A Non-Free Gracer Reviews Bob Wilkins’s Scavenger Hunt

Dear Guests:

There are a great many men outside the Free Grace community who see the same errors that those of us in the Free Grace community recognize in the Grace Evangelical Society's Crossless gospel. Below I am posting one man’s review of Wilkins's Scavenger Hunt Salvation Without a List. The writer is blunt, but bases his review on the article by Bob Wilkin.

I know that this has been mentioned before, but Saturday I got the latest copy of the Grace Evangelical Society’s Grace In Focus news letter. While it is not news to me that Bob Wilkin is a heretic, the boldness of his heresy is shocking. In an article he titled “Scavenger Hunt Salvation Without a List,” Dr. Wilkin states:

“To be born again, eternally saved, all one needs to do is believe that Jesus Christ guarantees everlasting life to all who simply believe in Him for it..(passage list)..What about the virgin birth, the Trinity, Jesus’ bodily resurrection, Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances, Jesus’' substitutionary death on the cross, Jesus’ sinless life, Jesus’ miracles, the indwelling ministry of the Holy Spirit, the convicting work of the Holy Spirit, the hypostatic union, and on son? Knowing these things certainly makes it easier to believe in Jesus for eternal life. But does it follow that we must believe these things to be saved? No.”

While most of us would agree that one does not have to understand the hypostatic union, the theology of the Trinity, or things like that to be saved, it does not follow that such things can be rejected and a person still be saved. Bob Wilkin has set up a straw man by defending his position by asserting that, “the apostles didn't believe these things when they were born again.” Some of the things Wilkin is referring to were not yet revealed when the Apostles were saved. Yet, once those things were revealed, the Apostles believed them. To assert that a person can deny those things and still be saved is error. At salvation a person may not have a full grasp of those things, but a person who is truly coming to faith in Christ will not deny them (2 John 9).

Now, we come to the biggest error of all. In his article, as seen in the above quote, Bob Wilkin denies that a person must believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus in order to be saved. He asserts that such belief is helpful, but not necessary. My friend, may I say up front, that his statement is nothing shy of soul damning heresy! The Bible is clear that in order to be saved we must, “believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead,” (Rom 10:9). In fact, when the Apostle Paul is defining the Gospel that saves he includes the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ:

“Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures,” (1 Cor. 15:1-4).

Bob Wilkin is stripping the Gospel of its very heart by denying that a person must believe in Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection in order to be saved. In fact, the Apostle goes on to chastise some of the Corinthians for not believing those things (1Cor 15:12-19). The results of denying the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus are tragic (we are still in our sins, we are false witnesses of God, our faith is worthless, we will perish, etc). In fact Paul stated earlier that we are only saved if we, “hold fast” the Gospel he preached (1Cor 15:2). Therefore the people Bob Wilkin is “winning to the Lord” apart from the message that Paul preached are lost in their sins. Apart from faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord from the dead there is no salvation.

I want everyone here to know that, as of this point, I consider the Grace Evangelical Society to be heretical and under the condemnation of God (Gal 1:6-10). In this group I put Bob Wilkin, Zane Hodges, and others who teach their blasphemous heresy. I pray that the rise Lord would open their eyes, and the eyes of their followers, *before their error costs them their eternal souls.


*I asked the author about the last line in his review. My question was: Are you suggesting these men, who I believe are born again, could lose their salvation over this error? His reply, “As for whether I believe people can lose their salvation, I don't. I am a strong believer in the doctrine of the eternal security of the believer. It is my understanding that Gal. 1:6-9 refers to false teachers and not true Christians.”