The Truth About the Sinner’s Prayer

Featured

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Bible Study, Spiritual

Tags

disciples, Great Commission, Harvests of Souls, His Faith, His Grace, His Ruach, Holy Spirit, lost souls, not factual, preached Gospel, repeated prayer, salvation process, Savior, sinner's prayer, unbiblical, uncomfortable truths, Word SEED, YeHoVah, Yeshua, Yeshua's Followers

¹⁹Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, immersing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Ruach ha-Kodesh, ²⁰teaching them to observe all I have commanded you. And remember! I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” ~ Matthew 28:19-20, TLV

¹⁵He told them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the Good News to every creature. ¹⁶He who believes and is immersed shall be saved, but he who does not believe shall be condemned. ~ Mark 16:15-16, TLV

No sinner’s prayer is biblical. Since no sinner’s prayer has ever saved lost souls, telling someone he or she can repeat a sinner’s prayer and be saved means no sinner’s prayer is factual.

Yeshua never told His Disciples to use a sinner’s prayer to lead people to Him because He knew that only the preached unadulterated Word – the Good News – has the power to lead lost souls to Him. Everything He knew about the Gospel was why Yeshua commanded His Followers to preach it to every creature. This Gospel was, and still is, the Good News about Yeshua – the One who came into the world to save this world from the death penalty.

Moreover, there is an uncomfortable truth, which is that there are far too many Christians who have used their churches’ versions of the sinner’s prayer primarily so that their pastors could keep track of the number of sinners their church members have led to Yeshua. Missionaries have been asked: How many lost souls repeated the sinner’s prayer with you? This practice also is neither biblical nor factual.

What is biblical is Yeshua’s Followers helping lost souls to be saved by grace through faith by preaching the Word to them. Another uncomfortable truth is that neither spiritual rebirth nor eternal salvation can take place without someone first planting the seed. That is why having faith in the One who came to save lost souls can only come after they have heard the preached Word and received the planted Word seed. That is why Yeshua teaches yet another uncomfortable truth via parables. This uncomfortable truth is that the Word is to the Kingdom of YeHoVaH what a natural seed is to a harvest.

Yeshua will have His Harvests of souls because His Word seed was planted via the preaching of the Gospel. This Word seed will produce YeHoVaH’s kind of Faith, His kind of Grace, and His Ruach (Spirit) in them. Faith, Grace, and the Ruach – when accepted – will move lost souls to repent their sins so that they can confess YeHoVaH anointed Yeshua to be the one and only Savior of this world. Only then can the gifts of regeneration and salvation be received.

The last uncomfortable truth mentioned here is that without repentance, there is no forgiveness of sin. That is why the Power of YeHoVaH’s Promises is in His Word seed, and those Promises include His Forgiveness, Regeneration, Salvation, Justification, Sanctification, Glorification, and Eternal Life spiritual gifts.

In summary, when we do what we are commanded to do, which is to preach the Gospel, YeHoVaH, His Grace (Yeshua), and His Ruach (Spirit) will take it from there. If we don’t follow the proper salvation process, we will be guilty of deceiving ourselves into thinking WE led people to Yeshua via a sinner’s prayer, as well as guilty of deceiving lost souls into believing they will be included in Yeshua’s Harvests of souls. Shalom!

The Biblical Way To Lead Others To Christ

09 Monday Jan 2012

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Spiritual

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

"brand" churches, "church" Soul-Winning Station, doing own "thing", leading the lost to Christ, mankind's gospel not Lord's Gospel, preaching is for the lost, reaching unsaved persons, sinner's prayer, substituted human programs for God's program, unbiblical salvational prayers, unbiblical salvational processes

Leading The Lost World To CHRIST

And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. ~ Mark 16:15-16, KJV

As born again, saved (justified), and filled with the Holy Spirit Christians, we are called to leadership—we are called to lead a lost world to salvation by first preaching the Gospel’s message to them, and secondly by witnessing to them. In other words, the Lord says that we are to proclaim or herald the Good News about Jesus the Christ, who died to give everyone who believes in Him an eternally wonderful life and an intimate relationship with God. Additionally, Jesus the Christ expects us to back up the preached Gospel with our witnessing, which is not limited to what we say, for our witnessing also should be accompanied by a life of holiness, righteousness, and love.

