"Is The Sinner's Prayer NECESSARY for Salvation!?"

<p>“Hello Pastor Jesse, </p>

<p>I have a question concerning ”The Sinners </p>

<p>Prayer.” I know a lot of churches use this, </p>

<p>including mine, when they’re soulwinning or</p>

<p> giving and altar call. My question is, is it</p>

<p> necessary for an unbeliever to make a verbal</p>

<p> confession or call upon the name of the Lord </p>

<p>to be saved? If it is, wouldn’t that be adding works to the</p>

<p> gospel? If it isn’t necessary, then my next</p>

<p> question is: when you’re preaching the Gospel,</p>

<p> whether during soulwinning or after a sermon,</p>

<p> how do you follow up with getting the</p>

<p> individual to trust in Christ? I’ve been taught that after going through the </p>

<p>Salvation Plan or Roman’s Road, you’d always</p>

<p> take them to Romans 10:9-10, 13 and have</p>

<p> them say the ”Sinner’s Prayer.” It’s confusing </p>

<p>to me because I’ve heard pastors say stuff like</p>

<p> 'The prayer doesn’t save you, but it’s the faith </p>

<p>in your heart that saves you.' Then they say, ‘If you really believe, then you </p>

<p>will pray the prayer. If you don’t pray the</p>

<p> prayer, then you really don’t believe. If you </p>

<p>don’t have an individual pray, how do you </p>

<p>know if they’ve believed enough?’ Proponents</p>

<p> of ‘The Sinner’s Prayer’ use passages such as</p>

<p> Romans 10:9-10, 13, John 4:10, Rev. 3:20,</p>

<p> Luke 18:13-14, and etc... They use these as proof texts to defend ‘The</p>

<p> Sinner’s Prayer.’ I know, for me personally,</p>

<p> this has brought me much confusion and lack</p>

<p> of assurance. There were times I prayed that</p>

<p> prayer multiple times just to make sure that I </p>

<p>really was saved. When I go soulwinning, </p>

<p>there are times I’m afraid of using the prayer </p>

<p>because I think to myself, what if I’m adding to the Gospel or I’m afraid of not using it</p>

<p> because what if I needed to lead them in the </p>

<p>prayer for them to be saved? This is how</p>

<p> confusing and concerning this is. I know this</p>

<p> email was REALLY long, but I deeply</p>

<p> appreciate you taking the time to read. I </p>

<p>thank God for your ministry because it really</p>

<p> has helped with my assurance of salvation. Don’t stop! Keep preaching the Gospel plain</p>