Bethel: Deception and Heresy An Earnest Call to Discernment...Bethel: Deception and Heresy – An...

Bethel: Deception and Heresy – An Earnest Call to Discernment

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“I know after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock” (Acts

20:29).

There's a Bethel Music concert coming to Toronto soon, and while many are

excited—I'm a bit less than overjoyed to say the least. This is not a concern which revolves

around secondary issues such as musical style, fog machines or lasers though, but rather

one which is substantially important. These are not simply issues we can "agree to

disagree" on. I believe that there are some issues which I will not push on too hard to cause

division because they are not definitional to Christianity, so grace and understanding are

needed. However, one of the greatest dangers the Church faces is not from the outside, but

rather from the inside. From wolves who sell lies,

"namely: emotionalism over doctrine; feelings over truth; relevance over repentance;

experiential subjectivity over biblical objectivity; safety in and acceptance by the world

over self-denial and faithful cross-bearing; eisegesis over exegesis; Christianese over

communication; CEO’s over shepherds; coaches over elders…"1

Yes, those are sharp words. However, when wolves stalk the sheep, it is appropriate

to draw the blade. I've intentionally tried to steer clear of personal attacks against specific

individuals or groups in the past as that's sometimes not the best way to go about things.

1 Tony Miano, "Penciled Prayers: Fierce Wolves" - http://crossencountersmin.com/uncategorized/penciled-prayers-

fierce-wolves/

http://biblia.com/bible/esv/Acts%2020.29http://biblia.com/bible/esv/Acts%2020.29http://crossencountersmin.com/uncategorized/penciled-prayers-fierce-wolves/http://crossencountersmin.com/uncategorized/penciled-prayers-fierce-wolves/


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People tend to be a lot more defensive when their favourite teacher/pastor/singer is

named and criticized as opposed to when you simply refute the teaching itself. This is why

most of the focus here will be on the teaching of Bethel. I know that this post will not be a

popular one, and there will come all sorts of charges of creating division, being too harsh,

criticizing fellow brothers, and a whole host of other accusations. Such is the risk though of

stating the truth in a culture that has become opposed to any absolute assertion of truth

and sissified into accepting all things under the guise of a redefinition of "tolerance" so that

we can no longer meaningfully have any discussion. The greatest sin nowadays is no longer

a departure from truth, but rather an assertion that there is truth and it is worth defending!

"Niceness" has become the be-all-end-all of the discussion, and calling out a lie is not

considered "nice".

Worth the risk

It's a risk I'm willing to take though because I think the stakes are high enough on

this one. Furthermore, it is one which affects me personally, since I know friends who are

caught up in this Bethel movement and as of yet, it seems, have not been able to see the

danger. True friends warn each other of impending

danger—so take this as the faithful wounds of a friend. I'm

not out to attack Bethel just to get my jollies on or stir up

controversy—but rather speaking out because I think it is

deceptive and dangerous. Theology matters, especially

when it isn't just some minor discrepancy over a secondary

issue but rather a perversion of essential Christian truth,

Christ and the Gospel.

"But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the

one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say

again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him

be accursed." (Galatians 1:8-9)

Some will say, how can we criticize what is obviously a work of the Spirit—people

are getting healed, these people love God, they use the Bible, etc. Their music is powerful

and emotionally stirring—some are even great worship songs which I would have no

problems singing. However, the most dangerous deception must be mixed in with some

truth to cloak the lie. "Satan masquerades as an angel of light, and his ministers as ministers

of righteousness." (2 Corinthians 11:14-15) It is unfortunate, but there are a few musical

groups which offer amazing worship music, but err horribly in what they preach and thus


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their music ends up being a sort of gateway into their false teaching to lure those

unsuspecting.

The errors are so numerous that it would be impossible

to give a comprehensive response to everything. So, rather

than write a lengthy thorough expose of all of Bethel's errors

(which there are myriads), I will focus on the most glaringly

erroneous and serious ones (which as of yet, I am unaware that

they have changed their stance on or repented of). I start off by

examining what I think is the most important aspect, the

Christology they teach, as put forward by their lead pastor—Bill Johnson—then I will move

on to further issues related to Bethel in a brief overview. There are numerous resources

online for those who would like to dig deeper for themselves and I include links in the

footnotes to this article. I pray that you will take the time to read and investigate these

yourself, test it against the scriptures and be a good Berean (1 Thess. 5:21, Acts 17:11)!

