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Investigate The Truth About The “Sinners Prayer Part 2” The “Sinner’s Prayer” is a common Protestant denominational appeal and plan of salvation. It is often presented at the end of the service when people want to know how to be forgiven of their sins to be saved. The words may vary but the elements are usually the same. The assurance is given that if one says these words sincerely that God will save them.

Billy Graham Teaches Prayer of commitment: "I know that I am a sinner and need Your forgiveness; I believe that Christ died in my place, paying the penalty for my sin; I am willing to turn from my sin; I now invite Jesus Christ to come into my heart and life as my personal Saviour; I am willing, by God's grace, to follow and obey Christ as the Lord of my life." (IBID pg 8 top of page). After these statements he wants his readers to list the date, day and year of their claimed "conversion." Question? If one is saved "the moment one believes", why must they then "invite Christ to come into their heart as personal Savior?" Why pray a prayer asking for forgiveness if one is "saved the moment one believes?" Another question: Where in the New Testament cases of conversion under inspired teachings were people told to pray for anything at all? Answer. No where! Saul of Tarsus who was fasting and praying was told not to tarry but to "arise and be baptized and wash away his sins" (Acts 22:16). In other words stop praying and do what the Lord's word commands the penitent believer who has confessed faith in Jesus Christ, be baptized to have your sins washed away.

Where Did It Come From? Not from the Scriptures – It is important to establish that the Sinner’s Prayer is not from the Scriptures. No where in the New Testament is anyone told to pray to receive salvation and become a Christian. Since the Sinner’s Prayer doesn’t come from God’s Word, then it must have originated with men.

FROM HISTORY….. Mourner’s Seat 1700s In 1730's and 1740's a preacher named Eleazar Wheelock –Cane Ridge Revival 1801 called Second Great Awakening Charles Grandison Finney ( ) took Eleazar Wheelock’s “Mourner’s Seat” and renamed it the “Anxious Seat” and developed a conversion system around it.

The Inquiry Room & Prayer Late 1800s to Early 1900s In the 1860s Dwight Moody ( ) modified Finney’s Anxious Seat and modified it. Moody asked those who responded to his message to join him and his counselors in a room called the “Inquiry Room.” R. A. Torrey succeeded Moody in 1899 and he modified Moody’s system to include “on the spot” street conversions. Torrey’s method made popular instant salvation with no strings attached. Billy Sunday was a well known baseball player from Iowa. After a conversion experience in a Dwight Moody Chicago mission, Billy left baseball to preach. –Sunday preached that one could be saved by simply walking down his tent’s ”sawdust trail” to the front where he was standing. Latter people were said to be saved if they publicly shook Sunday’s hand and said that they would follow Christ.

Sinner’s Prayer 1940s to Present Billy Graham became the next big crusade preacher. Graham’s descended from Moody & Sunday. He used counselors to tell those who responded to his “altar call” to pray. Graham’s conversion method began with a prayer from what he called His “Four Steps to Peace with God” which originated in a tract called “Four Things God Wants You to Know” 50 years earlier. In the 1950s Bill Bright coined the expression “The Four Spiritual Laws” which ended with the so called “Sinner’s Prayer.” “Lord Jesus, I need You. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior and Lord. Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person You want me to be.”

Passages Used to Support the Sinner’s Prayer - John 1:11-13 –While we are to trust in Jesus and receive Jesus by faith into our hearts, nowhere does the Scriptures say that’s all one needs to do to be saved. Revelation 3:20 –Jesus’ words are not to those lost in sin outside of Christ, but to lukewarm Christians. Romans 10:9-10 –If one argues that this passage states the only things necessary for one to be saved they would have a problem. –There is no mention of recognizing one is a sinner. –There is no mention of repentance or turning from sin. Jesus said, “I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” (Lk. 13:3). – And there is no mention of baptism for sin.

Passages Used to Support the Sinner’s Prayer --- Luke 18:13 “(13) And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me a sinner! (14) I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Lk. 18:13-14). Is this an example of the Sinner’s Prayer that saves and makes one a Christian? This prayer was offered by a Jew who lived under the Law of Moses. –As a Jew he would have already been a child of God. –As a Jew he was in covenant to God. –As a Jew he could pray and receive forgiveness for his sins from God. –As a Jew he lived before the death of Christ and the offering of salvation through Christ. The prayer of the tax collector is not an example of a prayer that a sinner might pray today to be saved.

No One Was Ever Told To Say the Sinner’s Prayer To Be Saved Those on Pentecost --- “Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37). And Peter said, “Say the Sinner’s Prayer and you shall be saved from your sins and become a Christian.”??? –No, that’s not what he said. Why not? That is exactly what you will hear over and over again from so many preachers. Why can’t these denominational preachers simply give the answer Peter gave? “Then Peter said to them, Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38). The reason so many denominational preachers can’t give people Peter’s answer is they don’t believe it!

No One Was Ever Told To Say the Sinner’s Prayer To Be Saved The Samaritans & Simon --- “(4) Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. (5) Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them” (Acts 8:4-5). And when they believed Philip’s preaching, they prayed the “Sinner’s Prayer” and received Jesus into their hearts and were saved? The modern preaching “crusades” go out preaching Christ. What happens when people believe the preaching? –What are they told? –They are told to pray to get salvation, but this is not what Philip preached to the Samaritans. “(12) But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized. (13) Then Simon himself also believed; and when he was baptized he continued with Philip, and was amazed, seeing the miracles and signs which were done” (Acts 8:12-13).

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