Recycled blog post

It's been about a week or so sense my last post, and I've gotten writer's block. So I decided to go to an old post I had on an old blog I had (this was hard to find btw). I hope you enjoy.

My question is for anyone who can answer (with a Biblical response) where the sinners prayer is found in the Bible? By no response, I am to assume you have no answer. In the Gospel of Mark the 10th chapter verses 17 -22, we see Jesus' encounter with the rich young ruler. This rich man comes to Jesus asking a question that many in the church have asked at one time in their life, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus does something Biblical, shocking, I know. Jesus takes the man through the commandments. When Jesus was finished the man said "I've kept all these from my youth". Jesus then says "One thing you lack, go and sell all you have and give it to the poor". Then the Bible says this man went away sad, because he had great possessions. Let's fast forward 2000 or so years into the future and put this same scenario into most modern day churches. What would happen if you have this same man come to the front during the invitation? The conversation would go something like this:Pastor- "Sir do you believe Jesus is who He says He is?
Man- "Yes."
Pastor- "Do you believe He died on the cross?"
Man- "Yes I do.
"Pastor- "Do you want to invite Jesus to be the Lord of your life?"
Man- "Yes."
Pastor- "Well say this prayer and mean it with all your heart....".Who is wrong here? I can assure you of one thing, it's not Jesus. How come Jesus did things completely different than it is done today, yet today we call what is done in most modern evangelical churches His work? When God is nowhere near the place because of the hypocrisy that is involved in church today.The Bible does speak of this "modern day evangelism" method. In 2 Timothy 4:3-4. "For a time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables." Do you know what is so scary about this passage? These "fables" sound like truth, because they will be said by a preacher in "Jesus' name". In closing I pray that if you go to church and you hear the 'say this prayer' gospel, you would question where that comes from? I believe that true Christians want to follow God's way and not mans. Seek the truth out.By the way, you can't use Romans 10:9-10 ( 'that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation' ) as your scripture to support the sinners prayer. Paul is talking to the church in Rome, a group of believers who were being persecuted for their belief in Christ, not lost people. It goes like this: back in AD 60 when the book of Romans was written, the custom of that day was for the Roman citizens to sprinkle incense on an altar and say 'Caesar is Lord'. If you didn't say that Caesar was Lord than you were killed. A Christian couldn't do that because only Jesus is Lord, saying otherwise would have been (and still is today) a sin. Paul was saying "Jesus is Lord, even if it cost you your life". Also Revelation 3:20 ( 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.' ) isn't talking to lost people either. John is speaking about the church at Laodicaia, the "Lukewarm Church". Jesus is wanting the church to Let Him come in. Jesus isn't knocking on a lost person's heart asking if He can be Lord. HE ALREADY IS LORD, HE DOESN'T NEED YOUR PERMISSION!!!! Jesus wouldn't knock on the door, He would knock the door down. Don't make Jesus out to be a beggar, He is King of King and Lord of Lords.

One thing I want to say here so I don't cause the same confusion I caused the last time this was posted. I am not saying that if you said the sinners prayer you are lost. Let me repeat that, I am not saying that if you said the sinners prayer you are lost. I am saying your not saved by that prayer, you are saved by Christ's atoning work on the cross. To those who use the sinners prayer and are stone cold proponents, God does not save people because of your inaccurate sharing of the Gospel, God saved people in spite of your inaccurate sharing of the Gospel. I was once there. I used it because I thought it worked. But it doesn't. Pragmatism works in a lot of places, but God's church isn't one of them. Use what is Biblical. Follow Christ's model of sharing truth.

Dumb it down, so it can be understood. Part 1

This is the attitude of a large number of evangelicals out there. No they won't say it out loud, but their actions say it for them. This isn't a new problem, no it's been brewing for over a hundred years. In the final years of Spurgeon's life, he dealt with what he called the "down-grade" of the gospel. A move away from a Biblical view to a more liberal worldly way to look at Christ. From the "Gap Theory" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gap_Creationism and "swoon theory" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swoon_hypothesis, all the way to today with the idea of God not being mad about your sin. Out of fear from the outside world, the church has moved from it's 1st century roots of dying for the truth to perverting truth so not to offend; nobody knows what the truth is anymore. To borrow a line from one of my favorite movies, church "you've lost that lovin' feeling".
The first truth I want to get out to all you readers is this. The church is not for lost people. The church is for believers. Now, am I against the lost coming to church? No of course not, but I am against it being the only away evangelism is carried out. Today we invite so the pastor can share. The great commission is for all believers to carry out, and it says for us to "go out" not bring in the lost. Church use to be where followers of Christ would come together and praise God corporately, thanking Him for how He takes care of His children. Then they would go out and evangelise the lost. Today we have "seeker friendly" and "seeker sensitive" churches that ask the question, why don't you come to church and get rid of anything that person says so they can feel more comfortable. Man does not need to be comforted, man needs the Gospel. And sooner the church figures this out, the better everyone will be, including the lost. The whole idea of being "seeker friendly" is un-Biblical. The lost are not seeking Him. They are his enemy, they are God haters, they are lovers of self. Romans 3:11 says "no one understands; no one seeks after God". There is only One seeker and He isn't your neighbor or they guy who you work with; the only seeker is God.

getting my feet wet

OK, the last time I had a blog, it was not very well received by some in the Christian circle of influence around me. So I deleted that account. Well I'm back, baby. Ha Ha, all kidding aside, I wanted to start a new blog to share things I am passionate about, ideas and thoughts that pop into my head (buckle up readers), and anything else that tickles my fancy. Some things I say might make you laugh, some might make you mad. I will probably confuse some of you out there with my rabbit chasing and sarcasm. I want to above all else bring honor, and glory to the only one who is worthy of all glory and that is Christ. So call me on anything I say that grieves His spirit. I will begin by posting a video of one of my Favorite Pastors who speaks truth from scripture.