Bethel Church and the New Age

Lately there have been allegations against Bethel Church in Redding, CA, that the church is, in fact, being used as a vessel of combining the New Age with Christianity, and therefore creating some sort of heretical hybrid. These claims assert that Bill Johnson, the leader of Bethel church, is front and foremost leading in this direction. These are serious allegations, for if true they would also mean that Bill Johnson and the leadership at Bethel is not merely deceived, but also actively promoting a plan of deception which elevates the kingdom of darkness over the Kingdom of God. This would make Bill Johnson and his leadership team false teachers and prophets. Not a charge to be taken lightly.  As a former student of Bethel's School of Supernatural Ministry, I have decided that I would like to address the allegations specifically made in Lighthouse Trails Research booklet entitled, The New Age Propensities of Bethel Church's Bill Johnson.  

Before I continue it should be noted that the majority of these allegations are in response
to writings in the book The Physics of Heaven, written by Judy Franklin and Bill Johnson. It should also be noted that I spent two years learning, serving, worshipping, and being fully immersed in the culture of Bethel's church. I am also an educated minister of the Gospel, I believe fully in scripture as the immutable Word of God, I believe in the Triune God, and I believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and savior and as the only way to the Father. I also, before attending Bethel, was a huge skeptic and critically analyzed them well before I ever even thought of attending the school. Therefore I believe I am perfectly suited to respond to these allegations from people who have done nothing but read a book and take quotes out of context to reach a verdict.   

Allegation #1: Bill Johnson believes in "kenosis", a teaching that Christ laid aside His divine attributes and walked the earth as a completely limited, human man.  

The real truth is that Bill Johnson teaches OVER and OVER again that Jesus was both 100% God AND 100% man. I have personally heard him say this close to 100 times. However, Johnson also does teach that Christ limited His divinity in order to walk as man. But is that un-Biblical or even "kenosis" as the writers at Lighthouse believe?   First of all, it's obviously not un-Biblical to believe that Jesus limited Himself as a man.  Jesus was in flesh and bled and died. It's  common sense that He would have to limit Himself in order to live like that. The Bible also tells us that Jesus went hungry (Matt. 4:2) and that Jesus was tempted (Luke 4:2, Hebrews 2:18). So the logic would be that if "kenosis" weren't at all true in regards to Jesus, then God in heaven is also going hungry at times, is suffering pain, and has to fight through temptation.

To argue otherwise is unbiblical, and I would argue that to believe that is actually the heresy.  The verb of "kenosis" actually is used in the New Testament 5 times, including in Phil. 2:7 when it says that Jesus "emptied Himself."  

But let's not stop there. Maybe the writers at Lighthouse mean something else. Maybe they meant "Kenotic Theology." I was unfamiliar with what this was, so I researched and found an excellent article by apologist Dan Musick which broke down "Kenotic Theology" as follows:  

a) It destroys the integrity of the atonement by assuming that Jesus wasn't a perfect sacrifice.

b) It distorts the Christian view of the incarnation. 

c) They deny the immutability of God

d) It undermines the monotheistic distinctive of the Christian faith.       

  The logic here is that if a "kenotic" doesn't believe that Jesus was fully God as well as fully man, the sacrifice of Jesus was a lesser sacrifice, one that couldn't possibly have accomplished what the Bible tells us it did. That a "kenotic" wouldn't understand the divine nature of Christ, and that a true "kenotic" is somehow seeing Jesus as a separate God.   

It is here that I will say from my own experience under Bill Johnson I have never heard anything but awe and wonder when it comes to the atonement. Johnson also fully believes in the perfection of Jesus as God. Here are his own words from Face to Face with God in a chapter titled Jesus: The Face of God.    

 "One of the most important features of the gospel message is that the nature of the Father is perfectly seen in Jesus Christ. Jesus was a manifestation of the Father's nature. Whatever is thought to be in conflict between the Father in the Old Testament and the Son in the new Testament is in fact wrong. All inconsistencies in the revelation of the nature of God between the Old and New Testaments are cleared up in Jesus christ. Jesus demonstrated the Father in everything He did. In short, Jesus is perfect theology. (pg. 106)    

   …The portrait of God the Father, as seen in Jesus Christ, is wonderfully clear. (pg. 107)   

    ... To say that Jesus came both to manifest the face of God and illustrate the quest for His face may sound a little confusing, but both are true." (pg. 108)      

 If that doesn't sound like a man convinced that Jesus was God then I don't know what does. My personal experience testifies that Bill Johnson believes in the full divinity of Jesus, and so do his own written words. This is a false accusation against the man, easily disproved. Bill Johnson, in no way whatsoever, is a "kenotic theologian".   

Allegation #2: Bill Johnson and Bethel believe in a Second Pentecost and are Dominionists       

In two years at Bethel there are two things I never once heard: Second Pentecost, or "Dominion" in regards to modern believers taking over the world. Even the writers at Lighthouse fully reached this conclusion based on three quotes from one book, and only one of the quotes even says the word "dominion" (the quote which didn't come from someone at Bethel, I might add), and none of the quotes contain the words "Second Pentecost." 

 The truth is that Bethel doesn’t believe in a Second Pentecost. It believes we only needed the one. Bethel does believe that each generation has the chance to surpass the previous generation in terms of revelation of God and in terms of how to live in the Spirit. They also believe that as the Spirit moves things will actually get better on earth. So if that is "dominionism" so be it. It's how they interpret Scripture and it's how I interpret scripture, but there's nothing unscriptural about it.      

