A Review of J. B. Hixson’s "Getting the Gospel Wrong: The Evangelical Crisis No One Is Talking About" -- By: Bob Wilkin

Journal: Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society
Volume: JOTGES 21:40 (Spring 2008)
Article: A Review of J. B. Hixson’s "Getting the Gospel Wrong: The Evangelical Crisis No One Is Talking About"
Author: Bob Wilkin


A Review of J. B. Hixson’s
Getting the Gospel Wrong:
The Evangelical Crisis No One Is Talking About
1

Bob Wilkin

I. Introduction

I’ve known J. B. Hixson since his early days as a seminary student at Dallas Theological Seminary. We’ve been friends for a long time.

Hixson is the Executive Director of the Free Grace Alliance (FGA), which he promotes at the end of the book (p. 405).

Slightly more than half of the endorsers are members of the FGA. More tellingly, five of the seven members of the FGA Executive Council are endorsers,2 including President Charlie Bing, President Elect Fred Chay, Vice President Fred Lybrand, Treasurer Phil Congdon, and Member-at-Large Larry Moyer.3 In addition, the Founding President Emeritus of the FGA, Dr. Earl Radmacher, is the lead endorser who wrote the foreword to the book. (However, Dr. Radmacher asked me to mention in my review that the version of the book he endorsed did not contain the four-page endnote on pages 152–55 which is highly critical of Zane Hodges, me, and GES.) While the FGA is not the publisher, it appears that this is a book which the FGA heartily endorses.

This work is Hixson’s doctoral dissertation. He completed his doctorate in 2007 at Baptist Bible Seminary in Clarks Summit, PA. While

there is some new material added (e.g., endnote 19 on pp. 152-55) most of the material is word for word what he wrote in his dissertation.

Though the book is written by a long-time friend, and though it represents the view of an organization that calls itself Free Grace, this book is a direct assault on GES and its view that all who simply believe in the Lord Jesus Christ have eternal life that can never be lost.4 It is, however, a very poorly devised attack as we shall soon see.

II. Strengths of Getting the Gospel Wrong:
Hixson’s Five5 False Gospels

Hixson is not afraid to take on some of the biggest names in evangelicalism today, including Billy Graham, Rick Warren, Joel Osteen, T. D. Jakes, and Brian McLaren. He is to be commended for giving examples from leading Evangelicals of the false gospels he confronts.

Most JOTGES readers will find themselves in agreement with his discussion of “The Purpose Gospel” (pp. 195-222), “The Puzzling Gospel” (pp. 223-52), “The Prosperity Gospel...

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