Wow, if I had only known it was that simple.....

@hubbaduh - I have no idea when this started but its like all false gospel messages they all come from the father of lies himself. The devil's greatest weapon is getting people into churches that think they are saved.

Mat 13:24-25 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field;  but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.

- dale

good points,,,enjoyed

What really bothers me is something like this is directed at children.  See, I believe fully in the simplicity of Jesus.  I mean, I am so against legalism it isn't even funny!  But this goes in the other direction too. There's a "happy medium" there, you know??  The idea of "asking Jesus into your heart" is a simple one that children understand.  But to make it seem like their lives will be wonderful and easy after that is wrong.  Where will they be when things start going wrong, as they will??  That was my issue as a child.  I wonder where God went?  Why did my best friend abandon me?  When truth was, He never did.  So I turned to sin. 

It wasn't until I heard that our lives as Christians are to be about living FOR Christ, and not about having the easy road that I learned the Truth.  Jesus saves, but from what? 

I'm rambling.  Great post!!

But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,"that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." (Romans 10:8-13)

"Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me" (Revelation 3:20).

The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" 

 31They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household." 32Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized. 34The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole family. (Acts 16:29-34)

Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. "Do you understand what you are reading?" Philip asked. 

 31"How can I," he said, "unless someone explains it to me?" So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 

 32The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture: 
  "He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, 
  and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, 
  so he did not open his mouth. 
 33In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. 
  Who can speak of his descendants? 
  For his life was taken from the earth."[e] 

 34The eunuch asked Philip, "Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?" 35Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. 

 36As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water. Why shouldn't I be baptized?"[f] 38And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. (Acts 8:30-38)

@UndomielElelome - There is definitely scriptural tension on the issue, and I don't think any passage captures it better than the passage in Philippians 2, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you..."  And, of course, you have to have your salvation to work it out, and it is still God who works in you. 

-NDSR

@PerilousTimes - Choice.  Whether people can choose to be saved, as the passages UndomielElelome cited suggest, or whether God unilaterally chooses people for salvation, as Paul Washer and yourself lean toward.  There is scriptural tension because neither side of the debate is left without passages they need to explain, to take and say, 'Yes, it looks like it says that, but actually...' 

It's not that scripture contradicts itself.  It's just a complex relationship shared between God's choice and power and human choice and freedom.

-NDSR

Very good stuff!  I'm so tired of the "Candy Jesus" mentality being handed out in churches.  This would be an "aha moment" for many..."you mean I have to TRULY repent of my sin.?"