This blog should never have happened. Really, I didn\u2019t intend to get so stirred up. We recently visited an IFB church (Independent Fundamental Baptist) with a couple of goals in mind. First, I was hoping to find a man, perhaps retired like me, who might be interested in teaming up occasionally to do 121 evangelism on local campuses. Second, we were hopeful that we might meet a mature Christian couple to have occasional fellowship with. Now, there is no way that we would become members of such a pulpit- and facility-driven church. We are entirely committed to the New Testament pattern of house church discipleship, as described in my many essays and blogs on the subject. But isn\u2019t it theoretically possible, at least, that Christians in the same community, although part of different churches, could engage in some level of friendship?<\/p>\n
Yeah, I know that\u2019s a long shot. But in failing once again in my quest to find Christians serious about Biblical evangelism and discipleship \/ fellowship, I learned some interesting things. And so this blog. <\/p>\n
The first Sunday we visited XYZ Baptist Church (name altered here to protect the guilty) featured a sermon on the necessity of repentance in order for a man to be saved. The preacher \u2013 the \u201csenior pastor\u201d \u2013 laid the case out quite thoroughly, using many Scriptures to prove that a lost sinner must turn from his transgressions AND trust in Christ as Saviour, or else stay lost. He used scores of verses, including Matthew 4:17, Mark 1:15, and Ezekiel 18:30-31, for example. He also affirmed the idea of false converts, multitudes who profess Christ, but never truly repented. I was greatly encouraged that this church seemed to have their theology intact and so it might be possible to find an evangelistic co-worker who wouldn\u2019t merely be generating false converts with an incomplete or heretical message.<\/p>\n
Now, most IFB churches take a heretical view, namely that a man\u2019s part in salvation is to believe the facts of the Gospel and to simply trust Jesus to save him. The issue of repentance is deferred until later, allegedly after salvation, and delegated to the Holy Spirit to work in the heart. In other words, repentance is relegated strictly to the realm of sanctification, and has no part in conversion. The \u201cRomans Road\u201d selection of verses is used by fundies and gellies alike to instruct the lost on the generic nature of their \u201csin,\u201d neglecting discussion of actual and specific sins. In fact \u201csin\u201d is often defined as the \u201cInherited Sin Nature\u201d derived from Adam. (See my essay on Inherited Sin Nature<\/a> <\/em>and prepare to be shocked and outraged.) The method goes on to explain how the Cross is the solution to sin and the way to obtain salvation is to sincerely pray a so-called \u201cSinner\u2019s Prayer.\u201d Once this magic prayer has been uttered sincerely(!), the \u201csoul winner\u201d (a bad term) assures the fellow that he has been born again. <\/p>\n But this church seemed to get it right! XYZ Baptist has about 400 members, and launches about 30 of them into the community each week to knock doors, pass out tracts, and try to share the Gospel. The first sign of trouble came at the end of the service, at \u201cinvitation time.\u201d After nearly an hour of using strictly Biblical language and hammering home the doctrine of repentance, the preacher implored any lost sinners in the audience to come forward to \u201caccept Jesus,\u201d or to \u201creceive Christ.\u201d Suddenly he sounded just like \u201cthose other guys.\u201d Salvation is not about us accepting Jesus. It\u2019s about whether He accepts us, contingent on repentance and faith. The accept-or has the power. The accept-ee must meet the conditions. The Lord Jesus Christ is clearly the One with the power in this transaction! The term \u201creceive Christ\u201d is lifted from John 1:12 and often used by the heretical camp in the sense of, \u201cJust receive Christ right now by sincerely praying this prayer.