I knew I needed to watch this again and I'm so glad I did. The teaching on Isaiah 55:2 was so enlightening, as was the teaching about Presence vs. principles, and the error of implying/assuming a formula based on momentum or previous miracles. I just had to thank you again for making these available on RUclips. I so appreciate your insights.
I had head pain due to my eyes, whilst watching this and praying the prayer. My eye pain is gone!! I serve a faithful father!! Thank you Jesus! Let not the devil steal connecting you with Gods servants by discrediting their character. The source of Bills fruit is rooted in the heart of Father God, let not the enemy blind you from that truth.
He's not. He's my pastor and he's an amazing teacher with a lot of revelation. Keep listening. Imagine how many people thought Jesus and the Apostles were false because they went around teaching things that no one had ever heard before and healing people. You can also be confident in judging the fruit of his ministry. People are healed and set free and the Kingdom is preached. That is good soil. Peace bro
nowOnline, give me evidence of one healing that has been performed by Bill Johnson, and not someone's aching shoulder being restored. Where is the video of Bill healing a blind person or a cripple, or one with aids, ect. There is none. And how bout the Heidi Baker, who he endorses, who claims that hundreds of Africans have been raised from the dead? Where's the video for that one in the age of the smart phone. They are liars. But what makes Bill a false teacher is not just that, but that he teaches a different gospel, not one of repentance and the forgiveness of sins. He speaks highly of man when the bible says the opposite. He diminishes the word of God by replacing it with encounters and experiences. He's a fraud! Beware!
Forrest Tallant Don't be silly. He has a phenomenal relationship with God, who loves him so much that if Bill makes an error, He'll correct him, as He does all His own. And Bill would admit it publicly.
What Are Bill Johnson’s Heresies? In the past few weeks, Bill Johnson has been the center of a lot of controversy. With Montanist apologists like Michael Brown defending his errors and whitewashing his heresies and others falling prey to his exploitation, the fact that he is a heretic at all is being questioned. Bill Johnson seriously needs to be tested against the Scripture. Kenosis The Kenosis heresy teaches that Jesus set aside His divinity while on Earth. According to this doctrine, Jesus was no longer divine from His birth to His ascension. Bill Johnson has promoted this heresy in Face to Face with God on page 108. He said, “Jesus set aside His divinity, choosing instead to live as a man completely dependent on God.” Truth is, if Jesus set aside His divinity and became a man, Jesus would have been nothing more than a man. This is not the only time that Johnson promoted Kenosis. In chapter 7 of When Heaven Meets Earth, Johnson claimed, “[Jesus] laid His divinity aside as He sought to fulfill the assignment given to Him by the Father.” To claim that Jesus put His divinity aside while on Earth brings another Gospel. If Jesus was not divine when He died on the Cross, then He would not have been a sufficient sacrifice. In that case His death would be in vain and so would our faith. Instead, Jesus is treated like God while He is on Earth. He received worship (John 20:28, Matthew 2:2, Matthew 14:33, Matthew 28:9), claimed to be God (John 5:18, John 8:24, John 8:58), and did things only God could do all while on Earth (Matthew 9:2, Mark 2:5, 1 Peter 2:22). Osteenism Johnson has also taught the false gospel of Osteenism, more commonly called the Prosperity Gospel. The Prosperity Gospel teaches that health, wealth, and prosperity are promises of salvation or obedience. In a 2013 article entitled Courage to Leave a Legacy, Johnson wrote, “Our connection with God is obviously the source of all blessing, prosperity and goodness in our lives. We make our way prosperous through obedience because when we do what He asks us to do, we strengthen our connection with the source of life.” I would remind Bill that the most obedient person of the Bible was a poor carpenter who was brutally crucified, and someone who was called the greatest person born of a normal birth (Matthew 11:11) was a nomad