Today Gospel has nothing to do with the true gospel that was preached by the disciples in the early church. In fact what they proclaim by some type of sinners prayer in their services is not in the Bible, it was introduce in the second great awakening by men like Charles Finley, D.L.Moody, and later by Billy Sunday; Charles Finley introduce this in his services in upstate New York plus the anxious bench to put pressure upon the individual to get right with God. Charles Finley used pragmatic ways to bring people to the Lord, but it was not according to scripture. We also know when he came back to this area later in his life there were few who were doers of the Word if any. He thought that he had discover how to preach in a way that he could manipulate his audience to come to Christ, but he was deceive and he deceive others just like your pastor who said to do a sinner's prayer. We also have another gentlemen named Billy Sunday who claimed that he could saved a soul for a dollar. But yet these man did not lead men to salvation, because they did not preach a baptism of repentance which is spoken of in the Bible in four different places(Mark 1:4, Luke 3:3, Acts 13:24, Acts 19:4). Let us read John 1:4, "John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins." In Luke 3:3 "And he went into all of the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.' In Acts 13:24, After John had first preached, before His coming, the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel." And finally from Acts 19:4, "Then Paul said, John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is on Christ Jesus."
Note the attitude change that is spoken of in James by these words "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands you sinners and purify your hearts, you double minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up." With this we see that it is possible for us to come to Christ but it must be with a right attitude because God is looking upon our hearts, and He knows if we are coming to God in right manner. If our hearts are not right, God is not mocked. Then he speaks of you hands which are instruments of your heart as you steal from one another and do all kinds things to bring harm to each other. He says you must purify your hearts, you must weep not as the world, but a Godly sorrow, a recognition that you have sinned against a Holy God and that you are worthy of death and Hell. Most people never get past this because their pride will not let them admit that they have a problem with sin. Today people believe that God will cut them some slack that they really did not mean to sin, that is a lie, that you can get in the kingdom under the wire or that He(God) does not see you sin. Pastors will not made it hard for you because they did not come to the Truth themselves, they just preach what they have learned in seminary which is nothing but cheap grace. The doctrines that they teach is tradition that has been handed down since Augustine who introduce original sin, predestination, destroy free will, and deeds that demonstrate that you are a believer. Just what the Pharisees taught in Christ's time they brought down their traditions which had nothing to do with salvation. Seek the Truth before it is too late.
