Today we see more and more pastors telling those who are lost to say a simple prayer to get born again. But a simple prayer doesn’t align with scripture. For instance, when Jonah went to Nineveh and preached what God told him, the people responded differently than what we see in our society today. The Scriptures in Jonah 2:5,6 read;

So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes.

Why is that?

Because the people believed God. They chose to humble themselves in sorrow by fasting, putting on sackcloth, crying out to God and turning from their evil way and violence.

But as you look at the world today very few pastors actually preach God’s truth. Some preach a form of it, some totally twist scriptures while others flat out deny it. Then they want you to recite a prayer to get born again.

Our culture today refuses to acknowledge God and His only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. These are those who have no respect and have no fear of God. What you end up with is a  world that looks exactly as the one we live in.

For true repentance, one must exhibit sorrow for the things they’ve done in their past. This usually involves crying out to the Lord Jesus and telling Him you’re sorry for going against God’s Ways and against His teachings.

When one truly repents they humble themselves, get on their knees and cry to the Lord Jesus. Your mind will take you on a journey and you’ll remember things you long forgotten. Sexual immorality, lies you told, things you’ve stolen, cursing, adultery, putting your work, your family, or material possessions above God. Then you’ll go through the emotions, anger, hate, arrogance, pride, jealousy, vanity, lust, impure thoughts and unforgiveness.

You see, when one repents it’s truly from the heart, you feel broken inside over the things you’ve done. By reciting a simple prayer created by someone else it lacks the kind of emotions God is looking for. Because true repentance displays sorrow, regret and shame over ones past. It also ushers in respect and fear of God which many Christians and  Atheist seem to lack in today’s world.