We welcome you now to a true church perspective with Pastor G. Craig Lewis.

Altar calls originated in the 19th century from the ancient seat idea.

What was the anxious seat idea?

Certain clergy strongly believe that confession of sin and the conversion of sinners should be public and enshrouded in grandiose praise

in order to draw more converts. So they believe that when a person accepted Christ, it should be done

in public so that when people see it, they can rejoice like the angels, make a lot of, you know,

noise over it and everyone just kind of enshrouded in grandiose praise.

And when people would see that, it would make them ask questions, oh, what's going on over there?

Or what happened?

It would make them, it would spark their interest in the process.

And they believe that would cause people or more people to come,

okay, because they would be attracted by all the fanfare.

Public fanfare was promised to lure more sinners to Christ and thus enlarge the church.

So they felt like it would grow to church if people saw how great the praise was, people that were down and out would want that.

They would want people clapping for them and that kind of thing.

And so they felt like people would begin to follow that.

Second Corinthians 4 and 16, for which cause we fight not.

But though our outward man perish, look at somebody say, the outward man perish.

Parishes.

The outward man will perish.

The outward man will perish.

That's why God is not caught up in the outward man.

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