An insight on Romans 10:9 and the sinner’s prayer
-A response to Paul Washer-
My friends, here I am coming again
with another of my writings aimed,
to teach, instruct, equip and evangelize
in today’s world with the values of
sound doctrine. The issue that I
am addressing today is in order to respond to a doctrinal current that it is damaging and hurting
God’s people. So it deserves attention
and I am on the need to instruct the church.
I am certainly referring to the doctrine that is being
preached by the itinerary American preacher Paul David Washer, whom identify
himself as a member of ‘The Southern Baptist’ organization and also represents
the organization ‘HeartCryMissionary Society’. Paul, preaches against the
sinner’s prayer and screams to people telling them that they have been deceived
and calls all preachers liars for inviting people to pray to received Christ by
praying such prayer. At the same time Paul argues that the sinner’s prayer is
the product of misinterpretation of Romans 10:9.-
Explaining the prayer to accept Christ;
When a person decided to received Jesus Christ a Lord and
Saviour, he makes a small pray of faith. This is what we called ‘the sinners
prayer’. Here is an example:
“Lord Jesus, in this very moment I came before you, I
recognize that I am a sinner and that I have lived far from you, please forgive
me. Today I repent of all my sins and I ask for your forgiveness. Jesus, I open
my heart for you, please come, I received you as my Lord and Saviour. Thank you
Jesus for dying on the cross of Calvary taking the place that was for me. Thank
God for giving your son as a sacrifice to save me. In Jesus name I prayed,
amen!”
I ask you: Would there be any wrong with this prayer? Well, for Paul Washer
this is a prayer to deceive people. God rebuke you Paul! Let me know from where
Paul and his followers have taken such wrong doctrine.
Paul, have thought his followers that this prayer was created or made popular
by Charles Grandison Finney (1792-1875), a Presbyterian preacher. Also they
hold that the ‘altar call’ which is the moment when a preacher invites people
to come to the front of the altar in order to prayer to received Jesus it’s a
practice which only aims to bring multitudes to grow churches.
It is important for me, to clarify that when a people is invited to received
Christ, the person recognises that he is a sinner and ask God for forgiveness
and under such repentance he invite Jesus to be his Lord and Saviour. I have
seen and I am sure that thousands and thousands of people have come to Jesus
with a true heart and many have even cry when they encounter Jesus. It is also imperative to mention that
Christianity has grown up in the world thanks to that prayer. Paul also
arguments, that there is not such prayer in the bible that indicates such
practice. Nor Jesus taught people to pray to accept him.
A response to Paul
Washer:
We, pastor and preachers first we preached and we explain to
people through a message, weather through a sermon or one to one, over the need
to give their lives to God thought Christ. We explain then what are sin and its
consequences of condemnation. We also explain that through Christ there is
forgiveness granted by faith. With those words we believed that the Holy Spirit
is the one who convince people and brings them to a conviction that they need
to put their life right with God. Is here when the moment comes in which people
pray to God the ‘sinners’ prayer’ asking God for forgiveness and accepting
Christ as they saviour. What Paul Washer voluntarily ignores is that when those
people have prayed is God who ears and answers them. Is God the one who
cleanses them from all sins. It is God who gives them the Holy Spirit who comes
to live in them. It is God who makes them new creatures. It is God who starts
in them the way into holiness. I said to
Paul Washer that is not him who decides who is a new born creature.
Prayer is also a biblical
practice:
The scriptures itself instructs us to pray to God, here are
some verses;
Jeremiah 33: “3Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and
unsearchable things you do not know”
2 Chronicles 7: “15 now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the
prayers offered in this place”
Nehemiah 1:
“5 Then I said: “Lord, the God of
heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those
who love him and keep his commandments, 6 let
your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear
the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your
servants, the people of Israel. I confess
the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s family, have committed
against you. 7 We have acted very
wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave
your servant Moses. 8Remember the instruction you gave your servant
Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations,
9 but if you return to me and obey my commands,
then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them
from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name”
---- It’s a very good example of the sinners’ prayer, Isn’t it?
Now, confessions of sins and the
declaration of repentance are biblical:
As I am responding to Paul, Here we have more biblical
examples that clearly shows us that the confession of sin has to be made
through prayer; again I call this; “the sinners’ prayer’:
1 John 1: “9 If we confess our
sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all
unrighteousness”
Romans 10: “9 If you declare with your
mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the
dead, you will be saved”.
To receive Cristo is
Biblical;
As the Scriptures say it is biblical and correct to accept Christ.
Revelations 3: “20 Here I am! I stand at the door
and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat
with that person, and they with me.” This action of to let Jesus to come brings
with it the gift of The Holy Spirit which is given by God into the heart of
people.
