My sister told my mom about my uncle Francis email where I said someone needed to preach the gospel to him and tell him it's not about 'saying a prayer.' (he is dying, he is your typical alcoholic who at one time prayed a 'sinner's prayer' but it 'didn't take.' According to my mom, that's his answer when the pastor tries to talk to him. "Oh I've prayed that prayer" he snaps. WHY in today's day of unprecedented 'success' of the church, does anyone have this misconception about salvation? That it is a 'prayer that you pray' at some point in your life?
I get the impresion her relaying it was similar to her relaying of my concern about the yoga thing (e.g. Paula is so judgemental and the love didn't come across and don't include me in these emails because I'm not interested!) Mom said that "she said you said he was going to hell."
[ASIDE:] Incidentally my daughter's yoga... I mean P.E. teacher, who went to my husband's high school and is a few years younger than us, has also been trying meditative techniques on the class OTHER than yoga. [END ASIDE]
I said "is there something wrong with that? I didn't, by the way."
She said my sister was going to print one out for her but hasn't yet.
I did at one point say that being saved was more important than family harmony and she agreed but I get the idea my sisters only want enough of Jesus to make their lives comfortable so when I talk about the gospel or about church or Jesus, they kind of tolerate it and roll their eyes. I can't imagine that if I talked about my husband that way that they would have ANY problem with it.
If they love Jesus wouldn't they want to hear about him? Talk about what it means to love him? To be a Christian?
BTW one sister is a homeopath (divination IMO) and the other is caught up in Word Faith error-- she tells me she didn't want our dad's version of Christianity (which was actually closer to the truth) because she found him exasperating. (WELL WE ALL DID! But we ALL agree that we knew he loved us too. So what's the problem?)... Satan is working hard to choke out the seed in both of them.
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Here is what I sent regarding my mom's brother Francis, to which my sister was responding:
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I can't get it off my mind and I'm feeling all choked up even though I haven't ever really known Francis and haven't seen his face since the reunion in 1992. (At least, I think he showed up briefly...)
So I hear Francis' idea of being saved was praying a little prayer? Did someone set him straight on what it really means? Sometimes when people linger on long past when the doctors think they should have passed on, I wonder if God is waiting for someone to go and preach the gospel to them, one more time.
His peevish "I prayed that prayer" sounds to me like his conscience had been bothering him, at least when he was conscious.
Someone should get down there posthaste and correct him. Even if you think he can't hear anymore, we don't know that for sure... and hey, if it's too late, and someone wants to read this at his funeral, feel free... the rest of his family needs to hear it too.
Paula
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Francis if someone told you to pray a little prayer and you'd be saved, they lied. If someone told you to come to Jesus to fix your life, they lied. If someone told you you were OK because you were baptized at some point in life, they lied.
When Jesus was on the cross, two criminals were also crucified. Jesus was guilty of no crime, but these men were being executed for theirs. The first criminal made fun of Christ, saying "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!"but the other one said to the first one, "Don't you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong."
Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.
"Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."
That second criminal had no time to clean up his life nor did he pray a little magic formula prayer. He was probably never baptized. So why did Jesus promise him he would be saved? Because the second criminal knew he did not deserve to be saved. He deserved his sentence of death. We all do.
Each one of us, no matter how 'good' we think we are, have offended an infintely holy God. His wrath upon each of us is justified, and we deserve no good thing. Still, God shows us his love in that while we were still his enemies, Jesus came and took that wrath FOR YOU, on the cross, voluntarily enduring untold agony and pain. He did not have to do this, but he did it to save those who would believe and put their trust in his mercy. Not those who pray a little prayer. So believe that you deserve a just sentence of God's wrath for eternity, but that Christ averted that wrath by paying the death penalty in your stead. Respond with grief and love for so great a gift, a gift that each one of us has taken for granted and which we never can repay.
What we all must do: No special words but in your heart, Believe in Him, turn to him in sorrow and love, and tell God that he
is right in what he says about you, that you are a sinner, and deserve hell. Trust in his mercy, that he will forgive your sins and have mercy on you. He is the only one that can bring you through death's valley and get you safely to the other side. He came to show us his self sacrificing love so that we CAN trust him. He held nothing back to show us his love.
This was written about Christ, centuries before Christ was born:Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression [a] and judgment he was taken away.
And who can speak of his descendants?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was stricken. [b]
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes [c] his life a guilt offering,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
11 After the suffering of his soul,
he will see the light of life [d] and be satisfied [e] ;
by his knowledge [f] my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, [g]
and he will divide the spoils with the strong, [h]
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
