13 Evangelistic Phrases That Produce False Conversions

(article by Todd Friel)

Churches divide over carpet color, building additions and budgets. In the meantime, our fellow church members are going to hell by the boat load.

A.W. Tozer said, "It is my opinion that tens of thousands of people, if not millions, have been brought into some kind of religious experience by accepting Christ, and they have not been saved."

D. James Kennedy said, "The vast majority of people who are members of churches in America today are not Christians. I say that without the slightest contradiction. I base it on empirical evidence of twenty-four years of examining thousands of people."

Friend, we argue over so many petty things. May I suggest we have lost sight of the most important debate of all, "What is salvation?" My theology teaches that salvation happens when a man repents and places his trust in Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21).

I would like to present thirteen ways that we have re-defined how a person becomes a true convert. Have we done this intentionally? Certainly not. We have simply created lingo that has a grain of truth in Scripture, but it is so open to interpretation that the un-converted understand it in ways that lead to false conversions.

1. Make Jesus your Lord and Savior.....
We cannot make Jesus our Lord and Savior, He is our Lord and Savior. We are living in rebellion to Him and He commands us to repent and trust Him.

2. Ask Jesus into your heart.....
Does Jesus come into our hearts? Yes He does. The question is, "How does He get in there?" It is not by simply asking Him in; it is by repentance and faith.

3. Just believe in Jesus.....
The demons believe and they tremble. We must repent and trust.

4. You have a God-shaped hole in your heart and only Jesus can fill it.....
We have far more than a hole that needs to be filled so we can feel complete; we have a wretched, deceitful, sinful heart that needs cleansing. Repentance and faith applies the blood of the lamb for that cleansing.

5. Accept Jesus.....
Whoa. We need to accept Jesus? This is entirely backward. We need Jesus to accept us–and He will, if we repent and trust.

6. Make a decision for Jesus....
Decisional regeneration puts man in the driver's seat of salvation. When we repent and trust, Jesus decides to save us. That puts Him in the driver's seat…where He demands.

7. It is easy to believe....
While the formula of repentance and faith sounds simple, a complete surrendering of self in repentance is anything but easy. It's hard. Pride could be your stumbling block.

8. God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life....
The only promises for the convert are trials, temptation and persecution. If that is how you define a wonderful life, fine. Otherwise we must command all men everywhere to repent and trust.

9. Come to Jesus just as you are....
We should come to Jesus just as the sinners we are, but He also expects a broken heart and contrite spirit demonstrated in repentance and faith.

10. Come to Jesus and you will receive forgiveness of sins and ________________ (fill in the blank with money, health, a healed marriage)....
Jesus didn't promise healed marriages; in fact He promised broken homes because we would divide when one member repents and trusts.

11. Come to Jesus and experience love, joy, peace....
Do we get the fruit of the Spirit upon conversion? Yes. But if we come seeking the gifts and not the giver, we will receive neither. Instead, we must repent and trust.

12. Jesus is the missing piece....
Um, no, the God of the universe is not the missing piece, He demands that He is the center of our lives when we repent and trust.

13. Jesus is better than fame and fortune....
That is an understatement, and frankly, it is insulting. Saying Jesus is better than money is like saying that a steak dinner is better than eating a dung hill. He defies comparison and we trivialize the Son of God. Instead, we should be pleading with all men everywhere to repent and trust.

If I showed up at your door with a can of grapefruit juice and a roll of paper towels and offered to change your oil, you would say, "No thanks." If we wouldn't let someone mess with our car using the wrong method, why do we allow the Gospel to be presented so ambiguously?

Would you let a doctor operate on your child who was "sort of" accurate? The salvation of men is far more important than an appendix.

I beg you to consider how you share the Gospel. You and I know what we are talking about when we use these phrases, but do the unregenerate? Is it possible that we have so many backsliders today because they never slid forward in the first place? Is it because they were never told that they must repent and trust?

If we are willing to debate shag verse plush in the fellowship hall, shouldn't we be more concerned about an issue that has eternal consequences?

That's My King!

"Unchurched"? May I Please Have the Definition?

There is a common idea around now that says that the church (as in the church service) must be for the unchurched. Many surveys have been taken and many books and blogs are written about this very subject, "How do we reach the unchurched?" Unchurched is new language. (My spell check in google docs keeps underlining it.) It used to be the church's mission was, "How do we reach lost sinners?" Now, "sinners" is changed to, "unchurched". If we stuck with the Biblical language of "sinners" then we would know we couldn't survey a sinner as to what they would want in a church service because words have meanings. Sinner means transgressor of the law. A sinner would be a breaker of God's law... a lawbreaker. So a person who is breaking God's law would be in rebellion against God. The Bible puts it like this... when we are in that sinful, carnal state...Romans 8:7 we are hostile to God and not subject to the law of God nor can be! So why in the world would we ask that person what they want in a church service? It can only be rebellion! I don't say this to be harsh or judgmental, it's how the language defines itself. It's not subject to my interpretation, it says what it says.