who lived in the desert, wore camel hair for clothing, ate locusts and honey, and had his head cut off for his obedience. Throughout the Bible, we see James get beheaded, Stephen get stoned, and the number of people who have gotten sick appear to pile up: Timothy, Epaphroditus, Trophimus, and even possibly Paul himself. However, that does not stop Johnson from saying Jesus died for our physical healing. In an article entitled Is It Always God’s Will to Heal Someone?, Johnson claims, “When He bore stripes in His body He made a payment for our miracle.” Retanism There is another false teaching out there pushed by people such as Kenneth Copeland and Joyce Meyer that teaches that Jesus was born again. I called this teaching “Retanism”, and if it was a civil crime to preach it then Bill Johnson would be found guilty. In one sermon (Which has been reviewed on Chris Rosebrough’s Fighting for the Faith), Johnson can be quoted as saying, “So [Jesus] was born through Mary, the Virgin, and then he was born again in the resurrection.” Jesus was not born again because He did not need to be Born Again. He did not have a sinful nature and He, though tempted, did not desire to rebel against God. He was not dead in trespasses and sins, so He did not need to be made alive. However, Bill Johnson says Jesus was born again in many places, including this video, where he asks, “Did you know that Jesus was born again?” Kenyonism The Kenyonist heresy, which is more commonly known as the Word of Faith heresy, states that our words have supernatural power akin to that of God when He spoke the world into existence. It states that just like God created with His words, we can create things with our words. In this video (Time: 59:48), Johnson teaches people how to do faith healing (Something that never had to be taught to those who could do it in the Bible). He says, “As you’re praying over them, command now the spirit of affliction, ‘Loose that hip, in Jesus’ name.’ Command that God just speak health into that hip. Some actually need a creative miracle. There’s degenerative condition in the joint. So the worlds were made when God spoke them into being, so speak to that new hip.” This heresy not only elevates man but actually leads to a lower view of God. We do not have the power to speak things into existence. Montanism Bill Johnson preaches the heresy of the Montanists, which is that prophecy is still being given and the canon of Scripture is either incomplete or insufficient. Johnson often claims prophecy in visions. In one article on his site, he teaches people how to receive prophecy (Note: The prophets never had to be taught how to receive prophecy). He instructs readers, “Ask Him specifically to minister to you in the night through visions and dreams. Once you have a dream or vision, write it out, and ask Him for understanding.” In this RUclips video, the Montanism that Johnson teaches is taken to its logical conclusion. He says, “It’s difficult to expect the same fruit of the early church when we value a book they didn’t have more than the Holy Spirit they did have. It’s not Father, Son and Holy Bible.” To claim the Early Church did not have the Bible is almost as false as this diminishing of the authority of Scripture is blasphemous. And yet this is the low view of Scripture that Montanism leads to. He even goes as far as to teach that all Christians have the ability to prophesy. In a sermon clip entitled “All Must Prophesy”, he said, “All of the people of God [are] carrying prophetic anointing.” The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 12:29 (ESV), “Are all prophets?” and in the Greek the language implies “No”. Conclusion Bill Johnson is a dangerous false teacher. No matter how many times his heresies are whitewashed, they will still stand and he will still be guilty of them unless he repents. One may say that they are simply doing Christianity different than the rest of us, but I would argue that Nadab and Abihu were only doing Judaism different from the Israelites, and, “fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them.” (Leviticus 10:2, ESV). Avoid Bethel at all costs. They teach a false gospel and a false Jesus and a false view of Scripture. They offer up unauthorized fire. They are to be rebuked and separated from, not endorsed, commended, whitewashed, and visited.
