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Repentance
Mention
REPENTANCE
from many pulpits today and you are automatically branded as an
outdated "hellfire and brimstone" preacher. The word has become
a term that to many people in the church of today, simply means that
someone
came to an altar and professed a hand written pre-determined
"sinner's prayer".
Let me start by saying: THERE IS NO "BLANKET" SINNER'S PRAYER
THAT WILL GET YOU ANYWHERE NEAR SAVED. PERIOD. You can repeat
words all you want to, but they will not get you saved.
True Salvation and true repentance is not merely repeating
words. Simply repeating words with no change of mind or or heart
amounts to no more than witchcraft or vain chanting. For
example. If I purposely hit you and exclaim that I'm sorry, BUT,
I keep on hitting you; Am I really sorry? Did I "repent" or did
I just speak a few words that I thought would move you?
Those who practice witchcraft speak a few words (or chants) in
"casting" spells in the hope or belief that those words will
move some "higher power, spirit, deity, etc." to perform for
them or to act on their behalf. Yet, we are led to believe in
today's church that simple repetition of a few words will save
us.
NOTHING could be further from the truth. Many of those who
repeat these "prayer's" still live the same ungodly, sinful,
lifestyles and have the same old black, unchanged heart as they
did before they ever heard of a "sinner's prayer".
Is
an unchanged heart REALLY one that has repented? Let's examine
some biblical passages concerning repentance.
The message being preached today
is one of "easy believism". You know the one, you've probably
heard it yourself. It sounds something like this:
"Just Believe, Just Accept Christ,
That's All There Is and Then You'll be Saved."
The supporting text is often taken
from passages such as Acts 16:30-31. Upon examination of the passage
and the events in the passage, we find that Paul and Silas were imprisoned
and had just begin to sing praises unto God at midnight. Suddenly, there
was a great earthquake, all the prison doors were opened and EVERYONE'S
bands were loosed (not just Paul and Silas, mind you! The jail keeper awakened from his sleep and realized
the doors were all open. For a Roman jailer, nothing could possibly be
worse than derelection of duty! Thinking the worst and knowing that his own
life would now be required at the hands of ROME (remember crucifixion?),
he drew his own sword and was just about to commit suicide. Look now
at Acts 16:28. Paul stopped him and told him "We are
ALL here".
Apparently, the jailer
could not see Paul, Silas, or the rest of the prisoners, since he immediately
called for a light. He then brought Paul and Silas out of the cell and
questioned "WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED?" Read their
response to that question:
"And they said, Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house."
For many in the pulpit today,
that
settles it with no further reading or discussion required. According to modern salvation the jailer had ONLY TO BELIEVE
and his entire household would then be saved. Upon reading further,
however, we read that they declared unto him the
"WORD OF THE LORD" and also to his household. After hearing
the Word of God "preached" to them, look at the response: The jailer and his household were
all BAPTIZED. Look again at Acts 16:32.
What do you suppose the "WORD OF
THE LORD" was unto them?
Do you suppose it
could have been the GOSPEL?
Jesus told His disciples in Mark
16:15-16: "And
he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to
every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved;
but he that believeth not shall be damned."
Verse 16 certainly speaks of "believing" but we should logically
ask the question:
He
that believeth WHAT? The simple answer is found in the
preceeding verse! One must believe the gospel that is
preached!
What
then, is the gospel that was preached?
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