Do you attend a church that believes God always wants to heal, that the miraculous and supernatural should be a normal part of life and worship? Is your church structured to be led by the offices of apostles and prophets? Is it striving to establish the Kingdom of God on earth? If so, you are in one that is striving to follow Kingdom Now Theology.
These beliefs, God always want to heal, churches should be governed by apostles and prophets, and what I’ve called Kingdom Now theology are foundational to the NAR—the New Apostolic Reformation. C. Peter Wagner, a former professor at Fuller Theological Seminary, is credited with coining the term, New Apostolic Reformation. In Apostles Today, he said it was a reformation, “because we are witnessing the most radical change in the way of ‘doing church’ since the Protestant Reformation. It is ‘apostolic’ because the recognition of the gift and office of apostle is the most radical of a whole list of changes from the old wineskin” (p. 9). Then in Dominion! Your Role In Bringing Heaven to Earth, Wagner said: “The practical theology that best builds a foundation under social transformation is dominion theology, sometimes called ‘kingdom now’” (p. 59).
This so-called movement, the New Apostolic Reformation, attempts to clothe itself in doctrinal and hermeneutical systems that sound like orthodox “Christianity,” but are actually heterodoxy and dangerously close to heresy. In turn, we will examine these beliefs particularly as they are taught by Bethel Church of Redding California and its apostle/prophet leadership pair, Bill Johnson and Kris Vallotton. The research and work of Holly Pivec and Doug Geivett in Reckless Christianity, will guide our discussion here.
Johnson teaches that God’s goodness means it is always His will to heal a person; and this “truth” is now being restored to the church. It is the Christian’s assignment is to “bring heaven to earth.” He calls this the “cornerstone” of the church’s theology. In The Supernatural Power, Johnson said what is free to operate in heaven, should be free to operate here on this planet. And what is not free to operate there should not be free to operate here. “We are out to destroy the works of the devil.” Pivec and Geivett said:
In other words, there’s no sin, or sickness, or disease, or depression, or poverty in heaven. So, for heaven to come to earth means that none of those things should be found on earth either. And it isn’t merely that sin and suffering should not, ideally, exist in the world today. Rather, Christians have been tasked to make earth’s reality as unqualified reflection of heaven. As Johnson has said, ‘My assignment isn’t to go to heaven; my assignment is to bring heaven. . . . We’ve been given a mission and that mission is to pull on the reality of that world until it manifests in this one.’
In When Heaven Invades Earth, Johnson re-interprets the Lord’s Prayer (“Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”) to mean if it exists in heaven, it is to be loosed on earth. He said this is the primary focus for all prayer. When the believer prays according to the revealed will of God, “faith is specific and focused. Faith grabs hold of that reality. Enduring faith doesn’t let go.” Supposedly this causes the circumstances here on earth to line up with heaven.
Conversely, if something does not exist in heaven, (death, sickness, poverty, addiction) it can be bound here through prayer, as we exercise the authority—the keys—given to us in Matthew 16:19. And yet his wife, Beni Johnson, died after a long battle with cancer. Despite the persistent exercise of that authority to release her healing.
Another one of the greater works that believers will bring back to earth is raising the dead. . . except when they don’t. On December 14, 2019 a two-year-old girl named Olive stopped breathing and died in her sleep. Olive’s parents (her mother was a worship leader at Bethel), following the teaching of Bethel’s leaders, believed God would raise her from the dead. In Counterfeit Kingdom, Pivec and Geivett said: “Through social media, Bethel leaders urged Christians around the world to join the parents in ‘declaring’ a resurrection because they believed their spoken words, as children of God, had the power to bring Olive back.” After six days with no success, Bethel announced the family had begun to plan a memorial service.
Bill Johnson acknowledged that no one knows for sure how much of heaven God has purposed to become manifest here on earth—which would explain why his wife was not healed and why Olive was not raised from the dead. “But we do know through Church history that it’s more than we have now.” So, there is a Dead Raising Team that goes around to churches. Pivec and Geivett said this team has trained sixty other teams worldwide to go to the scenes of accidents, hospitals, and morgues to pray for resurrections. “They claim to have seen fifteen resurrections to date.” Even Kris Vallotton claimed there have been two “dead risings” reported by their online BSSM (Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry) school.
