The Parachute and the Vine

If you haven't heard Ray Comfort's sermon called "Hell's Best Kept Secret", it is worth listening to. It is a fair indictment of the use of the altar call and the sinner's prayer. Revealed by his own analysis, "80 to 90% of those making decisions for Christ were falling away from the faith that is modern evangelism with its methods was creating something like 80 to 90 backsliders with every hundred decisions for Christ." He goes on to cite this statistic: "in 294,000 decisions for Christ in just one year from 11,500 churches unfortunately they could only find 14,000 in fellowship which means they could not account for 280,000 of their decisions." That is the underlying inspiration for Ray Comfort's evangelical pursuits. It is worth noting that I'm not criticizing. In fact, that very sermon is what inspired today's message.

I simply asked, would Ray Comfort's approach improve the result over the altar call and the sinner's prayer he preaches against. Well, maybe, to some extent. But I think someone that has been confronted by Ray in his approach can just as well be left there holding a conclusion he does not know how to reckon with. Ray's explanation of what the law does is profound and that's originally what got my attention. But if you leave a person standing there holding on to the revelation that he is not the good person he thinks he is; you even tell him he must repent; who do you leave standing there on the corner of that testimony? No amount of sound-bitten theology is going to be effective. That's what we tackle in today's podcast.

Notes for the Parachute and the Vine

Ray Comforts Sermon from YouTube

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