Bill Johnson responds to the resurrection crisis by displaying breathtakingly poor theology...

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So the sisters sent to him, saying, "Lord, he whom you love is ill." But when Jesus heard it he said, "This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it." -- John 11:3-4 (ESV)

It seems that Bethel Church and Pastor Bill Johnson are catching some heat for the recent prayer vigil for the resurrection of the two-year old daughter of one of their worship leaders. Little Olive passed away a week ago but reports are that the false teacher extraordinaire carries on while the world watches and cringes. The heat must have been pretty strong because Johnson filmed a video trying to explain himself. In it, he mangles the bible at every turn and openly admits he has no idea what he is doing. Lets us reason together as we sift through this statement.

"We have a biblical precedent. Jesus raised the dead. Jesus raised the dead. Not only that, He introduced Himself as the resurrection and the life. In fact, in John 11:40, He says, 'If you believe, you will see the glory of God.' So seeing what Jesus has accomplished, what He did in His lifetime, and then when you add to that that He commanded His followers, His disciples, in Matthew 10:8 to heal the sick, to raise the dead, to cast off devils, to cleanse lepers. None of those are things we can actually do. He commanded us because somehow in our yes, he gives us the ability to carry out his mission. Being commissioned means we've said yes to his mission. This is our heart. So we've tried to run with a real conviction and devotion to the very thing that Jesus taught us to do. So He modeled it, and He commanded us to do the same." -- Bill Johnson

This is the slickness of the false teachings of Bill Johnson. He routinely leverages scripture out of context to support his overall false screed. It is confusing for most if they do not do the work of a Berean because John 11:40 does say what Johnson claims. He presents it though as if Jesus was teaching that belief in our life requires God to show His glory and then he translates that into believing for the resurrection of little Olive. Let me show you how insidiously evil this is. Lazarus has died at this point and Jesus instructs the people to roll away the stone to which Martha replies with her worldly logic and thinking that because days had passed, there would be a bad odor from the decay of the body. The telling part of verse 40 Johnson leaves out:

Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?" -- John 11:40 (ESV)

Did I not tell you? What is Jesus referencing? We have to go back to the key verses today found earlier in the chapter when Lazarus was still alive. Mary and Martha sent messengers to Jesus to tell Him Lazarus was ill. Jesus answers through the messengers that this illness will not lead to death but is for the glory of God to be shown. This is known as historical narrative. John is telling the story of what happened. This is not a prescriptive text that teaches us anyone other than Lazarus can also be raised from the dead if "only you believed." Think of the implications of what Johnson is teaching here. That this story is God telling us that everyone can be raised from the dead. That is most certainly not what God is saying nor teaching here. Jesus introduced himself as the resurrection -- not you, I or even little Olive.

Moving on to Matthew 10:8 we see a similar pattern. What Johnson fails to mention or realize is that these instructions were for the twelve Apostles. Nowhere does the text even infer that these are prescriptive orders for the church. Also within these instructions they were not to accept any money for the services they provide. Considering 2017 tax returns show Bill Johnson ministries raking in over 1.2 million dollars I will guess that Bill thinks only part of verse 40 is prescriptive. I had a member of the infamous dead raising team comment on my latest Bethel devotional and he actually claimed that these four things always are available for Christians. No they are not. Why would Jesus give all of us these instructions and then contradict Himself in James by saying the elders should pray for the sick? You want to see what happens when you try to whimsically cast out devils? Go read about the Seven Sons of Sceva in Acts Chapter 19. Look at what Johnson teaches here -- in OUR yes He gives us the ability to do these things. This is straight up word faith heresy. There is no biblical precedent for this misleading false teaching. Can God raise the dead? Absolutely -- He is God. I would not even say we should not pray for that after the death but realize that five days after little Olive's death they were still hold mystical prayer vigils at Bethel. It is wrong to the parents. It is wrong to the church.

"Some have asked, 'Isn't this interrupting the sovereignty of God?' And my response is, first of all, we don't ever want to violate the sovereignty of God. God is sovereign. He chooses what He wants, and we cooperate with Him. There's no question. But then my question is why did Jesus raise the dead? Did He violate the sovereignty of God? Did we have the Father will one thing and Jesus will another? Of course not. We know that's not true. The reason Jesus raised the dead is because not everyone dies in God's timing. And Jesus could tell. He would interrupt that funeral. He would interrupt that process--that some just call the sovereignty of God--and he would raise the little girl. He'd raise the adult person from the dead." -- Bill Johnson

This is the God complex that Bill Johnson traffics in. he is comparing himself directly to Jesus. The "well if Jesus did it so can I" defense is heresy. Jesus does not violate His own sovereignty Bill. Perhaps the most egregious teaching here is this nonsense about not everyone dying in God's timing! Is God not in control of His own creation? Is Bill Johnson essentially teaching that God is caught off guard or surprised? Does he even understand God's permissive will? The examples he cites are ludicrous. Jesus did use several instances of death to show HIS glory. That means they died exactly when God wanted them to, as does everyone.