Indeed, our witness, which is a demonstration of the Lord’s true disciples’ transformed lives—our “changed” lives, which come about by the Grace of God, the power of the Holy Spirit, and the atoning sacrifice of Jesus the Christ—will both strengthen and confirm the Lord’s Gospel message that we are preaching or heralding. The bottom line, then, is that we ONLY are able to reach the unsaved people in the world (to lead them to Christ) by the preached or heralded Gospel message that is evidenced by our consistent demonstration of what a holy, righteous, and loving life in Christ looks like.

Once again, the Lord Himself not only commissioned us to preach (proclaim or herald) His Good News, but also He expects us to support His preached or heralded Gospel message with our witnessing—with our godly living. Now, it is important to note here that to herald means to give the Lord’s message, word for word; to herald does not mean to interpret the Lord’s message and then give our own views and opinions that we have shaped into our own message! For sure, when we preach or herald the unadulterated Gospel, that same Word will cause a person to respond in the right way to the heard Gospel message. It is after God’s saving Faith is put inside the hearer of the preached Gospel message that a Gospel hearer’s life truly can be transformed (changed) through regeneration, salvation (justification), and progressive sanctification. By the way, this saving Faith is the same God-given Faith that causes, with the help of the Grace of God, the power of the Holy Spirit, and the atoning sacrifice of Jesus the Christ, an unsaved person to respond the right way to the heard Gospel message.

Be that as it may, today, in the institutional church, many spiritual leaders are doing their own “thing,” which is everything but what Jesus the Christ commanded His disciples to do: “…Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature…” (Mark 16:15). Instead of following the Lord’s Great Commission command, which also is Father God’s Way for reaching unsaved people—His Way for leading the unsaved world to the Lord—so that they can receive salvation, too many spiritual leaders in the institutional church have substituted their programs, or the programs of well-known spiritual leaders in “brand” churches, for God’s program. More important, these same spiritual leaders have presented their own gospel instead of the Lord’s Gospel.

A case in point is the fact that today’s spiritual leaders have changed God’s program by making the institutional church, primarily every physical building, a Soul-Winning Station, which means the “church” is the place where the preaching of the Gospel is being fulfilled. However, the Word of God makes it clear that the preached or heralded Gospel is solely for reaching, leading the lost world to salvation, and that the teaching or making of disciples is for the assembly of “called out ones” who make up the community of witnessing saints (ekklesia/ecclesia).

Put differently, the Lord sends us into the world to preach His Gospel’s message so that those unsaved people can be born again, saved (justified), and filled with the Holy Spirit, but ONLY after they respond to this preached or heralded Gospel message in the appropriate way, which is to believe in their heart (in their center of spiritual activity) that they need to be born again and that they need Jesus the Christ as their Lord and Savior. It is after unsaved people are born again, saved (justified), and filled with the Holy Spirit that the Lord then places these believers into His ekklesia (a.k.a., ecclesia), which is His assembly of witnessing saints who come together (fellowship with one another) so that they can receive teaching or discipling (discipleship training or equipping), edification, and encouragement (see Too Many “CHURCHGOERS” Are Spectators Instead Of Participants).

Another case in point is the fact that, as the result of countless men and women in “church” or “ministry” leadership positions treating the leading of unsaved individuals to the Lord as a “process,” too many of today’s believers are not really saved! These countless men and women’s salvational “process” typically involves: 1. Asking unsaved individuals if they want to be saved; 2. Explaining to unsaved individuals, who say that they want to be saved, the unbiblical concept of inviting Jesus the Christ to come in their hearts by repeating an unbiblical Sinner’s Prayer; 3. Leading these unsaved people in some form of the unbiblical Sinner’s Prayer; 4. Telling these sinners who prayed an unbiblical Sinner’s Prayer that because they prayed said prayer they are now children of God (see The Sinner’s Prayer); and then 5. Helping these allegedly “saved” persons find a “church” home.

