Open Letter to Bruce Wilkinson #1.007
Chapter 1 – Welcome to Everyday Miracle Territory
What God thinks is normal
- “What just happened here? Let’s break it down: Jack drove to work that evening to wait tables, but he brought with him a secret, pressing need; I had come to Colorado from Atlanta on business and ended up having dinner with friends in Jack’s restaurant; unbeknown to Jack or my friends, I was prepared to meet someone’s financial need with money that wasn’t mine; by the end of the evening, God had used one person to deliver something that met a big need for another person—and in a way that was clearly miraculous to everyone involved.”
Clearly, you have mistaken what has been understood through the ages as good works wrought by born-again believers (acting as obedient agents of God’s will in their lives) for miracles wrought by anyone (believer or non-believer) who feel “unexpectedly nudged” to help someone else (and follow the nudging).
Bruce, I’m calling you out. You are trying to capitalize on the word, “miracle,” for the sake of your book sales when you and I and everyone else reading this knows that you are talking about “good works.” The Bible calls them two very distinct things, and so we ought to as well.
If you truly desire that your writing would be biblical, I ask you to recant from your position and your misuse of the word, “miracle,” lest a holy God be offended by what you’ve written.
- “You’ll see, I promise, that God is just as likely to have plans for five dollars or twenty dollars as He is for a hundred dollars and that He never asks you or me to serve Him in a way that doesn’t fit us personally and perfectly.”
Really? Let’s think about that for a moment.
How many times throughout the last 20 centuries have true believers suffered for the cause of Christ? How many of saved souls have experienced imprisonment for the true gospel? How many thousand of martyrs have died?
The Bible tells us that real believers will take part in Christ’s suffering. Let’s compare what the apostle Paul writes in 1 Cor. 4:9-13 against your previous statement.
“For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.” (ESV)
“You’ll see, I promise, that God is just as likely to have plans for five dollars or twenty dollars as He is for a hundred dollars and that He never asks you or me to serve Him in a way that doesn’t fit us personally and perfectly.” (Bruce Wilkinson)
Does your claim honestly reflect what Scripture clearly states? Do you really believe that being buffeted, reviled, persecuted, slandered, and executed for Christ “fit” with those past and present-day Christians “personally and perfectly?”
Sounds like you’re writing to comfortable Americans, knowing how much we love our comfort. The truth is that, by shielding people from the real cost of doing God’s will, you’ve watered down the truth of Scripture.
Please omit…and consider recalling this book. If the subject of our writing were in the scientific field, this would be called “intellectually dishonesty.” Since we’re talking about faith-based matters, and you know the content of the Bible much better than most, I’m calling you and your text biblically dishonest.