1 Corinthians 3: “16
don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit
dwells in your midst?” (Other versions say he is in
you). Adding to this Jesus himself is in the Spirit that dwells in us.
Mathew 28: “20 and surely I am
with you always, to the very end of the age.” ‘The End of The World’ has not
yet come, so Christ is still dwelling in us.
Now, ¿Why Christ
never invited people to pray to receive him as Saviour?
Certainly, Jesus never openly says “received me” but he
never denied that he is the saviour. What Paul Washer voluntarily ignores (even
thou he claims to be a bible scholar), that the Bible says:
John 1: 12 yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed
in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” And this is an
open declaration over the need to receive Christ, and in what other form he can
be received if not through the sinner’s prayer?
Mark 2: “18 now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting.
Some people came and asked Jesus, “How is it that John’s disciples and the
disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not? 19 Jesus
answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast
while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them.” This is another reference that shows that
while he was on earth he came to preach God’s salvation. If the people did
listen his message and accept or received him and the son of God, The Messiah;
their sins were immediately forgotten and became save therefore they were spare
of the eternal judgement. All those were saved because Jesus ‘came to seek and
to save the lost’ (Luke 19:10). John the Baptist also declares that; “He is the
Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1: 29).- Whoever, no one
can be forgiven if there is not ‘repentance and confession.’
Now, let me talk about repentance;
Paul Washer,
teaches that we should not call to people to received Jesus through the prayer
but instead we should call them to repentance. Mr Washer, let me tell you that
repentance without confession does not work. You can be repented of your sins
but if you don’t confess your guilt to God… you can not be saved! You can be
preaching and calling people to ‘repentance’, and then you need to be careful
because you can leave in the way of repentance but if there was not confession
of sins then there will be not forgiveness. I ask you; from where you taking
“your” gospel?
As question to Paul Washer and his followers;
I am asking
you guys:
-How many Christian people we have in nowadays of those who have confessed
Christ as Lord and Saviour by mean of the sinner’s pray?
-How many Christian would then be in nowadays if those people did not prayer?
Please think: Don’t you think that your teachings aim only to kill
Christianity?
One more insight on the sinners’ Prayer:
As I have
mentioned, Paul Washer teaches and credited that this prayer was an invention
of Charles Finney. Well, this preacher did not invent this prayer, but instead
he was illuminated over the need to bring people to the Kingdom of God. It is a biblical act to bring people to the
Kingdom of God! The gospel of Luke 14: “21 the
servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house
became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and
alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the
lame.’ 22 ‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done,
but there is still room.’ 23 Then the master told his servant, ‘Go
out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house
will be full. 24 I tell you, not one of those
who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’ ---To this also add that
Finney perfectly understood the meaning of Romans 10:9.- Jesus said; “so that
my house be full”. Why the Paul Washer get upset because of the work to bring
people to the house of God?
Explaining Romans 10: 9;
I am now
coming back to the explanation of this verse as this is the reason of this
writing. For Paul Washer we should not invite people to pray to receive Jesus. I want to emphasise that Paul is wrong
with his interpretation. Let’s see the verse:
Romans 10: “9 If you declare with your mouth,
“Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,
you will be saved.”
The wrong Interpretation of Paul;
For Paul Washer Romans 10:9 this verse is being interpreted as follows: It is a
reference of the persecution of the Christians in Rome. Washer teaches that in that time if a person
confesses that “Christ is Lord” they were beheaded. This is the wrong
interpretation of Paul Washer.
Explaining the text; this verse does not make any reference about “beheading”
the believers. Instead it teaches “If the person confesses Christ as Lord will
be saved.” Let’s see now something about the life of the apostle Paul and the
circumstances in which the verse was written such; conversion, time, geography and
to whom the Romans letter was written for.
Conversion of Saul / Paul:
Paul was converted to Christ around the year 33 DC. The first three years he
was a persecutor of the believers. Saul asks permission from the priests to
capture and to bring them back to Jerusalem. This is his story:
Acts 9:
“1 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out
murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest
2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in
Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or
women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3
As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven
flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground
and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you
persecute me? 5 Who are you, Lord? Saul
asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “Now get up and go
into the city, and you will be told what you must do. 7
The men travelling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound
but did not see anyone. 8 Saul got up from
the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him
by the hand into Damascus. 9 For three days
he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything”
This letter was originally addressed to the believers who resided in Rome and
it became and universal letter reaching believers until our time. Romans was
written about the year 58 AC. And that includes the know chapter 9: verse 10,
even thou the originals did not contain chapter or verses. Hence;
The Fire in the Roman city;
As Paul
Washer, has over looked the history I want to correct him by explain that the
fire that consumes Rome was in the year 64 AC and Nero the emperor started a
persecution of the believers of the Christians who were capture, torture and
killed. It is believed that Nero was the perpetuator of the fire in a political
move of to rebuild the city. As and excuse to protect his reign he blamed the
Christians to be the ones who put fire to the city. 10 of the 14 states were
burn down.
