Every head bowed, every eye closed.
Is God is speaking to you right now?
What is it God wants you to do?
Do you need to be saved? Step out from where you are and come kneel at the altar. Cry out to God. He will save you. Don’t delay. Behold, NOW is the accepted time and NOW is the day of salvation.
Do you need to get right with God? Don’t delay. Don’t wait for another day. Step out from where you are, and come kneel at an old-fashioned altar and do business with God.
Whatever it is God wants you to do, do it today.
As we sing the first verse of Just As I Am, you come. Don’t wait. You don’t have the promise of tomorrow.
Come…
Over twenty-five years in the ministry, I gave countless public invitations like the one above. The emphasis might have differed from week to week, but the focus was always on NOW, doing what God wants you to do without delay.
Sometimes, I would tell a poignant illustration that I hoped would drive home the importance of making a decision. My philosophy was clear:
- There is a God
- The Bible is truth
- God hates sin
- Salvation is through the merit and work of Jesus Christ
- There is a Hell to shun and a Heaven to gain
- No one has the promise of tomorrow
- Death is certain
- Decisions affecting our eternal destiny should never be put off
The invitation was the point in the service where I (God) brought everything together. It was the climax, the point where God showed his mighty power by saving sinners and calling backsliders back to the faith.
Thousands of people responded to altar calls given by me. I was pretty good at it. I knew what to say, and how to say it. I could read the emotions of those under the sound of my voice, and with a few well-placed words, get them to walk the aisle. What I called conviction back then is what I now call guilt. The Bible is a world-class book for making people feel guilty. And when people feel guilty (under conviction) they are ripe for manipulation.
In one church I pastored for 11 years, we had over 600 public professions of faith. We baptized hundreds of people. Rare was the Sunday when no one came forward during the invitation. (For many years, I gave invitations every time we held a service.)
On those rare weeks when no one stepped out for Jesus, I was often quite depressed. I thought, why didn’t anyone come forward? Maybe my sermon was poorly constructed, or perhaps God was punishing me because of some unconfessed sin in my life? In other words, God might send someone to Hell to get my attention.
The number of people responding to the invitation, like the number of people attending the church, is a measure that pastors use to judge themselves successes or failures. Church members judge the success or failure of their pastor by whether God is using his preaching to save people and reclaim backsliders. They also judge him based on the numeric growth of the church. In many ways, the church is no different from the corporate world, where corporations are judged a success or a failure based on economic output (stock price, revenue increase, increased productivity, bottom line profit).
Every church I ever pastored grew numerically. I was good for business. I knew I had good preaching skills. I knew I had “people” skills, and I was effective in reaching people with the gospel. I expected results. I expected God to work. I expected people to walk the aisle and do business with God. My modality in the church was similar to the manner in which I conducted myself in the business world. Over the years, I managed restaurants for Arthur Teachers, Long John Silvers, and Charley’s Steakery (along with a number of other management-level jobs). As a general manager, I was driven to succeed. Success was measured by net profit (a secular version of souls saved and church attendance growth).
Toward the latter third of my time in the ministry, I came to see that the altar call was a tool used by pastors to manipulate emotions, give the illusion that God’s power was on them, and that God was using them. I have no doubt that many pastors believe their own hype; I know I did. I came to see myself as a man used greatly by God. The proof was in the numbers.
When I stopped giving altar calls, many people responded negatively, and a few people even left the church. In their minds, an old-fashioned, Bible-believing church has altar calls. People should have an opportunity to respond to the sermon. People should have an opportunity to respond to the Holy Ghost’s leading. One former friend, a pastor, told me that he would never attend a church that didn’t give an altar call. Never mind that there is not one instance of an altar call in the Bible. Never mind that the history of the altar call can be traced back to Pelagian Charles Finney. In his mind, a good church was a church that gave altar calls. A church without altar calls was a liberal church that didn’t love souls.
