In Acts chapter 9 Paul was struck blind when he met the Lord on the
road to
Damascus
.
The Lord told Paul to “Arise and go into the city and you will be
told what you must do” (Acts
9:6).
Then we read “But they let him by the hand and brought him into
Damascus
.
And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank” (Acts
9:8-9).
The Lord sent a man, named Ananias, to tell Paul what
he must do.
The Lord told Ananias to “Arise and go to the street called Straight
and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold,
he is praying” (Acts 9:11).
Paul had been praying but he did not receive forgiveness of his sins
through praying, because he was told by Ananias “And now why are you
waiting?
Arise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on the name of
the Lord” (Acts 22:16).
Paul did not receive forgiveness of his sins through prayer because he
still had all his sins and was told to “Arise and be baptized and wash away
your sins”.
Today men have come up with the idea of the “sinner’s prayer”.
The “sinner’s prayer” is a ploy of Satan to cause many people to
be lost by not obeying what the Lord says that we must do in order to have our
sins forgiven and be saved.
Satan knows people are not saved by saying the “sinner’s prayer”,
but he knows that “they all might be damned who believed not the truth” (2
Thessalonians 2:12).
The “sinner’s prayer” if foreign to the Bible.
Paul was not told to pray the “sinner’s prayer”, but to “Arise
and be baptized and wash away your sins”.
Why wasn’t Paul’s sins forgiven by his praying before he was
baptized?
Paul’s sins were not washed away until after he was baptized.