ALTAR CALLS
Disciples are
not made going forward to an altar, but by being baptized (Mt. 28:19)! This is
the biblical way in which repentant sinners…publicly declare their faith in
Jesus Christ (Ac. 2:41; 16:15, 31-33).
The Word and Sacrament in Worship, Tabletalk,
Jan. 2005, p. 12. Used by Permission.
Those
who have reservations about equating immediate post-sermonic calls for physical
response (initiated by a planed appeal for such) with following the will of God
desire strong biblical rationale before they can approve it. Baptism,
incorporation into a believing group, regular worship and fellowship with other
believers, and day-by-day pursuit of holiness and acts of Christian love – all
these have the character of confessing Christ before men and are specifically
commended, as well as notably exemplified, in Scripture. Where is either the
mandate or example of the engineered call to “come to the front” stated as an
act of obedience to God's call to repentance? When walking down an aisle is
tantamount to following Christ and professing Him before men, the biblical idea
of godliness has vanished. The system that relies on the altar call encourages
these perversions.
Thomas Nettles
By His Grace and For His Glory, Baker, 1986.
Probably in
our own, modern substitutes for (immediate baptism upon profession) – raising
hands, coming forward, etc. – are the result of a felt need to do something for
those who believe. It seems certain that those who believed were distinguished
from those who did not. There is no evidence that the New Testament
evangelistic preachers asked them to come forward, but there is every
indication that they did invite those who believed to be baptized (Ac. 2:38).
And it seems that this was the way in which new converts professed their faith
in Christ and came under the care and discipline of the church.
Preaching with a Purpose, Zondervan,
1984, p. 74.
Most American
evangelicals are familiar with what Billy Graham does at the end of his
preaching, calling people to walk to the front. Sometimes these are called
“invitations.” Sometimes “altar calls.” When you look
for something like this in the Bible there is no clear example… If you ask what
the decisive, public way of taking a Christian stand was in the New Testament,
the answer is, baptism. The message Peter gave in Acts
2 ended with the words, “Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ”
(Acts 2:38). Our renewed conviction is that we need to regularly offer baptism
as the decisive public way for people to respond publicly to the gospel.
Sermon: I Baptize You With
Water, Matthew 3, May 4, 1997, By Permission of www.DesiringGod.org.
1. It is wrong to put
direct pressure on the will. The will should always be approached primarily
through the mind, the intellect, and then through the affections. The action of
the will should be determined by those influences.
2. In the end it may
produce a condition in which what has determined the response of the man who
‘comes forward’ is not so much the Truth itself as, perhaps, the personality of
the evangelist, or some vague general fear, or some other kind of influence.
3. The preaching of the
Word and the call for decision should not be separated in our thinking
4. This method surely
carries in it the implication that sinners have an inherent power of decision
and of self-conversion.
5. There is an
implication here that the evangelist somehow is in a position to manipulate the
Holy Spirit and His work. Some organizers today even predict the results.
6. This method tends to
produce a superficial conviction of sin, if any at all. People often respond
because they have the impression that by doing so they will receive certain
benefits.
7. You are encouraging
people to think that their act of going forward somehow saves them.
8. It raises the whole
question of the doctrine of regeneration. This is the most serious thing of
all. This work is the work of the Holy Spirit, and His work alone, no one else
can do it. And as it is His work it is always a thorough work; and it is always
a work that will show itself.
9. No sinner ever really
decides for Christ.
Preachers and Preaching, Zondervan, 1971, p. 269-279
(summary of his main points).
The problem
with (an altar call for rededication) is that it is not biblical. The crux of
the gospel message is not a call to rededication, but a call to repentance.
John the Baptist preached repentance (Matt. 3:2). Jesus preached repentance,
both in His earthly ministry and as the resurrected Lord (Matt. 4:17; Rev.
3:19). If one's previous commitment did not keep him walking in obedience, a
re-commitment is no more likely to make him faithful. The proper response to
disobedience is not a commitment to try harder, but brokenness and repentance
for rejecting the will of Almighty God. God looks for surrender to His
will, not commitment to carry it out. Rather than asking church members
to repeatedly promise to try harder, churches must call their people to repent
before Holy God.
Corporate Hindrances to Revival,
Revival Commentary, v. 2, n. 2.
"I would
like to go into the enquiry-room." I dare say you would, but we are not
willing to pander to popular superstition. We fear that in those rooms men are
warmed into fictitious confidence. Very few of the supposed converts of
enquiry-rooms turn out well. Go to your God at once, even where you are now.
