The way I got saved was I heard some great preaching on the wages of sin: death. I heard some great preaching on what Hell might be like. Horrible. I heard some great preaching on how NOT ONE OF US comes even close to being perfect. We're all unrighteous. I heard some great preaching on what Jesus Christ did for all of us. He took our sins to the cross and willingly suffered & gave his life. He took the punishment for our sins for us. He gave us a way to being liberated form the punishment for our sins. He didn't make us non-sinners, mind you; but he made us free from the punishment for sins. After one week of revival (church meets nightly), I had heard enough. I hated thinking about what state my soul was in. I hated even thinking about everybody knowing I was lost. But after only one week of hearing all this great preaching, I gave up. I felt humbled (about the size of a pea) before the Lord. I felt so sorry for how I was living (repentant), I prayed. I felt I'd let God down, I needed to make peace. I needed to get saved. I spoke with a lot of people at this church who said they were saved, asked them what it was like, what I need to do to get saved... They couldn't really put it into words except that the pain & anguish flips to love & peace so quickly it'll jar you. When it finally happened, when the good Lord saved my soul, I knew it. It was a heart-felt experience. The only decision I made in my head was that the Gospels are truth and that I need get saved. Beyond that, I had no power over anything.
The Christian Church is the greatest institution in the World. Built on the bloody Rock of Christ Himself, the foundations will never die out, and will be here till the end of the world. There has been a great division in some churches, however, and it is all based on what we call 'easy-believism' or 'feel-good preaching'. These days, some people don't like hearing about Hell, don't like hearing about the righteous indignation of the holy wrath of God, don't like hearing about how God chastises his children. This all gets labeled as "grace-in-your-face", and is regarded as though the preacher is shouting downward at the congregation, pointing his finger at people shivering in fear in their pews, and the angry, shouting preacher MUST be full of himself and completely out of his mind to be preaching "nothing but fire & brimstone" to the church. I'll tell you one thing: some people are too easy to offend. Some people only like to hear "nice" things about God. Because of this, some churches decide to only preach uplifting and comforting messages from the Bible. This obviously appeals to a HUGE majority of Americans; just look at the 'mega-churches' - all which preach 'feel-good' messages. I ask one question: how is anyone going to get humble, repent to God, seek his forgiveness and get saved, if all they hear is comfort preaching?! I'll tell you: they have to change the way to get saved. If they can't preach these alarming, eye-opening biblical truths, then the only way to preach salvation (the Bible says a lot about salvation, it is always bound to come up) is to make it a little less "rough" on the ego.
From here we arrive at theologies that take away the saving power from Christ and place it in the hands of man. This led to such theologies as "accept-Christ" or "receive-Christ". These theologies require at the most a shaking of the hand of the preacher, and at the least the reciting of a "Sinner's Prayer" which goes thus: "Heavenly Father, I come to you in prayer asking for the forgiveness of my Sins. I confess with my mouth and believe with my heart that Jesus is your Son, And that he died on the Cross at Calvary that I might be forgiven and have Eternal Life in the Kingdom of Heaven. Father, I believe that Jesus rose from the dead and I ask you right now to come in to my life and be my personal Lord and Savior. I repent of my Sins and will Worship you all the day's of my Life!. Because your word is truth, I confess with my mouth that I am Born Again and Cleansed by the Blood of Jesus! In Jesus Name, Amen." And when the prayer has been recited, it is followed by: "If you read the Sinners Prayer and truly believe the words you read, then Praise the Lord as you have been saved and your name will appear in the Lambs Book of Life!" That's it! That's ALL you have to do! Sorry, WRONG.
Now, I will concede that maybe SOME people reading this might get saved, but that's ONLY if while reading, they ignore what is being taught in this prayer. If their trust is in the LORD to save them, and NOT just in the ACT of reading and agreeing. But for the most part, this "sinner's prayer" has mislead and deceived MANY people into believing they are saved when they are actually lost and being fooled. This isn't to say these people being fooled are dumb or simpletons. On the contrary; intelligence or smarts has nothing to do with it. We just like to hear good things. We like to feel good. It's kind of like when they test dog food by which bowl the dog goes to. We like to hear nice things, and don't like to hear that we need to humble ourselves and repent for our sinful nature, and give up EVERYTHING to Jesus. We like to hear that God's salvation is like a gift he's given to "whosoever believeth", and we're invited to go and take of the gift for ourselves. Like gifts left under a christmas tree. Go ahead, take it. Sorry, WRONG. This takes the power of soul-regeneration into our own hands. It's like us saying "Jesus, I'm choosing to believe in you now, so I'm going to say that you are saving my soul now." I ask you: "What can a beggar offer the King?" Can we go to a job interview, and say "I like this place. I'm hired." NO!!! I think in order to understand how wrong "accept Christ" or "receive Christ" theologies are, we need only check out those two words: accept and receive.
Accept (from dictionary.com):
1. to take or receive (something offered); receive with approval or favor: to accept a present; to accept a proposal.
2. to agree or consent to; accede to: to accept a treaty; to accept an apology.
3. to respond or answer affirmatively to: to accept an invitation.
4. to undertake the responsibility, duties, honors, etc., of: to accept the office of president.
5. to receive or admit formally, as to a college or club.
6. to accommodate or reconcile oneself to: to accept the situation.
7. to regard as true or sound; believe: to accept a claim; to accept Catholicism.
8. to regard as normal, suitable, or usual.
9. to receive as to meaning; understand.
