Many former Jehovah's Witnesses, who continue to regard the Bible as authoritative and true, engage with Beroean Pickets by Eric Wilson, who originally appeared under the name Meleti Vivlon. I, too, regularly read his articles during and after my departure from the faith and came across his work when he was still completely anonymous, had little reach, and had not yet been disfellowshipped. Initially, I was so enthusiastic that I even made donations to him.
However, after I later became a Bible-loyal, evangelical Christian, I realized that what Eric Wilson teaches is largely just a 1:1 adoption of the teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses and stands in opposition to sound biblical doctrine.
Like the former German Jehovah's Witness Detlef Behr, Eric Wilson espouses and disseminates the following teachings, which are otherwise basically only represented by Jehovah's Witnesses and other questionable fringe groups. His original explanations of his beliefs can be read here.
Eric Wilson's teaching: There would be a second chance for billions of people after death in the resurrection.
Biblical teaching: People are judged based on what they have done in this life. Comprehensive biblical justification can be read here.
Eric Wilson's teaching: Death is a sleep-like state in which a person ceases to exist. Hell does not exist.
Biblical teaching: A person who does not have saving faith in Jesus is judged before God after death based on what they have done in this life. The time until judgment is apparently consciously experienced (see Lk 16). Jesus describes the outcome of this judgment as eternal "weeping and gnashing of teeth," an eternal separation from God's love. Biblical justification here.
Eric Wilson's teaching: Jesus is not God, but the second-highest being after God.
Biblical teaching: Jesus Christ is God. He is not a god alongside God, since there is only one true God. In John 20:28, He is referred to in Greek as THE God (ho theos), which leaves no speculation as to whether He is some kind of lesser god. ho theos always refers to the Almighty God Jehovah. Detailed biblical justification here.
Eric Wilson's teaching: It is important to use the name of God. It does not matter whether one says Jehovah or Yahweh.
Biblical teaching: As already evident from the first of the Ten Commandments, the name of God is holy and should not be used carelessly or profanely. If one uses it constantly in very human or even unworthy conversations, as "Jehovah's Witnesses" do, in my opinion, this commandment is already being violated. The Bible nowhere says it is important to use the name of God derived from its Hebrew consonant form YHWH. Certainly, it is a good thing to use it respectfully and worthily where it stands in the Bible. It does not need to be replaced by circumlocutions like "Lord." However, it should certainly not be used inflationarily or unnecessarily frequently, and there is no commandment to use it. The most likely correct pronunciation of YHWH is Yahweh. The final 'e' is pronounced long, unlike the short pronunciation typical for English names. The 'H' is audibly aspirated, as in the word "house." However, it is not pronounced as the German "ch" as some do (in English we don't have this sounding - you can look up the German words "Macht", "Hecht" or "Pracht", to hear how it sounds). I have researched this extensively and have completed a Hebraicum (Biblical Hebrew certification) at a university, which is why I consider myself capable of writing this so precisely.
Numerous other teachings could be cited that Meleti Vivlon / Eric Wilson did not recognize by reading the Bible, but simply adopted 1:1 from Jehovah's Witnesses. As shown above, they do not stand up to biblical scrutiny.
While I appreciate his style, he is completely mistaken in these major matters and leads others to continue to adhere to the erroneous teachings of the Witnesses. Therefore, I must explicitly warn against him.
My conversation with Eric Wilson on YouTube below the video "Does Jesus Want Us to Pray to Him?":
@FragenUndGlauben
Dear friends, in no way I mean to offend you! Please be assured that all I write is in the love of Christ! The Bible ist clear, that Jesus himself was prayed to (1Cor 1:2, John 14:13, 14). So I am very sorry for you to teach such things and hope for you to consider the plain Biblical teachings.
@FragenUndGlauben I don't want to offend you either, but you cite two scriptures claiming the prove that Jesus was prayed to. Please watch the video. In the video I explain that it's one thing to call out to Jesus, but a different thing to pray to him. 1 Corinthians 1:2 does not talk about praying to Jesus, but to calling out to him.
"To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:"
As for John 14:14, it doesn't promote prayer to Jesus:
King James Bible
If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
New King James Version
If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.
@BeroeanPickets Thank you so much for answering me. I did not mean to prove something with this two quotations. We have much more quotes that implicate a Christian may and should pray to Jesus. Going through them one by one would exceed this comment, but you can find this on many platforms including my homepage.
@FragenUndGlauben Rather than rely on Scriptures which "implicate" something, I prefer Scriptures that actually tell me something, and all the Scriptures I rely on tell me explicitly to pray to the Father, who is the only true God.
@BeroeanPickets Thank you for your answer. You know all the scriptures that tell us or indicate to pray to Jesus as you yourself taught it back then. E.g. 1John 5:13-15 clearly refers to Jesus. In every of these, nontrinitarians implicate the translator got it wrong even if nearly every Greek expert tells it otherwise. One may judge for himself if this is rational and if the Holy Spirit wants to mislead us, when most Bible readers conclude praying to Jesus out of the scripture (even the yet cited 1Cor 1:2 means naturally that people prayed to Jesus - there is no other primary meaning of "calling on the name of Jesus"). I agree as every theologian would do, that most prayers in the Bible are directed to the father and so should we. But we cannot deny that prayers are also directed to Jesus und it is not wrong to do so.
Please be not offended by me writing this: You stick to so many exclusive JW teachings, that I pray and sincerely think you have to be freed of all these spiritual bonds from the past. Our warfare is a spiritual one and we always need God to free us from teachings that are not right in his eyes.
God bless