Over the past few years, I'd heard the name of Andrew Wommack (pictured above), though I never took the time to check him out. So, when I recently came across a YouTube video titled, "Grace Vs. the Law" (here), the "Vs." (versus) in that title provoked me to watch that video. By the time I had listened to twenty-minutes of that hour and forty-five minute long video, it was crystal clear that Wommack was saying that obedience to the Law of God is not only displeasing to the Lord but, furthermore, those who strive to obey the Ten Commandments thus bring upon themselves damnation.
The devil loves that kind of preaching. So, too, do those who want to think they are heaven-bound "Christians," all the while they continue to pleasure themselves in sin.
Let's begin with the quotation which appears in the above image, whereby Wommack (reportedly) suggests that God is no less willing to "heal" an adulterer than he is willing to "save" an adulterer. By contrasting those two words, heal and save respectively, it is evident that Wommack means that God is just as willing to minister physical healing to someone who still IS an adulterer, as God is willing to "save" (spiritually) someone who once WAS an adulterer.
In the first place, no adulterer may be "saved" who continues to be an adulterer. Only those who first repent of their sins may then be forgiven of those sins, and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Therefore, it is NOT true that God is willing to "save" an "adulterer." God is willing to save those who repent of sin and, in the example at hand, CEASE from being an adulterer. God doesn't save adulterers; He saves ex-adulterers. Thus, the foundation of Wommack's deception is exposed as a lie.
Wommack then wants us to believe that God is willing to minister physical healing to unrepentant sinners. And why not? For, in Wommack's mind, if God will "save" unrepentant sinners (i.e., adulterers), why would God not physically heal them?
Wommack's great error, however, is, that he evidently does not understand the relationship of repentance to mercy:
"He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy." (Proverbs 28:13)
If Wommack does not understand the relationship of repentance to mercy, how then can he understand the relationship of law to grace? Wommack's quotation, with which I have thus far been dealing, is not really so much about the question of divine (physical) healing, as it really is about the nature and conditions of God's grace.
I don't mean to belabor the point. But the implications of Wommack's subtly twisted argument, are far more profound than may at first appear. His argument actually comes around full circle to imply that one can both be "saved" and "healed" while continuing to commit adultery (or any other sin, for that matter). It is beyond dispute that Wommack means to assert that the sin of adultery stands as no obstacle to receive physical healing from the Lord. God is willing to heal adulterers, Wommack says. Wommack moreover equates healing of the body, with healing of the spirit: where he insists that "if God would save an adulterer, then He would heal one." Thus, if God will heal (physically) an unrepentant adulterer, then ~ in keeping with Wommack's false equation, God will also grant eternal life to the unrepentant adulterer.
Now, some (who are not careful thinkers) may object that I am twisting the meaning of Wommack's words. But that is far from the case. Nevertheless, those ~ who rightly understand the meaning of Scripture, and who then will take the time to listen to at least the first 20-30 minutes of Wommack's teaching video, for which I provided a link (above), should thus be able to discern that I have neither misrepresented nor misconstrued Wommack's meaning.
Andrew Wommack explicitly argues that Christians have no duty to obey the Law of God, because, Christians are "under grace," and not under the Law. But that is diametrically opposed to the actual teaching of Scripture.
The Bible does say, that by the works or the deeds of the law "shall no flesh be justified" (Romans 3:20; Galatians 2:16). But that is NOT to say that no flesh is under any obligation to obey God's laws! In fact, everyone, every where, and at all times ~ is duty bound to obey the laws of God. In 1John 3:4, it is stated that "sin is the transgression of the law." Every sin that is committed is a violation of the Law of God. If it were true ~ as many professing Christians wrongly believe it is ~ that the Law of God has been done away with and, therefore, there is no more "law," then, "sin" would be a meaningless term. For, if there were no law, there could then be no transgression of the law. Yet, we do know that there is sin in overflowing abundance even amongst professing Christians. Evidently, the law of God is still in force. Indeed, it is.
And it is high time that the truth of God must be restored to the Christian Church. God hates ~ hates ~ sin. He hates it so much that He was willing to allow Jesus Christ to be tortured and slaughtered, in order that the bloody sacrifice of the Lamb of God should satisfy God's holiness and appease His wrath ~ but only toward those who would renounce and turn away from sin.
Andrew Wommack is greatly deceived. Tragically, he is also teaching others to embrace the same deadly lie that he has embraced. Thus, not only is he deceived, but he is deceiving others, and he is doing that in the name of Christ.
"He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil." (1 John 3:8)
You can't make that mean anything else but what it plainly says.
No comments:
Post a Comment