Cast yourself on Christ, now, at once, ere you stir an inch!
C.H. Spurgeon
Sometimes
shut up that enquiry-room. I have fears about that institution if it be used in
permanence, and as an inevitable part of the services… If you should ever see
that a notion is fashioning itself that there is something to be got in the
private room which is not to be had at once in the assembly, or that God is
more at the penitent from than elsewhere, aim a blow at that notion at once.
C.H. Spurgeon
All Round Ministry.
It very often
happens that the converts that are born in excitement die when the excitement
is over… Some of the most glaring sinners known to me were once members of a
church; and were, as I believe, led to make a profession by undue pressure,
well meant but ill-judged.
C.H.
Spurgeon
The Soul Winner.
The altar
call is "old fashioned" in only a very relative sense. It is old
fashioned to us at this end of the twentieth century, but it first arose more
than eighteen centuries after Christ.
Now this may not prove that the altar call is wrong, but it surely
demonstrates that the non-practice of the altar call is not wrong. If neither
Jesus nor His apostles employed the method, and if they never commanded such to
be done by the church, then it obviously cannot be wrong to decide against the
more modern method. It is not a question of Biblical necessity but of modern
custom and convenience. A church which refuses the practice can never be
criticized for that refusal; indeed, such a church is at that point more in
line with the apostolic church than are those churches which have adopted it.
Fred G. Zaspel
The
"Altar Call" - Is it helpful or harmful? Published by Word of Life
Baptist Church, Pottsville, PA, 1998, All rights
reserved.
A man's
willingness (or unwillingness) to come to the front of a church building says
nothing about his willingness to come to Christ. Walking in front of a crowd
has nothing at all to do with the conversion process, and we have no right to
create such a false category of "public declaration of faith" and
thus pronounce the Biblical requirement fulfilled. We have every right indeed,
we have divine right to require baptism as this outward and public profession
of faith. And we have every right to expect that faith to continue to be
evident in life. But the altar call is another matter entirely. It is an
artificial, man-made requirement which, by virtue of its human origin, is a
matter of no consequence whatever.
Fred G. Zaspel
The
"Altar Call" - Is it helpful or harmful? Published by Word of Life
Baptist Church, Pottsville, PA, 1998, All rights
reserved.
No one is
ever saved "as a result" of an altar call. We are saved only as a
result of the gospel… We don't want them to think that in order to be saved
they must walk an aisle. No! We want them to know that if they look to Christ
even while they are seated they will be saved. And so we must tell them that.
We must make the message very plain that they must go to Christ, and to go to
Him requires no physical movement whatever only a look of the soul… This is too
important a matter to erect needless obstacles or distractions. They must be
directed not to a geographical location in a building. They must be directed to
Christ.
Fred G. Zaspel
The
"Altar Call" - Is it helpful or harmful? Published by Word of Life
Baptist Church, Pottsville, PA, 1998, All rights
reserved.
The modern
altar call further runs the risk of confusing the idea of mediatorship. Who is
our only mediator? With whom does the sinner need to do business if he is to be
saved? Must he talk to you? To me? No, he must do
business with Christ, for He alone is the one who can bring us to God. But
instructing a man to "come and talk to a personal worker" may well
confuse matters. It again distracts from the One of Whom he should be thinking.
The sermon itself is the invitation, and it gives direction to Christ and to no
one else.
Fred G. Zaspel
The
"Altar Call" - Is it helpful or harmful? Published by Word of Life
Baptist Church, Pottsville, PA, 1998, All rights
reserved.
The modern
invitation system…reveals a misunderstanding of the role of the preacher. The
preacher's duty is not to "get decisions." His duty is to proclaim
the good news and exhort men and women to go to Christ. This is the means which
God uses to save. We preach, and God Himself uses the word preached to
"get the decision." (What a woefully inadequate term that is! Saving
faith is so much more than a "decision." It is running for rescue!)
These roles must never be confused… The role of the preacher is to exhort men
and women to faith in Christ. That is all. And that is enough. God is well able
to do everything else.
Fred G. Zaspel
The
"Altar Call" - Is it helpful or harmful? Published by Word of Life
Baptist Church, Pottsville, PA, 1998, All rights
reserved.
