The Unknown Bible - Pastor Bevans Welder

Is it possible for a soul to pray “the prayer of salvation” and not get saved? Yes.

We had a radio listener that contacted us about content on a website dealing with repentance. The website is www.repentanceblacklist.com. We checked out the “list” and watched one of the videos at the bottom of the list. When we responded to the listener we referred him to one of our archived questions, “Is repentance really necessary for salvation?” [Note: the summary of the answer to that question is that each soul has to turn from his own righteousness to the righteousness of Jesus (Acts 20:21; 26:20)].

We sent the following response concerning the video on soul winning.

I went to the YouTube video at the bottom of the Black List to see Bro. Anderson's method of soul winning. If you haven't watched the video, you should. It is only 10 minutes long.

If I were to go soul winning in our neighborhoods the way he just "led" that man to the Lord, I could report a dozen conversions a day. Almost every Catholic I know would agree with him concerning everything he said and would follow me in prayer just the way that man agreed to pray with him. And I guarantee you that most of them would NOT be getting saved.

Listen, they are already used to hearing the Bible. They hear it read every Sunday at Mass. That doesn't mean that they believe it, though they obediently nod when you ask them if they do. They already know about the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ because they recite the Apostle's Creed every Sunday at Mass. That doesn't mean that they are trusting the gospel to save them. And they already follow their Catholic priests in any responsive prayer that he tells them to pray. That doesn't mean that they even know what they are saying when they "repeat after me."

Now, if that fellow really thought that by praying that prayer he had gotten saved, he may go to his grave and then straight to hell with the false assumption that he was saved. That's not to say that a person cannot be saved with that message or by following in prayer. What it is to say is that a person can go along with the gospel that he preached and still be lost when the preacher leaves thinking "he" has led another soul to Christ.

The trouble with what that preacher did really has only a little to do with repentance. First of all, the preacher did all the talking. How would he know what that fellow was really trusting? When we deal with souls we always give them time to consider each part of the gospel that we are preaching, giving time for the Holy Spirit to really deal with them about the truth of what they are hearing. We want to know that they are "getting it." When you leave time for questions, you can hear what's in their heart [out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh].

Secondly, the guy was never faced with the hopelessness of his true condition. He is the sinner who is lost and on his way to hell. Many times, we have had sinners agree with us about all the points of the gospel, yet they still did not believe that they were on their way to hell. They believed that God was still going to let them in to heaven just the way they are. Well, why pray to receive Jesus if you don't think you need him?

Thirdly, and most importantly, the man was not given even a moment to consider what he had just been told. The preacher got head nods out of him concerning the elements of the gospel that he had just preached and then immediately had him bow his head for prayer – “repeat after me.” That’s a good salesman’s tactic. Nevertheless, we always give them an out. We ALWAYS ask them if they want to receive Jesus Christ or if they want some time to think about what they have heard. More times than not, they will ask for more time to think about it. And when they do, we leave.

I cannot tell you how many times we have gone back later and answered more questions that came up, clarified some parts of the gospel they really didn't understand, and helped them with scripture through some basic "hang ups" to getting saved. Even then we might leave them with the added information. The whole time the Holy Spirit is working with them. Then we'll go back, or they'll come to church, and when everything is clear in their understanding and they have dealt with the truth of the gospel, they get saved. And, Buddy, then they are saved and they know it.

Now, it is usually during that waiting time that the Lord deals with them about their lives and they begin to fully understand that their own righteousness won't cut it with God [just like Paul had to realize]. In my humble estimation, that's when they repent toward God [they agree with God that they are lost]. Then they put their faith in Jesus and get saved. [See Acts 20:21].

Indeed, we have had some sinners get saved on a short presentation of the gospel. They fully understand their true condition with Jesus and they know beyond a doubt that receiving him is the only way they are going to get saved. But that is the exception these days. There is so much religious confusion out there and so much skepticism, that most of the folks we meet don't get saved until they have heard the gospel several times - some as many as 6 or 8 times.

We refuse to rush soul winning. Paul said that he planted and Apollos watered and God gave the increase. So, we believe that the preaching of the word of God will not return void. We are not troubled to take our time with souls, trusting God to deal with them over whatever we have been able to preach to them. We believe that the Holy Spirit uses God's words to bring them to Jesus, whether we are the ones who actually get to "lead" them to the Lord or not.

One illustration and then I'll quit - Old Man Busbee.

We met this fellow in Florida when we were out door knocking. We preached the gospel to this old self-righteous Baptist sinner and the more we preached, the madder he got. Finally, he literally ran us off his property with a hammer. Unknown to me, two other groups of soul winners went by to see this old man [one about 3 months after we left and another about 3 months after that].

A year after our initial visit, we went back to see him. I walked up to his fence where he was working in his garden and he sauntered up for a chat. I reminded him of our visit a year before and he chuckled about how rough we had been. But then he said, "If you fellers have a few minutes, I'd like to tell you a little story."

Old Man Busbee recounted how the Lord dealt with him. He said, "About three months ago, I was dressed in my pajamas and went to bed. I couldn't sleep. All I could think about was that if I died, I was sure that I would wind up in hell. So, I got up out of bed and drove to my old preacher's house. I knocked at the back door. It was about 11:00 at night. The preacher came to the door and said, 'Busbee, what are you doing here this late at night with your pajamas on?' I said, 'Preacher, I told you that if I ever wanted to do anything with Jesus, I'd come see you. Well, I'm ready to do something with Jesus.' So, the preacher took me into his house and right there in his living room we both knelt beside his coffee table and I prayed to receive Jesus. After that, I drove on back to the house and went to bed. You know something? That was the best night sleep I ever had in my life. It made me wonder why in the world I put it off so long."

Now, occasionally it just takes the Holy Spirit some time to get through to a fellow and I'll be a monkey's uncle if I am going to get in his way while he's trying to work on him. Bro. Anderson is wasting his time fussing about repentance and the way Lester Roloff, and others like him, dealt with souls. Imagine “black listing” men who have preached the gospel and been used by God to lead many souls to Christ. Imagine accusing them of being “accursed.”

This is the Holy Spirit's work and we are just the messenger boys. Trouble is we have to deliver the right message and then give God time to let the message sink in. When the words of God have gotten through to him, then you can lead him in prayer. More than likely, he’ll be ready to pray on his own and in his own words.

Hope this helps,

Pastor Welder