F4F | Bethel's Jeremiah 29 Moment

Fighting for the Faith

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Welcome to another installment of Fighting for the Faith. My name is Chris Roseborough. I am your servant in Jesus Christ.

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This is the channel that compares what people are saying in the name of God to the Word of God. So I've waited almost, not quite, but almost two months to respond to this important story and that is the death of Benny Johnson.

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Now if you're not familiar with Benny Johnson, she is the wife of Bill Johnson of Bethel Church in Redding, California, a church that I consider to be one of the most dangerous churches on planet

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Earth. Heretical is like almost an understatement when it comes to their theology and I would note that in particular their theology as it relates to healing is absolutely toxic and devastating to people who have chronic illnesses.

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All of that being said, in the past when we've talked about people like this, we've talked about their

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Mount Carmel moment, I'm going to change it up a little bit today. Today we're going to be talking about Bill Johnson and Bethel Church's Jeremiah 29 moment.

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I'll explain as we get into the biblical teaching on this. So let's just kind of put this out there.

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This isn't an end -zone dance. This isn't spiking the football. This is a sober -minded postmortem on what is wrong with Bethel's theology and taking a look at the absolute radical inconsistency and hypocrisy, if you would, of Bethel Church when it comes to their doctrine of healing in the face of the fact that Benny Johnson has had cancer since 2018 that they know of.

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Yeah, I'll explain all of the history along the way. So let's whirl up the desktop.

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And that's a long exposure photo I took in Ireland back before the days of COVID.

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But let's start by whirling up our web browser here.

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And this is a story that is from August 18th of 2018, or let's just say

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August of 2018. And this is when the news was first broke that Benny Johnson had cancer.

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And so the headline reads, Bethel Church pastor shocked by cancer remains strong in faith, loving

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Jesus all the way. And almost four years to the month that this was published is when

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Benny Johnson succumbed to cancer and died. So for four years, from August of 2018 until July 14th of 2022,

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Benny Johnson has been battling cancer. So this is when it was first broke, the news was first revealed that she was being treated for cancer.

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And so the story is there. This is from the Christian Post. Now fast forward to February, February 11th of this year, 2022.

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And the headline reads, Bethel's Benny Johnson having trouble breathing amid cancer battle.

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Church launches 24 -7 prayer campaign. And it was at this time that there was a big to -do at one of the ends of a

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Bethel service where they were decreeing and declaring and commanding and taking authority over cancer and all this kind of nonsense.

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And it didn't do anything. And the reason why is because their theology is not biblical.

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And then we fast forward to July 14th of this year just almost two months ago,

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Benny Johnson of Bethel Church dies from cancer at 67. Bill Johnson says wife is now healthy and free.

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Well, she's dead. So her body isn't healthy. Her body is moldering.

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Her body is decomposing. She was not healed of cancer. Why does this all matter?

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It matters because of Bill Johnson's refusal to stay within the bounds of Scripture and teach what the

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Bible teaches as it relates to healing and to bodily ailments. And so we're gonna do a little bit of review work here.

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We'll do some biblical debunking along the way. And like I said, this is their Jeremiah 29 moment.

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Jeremiah 29. I'll explain that when we get there. So let's go back in time.

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And you're gonna note here, we're gonna risk something here today. We're gonna play these videos at a lower resolution.

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We're not gonna change up the pitch at this point. And I've turned the closed captioning on.

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And we're gonna risk it. In the past, Bill Johnson and Bethel Church have not permitted people to criticize them.

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And as a result of that, they don't stay within the doctrine of fair use.

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And so they do a lot of takedown work on YouTube. But we're gonna risk it today. And if this video is put back up and from this point on, the audio is warped and the video is warped, it's because they weren't permitting people to criticize their theology yet again.

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Claiming copyright is what they do. And we're well within the bounds of the doctrine of fair use when it comes to copyrighted material.

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This is explicitly for the purpose of offering biblical criticism of Bill Johnson's false doctrine and false teaching.

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And in particular, as it relates to healing. So let's go back.

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The name of this particular sermon is titled The Theology of Jesus and the

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Rising Church. The Theology of Jesus and the Rising Church. And we're gonna listen to a couple of segments from this particular sermon, because it really kind of gets at what's wrong with Bill Johnson and his theology.

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And we'll talk about how devastating this is. But let's listen in. Because in his world, it's not human need that pulls on resource.

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It is faith. It is stewardship. It is using what God has given correctly.

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The power of speech is amazing. The decree, I was thinking about it just... Alright, so a little bit of setup here.

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What he's talking about is the so -called doctrine of decreeing and declaring. The power of speech, as he says.

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And that somehow our words can pull on heaven in order to pull resources down. And so he's talking about the amazing, how amazing the decree is.