Regardless of the fact that there are too many spiritual leaders in the institutional church who are doing their own “thing,” no one who truly is born again, saved (justified), filled with the Holy Spirit, as well as no one who really is allowing the Holy Spirit to sanctify, teach, prompt, and lead him or her, can challenge, with authority and power, this Divine Truth: The Lord intends for each one of His believers not only to desire to be a participant but also to become a participant in His Great Commission. For sure, the Scriptures support this Divine Truth, which once again is that the Lord intends for every believer to help with the GREAT harvest of souls for Him, by doing his or her part in the leading of the lost world to Christ, and by witnessing to the lost world in the same godly lifestyle that he or she lives within EVERY ekklesia/ecclesia, within every community of witnessing saints.

For instance, in EVERY ekklesia/ecclesia, every community of witnessing saints, each believer demonstrates the God kind of love for one another, and he or she makes sure that no brother or sister in Christ ever forgets what Jesus did for each believer. He or she also makes sure that no brother or sister in Christ ever forgets what God is asking every believer to do for Jesus the Christ, in this life.

More important, in EVERY ekklesia/ecclesia, every community of witnessing saints, we believers also reiterate that the Lord intends for those of us, who are seeking to fulfill His Great Commission, not only to lead the lost world to Christ but also to teach fellow Household of Faith siblings how to be disciples, as well as to share in love our spiritual gifts, indeed, we must share in love ALL things with one another. We also reiterate that the Lord intends for us to know the most important aspect about participating in His Great Commission, which is that before we can be successful at winning souls for Jesus the Christ, we must be in right standing with Father God, be in an intimate relationship with our Father and with our Lord, be in an intimate relationship with our brother and sisters in Christ, as well as be all about equipping one another for God’s Kingdom business, all about edifying and encouraging each other, and all about doing the Perfect Will of the Father, together (see Too Many “CHURCHGOERS” Are Spectators Instead Of Participants).

In other words, we cannot lead others where we have not gone, nor can we lead anyone to where we are not willing to go ourselves. These last statements simply mean that those people who are not genuinely born again, saved (justified), and filled with the Holy Spirit are the ones who will have to resort to speaking their own gospel message, to doing their own programs, and to following their own salvational processes and salvational gimmicks that they believe gets people “saved,” instead of following God’s program and the Lord’s Gospel message.

Furthermore, contrary to popular opinions, leading the lost world to Christ is NOT about making unsaved people members of our ekklesia/ecclesia, nor is leading the lost world to Christ about making them members of our local “church.” Leading the lost world to Christ also is NOT about making unsaved people our friends. Leading the lost world to Christ also is NOT about having unsaved people repeat a Sinner’s Prayer after us, nor is leading the lost world to Christ about having unsaved people make a sincere commitment to Christ. Our “call” to leadership means we are to live a life for Christ that daily demonstrates His love, His righteousness, and His holiness that we have received because of the Lord’s atoning sacrifice.

Equally important to know is that we primarily are “called” to lead the lost world to Christ by preaching or heralding the Lord’s Gospel message. In other words, putting the Faith to believe in Christ inside anyone’s heart is the work of God’s saving Grace and the power of His Holy Spirit. Putting the Faith to believe in Christ inside anyone’s heart, therefore, is NOT a function of any humans’ superb preaching techniques, nor is putting the Faith to believe inside someone’s heart the result of any humans’ excellent evangelistic dynamism. For these reasons, we must let the power of the Gospel’s message (let the Grace of God and the influence of the power of His Holy Spirit) do the saving work that results in the Lord adding whomever is being saved to a particular ekklesia/ecclesia (a community of witnessing saints). At that point, we then are able to help a believer along in his or her faith walk through discipleship teaching and through fellowship gatherings where EVERYONE edifies and exhorts!

Put differently, since ONLY the Lord knows someone’s heart, and since the issues of regeneration and salvation are between a person and the Lord, especially since being born from above and being saved concern whether or not a person is sincere about wanting to have a life in the presence of God (concern whether or not a person is sincere about wanting to accept Jesus the Christ, or sincere about making a commitment to serve the Lord), our “responsibility” then is to present the Gospel, and to present it clearly. Additionally, we can pray for lost souls, by asking God to make the hearts of those individuals who are spiritually separated from Him receptive to the sown Word so that they too can be saved.

