Paul Washer is a Reformed Baptist. He's really against the idea that someone is saved just by repeating the so-called sinner's prayer, which has also been a concern of mine for a long time. Paul Washer was a missionary to South America for a long time. He preached a 'Shocking Youth Message' on Youtube that got a lot of hits. His videos now get a lot of hits and many of those who are into this new Calvinist movement seem to like him. For a Baptist, he has a very 'holiness' emphasis, addressing topics like watching TV and going to the movies, dresing provocatively, not with a list of rules, but by addressing issues as they relate to the heart attitude. He's a very intense preacher.One of the themes of his preaching has to do with salvation and how the understanding of salvation has become distored in modern evangelicalism. He gave an example of evangelizing a man who'd worked on a ranch who was dying, how he spent a great deal of time with the man as the man would study the Bible and meet with him. Finally, the man read one of the verses about salvation and understood and believed. This is in contrast with having people quickly repeat a prayer. He has expressed a preference for what we might call praying through to salvation. Theologically, he is very much into Calvinism. He preached a sermon encouraging his audience not to downplay the importance of the work of the Holy Spirit in people's lives. He told of an experience of prayer after he became a believer where he believed he was filled with the Holy Spirit, but didn't speak in tongues. The way he said tongues sounded very negative, as if he had a problem with it, IMO. Around the time of the Strange Fire conference, someone posted on a blog that Washer had answered someone's question by saying that he was a cessationist. Driscoll and Piper are continuationists. Driscoll had told of having visions. Washer said he was a cessationist. But he has non-cessationist testimonies. If I recall his testimony of how he got saved, he used to work out in college. A smaller guy knocked on his door at 1 or 1:30 AM and spoke to him. He'd been saying to himself, I am so miserable, while holding a bottle of nonlethal pills, thinking about the idea of having some lethal pills.Then this short, shaking Christian Freshman knocked on his door and told him Washer would probably beat him up, but he had to tell him something, that he was afraid of him, but was more afraid of God, and told him to tell Washer that he told him, You are miserable and you are going to keep being miserable until you surrender your life to Jesus Christ.He had a long conversation with the young man, started reading the Bible, talking with people about Jesus, until one day he turned down an invitation to go to a party and said outloud to his classmates that he wasn't going because he was a Christian now and was going to follow Jesus Christ.youtu.be/Tms4NuPVNpo?t=242He also has a testimony about a man who met him in a suit shop who knew he was going to be a preacher. I do enjoy his preaching. I don't agree with him on everything. I think its good he's getting some Baptists and other evangelicals to question some thoughtless approaches to evangelism and issues related to Holiness. He also is involved in a missions organization that sponsors local ministers in other countries
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