Originally copyrighted in 2003, When Heaven Invades Earth has become the textbook or blueprint for all Bethel seeks to do when training students in their School of Supernatural Ministry. It models the kind of praxis they seek to spread globally, laying the theological and doctrinal foundation of what they want to teach others about their sense of the gospel and the kingdom of God. A central tool for this process is how Bethel uses music in worship. In Part 1, Bill Johnson was quoted as saying, “It’s in the environment of worship that we learn things that go way beyond what our intellect can grasp.” Here we’ll look at how this has been put into practice at Bethel and other churches modeled on Bethel, as they try to reshape how the church worships God.
In “Toxic Worship Music,” a chapter in their book, Counterfeit Kingdom, Holly Pivec and Doug Geivett said: “We believe NAR music is a trojan horse for the NAR movement.” They said that music originating from organizations like Bethel Music, Jesus Culture, Hillsong Music, Forerunner Music and others, is one of the main ways the NAR (New Apostolic Reformation) gains entrance into churches globally. Particularly in America and Australia, the music of these groups is used regularly in worship services. Pivec and Geivett said it was no surprise that Bethel Music has garnered several awards and nominations.
One example of the influence and awards of Bethel Music is the song “Goodness of God,” which won the song of the year for the GMA Dove Awards in 2023. Jenn Johnson, the CEO of Bethel Music, had the original idea for the song. The CCLI, Christian Copyright Licensing International, listed “Goodness of God,” as its top listed song. A Church Copyright License permits a local church to project or print out the words to the song. Brian Johnson, who is Bill Johnson’s son, and his wife Jenn, are among the listed authors for “Goodness of God,” while “Holy Forever,” another song they coauthored, is the CCLI’s number two song.
In a video series called “Rediscover Bethel- Episode 1” on YouTube, Bill Johnson and Dan Farley discussed their theology and their understanding of how they sing the gospel over themselves at Bethel. Using the Wesley’s (John and Charles) as an example, Johnson said a musician can put theology into music. They wrote the theology into music, “Because it helped people to remember it.” Pivec and Geivett said sketchy NAR teachings have been embedded in many popular worship songs and they gave several examples of where they thought this was true. They said: “The fact that music contains NAR theology is not accidental.”
WorshipU and Bethel
On Facebook, in a now private group for WorshipU, Bill Johnson was quoted as saying: “Music bypasses all of the intellectual barriers, and when the anointing of God is on a song, people will begin to believe things they wouldn’t believe through teaching.” Although it cannot be accessed publicly on Facebook, several people did see and documented it. These individuals included Owen Strachen, the Provost and a Professor of Theology at Grace Bible Theological Seminary, Justin Peters of Justin Peters Ministries, and Dawn Hill, the Lovesick Scribe, who was active in the NAR for 18 years as a “prophet” before coming out from it. Quoting Justin Peters, Strachen said:
Though he did not intend to do it, Bill Johnson just revealed the key to the charismatic movement’s success. Repetitive, emotionally charged music disengages the mind and makes one malleable. It makes one believe subjective experiences over and against objective truth.
Strachen noted how this exists beyond Bethel and is part of why the church must be VERY CAREFUL about what songs we sing in corporate worship. “If we would not commend the books of a given group, we should not sing the songs of that group.” He said in a way that is hard to quantify, music can lead toward unhealthy influences.
Dawn Hill wrote “Bethel’s No Good, Very Bad Vibrations” on her Lovesick Scribe website. She has a podcast and YouTube channel, where you can listen to (among other topics) her testimony, “I Was a False Prophet.” She said: “I ministered words that I thought God was speaking to me. And I even penned God’s name to them saying, ‘The Lord spoke this’ or ‘The Lord spoke that’ and I never tested it against Scripture.” She was also a worship leader in her former church. She said music is a powerful thing.
Music is an important part of our praise and worship unto the Lord, and the words we sing to Him reflect our theology. I am a firm believer that doxology reflects our theology, and it matters what we are singing to God. If we have a poor or confused understanding of who God is in our lives and how He is to be exalted, then praise and worship music may become more self-focused with God at the periphery. It is important that we understand the importance of singing songs that are doctrinally sound and truly glorifying God.