In the 1960s, evangelists such as Billy Graham popularized the altar call and brought it to the TV screen. Many of us remember seeing a Billy Graham Crusade on network TV. Who can forget the altar call, hundreds of people pouring out of the aisles making their way down to the front. What most people did not know is that MANY of the people responding to the invitation were actually Christian altar workers. They helped “prime the pump” with their movement forward, encouraging others to do the same. If you take the first step, God will help you take the rest . . .
When we are part of a group, there is pressure to conform to the group standard. This dynamic is quite evident in church. Individuality is discouraged. Dissent is frowned upon. I see the same problem in the secular world. Most human beings don’t want to stand out from the crowd, so they tend to embrace whatever the group standard is.
Personally, I try to fight such conformity. I will gladly sing the national anthem and recite most of the Pledge of Allegiance, but I’ll be damned if I will bow my head and take off my hat in an act of worship as some knucklehead prays for God to bless the race car drivers or a singer sings God Bless America during the seventh-inning stretch at a baseball game. That said, I have no doubt that I succumb to the group standard more than I care to admit.
Group conformity is not necessarily bad, but we must be careful we do not surrender our ability to reason and think for ourselves. The pressure to conform to a group standard in church often sucks the life, vitality, and joy from a person. When the pastor gives an invitation and scores of people respond, the pressure to do likewise is strong. Being right with God = walking the aisle. Standing in the pew and not walking the aisle = Not right with God.
Many years ago, I attended a Sword of the Lord Conference in the Canton, Ohio area. Curtis Hutson was one of the main speakers. He preached on the family, on fatherhood. At the close of his sermon, he gave an altar call that basically said “If you want to be a better father, you need to come to the altar and profess your willingness to do so.” Hundreds and hundreds of men responded. I didn’t. I thought Hutson was being quite manipulative, so I refused to walk the aisle. Of course, I stood out like a sore thumb. People thought, I am sure, Either that guy thinks he is a better Christian than the rest of us, or he refuses to get right with God. Who doesn’t want to be a better father? Never mind that one prayer at an altar does not a good father make.
Pastors well-schooled in their craft and blessed with the ability to effectively communicate, can, if they are not careful, manipulate people. The altar call is just one of many tools that can be used for manipulation. What pastors call God is actually the pastor and his well-honed communication skills manipulating those listening to his sermon.
A public church service can be a dangerous place. Parents, with nary a thought, allow their children to be influenced by experts in mental and emotional manipulation. Even adults, especially those who have “sin” problems in their lives, are susceptible to manipulation. Adults enter the church building burdened with the cares of life, and the pastor, with his well-chosen words, convinces them to respond to an altar call. Jesus is the answer! Hooked on drugs or booze? Jesus will set you free. Family a mess, headed for divorce court? Jesus will make things right. Come, don’t delay. And people, with lives burdened down by problems and adversity, rush to the altar thinking Jesus will fix everything for them. He doesn’t, and they are worse off than they were before. Why are they worse off? Because they will likely think or be told by the pastor that the lack of change is their fault. They didn’t pray hard enough, or perhaps they had some secret sin they were holding on to. God never gets the blame for failing to do what the pastor said he would do. It is ALWAYS the sinner’s fault, not God’s.
Let me ask you a question. Every head bowed, every eye closed.
Are you saved? Do you remember a definite time and place in your life where you repented of your sins and accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?
If not, raise your hand. No one is looking. This is just between you and God. Raise your hand, I want to pray for you.
I see that hand. And that one. Thank you, Ma’am. Thank you, Sir.
Lord, you see the hands that were raised. Save them, Lord. In Jesus’ name, amen.
In a moment we are going to sing Just as I Am.
If you raised your hand, I want you to step out from your pew and come to the front. Someone will meet you and will share with you what the Bible says about being saved.
Don’t delay.
That’s right, keep coming.
Are there others?
Even if you didn’t raise your hand, is there something you need to confess to God?
Come.
Do it now.
Don’t wait.
Dinner will wait.
Your soul is worth more than all the money in the world.
We are going to sing the last verse one more time. That’s it. Don’t neglect so great a salvation.
God doesn’t promise to always strive with you. One day his Spirit may no longer call and it will be too late for you . . .