This modern
practice has tended to promote false assurance… We all know so many who
"know" they are Christians, because they were baptized as infants or
as adults for that matter. The same is true of countless people who have
"walked the aisle." They were assured that if they would "come
forward" and "make a decision" they could be saved. They came,
and there some well-intentioned personal worker convinced them that because
they came and answered "yes" to the various questions and then prayed
"the sinner's prayer" that now they are saved and no one should ever make them doubt it! Then they left. And they went back to
the same old life they had. They made no real public profession of Christ, but
because they did as they were instructed they "know" they are safe.
This is a needless problem which we have created.
Fred G. Zaspel
The
"Altar Call" - Is it helpful or harmful? Published by Word of Life
Baptist Church, Pottsville, PA, 1998, All rights
reserved.
There are
serious dangers in the modern invitation system. It is not a Biblical practice
but a relic of nineteenth-century American evangelical tradition. It confuses
the nature and object of saving faith. It confuses mere professions of faith
with true, saving faith. It fosters false assurance. It distracts thinking away
from the workings of God in the inner man. It mistrusts the God-appointed means
of preaching and the power of the Holy Spirit working through the Word. It
mistakes the role of the preacher. And it rests on an unscriptural view of
human ability.
Fred G. Zaspel
The
"Altar Call" - Is it helpful or harmful? Published by Word of Life
Baptist Church, Pottsville, PA, 1998, All rights
reserved.
Don’t come
down here to cry about it, go home and live it!
A.W. Tozer
How
many churches today are full of people who have been psychologically pressured
but never truly converted?
Mark Dever
The
Gospel and Personal Evangelism, Crossway, 2007, p. 108.
When did
pastors and evangelists stop relying solely on the evangel and start relying on
methodological innovations? Neither this mindset, nor the methods that flow
from it, can be traced back to the apostles. The fact is,
altar call methodology is a relatively recent innovation.
Daryl Wingerd
The Corrupt Root and Bitter Fruit of Altar Call
Evangelism, Christian Communicators Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org. Used by Permission.
Every
biblical evangelist will, as part of his preaching, implore his hearers to
repent and believe. Some may even invite hearers to come forward at the end of
the meeting to speak with a pastor or counselor in order to learn more about
the gospel, ask for materials to read, ask questions about the Bible or what
they heard in the sermon, etc. But no truly biblical evangelist will assure a
person that he will be saved if he will, at a particular moment in time, decide
something, say something, or do something in response to an
invitation. Contrary to the biblical goal of gospel preaching, which is to make
men humble, penitent, and wholly dependent on God, such invitations and
assurances actually serve to increase self-reliance and build unwarranted
spiritual confidence.
Daryl Wingerd
The Corrupt Root and Bitter Fruit of Altar Call
Evangelism, Christian Communicators Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org. Used by Permission.
The preacher
may not mean to convey this, but his actions and words so strongly imply it
that the listener cannot help but think that he must do something beyond
merely believing if he is to be saved. Likewise, the one who does respond
outwardly as instructed cannot help but assume that he has gained something of
eternal importance by doing so, even though outward responses often reflect no
corresponding inner reality. And when the meeting is
over, the one who did not respond as invited cannot help but believe he
has missed the “opportunity."\” Most evangelists who favor the altar call
method also strongly affirm the doctrine of sola fide (justification by faith
alone). But the charge that their methods appear to contradict this doctrine cannot
be easily dismissed. If nothing related to salvation is gained by a
person's outward response to some form of altar call, then what is the reason
for asking people to respond in these ways if they want to be saved? Are people
saved by faith alone or are they not?
Daryl Wingerd
The Corrupt Root and Bitter Fruit of Altar Call
Evangelism, Christian Communicators Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org. Used by Permission.
Altar call
evangelism rarely produces lasting fruit. While the initial statistics are
often impressive, the numbers of those who bear the biblical marks of
regeneration are usually minute in comparison. D. A. Carson calls attention to
this disturbing pattern in his book, A Call for Spiritual Reformation: “To
what extent do those who profess faith at world-class evangelistic meetings
actually persevere, over a period of five years from their initial profession
of faith? When careful studies have been undertaken, the most commonly agreed
range is 2 percent to 4 percent; that is, between 2 percent and 4 percent of
those who make a profession of faith at such meetings are actually persevering
in the faith five years later, as measured by such external criteria as
attendance at church, regular Bible reading, or the like” (Baker, 1992, p. 24).
