No one says anyone gets saved because of a prayer. That is just a myth.
That is absolutely not a myth. I have been in churches of a half dozen denominations, and numerous others which were nondenominational, and I have heard this exact nonsense virtually everywhere I've been.
A couple of years ago I had a Facebook friend, who in turn had another FB friend who was a street preacher. I was checking out my friend's page one day, and saw a post by this supposed evangelist. It really caught my eye, because it simply said, "Led 83 people in a sinner's prayer today."
I thought "WOW !! What on earth ?? Who is this guy?"
So I decided to check out his page to see who this guy was. Each and every day, there was a post declaring how many people he'd conned into "saying the prayer"
I kid you not, one day it was 83, another "down" day it was 47, another day it was 132, another day 112, another day 141, and it went on and on and on. Day in, day out, for months and months it was the same sort of post
If he was out for 12 hours a day, and had 132 people "say the prayer", that's 11 per hour. Or 1 every 5 minutes - All Day Long.
You gotta play with some numbers to get the impact of that. Suppose he is in a very busy downtown area with thousands of people walking each direction. He's holding out a tract or something, maybe stepping right in front of people, or whatever. More than likely, he's getting about one person in every 20 to stop and listen. How long would that take? 3 minutes?
So he's got about 2 minutes to slam home the deal and have the sucker recite a prayer.
There isn't a snowball's chance in hell that anyone actually heard the gospel from that guy. It was all about bedpost notches.
Back to the churches I've been in. I've been in Nazarene, Assembly of God, Church of Christ, Southern Baptist, Methodist, Bible churches, and a whole host of non den churches.
The only churches I've been in that have NOT advocated a sinner's prayer were Bible churches - Sherwood Bible church and Northwest Bible church in Kansas City.
And how do the rest do it?
With every head bowed, and every eye closed.... I want to ask you if you were to die tonight, do you know where you'd spend eternity? If not, I want you to walk out of here with full assurance that you will go to heaven if you die. Just say these words, or simply express this thought in your own words to God:
God, I'm a sinner. I confess my sins, acknowledging that Jesus died on a cross to provide forgiveness. Please forgive my sins, and I ask Jesus to come into my heart. Amen
Where is the substitutionary death? A generic forgiveness is all that Jesus died for? But even worse, the "preacher" gives every impression that it is on the basis of this prayer that one is "forgiven"
And even if he preacher doesn't intend to convey this, I can assure you that in most cases, this is how it is understood. If you don't believe me, do a survey at your church to see who has faith in Christ vs. who has faith in a prayer.
I know of a church here in KC that was undertaking an evangelistic outreach. They asked people who were interested to come to a workshop so that they could make sure everyone was on the right track before going out.
The very first thing was to hand out a survey containing elements of the gospel. When they got the surveys all back, they were astonished. Many people, even those who had said that prayer years ago, had no knowledge whatsoever as to the gospel.
They had said a prayer, and that was all they had to hang their hat on.
Was at an Assembly of God church several years ago, and spoke with a young man who was really struggling with assurance of salvation. I asked him if he thought he had been saved, and he said yes. I asked why would he think he has eternal life. His answer? "Because I've called upon the Name of the Lord."
I asked if he thought that was
why he was saved, and his answer was "Absolutely, because that's what the bible says."
He clearly was looking to his prayer to save him, and for assurance. He knew absolutely nothing about Jesus dying in his place. He knew nothing about trusting Christ's merits alone. He knew only that cancerous prayer. It sounds so righteous, it's just got to be right. But there is a way which seems right.....
If you're under the impression that the majority of "sinner's prayer" converts are genuine believers, then you definitely have your head in the sand.
Do a survey at your church. See how many people have "said the prayer" without any knowledge whatsoever of the gospel.