Come . . .
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.
My Baptist preacher father was conservative but he did have a nice healthy sense of cynicism. He was a minister for 55 years. He told me once that he wouldn’t have altar calls or decisions on the Sunday morning services when the Minnesota Vikings were playing on TV at noon. Cause he knew that everybody wanted to get home as soon as possible to watch the football game! Hey, Baptists have some priorities, too.
I already did. Once saved, always saved, right?
I have heard all those manipulative altar call phrases so many times. I can recite them all. The feeling of guilt and shame that those phrases instilled is still palpable decades later. I must have gotten “saved” dozens of times as a kid. Youth group, especially youth retreats, led to such emotional altar calls. All those hormonal teens being quilted and shamed, succumbing to peer pressure, was quite a show! Church service altar calls were much more sedate.
You forgot the mournful music in the background..and the Pastor stating that he is being “advised” that there is someone who “wants” to come forward but is afraid- he “feels” like his name is Joe? Maybe John..with a J..if this is you friend please come forward now. And then the story of two friends, one came forward the other didn’t..on the way home a tree fell on their car/tent/house/school bus and both were killed. What a shame that only one is going to heaven..if only that other teenage boy or girl had come up with their friend..no hurry we have all evening/morning/afternoon..Let’s all get our hymnals (oh sorry, I meant let’s look at our latest cool jam Hillsong CCM on the wall behind me) and sing (fill in the blank) over..and over..and over again. I still feel like there is someone who is hesitating…
I remember the first non-evangelical “high church” service I attended- Sunday morning service at the Oxford (Ohio) United Methodist Church. I loved it, the liturgy, the organ and hymns, the structure, the reverence, the formality. I couldn’t go back to manipulative enthusiasm based Yay-Jesus®️Church after that. My first Catholic Mass completed the journey. Not only was there no repetitive fear based altar call, but when I expressed interest in becoming Catholic the response was, “well, you should come to mass some more and decide if you really want to do this. Oh have we mentioned RCIA? Takes about 3-6 months. Then we’ll talk again.” Interestingly, part of confirmation was kneeling in front of an altar.. the difference is by this point I wanted to be there after having had several months to decide.
This is just my own experience. I am not overlooking the bad stuff that all Christian denominations have been a part of. I also get the counter argument that children in Catholic families don’t really get much of a choice until they are older. I was an adult when I converted.
If I had any interest in going back to a church, which I never will, like yourself I would definitely be more interested in one of the formal churches. The “hip” worship bands, the earnest singing of repetitive songs with lyrics that could be written by a 5-year-old, the dramatic preaching and emotional appeals are so manipulative and anti-intellectual. Not that I find any religion intellectual and it’s all weird when you give it more than a second thought, but the nondenominational churches are the most dumbed down places ever.
Thanks Heidi- I agree 100%. Religious belief and also non belief is something personal. It definitely should not be a decision made in haste or out of fear of being the odd person out, or sold in the same manner as a gadget that will only be on sale for today only. Neither belief nor non belief should ever be compelled, either. I have no problem with parents instructing their children in their religion (or no religion), but at some point that person has the right to decide for themself.
I grew up in a Pentecostal church, the Assembly of God, that practiced this same type of altar call. It was very fear based, and in my view very manipulative towards teenagers, young adults and the emotionally vulnerable. These function also served a propaganda purpose, with church bulletins proclaiming “100+ young people were saved/gave their lives to Christ, etc”. In reality, most of these were children of adult parishioners who were just going through the motions so they would fit in with their friends. There was some sincere conversion, but mostly it was just part of the teenage emotional roller coaster. Many of my peers did not stay with this tradition, or with Christianity in general. And as Bruce mentioned in one of his posts awhile back, most adults who came to an altar call through the front door left through the back door after a short period of time.
