A friend of mine recently told me about a message by Paul Washer, a Baptist preacher in the south (where being a Christian is about as common as wearing blue jeans). I watched it on YouTube and wow, this guy gives one hell of a message. Although I don't agree with everything that he says, he is right on point when he speaks of the hype and fluff that has taken over the American church today. I am sure many of us can associate certain pastors, churches and youth groups with the stuff he says. It's an hour long but if you have time I recommend watching the whole thing. Here is the link:
Shocking Youth Message by Paul Washer
If you don't have time to watch it, here are some of my favorite quotes (and the time mark where he says them) that ring very true in my ears.
- "The greatest heresy in the American evangelical protestant church is that if you pray and ask Jesus Christ into your heart, he will definitely come in…you will not find that in any place in scripture." (10:00)
- "Do you realize how much love it takes to stand before 5,000 people and tell them that American Christianity is almost totally wrong? Do you know how much it is going to cost me to never be asked back to something like this?" (11:30)
- "[They think they are saved] because some evangelist who should have spent less time preaching and more time studying his Bible told them they are saved. And he did so, so he can brag about how many people came forward in his next revival." (13:30)
- "One of the greatest distinguishing marks of false prophet is that he will always tell you what you want to hear, he will never rain on your parade; he will get you clapping, he will get you jumping, he will make you dizzy, he will keep you entertained, and he will present a Christianity to you that will make your church look like a six flags over Jesus." (26:50)
- "How many times do youth groups come to things like this and get all fired up and go back to their churches and it only lasts a week and a half…it wasn't a great move of God, it was emotion." (33:15)
- "The only thing that is going to save the church in America, there's only two possibilities, one, a total reformation in our preaching and the study of the world of God, or the other is a fierce, horrifying persecution." (54:45)
Washer has received some criticism from people who thought the message was too harsh, so he did a follow up interview to help explain why he felt he had to give the message. Background of The Shocking Youth Message
I believe it's pretty easy to grow a mega church when you preach the warm and fuzzy stuff that everyone wants to hear. Many preachers today don't have the balls to preach the truth because the truth often hurts. As Washer said their are a lot of false prophets out there, preaching the good stuff while ignoring the bad. I too hope the American church undergoes some sort of major reformation before it's too late.
Good find, Reformer. I’m gonna have to check that out. I love the 2nd comment about never being invited back.
Good times.
Wow! Just reading your thoughts on it (I definitely plan on watching the sermon), I’m amazed. I live a life no different than the other evangelicals in the country. It’s scary to hear these things, but a strong reminder NOT to take casually the tremendous gift we’re given through Jesus, and to TAKE seriously the relationship we have with Him. I ask then, how do we know? How can we tell what is the thing to do? How can we definitively say, “you must do/be/live like this”?
I feel stuck… in a daily rut. Maybe it’s selfishness or laziness. I could blame it on my church, but at some point, I need to pick myself up and be who God would want me to be… a light in the world, and one that lives in the perfect joy and peace of the Lord, without looking back. How can we ever truly know?
NoStatus that is EXACTLY what he is preaching. As the scriptures say, many do believe that they know. Many do believe that they’ve jumped through all the religious hoops and done what they were told to do. Many do believe they know Jesus based on what they’ve said and done. But the question he asks is, does Jesus know you? I think the only way to truly know is to ask yourself has Jesus changed your life? Are you different from those who don’t know God? Do you live with a purpose to fufill His desires on your heart or your own? Do you serve Him because you love Him or because you don’t want to go to hell (“fire insurance” so to speak)? Do you practice spiritual disciplines because you feel like you have to (that’s what a Christian does), or because you want to? To me there is a difference between acting like a Christian and actually being one. I’ve believe we will all be surprised when we stand before God, because it will be nothing like we think it will. With all the crazy preachers and teachers that our out there, debating scripture, writing books, tellling people to do this and do that…the truth is no one really knows the whole truth. Only God can judge, all we can do is let Jesus change how we live our lives, and I mean inward change, not just outward.
By the way, if you start the video at 8:00 min you will skip all the intro stuff and get right into the heart of his message. It’s a powerful one for sure.
I heard this message when I was coming out of TCC and thought what “would happen if this were preached at the “generations” conference”? Paul Washer has been a big influence in my walk with Jesus Christ. He has a lot of hard hitting sermons, but the ones that stick with me the most are when he describes his relationship with Jesus.
His preaching is not popular with the people who only like the loving attributes of Jesus Christ. He talks a lot about God’s wrath, righteousness, and judgment. It won’t get him on TBN.
Nothing wrong with a strong message and preaching on true change, but point number 1 is heracy.
“that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” – Romans 10:9-10
That’s pretty clear. It’s belief and cofession of faith (trick: define Believe. that’s a whole other message) in Jesus that brings salvation.
So the claim that you WON’T find in scripture “that if you pray and ask Jesus into your heart, He will definitely come in” is 100% false.
