Soon after I became a Christian, I bought the book When Heaven invades Earth – A Practical Guide to a Life of Miracles. The author, Bill Johnson, is Senior Pastor of Bethel Church. Is Johnson’s book a heavenly invasion, or an invasion of error?
Having just left my New Age years behind me, I recognized NA elements in Johnson’s “When Heaven Invades Earth.” He’d taken Gnostic concepts and repackaged them with Christian themes and practices. For example, Johnson advises against Sola Scriptura. In other words he promotes extra biblical revelation:
Those who feel safe because of their intellectual grasp of Scriptures enjoy a false sense of security. None of us has a full grasp of Scripture, but we all have the Holy Spirit. He is our common denominator who will always lead us into truth. But to follow Him, we must be willing to follow off the map – to go beyond what we know. (Johnson: 76)
I once had a brief discussion with someone who claimed to have departed from dispensationalism. He advised me that there are many opinions out there and we should all be humble. In fact he was pretty adamant that he was right and I was wrong. He also wrote:
I’m going deeper, way deeper, and far beyond the “literal interpretation” of dispensationalism that I was raised on…I’m beginning to see that eschatology is like one big parable, and just like Jesus used parables to both DISGUISE and REVEAL the truth, I now feel that eschatology works the same way. A literal reading of prophecy, especially a literal reading of OT prophecy, actually DISGUISES the truth, and has contributed to the eschatological confusion that we see in the church today, and also to the widespread problem of Christians focusing on agendas and causes that have NOTHING to do with the GOSPEL or the KINGDOM OF GOD.
When I looked at the books he claimed influenced him, I understood what had happened. One of his recommended sources was “When Heaven Invades Earth.” This gentleman had swallowed Bill Johnson’s signs and wonders teachings. It is lethal to move away from Sola Scriptura and God’s clear word in order to embrace modern Gnosticism.
Pastor Bob DeWaay has written an important review of Johnson’s “When Heaven Invades Earth.”
Bill Johnson of Redding, California has become a popular teacher in one of the latest iterations of the Signs and Wonders movement. His book, When Heaven Invades Earth, reveals his underlying theology. Johnson believes that there will be a great end-time revival that will be initiated by an “Elijah generation”1 (a concept from the heretical Latter Rain movement) that shall transcend all other generations of Christians in regard to their ability to do great works of power. Johnson claims the following about himself and associates: “We will carry the Elijah anointing in preparing for the return of the Lord in the same way that John the Baptist carried the Elijah anointing and prepared the people for the coming of the Lord” (Johnson: 184).2 Supposedly these elitists will set off a great revival of signs and wonders greater than those of Jesus. This miracle explosion, they expect, will cause a great revival before the return of Christ. Johnson states, “I live for the revival that is unfolding and believe it will surpass all previous moves combined, bringing more than one billion souls into the Kingdom” (Johnson: 23).
The basic premise is that God always wants to do abundant and remarkable miracles but is kept from doing so by the fear and unbelief of the church. God awaits the arrival of specially anointed and enlightened Christians who will make it possible for Him to bring at long last an invasion of heaven to earth before the return of Christ. That is the point of Johnson’s title. His subtitle is A Practical Guide to a Life of Miracles. Accordingly, with the right information, zeal, desire, piety, faith and anointing, any Christian can “make the supernatural natural” (Johnson: 133).
In this article I will show from Johnson’s book that he has departed from orthodox Christian teaching in many serious ways. He teaches the heretical kenosis doctrine about Christ. He denies the Reformation principle of sola scriptura. He embraces pietism, elitism, subjectivism, fideism, dominion theology, and many other errors. I will claim that his supposed end-time revival is actually end-time apostasy…keep reading
See also The Berean Call’s response to questions regarding Bill Johnson and Bethel Church HERE
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