Years ago, there was a local penty evangelist who held healing campaigns in small towns around us in rural UK. As traditional baptists, we went to one of his meetings which was as you’d expect with the whipping up of emotions through singing and his preaching. He made an altar call to come to the front to get saved. A woman behind me said to her friend who was standing to go forward, ‘Elsie, for goodness sake, what are you doing?’ Elsie replied ‘Going down to the front like he said, I want him to fix my feet.’ He’d barely mentioned healing at that point, just come-to-jesus. From our very superior baptist position, we smiled, secure in the knowledge that altar calls in our church were of the Right Kind, not like the spurious one we were seeing here among these wacky pentecostals and their heathen hearers!
So, what happens if a person is responding to gods leading during and altar call, but suddenly drops dead in the aisle before they get altar, does that mean they are doomed to hell? Or do they get some kind of reasonable accommodation to get to heaven?
Hmm- it might depend on whether they had a “chance” to go up to the altar on a previous occasion..unless it was at the wrong kind of church of course. Then again if they had went up sooner (you know, during the first singing of “Just as I am”) before their heart attack they might have been saved before they died..so their hesitation may very well have cost them eternity.
Since most evangelicals also don’t believe in Purgatory, it’s a good bet that this person would end up in H-E-double hockey sticks.
You know this is a good question. We need someone wise in the ways of science to figure this out for us..I wonder if Dr. Tee can help us out?
Surely you jest.
Hi George- yes definitely I was being facetious. I was agreeing with Sage on the whole absurdity of the one chance only altar call idea. While I myself am currently religious this topic is a little “triggering” for me because it affected me into adulthood. Imagine being constantly bombarded with this stuff – it’s almost like you’re being compelled to make a public confessional act all the time because you may have “backslidden” since your last walk to the altar, especially if everyone around you is going up. And what if I die and I didn’t do the “walk”? Would I end up in hell? Then imagine this along with all the other emotional stuff you get to deal with as a teenager.
That kind of arbitrary procedural God is what triggered my skepticism as much as anything. I could not accept a God so cruel as to condemn souls to eternal suffering just because they failed to color within the lines or follow prescribed protocol. Once one begins to question any of the nonsense, it’s a slippery slope to questioning all of it and agnosticism/atheism becomes the only rational conclusion.
Bruce that quickly drew a lot of comments. You shared a roadmap to indoctrination. Perhaps it’s safe with this audience. I don’t care to control anyone. I am fascinated by hypnotism and I believe that’s what you described. You call it hype and that’s derived from hypnotism (or vice versa?). While hypnosis is not fully understood even by practitioners, there is no reason to question it’s validity and ipower. Some are immune and some are “good subjects” which may define some who avoid indoctrination. Your account describes a hypnotist, (you) becoming one of his own subjects. Psychologist Shad Helmstetter said, be careful what you say because one person listens to every word. (paraphrasing from a great little book; “What To Say When You Talk To Yourself”)
Pressure to conform, fear of leaving the herd, fortunately was never my vulnerability, due (I think) to being a misfit in a misfit family. I didn’t belong and we as a family didn’t belong, so I learned to suspect what “everyone else” thought and did. Being a maverick enabled self direction in spite of pressures. to conform. Individuality was a gift that kept giving.
James Baldwin was a teenage preacher. An experience he describes in at least one of his essays sounds like an altar call. From his descriptions, it—and the church of which he was a part—seem like theater fueled by salesmanship
It’s ironic that many Evangelicals—especially those in politics—espouse a kind of cowboy anarcho-capitalism while manipulating people with the desire to “go with the flow.”
Musical altar calls. Never understood why folks didn’t see that the music was being used to manipulate them down to the front of the church.
But we had worse manipulation at a huge Church of God in Atlanta. The pastor would ask for anybody who got a blessing from the service to raise their hand. Many went hands went up. Then he’d say, “Now, I want everybody who raised their hand to come down to the front.” Then he’d have assistants record so he could show everybody the following week. He would say, “See how many people I saved?”
He did it about once a month, and I always wondered why nobody ever remembered that they were being tricked. After watching him pull it five or six times, I finally started leaning toward people with, “Don’t raise your hand. It’s a bushwhack.” But they never learned and I usually got dirty looks.