much- and tremble! A person who believes in Jesus' Lordship has a true, saving belief- which will, without fail, produce fruit.

armydoc: "A person who believes in Jesus' Lordship has a true, saving belief- which will, without fail, produce fruit."

The real challenge, from my viewpoint, is to which do we concentrate more? The Lordship of Jesus or the production of fruit?

Many times I have heard say that true understanding of Lordship results in fruit. Yet I see many weekend christians in the church today - people who nod their heads and say Jesus is Lord on Sunday but follow the same path as most unregenerate during the week. Maybe we need to concentrate more on the fruit production???

"The real challenge, from my viewpoint, is to which do we concentrate more? The Lordship of Jesus or the production of fruit?"

There's a place for both. I think Scripture continually exhorts for belief AND action. We just need to realize that it is ONLY the belief that saves, not the action. Once we have that straight in our little pea-brains, we are exhorted to DO, for multiple reasons. Good works by believers please God, they glorify God, they strengthen our Christian witness, and most importantly, because WE ARE COMMANDED TO. Realizing that there will be different levels of fruit production among believers, I think it is legitimate to question someone's salvation that shows absolutely no fruit production. The "fix" for such a person is not to coerce them into doing good works, but to help them come closer to a saving belief in Christ.

I would agree. The moment we start to go forward thinking we have to do something for our Lord Jesus, we have crossed the threshold of works. If we meditate on God's word it is God who will motivate us into action. I will put this caviot in that it's easy to sit back and do nothing as well. I don't think God will go for that and He'll move us along after taking us to the whooping shed.

BTW-John MacArthur's one of my favorites. His commentaries are excellent.

I think something that can be a problem is that believers can be "nurtured into" walks with the Lord that are very self-involved and self centered. What would probably be a very natural outcome of someone becoming a new believer is for them to want to share scripture with everyone they know and love, but instead they seem to suddenly get bogged down in all the self involved spiritual psycho babble, that gets them to focus on themselves. Instead of looking to the Lord, then others, then lastly their selves... but some of the churches seem like a mixture of new age cults with a little of our Lord sprinkled in, like he is their gennie in a bottle. They are constantly talking about and enamored with how God has choose them, how he is working through them, sort of me me me... how he healed a cold, helped me find this or that, gave me peace when my cat died... he does all these things... but that is where it seems to stop for them. They are still lost in themselves, not at all rightfully consumed with a world who needs something so badly that they need to share. I do not like that, all this spiritual self analysis of self, or family relationships, therapy to enable you to walk even better every day with him. It is all quite a self involved distraction in the name of Christ to keep believers from hitting the pavement with the gospel!!!

I like MacArthur also, I saw him first in early 80 at school, he spoke on Worship and how the purpose of everything was to give worship to God, to give glory and recognition to him, it was excellent, it tied everything together to me for the first time, pulled it all together and made it all make sense.

My father used to tell me: "Son, a sinner can feel it in his head, and not believe it in his heart." His words are true yet today. A mental assent of sin is far different than a heart belief of conviction and sorrow toward that sin.

This is backwards. Sinners can feel it in the heart and not believe it in the head. These "easy-believers" are not believing the Gospel in the head, they are feeling it in the heart--relying on emotion. Then the feeling wears off and the make-believer returns to his former ways. For true believers, knowledge of God (the head) drives emotion (the heart). A true believer doesn't rely on emotions, a true believer relies on the knowledge that Christ is his Lord and Savior, no matter his feelings. Feelings can change based on the weather, how much sleep one gets, an upset stomach, etc. Feelings change, but the word of the Lord stands forever.

Easy-believers need to gird up the loins of their mind, not go off on emotional binges.

"the Easy-believism type of evangelism usually does not emphasize genuine repentance toward God."

This statement warrants consideration on the part of all penitents. We also must recall the importance of our actions, as detailed in John 3:16, as opposed to the esoterical rescuing of an elect few which some Calvinists have contrived.

Christ's saving works on the cross, the expression of His Father's saving grace, need only to be accepted by us sinners in order to effect our Salvation.

This is the salvation aspect of Christian life, but our Creator certainly offers us much more ( not superior blessings, for there could certainly be none such, but other additional blessings and works ) in this life, the ultimate of which would be divine service before him manifested through the fruits of good living. These important effects of true Christianity are visible to the world through the sacraments and our good works in the name of Christ in the world, and in my mind they are part of God's blessing for the saved person.

May genuine repentance be coupled with true service before God Almighty to manifest His divine will in each of us.

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