Bethel members also practice “grave soaking” or “grave sucking.” The purpose is to “soak” up a past miracle-worker’s anointing (i.e., Smith Wigglesworth, Kathryn Kuhlman). See this Grave Soaking – AG3 Teaser on Facebook or this video by a BSSM graduate and Bethel pastor at Smith Wigglesworth’s grave in England. Bethel leaders have denied they taught or encouraged the practice. Yet, Reckless Christianity and other easily obtained evidence, such as Facebook posts, photos and videos exist. “From an outsider’s perspective, Bethel responses to the allegations look like a coverup.”
Greater Works Than These
Bill Johnson and the NAR believe that the greater works promised to the disciples in John 14:12 are miracles. He said he looked forward to the day when the Church stands up and says, “Don’t believe us unless we are doing the works that Jesus did!” He said Jesus’ statement of us doing greater works than He did has stirred the church to look for some abstract meaning to a very simple statement. Greater means greater; and the works are signs and wonders. He then went on to say this understanding, was supported by the Greek of the verse.
In When Heaven Invades Earth Johnson said, “The word greater [in John 14:12] is mizon in the Greek. It is found 45 times in the New Testament. It is always used to describe ‘quality,’ not ‘quantity.’” But he misspelled meizon, as mizon. He doesn’t say where he got his information, but it seems he used an Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon to identify meizon:
3187 μείζων [meizon /mide·zone/] adj comparative. Irregular comparative of 3173; 45 occurrences; AV translates as “greater” 34 times, “greatest” nine times, “elder” once, and “more” once. 1 greater, larger, elder, stronger.
The standard Greek lexicon, BDAG, gives the meaning for the word translated “greater” in John 14:12 as: pertaining to being above standard in intensity, great.
Here is a link to Bible Hub for 3187, meizon: https://biblehub.com/greek/3187.htm
In the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament discussion of μέγας (megas, great) in John 14:12, the author referred first to John 5:19-21. Jesus said he could not do His miracles independent of the Father. He does what he sees the Father doing; what the Father shows the Son. He said it showed the unity of purpose between the Father and the Son. “And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will.”
The great works that His disciples will do, ones greater than the miracles done by Jesus, is ζωοποιεῖν, being made alive. “Going to the Father [in John 14:12] gives Him the possibility of greater efficacy exercised through the disciples.” In other words, the greater works is the salvation of all those who the Son will raise to life, just as the Father raised Him. This is a greater thing when compared to the miracles that Christ performed. D.A. Carson said the following in his commentary about John 14:12:
The ‘signs’ and ‘works’ Jesus performed during his ministry could not fully accomplish their true end until after Jesus had risen from the dead and been exalted. Only at that point could they be seen for what they were. By contrast, the works believers are given to do through the power of the eschatological Spirit, after Jesus’ glorification, will be set in the framework of Jesus’ death and triumph, and will therefore more immediately and truly reveal the Son. Thus greater things is constrained by salvation-historical realities. In consequence many more converts will be gathered into the messianic community, the nascent church, than were drawn in during Jesus’ ministry.
Bill Johnson, again, distorts the meaning of Scripture in an attempt to support his theology. Johnson and the NAR are systematically deconstructing the theology and structure of the modern church, claiming that the “authentic gospel” or the “gospel of the kingdom” is always associated with signs and wonders: heal the sick, raise the dead, preach the gospel. “God’s goodness” means it is always God’s will to heal a person; a “truth” now being restored to the church. This is a radical departure from Scripture and not just a logical extension of charismatic, continuist belief. NAR and Johnson/Bethel Church assert a theology of the supernatural—of bringing heaven to earth—that goes beyond what the church and Scripture can claim is our mission.
This article was heavily influenced by the research and thought of Holly Pivec and R. Douglas Geivett and their books, Reckless Christianity, A New Apostolic Reformation? and Counterfeit Kingdom. Look for further articles on other aspects of “Kingdom Now.”