Let's define the word "church" and see if we can define "unchurched" from that. A modern definition of church is a body of Christian believers. The Greek word, from the original language of the New Testament, is Ekklesia, meaning "the called out ones". So from the modern and original language we can conclude that church means people who believe in Christ and have been called out [from the world]. So to define "unchurched" by putting the prefix 'un' before the word 'church' makes that word a body of not or non believers in Christ. So, even when you define this new word of unchurched correctly, again with no judgment or opinion, just letting the words speak for themselves, you can conclude that the unchurched is not who you should be asking how they want a church service to be. The unchurched would want non-church or not church. And that's exactly what they get... so call it something else.


Jesus defined how we were to reach lost sinners. He said (Matt. 28:19,20) GO make disciples of all nations. Go meaning to leave a place. You go out of (leave) your assembly or your church building and you go to all nations and teach them about repentance and faith in Christ. You do not prostitute the church to be friends with the world (James 4:4) because you make yourself the enemy of God. There is one Seeker that we should be sensitive to and that's the Father (John 4:23). If we want to figure out how to reach the "unchurched" who clearly are not seeking God (Romans 3:11) we'd better ask the One who died for the Church.

Difficult Times Have a Purpose

Bruce and I just finished reading Acts 23. I understood that in a way I never have before. It's the account of Paul going before the council and the 40-plus Jews making an oath of not eating or drinking until Paul is killed. The chief priest and the council agreed to set up Paul to be murdered. That evening the Lord Jesus Himself comes to the side of Paul to encourage him to continue to testify of Him and that he will need to do so in Rome. The rest of the chapter is how God moved and used whoever He wanted to get Paul to Rome! It's really an amazing chapter of how God uses even unbelievers to work all things out for His plan and purpose!

It made me think about situations in our own lives. We can never fully understand why we are in the situation we are in at the time. God could be moving heaven and earth to get His vessels where He wants them so we can glorify and testify of His Name. I'm sure Paul taking the beating of his life, being rescued by Roman soldiers and then them accompanying him to Rome was no where on Paul's radar screen of having been wrought by God. But thanks be to God for His Word that gives us a glimpse behind the scene of how He works out His plan and how He uses His tools for His glory!

Isn't the Bible Written By Men?

Have you heard this before... "the Bible was written by men and it is full of contradictions." And... "why are there so many versions of the Bible?" Some say, "I've tried to read the Bible, but I can't understand it". But the most important question is..."Is the Bible true?"

In this post-modern world, truth is pretty much what you make it. There is no absolute truth, a post-modernist would say. Oprah has helped that idea along in 'religion' by basically saying all roads lead to heaven in the end. You may call it "Jesus", somebody else may call it "the light" or maybe a "higher power"... but don't satisfy yourself with believing that! There is truth and the Truth will set you free. John 8:32. Acts 17:30,31 says that "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” If you have asked questions like "Who am I and why I am here?" and have desired to know truth... there is good news! Acts 17:27 says you should seek God, in the hope that you might feel your way toward him and find him. John 14:6. (Run your cursor over the reference for the verse.)

Only God can convince you that the Bible is His sufficient, infallible, inerrant Word if you don't already believe. But let me tell you that the Bible is true. Our faith is not a blind faith, but is based on facts. In the Bible are prophesies that were written down hundreds of years before they happened. And they did happen. For instance, Isaiah 53 tells how the LORD would be mocked, beaten and die for sinners, then about 700 years later, it happened exactly as foretold. Bruce has a favorite quote from Dr. Voddie Baucham that he paraphrased... "I believe the Bible because it is a reliable collection of 66 historical documents which were divinely inspired, written by more than 40 eyewitnesses during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses, in 3 different languages on 3 different continents, over a period of 1500 years, in which they reported supernatural events which took place in fulfillment of specific prophecy. (based on 2 Peter 1:16-21) There is no piece of literature in all of history that has that kind of track record. Also, the longevity of it. This Book has been the number one bestselling book of all time selling over 6 Billion copies in over 2000 languages!! And there is the fact that more people have died defending the message of this Book than any other book in history. These facts alone are amazing!!