Romans, has nothing to do with
the persecution lead by Nero;
I want to
make an emphasis that the letter written by Paul has no relation at all with
the persecution. This letter was written in the year 58 and the great fire happened
on the year 64 AC. The letter contains a message of love and forgiveness for
those who confess Christ as their Lord and Saviour. The Apostle wrote in; Romans 10: “9 If you declare with your
mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the
dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with
your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that
you profess your faith and are saved. 11 As
Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” As
the letter was written before the
great fire, Paul did related his writing with something that happens after.-
So, Paul Washer is mixing two events that are not being related to each other.
They are two different concepts!
-I am asking to Paul Washer to correct his heresy and to correct his wrong
teachings, also I ask Paul to start to make the invitation to people to accept
Christ as Lord and Saviour If you are a true preacher. Please Paul, do no seek
fame through error, we already have many false prophets and false teacher,… pr
are you one of them?
Coming to conclusion;
Due that this is a brief study and not a book writing, I need now to come
down with the end of this writing. I found that the message preached by Paul
Washer, does not represent the biblical reality, he condemns to those who have
received Christ as Lord and Saviour through prayer “The Sinners’ Prayer” which
is a repentance and confession accordingly with Romans 10:9. It is important to
address to those who have received have done it under the following
circumstances:
First: The message of salvation has been preached.
Second: Once the message has been preached, if the work of the Holy Spirit who
brings the person under repentance.
Third: Once repentance has come to their hearts, we invite people to ask God
for forgiveness by mean of the prayer and accepting the salvation of Christ.
Fourth: It is God whom determines grants the forgiveness and salvation of the
person, not Paul Washer!
Fifth: Once the person is converted, this is the first step to get into the
kingdom of God.
Sixth: Once the person has entered into the kingdom of God, the sanctification
process starts. This means that person is now saved by the grace of Christ and
the process of changes has commenced to be better believers. Some change much
quick than others.
Seventh: The battle of the Christian is between the flesh and the spirit, but
with the help of the Holy Spirit, the flesh looses its desires and the spirit
life grows.
Eight: Sanctification is the goal of all believers and it is God who sanctifies
the person with the blood of Christ as soon the person is been converted to Christ,
but the journey to perfection last the whole life.
A call to God’s people;
People, I’m
making a call to you to not to doubt to the gift of salvation you have received
from God on the day you received Christ. We the Christians love god and hate
sin. I call to my colleagues; pastors, leaders and evangelist to avoid exposing
believer to confusion such the one here explained. Please continuo inviting
people to received Christ.
A call to the Southern Baptist
Association;
In the name of Jesus Christ I am calling to the boards of the Southern
Baptist Churches of America to pronounce and response to these questions:
-Do you hold, believe and accept the teaching of Paul Washer? Please answer!
-To all churches in the world, pastors and all believers witching the Southern
Baptist I call you to think that more than the 80% of believers within your
churches are the product of conversion of people through the sinners’ prayer as
in Romans 10:9, and the remaining 20% is being made by those believers who have
grown up from Christians homes. If we stop inviting people to accept Christ as
suggested by Paul Washer, what would be the church today and what would be the
feature of the church? Hum! We will be killing the church. Isn’t it?
Coming to conclusion:
Hoping that these notes have come constructively and not
destructive, I want to leave my position on Paul Washer’s teachings:
a-
Paul does not permit that people accept Christ.
b-
Paul, stops the grow of the church, which is the
body of Christ.
c-
Paul offends, discourages and confuses people.
d-
Paul is retarding the second coming of Christ, why?
Because of the believers don’t multiply will be more difficult to reach the
world. Christ said; Mathew 24 “14 and this gospel of
the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations,
and then the end will come”.
e-
Over Paul Washer, will rest the responsibility
before God of those souls who will accept Christ as Lord and Saviour.
Finally;
If you have lived separated from God and The Holy Spirit has
spoken through this writing; I want to invite you to accept Christ as your Lord
and Saviour in the way Romans 10: “9 If you declare
with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him
from the dead, you will be saved”.
Pray to God like this:
Lord Jesus, Today I take the decision to come to you now. I
recognize that I am a sinner, please forgive me. Thank Jesus for dying on the
cross of Calvary in order to pay the price of my salvation. Jesus I now open my
heart for you, please come to my life and be my Lord and Saviour. In your name,
amen!
-Now, welcome to the great family of God.
Your Bro, Gustavo E. Acevedo
Face BooK
http://tinyurl.com/bmtznqu
-Copy submitted to the southern Baptist via email.
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