A Look at Bill Johnson
at Trinity Church Pt. 1
I almost hesitate to write a review like this. I fear some
may take it personal and be offended by what they believe to be unwarranted criticism.
I know of many dear friends who are either members of Trinity Church or attend
there quite frequently. My aim is not to offend. Many of these people are God
fearing, Christ loving, and wonderful brothers and sisters in the Lord. Neither is my aim to divide. I deeply care about unity in the church, unity that is bound by the truth of God's word. But after reviewing the sermon available
online by Bill Johnson of Bethel Church, I feel compelled to shed light on grievous
errors being taught in the church. Jude 3 exhorts us to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the
saints.
This review is not meant to be a critique of Trinity Church,
although I do take issues with much of their theology. Their emphases on signs and wonders and the
resident so called prophetess Cindy Jacobs concern me. Issues regarding her
false prophesies and dominionism have been well documented and perhaps I will
share thoughts on that another day. Here my concerns will primarily be on what
I heard from Bill Johnson on Sunday March 5th in his sermon titled Kingdom Living at Trinity Church which you can listen to here.
I am vaguely familiar with Bill Johnson and Bethel Church.
When I was involved in the Charismatic movement years ago, they didn’t have the
imprint that they do today. Most of what I heard regarding their theology was
really concerning. Most of the concerns were coming from Pastors and Para Church ministries that I highly trust and respect. I had no reason to question
whether Bill Johnson’s teachings were erroneous or not. The little that I saw
and read of them was enough to affirm that they were. However, I never took the
time to listen to a full length sermon from Bill Johnson for myself. My view of
their teaching was mainly shaped from second hand knowledge. In fairness, I
figured I should give his sermons a listen to hear his theology for myself.
With the news that he would be coming to preach at a church less than 5 miles
from where I live, not to mention one that many friends attend, I thought this
was the perfect opportunity to do so.
Below are some bullet points from the sermon (along with time markers) that I found to be at best erroneous and at worst
heretical. There were a few more questionable statements that I did not include,
but for the sake of time I wanted to highlight a few of the most grievous ones. I want to make this review easily readable, so I will publish my thoughts in three separate parts. In
the first two parts I will be interacting with statements made by Bill Johnson in his sermon. I will conclude the
third part with a summary, and then answer some anticipated questions I’m sure
many will have regarding my critique.
- The Son
of Man Can Do Nothing Of His Own (10:41)
Bill Johnson does not specifically mention
the chapter and verse but he quotes Christ saying in John 5:19 “the son of man
can do nothing of His own”. The problem is Bill Johnson failed to read the verse
in its entirety, actually he failed to even read the verse at all, not to mention the context behind the text. Bill infers that
Jesus quoted this verse to say that Christ could do nothing on His own without
the power of the Holy Spirit. Bill is trying to prove that even Christ needed the Holy
Spirit to do the miracles, He could not do it as a man, which is why He quoted “that
He can do nothing on His own.” A simple reading of the entire verse would prove
that is not the case. The full verse reads “So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do
nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever
the Father does, that the Son does likewise.” The “nothing on His own” was
in reference to Him not deviating from the mission that His Father had given
Him. In full context Christ quotes this to the Jews that were seeking to kill Him. He was affirming His union with the Father, not that He needed the Holy
Spirit to do miracles. As John Macarthur put it “the son only did those things
which were in perfect agreement with the Father.”[1] Either Bill Johnson has not studied this passage in detail, or worse
he is purposely twisting the scripture to get his point across.