In your own intellect, even if you are not a believer in the good news of this Book, these statistics have got to stun you. Even historical writers from Jesus' time recorded the events that happened. They didn't believe Jesus was God, like He said He was, but they didn't deny what they saw. I just saw a news clip from Reuters about how they have the oldest, complete Bible, over 1600 years old that is going to be made available online!

I know these astonishing facts alone will not convince you because just like the supernatural events which took place in the pages of the Bible...a supernatural work must be done in you. Jesus told Nicodemus that he must be born again if he were to see the Kingdom of God. (John 3:3) Eph. 2:8,9 says salvation is a free gift of grace through faith in Christ alone. You don't earn it or obligate God by your good works, you are not physically born into it nor do you get it from someone else (John 1:13). Jesus said in Mark 2:17 that well people don't need a physician, but the sick. He didn't come to save the righteous, but for sinners to repent. If there is a burden of sin on you then repent (turn away from the sin that you love and leave your dead works behind) and be believing. Trust; put your faith in Jesus' death, burial and resurrection for the forgiveness of your sin. Jesus said in Matt 11:28-30 if you have worked hard on your own merit and are heavy laden, He will give you rest. Take His yoke, which is easy and light. Come into the Sabbath's rest! Flee from the wrath to come! There is either eternal life in heaven or eternal death in hell. Come to Him because He is Worthy! He showed unbelievable kindness to sinners!! There is no other Book in this world that will show you your sin and give you a Savior! Only this Book has this truly good news!

What a Gospel!

The following article is copied by permission from Wretched Radio's July 2009 Newsletter. The article is written by Todd Friel. http://www.wretchedradio.com/

Warning Ditch Ahead!

Get ready for whiplash. If history is any barometer, it appears we are headed for a ditch.

Consider this. The church in the middle ages had grown corrupt due to work righteousness (among other things). The Reformers proclaimed, "We are saved by grace alone!" That was good, but it was not long before the church fell into the ditch of grace abuse.

Because of that ditch, in the 19th century, the church fell into another ditch, liberalism.

But a movement sprang up in the 20th century to yank us out of the liberal ditch and voile', they fell into the ditch of fundamentalist legalism and worldly separation.

Hello 1940's. Meet evangelicalism: the movement that was (sort of) conservative but decidedly engaged in the world.

Great idea, but we fell into the ditch of Seeker Sensitivity. In response to fundamentalist disengagement, we decided to not only engage the world, but bring the world into the church. Oops. Another ditch.

That brings us to today's growing movement that has no title: conservative, Puritan loving, engaged in the world, personal regeneration, Jesus lovers. Even Time Magazine recognized this movement as the third most influential spiritual trend of this decade.

This is a wonderful sign, but let's take a moment and ask, "Will this be the first movement that does not have a whiplash counter movement?" I doubt it. The question of course is, "What will that counter movement look like?"

I suspect it will be a counter to either our strengths or weaknesses.

What are the movement's s strengths and what does a potential counter look like?

1. Biblical literalism. The counter attack could be, "Legalism."

2. Personal regeneration. The counter attack might be, "Legalism."

3. Personal holiness. The counter assault will be, "Legalism."

What are the movement's weaknesses and what does a potential counter look like?

1. Theological arrogance. The counter attack could be, "Liberalism."

2. Lack of love. The counter attack might be, "Liberalism."

3. Lack of assurance. The counter assault might be, "Liberalism."

What a shocker! A counter movement will likely fall into one of the two ditches that EVERY movement has fallen: Legalism or Liberalism.

This matters on a universal church level and on a personal level. If we are not mindful of these potential ditches, a counter movement will fall into a pit...or we will.

Let's rejoice that God is raising up a conservative movement. But let us also be cautious that we don't fall into a ditch. Whiplash is a terrible thing.

This Could Be My Testimony!

Pastor Jim McClarty has an excellent website with a large question and answer section. If there isn't a question you have been wondering about you can e-mail him and he will answer. I know... I've done it! His website is at http://salvationbygrace.org/

Bruce's Testimony

Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?

My dad had this book called "When Bad Things Happen to Good People". I remember the cover having orange horizontal stripes and smelled like smoke. (My dad smoked back then.) I remember thinking...why do bad things happen to good people? I was a kid at the time and didn't think much past that, but as different events happened in my life, I would go back to ponder that very question.