\u201d Please read the context of John 1:12. The term \u201creceived Him\u201d refers to those Jews who fully embraced the entire message and person of the Messiah, in repentance and faith. It has nothing to do with the Romans Road and Sinner\u2019s Prayer methodology. <\/p>\n I was anxious to get to the bottom of the issue. Just where does this church stand? After several requests (it shouldn\u2019t be so hard to get someone from a church to pay a house call to a visitor), we were visited by the \u201c#2 man\u201d and his wife. (Hey, he used the terms \u201c#2\u201d to describe himself and #1\u201d to describe the senior pastor, so don\u2019t accuse me of being disrespectful!) We talked for three hours about evangelism and discipleship. It was very gracious of them to give us this amount of time, but I\u2019ve learned that it takes a good while to get clarity on these issues. <\/p>\n Here is some of that clarity . . . Pastor #2 had been on the mission field for 40 years before accepting the \u201c2 man\u201d position at XYZ. He affirmed his stance on repentance, as preached by #1. So I challenged him on the upcoming visit by an evangelist on the faculty of West Coast Baptist College. Researching this fellow, it is clear that he stands in the \u201crepentance-less\u201d camp. His invitations are classic Jack Hyles, Shelton Smith, and Paul Chappell . . . Chappell is this evangelist\u2019s boss, head of WCBC, and pastor of Lancaster Baptist Church in California. By the way, \u201crepentance-less\u201d invitations are also embraced by such luminaries as Joel Osteen, Rick Warren, and most evangelical preachers out there. <\/p>\n Interestingly, #2 admitted that he was distressed about the pending visit and said that he had argued against it. But, of course, he had to defer to #1, no matter what damnable heresies might be preached by the evangelist during the coming \u201crevival campaign.\u201d Damnable? Can you think of any heresy more damnable than one that leads a lost sinner directly astray from his only hope for salvation, and then assures<\/strong> him that he\u2019s now secure?<\/p>\n I then handed #2 one of the church\u2019s self-published Gospel tracts, that avoids the subject of Hell, and describes a repentance-less Gospel. He was startled in examining the tract, and said that he would look into the matter. Also, he encouraged me to ask #1 directly about these things, perhaps during a \u201cnew people\u201d class to be held in the Sunday School hour in a couple of weeks. <\/p>\n While pressing #2 on his personal methodology, he related an occasion in which he visited the home of a young couple living in fornication. Amazingly, he admitted that he walked through a Romans Road plan and never brought up the fornication issue. I asked how he could avoid the one big glaring sin that he knew about, especially since that would serve so well as an example of a sin that they should repent from. He insisted that it was the Holy Spirit\u2019s job to convict them of that. They needed to \u201cget saved\u201d first. Hmm.<\/p>\n I moved on to inquire how I could find a potential partner for campus evangelism. It was clear that XYZ has no interest in this campus of 50,000 students because it is 15 miles away and unlikely to provide church-attending members. (In fact I recently talked to an IFB pastor who is trying to plant a church in a storefront just 1 mile from the campus! He was knocking thousands of doors in the adjoining city, but had no interest in reaching out to the students. Wow. Money for offerings is apparently the overwhelming priority, and college students simply don\u2019t qualify.)<\/p>\n But could #2 recommend a partner?!? He said I wouldn\u2019t like the answer. We should join the church and gradually get to know the folks and maybe I might find one. He doesn\u2019t know his people well enough to suggest a particular candidate. I pointed out that since weekly services were so passive and so scripted, there are only a few minutes before and after services to say Hi to anyone. Oh, but there is a monthly \u201cfellowship\u201d for senior adults. Ok, so we\u2019re already at the end of January, leaving two possible \u201cfellowship\u201d meetings in February and March, before the semester ends at the end of April, and the campus is effectively vacant until September. <\/p>\n What I marvel at in this situation is how most Christians have no interest in real fellowship, no care that there are no weekly opportunities to discuss spiritual issues, exhort one another, teach one another, and exercise the many spiritual gifts that the Holy Spirit has promised New Testament disciples. It essentially was not possible for me to find a like-minded believer at XYZ, even if he existed. How about making a \u201cpublic appeal\u201d during a morning service? No, that would not be permitted.<\/p>\n We were there for the first two sermons from the visiting evangelist. His purposes were two-fold: first, to \u201crevive\u201d believers toward greater service; and second, to invite unbelievers in the audience to \u201cget saved.