- We Have
been summoned by Him to reveal miracles, signs and wonders (13:01)
Bill Johnson gives no scriptural basis for
this claim. I can assume he is talking about Matthew 10:7-8 where Christ
commissions His disciples to go out and “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers,
cast out demons.” A simple Hermeneutic is to
read the text in respect to the way it was written. Here, the author of Matthew is
portraying a shift in the narrative regarding the life of Jesus. The focus in
Matthew chapter 10 has gone from the demand for prayer for more workers (Matt. 9:35-38)
and commissioning the twelve (Matt. 10:1-4) to a discourse on mission and martyrdom
(Matt. 10:1-4).[2] This commission for miracles are part of a greater story that Matthew
is portraying regarding the life of Christ and His followers. In context this
narrative is Christ’s commission to the twelve, not His commission for every believer
throughout time and space. On the other hand, Bill may be referring to the
commission in Mark chapter 16:17-18, where Christ proclaims “And these signs will accompany those who
believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they
will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it
will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will
recover.” But these verses in particular must
be handled with care. It is widely agreed that verses 9-20 are not included in
the earliest manuscripts. As D.A. Carson and Douglas Moo note “the argument against the
ending being original are very strong. First, it is missing from what are
generally considered the two most important manuscripts (the uncials and B), as
well as several others. Second, Jerome and Eusebius both state that the best manuscripts
available to them did not contain this longer ending. Third, two other endings
to the gospel exist: a shorter ending, and the longer ending combined with an
interpolation.”[3] I would hesitate to base a whole theology around verses that are questionably
attributed to the book of Mark. However, the King James Version includes verses
9-20, and if one were to affirm these verses I still would not say the 'signs and wonders'
commission is for us. We know that in the immediate context, Christ was speaking
to his disciples. Furthermore, we know
from the book of Acts, these signs were performed and fulfilled by them. They had fulfilled
the portion of the commission that was meant for that time. Mainly to
authenticate who they were, true apostles commissioned to be the foundation of the
church. As Paul put it in 2 Corinthians 12:12 “I persevered in
demonstrating among you the marks of a true apostle, including signs, wonders
and miracles.”
- We are sinless so we have the power to do what
Jesus did (14:23)
In my view this statement was perhaps the
most offensive one made. It is a staple belief in the Free Grace crowd (think Joseph Prince).
It is also a soft form of Antinomianism, which in the Christian church has been
labeled a heresy. In the sermon Bill Johnson states that Jesus did miracles
because he was sinless. He then implies that we should do the same miracles
because we too are sinless, as he put it “we have been forgiven.” Yes, we have
been forgiven, but that does not make us sinless. Justification is the act of
God deeming us righteous through faith in His Son Jesus Christ. We are viewed ‘just’
as sinless in His eyes because of the imputed sinless life that Christ lived for
us. Justification refers to our standing with God, not our power to be sinless.
It was Christ who was sinless not us. God accounted the life of Christ for each
and every one who believes on His name. But that doesn’t mean we do not sin, or
that we are incapable of sinning. 1 John 1:9 tells us “that if we confess our
sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins…” John is writing his
letter to a fellowship of believers, not those who are lost. The New Testament
is clear that even believers who sin must come to Christ for forgiveness. It is
nowhere clearer seen than in the Lord’s Prayer. As Christ teaches us to pray,
He instructs us to ask God to “forgive us our sins as we have forgiven our
debtors.” As RC Sproul says “We must be careful, remembering that with our
conversion our natural human natures were not annihilated. There remains a
vestige of our fallen nature with which we must struggle with every day. There
still resides a corner of the soul that takes no delight in God.”[4]
I have no idea why Bill Johnson would make such a claim as this. Again, either
he does not know better or he is twisting scripture to prove his point.
Whatever the case it is not to be taken lightly, it is a dangerous error to misrepresent
the truth of God’s word for the sake of proving your theology.
[1] MacArthur,
John. The MacArthur Study Bible. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2013.
1547
[2] Carson,
D. A., Douglas J. Moo, Andrew David Naselli, and D. A. Carson. Introducing
the New Testament: a short guide to its history and message. Grand Rapids,
MI: Zondervan, 2010. 136
[3] Carson,
D. A., Douglas J. Moo, Andrew David Naselli, and D. A. Carson. Introducing
the New Testament: a short guide to its history and message. Grand Rapids,
MI: Zondervan, 2010. 188
[4] Sproul,
R. C. The Holiness of God. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers,
Incorporated, 2013. 219
A lot of what Johnson says here is similar to other Hyper-Charismatic groups like IHOP-KC or The Call. They interpret John 5:19 the same way Muslims do, demeaning Christ's divinity to emphasize His humanity, putting Him on our level. They confuse Matthew 10:7-8 with the great commission, glossing over verses 5-6, where Christ tells them not to go into the cities of the Gentiles and Samaritans (I guess they can't be healed then, eh?). As you rightfully pointed out, "this narrative is Christ’s commission to the twelve, not His commission for every believer throughout time and space."
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard the "we are sinless, so we can do signs and wonders" argument yet. That's a new one.