A False Christ

Probably the most glaringly obvious problem is their teaching about Christ and His

nature. Bill Johnson, their lead pastor of Bethel Church is known to

have both taught and written errors about Jesus—some of which are

blatant heresy. A false Christ is a non-saving Christ, so this is an

issue of primary importance!

One of the major doctrinal errors he preaches is called

Kenosis Heresy, which is a heresy introduced in the 1800s. It comes

from the Greek word, κενόω [kenoó] which means "to empty out,

render void; (passive) be emptied – hence, without recognition,

perceived as valueless"2 It is based on a misinterpretation of

Philippians 2:7, where it says that Jesus "emptied Himself".

"The kenosis theory states that Jesus gave up some of His divine attributes while He

was a man here on earth. These attributes were omniscience, omnipresence, and

omnipotence. Christ did this voluntarily so that He could function as a man in order to

fulfill the work of redemption."3

Here are some quotes from what Bill Johnson teaches and writes:

2 BibleHub, "2758. kenoó" - http://biblehub.com/greek/2758.htm

3 https://carm.org/kenosis

http://biblehub.com/greek/2758.htmhttps://carm.org/kenosis


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"Jesus did everything as a man, laying aside His divinity in order to become a model for us."4

"…Jesus did everything in His earthly ministry as a man who had set aside all His divine privileges and power in order to model the Christian life for us."5

At first this may sound okay to

some, most false teaching does at first,

however under further examination of

the text and the testimony of all of

scripture (not just single texts out of

context), it is plain to see that this

teaching is plainly wrong. The proper

understanding of the incarnation of

Christ is called the "hypostatic union"

which maintains that Jesus possessed a

fully undiminished human and divine

nature. He was the God-man. 100% God,

100% man. One of the major reasons we

have early church creeds such as the

Apostle's Creed and the Nicene Creed

(325 AD) was to defend the doctrine of

the nature of Christ. So what then did

Christ empty Himself of if it was not His

deity? Deity cannot stop being deity

obviously—for if God stopped being God,

everything would cease to exist because

He holds all things together (Col. 1:17,

Heb. 1:3, Acts 17:28).

"Rather, the 'emptying' is satisfactorily explained in the subsequent words of the verse,

taking note of the two participles which grammatically modify and explain the verb:

He emptied himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness

of men. This emptying, in fact, was done as the man Christ Jesus, and neither of these

ideas necessitates or implies the giving up of divine attributes.

Christianity maintains that Jesus did not 'empty' himself of any of his divinity in the

incarnation, although it is true that his divine attributes were veiled."6

4 Johnson, Bill. "Strengthen Yourself in the Lord." 2007, pg 26

5 Johnson, Bill. "Release the Power of Jesus." 2009, Destiny Image “Speaking to the Purposes of God for this

Generation and the Generations to Come”, Shippensburg, PA; pg 79


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This "veiling" of Christ's full glory and deity is, in context and within the lexical

range of the Greek word, exactly what is being taught by Paul in Philippians. He is NOT

teaching that Christ lost His divine nature.

"The Kenosis theory is a dangerous doctrine because if it were true, then it would mean

that Jesus was not fully divine. If Jesus was not fully divine, then His atoning work

would not be sufficient to atone for the sins of the world."7

Wayne Grudem in his Systematic Theology writes explicitly against Kenosis Heresy (and I'd

encourage you to read it). He says,

"The reason why [Kenosis heresy] must be rejected is the larger context of the teaching

of the New Testament and the doctrinal teaching of the entire Bible. If it were true that

such a momentous event as this happened, that the eternal Son of God ceased for a

time to have all the attributes of God… then we would expect that such an incredible

event would be taught clearly and repeatedly in the New Testament, not found in the

very doubtful interpretation of one word in one epistle. But we find the opposite of

that…"8

Twisted Understanding of the "Anointing"

Bill Johnson uses this twisted Kenosis Heresy as the

basis for his theology of miracles. He writes:

"Jesus Christ said of Himself, ‘The Son can do nothing.’ In the Greek language that word nothing has a unique meaning—it means NOTHING, just like it does in English! He had NO supernatural capabilities whatsoever!…He performed miracles, wonders, and signs, as a man in right relationship to God…not as God."9

"…Jesus had no ability to heal the sick. He couldn’t cast out devils, and He had no ability to raise the dead. He said of Himself in John 5:19, ‘the Son can do nothing of Himself.’ He had set aside His divinity. He did miracles as man in right relationship with God because He was setting forth a model for us, something for us to

6 http://www.theopedia.com/kenosis

7 https://carm.org/kenosis

8 Grudem, Wayne. "Systematic Theology". Inter-Varsity, Grand Rapids, MI: 1994, pg 551

9 Johnson, Bill. "When Heaven Invades", pg 29.

http://www.theopedia.com/kenosishttps://carm.org/kenosis


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follow….Jesus so emptied Himself that He was incapable of doing what was required of Him by the Father – without the Father’s help…"10

Dear friends, I submit to you that Jesus did what He did because He was GOD!!! The

miracles of Jesus point to His deity, and He Himself pointed to them as evidence in John

10:37-38. Jesus fulfilled miracles which only the Messiah would be able to do according to

Jewish beliefs such as healing a man born blind from birth (John 9:1-32), and miracles

which confirmed His deity—such as control over nature (Matt. 8:25-27), ability to forgive

sins (Mark 2:3-12), and power over life and death itself (Matt. 9:18-25, Luke 7:11-15, John

11). They confirm that He was who He said He was. However, this is not what Bill Johnson

and Bethel teach.

Johnson teaches that Jesus became the anointed one or Christ at His baptism.11 This

is blatantly wrong. He says,

"The outpouring of the Spirit also needed to happen to Jesus for Him to be fully

qualified. This was His quest. Receiving this anointing qualified Him to be called

the Christ, which means 'anointed one.' Without the experience ['Christ anointing' by

the Spirit after water baptism] there could be no title."12

Jesus IS the Christ. He did not become the Christ. The term "Christ" in orthodox

Christianity denotes deity as shown in numerous Systematic Theologies such as Wayne

Grudem's popular one and Louis Berkof's (see footnote for pages).13 So what Johnson

teaches is that Jesus was not divine

before the Holy Spirit came upon Him

after his baptism by this "Christ

anointing"—something totally foreign

to any Biblical theology and outright

heresy. Furthermore, Johnson teaches

that Jesus had to be "born again" via

the resurrection!14 Johnson uses this twisted view of "the anointing" to try to propagate his

theology of miracle working—that believers too can have this "Christ anointing" and walk

in the same power as Christ. They often misuse the "greater works" which Jesus talks about

10

Johnson, Bill, "The Supernatural Power of a Transformed Mind: Access to a Life of Miracles." 2005, Destiny

Image: “Speaking to the Purposes of God for This Generation and for the Generations to Come”, Shippensburg, PA;

pg 50. Further quotes and responses to Bill Johnson's writings can be found here:

https://shepherdguardian.wordpress.com/2014/01/29/heresy-bill-johnsons-christology/ 11

Johnson, Bill. "When Heaven Invades", pg 79. 12

Johnson, Bill. "Face to Face", p 109. 13

Grudem, Wayne Systematic Theology. 1994, Inter-Varsity, Grand Rapids, MI; pgs 233-38, 543-554, 624-33.

Also, Berkhof, Louis Systematic Theology. 1941, 4th

revised and enlarged ed, 1991, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI;

pgs 91-5, 312-13, 356-66. 14

http://youtu.be/UzAwFYKe3h0

https://shepherdguardian.wordpress.com/2014/01/29/heresy-bill-johnsons-christology/http://youtu.be/UzAwFYKe3h0


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believers doing in John 14:12 for saying that believers can do greater miracles than Christ

Himself! This misinterpretation also has been refuted numerous times, so I'd direct you to

the footnote for a good article on that.15

Antichrist teaching – Separationist Christology

Johnson's Christology is heresy and is known as "separationist Christology" because

it separates Christ from Jesus.16 This plainly meets the requirements in 1 John 2:22 for

antichrist because it denies that Jesus is the Christ. "Who is the liar but he who denies that

Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son." (1 John 2:22)

"…since He is only human (having “laid His divinity aside”) and becomes Christ only by

virtue of the “Christ anointing” which also, in effect, denies Jesus is the Son of the

Father (as opposed to merely a son) which in turn denies the Father [1 John 2:22-

23];35 moreover, Johnson’s Christology denies that the person of Jesus Christ has come

in the flesh [1 John 4:1-3] since it was merely Jesus of Nazareth who came in the

flesh."17

The fact that Bill Johnson will

sometimes make statements about

Christ which seem totally orthodox,

makes it sometimes confusing and

hard to spot his heresy. However, it is

clearly seen in his books and sermon

online—both of which are readily

available. Johnson has a New Age

version of Christ, one which is propagated by such as Alice Bailey or even found in the New

Age book, "The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus Christ."18 As a result of his separationist theology,

Johnson has said that Christ was unable to raise Himself from the dead. He says:

…The sacrifice that could atone for sin had to be a lamb, (powerless), and had to be spotless, (without sin).

The anointing Jesus received was the equipment necessary, given by the Father to make it possible for Him to live beyond human limitation…19

15

http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/greater-works-than-jesus--2 16

This term is defined in Heikki Raisanen’s "The Rise of Christian Beliefs" Fortress, Minneapolis, MN: 2010, pg

208. 17

https://shepherdguardian.wordpress.com/2014/01/29/heresy-bill-johnsons-christology/ 18

Dowling, Levi. The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ: The Philosophic and Practical Basis of the Religion of

the Aquarian Age of the World. (11th

printing, 1987), DeVorss, Marina del Rey, CA; pg 6.

http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/greater-works-than-jesus--2http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/greater-works-than-jesus--2https://shepherdguardian.wordpress.com/2014/01/29/heresy-bill-johnsons-christology/


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…Jesus gave Himself to be crucified. He did not raise Himself from the dead…His job was to give His life to die. The Father raised Him by the Spirit…20

This is in direct contradiction John 2:19, where Jesus says "Destroy this temple and I will

raise it again in three days" referring to His death and resurrection, or:

"For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up

again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to

lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from

my Father." (John 10:17-18)

Johnson's "gospel" is thereby a non-saving one because he preaching a false Christ and a

false hope. To say that these things do not matter is to basically have no grounds then for

rejecting the Jehovah's Witness or Mormon "gospel". It is emphatically of utmost

importance!

For an even more thorough refutation of Bill Johnson's Kenosis heresy, you can read these

articles here and here.21

Further cause for concern: More false teaching, Waking angels, Necromancy, etc.

In case one may think that the problem

is only with Bill Johnson, I'd like to point out

that Bethel has a school which trains and

teaches all their leaders including their worship

leaders. So its teaching spreads downward

through the whole of Bethel's ministries and it

is usual that their worship concerts are not just

music but also have teaching and indoctrination

with their aberrant theology. There's even

video of a girl at one of their events claiming to

forgive sins.22 Also, Kris Vallotton, the Senior Associate Pastor at Bethel Church also has his

fair share of erroneous teachings and beliefs (of which I will not go through all but point

out a few briefly).

19

Johnson, Bill. "When Heaven Invades", pg 79. 20

Cited at https://shepherdguardian.wordpress.com/2014/01/29/heresy-bill-johnsons-christology/ 21

Part 1: https://notunlikelee.wordpress.com/2011/06/14/kenosis-christology-and-bill-johnson-part-i/ and Part 2:

https://notunlikelee.wordpress.com/2011/06/16/kenosis-christology-and-bill-johnson-part-ii/ 22

See here: http://youtu.be/H4VpH1FKkSQ

https://notunlikelee.wordpress.com/2011/06/14/kenosis-christology-and-bill-johnson-part-i/https://notunlikelee.wordpress.com/2011/06/16/kenosis-christology-and-bill-johnson-part-ii/http://youtu.be/H4VpH1FKkSQhttps://shepherdguardian.wordpress.com/2014/01/29/heresy-bill-johnsons-christology/https://notunlikelee.wordpress.com/2011/06/14/kenosis-christology-and-bill-johnson-part-i/https://notunlikelee.wordpress.com/2011/06/16/kenosis-christology-and-bill-johnson-part-ii/http://youtu.be/H4VpH1FKkSQ