It’s no light matter to call someone a heretic. Heresy isn’t merely theological error; it’s error that tampers with our understanding of God and Christ and threatens, if not completely undermines, our standing before him. Historically, heresy has been saved for matters that deny the Trinity or reject the early church councils.[1] Therefore, we must use the greatest caution when invoking the term.[2] And yet, when Trinity-eroding, Christ-denying, gospel-subverting error is published, we ought not shy away from declaring a teacher or teaching as heretical. For that reason, I must use the word heresy to speak of Bill Johnson’s book When Heaven Invades Earth: A Practical Guide to a Life of Miracles. As I will argue, Johnson’s teaching about living a life of miraculous power is heretical precisely because it misrepresents what the Bible says about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. While this review could focus on the sign-gifts Johnson attests to, I’ll instead focus on his intended (or unintended) teaching about God to show how he deviates from Christian orthodoxy and, as such, poses grave danger to Christians and non-Christians alike. BILL JOHNSON AND BETHEL CHURCH Bill Johnson is the pastor of Bethel Church in Redding, California. As his bio indicates, he’s “a fifth-generation pastor with a rich heritage in the Holy Spirit.” His family line includes a grandfather who sang for Aimee Semple McPherson and others who were deeply impacted by early Pentecostal minister Smith Wigglesworth. In short, Johnson is a committed Charismatic, whose ministry has garnered an international reputation through his revival preaching, his church, and their School for Supernatural Ministry. To be clear, what follows is not a critique of Charismatics as a whole, but the specific strain of Bill Johnson’s “gospel of power.” It should also be noted that Bethel’s music ministry has reached the widest audience, especially in the evangelical world. Their digital downloads have at times eclipsed Adele and Coldplay. This, combined with a large RUclips following, the reputation of Bethel Church and its supernatural manifestations, has grown far and wide. In May 2016, the cover story of Christianity Today focused on Bethel Church and the “manifestations” of God it reports (e.g., holy laughter, miraculous healings, gold dust, etc.). Johnson describes these in the book (159-60)[3]-and though they’re worth investigation, this review will limit its focus to what he says about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. By focusing on Johnson’s aberrant theology, I pray pastors will be better equipped to counsel members influenced by his wide-reaching ministry. At the same time, these doctrinal considerations may lead Bible-centered churches to exchange the often subjective songs of Bethel Music and Jesus Culture for lyrics that more expressly praise the triune God. My hope is that what follows does more than “expose” the heretical teaching of When Heaven Invades Earth; I also hope it clarifies for all of us the true power of God’s gospel (Rom. 1:16). AN IMPERSONAL POWER, NOT A PERSONAL GOD When critiquing the Gnostics in the second century, Irenaeus observed, Their manner of acting is just as if one, when a beautiful image of a king has been constructed by some skilful artist out of precious jewels, should then take this likeness of a man all to pieces, should re-arrange the gems, and so fit them together as to make them into the form of a dog or of a fox, and even that but poorly executed. (Against Heresies 1.8.1) Similarly, Bill Johnson speaks often about God’s power, but instead of rightly asserting God’s power in biblical categories (i.e., the power of his word or the power of God in creation, providence, or redemption), he describes God’s power in repeatedly impersonal ways. For instance, in a life-altering “power encounter,” Johnson speaks of God as an overwhelming force. He describes his life-shaping power encounter like this: Once, in the middle of the night, God came in answer to my prayer for more of Him, yet not in a way I had expected. I went from a dead sleep to being wide-awake in a moment. Unexplainable power began to pulsate through my body, seemingly just shy of electrocution. It was a though I had been plugged into a wall socket with a thousand volts of electricity flowing through my body. My arms and legs shot out in silent explosions as if something was released through my hands and feet. (126-27) Johnson explains his prayer life leading up to this experience, which recurred for three nights straight (126-28). And what was his conclusion? This power encounter was God: “This was simply the most overwhelming experience of my life. It was raw power. . . it was God” (127, emphasis his). Noticeably absent is any mention of verbal communication or propositional truth, not to mention any biblical meditation or spiritual conviction. His experience is entirely visceral, not verbal. The Logos is absent. The Bible tells us that God spoke the world into existence (Ps. 33:5-6) and has given us a Spirit-inspired book (2 Tim. 3:16). Yet Johnson says of this experience, this power, “it was God.” For all his talk about power, Johnson neglects to consider the power of the gospel (Rom. 