Why Are You Against Calling On The Name Of The Lord?

Romans 10:13-15, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!”

A Facebook friend asked me today why I am against calling on the name of the Lord. Kindly, I didn't say it is heresy to call upon the name of the Lord. I said it is heresy to say you cannot be saved without calling, praying or asking. Pastor Curtis Hutson rightly said: “A good rule to follow when interpreting the Bible is to never use an obscure passage to contradict a clear one.” In the Gospel of John, we find the word "believe" mentioned 85 times, without any requirement to pray, call or ask God to save us. Repeatedly in the Scripture we are taught to simply BELIEVE to be saved.

In acts 2:41, the Bible says that 3,000 people were saved when they "gladly received his word." No mention is made of anyone praying, calling or asking to be saved. They simply BELIEVED the "Good News" (Gospel) that they heard the Apostle Peter preach to them.

In Acts 16:30-31, when the Roman jailer asked Paul and Silas what he needed to do to be saved, they told him to "BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST." There was no requirement to pray, call, ask, turn from his sins, follow Christ or get water baptized.

There is nothing wrong with calling upon the name of the Lord. It is natural to desire to ask God to save us. In John 4:10 Jesus told the Samaritan woman at Jacob's Well that if she knew who she was talking to, she would have asked Him for the Water of Life.

Respectfully, I heard Pastor Anderson try to use John 4:10 to justify the New IFB that you have to pray to be saved. Ironically, if you read the rest of chapter 4, none of the Samaritans who were saved ever called, asked or prayed to be saved; the Bible says they simply BELIEVED. 𝗝𝗼𝗵𝗻 𝟰:𝟯𝟵, “𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗮𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝗵𝗶𝗺 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗻, 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗱, 𝗛𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗜 𝗱𝗶𝗱.” No one is said to have "called" on the name of Jesus to get to Heaven.

To clarify, I never said that it is heresy to call upon the name of the Lord. When I was saved at age 13, I silently prayed in my soul for Jesus to please save me. I begged Him to save me. It is very normal to ask Jesus to save us. But when I learned around 2005 from Pastor Max D. Younce, in his helpful book "Salvation And The Public Invitation," that you can be saved simply by BELIEVING, it finally solidified my salvation beliefs and gave me 100% perfect peace about the simplicity that is in Christ.

You see, for several years after I was saved I was confused. I often cried if fear, worried that I might not be saved. I was terrified of missing Heaven and going to Hell. I was scared of something that I couldn't fully comprehend, God's simple plan of salvation. In hindsight, I came to realize many years ago that I had been woefully deceived by Baptist preachers. They had all taught me that you need to pray a Sinner's Prayer to get to Heaven. I knew that saying a prayer couldn't save me. I knew that faith in Christ alone saved me. However, I sincerely thought that the way you put your faith in Jesus is by praying to be saved. So, I repeated the Sinner's Prayer at least 50 times, maybe 100 times over the next several years.

I remember that I used to reason with God. I would say something like:

“Now Lord, if I am your redeemed child, then respectfully, you owe it to me to let me know, so I can finally put this matter to rest about salvation. But if I am not saved, I absolutely do want to be saved. I know that I am a sinner. And I know that I deserve to be punished in Hell forever, burning, because of my own sins. I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the only begotten Son of God. And I do trust Jesus as my only way to Heaven. Please save me Lord if I am not saved, and don't let me go to Hell when I die someday.”

God knows that I was 100% sincere as a teenager, and He also knows that I was 100% confused. I kept wondering if there was more. Perhaps I had missed something. What if? What if I am not saved? How can I know for certain. Why am I so worried about this? I believe the inspired Holy Bible, so why cannot I settle this important matter. Nothing I thought could solve my dilemma, I was worried to tears for years that I might not be saved. I realize now that no one had ever properly presented the Gospel to me.

Now, I love Pastor Jack Hyles, but even he used the famous The Roman's Road method to lead lost sinners to Christ, which confused me, because it always ended with praying a Sinner's Prayer. I am not blaming Dr. Hyles. I am saying that there is nothing in the Bible which teaches to pray a Sinner's Prayer to get to Heaven. In Acts 2:41, as I mentioned earlier, when 3,000 souls were saved, no Sinner's Prayer was said. In Acts 16:30-31, Paul and Silas did NOT lead the Philippian jailer to pray a Sinner's Prayer. So we do thousands of pastors today teach their church congregations to use the Sinner's Prayer?