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And this is not praying, by the way. I've pointed this out on many episodes of Fighting for the

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Faith, that when you're decreeing and declaring, the one thing you are not doing is asking.

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And he's going to twist a biblical text in order to make it appear like God is teaching us to decree and to declare.

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And it's really slick, and it's really false. And I would note here, when it comes to Benny Johnson, for four years, folks at Bethel have been decreeing and declaring her healing.

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And that didn't happen. Keep that in mind. So let me back this up just a little bit. It is faith.

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It is stewardship. It is using what God has given correctly. The power of speech is amazing.

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The decree, I was thinking about it just earlier today, that the Lord would actually withhold the realm of the miraculous in Isaiah 35.

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That the Lord would withhold the realm of the miraculous in Isaiah 35. Now, before he gets to it, let's take a look at what

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Isaiah 35 is all about. So Isaiah 35, the ransomed shall return.

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If you're familiar with the prophet Isaiah and his work, it's a wonderful book to work your way through, and it's a little difficult at parts.

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But here's the thing. There are several sections of the book of Isaiah that are pointing to the eschaton, the time after the return of Christ, the time after the restoration, after the world has been restored back to Eden.

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And it's using picturesque kind of prophetic metaphors and describing what the world will be like here.

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And Isaiah 35 is one of those texts. So here's how Isaiah is picturing prophetically what the new earth is going to be like.

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The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad. The desert shall rejoice. Blossom like the crocus.

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Okay, is the Sahara Desert doing that now? No. How about the Sonora Desert? No. Okay, the

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Gobi? No, no. So this is talking about when Jesus returns and restores the earth and frees it from bondage to futility, right?

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This is what, you know, we're talking about the return of Eden for all of planet Earth. It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing.

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The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of Yahweh and the majesty of our

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God. So what do we do with eschatology? Eschatology is used in Scripture to give us hope.

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It kind of anchors us in what's coming so that we can endure what we're presently suffering. So strengthen the weak hands, make firm the feeble knees.

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Say to those who have an anxious heart, be strong, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God.

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He will come to save you. So here we are commanded by God to look into the future and to use the future of what

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God is going to do as an anchor for our faith and tell people to be strong and don't worry.

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What you're going through, God will be the one who wreaks vengeance.

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He will recompense you. He will come and he will save you. Note the future tense, right?

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Then when he returns, the eyes of the blind shall be opened, the ears of the deaf unstopped.

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Then the lame man shall leap like a deer, the tongue of the mute sing for joy.

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For waters break forth in the wilderness, streams in the desert, the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water.

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In the haunt of jackals, where they lie down, the grass shall become reeds and rushes.

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All right? So this is a picture of the world to come after the return, the visible return of Christ.

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But watch what Bill Johnson is doing with this. He's using this and reading into it his false theology of decreeing and declaring.

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So let me back it up, listen to what he says. The power of speech is amazing. The decree, I was thinking about it just earlier today, that the

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Lord would actually withhold the realm of the miraculous in Isaiah 35. And it says that...

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No, he's not withholding the realm of the miraculous. That is absolutely a twisting of this text.

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When you go to the brokenhearted and the troubled person and you tell them, be strengthened. God's going to vindicate you.

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It says, then the eyes of the blind will be opened. Then the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. When is the then though?

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Not because of the decreeing and declaring. The then is when Jesus returns.

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Isaiah 35 is a picture of the new earth. So here's this realm of the miraculous that is waiting for the stewardship of the knowledge of God put into decrees that are proclaimed over each other.

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No, it's not. And note, he totally twisted this text. And I would note, for four years,

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Bethel Church and Bill Johnson and Chris Vallotton and others have been decreeing and declaring the health and recovery and, you know, healing from cancer for Benny Johnson.

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And it didn't happen. Why? Because that's not what we're commanded to do. And that's a twisting of Isaiah 35.

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And those decrees and proclamations actually attract the invasion of the miraculous. Well, you decreed and declared and no attraction of the invasion of the miraculous happened for Benny.

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They actually attract. It's like you put a marker, a target for God to strike. But many people wait for God to show up to do something when he's already revealed to us his will.

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And it's the decree that releases his will. No, it's not. No biblical text says the decreeing of our decrees release the will of God.

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And that didn't happen with Benny Johnson. It didn't happen. Well, it gets worse from there.

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Let's fast forward just a little bit in the so -called sermon. And we're going to hear some things that are just absolutely sick and twisted.

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This is not a small error. This is heresy. And this is the stuff that shipwrecks people's faiths.

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And so this ministry of Jesus that dealt with every single person that came to him with affliction or torment, he ministered to them.

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That's the only standard to follow. All right. So one of the things you'll hear

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Bill Johnson saying, you're going to hear it here and you'll hear it in another video, is that Jesus healed everybody who came to him.

