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Responding to a question today about Bethel Church in Redding, CA, and how their pastor Bill Johnson teaches a different gospel. Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!
Burke Parsons recently said, false teachers creep into the church not because they look like false teachers, but because they look like angels. We need to be really familiar with the word of God that we might be able to discern the truth from the lie when we understand the text.
Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text is an online ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty. Visit our website at www .utt .com.
Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes.
Thank you, Becky, who is not in studio with me yet again for another Q &A. We started recording this episode together, made it about 10 minutes, and then she started coughing, lost her voice. You couldn't understand her anymore, and so we just had to scrap it.
This respiratory thing that she and I have been fighting for the last couple of weeks still has a good hold on her. I'm not quite at 100 yet myself, but however I am on any particular day, Becky knows she's gonna catch up with that about two or three days from now.
I'm a couple of days ahead of her. Our kids are doing great. We took our kids to the doctor. They got prescriptions. They're doing fine. Becky and I didn't really take care of ourselves, and so this has been lingering for a little bit longer than it probably needed to.
So continue to keep her in your prayers, and we thank you for that. I wanted to start this episode with an apology. So two weeks ago, the last time I did a Q &A, I recommended a pair of headphones. Happens to be the headphones I'm wearing right now.
The model is the Sennheiser HD202 headphones, and I said you could find them on Amazon for about 20 or 25 bucks. Well, a couple of people pointed out to me they're not on Amazon anymore, and sure enough, I couldn't find them.
I did find them on a few overstock websites. You just kind of have to hunt around the web in order to find them and be able to find them for the price that I recommended them for. What Amazon does have now is the Sennheiser HD202 II professional headphones, and they run you 58 bucks.
So the price more than doubled on those just because they added a little number at the end of it. When I look at the picture, they're exactly the same looking headphones that I'm wearing, but anyway. Apparently, Sennheiser realized they had a pretty good product, and they could charge more for it than they were charging.
There is another pair of headphones, the Sennheiser HD206, which are about $37, what they have listed on Amazon. I've ordered a pair of those, and they should get to me before next week's Q &A. I'll get them, I'll use them, I'll give you a review, and hopefully still be able to recommend a quality pair of studio headphones that you don't have to break the bank in order to buy.
It still costs a little bit more than the headphones I thought that I was recommending, but at least they don't cost like some of these headphones that are 50, 150, 200 bucks. So anyway, hey, if you want to submit a question to the Q &A, which airs on Friday when we take questions from the listeners, send them to whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.
This first question that I have to respond to actually came to my personal email address, which isn't a big secret, it's just pastorgabehughes at gmail .com. I responded to this gentleman, and he asked that his email remain anonymous.
But here was the first email that I got from him. He said, hello, pastor. My family and I recently visited Redding, California, and chanced upon the Bethel Church there. I must admit that the Good Friday worship service we attended was so beautiful and inspiring.
When we went back to our hometown, I immediately Googled Bethel and all references to it, one of which was your commentary on their church and the misgivings that you had about their teachings. That made me concerned a little bit since we were all captivated by their beautiful service.
And I had a nagging question bugging me. On Bethel's website, it seems that salvation by faith is correctly mentioned, but why do I feel that there was something amiss in the worship service? I would appreciate your input.
Well, I responded and said that Paul said to the Thessalonians, 1 Thessalonians 5, to test everything and hold fast to what is good. And so even though this gentleman was so moved by a Good Friday service at Bethel Church, he still sought it necessary to test what it was that they preached.
And so I wanna be able to handle his request responsibly. I went to Bethel's website and tried to bring up their Good Friday service, but it isn't there. I did find the sermon that Bill Johnson preached on Easter Sunday, and I'm gonna play some clips from that here in just a moment.
Those of you who are regular listeners to this program, you know that I've brought this up before. Bethel Church is not just a church full of false teaching, they're heretical. And what Bill Johnson teaches is not of God.
You will not hear the gospel preached at Bethel Church in Redding, California. Now you'll hear that word used, gospel, and they'll use Christianese, common language that you would hear in most Protestant churches, but they mean something different whenever they use those words.
I'll give you an example of this. Here's one of the biggest examples I use whenever I'm warning somebody about Bethel Church. When they use the word gospel, what they're talking about is physical healing.
That's what Bethel Church thinks the gospel is, physical healing in your body. Listen to this clip from Bill Johnson.
The Apostle 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.
That's amazing. An angel shows up, and he brings you a different standard, a different gospel, reject it. He says, even if I come back to you and I change my mind, don't pay any attention to me. All right, what gospel is it?