10. Commerce. to acknowledge, by signature, as calling for payment, and thus to agree to pay, as a draft.
11. to receive as an adequate performance of the duty with which an officer or a committee has been charged; receive for further action: The report of the committee was accepted.
12. to receive or contain (something attached, inserted, etc.): This socket won't accept a three-pronged plug.
13. to receive (a transplanted organ or tissue) without adverse reaction.
14. to accept an invitation, gift, position, etc.
"Accept" obviously means that the person accepting is the decision-maker. Something is up for grabs and the fact that the person accepting is to be the 'accepter' is taken for granted. The decision for the transaction is in the hands of the person accepting. Let's go to the Bible to examine the use of the word 'accept'.
Click here to see all occurrences of "accept" in the KJV
As you'll see, as far as occurrences pertaining to man and God, every time it is GOD accepting MAN, and NEVER does the Bible contemplate MAN accepting God or Christ! It is very interesting to note 2 Corinthians 11:4... The only thing of God which we are able to accept is His gospel. I accepted Christ when I acknowledged that His gospel account (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, His LIFE STORY) was a TRUTH, that what he did for me and everyone ACTUALLY HAPPENED! This is as close to accepting as we should ever get! After I accepted (or acknowledged) this truth, I could go further and be humbled & repent, and seek salvation through diligent prayer.
Now for Receiving Christ into our Hearts... is that done by our own will & power?
Receive (from dictionary.com):
1. to take into one's possession (something offered or delivered): to receive many gifts.
2. to have (something) bestowed, conferred, etc.: to receive an honorary degree.
3. to have delivered or brought to one: to receive a letter.
4. to get or be informed of: to receive instructions; to receive news.
5. to be burdened with; sustain: to receive a heavy load.
6. to hold, bear, or contain: The nut receives a bolt and a washer. The plaster receives the impression of the mold.
7. to take into the mind; apprehend mentally: to receive an idea.
8. to accept from another by hearing or listening: A priest received his confession.
9. to meet with; experience: to receive attention.
10. to suffer the injury of: He received a terrific blow on the forehead.
11. to be at home to (visitors): They received their neighbors on Sunday.
12. to greet or welcome (guests, visitors, etc.) upon arriving: They received us at the front door.
13. to admit (a person) to a place: The butler received him and asked him to wait in the drawing room.
14. to admit into an organization, membership, etc.: to receive someone into the group.
15. to accept as authoritative, valid, true, or approved: a principle universally received.
16. to react to in the manner specified: to receive a proposal with contempt; She received the job offer with joy.
17. to receive something.
18. to receive visitors or guests.
19. Radio. to convert incoming electromagnetic waves into the original signal.
20. to receive the Eucharist
Another easy-listening preaching topic that goes along with "accept Christ" is the ability to "receive Christ" into our hearts. People take this for approving that we can claim salvation, that we can by our own will receive Christ into our hearts. From the definition of the word, however, it is obvious that to receive something, there must be someone to give. With "accept" the giving was taken for granted. The transaction depends only on the will of him accepting. With "receive", the transaction depends on someone else to give to the receiver. The giving is not taken for granted, and in order to receive, the will of a giver must be invoked. For us to receive a letter in the mail, we first need someone to mail it.
Concerning the Bible, when it is said we have received Christ, we need to remind ourselves of the difference between accepting and receiving. When receiving Christ, it is only because He has already accepted our repentance and diligent prayer seeking his forgiveness and salvation. If ever you hear someone imploring you to receive Christ, whether they know it or not, what they're actually imploring is that you do what is necessary to be accepted by Christ in order to receive Christ. All who have bee saved have received Christ -- by Christ's will & power alone.
As always, my intent is not to rock the boat. This boat is already rocking, I'm just rocking against the tipping motion, trying to steady things. My intent is not to offend or to step on toes. My intent is to identify where the Bible has been offended and defend its integrity. My intent is not to illustrate people who teach and preach "accept Christ theology" as dumb or malevolent. On the contrary, a majority are just simply misguided and need to understand the gospel in a deeper sense.
One final point: What does the Bible say is truly required for salvation? What is acceptable unto the Lord? Let's consider some verses:
Psalm 34:18
Isaiah 57:15
Hebrews 11:6
God says he will accept a contrite (humbled, broken, repentant) spirit. What in the world is humbling, begging, or repentant, about accepting Christ by reciting a prayer & making the decision for Him? And as in Hebrews 11:6, we must diligently seek him in order to be saved. Diligent means to put forth a great effort. It isn't hard to shake a preacher's hand or recite a prayer. Diligence is imperative in seeking the Lord for the permanent forgiveness of sins!
One more verse, then I'll close: Ephesians 2:8-9. There's a reason we can't just accept Christ or simply receive him into our heart by our own power or will. If we were able to say "I accepted Christ" we'd be able to get boastful, because it was something we did ourselves. This unfortunately does occur in the world in these pseudo-Christian groups. They'll almost get competetive about "winning souls", or seeing how many people they can get to accept Christ... They say they're "gonna get you saved". This is nothing if not exactly what the Bible says: boastful! On the other hand: true salvation is given freely of the Lord. When I got saved, I knew it was by the Lord's own pleasure and will that I was saved. I can't take any credit for any of the changes in my lifestyle, or the blessings that have been poured on me since! It not only was the most humbling experience I've had, but it continues to humble me any time I think about it!
Thanks for reading, and God bless.
meet the family
13 years ago
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