I would say that if one does think there is something unscriptural about it, then stop helping people, because you shouldn't be trying to improve the world if it can't be improved. Also, put down your C.S. Lewis book, because Lewis couldn't possibly have revelation that you couldn't get from the Bible, could he? The truth is, inside we all believe what Bethel teaches on this, we just don't allow ourselves to say it. Otherwise no Christians would ever work to improve the world, nor would we ever listen to a preacher or read a book to further our understanding of God.      

This twisted logic is a waste of time and fully displays how far the writers at Lighthouse are reaching to attack someone when they really don't have much to attack about.   

Allegation #3: Bethel believes that God will use sound to impart power on believers       

What is the big deal here? Sound is somehow now New Age? Sound is actually a very biblical representation of God's work. C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien both wrote in their fiction that God used sound to create the universe. Last I checked no Christian had any problem with those guys.  

  Lighthouse's writers assert that in The Physics of Heaven the writers are making God a "cosmic quantum force" instead of a "Creator separate from His creation." They base this assumption on the fact that the writers of the book talk about God using sound to impact creation, and that maybe there are some keys in that sound.      

It should be noted that the BIble is full of verses describing the power of sound. Joshua wins the battle of Jericho with sound. The sound of the trumpet announces battles. The sound of the Spirit at Pentecost was "like a rushing wind". God's voice was like the "sound of many waters" (Ezek. 43:2). God sends His angels with trumpet sounds (Matt. 24:31). David wrote that "deep calls unto deep at the noise of your waterfalls" (Psalm 42:7). The raising of Ezekiel's bones are preceded by a great noise (Ezek. 37:7). 

    There is nothing anti-Biblical about the notion of sound carrying power in it. In fact I would argue the opposite. The notion that this idea comes from the New Age is simply wrong. It predates New Age beliefs by thousands of years! If anything, this belief originally comes from the Bible. If the writers at Lighthouse actually used history while researching these things, they would realize that. This is the biggest issue with what the writers at Lighthouse are trying to assert. They claim that these are New Age beliefs, but that claim doesn't hold up historically or Biblically. 

    Bethel does believe that the New Age has stolen many ideas from Biblical Christianity. If the readers of Lighthouse had ever read anything by Christian mystics from previous generations (writings recognized by many traditional churches both Catholic and Protestant) that pre-dated New Age beliefs, they would learn that Bethel is actually correct in this, and they are the ones who are wrong.     

Allegation #4:Bethel believes in Contemplative Meditation

This allegation is 100% true, kind of. What isn't true is the heart of the allegation. The heart of the allegation is that Bethel believes in New Age meditation, which requires the emptying of one's mind. Bethel does not endorse such meditation in any way. Bethel believes in "Contemplative Meditation" which is taking scripture and then meditating on it. 

    You know, just like Isaac did (Gen. 24:23) 

    And Joshua did (Jos. 1:8) 

    And David did (Psalm 4:4, Psa. 63:6, Psa. 77, Psa. 119) 

    And Malachi (Mal. 3:16) 

    And Paul (Phil. 4:8, 1 Tim. 4:15).  

I studied under Bonnie Johnson (no relation to Bill) for a class. She was specifically teaching upon the mystics and she EMPHATICALLY taught about how Christian meditation is about filling the mind and not emptying it. Bill Johnson and Beni also taught the same.  

This allegation is once again one made by people who have taken things out of context and have actually no idea what they are talking about. This is a very clear example of their desire to attack Bethel simply for the sake of attacking it, when the truth is that with just a little more research they would have found that they are wrong.  

Conclusion:  

   Finally, there are other smaller allegations made, but it all comes down to one thing, do Bill Johnson and Bethel really believe in pursuing the New Age and marrying it with Christianity?  

The answer, flat out, is NO. What Bethel does believe is that the New Age belief system has taken parts of truth and twisted them. It also believes that the church has grown so afraid of these things because of this that the Church is avoiding reclaiming much of what God meant for us.  

Bethel, in this case, is absolutely right.  

I can attest personally that Bethel would never pursue something that is against the words and nature of the Bible. I can attest to that as someone who was there for two years and spent as much as 50 hours a week in their school and church. I got to know many of the leaders as well as other staff members. To make such a terrible claim against them is actually offensive to me, as many of them are some of the most amazing, wonderful, caring, and honest lovers of God that I have ever known.  

When it comes to New Age things such as meditation, energy, and sound, who is the uneducated person who honestly thinks those ideas originated in the New Age movement? The Bible and the writings of believers (many of them saints in the Catholic church) for hundreds of years spoke of such things in connection with God long before New Age beliefs came along. Bethel is merely making the attempt to reclaim them, rightfully so, for the church.  

This is not something new in the Church, it is simply something that has been forgotten. At one time Christmas and Easter were pagan holidays, but that turned out pretty good for us didn't it? 

My conclusion is that the writers at Lighthouse have been intellectually dishonest in their slandering of Bill Johnson and Bethel church. I say this as someone who is both historically and theologically well-educated, as well as someone who actually knows the people being slandered. I find the pamphlet written by Lighthouse to be terribly lacking in any real research. It has no journalistic integrity either, as it made no attempts to either interview the people it is attacking, nor to interview people with actual experience with Bethel church or Bill Johnson. The pamphlet also shows that writers either blatantly ignored or simply do not know well their scripture or their history. Things that should be well researched before attacking the reputation of others.  

  Bill Johnson, and others at Bethel, are amazing people who have a lot to teach us. Before you make your decision based upon some angry, poorly researched blog, do what I did, and go to the source. You won't be disappointed.