Daryl Wingerd
The Corrupt Root and Bitter Fruit of Altar Call Evangelism,
Christian Communicators Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org. Used by Permission.
The truth is, altar call methodology creates more problems than it
solves. Most “decisions” produce only what the unchanged human heart is
easily and deceptively able to manufacture on its own – false religious zeal
and moral resolve. The only difference is that in this case, all is done under
the banner of Christianity, as opposed to some other religion. While we should
rejoice that many have been truly saved through these methods, we should mourn
that many more – likely the vast majority – have been left in a worse condition
than before.
Daryl Wingerd
The Corrupt Root and Bitter Fruit of Altar Call
Evangelism, Christian Communicators Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org. Used by Permission.
Concerns
related to the altar call:
1.
There
is no clear biblical precedent or command related to the modern public
invitation or altar call.
2.
Many
today equate “coming to faith” with “coming down the aisle.”
3.
There
is a danger of giving assurance to those who are unconverted.
4.
A
large number of people who are “converted” during altar calls fall away.
5.
The
altar call can be effective in getting people to respond even if a clear,
biblical presentation of the gospel and accurate biblical preaching are absent.
6.
Scripture
already explains how a convert is to make his profession public – baptism and a
holy life.
7.
For
some, the use of an altar call uncovers a lack of trust in the sovereignty of
God.
Carey Hardy
A
Close Look at Invitations and Altar Calls, Shepherds Conference, Grace
Community Church (summary of his main points).
If the walk
forward is an outward declaration of an inner-saving decision already made by
the hearer in the seat, is this just an “act of witness”? Why then are people told to “come forward to
receive Christ”? How is receiving Christ
related to coming forward?
Carey Hardy
A
Close Look at Invitations and Altar Calls, Shepherds Conference, Grace
Community Church.
The
biblical method of focusing on the gospel itself, without props, and allowing
God to save whom He wills, when He wills, demands the hearing of the Word. And
it demands trust that God will call His elect to Himself according to His own
timetable. When the Word is preached, there will be varying responses (Acts
17:32-34). Just be faithful to preach the Word…and leave the results to God. He
will save His elect according to His own timing.
Carey Hardy
A
Close Look at Invitations and Altar Calls, Shepherds Conference, Grace
Community Church.
The
real question is: How powerful is the Word of God? Can it change men from
sinners into saints without an extension of an altar call? Will it convict and
convert (as God promises), or will we need to add something that helps men
“settle it”? You will never be able to do without the invitation system until
you are thoroughly convinced of the power of God's Word (see Rom. 10:14; Jas.
1:18; 1 Pet. 1:23).
Carey Hardy
A
Close Look at Invitations and Altar Calls, Shepherds Conference, Grace
Community Church.
I am glad you
know when persons are justified. It is a lesson I have not yet learnt. There
are so many stony ground hearers, who receive the Word with joy,
that I have determined to suspend my judgment till I know the tree by
its fruits. That makes me so cautious now, which I was not thirty years ago, of
dubbing converts too soon. I love now to wait a little, and see if people bring
forth fruit; for there are so many blossoms which March winds you know blow
away, that I cannot believe they are converts till I see fruit brought back; it
will never do a sincere soul any harm.
George Whitfield
Quoted in: Jim Ehrhard, The Dangers of the Invitation System, Christian Communications
Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org, 1999, p. 11-16.
First,
there is no biblical precedent or command regarding a public altar call.
Whatever might be said for its use, we cannot resort to the Bible for support.
Jesus nor Paul, nor any other early Christian leader used it. Did Jesus ask His
listeners to come to the front after He preached the Sermon on the Mount? Did
Paul say, “Every head bowed, every eye closed” as Luke quietly sang the
invitation hymn on the Areopagus? Did Peter have seekers raise their hands as a
sign of their interest in Christ at the end of the Pentecostal sermon?
Jim Elliff
Closing With Christ, Christian Communicators
Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org
. Used by Permission.
Evangelistic
preaching does say, “Repent and trust Christ now.” But there is nothing sacrosanct
about getting people to occupy a certain piece of geography at the front of a
building. Nor have I kept them from Christ by not having them respond to a
public altar call. Rather I am offering them Christ without anything in
between. I want nothing between their soul and the reality of Christ’s offer.
To put something in between is a practical sacramentalism.
Jim Elliff
Closing With Christ, Christian Communicators
Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org
. Used by Permission.