\u201d His invitation was classically horrific, as expected. Repentance was never mentioned and he assured anyone that was interested that they could come forward, meet with someone and get saved in less than five minutes. After all, that\u2019s all the time it takes to get to and through the Sinner\u2019s Prayer. He repeatedly urged anyone to come forward who was \u201cnot sure\u201d of salvation. Apparently, you can be 98% sure, and then come forward to get that last 2%. Nope. To be saved you must be 100% lost in your own mind. (See Luke 5:32 in context.)<\/p>\n The following week we visited #1\u2019s \u201cnew people\u201d class. There were about a dozen adults there. I\u2019d been assured by several others that there would be opportunities for questions. At the beginning of the class, #1 said that we would \u201chave fun\u201d in the next hour. Apparently, that means him talking non-stop for 60 minutes. At what I thought was a relevant point, I raised my hand and stated that I understood that we could ask questions. He was clearly reluctant, expressing reservations about whether my questions would be genuine. Mind you, he didn\u2019t know me at all. His basic presumption was that questions are trouble! <\/p>\n I complimented him on his \u201crepentance sermon,\u201d but wanted clarity because of the evangelist\u2019s message the previous Sunday. I expressed concern because of the connection to Paul Chappell, who has written a book on \u201csoul winning,\u201d To Seek and to Save<\/em>, a book I noticed was in XYZ\u2019s bookstore. Years ago, I carefully marked up Chappell\u2019s book and found it to be a horrid stereotype of \u201ceasy believism,\u201d \u201cquick prayerism,\u201d and \u201crepentance-less\u201d conversion. I also reported that I had talked to three different adults regarding XYZ\u2019s door-to-door work, and each was committed to the Romans Road \/ Sinner\u2019s Prayer. After a bit of back and forth, I also slipped in that XYZ\u2019s tracts were wholly in the \u201cother camp.\u201d #1 got defensive immediately. What shocked me, however, and I don\u2019t get shocked easily, was the prevarication (lies) that followed. I was too polite to call him out on the lies . . . also, I was a bit dumbfounded that he would so resort. I\u2019ll enumerate:<\/p>\n 1. He insisted that the evangelist was there strictly to stir up the believers, not to do evangelistic invitations. Not true. We had been there. #1 went on to filibuster the issue and transition smoothly into his next topic, working to make sure that the rest of the adults present would conclude that the issue was bogus, no problems, we\u2019re covered, you can see why questions are undesirable, etc. He also affirmed his belief at one point that it is the Holy Spirit\u2019s job to provoke repentance AFTER salvation. Hmm. Didn\u2019t hear that in his sermon on the subject.<\/p>\n The prevaricating filibuster by #1 is a good example of the fruits of the unbiblical one-man pastorate. He simply did not want to be challenged. And rather than examine the challenge honestly, he was tempted to dismiss the issue by fabrication. Having been a professional scientist, engineer, and Air Force officer during my career, I am quite sensitive to someone \u201cblowing smoke.\u201d In the military and in Defense R&D, the culture involves fierce competition for resources. Meetings can be contentious and woe to the fellow who tries to win an argument with no supporting evidence. Such a culture is very healthy for deterring the fabricator and the con artist. In fundie culture, a \u201cman of God\u201d feels the same temptation to lie in order to win a dispute, but is not accountable. If his character is weak, he succumbs and everyone suffers. <\/p>\n I looked up XYZ\u2019s \u201cplan of salvation\u201d posted on their web site. I point out that on a web site you are not limited by real estate, so you need not leave any important issues out, like that pesky issue of repentance. Below, in the appendix to this blog, I copy the relevant page in its entirety. Please analyze it for yourself. I\u2019ll mention just a few things here: <\/p>\n 1. The word \u201crepent\u201d is never mentioned, nor is the concept. So what\u2019s going on here? This church is about as \u201cconservative\u201d as you will find in the IFB community. They are in the distinct minority who profess to believe that repentance is essential to salvation. And yet they are entirely corrupt <\/strong>in their Gospel presentation, certain to generate false converts by the bucket-full. <\/p>\n This isn\u2019t just about one church. This plague of corrupt evangelism is pervasive throughout fundamentalism and evangelicalism. It\u2019s as if a cloud of Satanic delusion hangs over church after church. If the Devil cannot corrupt a church\u2019s basic theology, then he will corrupt its practice. <\/p>\n XYZ Baptist Church, along with most IFB churches, professes to despise Calvinistic doctrine, yet they have been polluted by it themselves. First, their embrace of the false doctrine of Inherited Sin Nature provokes them to tell the lost that he \u201csins because he has been born a sinner.