It's the gospel of Jesus. It's the gospel of the kingdom. Okay, let me illustrate. Paul refers to his thorn in the flesh, which has been interpreted by many as disease allowed or brought on by God. That's a different gospel.
Jesus didn't model it, and he didn't teach it. And Paul said, you can't change the standard. That felt good.
So there you have it. Johnson is equating the gospel with physical healing. And if anyone says that the gospel is anything else or that God even allows for sickness, he even used the word allows there, then they are teaching a different gospel, which by his own admission means that he's teaching a different gospel.
And when he quoted Paul from Galatians 1, 8, and 9, when he warned the Galatians about somebody who comes preaching a different gospel, he misquoted Paul there because he didn't merely warn the Galatians about this and tell them to reject that gospel.
He said, if anyone comes to you preaching a different gospel, they are accursed, which is why you should have nothing to do with Bethel Church and this false gospel that they teach. Now, you'll notice in that particular clip that Johnson said Jesus didn't model it.
Did you catch that? Well, Johnson believes that Jesus, in his earthly ministry, was only a man and not God, and that he modeled in his humanity what Christianity is supposed to look like. So whatever Jesus did, whether it was living sinlessly or doing miraculous things, any one of us are just as capable of doing the same things that he did because he was just our model or our example of what a perfect Christian should look like.
Here is Johnson in his own words.
So what's going on here? Jesus was so emptied of divine capacity, eternally God, but he chose to live with the restrictions as man, why? To set a model, to set something to follow, an example. His lifestyle, if he did all of his miracles as God, I'm still impressed, but I'm not compelled to follow.
I just stand back and go, wow, that's amazing. God, do some more. That's awesome, do some more, God.
I gotta stop him right there for a second. That is just an absolutely astounding statement to me that if Jesus was very man and very God, truly man and truly God, then Bill Johnson's not impressed. He's not compelled to follow him.
If he did those things, if he did the things that he did as God, be like, wow, that's amazing, do some more, but he's not compelled to follow him. In other words, God to Bill Johnson is not enough. And he has to see Jesus do the amazing things that he did as a human, and then he would be impressed.
That's absurd, that is absolutely absurd. To say God is not enough, you have to meet my requirements according to these standards, and then I will be impressed, that's what atheists say. Well, God needs to do this, this, and this for me, and then I will believe.
Exact same argument that Johnson is saying there. So let's continue.
But when I find out that he set aside divinity and chose to display what life would be like for anyone who had no sin and was completely empowered by the spirit of God, he modeled something that is made available because the blood of Jesus was shed to deal with the sin issue.
There is no lack in the power or the effectiveness of the blood of Jesus. There was nothing he left outside of its reach. There's nothing, if he had it to do over again, he would include that he didn't already include.
It's all covered. When he declared it's finished, he meant it. He meant it is a complete job, and it is more than sufficient for absolute transformation.
Notice there that Johnson says that the blood of Jesus was sufficient for absolute transformation. Where is that in the Bible? The blood of Jesus was sufficient for justification so that we have right standing before God, our sins are forgiven, and we have been accepted into God's eternal kingdom because of the shed blood of Christ, and our faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ is our justification.
That's what Jesus meant when he said on the cross, it is finished, that work of atonement was done, not the work of transformation. Johnson's not even pointing to where he's getting that from in the text.
What he's saying is that by believing in Jesus, your sins are forgiven, and you will never sin again because Jesus has dealt with the sin issue and he modeled for us what it means to live in sinless perfection.
It's not at all what scripture says. The scripture doesn't say anywhere that we will live sinlessly after we become a Christian. On the contrary, Jesus taught us to pray in Matthew chapter six, in the Lord's prayer, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
And that's a daily prayer that we pray. For part of that prayer is that we would, that God would give us our daily bread. First John 1, nine tells us that if we ask forgiveness for our sins, God is faithful and just to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
That's being spoken to believers, not to unbelievers. John's address was to believers. If we ask forgiveness, God will forgive us our sins. When we came to faith in Jesus Christ, we were immediately justified, but we were not yet fully sanctified.
In Johnson's description of salvation there, there's no room for sanctification. You are apparently completely sinless and able to live this perfect sinless life. Well, then there's no sanctification.
There's no growing in holiness. There's no being shaped into the image of Christ as is talked about in Romans 8, 29. You're already there. So there's no shaping to do and there's no pursuit of holiness to be done.
