Events R us

I think back about a time I visited my parents church and they were having a big event; some type of strong man event. I noticed some things as soon as I walked to the door. First thing, at the door they had "Recomended Donations" for tickets in. I always had a problem with people charging to get into church. They weren't really charging this time, but it seemed to be pretty much the same thing. What is the difference between charging and saying if you don't have the money you can get in free? On one hand they are charging people on the other hand they are embarrassing people into actually giving the fee. Anyway, lets get past that for a moment. I get in there the church is crowded. Almost, but not quite, standing room only. Probably 500 or more people that night alone were there. When we get in there, they tell us, hold on to your ticket we will have a drawing at the end of the night. Okay, well, I have no problems with raffles, but my parents' church is southern baptist and they are against raffles. This, however, was not a raffle, but a drawing because people were not paying for a chance to win. They just get a chance to win by entering into the place after most of them paid. (huh?) The evening goes on. They do a lot of stunts such as breaking bricks, bending frying pans etc. After that, they pass out donation cards to everyone and give a speech about how much they need money. Back to the event of the evening. Lots of fire breaks and tricks and then another donation card and another speech on how much they need money. Next short (under 15 minutes) of testimonies (amazing testimonies) then another plea for money followed by another short testimony session and then something interesting..... "Alright everyone we all gave our life to Christ do any of you want to do the same, close your eyes and say this prayer if you have not". "Okay, if you haven't said the prayer come on up." (Some come up.) (Apparently not enough.) "Okay, I want everyone to say the prayer out loud whether you have said it before or not". "Everyone say this...." (Most do.) "Now, I want everyone to turn to the person to the left and to the right of you. Ask that person standing to the left and to the right if they have said that prayer for the first time and if they say they have help them down." (Many do.) HUGE crowd down at the front now. Everyone is applauding. That weekend, there were over 200 people who "came to the Lord" I talked to the pastor a while later. Anyone want to guess how many people went through with their decision? A couple months later, they had NO changed lives. No new members. No one showing any signs anything has happened! Why would that be? Over 200 came forward. What was missing? Anything of God was missing. I am reading a book called, "The Cost of Discipleship." It is an amazing book. Some many times today we offer people "Cheap Grace." We tell them they do not need anything to come to Christ. They can continue their lives just as they were before. They need to do nothing but walk up to the front of the church. NO COST! Lets add all this stuff to get people to say they love Christ. Then our job is done. NO! Following Christ does NOT come without cost. We need to stop telling people they can get the "Free Gift" of salvation. It is true, they can, but that is something that only makes since if you are already a follower. Martin Luther said something along the lines of "I sin boldly." Does that mean we should sin? No. After accepting Christ, he has cleaned sin out of his life a much as he could and he continued to seek God to take sin out of his life. He meant that, knowing he would fail again, he could be bold in the knowledge that he is forgiven. If you told an unsaved person to "Sin boldly" they would just sin all they want and continue in their rebellion against God. Things mean different things when someone knows Christ than it does when they do not know Christ. We need to stop telling people Christ's sacrifice is a "Free Gift" because to the unsaved, a "Free Gift" requires no sacrifice. If someone gave me a gift for my birthday, I would expect to have to do NOTHING AT ALL after receiving it. I would take the birthday gift and not change my life because of it at all. This is how we are presenting the gospel to the unsaved when we tell them that. Is that salvation at all? Is that how God works? If it is not, how dare we make people think that and give them the false impression that they are fine now and need nothing more.