Getting People Saved Through Altar Calls

For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 

- Romans 10:13,14 (ESV)

• Does your church believe in giving altar calls? 
• Does your pastor ask unsaved people to repeat the sinner's prayer after him?
• What background does he give before asking them to pray the sinner's prayer?
• Does he talk about heaven and hell or does he just say something that gives a peaceful feeling that "Thank God, God loves me"?

Well, not everyone who prays the sinner's prayer might be saved. God knows if they really meant it, or whether they know the basis of such a prayer. The Bible says, "For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." It does not say that all those who pray the sinner's prayer shall be saved. It says that you must do at least 4 main things to get saved from hell:

1. Repent of your sins
2. Believe that Jesus Christ is God's only begotten Son and he incarnated as a human being
3. He died (to bear the penalty of your sins and pay the price for your forgiveness)
4. He rose back to life (to give you eternal life in heaven)

The Bible expresses and/or implies these points. But besides these, there are some finer nuances as well, like believing that you cannot save yourself, accepting him as your exclusive Saviour, etc.

I read an amazing article this morning on How to Botch an Altar Call. It is up on the Way of the Master site - a website of Living Waters ministry by Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron. If you are a Christian, you must read that article without fail. It not just has satire in it, but it also educates you on what all must go into an altar call for it to be effective. 

And as for leading people to Christ through prayer, the Sinner's Prayer on this blog should be adequate. If not, please let me know in the comments below how I can improve it. But first, head over to learn how to botch an altar call!

Magnetic Power of a god called Television

Since the last few days, we do not have cable TV at home, because the service provider has stopped broadcasting to our building. They used our electricity for free for 20 years. Now when we are asking them to pay up, they cut off our cable TV connection. What peace rules our home these days!

Generally speaking, I only look at TV - others watch it :) But have you observed that the moment you turn on the television, all of a sudden, everyone's attention shifts to that magnetic box? People are glued to their seats and watch with rapt attention as if swami-ji (colloquial for a religious guru) is delivering an important spiritual discourse! I have even caught people (and myself too, I must confess) staring at the TV even when there is a blackout - an interruption in the broadcast - or when the channels are not loading and the screen is blue. Such is the magnetic power of television - if you give it power.

When that happens, it might just be that the TV has become your idol - your god that is not a god. TV is just one example. Some other things that could have become your god, are mobile phones, tabs, computers, cars, bikes, food, work (Oh yes), tobacco, cigarettes, alcohol, the ideal body figure or target weight... Here are some indicators to help you decide if something is on its way to becoming your idol/god:

• Do you look at it (e.g. a mobile screen) more than you look at your spouse, or baby's frolicking face?
• If a Bible were lying next to it, what would you pick up - that thing or the Bible?
• Do you feel compelled to use that thing more, even though you know you used it enough and any more is just a waste of time?
• Do you constantly think about it when not at work?
• Do you feel lukewarm towards the things of God?

If you answered "Yes" to any of these questions, it is likely that you are giving the TV or whatever it is, the status of a god or idol. Television, food, gadgets...these are just tools. They are just a means to achieving an end, not an end in themselves. And they can benefit you only if consumed in line with the Word of God, not instead of the Word of God. Maybe I am preaching this to myself too as I write. Let us all recognize that the world as such has nothing to offer to us. Like an uncle of mine once said, "The world is bankrupt." Better to realize now and give it only so much attention as it deserves, and not a bit more. Let us give God the place He deserves in our lives and show tools the place they have in our lives.

"No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth." 

- Matthew 6:24 (NASB)