\u201d As opposed to the straightforward Biblical teaching that sin is the transgression of the law, and therefore you are a sinner because you sin! This isn\u2019t complicated! The Calvinist magnifies the idea of sin nature into \u201cTotal Depravity,\u201d concluding that no man is even ABLE to repent or believe. Despite the Lord\u2019s repeated pleas to men from Genesis to Revelation to choose to repent. (See my Tract for the Committed Calvinist<\/a><\/em>, Section #3 of The 10 Most Deadly Heresies<\/a><\/em>, and Blog #12 in my 2013 archive <\/a><\/em>for an extensive discussion.)<\/p>\n Second, the methodology calls for mere fact-assenting faith and then, as in Calvinism, entrusts the Holy Spirit to GIVE repentance, albeit after conversion. This is clearly semi-Calvinist. The Calvinist believes that God does everything, including GIVING repentance and faith to the Totally Depraved. The fundie pleads with the lost to assent to Gospel facts, pray a prayer, and then trusts God to GIVE repentance. Additionally, the \u201cborn a sinner\u201d idea leads the lost man AWAY from his personal responsibility for his own willful sins. If he properly understands what you\u2019re telling him, then Hey, it\u2019s Adam\u2019s fault!<\/p>\n I believe what really drives this idea that repentance is the job of the Holy Spirit is cowardice. The \u201csoul winner\u201d chickens out, not wanting to bring up specific sins. That\u2019s confrontational! That\u2019s uncomfortable! Let the Holy Spirit do that work! Ignore the pattern of Scripture as demonstrated by all of the Old Testament prophets, John the Baptist (who wouldn\u2019t baptize unless he saw evidence of repentance), the Lord Jesus, and the apostles, who all preached against specific sins, pleading with the lost to repent. Yes, for THEM to repent, and not wait for the Holy Spirit to zap them. <\/p>\n It\u2019s ironic that fundies profess that they are the only branch of American Christendom that preaches hard, that preaches against sin, that preaches the \u201cwhole counsel of God.\u201d The \u201chard preaching\u201d is only from pulpit to pew. Yet Biblical \u201cpreaching\u201d is for the lost! Out on the street! That\u2019s where it counts. Within the church believers are to be \u201ctaught\u201d the word of God. Fundies are apparently too cowardly to preach against sin when eyeball to eyeball with lost sinners. Besides, even within the church, fundies neglect the \u201cwhole counsel of God.\u201d If they were faithful to Scripture, they would fire their paid clergy, establish oversight by elders within the church, get rid of the pulpit and pews, and embrace the New Testament pattern for churches established by the Lord Jesus Christ. <\/p>\n Why is it so tempting to neglect repentance when sharing the Gospel? Think about it. You\u2019re preaching a hard thing. Repentance is HARD! To examine your life and see your beliefs and actions as WRONG and EVIL, deserving of JUDGMENT and HELL. When the evangelist describes repentance, he is not going to see many converts. Recall Ezekiel\u2019s plea: <\/p>\n Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye. Ezekiel 18:30-32<\/em><\/p>\n Note who has the responsibility. Hey you . . . you turn, you repent, you make you a new heart and a new spirit. Can\u2019t you hear God pleading with the lost to repent?!? But modern soul winners are much more sophisticated, apparently.<\/p>\n Some years ago I challenged a Senior Pastor of an IFB church I happened to run into outside a county courthouse. I told him that I had met many false converts who had professed Christ in his church, but were living in flagrant sin, not members of any church, but still claiming that they had eternal life because they \u201cwent forward and prayed the prayer.\u201d When I told him that his repentance-less Romans Road method was the cause, he demanded that I tell him how I shared the Gospel. I did. He said, \u201cWell, you\u2019re never going to get many converts that way!