The God Vibration
After posting the Bill Johnson photo and quote about music for WorshipU, Dawn said WorshipU was a group created by Bethel that aims to equip “worship teams to lead people into profound experience with God that transforms lives.” She noted where one of the teachings there by Dan McCollam centered on the importance of the God vibration. He emphasizes how everything has a vibration, and that when sound wave is encoded with intention, “it becomes a carrier wave accomplishing the purposes of God.” She said he taught the students that if their words resonated on God’s frequency and his words resonated in them, “then the universe will respond to their words as if it is God speaking.”
She said this teaching was concerning because McCollam’s teachings are founded on New Age practices. Hill then mentioned a book, The Physics of Heaven, with chapters written by various Bethel contributors, including Bill Johnson and Dan McCollam. It was available for years in their online bookstore, but was pulled soon after Mike Winger posted a video on YouTube last year: “Bethel and Bill Johnson’s Bridge to the New Age and Spiritual Fakery.” Winger said The Physics of Heaven seeks to build a bridge between Christianity and the New Age. One of the authors, Judy Franklin, attended Bethel when she cowrote the book. Winger said Franklin was one of the “go to” people to help others learn how to take trips to heaven; and to experience visions and to move towards the New Age. “It’s not good.”
McCollam’s chapter in The Physics of Heaven is titled “The God Vibration.” There he attempts to associate quantum physics and string theory with Scripture. He said, “Does the Bible give any evidence to support the idea that vibration is at the center of created matter? If so, what is it?” He attempted to say the answer to those questions was in Genesis 1:1-3:
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
McCollam said God first created the nuclear matter that would be necessary for forming everything pertaining to the heavens and earth. Next, the Holy Spirit “moved or hovered” over the atomic particles that verse 2 referred to as “without form and void.” Seeming to use Strong’s Lexicon, he said ‘hovering’ in the original Hebrew could be defined as “vibrated” in modern scientific terms. McCollam claimed this tells us, “The Holy Spirit vibrated over nuclear matter to energize it, giving it the ability to be shaped and formed.”
Therefore it could be said that the Holy Spirit vibrated over the formless universe. Vibrations are the forces that hold particle matter together. Light waves, sound waves, and electromagnetic waves released by the “God vibration” enabled the particle matter of the universe to take on specific form.
I believe that the string or vibration at the center of all matter in the universe is in fact the sound wave from the word God spoke over each created thing at its entry into existence. His voice, that God vibration, is the glue holding all creation together.
McCollam seems to be using what Denis Lamoureux referred to as scientific concordism to interpret Genesis 1:1-3. In The Bible & Ancient Science, Lamoureux said this was an approach to biblical interpretation that suggests there is an alignment between Scripture and modern scientific explanations of the material world. This assumes the Holy Spirit revealed modern scientific truths to the biblical writers. Along with Lamoureux, we should reject scientific concordist interpretations of Scripture.
He pointed out that as science advances, new facts about the natural world are discovered, and can then demonstrate where the concordist interpretation was incorrect. He gave an example of how Martin Luther wrongly used concordism to align Scripture to the geocentric view of the universe. “Moreover, should any Christian cling to scientific concordism and make it an essential component of their faith, new scientific discoveries may damage their belief in both God and the Bible.”
McCollam also has no biblical warrant to say the Hebrew word rāḥap in Genesis 1:2 could be defined as “vibrated.” According to HALOT, the Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, rāḥap means to hover or tremble. It only occurs in Genesis 1:2 and Deuteronomy 32:11, where the context leads to translate it as flutters: “Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that flutters over its young.” As we noted Bill Johnson doing in Part 1, McCollam seems to be misinterpreting Scripture in his attempt to biblically support his theological worldview.