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Vallotton outright dismisses proper hermeneutics and exegesis and has even

accused Jesus of taking Old Testament scripture out of context in order to teach something

"new".23 He teaches "oneness with God" instead of what Jesus actually prayed in John

17:20-21, that believers would be united with each other as the Godhead is united with

each other. From this false teaching, he teaches a false "law of attraction" which says that

since we're one with God, unbelievers can see God in us in a way which is contrary to the

clear teaching of Scripture (1 Cor. 1:18, 1 Cor. 2:14, 2 Cor. 4:4, Eph. 2:1-3). He along with

Bethel, ascribe to Word of Faith theology and "little gods" theology—both of which have

been demonstrably shown as wrong (see GotQuestions.org article in footnote).24 Vallotton

and Bethel, along with all the others in the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) teach a false

doctrine of apostleship. Biblically speaking, all the apostles are dead and there are no

modern day apostles by the Biblical standard (see footnote).25 He has partnered together

with Catholic priests in ministry together26—however, what kind of protestant gospel is it

that can be squared together with Roman Catholic theology?27 Vallotton has released a "7

Signs of a Poor Gospel" where he attempts to defend their version of the gospel and beliefs,

however it falls sadly short of anything Biblical. You can read full responses to it here and

here.

As if this wasn't enough, Bill Johnson's wife—Beni Johnson—apparently goes

around "waking up sleeping angels" by going around and yelling "wakey, wakey!" Really?

Ok, seriously, if people cannot see the ridiculousness of this one, I don't know what will do

it. This is documented on her own blog.28

"There are 282 occurrences of the word “angel” or “angels” in the Bible (ESV). I

encourage you, the reader, to read the verses for yourself. You will not find a single

instance, not one, that even remotely

compares to Beni’s alleged encounters

with the “angels” in her “Wakey,

Wakey” story. You will not find a single

instance in the Word of God where a

person exerts authority over an angel,

like waking them from a sound

sleep."29

23

See here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLMkNkswkh8 24

http://www.gotquestions.org/Word-Faith.html 25

http://www.gotquestions.org/what-is-an-apostle.html 26

https://www.facebook.com/kvministries/posts/10153028955633741 27

http://crossencountersmin.com/general-info/bethel-reddings-apostasy-seen-in-its-ecumenism/ 28

http://www.benij.org/blog.php?id=1 29

http://crossencountersmin.com/aberrant-theology/beni-johnson-wakey-wakey-wacky-wacky/

http://crossencountersmin.com/uncategorized/bethel-church-false-gospel-of-kris/http://equipthesaint.com/2014/07/14/the-theological-errors-of-bethel-church-and-jesus-culture/http://www.benij.org/blog.php?id=1https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLMkNkswkh8http://www.gotquestions.org/Word-Faith.htmlhttp://www.gotquestions.org/what-is-an-apostle.htmlhttps://www.facebook.com/kvministries/posts/10153028955633741http://crossencountersmin.com/general-info/bethel-reddings-apostasy-seen-in-its-ecumenism/http://www.benij.org/blog.php?id=1http://crossencountersmin.com/aberrant-theology/beni-johnson-wakey-wakey-wacky-wacky/


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Bethel has also been recorded as involved in demonic activities such as necromancy

through their "grave sucking" events where

groups go to the grave of a deceased 'saint' and

'suck up the anointing' from there. The Bible

strongly warns against this numerous times

(Lev. 19:31; 20:6; 20:27; Deut.18:11; 1 Sam.

