How the Aftermeeting
Relates to the
Heresy of Decisional Regeneration

New Light Calvinist ministers like Asahel Nettleton, D. L. Moody and Charles Spurgeon used aftermeetings to examine penitents for evidence of regeneration.

Before the American Civil War, all third generation New Light Calvinists used the BEST (Biblical Evidence of Salvation Test) method in aftermeetings, private visits and in some churches, an Inquiry Room. Third generation New Light Calvinists like Asahel Nettleton examined seekers for "disinterested benevolence" as the initial evidence of regeneration as described by Bennet Tyler:

"Meetings became crowded and deeply solemn, and many obtained hope in Christ. He conversed individually with the anxious, and met at certain times at his boarding place, all who were disposed to be conversed with, on the state of the heart, and the salvation of the soul”.

All through the 1800's, the aftermeeting was used successfully by all New Light Calvinists, including Charles Spurgeon, who told ministers: “set apart an evening in which yourself, with the Elders, should meet all those in your congregation who are as yet undecided, but seekers after salvation. The object of this meeting would be for special exhortation and prayer with these friends, urging them to immediate decision for Christ. …. That with a view of gathering in the fruit which I believe such a course of proceedings as is now suggested would certainly produce, the Elders should be appointed to see enquirers after every one of the services, both on Lord's-days and week-days."

"No one can calculate the personal influence of a beloved minister when he comes side by side with a seeker and pleads with him alone. … Ministers who hold no such meetings, and give no opportunity for private discourse, are surely unaware of their duty, or ignorant; of their power".

"Each evening there would be a meeting at which he would speak upon the discouragements and encouragements of seekers, and any of the elders who felt moved to do so would exhort. …The number was too great for us to see all privately one by one, so we had to appoint another season to see many of them, In the evening there were more than two hundred and fifty seekers present, and they were seekers indeed. We spoke to them for an hour of their discouragements, and it was a delightful duty, for they were all eye, and ear, and heart".

Spurgeon used students in aftermeetings: "Many of the students had the great privilege of leading individuals to Jesus by personal conversation, and nothing can better conduce to joyful encouragement than such blessed success. To be in union with a living church is a great part if a young minister's training, and to be actually engaged with enquirers is a splendid preparation for after service."

The BIST system was an abomination. But don't throw out the baby with the bathwater. Charles Spurgeon worked with D. L. Moody. Like Moody, Spurgeon used aftermeetings and the Inquiry Room to examine seekers who wanted to be saved. Like all New Light Calvinists in 1875, they asked sinners to immediately "REPENT!" and make a decision for Christ, BUT THEY NEVER TOLD PEOPLE THEY WERE SAVED BECAUSE ON ANYTHING THEY DID! They used the BEST system: they examined seekers for evidence of supernatural regeneration and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and counselled them as led by the Holy Spirit.

They used the BEST system with most seekers, NOT the BIST system, which is an abomination if used with most seekers! The BIST system should only be used is if the counsellor believes, because of Biblical evidence, the inquirer is saved, and the saint just needs assurance of his salvation.

Spurgeon wrote, "tens of thousands have of late gathered to hear our beloved brethren, Messrs. Moody and Sankey...Hundreds of preachers are needed for crowded cities and benighted villages; our own land needs nothing so much as earnest heralds of the gospel, and America feels the same lack...We cannot too earnestly express our intense sympathy with the blessed work which our American brethren have been privileged to carry on…I did something to help my brethren, Moody and Sankey, but not a tenth of what it was in my heart to have done".

Spurgeon always used the aftermeeting and Inquiry Room.

March 1881: Spurgeon makes a clear distinction between inquirers and inquirers that are born again:
"At the close there were many enquirers, and the hearts of all Christian workers present were made to rejoice, as they had good evidence that many were being ‘ born again.’ “The total number of enquirers who have come forward is about two hundred; but we believe even this only represents a small proportion of the good accomplished."

August 1881: Spurgeon encourages ministers to prepare for results when they preach by providing an inquiry room:
"You must also have faith in God in the form of expectancy...expecting the blessing, they provide an enquiry-room, and persons to look after the converts. Shall we commence farming and provide no barn? In many a village the Lord has saved souls under the preaching of the gospel, but the minister has never said, “I shall be in the vestry on such and such an evening to see enquirers,” or, “I shall stop after the sermon to talk with the anxious.” He has never given the people a chance of telling what the Lord has done for them, and if he should hear that a dozen people have been convinced of sin, he would be surprised, and fear that they were hypocrites. We have not so learned Christ. We look to take fish in our nets, and to reap harvests in our fields. Is it so with you, my brethren? Let it be more so".

For more on the use of aftermeetings and the inquiry room, go to The Enquiry Room by George Soltau.

It doesn't matter if you're Arminian or Calvinist or Restorationist...you can prevent false conversions. The problem isn't telling people to immediately repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ...the problem is telling people they're saved because of something they've done. Faithful Evangelical ministers examine seekers for Biblical evidence of supernatural regeneration and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Here are five evidences God has saved you.

1) You are Obedient to God's Word
2) You have Power Over Sin
3) You are Led of the Holy Spirit
4) You Bear Fruit of the Holy Spirit
5) You Love God's Word and God's People

It's impossible to force or bribe God to save you, but a necessary result of God saving you is you'll bear good fruit. Whenever God supernaturally regenerates a heart and fills someone with the Holy Spirit, he will want to please God with a life of faith, working through love (Galatians 5:6). If you think you are saved, look for Biblical evidence.