Doxology Reflects Theology
Dawn Hill said we do not need to understand vibrations in order for our praise and worship to be more effective. Worshipping the Lord with understanding has nothing to do with “a sound wave having an intention and becoming a carrier wave so that God can fulfill His purposes.” This creates a god that needs our assistance, and does not correspond to the God of Scripture. As someone who for years subscribed to Bethel’s teachings and sang their songs privately and when leading worship, she urged her readers to “Run from Bethel.”
A theology with New Age trappings is a dangerous one because it leads away from the exaltation of Jesus Christ and down the path of self-exaltation. It leads to another Christ. Doxology reflects theology. If these types of teachings are engrained into the worship of Bethel, it is sobering to think what else may be passed off as divine revelation that is bypassing those intellectual barriers and being identified as the anointing. We are to include our mind in worshiping God, whether in song or in every area of our lives. The Bible commands it, and that is enough.
Jesse Westwood is another example of someone who came out of the Bethel/NAR sphere of churches and like Dawn Hill, he also has a background of leading worship in charismatic churches. He believes if you disagree with Bethel theologically, you shouldn’t lead their songs or worship music. He went to the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry (BSSM), attending all 3 years. He interned at their recording studio. He said when it comes down to it, it’s all about the money. See “Should you Lead Worship Songs From/Written by Bethel Music?”
ProPublica published the tax filings for Bethel Music since its inception as a tax-exempt organization in 2015. In 2016, their royalties were $2,611,785; 18.5% of their total revenue. By 2018, their royalties had increased to $3,088,887; 24.7% of their total revenue. In 2020, their royalties were $6,138,115; 54.6% of their total revenue. In 2023, the year “Goodness of God” won the Dove Award for song of the year, their royalties were $15,807,558; 86% of their total income.
Westwood said when you play their songs, or use CCLI, go to a concert or watch their stuff on YouTube, “This is all money you are sending to them to spread their mission work.” That work is their sense of so-called revival culture, of Kingdom now theology and other NAR beliefs. Over 16% of the top 40 Christian songs have Bethel artists or Bethel-affiliated artists. ‘They are really saturating the market with their music.” He predicted over the next ten years, Bethel would become the Mecca for the hyper-charismatic, NAR movement. “That’s what they’re positioning themselves to become.”
Bill has said, and stated clearly multiple times that their music is a tool to bring them into Bethel culture; like to bring them into the world that is Bethel. It’s not just like, ‘Hey, let’s just make some extra money so Brian and Jenn [Johnson] can support themselves, it is actually a tool that they use to bring people into Bethel to spread the message of revival, of Kingdom Now. That’s kind of Bethel’s big thing—revival is now; revival is alive; revival is a lifestyle. And a big part of their music is for that. (at approximately 13:22 minutes of the video)
Bethel’s culture hasn’t changed. And that’s the part I guess I’m trying to get across is that even though the songs have become more and more theologically just kind of neutral or basic; or maybe entry level Christianity, and they’re not these big … it doesn’t feel you’re at a charismatic church with their stuff. It’s just a big top 40 well-produced song. Even though the songs have gotten that way, the culture at Bethel hasn’t changed at all from where it was when they first started. It’s still the Supernatural School of Ministry; they’re still pursuing all that stuff; they’re still the prophetic and they’re encouraging people to fail at prophecy. That’s all still there. So, if we disagree with that culture and we disagree with that theology, as we have with this whole time; we’re not sharing all these books like The Physics of Heaven and When Heaven Invades Earth, The Supernatural Ways of Royalty … and all these Bethel books. And if you’re not sharing those and you’re not promoting those at your church, are you going to promote their music? Are you going to do their songs? (at approximately 52 minutes of the video)
In Counterfeit Kingdom, Holly Pivec and Doug Geivett said when churches use NAR music, Bethel or Jesus Culture or IHOP (International House of Prayer), they are communicating these are okay churches, perhaps even good churches. Using their songs can legitimize those churches in the eyes of the congregation. Support for Bethel Music undercuts any meaningful effort to cross-examine or critique the theology and practice of Bethel Church and its leaders. “Even songs that are innocent in themselves can be dangerous when an agenda lies behind them.”
