In this manner pray: Our Father in heaven...

[countmeworthy]

Originally Posted by Boxjobox

Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:21-24 NKJV) Jesus told us his words were not his own, but what he received from the Father, and as his disciples we are to keep his words. For WL to set up the "oh Lord Jesus" prayers was either the act of the deputy authority or the act of an upstart. Methinks it was the latter! Throughout the NT the writers emphasize the worship and prayers to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus. To substitute this with the " oh Lord Jesus" praying was to totally disrespect the work of Christ, which was to bring us back to fellowship with our Father God, and to greatly disrespect the heart of God. It also shows the ineptness of the elders, who should have protected us from such a system of error, but instead, cared for the speaking of a man more than God. It also shows our gullibility to group mentality and man's teachings over the authority of the scripture. The "all inclusive Christ" indoctrination blinded us from what God our Father is seeking!

I hear ya and get you. Not defending Lee whatsoever, just want to remind us all, Jesus did say in HIS OWN WORDS: I am the Way, the Truth and the Life and no one comes to the Father but BY ME.

From my own personal experience: A few months before I got saved, I was seeking and was being visited by God the Holy Spirit. I did not know this of course. But as I began writing a 'Dear God' letter, I heard a still Small VOICE tell me to call on / pray to Jesus. I thought to myself, why should I go through a 'middle man' to get to GOD. NOPE! I decided to cut out the Middle Man, Jesus, and cried to Almighty God to rescue me.

Had I prayed to Jesus, who knows? I might have been rescued a lot earlier! Still God did not force Himself on me and patiently waited until I was 'ready'.

That said, yeah the mantra 'O Lord Jesus' has become a vain, repetitious broken record. There is no Love in calling His Name in such a manner. There is no change in people's lives after chanting "O Lord Jesus" over and over and over again..and if they are not chanting "O Lord Jesus", they are chanting "O LORD"...

May God have Mercy on them as He had Mercy on us and helped us to escape the LC clutches.