We don’t just ask Jesus into our hearts…we must confess AND believe. What standard do we use when we “examine ourselves to see if we be in the faith”? Do we just ask Jesus one time? Words don’t save anyone, just ask those who will say “Lord, Lord” when Jesus will say “depart from me”. Jesus will say “depart from me”, but they will reply…”but I asked you into my heart Lord”. I think that is just superstition invented by theologically shallow people.
Of course, and as I said, it’s a whole other discussion as to what “believe” means.
But what is your explanation of Romans 10:9-10 then? It says confess, believe, and you’re saved. Doesn’t it?
Also, the scripture you reference in Matthew is clear that it’s those who don’t KNOW Christ (greek GINOSKO, deep intimate relationship, like “Abraham knew Sarah”) will be cast out, even if they have prophesied or cast out demons.
I take that as meaning that works (even spiritual “conquests”) are not going to save those who aren’t intimate with Christ personally…
But that’s the ongoing relationship.
The initial response is to believe the message of Jesus, confess Him as Lord, and be saved. That’s what the Word says, isn’t it?
I get the pastors point that you can’t just confess one time and live your life your own way…I agree with that. (scripture backs it up)
You have to TRULY believe, and live it out. (By grace, since NONE are perfect and will screw up now and then)
But his statement that praying and asking Jesus into your heart isn’t in the bible is wrong…it clearly IS in the Bible.
And the other (implied) part of his statement, is that if you pray and ask, Jesus may or may not come into your heart….(based on…what criteria then? what prayer faith is recoginized and which isn’t?)
Again, I don’t find that in scripture.
Uh, asking Jesus into your heart as a means of being saved is not in the Bible. Your quoted scripture packs a lot more into it than the modern “asking Jesus into your heart” prayer. Confessing and believing is way more than just asking – or repeating a prayer after a pastor. If you ask (or pray) without believing you are screwed, but your altar call preacher would declare you to be saved and have another spiritual notch in their belt and another false convert would be born.
^ In total agreement with everything you said.
But…in order to start a journey with Jesus, you DO pray an “asking Jesus into your heart” prayer….and then live it out.
You believe (again, so much to be said about what it TRULY means to believe) and confess (look up original definition of confess, means to display publicly daily) and walk it out.
Which I think was his point. And I agree with it. It was a good message.
But his point that it’s a heracy to confess Jesus as Lord, believe it, and pray and be saved…even saying that it’s not in the Bible…is not true.
(even further, he seems to say that you could pray and ask Christ into your heart, and He might not come in)
“Many preachers today don’t have the balls to preach the truth because the truth often hurts.”
Preachers can’t preach the truth if offends the sensibilities of the federal government. How many times has a preacher said–especially during the elections–that he can’t share his opinion from the pulpit? He is afraid of losing his tax exempt status–a treasure more cherished then preaching the truth. The preacher can’t talk about politics, he can’t talk about homosexuality, and pretty soon he won’t talk about abortion. The love of a tax exemption is the root of all evil?
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This is very true, but I think you are taking it out of context. If you listen to the message he was saying this statement to rebuttle those that believe all the have to do is say the sinners prayer to be saved. There's no mention of change, discipline, faith, prayer, seeking out the things of God, just the mentality that you go up for an alter call and say a prayer. That's what he was attacking. You know how many youth pastors preach this? He was pointing out that it takes much more then a prayer to be a follower of Christ, which is not the message that's out there. As was mentioned, go to a Generation Unleashed meeting. It's 2 hours of hype with 30 minutes of "God loves you, come down here and get saved," with no follow up, no direction, and no reality of what it means to serve Jesus.
Don’t know about now, but a few years back, when a young person came up for prayer, the prayer team would pray for them, then fill out a little card with name, city, and church (if they came with one). To CBC’s credit, an effort was made to connect the person with pastoral care.
Agreed, GU’s a ridiculous production … but, just sayin’ they did try to do the right thing for those responding to altar calls.
Yeah, to be honest, I think that the fault lies less with “evangelists”, aka, the guys who are speaking, and more with the local churches who are satisfied with the idea of “once saved, always saved”. I agree with anonymous about pretty much everything he said. As leaders, you DO have to go farther with people than just getting them “saved.” A greater effort in churches has to be made across the board to make sure people realize the implications of “working out your salvation with fear and trembling.”
Sometimes, when you’re trying to make a point, as this preacher was, you have to say harsh things to get people to think about them. I believe that American Christianity needs a rude awakening, and needs to stop pandering to people. Be real, because Jesus was. Jesus forgave sins, and then made statements like, “Go, and sin no more.” Don’t just get saved and then go back to living like you were; if the Gospel isn’t changing your life, if a relationship with Jesus isn’t changing your life, maybe you don’t have either. That’s what leaders ought to be teaching, I believe.
Here is Paul Washer preaching on the Gospel. He touches on some of things we were talking about…overall an excellent Gospel presentation.
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it says if u bekleive it does not say if u ask jesus in ur heart u will be saved no it says if u beleive and ask, thats totally different, so paul is right no where does it say ask, u must beleive u cant ask without beleiving, an atheist can ask jesus in their heart lol
I weep.