Why Make It Harder For People To Be Saved?

Acts 2:38-42, “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.”

Something that has bothered me for many years is when pastors at the end of a church service don't tell the audience how to be saved in their pew. Usually they'll require lost sinners to walk an aisle to the front of the church, or talk to somebody in the back after the service, et cetera. It is not my place to criticize or tell a pastor how to run his church, but I have a right to my humble opinion.

When I attended the 2021 convocation service at PCC, Pastor Kurt Skelly was the guest speaker from Virginia. To my horror, at the end of his sermon he told the unsaved sinners in the audience of over 10,000 people to walk down the aisles to the front of the building, if they wanted to learn how to get to Heaven. I wrote an article about the tragedy. At the convocation there were parents, uncles and aunts, grandparents, brothers and sisters, and all sorts of family members present with their loved who was enrolling at PCC as a student. What a grand opportunity to share the saving Gospel with several thousand people. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity, but Pastor Kurt Skelly blew it royally! He failed to tell anyone how to be saved. I have no doubt whatsoever that hundreds of people who could have been saved that night at Campus Church, will now go to Hell because Mr. Skelly refused to share the Gospel.

 

Dear reader, it takes only 60 seconds to share the Gospel with a lost person. If you come to God as an admitted sinner, and you by faith receive Christ's sacrifice on the cross as full payment for your sins, believing that He was buried but then three days later physically resurrected from the dead, you are instantly and forever saved. It is that simple to be saved.

So why do 99% of preachers require people to walk down a church aisle, or go find and talk to someone after the church service, to learn how to be saved? What if that person chickens out? What if they don't feel comfortable and change their mind, walking out the door without talking to anyone about salvation? What if they don't feel well physically, or they don't feel comfortable walking an aisle to be made a spectacle of in front of the church? Sadly, we make it too hard for people to get to Heaven. We really do.

In God's simple plan of salvation, where is no extra requirement to walk down an aisle to get to Heaven. There is no extra requirement to go find and talk to someone after the church service. God knows that my goal in writing this blog is not to be unkind or offend anyone, God forbid. I am just trying to be a blessing, to be helpful. I want more people to get saved. No doubt many people do go along with walking down an aisle, or talking to a soulwinners after the church service, but I wonder how many of those lost sinner didn't. How many just left and walked out the door never to return again, and went to Hell?

It is my sincere conviction that a preacher should ALWAYS tell his audience how to be saved right from their pew, without putting pressure on that individual to speak with someone, or pressure them to walk down an aisle to be made a spectacle of in front of the church. I am a shy person by nature. I love to play musical instruments, but I am shy to get up in front of people because of social anxiety. It took me a long time to gain the courage to play my Hawaiian steel guitar in front of people at the beach on Guam. But once I did it, I enjoyed doing it and became relaxed.

When someone raises their hand in an invitation that they want to be saved, I humbly think a preacher should tell them how to be saved in their seat, without pressuring them to walk an aisle or go talk to a stranger, which can be very intimidating for someone. No doubt some people will disagree with me, and I respect your right to disagree. I just think we should make it as easy as possible for lost sinners to get to Heaven. The fear of walking down a church aisle and being confronted can be next to impossible for some people to overcome.