\u201d I agree. What he didn\u2019t understand was that he wasn\u2019t getting many converts either, but was producing many false converts \u2013 worse off than they were before, because they were now immune to the Gospel. <\/p>\n A couple of summers ago I visited a small IFB church in a small town. The one fellow I met who was serious about getting the Gospel out was about my age, and was solid in his belief that repentance is essential for salvation. When I asked him about his method, he described Romans Road \/ Sinner\u2019s Prayer. I carefully explained the disconnect. He quickly understood and expressed chagrin and humility. He\u2019d never been taught any other way to reach the lost, and had never thought about the contradictions. What a tragedy. Satan deludes church after church. <\/p>\n Why aren\u2019t these issues examined? Why aren\u2019t errors exposed and challenged? Satan has another cloud of delusion over ecclesiology \u2013 the study of how a church should be organized and how it should operate. The XYZ pastor is typical of fundies. He is the \u201cman of God.\u201d Even his #2 defers . . . even when the error is damnable heresy! The culture of pulpit to pew emasculates men in a church, who are expected, three times per week, to show up, shut up, and pay up. Meetings are scripted. Q and A is neither scheduled nor desired. If you have a doctrinal issue, ask the \u201cman of God\u201d \u2013 your own little pope. And when he gets it wrong, all 400 in the church get it wrong. That is precisely why the NT pattern for a church is to enjoy distributed leadership, a culture where members exhort and encourage one another, with everyone using their spiritual gifts, and if someone aspires to papal status, like Diotrephes (John\u2019s 3rd epistle), the believers will put a stop to it.<\/p>\n How does this apply to you? Preach the word carefully, fervently, and Scripturally. Call out those who preach a false Gospel. Don\u2019t support the Pope or any small-scale imitator. Have the guts to explain God\u2019s law, sin, judgment, Hell, repentance, the Cross, the Resurrection, believing faith, the new birth, and a transformed life. Make it clear to the lost what he must do to be saved. Be alert if any respond. Befriend them, teach them, and love them. Let them show evidence to prove conversion. Test them to see if they will profess Christ. Don\u2019t give them assurance of salvation. Assurance IS THE JOB of the Holy Spirit. It\u2019s not yours. <\/p>\n – drdave@truthreallymatters.com<\/p>\n Appendix: <\/strong>The online Gospel presentation of XYZ Baptist Church<\/p>\n There are questions in life that trouble all of us. What happens when I die? Where will I spend eternity? The single most important question that you will ever answer is this \u2013 \u201cIf I were to die today, would I spend eternity in Heaven with God?\u201d Your relationship to Jesus Christ is central to the answer to that question.<\/p>\n The Bible tells us in I John 5:12, \u201cThese things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life\u2026\u201d The simple truth is that God wants you to know where you\u2019re going! So, here it is in a nutshell:<\/p>\n * First, you must understand your need for a personal Saviour. The Bible is very clear that we all have a huge problem called sin. Romans 3:23 says it this way, \u201cFor all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.\u201d This verse simply means that none of us are perfect. Are you willing to admit that?<\/p>\n * The problem is this \u2013 sin has a high price tag. Romans 6:23a says, \u201cFor the wages of sin is death\u2026\u201d In other words, the price for sin is eternal death apart from God in a place called Hell \u2013 not a good thing! Because of our sin, none of us can make it into Heaven alone.<\/p>\n * Here\u2019s the good news \u2013 God sent help! The rest of Romans 6:23 says, \u201c\u2026but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.\u201d Again in Romans 5:8 God says, \u201cBut God commendeth His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us!\u201d This leads us to the second step.<\/p>\n * You must believe that Jesus Christ wants to be your Saviour! Jesus Christ came to earth as God in the flesh, lived a perfect life, and then voluntarily died on a cross because He loves you. On that cross, He literally paid for all of your sins. He took your blame! He punished Himself for your wrong-doings. What a great gift!<\/p>\n * John 3:16 says, \u201cFor God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.\u201d God, in His awesome love, came to earth to make a way for you to be forgiven of your sins and given eternal life!<\/p>\n * Finally, you must place your full trust in Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour. Romans 10:13 says, \u201cFor whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.\u201d In verse ten of that same chapter, God says, \u201cFor with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.\u201d He says it\u2019s as simple as believing and receiving! It\u2019s as simple as asking!