■ (1) Bruce Wilkinson changes grace into a license for immorality. Note how influential Bruce Wilkinson distorts God's word:
Sometimes our Father has to shout. He takes long-term sin very seriously, and He will act. The consequences are more drastic than most Christians understand. Paul said that unconfessed and unrepented sin in the Corinthian church had cast an alarming pall over that little community.Members were living openly in grievous sins, yet sharing at the Lord's Table as if nothing were wrong. Paul said that their acts brought judgment to themselves and others. “That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died,” he wrote (I Corinthians 11:30, NLT).
Did you get that? Because of continuing sin among believers, many were weak, many more were ill, and some had already died! (Secrets of The Vine, 2001 edition, pp. 48,49, emphasis mine)
Bruce Wilkinson misuses 1 Cor. 11:30 for his license for immorality view of continuing, unconfessed, unrepented and grievous sin among believers. Like many other eternal security teachers he misunderstands 1 Cor. 11:30 to the spiritual harm of his readers. The immediate context of that Scripture is clear and destroys the license for sin interpretation Bruce Wilkinson gives:
Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world. So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for each other. If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment. And when I come I will give further directions. (1 Cor 11:27-34)
The grace changers impugn and smear the Corinthians (and the Apostle Paul) in their effort to declare that Christians are “sinners” and will remain such regardless how wickedly they sin. According to their dangerous depiction of a Christian, the redeemed sin all the time. That is the message the enemy of your SOUL—the devil, wants you to believe!
In that same book, Bruce Wilkinson gives a strange and twisted interpretation of John 15:2 and John 15:6. First, this is what those verses really say directly from the Bible. The simple truth is evident:
He cuts off every branch IN ME that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. (John 15:2)
If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. (John 15:6)
Rejecting the clarity and force of those verses, Bruce Wilkinson wants us to believe something lethally different. Bruce Wilkinson wrote:
Therefore, when some Bibles render the word as “takes away” or “cut off” in John 15, it is an unfortunate translation rather than a clear translation. “Lifts up” suggest an image of a vinedresser leaning over to lift up a branch. (ibid., p. 33, emphasis mine)
Jesus goes on to say, “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned” (v.6). These words sound catastrophic, but Jesus isn't threatening a barren branch with hell.... Jesus is making a dramatic point. If we are not abiding, we wither and die and become of no spiritual use. (ibid. p. 98, emphasis mine)
Bruce Wilkinson, in keeping with THE HERESY of once saved always saved, wants us to believe a fruitless branch does NOT get cut off by the vinedresser and does NOT get thrown in the fire (referring to hell). Instead, Bruce Wilkinson teaches that the fruitless Christian gets “lifted up” and merely remains of no spiritual use. Grace changers, like Bruce Wilkinson, are always making allowances for sin and are ever-ready to distort the Scriptures to do so. Bruce Wilkinson has little or no concept of the believe meaning, as needed for salvation!
Especially destructive to Bruce Wilkinson's interpretation are the following three other times Jesus similarly taught as he did in John 15:1-8 about spiritual fruit. Bruce Wilkinson is clearly wrong and misleading his readers:
What Is The Mark Of The Beast
Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. (Mat 7:19)
Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?' ‘Sir,' the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.'” (Luke 13:6-9)
Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability.... After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them....Then the man who had received the one talent came. “Master,” he said, “I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.” His master replied, “You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Mat 25:14-30)[**NOTE: To be thrown where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth is be in the fiery furnace (Mt. 13:41,42).]
Bringing forth fruit is a salvation issue and nothing less. To continue to have life and to avoid hell fire, spiritual fruit must be produced. Do NOT be deceived. It is fruit or fire.
■ (2) Bruce Wilkinson is also deserving of the Skull and Crossbones Award for his false idea about miracles. His book on miracles, entitled You Were Born For This, is described from Wilkinson's homepage. Part of that description by Wilkinson himself states the following:
...God's the only one that can do miracles...
That is a dangerously false statement. While it is true that God does perform miracles, the devil can also perform miracles, signs, wonders, dreams, visions, feelings, etc. For the details on this please read this about miracles.
The way to detect the devil's miracles (from God's) is: the doctrine associated with them will not be Biblical. For example: The miracles of the Sun at Fatima promote a trust and reliance in the mythical Catholic mother of God and draws attention away from the Lord Jesus. At Fatima the personage who is supposed to be our Lady of Fatima claims she herself is “the way” to God in contrast to John 14:6, which correctly points us to Jesus. It is very dangerous to teach only God can perform miracles, as Bruce Wilkinson does. This is especially true since there will be a major outbreak of miracles when the antichrist comes to the forefront:
Please consider getting our 801 page book refuting eternal security entitled, The Believer's Conditional Security. There is MUCH in it that can help you better understand salvation. This book is the most exhaustive and comprehensive refutation to eternal security ever written. After we receive your order, it will be promptly sent off and with FREE related materials.
Remember, Bruce Wilkinson is a DANGEROUS false teacher though he is popular.
OTHER TOPICS:
Skull And Crossbones Awards For False Prophets And False TeachersThe coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. (2 Thess 2:9,10)
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