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That is false. Absolutely, demonstrably false. It's not true.

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Let me show you a biblical text in this regard. In the Gospel of Mark chapter 1, in the

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Gospel of Mark chapter 1, we'll note, we'll start at verse 29. And immediately

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Jesus left the synagogue, entered the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John. Now Simon's mother -in -law lay ill with a fever and immediately they took, they told him about her.

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And he came and he took her by the hand and lifted her up and the fever left her and she began to serve them.

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That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons and the whole city was gathered together at the door.

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And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, cast out many demons, and he would not permit the demons to speak because they knew him.

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Note it says many, it doesn't say all, but it's even clearer. We continue. And rising very early in the morning while it was still dark,

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Jesus departed and went out to a desolate place and there he prayed. And Simon and those who were with him searched for him and they found him and said to him, everyone is looking for you.

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And he said to them, let us go to the next towns that I may preach there also for that is why

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I came out. And he went throughout all the Galilee preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.

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So note here in Mark 1, Jesus didn't heal everybody. He healed many. And the next morning they were ready.

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There was a whole crowd, a multitude in need and Jesus totally ignored them. Didn't heal any of them.

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Went on to the next town. So this claim that Jesus healed everybody who came to him is false.

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And you'll note, this is a pivotal point in his false theology and Bill Johnson's false theology.

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We've got to follow the example of Jesus, right? And so he's using this false standard as the standard.

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And you'll see that as this develops. Let me back it up just a little bit. That dealt with every single person that came to him with affliction or torment.

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He ministered to them. That's the only standard to follow. I refuse to create a theology that allows for sickness.

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I refuse to create a theology that allows for sickness. Let me show you a meme

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I put together in March of 2020. I refuse to create a theology that allows for sickness.

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Direct quote from Bill Johnson. You just heard him say that. And in March, early

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March of 2020, Bethel's healing rooms were cancelled.

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And at that time, we were calling it the coronavirus. Bethel's healing rooms cancelled due to coronavirus.

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Now everyone just calls it COVID -19, right? But at that time, the language regarding the pandemic and the virus hadn't kind of solidified to where it is today.

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So I refuse to create a theology that allows for sickness, Bill Johnson has famously said, yet the healing rooms at Bethel were cancelled.

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And I would note, during the pandemic, Bethel's School of Supernatural Ministry, also known as Hogwarts, that was shut down due to a major outbreak of COVID among the students.

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Now, if they, if they, these are people who have the ability to decree and declare and to light up the target and release the will of God by their declarations, and that's real

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Christian biblical theology, then the healing rooms should have stayed open. In fact, the ones running the healing rooms should have been sent all the way around Redding, California, and other places, sent to other places in order to knock down the infections.

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So for a man who says he refuses to create a theology that allows for sickness, he sure did by cancelling his, by cancelling his healing rooms.

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Keep that in mind. So let's, let's come back then and just listen again.

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Him with affliction or torment, he ministered to them. That's the only standard to follow.

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I refuse to create a theology that allows for sickness. Now here we got a problem.

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Only one. It's a small one. The apostle

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Paul gives a warning in Galatians, and he says this, he says, if I, and he's the one who brought the gospel to them, he said, if I, or even an angel, comes to you and preaches to you a different gospel, you're to reject it.

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That's amazing. An angel shows up, and he brings you a different standard, a different gospel, reject it.

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He says, even if I come back to you and I change my mind, don't pay any attention to me. All right?

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What gospel is it? It's the gospel of Jesus. It's the gospel of the kingdom. And Paul defines that gospel, you'll see in a minute.

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Okay. Let me illustrate.

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Paul refers to his thorn in the flesh, which has been interpreted by many as disease allowed or brought on by God.

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That's a different gospel. No, it isn't. And I'll prove it.

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Man, this is so bad. Okay. So, we are going to start by noting something here that Paul is the author of the epistle titled

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First Timothy. And it's written to a young pastor who was pastoring a congregation in the city of Ephesus at the time.

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And here in the last part of this letter, Paul gives some personal notes to young pastor

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Timothy. And here's what he says to young pastor Timothy, no longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.

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If the apostle Paul is guilty of preaching a false gospel for telling young pastor

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Timothy to take basically what was considered to be the medical knowledge of the day, drink wine rather than just water.

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Water could kill you back then, by the way. You ever seen the documentary, How Beer Saved the World? Interesting documentary, worth a watch.

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But waterborne diseases, that could really mess you up back in the day. And so, wine is being prescribed here.

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Note that what Paul is saying, just decree and declare and have enduring faith and all this kind of stuff, right?

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No, not at all. But when we talk about the gospel, we have to actually do a little bit of work here.

