William Lobdell, a Times staff writer, responded to a false Gospel presentation by asking Jesus into his heart at a weekend mountain retreat. Here’s what he wrote:

At the climactic service Sunday, Mike Barris, a pastor-to-be, delivered an old-fashioned altar call. He said we needed to let Jesus into our hearts.

With my eyes closed in prayer, I saw my heart slowly opening in two and then being infused with a warm, glowing light. A tingle spread across my chest. This, I thought, was what it was to be born again.

The pastor asked those who wanted to accept Jesus to raise their hands.
My hand pretty much levitated on its own. My new friends in Christ, many of whom I had first met Friday, gave me hugs and slaps on the back.

Unfortunately, because he never repented and trusted fully in the Savior he fell away after witnessing the scandals in church organizations. Disillusioned, he came to this conclusion: “…I considered another possibility: Maybe God didn’t exist.”

This man was not a backslider. He never slid forward in the first place.
Read the article here.
Read “The 10 Reasons Not to Ask Jesus Into Your Heart” here.