"The point is, Jesus set a precedent for us to follow. We rarely know what we're doing, especially when we come into new areas like this. There's no manual that tells us, 'Fast this many days. Pray this many hours.' We don't have any idea. What we do have is a biblical precedent: Jesus' lifestyle and Jesus' commands. Some would ask, 'How long do you pray and when do you quit praying?' And I don't have a good answer. We're kind of in the middle of that journey right now. But there is a biblical precedent to continue praying. Luke 18:1 is a whole story about the importance of persistence in prayer. The end of Hebrews 10 and the beginning of Hebrews 11 talks about enduring faith--the faith that endures past what everybody would expect. It's that need to hold something. So we're in that point." -- Bill Johnson

You rarely know what you are doing? You got that one right Bill. The problem is you have no humility in your ignorance. As the mathematician from Jurassic Park quipped, you were so busy asking if you could you never asked if you should. You claim this as a new area yet cite thousand-year-old scriptures out of context to try and support your claims. I am glad you admit you have no idea but the next step is to act like it. This isn't a journey Bill! You are shipwrecking people's faith! No one is dead in Luke 18! The Hebrews verses are not about raising people from the dead! What you are doing to the bible is spiritually criminal! You admit you have no clue and then strip mine the bible to find a section on faith so you can teach people to just have faith? Good thing your bible wasn't open to Matthew 26 or you might be teaching us to deny Christ three times. Beloved this is hit and run theology followed by an admittedly ignorant and inaccurate application. If you are at the point of needing to hold onto something why don't you hold on to the true promise of the resurrection! Hold onto the fact that while we mourn here on earth for little Olive we know she is with Jesus now! Try just once to correctly hold onto the bible.

"We admittedly are just trying our best. We want to honor mom and dad. We want to honor their heart for the resurrection of their child. So we've said yes. We've partnered with them. The child has been in the morgue ever since the child died. She's not here. We don't surround the baby and perform some ritual. We're together, honestly, to worship Jesus. He's the miracle worker. We're not. He's the grace giver. We're not. He's the one from whom all perfect gifts flow. And we simply are here to honor the name of Jesus. We know enough about this process through the years. We know enough that when there's a breakthrough, when there's an answer, when there's a miracle of any kind, he gets the glory. He gets the credit. He's the one who performed it. It may have been our hands, it may have been our words, but honestly, He's the miracle worker. We're just tools in His hands. But when it doesn't work, we don't blame God. We give Him the glory. We give Him the praise. We celebrate His goodness, His kindness. Because nothing about our experience, difficult or not, changes who He is." -- Bill Johnson

If you want to honor the name of Jesus you should start by honoring what He has said in His word. I do not mean verse fragments designed to prop up your false teaching. If you really wanted to honor mom and dad you would be honest with them. I will be honest -- if you had spent the first day after her death praying for this miracle I would think it was misguided but I would take no issue with it. It is close to a week now and the nation is watching this display at Bethel with morbid fascination that will bring no glory to God when you finally admit that little Olive has gone on to be with the Savior.

"We are spending our life trying to discover this wonderful, wonderful Father who is perfect in every way, and our passion, our heart, is to discover that and to make it known. We've got a plant of people that are hurting so deeply because they just don't know what this heavenly father is like. So we've given our life to this. We're going to get some things good [and] right, we're going to get some things we won't do so well. But we're in a journey like you, like many of you, and we're in this pursuit to see Jesus exalted and a whole generation of people that can accurately and responsively demonstrate the love, the purity and the power of God. This is our passion. Thank you again. So many of you have helped us. You've prayed with us. You've joined with us. Some of you did so a couple years ago, when we had little Jaxon Taylor in the crisis and the miracle that God performed. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Others of you have sent challenging questions to us, and I thank you as well, because we never want to take anything for granted. We just have this heart to walk in purity, to walk in love, to walk responsibly, and we've said yes to that call, and you helped us. So I want to thank you and I want to bless all of you in Jesus' name. Thank you for being part of our global family." -- Bill Johnson

Johnson tries desperately to deflect responsibility by constantly referring to this "journey" theology. Well we will get some things wrong? Some things you may not do so well? You have told the world that you are believing in faith for something Jesus never promised. You have leveraged scripture way out of context to appear biblical when you most certainly are not. Instead of shepherding this grieving family and your church of thousands, you are leading them astray. Maybe the parents survive this horrific loss with their faith intact but what have you taught everyone else in the process? What will they do the next time someone they love dies? Will they hold a seven-day resurrection service and then walk away from God when Jesus says no? The miracle you reference with Jaxon Taylor involved a living child who was healed, not a deceased child who was resurrected. Like I said in the first devotional about little Olive -- there are always victims of false teachings. How many in the world will dismiss the church as lunatics when this public resurrection plea goes unanswered? Once again beloved we call for prayer for this family who should be grieving. We pray for those trapped in the dangerous teachings of Bill Johnson and Bethel Church. We pray they come out from among them and into the glorious light of Jesus Christ.

Reverend Anthony Wade -- December 20, 2019

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.