Idaho TERM seminar

TERM Seminar, Oct. 20-22: Eighteen individuals came from all over the U.S. (from as far as Maine) to attend GoodSeed's The Emmaus Road Message seminar. After the three-day seminar, participants left with a refreshed view of who the Creator God is and His wonderful provision of salvation throughout the Old and New Testaments.

Toward the end of the seminar, John Cross discussed common pitfalls in evangelism, one of which was thinking that you had to say a sinner's prayer to be saved. According to the Bible, it is not a prayer that saves us, nor an act of "coming forward" in church, but Christ's finished work on the cross. He has done the work; we only need to believe that He has done it for us.

Afterward, I saw one lady, who is originally from Romania, crying in the bathroom. She was always so cheerful and bubbly before — why was she crying? "Are you all right?" I asked her.

"I just feel so deceived!" she replied. "I was always led to think that you had to say a prayer to be saved, the 'repeat after me' kind, where you 'seal' the person into salvation. I've often made people say that prayer when leading them to Christ, thinking if they didn't say it, their salvation wouldn't count. Now I feel like I've added to Christ's finished work! I feel so angry that I was deceived that way."

My heart was encouraged that she had been lifted of that deception. Although it may have seemed trivial, the matter of salvation is not a matter to be taken lightly. A prayer is never wrong, but relying on the prayer to save you is wrong.

A 14-year-old boy (our youngest participant) made another insightful comment.

"Little kids are often very literal. In our AWANA program, when the kids hear people say, 'You need to ask Jesus into our heart,' they wonder how Jesus can physically live inside a heart. So that phrase is quite misleading to them."

Yes, sometimes unbelievers are as literal as little children in spiritual matters. They look at you increduously when you say things like "ask Jesus into your heart." Another phrase, "give your heart to Jesus," is just as misleading. Both of these phrases are not found in the Bible. Instead, wouldn't it be a lot clearer if we told an unbeliever that to be saved, he only needed to believe Jesus died in his place?

*edit*

I recently found this quote about terminology in the Firm Foundations teacher's guide by Trevor McIlwain, published by New Tribes Mission: "The Gospel is not man accepting Jesus as his Saviour, but that God accepted the Lord Jesus as the perfect and only Saviour two thousand years ago. The Gospel is not man giving his heart or his life to Jesus, but that Christ gave His life, His whole being, in the place of sinners. The Gospel is not man receiving Christ into his heart, but that God received the Lord Jesus into Heaven as the mediator of sinners. The Gospel is not Christ enthroned in the human heart, but that God enthroned the Lord Jesus as His right hand in heaven."

What an accurate, to-the-point way of putting it! May I also be ready to present God's Word as it is.

GoodSeed Bible Camp (Oct. 28-30): Tonight, we will be driving up to Twin Falls, Idaho, for the 3-day annual Bible camp for GoodSeed staff members, where, God willing, we will enjoy good teaching, good fellowship, good times prayer and good fun!

GS has invited Bible teacher Charlie Clough to speak at camp this year. Derek and I have been listening to some of his teaching, Basic Framework for Christian Doctrine. This is an excellent series that goes through the Bible from Genesis to Revelations, helping believers differentiate between the God's framework for reality in the Bible and the false, deceptive worldview of the fallen world. Check out his Web site — you can order the series free of charge (in MP3 format). We are excited to meet and hear from Charlie in person.

Please pray that our time at camp would be refreshing and convicting, and that we would be ready and humble to learn. We appreciate your prayers!

That's all for this update...more later!