What Do You Know About Remission Of Sins? (Part 1 Of 2)

Not long ago, I had an unforgettable experience on a radio program with a male host, and two other guests. This was a scheduled program to review the bookBeware of This False Doctrine: Of Reciting the Sinners' Prayer for Salvationwritten by me and published in Ghana and the USA.

Our discourses touched on issues raised in the book, all debunking the practice of praying any kinds of so-called special prayers, the most popular of which are known as 'The Prayer for Salvation' and 'The Sinners' Prayer' which are taught by an incredibly high number of Christian denominations, as being capable of leading salvation seekers into the born again experience when recited in all seriousness and sincerity of heart!

I sought to make known to listeners of the program what my book lays bare with regards to the mystery of baptism in the name of Yeshua, which, according to the Bible, is what enables the salvation seeker to enter into the kingdom of the Most High One and not, as it were, in the reciting of any kind of prayer.

Such scriptures asMatthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:16, Luke 24:45-48, John 3:3-5, 22, 4:1-2 Acts 2:38-39; 8:5-12, 36-38; 9:18, 10:47-48; 16:33, Romans 6:3-4, First Corinthians 10:1-2, Galatians 3:27, Hebrews 6:1-2, First Peter 3:20-21relate to the issue of how one enters the born again experience, in and by baptism, all cited in my book, were also made known to listeners of the radio program.

Unknown to me, then, the host of the program and the two other guests were clergymen of the same denomination, all of who believe that salvation seekers who repent of their sins and sincerely recite any of these special prayers instantly get born again into the kingdom of the Almighty.

Naturally, my views stood at variance with theirs, and, therefore, made them, obviously, very uncomfortable. Their differences in faith and discomfort made them become verbally explosive, as they turned the program from a book review into a debate.

At the end of it, all three clergymen were unanimous in faithbaptism is irrelevant to the born again experience! To them, one can be born again and proceed to enter Heaven, without baptismdespite my re-echoing of the words of Yeshua to Nicodemus in John 3:5 to them!

For them, the issue of salvation is a matter of faith only. It's a matter based purely on mental assent to Elohim's Word, and without works, as they seemed to think of baptism as being one.

This stance, they adopted, based on their understanding of the scriptures of Romans 10:9-10 and Ephesians 2:8-9scriptures which I drew their attention to as being addressed to people who were already born again, and not to unbelievers wanting to enter Elohim's salvation, of course, to no avail.

I am optimistic that, if listeners to the program had the opportunity to phone in, at least one of them would have challenged their view that baptism is work and that one's subscription to the ritual of baptism meant that one had worked for one's salvation.

You see, more than 70% of clergymen of Christendom administer 'baptism' to infants of just seven days old! That being the case, the question is: Are these infants able to work for their salvation, if, indeed, for one to undergo the ritual of baptism meant one had worked?

Or who, if any at all, is the worker in a so-called baptism of works: Is it the baptized person or the baptizer? I wonder how any serious student of the Bible would consider anyone who goes through the ritual of baptism as working to earn Elohim's salvation!

Now, back to my experiences on the radio program and what I learned of these clergymen. Two of them said to listeners that, they were sure and confident to have been able to lead many salvation seekers into the born again experience by simply aiding them to recite these special prayers after them.

Both clergymen gave specific instancesseparate episodes at different times, though,of people they led into the salvation of the Almighty without them undergoing the ritual of baptism! According to one of them, one of those he aided to be saved, in, and, by the reciting of special prayers was at the time, studying at the University of Cape Coast, Ghana.

For the other clergyman, he claimed to have led a group of Indians into the born again experience without ministering baptism in the name of Yeshua to any one of them! He then went on to lay emphasis to his claim by saying he had earlier in the morning of the same day of the radio program, interacted with these Indians, and could bear testimony that they were born again people growing in Elohim's grace.

I told them they were wrong in their faith and practice, since it could not be found in the accounts of the Bible any single record, where a person's salvation is recorded to have been on the basis of any kind of prayer recitals. Their beliefs, sadly, are absolutely contradictory to the entire Bible revelation!

Fact is, the Master neither taught nor instructed prayer for salvation, nor did any of his apostles to whom he entrusted the message for mankind's salvation, teach and instruct even a single person to recite any special prayers after him for salvation.

So then, in all the teachings of the Master and his pre-ascension instructions in the Great Commission to his apostles, and in the apostolic teachings of close to one hundred years, there is no evidence of any relationship between prayer and how one becomes born again ever being taught.

Simply put, the reciting of special prayers for salvation is a doctrine of men; a false doctrine sneaked in to pollute the holy faith and practices instructed by the Almighty to all salvation seekers. It renders any subscribers to it to be begotten as tares. This truth, all salvation seekers must be told and encouraged to accept.

Long after that radio program, I still can't find peace of mind because of the wrong faith that these 'ordained ministers' expressed to the hearing of thousands of listenersthat, they believe one can enter into the salvation of the Most High One without baptism, as if to spite me!

The more I think about their faith, the sadder I feel for them and their followers; and yet, the more the Almighty leads me to know many more clergymen who minister special prayers to people supposing to get them born again by these prayers.

One archbishop, long departed from this world, who when alive was of the denomination to which these my acquaintances from the radio program currently belong, reproduced in the last pages of a book he authored, the words of one of such special prayers for salvation.

He then encouraged his readers to read the words of this prayer aloud to themselves and urged them to believe that their conviction in the words and sincerity in their recitals would grant them quick entrance into the kingdom of the Most High One!

At the end of the words of this prayer in the book, this archbishop provided some dotted lines for the signature, the names of anyone who recites the prayer, and the date this prayer was recited, meant to be a memorial to such faithful, as well as how one was saved and when this happened!

In another instance, a living archbishop of the same denomination as the clergymen on the radio program reveals on his website, how he was born again on his sick bed in a hospital, when three women led him to recite one of these special prayers for salvationclaiming to have instantly become born again without baptism!

About thirty years after that claim to having been born again without baptism, this archbishop believes he is in the salvation of the Almighty; and this anti-bible manner of becoming born again is all he knows to teach his followers for their own salvation!

In my private library are two books authored separately by two Ghanaian clergymen of this same denomination in focus. Both titles teach on the presumed potency of prayer for salvation without baptism! They are titled: Born Again and How to be Born Again.

The high prevalence of the practice of prayer for salvation is obvious, and this gives a clear indication that the number of people living in false assurances of having become born again by prayer must be very high.

In my view, this false doctrine on reciting prayers for salvation has evolved because clergymen who teach it lack knowledge and understanding of what the Bible reveals on remission of sin.

Remission of sin is a peculiar blessing of the Almighty to the New Testament saint, obtainable, only in, and through, repentance of sin and baptism, and is the only basis upon which anyone enters Elohim's salvation in the born again experience. The next and concluding part of this article will teach this truth. (---concluding part to this article is in Part 2 of 2: Soon to be published).

The writer is a Bible-expositor and author of the book: Beware of This False Doctrine: Of Reciting the Sinners' Prayer for salvation, published in Ghana and the USA. His e-mail address is: [email protected]