Bill Johnson isn't a heretic. Narrow minded Christians who are uncomfortable around signs and miracles like to bash him. People concentrate on the NAR thing instead of on God. They trace Bethel and Johnson back to Bob Jones who messed up earlier in his life and say it can't be of God. They criticise and point fingers because some mistakes were made even though the ones who made the mistakes confessed and admitted it in great humility. They think once someone screws up the person can't be used by God any longer. They forget about King David's little tryst with Bathsheba and how David was still a man after God's heart afterwards. Bashers point the finger and don't take their own inventory. They despise miracles and many seem to think the cool things God does today in Charismatic churches are all from the devil. You can't reason with people who think like Pharisees. So why bother? It's not our job. It's the job of the Holy Spirit, but even some refuse to be convicted by the Holy Spirit just like the Pharisees of Jesus day.
I say let them bash and let them claim God doesn't do miracles. Let them say God isn't revealing new things in spite of Isa 48:6-7
"
Thou hast heard, see all this; and will not ye declare it? I have shewed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them. They are created now, and not from the beginning; even before the day when thou heardest them not; lest thou shouldest say, Behold, I knew them"
I feel bad for the haters. They're missing out on God's fullness.
I'm guessing you're a Bethel fangirl based on your defensive posturing. Are you from Redding or the surrounding area? I'm from a town that's about 75 miles south of there, and have known many many people over the past seven years who are fanatical about the Bethel experience. By virtue of this I've also been privy to the fallout that comes from there, and it's ugly.
My sister's a psychology graduate student and has visited on two occasions. The first was at the invitation of some friends who were going up there for a worship service, the second time was simply to give Bethel the benefit of the doubt. On both occasions, she came home absolutely shaken and bewildered. On her account, she witnessed the same behaviors on both occasions: people crawling around on all fours like animals and making animal noises (barking like dogs, roaring like big cats, howling like wolves), people walking in loops around the room and repeatedly falling over when they passed the same spot in the room, everyone grouping together to make a "fire tunnel" (like when people leave a wedding and run through the 'tunnel' of people, only creepier. When people run through it everyone on the sides touches you and shouts "fire" like they're trying to impart something to you).
On another occasion, I met a guy who was a student at A.W. Tozer Theological Seminary (a component school of Simpson University in Redding, CA). This guy was at a Starbucks with some of his classmates working on a project and a group of Bethel members made a bee-line for them and began accosting them. Berating them for being seminary students, accusing them (ironically) of heresy, condemning them, etc. Luckily he and his students had the constitution to ignore these bigots.
At every single juncture this church and Bill Johnson embrace, teach, promote, and cultivate beliefs and practices that are unorthodox or heretical at best and dangerous at worst.
Several years ago when there was all kinds of weird charismatic nonsense occurring around the country, my old church was swept up in the frenzy of it all and started working closely with Bethel by incorporating some of their theologies and practices. Fortunately, there was one pastor on staff who is remarkably intelligent and was able to help the transitional leadership steer the church back in the right direction (he used the Nicene Creed as a jumping off point). However, to this day, there are remnants of that heresy tucked away within some groups, like a cancer.
Some of the big heretical fads to come out of there included those infamous claims that gold dust and feathers fell from the ceiling, or that peoples fillings were turning to gold. Several people from my church claimed their fillings turned to gold. They didn't, I saw. Someone tried to pray for my fillings to turn to gold, at the time (this was in 2008) I rolled with it because "hey could be cool, right?". Nothing happened. When considering these concepts, one must ask:
how in the world does any of this benefit The Great Commission? How does any of this spread the message of the gospel? The answer is it doesn't. It's a reductionistic theology that borders on the prosperity gospel. Turning God into some sort of cosmic genie who performs magic tricks and grants wishes.
One of the big proponents of Bethel and Bill Johnson's teachings at my old church actually had the audacity one time to go up to the pastor while he was on stage during a lull in the worship, grab the microphone from him and claim that he needed to pray over someone. So he called a girl up on stage, a bunch of people laid hands on her, and the man with the microphone said "we're not going anywhere until you heal her God". Like stubborn children. Excuse me, but the God of the universe is not there to perform at our beck and call. This is the product of the anarchical culture under Bill Johnson.
The bottom line is, I have more experience than most (or maybe all) on this board with Bethel, and the teachings of Bill Johnson. The man is absolutely off the rails, he's heterodox. Bethel broke away from the Assemblies of God because the latter was too structured. That says a lot, to me that says Bill Johnson couldn't pass muster if someone was holding him theologically and practically accountable. They're the wild west over there, anything goes, and the results of that are terrifying.