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And we're going to note that the gospel that Paul is talking about is the actual good news.

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The good news is not that God doesn't allow for sickness. That's not the gospel.

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So, here's where we're going to get our theology biblically to define what Paul meant when he talked about the gospel.

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And so, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, And so,

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Paul here is going to lay out for us in 1 Corinthians 15 what the gospel is. And in Galatians 1, this is where Paul, writing to the churches of Galatia, who had succumbed to the false doctrine and heresies of the

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Judaizers, who were saying, if you are not circumcised, you cannot be saved.

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You must obey the Torah. You must observe the Passover, the Shabbat, and the

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Judaizers, okay? Paul says to the churches in Galatia, that you're so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.

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Not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel that is contrary to the one we preached, let him be accursed, anathema, damned.

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As we have said before, so I say again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel that is contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

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So, the false gospel here of the Judaizers is salvation by works, by obedience to the law.

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And so, Paul spends the rest of the book of Galatians basically just obliterating that. And when it comes to the gospel itself,

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Paul says to the churches of Galatia, I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel.

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I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it. I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

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So, the gospel that Paul preached was given to him, not by a human being.

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It was given to him directly by Jesus, which then we come back to 1

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Corinthians 15, Paul says, I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel that I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word

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I preached, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received.

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Who did he receive it from? Well, Galatians 1 says he received it directly from Jesus. And here it is.

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Here's the gospel. Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures.

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He was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

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He appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive. Some have fallen asleep. He appeared to James and to all the apostles.

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Last of all, he appeared to one untimely born. He appeared also to me, for I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle.

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So, what is the gospel? The good news, that Christ died for our sins and rose bodily from the grave on the third day, for our sins and for our justification.

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That is the gospel. And that is what Paul in Galatians is getting at. And you'll note that if Paul was really teaching that healing is absolutely a necessary thing and you cannot make concessions for sickness and illness, then the apostle

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Paul would have been inconsistent because he told young pastor Timothy in 1

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Timothy 5 to not only drink water, but to use some wine because of his frequent ailments.

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So, we'll note, we're going to go with the apostle Paul. Healing is not promised in this lifetime by the gospel.

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Instead, healing is promised in the next lifetime after the resurrection by the gospel.

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Christians still get sick. Christians have chronic illnesses. And I'm going to note something here.

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I've pointed this out before, Bill Johnson wears glasses. So do I. I can't see.

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Right now, I can't even see the camera properly. And it's only a few feet in front of me unless I put my glasses on, which means my eyes are not healthy.

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Neither are his. And we're going to note, his wife suffered for four years with cancer and still died.

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And so, we've got a big problem here. And that is, is that this theology of his, this theology of his, he claims that he will not allow for theology that allows for sickness.

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This destroys people's faith because in reality, what he's preaching is a different gospel.

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And over and again, people who have chronic illnesses as Christians by this theology are made to feel that they don't have enough faith.

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They are made to feel like somehow they are doing something wrong, that they haven't done what is necessary to earn the breakthrough from God.

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And they decree and they declare and they continue to decree and declare and nothing happens.

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But you want to know what they're not doing is asking God, oh

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Lord, please have mercy on me. Right? Right? So, let's, let me back this up a little bit here, because it's, he's preaching a false gospel by saying these words.

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Interpreted by many as disease allowed or brought on by God. That's a different gospel.

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No, it's not. Paul told Timothy to take wine for his frequent ailments.

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Jesus didn't model it. Jesus did not heal everybody who came to him. Mark one is very clear on that.

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Didn't teach it. And Paul said, you can't change the standard.

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The standard is not that Christians always get healed. That's not biblical, nor is it in line with even reality.

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And the death of Benny Johnson proves it. Now, let's note that recently, we'll go back a year, a little bit, a year and a couple of months,

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Bethel did a series called Rediscover Bethel. And where they were trying to, you know, basically do damage control to take on some of the claims of their critics and kind of hit these head on.

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And we're going to note that at this time, Bill Johnson's wife was a little more than a year from dying.

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She was three years into her cancer battle, three, which makes these words unbelievable.

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Let's continue. So do you believe that it's God's will to heal everyone?

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Is that like Bethel standard teaching? I have to approach this. So note Dan Farrelly here.

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He just is really nervous. He has that nervous laugh in asking. So do you believe that it's

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God's will to heal everyone? Is that like Bethel standard teaching? I have to approach this.

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He doubles down. His wife has been fighting cancer for three years. He's still wearing glasses.

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His son, okay, his son has a hearing problem.

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I have to approach it as always God's will. And I have to approach it as it's always God's will.

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No, it is not. It is not always God's will to heal.

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Not in this lifetime. And my lead on that is everybody the father sent Jesus to, he healed.

