Asking Jesus into your heart is not Biblical

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Praying to receive Christ or asking Jesus into your heart as a way to be saved is a relatively recent development in the history of the Apostacy (great falling away 2Thess. 2:3). It arose with the rise of Revivalism around the turn of the 20th century. Emotionally based preaching began to move away from the presentation of faith in the historic act of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the basis of the assurance of salvation to other "evidences" such as crying out in prayer until a feeling of peace would come upon the seeker. We knew an old man in Kentucky who went to a revival after years of living without claiming faith in Christ. After the preaching he went forward during the "altar call" and began to try to "pray through" After a long while of agonizing at this with others around him also praying he got up and went home without a peace of knowing he was accepted in Christ. We visited him later to show from the Scriptures that his feelings were not the basis of his acceptance but his faith in the finished work of Jesus on the cross and in His resurrection. God said it, I believe it, that settles it. Other forms of this approach  made it a lot easier by having the seeker simply pray a model prayer asking Jesus to come into his heart. Many tracts of this type make no mention of the true Gospel of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. It truely has become a false gospel based on works. Praying, like giving is a work. This formula also puts Jesus Christ in the role of having to be the one to respond rather than the sinner having to respond in faith believing the Gospel. People can be led into a false assurance that could keep them from true salvation. People say something like,"I know I'm saved because on a certain date I asked Jesus to come into my heart." The emphasis being on what the person did and not on what Jesus did historically.