<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve never asked Jesus Christ to be your personal Saviour, you could do that right now! With Him in your heart, life will make a lot more sense. You could stop right now and sincerely pray something like this:<\/p>\n Lord Jesus, I believe that You are God, that You died for my sin, and that You rose again from the dead. I know that I am a sinner, and I ask You now to be my personal Saviour. I\u2019m placing my full trust in You alone, and I now accept Your gift of eternal life. Thank you for keeping Your promise! Amen.<\/p>\n You\u2019ll never regret that decision! If you have just trusted Christ, we would love to know about your decision and give you a Bible and some other materials to help you learn more about that new relationship! Give us a call at xxx-xxx-xxxx and let us know today!<\/p>\n – end appendix<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This blog should never have happened. Really, I didn\u2019t intend to get so stirred up. We recently visited an IFB church (Independent Fundamental Baptist) with a couple of goals in mind. First, I was hoping to find a man, perhaps retired like me, who might be interested in teaming up occasionally to do 121 evangelism […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":30,"menu_order":180,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1568","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/truthreallymatters.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/truthreallymatters.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/truthreallymatters.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/truthreallymatters.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/truthreallymatters.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1568"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/truthreallymatters.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1568\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1881,"href":"https:\/\/truthreallymatters.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1568\/revisions\/1881"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/truthreallymatters.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/truthreallymatters.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n2. He said he knew Paul Chappell very well, having been to almost all of PC\u2019s leadership conferences. And Paul Chappell is sound on the doctrine of repentance! Besides, and I\u2019ll quote him, \u201cYou can\u2019t judge a man just by his book!\u201d Really? You can\u2019t judge someone by the very book he writes on the very subject, which he still prints and that you sell in your own bookstore?!? Besides, if PC and his evangelist were so sound, why were you so careful to claim that the evangelist was not there to preach to the lost?
\n3. He claimed that Gospel tracts are too short to include everything (like repentance), and that XYZ\u2019s tracts are designed separately to cover different parts of the message, especially so that on subsequent visits to a lost sinner\u2019s door, different tracts can be used. Wow. Just making it up on the spot. Their tracts are virtually identical in their Gospel presentation and have no hint of leaving out part of the message. Namely, each one drives to a Sinner\u2019s Prayer conclusion. Ergo, the tract claims to be complete enough to tell a man how to be saved. Also, different tracts with different messages for different visits? I got no sense of that whatsoever from the three men I talked to.<\/p>\n
\n2. Sin is kept general. Don\u2019t want to offend anyone with specifics. Apparently, John the Baptist was a fool to call Herod out on adultery. It cost him his head. Too bad that he didn\u2019t have the wisdom of modern \u201csoul winners.\u201d
\n3. The only mention of Hell is that it\u2019s a place apart from God and that\u2019s \u201cnot a good thing.\u201d Wow.
\n4. Romans 3:23 apparently teaches that nobody is perfect. What about the wickedness of sin? What about God\u2019s holy laws? What about the judgment we deserve, thousands of times over?
\n5. \u201cJesus Christ wants to be your Saviour!\u201d The impression I get here is Jesus begging, \u201cPlease let me save you.\u201d Rather than the Biblical command to repent.
\n6. Observe how little emphasis is placed on the \u201cbad news,\u201d and how much on the \u201cgood news.\u201d
\n7. \u201cHe says it\u2019s as simple as believing and receiving! It\u2019s as simple as asking!\u201d Just believe and receive. Forget conviction. Forget repentance. Forget a broken heart and a broken spirit. Forget the entire pattern of Scripture!
\n8. Quickly on to a Sinner\u2019s Prayer and then a pronouncement of salvation.<\/p>\n