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Free Grace
Digest
A Ministry of Free Grace
Seminary
Dr.
Michael D.
Halsey, Editor
Vol. 1, No. 1
January-April 2009
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Review of J. B. Hixson’s
Book
Getting the
Gospel Wrong:
The Evangelical Crisis No One Is
Talking About
By Butch
Entrekin
In this
postmodern world, maybe more
than any other time in
history, the church has a
responsibility to
communicate a clear and
understandable gospel. J.
B. Hixson’s book addresses
this concern in a culture
where feelings and
perception override truth
and reality. He shows that
evangelical attempts to
reach the postmodern world
have developed gospels that
are no more than new forms
of humanism. The book
exposes errors in the
postmodern gospel, and it
reveals the problems
associated with sloppy and
misleading gospel
presentations.
The title
itself is intriguing. There
is no evidence that the book
is Hixson’s response to
R. C. Sproul’s book
Getting the Gospel Right.
Sproul’s book (published
in 1999) is a criticism of
the modern movement to
reunify
Protestantism and
Catholicism. Sproul, a
Calvinist, defends
the faith alone mantra, but
is questionable in his
description of what this
required for eternal life.
“Getting the
Gospel Wrong” is much more
than an academic treatise on
faulty soteriology. The
book develops a compelling
argument against the
postmodern influence on the
gospel, while relating
practical and effective ways
to accurately communicate
the gospel in a postmodern
environment.
Dr. Hixson
pulls no punches in his
criticism of many who
dilute, confuse, or change
the gospel. He challenges
the message being preached
by some of the most
prominent evangelicals
today, and cites examples of
confusing, contradictory,
and even blatantly erroneous
gospel presentations. The
purpose of the book is not
to disparage these
individuals, but to bring to
light what is being
presented as the gospel
today.
The book
begins by using sound
biblical exegesis to
define how man receives
eternal life. It
establishes the biblical
standard for the gospel by
breaking down each component
of saving faith. He
explains from both an
intellectual and a personal
perspective, leaving no
doubt as to what is
necessary for someone to be
saved. He addresses
everything from the
definition of faith (the one
requirement for sinful man
to receive eternal life) to
the significance of Christ’s
sacrificial death (God’s
provision that paid for all
sin). The chapter on
What is the Pure Gospel
is well over one hundred
pages in length, and it
alone serves as a complete
reference on soteriology.
Having
clearly related the biblical
gospel, the book turns its
focus to the subject of the
title. Hixson examines five
faulty gospels that permeate
the postmodern American
culture, and explains the
error of each along with
examples and case studies.
These five do not constitute
a complete examination of
all the inaccurate gospels
being preached today, but
they do reveal the diversity
and confusion found in
postmodern ecclesiology.
They also reveal the
divergence of many
evangelicals from the
biblical gospel.
I recommend
this book as both a guide to
biblical soteriology, and as
an exhortation for the
church to communicate a
precise and understandable
gospel. It will open the
eyes of many who do not
realize the influence that
postmodernism has had on the
church.
Dr. Hixson is
calling Christians to wake
up and return to the
biblical gospel. It is the
only one that can save.
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