Finally, there is nothing beyond our witnessing, our preaching, and our praying that can lead anyone to Christ, or that can be instrumental in getting anyone who is lost, saved! To teach or preach that we can do more than witnessing, preaching, and praying is to teach and preach a different Gospel. In short, it means that we are doing our own “thing”!

The Sinner’s Prayer

19 Wednesday Oct 2011

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Bible Study

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

draws all humans, forgiveness, invitation, living for Jesus, lost souls, New Testament, regeneration, salvation, sinner's prayer, torments compartment of Hell, witness for Jesus

Most “churchgoers” teach that the Sinner’s Prayer is an unsaved person’s invitation to Jesus the Christ—a prayer in which an unsaved person asks the Lord to come into his or her heart so that he or she can be saved. Unfortunately, there are so many reasons why this teaching is not from God. The three most important reasons why this teaching is not from God are as follows:

First, the point of view about the Sinner’s Prayer being step one of several steps that lead to salvation is not biblical. Nowhere in the New Testament is there anything that remotely suggests that people can be saved by first saying or repeating a Sinner’s Prayer, because NOWHERE in the New Testament is any sinner instructed or encouraged to “pray” for his or her salvation. Why? Well, because prayer is an avenue of communication between God the Father and His children (those believers who have a SPIRITUAL relationship with God, which is made possible through the Lord’s death, burial, and resurrection—His SPIRITUAL covenant/contract with the Bride of Christ, the Body of Christ). Thus, an unsaved person is not a Child of God (cf. John 9:31)!

NOTE too that New Testament Scriptures like James 5:16 and 1 John 1:8-9, etc., pertain to BELIEVERS! Moreover, the thief on the cross who asks the Lord to remember him when the Lord comes into His Kingdom could not at that moment be saved, because Jesus the Christ had not yet died, had not been buried, and had not been resurrected! The Lord, however, did forgive the thief’s sins, and He did restore this Jewish man to his Old Testament “physical” covenant relationship, which in turn would place this thief in the Paradise compartment of Hell where Abraham and other faithful Jews were. In essence, the thief was not sent to the Torments compartment of Hell, and he was not sent to the Abyss!

Second, it is God through Jesus the Christ who does the inviting. Indeed, the Lord invites sinners to come to Him, because He is the only ONE who can do the drawing (cf. Matthew 11:28-30; John 12:32). This drawing, however, involves being “born-again,” which, by the way, is exclusively God the Father’s work that has nothing to do with what people say or do! In other words, because of the regenerative work of God’s Grace, God’s Faith, and God’s Holy Spirit, people are able to confess with their tongues and believe in their hearts the Gospel’s Truth (preached Word of God) about Jesus the Christ being the Son of God, whose atoning sacrifice makes it possible to receive Him as their personal Savior and Lord!

Third, those “churchgoers” who have been teaching unsaved people that they will be saved if they pray a prayer in which they invite the Lord into their hearts are why there are so many people who, because they prayed such a prayer, now think that they are saved, when many of them are not! Furthermore, the Scriptures teach that calling out the Lord’s name—that is, saying “Lord, Lord”—is not enough to obtain either the regenerative or the saving work of God’s Grace, God’s Faith, and God’s Holy Spirit, especially if the person calling the Lord’s name is NOT doing the Will of the Father (cf. Matthew 7:21; Luke 6:46; John 9:31).

Just like water baptism never saved any lost souls, for many dry devils were dipped into water only to be raised up out of it as wet devils, the Sinner’s Prayer also never saved any lost souls, for many sinners were just as unrepentant and disobedient after their “Amen” as they were at the beginning of their Sinner’s Prayer. Therefore, if everyone who says a Sinner’s Prayer doesn’t receive salvation, then the Sinner’s Prayer cannot be from God. Instead, the Sinner’s Prayer is a snare that tricks lost souls into believing in a false assurance of salvation!

The bottom line is this: Since Jesus the Christ and His first-century disciples never asked or required anyone to repeat ANYTHING after them, then no modern-day evangelists or “church” spiritual leaders have the right to ask or require anyone to repeat a Sinner’s Prayer after them. Lastly, the goal of every evangelist or “church” spiritual leader has never been to get lost souls to pray any prayer. The goal ALWAYS has been to be a witness for Jesus the Christ—to lead the unsaved world to the Lord by demonstrating to lost souls how to live for Him.