1:16-17), Jesus’ power to forgive sins (Mark 2), or God’s power to raise spiritually dead men to life (Eph. 2:1-10). In fact, in one of the few places Johnson mentions Jesus’ death, his orthodox statement about salvation (Jesus “live[d] life as a man without sin, and then die[d] in the place of mankind for sin,” 88) is immediately called into question because of how he espouses the kenotic theory: “He [Jesus] laid His divinity aside (see Phil 2:5-7) as He sought to fulfill the assignment given to Him by the Father,” (87-88). Historically, the kenotic theory has been rejected by orthodox theologians because of the way it brings into question the hypostatic union of the Son, an essential Christological doctrine. (For a helpful critique of the kenotic theory, see Donald Macleod’s The Person of Christ, specifically pages 209-12.) Whether this is due to imprecision or error, Johnson’s resulting Christology is aberrant and another indication that his God-of-all-power theology is likewise unbiblical. As a result, one walks away from When Heaven Invades Earth with the sense that the ultimate communion with God should be something like a drug-induced high where God is the opiate-only in this case, God is the opiate. Of course, this is not how Scripture portrays our triune God. God is personal, and his power always works in covenantal relationship with his creation. By contrast, Johnson regularly speaks of God impersonally, which is the first reason why I believe his teaching is heterodox. The next two reasons relate to the Holy Spirit as a spiritual drug and Jesus as a powerful model to imitate, rather than the incarnate Lord to worship. Of course, this is not how Scripture reveals the Lord. Instead, Johnson rejects the sufficiency of Scripture, insists on new revelations, and chastises pastors and teachers who insist on sound doctrine (85, 91, 103). Most evidently, he speaks of the Spirit as something like a drug to experience and Jesus as a powerful model to imitate, not an incarnate Lord to worship. This is the first reason why I believe his teaching is heterodox.
what incredible wisdom pastor Bill is sharing.I'm sooooo blessed with these words in the right timing!!!!
I knew I needed to watch this again and I'm so glad I did. The teaching on Isaiah 55:2 was so enlightening, as was the teaching about Presence vs. principles, and the error of implying/assuming a formula based on momentum or previous miracles. I just had to thank you again for making these available on RUclips. I so appreciate your insights.
His teaching is spiritual and truth very good he has been a blessing to me and my family God bless you Bill.!!!
I had head pain due to my eyes, whilst watching this and praying the prayer. My eye pain is gone!! I serve a faithful father!! Thank you Jesus! Let not the devil steal connecting you with Gods servants by discrediting their character. The source of Bills fruit is rooted in the heart of Father God, let not the enemy blind you from that truth.
I was healed from the eye pain. Praise the LORD!!!
phishhu Amen
We are so blessed to have this man teaching us the revealed word on the Kingdom!
Praise God for Pastor Bill Johnson and the ministry
Beautiful message. Thanks so much!
I think Bill is a super communcator for Bible truth
Amazing I felt the preseance of God and pray for miracles in this website.
PS. 22:3 K.J.V. Yes and Amen! At 2:32
Matthew 7:15-27
1 John 4:1-9
Romans 8:9 & 14:17
Ephesians 5:18
1 Corinthians 13:4-13
1 Timothy 3:16
FANTASTIC video.
_MrsGwennD
Amazing material. Thank you for the revelation.
Jan Fox Amen
((
Amen . Powerful word and so enlightening
Excellent message from my favorite pastor on earth! Thanks for posting!!!
Andrew, do you think the deads' relatives bring the dead and video cameras together to film? or the pastors always pray for the dead while recording?
I need an explanation why he is a false prophet.
He's not. He's my pastor and he's an amazing teacher with a lot of revelation. Keep listening. Imagine how many people thought Jesus and the Apostles were false because they went around teaching things that no one had ever heard before and healing people. You can also be confident in judging the fruit of his ministry. People are healed and set free and the Kingdom is preached. That is good soil. Peace bro
nowOnline, give me evidence of one healing that has been performed by Bill Johnson, and not someone's aching shoulder being restored. Where is the video of Bill healing a blind person or a cripple, or one with aids, ect. There is none. And how bout the Heidi Baker, who he endorses, who claims that hundreds of Africans have been raised from the dead? Where's the video for that one in the age of the smart phone. They are liars. But what makes Bill a false teacher is not just that, but that he teaches a different gospel, not one of repentance and the forgiveness of sins. He speaks highly of man when the bible says the opposite. He diminishes the word of God by replacing it with encounters and experiences. He's a fraud! Beware!
false teacher at its best!
Forrest Tallant Don't be silly. He has a phenomenal relationship with God, who loves him so much that if Bill makes an error, He'll correct him, as He does all His own. And Bill would admit it publicly.