I am telling you from my own inexplicably painful experience, that by using the Sinner's Prayer you run the real risk of confusing someone, as I was confused for many years. What did the blessed Savior say? John 6:47, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” Jesus didn't say to pray a Sinner's Prayer, did He? No, He simply said to “BELIEVE ON ME.” Oh, who do men complicate everything?! The simplicity that is in Christ (2nd Corinthians 11:3-4) is THE GOSPEL (1st Corinthians 15:1-4). The gospel is comprised of three elements:

1. Jesus DIED for our sins on a cross
2. He was BURIED.
3. Jesus bodily RESURRECTED from the dead three days later.

Any admitted guilty sinner who BELIEVES (put trust in, relies upon) these FACTS is instantly, irrevocably and eternally born-again. Nothing else is required or allowed by God to be saved.

Nowhere in the Gospel of John are we taught to pray, call or ask to be saved. God is already freely offering “𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗲” (𝟭𝘀𝘁 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝟭:𝟮𝟭𝗯). We don't need to ask God for a gift that He is already offering to us. Any guilty sinner who by faith receives Christ's sacrifice on the cross as full payment for their sins, believing that He was buried but bodily resurrected three days later is saved. This is "the gospel" according to Jesus (Galatians 1:12; 1st Corinthians 15:1-4).

So, I am perfectly okay with men calling upon the name of the Lord to be saved, whether silently in one's soul or audibly to be heard aloud; but I adamantly reject the heretical teaching that a lost sinner cannot be saved without calling, praying or asking for it. God has promised “𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗲” (𝟭𝘀𝘁 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝟭:𝟮𝟭𝗯). I am simply being true to the inspired Scripture, not following the traditions of men.

Dr. Curtis Hutson is 100% correct, we ought not base a new doctrine on an obscure passage of Scripture, while ignoring a clear one. According to John 20:31, the purpose for which the Gospel of John was written is so that we might be saved through faith in Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God. So, we could read just the book of John, apart from the other 65 books of the Holy Bible, and learn how to be saved. That was the specific purpose for which God authored John.

Throughout the book of John we are simply taught to BELIEVE. 𝗝𝗼𝗵𝗻 𝟭𝟭:𝟮𝟱-𝟮𝟲, “𝗝𝗲𝘀𝘂𝘀 𝘀𝗮𝗶𝗱 𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗲𝗿, 𝗜 𝗮𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲: 𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗲𝘁𝗵 𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝗲, 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗱, 𝘆𝗲𝘁 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲: 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗼𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗲𝘁𝗵 𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗱𝗶𝗲. 𝗕𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀?” The invitation to Martha was simply to BELIEVE.

One New IFB follower accused me of teaching that calling upon the name of the Lord contradicts being saved by grace through faith. But I didn't say that calling upon the name of the Lord contradicts salvation being by grace through faith, I simply said that a lost sinner doesn't have to call, pray or ask to be saved. Faith is the only righteous thing that I can do.

The critic cited a couple passages (e.g., the Samaritan woman at the well in John chapter four) and is making those instances the norm for getting saved. But the Bible is full of examples of people who were saved by simply BELIEVING on Jesus, who didn't call, pray or ask to be saved. Apart from the Samaritan woman who asked Jesus for the living water, there is no other mention of anyone asking to be saved in John chapter 4, but the Bible does say that the Samaritans simply BELIEVED on Jesus to be saved. 𝗝𝗼𝗵𝗻 𝟰:𝟯𝟵, “𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗮𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝗵𝗶𝗺 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗻, 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗱, 𝗛𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗜 𝗱𝗶𝗱.” The New IFB are preaching heresy to say that faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ is insufficient to save.

There is nothing wrong with saying a Sinner's Prayer when getting saved, as long as you don't mandate it. I don't use the Sinner's Prayer, nor do I recommend it. In the few cases where I did lead a lost sinner to pray, I made sure to explain to them that they DON'T need to pray to be saved, and that prayer cannot save someone. 𝗚𝗮𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝟯:𝟮𝟲, “𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗚𝗼𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗶𝗻 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗝𝗲𝘀𝘂𝘀.”

So, to clarify, I am not against a lost sinner calling, praying or asking God to be saved. But I am against the heretical idea that someone cannot be saved unless they call, pray or ask for it. Nothing in the Bible supports such a claim. I also do not personally use the Sinner's Prayer, nor do I recommend that anybody else use it either. It is perfectly proper to pray with someone who just received Christ as their personal Savior. Albeit, I think it is best that we refrain from leading people to pray to get saved. If you do, you may be the reason why they struggle with the assurance of God's gift of eternal life for years, if not decades, to come.

Thank you friend for reading my ministry blog.