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No, he didn't. We already established that from Mark one. Jesus left a whole crowd of people needing to be healed and went on to preach.

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Everyone who came to Jesus, he healed. No, he didn't. Even the

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Syrophoenician woman, the one who would have been disqualified because she wasn't a Jew. He still was moved by her faith and healed her.

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So in following him, I have to take that approach. No, you don't.

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We ask God humbly when we are suffering from illnesses for him to heal us.

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And if he doesn't, then we die. That's how it goes. And he's promised us perfect healing in the resurrection.

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I have had two exceptions that I can think of. When I've been praying, one lady, as I was praying for,

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I could tell, you know, when you walk, when you walk sensitive to the Holy Spirit, you don't want to grieve.

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You don't want to quench. You're in that, you know, you walk in that road. So it's always God's will to heal, except for this one time when

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I was praying for. In a relationship with him, I could tell that if I prayed for healing, it would grieve him. How?

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How do you know that? So it was a different idea. It wasn't like, if it's the Lord, if it's your will. So it's not like I'm having that in your prayer or in your thought life, because in your, it's like practical theology.

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Like you approach everybody like the Lord's going to move right now. Yeah. And I can't pray if it's your will, because for me, that's a prayer of unbelief.

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I can't pray if it's your will, because that's a prayer of unbelief. No, it's not.

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All right. Let me give you a biblical text on this. Jesus gave us a prayer, a daily prayer. All right.

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So Jesus, in talking about, you know, not praying like the hypocrites and, you know, and just basically piling on empty phrases, you know.

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So when, when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, Jesus says in Matthew 6, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and in the street corners that they may be seen by others.

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Truly I say to you, they've received their reward. But when you pray, you go into your room, shut the door and pray to your father who is in secret, and your father who sees in secret will reward you.

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When you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.

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Do not be like them. Your father knows what you need before you ask him. So pray then like this. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

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Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Hmm. Jesus taught us to pray.

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Your king, your will be done. Uh -huh. That's weird. Is that a prayer of unbelief?

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No. Jesus wouldn't be telling us to pray this way if it was a prayer of unbelief.

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Note, we begin by invoking our Father in heaven. That takes faith, by the way. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

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Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And how often do we pray this?

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Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts as we have also forgiven our debtors. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

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And I'm going to note here, there are some people who sit there and go, well, we shouldn't be praying the

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Lord's prayer, man, because that's an Old Testament prayer. No, it's not. How do I know? Because when it comes to the forgiveness of sins in the

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Old Testament, no Jew would pray directly to God without an offering for the forgiveness of their sins.

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Jesus is teaching his disciples to pray daily for the forgiveness of their sins. Forgive us our trespasses, right?

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And without having to bring a sacrifice. Why? Because he is the sacrifice.

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This is clearly a new covenant prayer that was given before Christ was crucified, and Christians have been praying it for 2 ,000 years.

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And no, Christians for 2 ,000 years have been praying, your will be done the way

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Jesus taught us to pray. But what does this Yahoo say? And boy, am I mad because this false theology destroys people's faith in Jesus.

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In your prayer or in your thought life, because it's like practical theology, like you approach everybody like the Lord's going to move right now.

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Yeah, yeah. And I can't pray if it's your will, because for me, that's a prayer of unbelief. Okay. Because he's already revealed to me it is his will in his provision for healing.

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And personally, I know it is not always God's will to heal in this lifetime. Use Isaiah 53, but you can.

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There is an unbroken chain of 2 ,000 years of Christians dying. You know, you can come at it from many different angles.

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It's an aspect of the kingdom, which is. Now, Isaiah 53, the promise there, you know, by his stripes, we are healed.

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That is talking about spiritual healing. It is not talking about physical healing.

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That's all promised in the resurrection. The present reality. Jesus made provision for it. So I have to, I have to pursue it in that light.

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And then, but in my, you know, it's appointed unto man to die. So there is a point of death. Yeah. But it's appointed for man to die.

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Note the radical inconsistency in his theology here. Let me fast forward to another part. Let's keep going.

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So you've mentioned enduring faith and, you know. Yeah. What about people like Johnny Erickson Tata? Okay. Clearly a woman who is a beautiful Christian saint.

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Great faith in Christ. She hasn't had physical healing since she broke her neck back in the seventies.

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As I think about this, like one of the amazing saints of our time has been Johnny Erickson Tata. And I remember in the seventies when she had her accident and she's, for those who don't know, an incredible heart for Jesus.

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I got to see her speak about just about two years ago and was just so moved by the faith that she moves in and the faith of her husband who, her caregiver.

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It was a wonderful experience to see this saint of the Lord speak. And I think about, you know, that her situation of not having a breakthrough in healing and just finding the heart of the

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Lord for her in this season as well. And as I contemplated, like, how would you respond?