He preaches another gospel. Another jesus. Another spirit - spirit of kundalini!
Forrest Tallant Evidence? Or just your opinion!
What Are Bill Johnson’s Heresies?
In the past few weeks, Bill Johnson has been the center of a lot of controversy. With Montanist apologists like Michael Brown defending his errors and whitewashing his heresies and others falling prey to his exploitation, the fact that he is a heretic at all is being questioned. Bill Johnson seriously needs to be tested against the Scripture.
Kenosis
The Kenosis heresy teaches that Jesus set aside His divinity while on Earth. According to this doctrine, Jesus was no longer divine from His birth to His ascension. Bill Johnson has promoted this heresy in Face to Face with God on page 108. He said,
“Jesus set aside His divinity, choosing instead to live as a man completely dependent on God.”
Truth is, if Jesus set aside His divinity and became a man, Jesus would have been nothing more than a man. This is not the only time that Johnson promoted Kenosis. In chapter 7 of When Heaven Meets Earth, Johnson claimed,
“[Jesus] laid His divinity aside as He sought to fulfill the assignment given to Him by the Father.”
To claim that Jesus put His divinity aside while on Earth brings another Gospel. If Jesus was not divine when He died on the Cross, then He would not have been a sufficient sacrifice. In that case His death would be in vain and so would our faith. Instead, Jesus is treated like God while He is on Earth. He received worship (John 20:28, Matthew 2:2, Matthew 14:33, Matthew 28:9), claimed to be God (John 5:18, John 8:24, John 8:58), and did things only God could do all while on Earth (Matthew 9:2, Mark 2:5, 1 Peter 2:22).
Osteenism
Johnson has also taught the false gospel of Osteenism, more commonly called the Prosperity Gospel. The Prosperity Gospel teaches that health, wealth, and prosperity are promises of salvation or obedience. In a 2013 article entitled Courage to Leave a Legacy, Johnson wrote,
“Our connection with God is obviously the source of all blessing, prosperity and goodness in our lives. We make our way prosperous through obedience because when we do what He asks us to do, we strengthen our connection with the source of life.”
I would remind Bill that the most obedient person of the Bible was a poor carpenter who was brutally crucified, and someone who was called the greatest person born of a normal birth (Matthew 11:11) was a nomad who lived in the desert, wore camel hair for clothing, ate locusts and honey, and had his head cut off for his obedience.
Throughout the Bible, we see James get beheaded, Stephen get stoned, and the number of people who have gotten sick appear to pile up: Timothy, Epaphroditus, Trophimus, and even possibly Paul himself. However, that does not stop Johnson from saying Jesus died for our physical healing. In an article entitled Is It Always God’s Will to Heal Someone?, Johnson claims,
“When He bore stripes in His body He made a payment for our miracle.”
Retanism
There is another false teaching out there pushed by people such as Kenneth Copeland and Joyce Meyer that teaches that Jesus was born again. I called this teaching “Retanism”, and if it was a civil crime to preach it then Bill Johnson would be found guilty. In one sermon (Which has been reviewed on Chris Rosebrough’s Fighting for the Faith), Johnson can be quoted as saying,
“So [Jesus] was born through Mary, the Virgin, and then he was born again in the resurrection.”
Jesus was not born again because He did not need to be Born Again. He did not have a sinful nature and He, though tempted, did not desire to rebel against God. He was not dead in trespasses and sins, so He did not need to be made alive. However, Bill Johnson says Jesus was born again in many places, including this video, where he asks,
“Did you know that Jesus was born again?”
Kenyonism
The Kenyonist heresy, which is more commonly known as the Word of Faith heresy, states that our words have supernatural power akin to that of God when He spoke the world into existence. It states that just like God created with His words, we can create things with our words. In this video (Time: 59:48), Johnson teaches people how to do faith healing (Something that never had to be taught to those who could do it in the Bible). He says,
“As you’re praying over them, command now the spirit of affliction, ‘Loose that hip, in Jesus’ name.’ Command that God just speak health into that hip. Some actually need a creative miracle. There’s degenerative condition in the joint. So the worlds were made when God spoke them into being, so speak to that new hip.”
