I'm not familiar with Randy Clark but personally I'd steer clear of Bill Johnson. Truth be told I'd give him a very wide berth.
I read his book
When Heaven Invades Earth some years ago and thought it was amazing, really powerful stuff. Then a couple of friends went to the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry and, when I heard, I felt really pleased for them because they got to actually meet Bill Johnson and study under him.
Over time that sense shifted, as their periodic newsletters shifted in tone. They started off with a sense of asking "if anyone would like to support us financially in this we'd be really grateful" to a far more relentless push for people to "sow into our ministry and reap the rewards". That was the first warning sign for me.
The second warning sign was the way they described healings that apparently took place. The focus always seemed to be on the latest silly stunt pulled by the "healer" and less on the God behind the healing.
The third warning sign was a church I visit. There's a particular place I often visit and when I'm there I have a "home from home" church. I was aware it picked up all sorts of weird and wonderful practises, and I heard Bill Johnson, Bethel, and "sozo" mentioned a lot. The way those names seemed to be constantly mentioned alongside all sorts of weird theology made me wonder.
So I spent some time on Google, and can't say I was surprised when I found substantial amounts of information suggesting he was anything from a false teacher to a wolf. Many sites appeared to be little more than rants, so I found one that referenced the book I had and looked at the claims it made against what Johnson actually wrote in the book. At that stage I was minded to agree that he probably wasn't a teacher to follow but wanted something more concrete - based on my thoughts I would have steered clear of him but wouldn't expect anyone else to do the same unless I could show them something specific and concrete. At the same time I started to re-read
When Heaven Invades Earth with a mind more inclined to "test all things" and the more I read the more uneasy I became.
Reading over the article at (
An Invasion of Error: A Review of Bill JohnsonâWhen Heaven Invades Earth) focussed a number of issues I had with his book. I haven't relisted them because the article seems to cover things pretty well.
I read the back page synopsis of another one of his books at a Christian bookstore (I forget which book it was now) and the gist of it was that we had a load of blank checks given to us by God and all we had to do was effectively fill them in and sign them and we could have anything we wanted. I can't see that as anything other than a twisting of Scripture.
Personally I find it very distasteful when churches offer expensive courses where it's not clear just what is offered in return. Bethel offers a course for some $800 per person to learn how to be a worship leader, and their School of Supernatural Ministry charges something in the region of $4500 per year. It is hard to see how any man can teach any other man how to use spiritual gifts - if God has given me a gift then the best anyone can do is offer guidance in how to use it (in which case it's hard to see what value a multi-year course offers) and if God has not given me that gift then no man can teach me how to use it (in which case a multi-year course offers no value at all).
Do your own research, look online for accounts for and against his ministry and test them. If you can find one of his books in a thrift store have a read, but if you do read it make sure to read verses he quotes in context and consider what the Scriptures were intended to say rather than the meaning that might be implied from an isolated verse or two.
To be clear, I have no issue with letting the Holy Spirit move and believe that to do any less is to put God in a box. That said I find the idea that man can control the supernatural, as if we can simply speak things into being as a matter of routine, is dangerously close to deifying man and relegating God to little more than a servant who does our bidding.
To summarise, from what I can tell Bethel is a money-making venture that happens to incorporate a church, and Bill Johnson is someone who uses Scriptures that apparently support what he says but only when they are taken out of context and twisted.