This is all false doctrine and it's all heretical. For if a person has not been justified, they won't be sanctified. And if a person is not being sanctified, then they haven't been justified. This is Paul saying to the Philippians, he who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it on the day of Christ.
So let's go on with this description from Johnson here.
So what does he do? He models for us the normal Christian life. Jesus is the most normal Christian in the Bible. A good point, he's the most normal Christian in the Bible. It's absolutely true. He's the most normal Christian in the Bible.
He displayed what was possible for any human being to live free of sin because of the blood of Jesus.
And empowered by the spirit of God. Those long pauses in there, what you don't see in the video that I took this audio from, he's congratulating himself for his point. Like he kind of steps off the stage a little bit and points at the pulpit as though it's where he said, that's a really good point.
He's congratulating himself for the point that he just made. He's amazed at himself for what it is that he is saying. Very, very full of himself. I know Johnson comes across as this like kind old uncle sort of a thing.
And that's what's so compelling about what he preaches and the way that he teaches it. But this is a man who is very big on himself. And that's what he was doing there at that part of the sermon. He's kind of encouraging, are you not amazed by what it is that I'm saying to you?
That's kind of the gesture that he's making to his audience there. That was why there was that big long pause. But you hear him say, Jesus modeled for us what a normal Christian is supposed to look like.
My friends, Jesus was not a Christian. A follower of Jesus is a Christian. Jesus is God. And at no point did he ever stop being God. I know that Johnson and others that teach like he does will go to Philippians 2 .6, where it says, though he was in the form of God, he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but he emptied himself by taking the form of a servant.
This is just simply Paul saying that Jesus left his throne in heaven, took on human flesh, and became obedient to the will of the father. But it is not Paul saying that Jesus ceased to be God. For in Hebrews 13 .8, we read, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
He never stopped being God. He took on humanity, but in his divinity, he was still one with the father and even said so himself. So what Johnson is teaching here is heresy. And these are the two main clips, the two clips that I've played for you, that I will go back to to emphasize just how off he is in his teaching.
He'll use Christianese and he'll make it sound like he's just as Protestant as any other Protestant church. But when you get down to the nitty gritty of it and you find him defining his terms, then you realize just how far off the mark he really is.
So that brings us to the sermon that he just preached on Easter Sunday. He starts off in 1 Corinthians 15 and starts off rather strong. I just taught through 1 Corinthians 15 at the end of 2017. And he's using this passage to talk about how because Christ is risen from the dead, if you believe in Jesus, you likewise will receive the resurrection from the dead.
Starts out pretty good, but then once he starts defining his terms, things get a little bit wonky.
The resurrection of Jesus is absolutely central to our faith and the evidence and the proof of that resurrection besides the obvious historical evidence is the present day evidence of drug addicts that are no longer addicted to drugs.
People that have been in torment from sin that are no longer in torment to sin. Lifestyles that were going to hell this way and now are lived in great peace this way. It's the, how many of you have experienced a personal miracle of healing in your body since you've been here?
Put a hand up, I want to see how many. Absolute miracle of healing in your body. That is a demonstration of the resurrection of Christ.
No, it's not. None of that is an evidence of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And here's the ironic thing. Johnson just read from 1 Corinthians 15. As I mentioned, that was how he started out where Paul is giving the evidences for the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
In none of those evidences do we see current modern day miracles as one of the proofs of the resurrection of Jesus. Johnson just read it. And then he made up his own evidence for the resurrection of Christ.
Here's what we read in 1 Corinthians 15. Paul says in verse three, for I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures.
So what's the first evidence that Paul puts forward for the resurrection of Jesus Christ? The Bible. What was said in the Old Testament was confirmed by Christ when he died on the cross and rose from the grave according to the scriptures.
There's our first proof that the resurrection actually happened. Then Paul gives eyewitness testimony, verse five. Then he appeared to Cephas, then the 12. Then he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.
Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. I am the least of the apostles unworthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God.
But by the grace of God, I am what I am. So Paul appeals to eyewitness testimony and then his own testimony to having seen the risen Christ. And the word of an apostle was just as valid as the word of Christ.
For an apostle is one who is sent by Christ to speak his word. After that, Paul goes into logic arguments for the resurrection of Christ. And he makes seven if-then statements between verses 12 and 19.
Now, if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection from the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. On and on Paul goes, including in verse 17, if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you're still in your sins.
But then he comes back to the factual evidence again in verse 20, but in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. All of these evidences that Paul puts forth in the scriptures for the matter of fact, resurrection of Jesus Christ are not good enough to Bill Johnson, which is why he dismisses them entirely and says, eh, they're obvious evidences.
