Is it possible to manipulate people into the Kingdom?

“…and make disciples of all the nations….” (Matthew 28:18-20)

In my opinion, the deacon was brow-beating people into praying the sinner’s prayer with him, then accompanying him to church the following Sunday to make public this “commitment” and be baptized.  The whipped look on their face told all one would ever need to know.

So, one Sunday I asked this lady, “Do you really want to do this?  You know, you don’t have to do it if you don’t want to.”  She said quietly that this was her choice. So, we baptized her and never saw her again.

Eventually, we changed the way we received church members to make certain we were not baptizing someone’s converts but were making disciples of the Lord Jesus.

Jesus did not send us to make converts.  He did not command anyone to make decisions.  He did not send the church out to talk people into walking an aisle or undergoing baptism or praying some magic words.

He commanded the church to make disciples.  A disciple is something far different from a convert or a friend or decision. To be a disciple means a commitment for life.

You cannot sneak people into the kingdom.

A pastor I know had hundreds of cards printed up with the “sinner’s prayer.”  He gave them to his members with instructions and a little training to “get people to pray this prayer.”  His goal was one thousand people each year “praying the sinner’s prayer.”  By this plan, according to him, they were reaching people for Jesus and populating heaven with the born again.

No matter if those people never darkened the door of his or any church.  So long as they invited Jesus into their hearts–which was the content and object of the prayer–nothing else mattered.

Except it doesn’t work that way.

Nowhere in Scripture are we commanded to “get people to pray the sinner’s prayer.”  We were told to make disciples, and that is a far bigger business. It’s also harder, which accounts for our efforts to shortcut the process.  We’re trying to go the Lord one better.

After all, if convincing people to “pray this prayer” gets them into heaven and out of harm’s way (i.e., hell), then haven’t we done a good thing?  Answer: if it would, then we have.  But if it works, wouldn’t the Lord have told us to do it that way?

We must beware of trying to improve on the Lord’s methods.

So many ways to manipulate…

I was a young minister, preparing to head to seminary, and so for a few months, served Central Baptist Church in Tarrant City, Alabama, as their assistant pastor.  I sat in the choir the week of revival led by an evangelist whom I will not name.

He had a scheme to get people “down the aisles.”  Each night, his sermon lasted only 15 minutes or so. Then, the invitation lasted another 15 to 20 minutes.  Here’s why….

At the end of his sermon, the preacher asked everyone to bow their heads and close their eyes.  Then, he spoke to those who wished to get to know the Lord better, or had a prayer request, or wanted to make some kind of decision, or such.  “Would you raise your hand?” he asked.

“Keep your hand up.”  This went on for a time.  “Come on, and put your hand up!”

Then, next step.

“All of you with your hand in the air, would you lift your head and look at me.  Come on now, all of you.  Lift your head.  Look me in the eye.  You can do this.”

After a bit, the third step.

“Now, those of you looking at me, I want you to stand to your feet. The rest of you continue with your heads bowed and your eyes closed.  But if you raised your hand and are looking at me, I want you to stand up right now. Come on. Stand up for Jesus.”

And then….

“Now, as the choir sings and the pastor takes his place here in front, I want you to step out into the aisle and come forward, making that decision for Jesus.  We have counselors here at the front to deal with you. Come on.  Who will be first?  Step forward now.”

That went on for a long period.

One would think that Scripture places a great value on raising one’s hand, opening one’s eyes and looking at the preacher, standing to one’s feet, and especially walking forward to the front.  As though this proved something or guaranteed something.

The first time the preacher did that, I found it interesting.  (Remember, I was 23 at the time and knew precious little about how these things should be done.)  The next night, when he did the exact same thing, I found it slightly less so.  And by the third and fourth nights and through the rest of the week, as the preacher repeated the process again and again, we all found them burdensome and repetitive and manipulative.

Without knowing another thing about the evangelist, you already know that he attached great value to the number of people who “walked the aisles” in his meetings.  We can be certain his publicity touted those numbers, as though that proved the Spirit of the Lord was upon him.

If you ask me, it proved only that he was a manipulator, and nothing about that is good.

Did anyone who went through his series of steps and ended up walking the aisle come to know Jesus and live forever?  I hope so. But only God knows. If so, it was in spite of the preacher’s technique and not because of it.

Interestingly, the Gospels do not tell us how exactly to make a disciple.

There is no one biblical way with all the others being wrong.  God uses any method He pleases.

He used a deacon in the desert when Philip talked to the eunuch of Ethiopia (Acts 8).

God used a woman with a terrible reputation in Sychar (John 4).

He used a preacher with an impromptu message on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2).

God used a converted rabbi when he called Saul of Tarsus.  He used a bunch of untrained fishermen when He called the apostles.  He used women and children, the elderly and even royalty.

Today God uses the internet, radio, television, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and a hundred things I never heard of.

Some will ask whether the Lord doesn’t also use “sinner’s prayers printed on cards”.  My answer is two-fold.  One, He can if He pleases. And two, however, we must give a thought to the hundreds and even thousands of people who are now walking around with a false sense of security because “I prayed that prayer.”  Whoever duped them into that did them no favor.

Our prayer ought always to be “Thy will be done.”  Any method that is not His will should be abandoned forever.

 

 

One thought on “Is it possible to manipulate people into the Kingdom?

  1. Thank you. You spoke my heart. I’ve seen what you described many times throughout my life. As a pastor and preacher I don’t have large numbers of converts or disciples. I no longer worry about that. I preached the gospel and proclaimed Jesus. What ever God did I leave in his hands. As a young pastor I used to be intimidated at pastor’s meetings. Through the years it dawned on me that there are a lot of people going to hell because some preacher duped them so they could pad their numbers and climb the denominational ladder. thanks bro. Joe

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