When I first heard the gospel this skinny, wiry Southern Baptist preacher was literally jumping up and down yelling, "Those were your nails! That was your crown of thorns!" I had no idea what that meant...I wasn't there, I didn't do those things to Jesus! Why was he yelling at me? Sunday after Sunday I began to see myself as a sinner. I knew that I had broken God's laws and I was in need of forgiveness and salvation. BUT I didn't see myself as only sinful! I still considered myself basically a good person who had sinned against God.

This is the problem with the age old question, "why do bad things happen to good people?" There are no good people! Not even basically good people. There are only two types of people...sinful people and sinful people who have been saved by grace. The Bible makes this clear in so many verses. (If you put your mouse over the Bible reference, the verse will come up.) Romans 6:16, you are either a slave to sin or a slave to righteousness. Ephesians 2:1-5, we were spiritually dead, children of wrath, or God in His mercy and love saved us. Colossians 2:13 tells us that we are either spiritually dead or made alive by God.

So no one is righteous on our own or made right by our own works, Romans 3:10-18. We often compare ourselves to other people to see if we are a good person or not, but that's the wrong standard to use. Sure... compared to others around us, we may be better than they are, right? I mean, we aren't Hitler! But we need a standard that is absolute, that doesn't move and will not be moved by circumstance or otherwise. Like, if you get caught speeding... the officer pulls you over and says, "I clocked you going 85 mph in a 45 mph zone." You can say what you like, but he has the radar gun that is the standard. That's what the 10 commandments are, God's moral standard. If we want to know if we are a good person then we have to compare ourselves to that standard. When we do, we see we fall short. Romans 3:19 says when we compare ourselves to the law of God it stops our mouths from claiming we are good and we see that we are accountable to God. We know it...we see we are guilty. When that Godly sorrow comes upon us, we are able to repent and put our trust in Christ for salvation, 2 Corinthians 7:10.

So the question isn't so much, "why do bad things happen to good people?" but "why do good things happen to bad people?"

Wanna take the Good Person test? Click on the icon below.

Does the World Wide Web Need Another Blog About Jesus?

Have you ever wondered what the Bible was really all about? Have you really ever understood what the gospel is? That is our goal with this blog. There is an account in the book of Acts chapter 4, where Peter and John (disciples of Christ) have healed a man and are spreading the gospel of Jesus. They are called before the council and are told to stop teaching and preaching about Jesus. In verse 19 and 20, Peter and John answered them saying, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” We cannot but speak for what God has done for us…and He has done it for you too, if you believe!

This is the gospel. God is Holy. Holy means separate, unique, other. He is not like us. There is nothing to compare Him to. All things were created through Him and for Him. He is before all things and in Him all things are held together. God created man but man rebelled against God and sin entered into the world. Sin is the transgression of the law. Man, in his sinful state, is an enemy of God, always rebelling. We want to be God. We shake our fist at God and say “my way!” Sin has caused a huge divide between God and man. That is the big conflict of the Bible. There is a Holy, Righteous God and there is sinful man. How can we obtain peace? How can we be justified? How can we be made right?

God humbled Himself and was born of a virgin, in a manger and His Name is Jesus. He is called Wonderful Counselor, Might God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace. He began His public ministry at the age of 30 when he was baptized and for 3 years He walked among us, teaching, healing and performing miracles proving He was who He said He was. Man put Him to death on a cross because of what He said, though He was innocent. There, Jesus, fully man and fully God, took the sin of His people upon Him and God, the Father, poured out His wrath on His Son, taking the penalty we deserve for our sin in our place. He died, was buried and the third day He rose again from the dead. God accepted the sacrifice on our behalf.

Conflict resolved! Good News! Justification was made for those who will repent and put their faith in Christ!! He truly is the Prince of Peace. Peace on Earth…Good will towards man! Repent means to turn around, make a change going in the opposite direction. The things you once loved (your sin, being in charge, etc.) you will now hate and the things you used to hate (Jesus, the Bible, true Christians, etc.) you will now love. Faith means to be believing. Not just believe in something wishfully, but to actually believe because you know it to be true. One day Jesus is coming back and those who have believed will be co-heirs with Him forever. This is our hope. This is the good news. This is the gospel.

Is this good news for you today? I sure hope so! Maybe not now? Sure, this gospel message always rubs our flesh wrong when we don’t see our true condition. And it probably sounds really crazy and way out there! It truly is good news though and that’s why we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard that He has done in our own lives! There are many questions and objections and lots of rabbit trails to chase. We will do our best to try to answer those same questions and objections that we have had through this blog. We pray this will be a tool God will use to reveal Himself to you so you know the good news for yourself and experience the peace of Christ!!

Please, leave a comment if you have a question or objection or rabbit trail!