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And I'm like, probably not that beautifully. She's been super honest about, hey, there's some days I, you know, hate,

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I hate it all and I want to drive my caregivers away from me and all that. So she's been really transparent about this. But there's,

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I sometimes wonder in that deal of like, I would want to have faith that is enduring, like she's manifesting. Absolutely.

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I'd also want faith to still have somebody come in and lay hands on me every day or once a week.

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You know, I was trying to figure out how do we mix that beauty of what she's experiencing in the Lord in the midst of her trial with our love of breakthrough and our love of the

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Lord alleviating suffering. Is that, so one of the ways I was kind of doing that was like, okay, I'd want to have faith like today could be the day it's been. No, they're trying to figure out how to reconcile their false doctrine with reality.

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And we've, I've already demonstrated that his theology, totally not what the scriptures teach at all.

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And so how do I have my bad theology and at the same time, recognize that Johnny Erickson Tada hasn't done something wrong in 20 years.

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It hasn't happened yet, but today it could be the day, but also that sort of coping, enduring faith. How do you?

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Can't wrap my head around it. What I want to do. Can't wrap my head around it. That's code talk for,

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I refuse to budge off my false theology. Do two things. I want to make sure that I protect the dignity of her moment, the dignity of her life.

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She is so illustrating Christ. I would never want to say or do anything that would make her or anybody in her condition.

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I have friends that I, that I'm ministering to that are in very, very similar condition. And I would never want them to somehow feel less than or.

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Yet they do. Your claim that it is always God's will to heal makes people feel less than.

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That they don't have enough faith or that somehow this is, you know, God's punishment on their life. That's exactly how people feel because you tell them it is always

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God's will to heal. I don't want to do that, but I also don't want to create a theology that I don't want to create theology around what doesn't happen.

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You don't want to create a theology around what doesn't happen. People dying of sickness is a theology based on what is happening.

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Benny Johnson died of cancer. That happened. Why? Because we are not promised healing in this lifetime.

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That is not what we're promised by Christ. We're promised the forgiveness of our sins, reconciliation with God, regeneration, and we are promised in the world to come, the resurrection from the dead in a world without end and bodies that are no longer sick, but are perfect for all of eternity.

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And so you'll note here, when faced with the fact that there's a big disconnect with reality compared to his theology, he, well,

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I don't want to make a theology that deals with what doesn't happen. You're not dealing with what is happening.

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You know, I mean, I don't have good, I don't have explanations at all. What I do have...

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No explanations because I refuse to repent of my false theology. Is a pool of Bethesda, you know, one guy was healed.

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History tells us it could be as many as 900, a thousand people around that pool. There's only one person healed.

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Does it mean that Jesus rejected the rest? No, Jesus wasn't showing us, he was showing us what one person could do that was yielded to the father.

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Note here, only one person was healed at the pool of Bethesda. This is true.

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And was it because this fellow was yielded to the father? Hang on a second here. Now I've got to do a little bit of work.

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Let me just do a quick word search. Bethesda. There we go. And we're going to do a quick search.

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John 5. All right. John 5. All right. Watch the story because this is not about his yieldedness to the father.

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Not even close. So, after this, there was a feast of the Jews. Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

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Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate, a pool in Aramaic called Bethesda. And I would note that recent archaeological discoveries over the past decade and a half, as it relates to the pool of Bethesda, basically make it clear that this was probably a pagan temple.

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The pool of Bethesda was associated with a false deity. Okay. So, Aramaic called

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Bethesda, which had five roof colonies. In these lay a multitude of invalids. Multitude.

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This is another example where Jesus didn't heal everybody. And what did Bill Johnson say was the reason why

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Jesus healed this fellow? Hang on a second here. There was only one person healed. Does it mean that Jesus rejected the rest?

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No. Jesus wasn't showing us. He was showing us what one person could do that was yielded to the father.

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He was showing us what one person can do who was yielded to the father. Okay. So, in those lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, and paralyzed.

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One man was there who had been an invalid for 38 years. When Jesus saw him lying there, he knew that he had already been there a long time.

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He said to him, do you want to be healed? All right. And again, if this is really a pagan temple, good reason to believe it is.

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Jesus is basically saying to the guy, what are you doing here for your healing?

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Right? So, the sick man answered him, sir, sir, I have no one to put me into the pool.

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When the water is stirred up, while I am going another steps down before me.

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Jesus said to him, get up, take your bed and walk. Does this sound like this guy is yielded to the father?

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Not even close. And at once the man was healed and he took up his bed and he walked.

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Now, the day was the Sabbath. So, the Jews said to the man who had been healed, it is the

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Sabbath. It's not lawful for you to take up your bed. But he answered them, the man who healed me, that man said to me, take up your bed and walk.