The greater evidence for the resurrection of Christ is that you've received healing in your body. Raise your hand if anyone has received healing since you've been here at Bethel Church. Again, this is boasting in himself, not pointing other people to Christ, but subjective experiences.
And that is how you know that Jesus Christ has risen from the dead. It's astounding that he will read it and then make up something entirely apart from what the text says. And that actually is what we hear him do in this next clip from the same sermon.
So then he goes to the book of John and he reads the account of Peter and John running to the tomb and finding that the tomb is empty and Jesus is not there and his burial clothes have been folded up neatly.
So here's Johnson continuing in this sermon.
Then Simon Peter came following him and went into the tomb and he saw the linen cloths lying there and a handkerchief that had been around his head not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself.
I've heard quite a few times now concerning Jewish tradition, that if we are all Jews in Israel and you were to invite me to your home for a meal and I thought the food was the worst food I had ever eaten, don't get mad at me, it's an illustration.
At the end of the meal, there was a tradition. Instead of telling you how much I hated the food, I would fold my napkin in a certain way and I would put it on the plate and that folded napkin would be telling you I will never eat this meal again.
And so Jesus, the handkerchief, folded laying by itself, declared I will never taste of death again.
Yep, that little story he just shared there is a complete myth, has no basis in fact whatsoever. He read it on the internet somewhere and he thought it sounded cool and so without doing any research to verify whether or not it was an actual Jewish custom, he's repeating it to his audience as though it is something historically significant and it's not at all.
Why was Jesus' cloth that was on his face set apart and folded away from the rest of the burial cloths? We don't have any idea, except that John is just being very descriptive as to what he saw when he and Peter got to the tomb and found it empty.
There may be no significance whatsoever to the face cloth which had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. It may not have any, there may be nothing particularly relevant about that except that John was just being terribly specific.
Now where Johnson said that Jesus will never taste death again, well we can go to the scriptures and find that without using these silly myths to impress his audience. Romans 6, 9, and 10. We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again.
Death no longer has dominion over him. For the death that he died, he died to sin once for all but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
We can find that in the scriptures. We don't have to tell these fanciful stories that deviate from the truth of scripture but I think I've already demonstrated Bill Johnson is not interested in the truth whether we're talking about major essential doctrinal issues or even these small little tiny things like explaining the face burial cloth of Jesus.
Didn't even do his research on that one. I actually have a few other clips from this sermon singled out to play but I think I've made my point really. I think it would just be overkill to continue to play any more of these clips from that particular sermon.
So I thank the gentleman who emailed me and I hope that this explanation was thorough enough as to why Bethel Church's teaching is so problematic and why it should be avoided. Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life.
He who believes in me though he die, yet shall he live. We have been promised the resurrection of Jesus for all who believe in him. Your sins are forgiven and when you die, you will be present with the Lord forever in glory.
What a wonderful promise and there is nothing else the world can offer us that is greater than that, than this gift of life that has been given to us through Jesus Christ. And so rejoice in him for no one can snatch you away from the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord.
I had some other questions that I was gonna be responding to here but I think I'm gonna wrap up there and save these questions for next week when God willing Becky will be able to join me for the next Q &A.
If you have any questions you would like to submit our email address is whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com. Let's conclude with prayer and then we'll be wrapped up for this week. Our wonderful God, our heavenly father, we thank you for the love that you have shown to us through your son Jesus Christ.
By his death on the cross, we have been forgiven our sins and we have been adopted into the family of God as your sons and daughters. And you have shown us favor by making us fellow heirs with Christ of your eternal kingdom.
The world has nothing for us that has not been richly provided for us in Jesus Christ. And so I pray that the promises that we have considered today fill us up with hope and you keep us steadfast according to the truth of your words so that we will not be led astray by these false teachers, the schemes of Satan that tries to snatch away our hope.
Instead we cling to Jesus Christ and as we draw near to God, we know the devil will flee from us as James talks about in James chapter four. So continue to grow us in the knowledge of your word and in Christ Jesus in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge as Paul talks about in Colossians chapter two.
Thank you for the resurrection of the dead in Jesus Christ our Lord, in whose name we pray, amen. This is When We Understand the Text.
With Pastor Gabe Hughes. There are lots of great Bible teaching programs on the web and we thank you for selecting ours. But this is no replacement for regular fellowship with a church family. Find a good gospel teaching Christ-centered church to worship with this weekend and join us again Monday for more Bible study when we understand the text.