This heresy not only elevates man but actually leads to a lower view of God. We do not have the power to speak things into existence.
Montanism
Bill Johnson preaches the heresy of the Montanists, which is that prophecy is still being given and the canon of Scripture is either incomplete or insufficient. Johnson often claims prophecy in visions. In one article on his site, he teaches people how to receive prophecy (Note: The prophets never had to be taught how to receive prophecy). He instructs readers,
“Ask Him specifically to minister to you in the night through visions and dreams. Once you have a dream or vision, write it out, and ask Him for understanding.”
In this RUclips video, the Montanism that Johnson teaches is taken to its logical conclusion. He says,
“It’s difficult to expect the same fruit of the early church when we value a book they didn’t have more than the Holy Spirit they did have. It’s not Father, Son and Holy Bible.”
To claim the Early Church did not have the Bible is almost as false as this diminishing of the authority of Scripture is blasphemous. And yet this is the low view of Scripture that Montanism leads to. He even goes as far as to teach that all Christians have the ability to prophesy. In a sermon clip entitled “All Must Prophesy”, he said,
“All of the people of God [are] carrying prophetic anointing.”
The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 12:29 (ESV), “Are all prophets?” and in the Greek the language implies “No”.
Conclusion
Bill Johnson is a dangerous false teacher. No matter how many times his heresies are whitewashed, they will still stand and he will still be guilty of them unless he repents. One may say that they are simply doing Christianity different than the rest of us, but I would argue that Nadab and Abihu were only doing Judaism different from the Israelites, and, “fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them.” (Leviticus 10:2, ESV).
Avoid Bethel at all costs. They teach a false gospel and a false Jesus and a false view of Scripture. They offer up unauthorized fire. They are to be rebuked and separated from, not endorsed, commended, whitewashed, and visited.
It’s no light matter to call someone a heretic.
Heresy isn’t merely theological error; it’s error that tampers with our understanding of God and Christ and threatens, if not completely undermines, our standing before him. Historically, heresy has been saved for matters that deny the Trinity or reject the early church councils.[1] Therefore, we must use the greatest caution when invoking the term.[2]
And yet, when Trinity-eroding, Christ-denying, gospel-subverting error is published, we ought not shy away from declaring a teacher or teaching as heretical.
For that reason, I must use the word heresy to speak of Bill Johnson’s book When Heaven Invades Earth: A Practical Guide to a Life of Miracles. As I will argue, Johnson’s teaching about living a life of miraculous power is heretical precisely because it misrepresents what the Bible says about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. While this review could focus on the sign-gifts Johnson attests to, I’ll instead focus on his intended (or unintended) teaching about God to show how he deviates from Christian orthodoxy and, as such, poses grave danger to Christians and non-Christians alike.
BILL JOHNSON AND BETHEL CHURCH
Bill Johnson is the pastor of Bethel Church in Redding, California. As his bio indicates, he’s “a fifth-generation pastor with a rich heritage in the Holy Spirit.” His family line includes a grandfather who sang for Aimee Semple McPherson and others who were deeply impacted by early Pentecostal minister Smith Wigglesworth. In short, Johnson is a committed Charismatic, whose ministry has garnered an international reputation through his revival preaching, his church, and their School for Supernatural Ministry. To be clear, what follows is not a critique of Charismatics as a whole, but the specific strain of Bill Johnson’s “gospel of power.”
It should also be noted that Bethel’s music ministry has reached the widest audience, especially in the evangelical world. Their digital downloads have at times eclipsed Adele and Coldplay. This, combined with a large RUclips following, the reputation of Bethel Church and its supernatural manifestations, has grown far and wide. In May 2016, the cover story of Christianity Today focused on Bethel Church and the “manifestations” of God it reports (e.g., holy laughter, miraculous healings, gold dust, etc.). Johnson describes these in the book (159-60)[3]-and though they’re worth investigation, this review will limit its focus to what he says about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.
