Wednesday, April 22, 2009
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About Me
- Renee
- Frisco, Tx, United States
- My life is dedicated to my heavenly King! My goal is to teach and witness the gospel of Jesus Christ to everyone I meet. Are you born again? If you are not sure...then you are not. Are you reading your Bible daily? Are you praying? Are you seeking and saving the lost? Are you repenting (a change of mind that results in completely turning) from your sins? There is hope! Trust in our Lord Jesus Christ to save you while there is still time. "For by grace ye are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; Not of works lest any man should boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9)
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6 comments:
I totally understand. I have declared war on it too. It's not a pretty sight though. People don't get it; it's like I'm speaking a different language... a biblical one! I literally get sick to my stomach when I hear the prayer or hear an "invitation." I believe we need to make room for the Spirit to work and an invitation might be okay, but not one like, "I invite you to say a prayer." More like, "I invite you to come get more information and go over Scripture!"
Oh, it's a sad day in America, isn't it? I was the product of this terrible sinner's prayer for 12 years. All I was for all those years was a religious know-it-all hypocrite who couldn't stop sinning, but knew the Bible more than most people. Like a Pharisee, I suppose.
I lay the blame at the pastor's feet too. If people would just look at how the early church evangelized instead of coming up with methods and all... it's like this Proclaim thing that is around now. I won't bash it totally, but I will say that it has some bad stuff in it such as doing evangelism according to YOUR personality. So, it's still MAN centered. It's ME centered, not Christ centered and not about what the sinner needs to hear, but how comfortable YOU are. Ugh!
Thanks for posting this Renee. You are a true woman of God and I thank God for what the Lord is doing in you :)
Tamara Slack
www.SeedSower777.blogspot.com
www.Hesed.Etsy.com
Tamara -- thanks so much for you words of inspriation! They mean so much even though I give all the glory to the Lord!
I too am stuggling with this as I seem to be hearing it all the time now. I'm tired of people and pastors taking the easy way and and thinking that they are "covered".
Blessings Tamara! Thanks for being a constant encouraging rock in my life!
The sinner's pray is a lie of the devil! You can't say a prayer to be saved. I am saved by believing in Christ and His work alone on the Cross, was buried, and rose again the third day for my sins. That's the only way to be saved.
There was a pastor that would say the sinner's prayer every time before he got into the pulpit, hoping he'd be saved. He finally got ahold of a publication called "The Sinner's Prayer" by Mike O'Neal and realized he wasn't saved. He then got save, and out of the pulpit. The Sinners Prayer can be found at http://www.brothermike.com/sinner.html. Praise the Lord there are other Christians that truly believe in a Savior and not a prayer!
Hi, my name is Liz, and I have been a Christian since July of 2007. I agree with your points about the sinner's prayer. I have even read the article you suggested. As a child (I am 32 years old now), I must have said that prayer twelve or so times. I did not grow up in a Christian home so any kind of contact with Jesus was welcome, and I kept praying it every year at summer camp for the hope of something more. Sadly, these people who encouraged me to pray this prayer did not offer me any bible texts to take h ome or any other help in regard to my salvation, and, when I expressed that it appeared as though no change was happening to me, they said then I obviously do not understand salvation. Well, duh, I was twelve years old. Anyway, at the age of eighteen, when I was going off to college not coincidentally I'm sure, God put me in the path of some true bible-believing Christians who wanted to study with me. Eventually, he showed me his word, and I truly believed. The bible says the heart is deceptive above all things. So someone may think they are believing in Christ, but faith without works is dead (see James). Also, it's important to understand what sin is. How can you reptn if you don't understand what it is? I reptened, or should I say was granted repentance by the Lord and was baptized and have been living in him every day, not to say it's been easy, because it has not. To trust Christ is not simply something you do like when you say, "I trust you." to a friend. That friend will let you down at some point, may even lie to you, or you may be hurt by something and come to a point of distrust. A relationship with Christ is truly that, a relationship. Anyway, sorry for rambling. My question is how do we approach these people? Should we be speaking to these people who think they are Christians? A friend of mine sent that sinner's prayer publication by Mr. O'neil to her old pastor, and he responded with a very simple email which made me quite sad, "If we don't pray Jesus into our hearts, how does he get in there?" He was not open to any further teaching from her. believing Christian
Hi Liz! Thanks for your story. I really appreciate it. I am grateful that the Lord is opening eyes to those who think they are saved but truly by their fruit they are not. I see it more and more everyday and it is saddening. The comment the pastor made is truly sad as well but does seem typical now of the "let's do it the easy way and you are covered" attitude in today's churches.
Regarding your question my thought is definitely yes we should be talking to false converts because they are after all unbelievers. And, as we know, we are commanded to be spreading the gospel of Christ to all mankind.
Do you do any kind of evangelism such as handing out tracts or one-on-one conversations? And are you familiar with the Way of the Master programs? I'm not sure where you might be in that area so you may know some of these things but am passing along if not.
Here are some links that can help you get started in evangelism:
The Way of the Master has tremendous information and teaching tools for evangelism: www.thewayofthemaster.com
Living Waters has two messages that everyone must hear. The first is called "Hell's Best Kept Secret" and the second is "True and False Conversion" which explains why their are false converts. To listen to those go to:
www.livingwaters.com and click on messages on upper right hand of screen.
You may have all ready visited these sites! If not, hopefully they can help you.
Do let me know!
In Christ, Renee
The earliest notion of sinners prayer is less than 500 years old. It wasn't formalized as a theology until around the time of Billy Sunday/Graham and has plagued Christianity since. Active belief shown in our baptism in the only saving name of Jesus will save and regenerate us. This is bible.And to invent another Gospel is apostasy and falling away from the faith once given. The church started in Acts via Peter telling all who believed to repent and be baptized in Jesus' name to forgive your sins. Are you going to argue with God?
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