It
is the Holy Spirit who gives assurance of life in Christ, not the evangelist
(Rom. 8:16). We are to relate the basis of assurance but leave the actual
assuring to the Spirit.
Jim Elliff
Closing With Christ, Christian Communicators
Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org
. Used by Permission.
Is
it love for the lost that will perpetuate practices producing such damning
deception in so many – or is it merely love for success?
Jim Elliff
Closing With Christ, Christian Communicators
Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org.
Used by Permission.
I
think it is the preacher's responsibility to get attention and comprehension. It
is the Hoy Spirit’s responsibility to produce yielding, retention, and action –
that's not my job. All the slick techniques, all the gospel marketing packages,
all the pulpit histrionics of jumping and stomping and flailing around, and
doing whatever they do to create the mood. All the sad stories, the mood music,
the endless invitations, the hand raising, the walking to the front, all of
that kind of pressure is not preaching the Word. It has nothing to do with
comprehension. The decision of yielding, surrendering and then retaining and
acting, is between the hearer and God, and not the hearer and the preacher.
John MacArthur
Commitment
of a Powerful Leader, Sermon, 1992, Tape GC 56-3.
The dangers
[of the invitations system]:
1.
Promoting
a method not promoted in Scripture.
2.
Eliciting
an emotional response based upon the personality of the speaker or the
persuasion of the appeal.
3.
Confusing
the “coming forward” with salvation.
4.
Counting
great numbers who only discredit their profession by their lives.
5.
Giving
assurance to those who are unconverted.
Jim Ehrhard
The Dangers of the
Invitation System, Christian Communications Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org, 1999, p. 6-17.
Do we see any
example in which [Jesus] (or the apostles, for that matter) appealed for people
to “come forward” either as a testimony to their decision or as an act of
accepting Him?… Many passages show that Jesus and the
apostles called men to repentance and faith. But no passage indicates that
either used any form of “invitation system” in bringing men to faith or in
confirming their faith.
Jim Ehrhard
The Dangers of the
Invitation System, Christian Communications Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org, 1999, p. 6-7.
The
invitation system…encourages people to make a response that “settles things”
and, through subsequent counseling, to never doubt that decision. Anyone who is
involved in personal evangelism can share countless examples of persons who,
though presently living in gross sin, will nonetheless tell the evangelist that
they are fine because they “made a decision for Christ” a certain number of
years ago. They have never had any change in their life; they have no interest
in the church, the Bible, or even God. But they have made their “decision.” Can
we not see how dangerous such a system is to the souls of men?
Jim Ehrhard
The Dangers of the
Invitation System, Christian Communications Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org, 1999, p. 15.
For years, we
have heard about the values of the invitation system. It is even widely
intimated (often plainly stated) that one who fails to give public invitations
could not be concerned for the souls of men. Yet could it be that the very
opposite is true – that the very extension of such an appeal might be the means
for deluding many into a false state of assurance ultimately resulting in their
damnation?
Jim Ehrhard
The Dangers of the Invitation
System, Christian Communications Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org, 1999, p. 17.
Proclaim the
truth…call men to repent and believe and…leave the results in the hands of the
Spirit who alone can bring people to faith.
Jim Ehrhard
The Dangers of the
Invitation System, Christian Communications Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org, 1999, p. 18.
We must learn
to trust the power of God’s Word to convince, convert, and change lives (Rom.
1:16; 1 Cor. 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:23)...without the help of our man-made systems… We
must be so convinced, or we will be tempted to add things to the preaching of
the Word to secure greater commitments… Here is the real question: How powerful
is the Word of God? Can it change men from sinners into saints without the use
of an altar call? Will it convict and convert (as God promises), or will we
need to add something that helps men “settle it”? You will never be able to do
without the invitation system until you are thoroughly convinced of the power
of God’s Word.
Jim Ehrhard
The Dangers of the Invitation
System, Christian Communications Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org, 1999, p. 18-19, 22.
Our appeal
must be to come to Christ, not to follow any prescribed method that might cause
some to equate their “coming” with coming to Him.
Jim Ehrhard
The Dangers of the
Invitation System, Christian Communications Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org, 1999, p. 25.
The dangers
of the invitation system are serious. The souls of men are at stake. To be
biblically evangelistic, we must be certain that what we do leads men to faith,
not just to decisions.
Jim Ehrhard
The Dangers of the
Invitation System, Christian Communications Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org, 1999, p. 25.