By focusing on Johnson’s aberrant theology, I pray pastors will be better equipped to counsel members influenced by his wide-reaching ministry. At the same time, these doctrinal considerations may lead Bible-centered churches to exchange the often subjective songs of Bethel Music and Jesus Culture for lyrics that more expressly praise the triune God. My hope is that what follows does more than “expose” the heretical teaching of When Heaven Invades Earth; I also hope it clarifies for all of us the true power of God’s gospel (Rom. 1:16).
AN IMPERSONAL POWER, NOT A PERSONAL GOD
When critiquing the Gnostics in the second century, Irenaeus observed,
Their manner of acting is just as if one, when a beautiful image of a king has been constructed by some skilful artist out of precious jewels, should then take this likeness of a man all to pieces, should re-arrange the gems, and so fit them together as to make them into the form of a dog or of a fox, and even that but poorly executed. (Against Heresies 1.8.1)
Similarly, Bill Johnson speaks often about God’s power, but instead of rightly asserting God’s power in biblical categories (i.e., the power of his word or the power of God in creation, providence, or redemption), he describes God’s power in repeatedly impersonal ways.
For instance, in a life-altering “power encounter,” Johnson speaks of God as an overwhelming force. He describes his life-shaping power encounter like this:
Once, in the middle of the night, God came in answer to my prayer for more of Him, yet not in a way I had expected. I went from a dead sleep to being wide-awake in a moment. Unexplainable power began to pulsate through my body, seemingly just shy of electrocution. It was a though I had been plugged into a wall socket with a thousand volts of electricity flowing through my body. My arms and legs shot out in silent explosions as if something was released through my hands and feet. (126-27)
Johnson explains his prayer life leading up to this experience, which recurred for three nights straight (126-28). And what was his conclusion? This power encounter was God: “This was simply the most overwhelming experience of my life. It was raw power. . . it was God” (127, emphasis his).
Noticeably absent is any mention of verbal communication or propositional truth, not to mention any biblical meditation or spiritual conviction. His experience is entirely visceral, not verbal. The Logos is absent. The Bible tells us that God spoke the world into existence (Ps. 33:5-6) and has given us a Spirit-inspired book (2 Tim. 3:16). Yet Johnson says of this experience, this power, “it was God.”
For all his talk about power, Johnson neglects to consider the power of the gospel (Rom. 1:16-17), Jesus’ power to forgive sins (Mark 2), or God’s power to raise spiritually dead men to life (Eph. 2:1-10). In fact, in one of the few places Johnson mentions Jesus’ death, his orthodox statement about salvation (Jesus “live[d] life as a man without sin, and then die[d] in the place of mankind for sin,” 88) is immediately called into question because of how he espouses the kenotic theory: “He [Jesus] laid His divinity aside (see Phil 2:5-7) as He sought to fulfill the assignment given to Him by the Father,” (87-88).
Historically, the kenotic theory has been rejected by orthodox theologians because of the way it brings into question the hypostatic union of the Son, an essential Christological doctrine. (For a helpful critique of the kenotic theory, see Donald Macleod’s The Person of Christ, specifically pages 209-12.) Whether this is due to imprecision or error, Johnson’s resulting Christology is aberrant and another indication that his God-of-all-power theology is likewise unbiblical. As a result, one walks away from When Heaven Invades Earth with the sense that the ultimate communion with God should be something like a drug-induced high where God is the opiate-only in this case, God is the opiate.
Of course, this is not how Scripture portrays our triune God. God is personal, and his power always works in covenantal relationship with his creation. By contrast, Johnson regularly speaks of God impersonally, which is the first reason why I believe his teaching is heterodox. The next two reasons relate to the Holy Spirit as a spiritual drug and Jesus as a powerful model to imitate, rather than the incarnate Lord to worship.
Of course, this is not how Scripture reveals the Lord. Instead, Johnson rejects the sufficiency of Scripture, insists on new revelations, and chastises pastors and teachers who insist on sound doctrine (85, 91, 103). Most evidently, he speaks of the Spirit as something like a drug to experience and Jesus as a powerful model to imitate, not an incarnate Lord to worship. This is the first reason why I believe his teaching is heterodox.
Zzzzzz......zzzz. Wake me up when he's finished.
Hemi * Try listening in 30 minute segments.
That'll work, thanks.