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For they said to him, who is the man who said to you, take up your bed and walk? Now, the man who had been healed did not know who it was.

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For Jesus had withdrawn as there was a crowd in the place. Afterwards, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, see, you are well, sin no more, that nothing worse might happen to you.

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Does this sound like it was yielded to the father? No. Right? So, the man went away and told the Jews that it was

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Jesus who had healed him. And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus because he was doing these things on the

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Sabbath. So, no, this guy turns Jesus into the authority, names him and says, that's the guy who healed me.

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It was the Sabbath, blame him. Right? Doesn't sound like he was yielded in faith at all.

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We continue. He was illustrating that heart to us. And so, the Bible celebrates the one in that moment without condemning the others.

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And this kind of a thing, well, I've got it in my own family. My son is such a champion in faith and a champion of so many things, but he's got a hearing loss.

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Right. And at the time this was recorded, Benny Johnson was three years into her fight with cancer that she will eventually lose.

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It is quite profound. And he functions so well in life. But I'll come home with testimonies of healing of deaf ears.

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He's prayed for the deaf and had them healed. But I remember a while back in a staff meeting, I was sharing a story about several deaf people that could hear.

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And I looked over at my son and he looked at me and he said, he mouthed, we're one day closer to death.

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Right. And that's what you guys were saying regarding Benny. Now, I've been saying, and now it's time to kind of talk about this, that this is worse than a

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Mount Carmel moment. The death of Benny Johnson needs to be a sobering reminder that this is false doctrine and that God is judging in a way that is ironic.

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Let me explain. In Jeremiah chapter 29, God has

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Jeremiah take down via dictation, a letter, an epistle that he wants written and sent to the exiles of Judah who were living in Babylon.

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Why were they living in Babylon? Because King Nebuchadnezzar showed up and God said, if you surrender to the

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King of Babylon, you will live. If you don't, you will die. And so this came in like three different waves.

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And so wave one of the people of Judah, they are now in exile. There's only a few thousand of them.

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They're in exile in Babylon and there were some false prophets among them. And the false prophets, you'll see this as we work our way through this text, were deceiving the exiles of Judah and saying, don't unpack your luggage.

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We're going to be going home. God's going to send us suddenly and we're going to experience breakthrough and Nebuchadnezzar is going to send us back to Judah.

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So don't, don't, don't get used to being here. And God is having Jeremiah write a letter to contradict the false prophecies of the false prophets who were saying that they were going to be returning from exile soon.

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And also at the tail end of the letter and the tail end of this chapter, speak words of judgment, naming one or two of the false prophets and God's judgment against them for speaking those false words.

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So here's how Jeremiah 29 works out. So these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah, the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders of the exiles and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people whom

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Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. This was after King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the eunuchs, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metal workers had departed from Jerusalem.

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The letter was sent by the hand of Elasa, the son of Shaphan and Gemariah, the son of Hilkiah, whom

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Zedekiah, the king of Judah, sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. It said, so here's the letter.

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Thus is Yahweh of armies, God of Israel to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

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Note, God is making it clear. He's the one who sent them. Build houses, live in them. Plant gardens, eat their produce.

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Take wives, have sons and daughters. Take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage that they may bear sons and daughters.

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Multiply there, do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile and pray to Yahweh in its behalf.

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For in its welfare, you will find your welfare. For thus says the

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Lord, Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel, do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you.

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Do not listen to the dreams that they dream. For it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name.

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I did not send them, declares Yahweh. For thus says Yahweh, when 70 years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.

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You're going to be there for 70 years, which means most of them are going to die there, right?

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For I know the plans I have for you, declares Yahweh. The plans for your welfare, not for evil, to give y 'all a future and a hope.

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Then you will call upon me and come to pray to me and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me.

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Then you will seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares Yahweh. And I will restore your fortunes, gather you from the nations and all the places where I've driven you, declares

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Yahweh. And I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile. Because you have said,

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Yahweh has raised up prophets for us in Babylon. Thus says Yahweh, concerning the king who sits on the throne of David and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your kinsmen who did not go out with you into exile.

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Thus says the Lord, Yahweh of armies. Behold, I am sending on them sword and famine and pestilence.

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Since you're listening to these false prophets and their lies, I'm going to send on them sword, famine, and pestilence.

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They were proclaiming peace. God's going to make everything great. We're going to be delivered. There's going to be a breakthrough.

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We're going back. And as basically God chose to punish them, ironically, with the exact opposite of what they were declaring.

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They were declaring the immediate return. God says, uh -uh, you're going to die, okay?

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You're going to die by the sword, famine, and pestilence. I will make them like vile figs that are so rotten they cannot be eaten.