Thus
follows unavoidable confusion of conscience. If the person awakened has dignity
and good sense, he will probably refuse to come, and then the drift of the system is to tell him that therein he has rebelled against God and
grieved the Holy Ghost; hence, groundless distraction. If he is more gullible,
and goes, it is implied that he has
performed a saving act, or at least one that has gratia congruens. It is in vain they disclaim; for the common
sense reasons, “Why so much urgency, if the means is not truly effective of
something?”
R.L. Dabney
Discussions, v. I, p.
568.
1.
The
altar call too easily confuses the physical act of “coming forward” (walking an
aisle) with the spiritual act of “coming to Christ” (repentance and belief).
2.
This
confusion deceives people about their spiritual state.
3.
This
confusion often obscures the requirements of repentance and belief.
4.
This
confusion encourages people to base their assurance on a one-time event.
5.
This
confusion brings false converts with false assurance into the church’s
membership.
6.
The
altar call makes conversion look like a work of man, when in fact it is a work
of God.
7.
The
altar call confuses people regarding sacred space [that the front of the church
is more sacred than any other place].
8.
The
altar call confuses “coming forward” with baptism.
9.
The
altar call distracts Christians from the main point of the service.
Paul Alexander
Altar Call Evangelism, ©9Marks. Website: www.9Marks.org. Email: info@9marks.org. Toll
Free: (888) 543-1030.
What’s required for salvation isn’t walking an aisle. It’s repentance from sin and belief in Jesus
Christ (Mark 1:15). Initial repentance and belief – conversion – can happen
anywhere, in the pew or in the pub.
Paul Alexander
Altar Call Evangelism, ©9Marks. Website: www.9Marks.org. Email: info@9marks.org. Toll
Free: (888) 543-1030.
The Bible tells us to base our assurance not on a prayer prayed or
an aisle walked in the increasingly distant past. It tells us to look at
our present and increasing love for others (1 John 4:8, 20), the
present and increasing holiness of our lifestyles (Matt. 7:15-27; Heb. 12:14; 1
John 3:7-8), and the present and increasing orthodoxy of our doctrine (Gal.
1:6-9; 2 Tim. 4:3; 1John 4:2-3; 15).
Paul Alexander
Altar Call Evangelism, ©9Marks. Website: www.9Marks.org. Email: info@9marks.org. Toll
Free: (888) 543-1030.
Whosoever
shall confess me before men…(Matthew 10:32). The point
to be settled over this verse is straightforward: Is Christ here saying that by
an act of confession we become Christians or is He teaching that
one indispensable mark of those who are
Christians is that they live a life which openly acknowledges Him? Is not the
modern evangelistic call to confess Christ by coming to the front, in order to
receive Him by faith, a reversal of the New Testament order? To confess Christ
is the spiritual duty of a Christian. It is no part of the gospel to say that
compliance with certain outward duties will help us to become Christians. Yet the whole invitation system inevitably gives
the impression that “confessing Christ” by moving forward is in order to
conversion.
Iain
Murray
The Invitation System, By Permission of the
Banner of Truth Trust, Carlisle PA. 1967, p. 8.
Baptism and coming to the front are two essentially different
things. One is an act which confirms the promises of salvation to believers,
the other is a device intended to help men become
believers. One bears witness to salvation, the other is represented as actually
accomplishing something towards our salvation. One is an action commanded by
Christ, the other is not.
Iain
Murray
The Invitation System, By Permission of the
Banner of Truth Trust, Carlisle PA. 1967, p. 10.
The invitation system harmonizes with certain features in our
psychological make-up leaves it open to serious objections. These critics argue
that the way conversions are produced under this system by a pressure on the
will is little different from the way in which “conversions” which make no
claim to be Christian at all often take place. The “conditioning” of a large
crowd of people in a controlled environment, with methods of persuasive
suggestion leading to a demand for a public response – an emotional release –
is psychologically certain, they say, to provide results regardless of whether
the crowd meets in the name of religion, entertainment or politics.
Iain
Murray
The Invitation System, By Permission of the
Banner of Truth Trust, Carlisle PA. 1967, p. 13.
We are not for a moment asserting that no one is converted where
the invitation system is employed, only that the system has, in reality, no connection with rebirth. Some are
converted in spite of it, and not because of it.
Iain
Murray
The Invitation System, By Permission of the
Banner of Truth Trust, Carlisle PA. 1967, p. 24.