An insight on Romans 10:9 and the sinner’s prayer

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

 

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