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I'll pursue them with the sword, famine, and with pestilence. And I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth and a curse, a terror, a hissing, a reproach among all the nations where I've driven them.

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Because they did not pay attention to my words, declares Yahweh, that I persistently sent to you by my servants, the prophets.

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But you would not listen, declares Yahweh. So hear the word of Yahweh, all you exiles whom I sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.

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Thus says Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel, concerning Ahav, the son of Kaliah, and Zedekiah, the son of Maasaiah, who are prophesying a lie to you in my name.

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So God singles out Ahav, the son of Kaliah, and Zedekiah, the son of Maasaiah.

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Why? They're prophesying lies. Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and he shall strike them down before your eyes.

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Because of them, this curse shall be used by all the exiles from Judah and Babylon.

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Yahweh make you like Zedekiah and Ahav, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire, because they have done an outrageous thing in Israel.

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They've committed adultery with their neighbor's wives. They have spoken in my name, lying words that I did not command them.

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And I am the one who knows, and I am witness, declares Yahweh. So this is an example of God judging false prophets.

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Ironically, judging them by sending on them the very thing that they were falsely saying would never happen.

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Sword and pestilence and famine and things like this. They were declaring of health and wealth and abundance and things like that, and God sent them the exact opposite as a judgment so that people would pay attention.

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So Shemaiah, another fellow, to Shemaiah of Nehalem, you shall say, thus says

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Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel, you have sent letters in your name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah, the son of Maasaiah, the priest, and to all the priests saying,

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Yahweh has made you priest instead of Jehoiada, the priest to have charge over the house of Yahweh, over every madman who prophesies to put him in stocks and neck irons.

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Now why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who is prophesying to you? For he has sent to us in Babylon saying your exile will be long, build houses and live in them and plant gardens and eat their produce.

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So Zephaniah, the priest, read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet, and then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, send to all the exiles saying, thus says

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Yahweh concerning Shemaiah of Nehalem, because Shemaiah has prophesied to you when

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I did not send him and has made you trust in a lie. Therefore, thus says Yahweh, behold, I will punish

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Shemaiah of Nehalem and his descendants, and he shall not have anyone living among the people, and he shall not see the good that I will do to my people, declares

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Yahweh, for he has spoken rebellion against Yahweh. So I'm going to note here, here's how

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I see the death of Benny Johnson. Well, it's actually quite simple.

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It is Bill Johnson who said, I refuse to create a theology that allows for sickness. And he has been falsely prophesying and falsely teaching, he is a false prophet and a false apostle, that God always wills to heal.

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And people have trusted in these lies. And I personally believe that this is what happened to Benny Johnson is a cautionary tale and God's judgment to demonstrate that not only is

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Bill Johnson's false, but that God is judging, judging

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Bill Johnson and his family for their lies, that they're speaking in God's name.

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So he refuses to create a theology that allows for sickness. God said, fine, I'm going to strike down your wife with a four -year -long cancer battle.

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Maybe that'll sober you up. So it's exactly the same pattern we see in the prophet

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Jeremiah and other prophets of the Old Testament, when those who are false prophets are speaking false words and causing people to trust in their lies, words that God has not spoken, promises that God has not made,

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God judges and usually judges ironically. I think that's the reason why

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Fred Price died of COVID. And I also think this is the reason why Benny Johnson died of cancer.

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And you'll note, despite the fact that he refuses to create a theology that allows for sickness,

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God struck her down with a horrible sickness.

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And this stands as a warning to everybody in the church. Do not listen to this man's lies.

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Do not listen to his false prophecies and his false theology regarding healing. And instead, come back to the wholesome biblical words that are found in the scriptures.

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These are the words of God. And they assure us that even if we are sick and we die, this is all the big cosmic consequences of our sin.

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Yet in Christ, we are alive. And the promises that we have of perfect health are true, not in this lifetime, but in the one to come after he returns in glory to judge the living and the dead and calls our bodies out of the grave.

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On that day, there will be no sickness and we'll be truly restored. Do not listen to the false words and false prophecies and false theology of men like Bill Johnson.

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They are under God's judgment. It is very much akin to what we see in Jeremiah 29 of the false prophets.

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He doesn't create a theology that allows for sickness. God brought sickness on his wife.

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It's a cautionary tale. He's the one speaking lies. He's the one speaking a false gospel. Abandon Bethel.

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Abandonship. Run from them like the spiritual plague that they are. They are sending people to hell and they are visibly under the judgment of God.

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And if they do not repent, things will only get worse. That's all I have to say.

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So hopefully you found this helpful. If so, all the information on how you can share the video is down below in the description. Until next time, may

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God richly bless you and the grace and mercy won by Jesus Christ and his vicarious death on the cross for all of your sins.