28:3; 28:9; 2 Kings 21:6; 23:24; 2 Chron. 33:6;

Isa. 8:19; 19:3). In case you think this is a

stretching of the truth, there are videos

documenting this as well as personal

testimonies directly from the Bethel site.30

Related to this is Bethel's "Soaking Prayer" which is defined as:

“Since the 1990s there has been an increased focus on mysticism within various

segments of Christianity. Bordering on the esoteric, these mystical experiences broaden

the division between a ‘factual faith’ and a ‘felt faith,’ and threaten to replace sound

biblical teaching with emotion-driven response. Soaking prayer is one such mystical

activity. It is described as resting in God’s presence. This is accomplished by playing

some gentle worship songs, either sitting or lying down, and praying short, simple

prayers for an extended period of time, but otherwise keeping your mind free of other

thoughts. At the point when you sense God’s presence through some type of

manifestation like tingling skin, a sensation of heat or cold, or even a gentle wind

seemingly blowing through your body, you are to just ‘soak’ in that presence.”31

More info can be found here.32

In addition to all of this, and not to drag this article on, I could also expand volumes

also on Bethel's false signs and wonders such as Angel feathers, gems, 'glory clouds' and

gold dust supposedly appearing in their meetings (however these have been previously

found out to be false and even set up on numerous occasions – see footnote).33 Also false

healings, prophesy and extra-biblical revelation as well as their misunderstanding of the

Holy Spirit and His ministry. They've also done 'readings' on people based on tattoos and

piercings. Their school of ministry has been involving Christians in mysticism and

something of dead energy called "toking the Ghost" which is horrible mockery of the Holy

Spirit where they pretend to 'smoke' Him like marijuana. In addition, uncontrollable

30

See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrHPTs8cLls and http://www.ibethel.org/testimonies/2006/01/31/the-

power-of-soaking 31

http://www.gotquestions.org/soaking-prayer.html 32

http://crossencountersmin.com/general-info/soaking-an-old-unbiblical-game-with-a-new-name/ 33

http://www.apologeticsindex.org/1399-bill-johnson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrHPTs8cLlshttp://www.ibethel.org/testimonies/2006/01/31/the-power-of-soakinghttp://crossencountersmin.com/general-info/soaking-an-old-unbiblical-game-with-a-new-name/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrHPTs8cLls%20http://www.ibethel.org/testimonies/2006/01/31/the-power-of-soakinghttp://www.ibethel.org/testimonies/2006/01/31/the-power-of-soakinghttp://www.gotquestions.org/soaking-prayer.htmlhttp://crossencountersmin.com/general-info/soaking-an-old-unbiblical-game-with-a-new-name/http://www.apologeticsindex.org/1399-bill-johnson


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laughing, jerking, fire tunnels, tuning forks for prophesy, 'drunken glory' and so on are

common in their movement. This is directly in contradiction to the fact that we're given a

spirit of self-control and a sound mind (2 Tim. 1:7) Biblically—so these sorts of excesses

are hardly evidence of the Holy Spirit's work. Oh sure, it's probably some sort of spirit, but

I'm pretty sure it's not holy. All of these are easily accessible online if you do a little digging.

Why bother?

The common refrain that you will hear

from them and those who support such things is

that "we cannot limit God." However, this is a

false argument. If we believe that the scriptures

are indeed Spirit breathed and are the only and

final authority and rule of faith—then God would

not contradict Himself. Far from "putting God in

a box", we are rather fulfilling the Biblical

mandate to "not go beyond what is written" (1

Cor. 4:6). The Bible is our only and final authority for spiritual truth, and it comes from God

Himself. God is not self-contradicting. All of these errors are exactly what comes out of

when we put aside God's word as both sufficient and authoritative and turn to extra-

biblical revelation. We do a disservice to its authority and sufficiency when we go outside

of what it clearly outlines for us.

"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for

correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete,

equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

These false signs and wonders are extremely concerning for me, especially in light of Paul's

warnings:

"For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having

itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,;

and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths." (2 Timothy

4:3)

"I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create

obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such

persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and

flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive." (Romans 16:17-18)


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"The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs

and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they

refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion,

so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not

believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness." (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12)

Even our Lord warned us, "For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs

and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect." (Mark 13:22, Matt. 24:24) “Beware of false

prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves." (Matt.

7:15) The church, even from the beginning has always struggled and fought against heresy.

We are to be united as the church, not in a way which compromises truth, but rather to be

united IN THE TRUTH. This is why Paul in Ephesians 4 calls us to "unity of the faith and

knowledge of the Son." This is true Christian unity.

These issues are not secondary, in fact Biblically they are of utmost importance—

and that is why I speak out against it. Some may have a problem with calling names—and

I'm not too quick to be excited to do so myself as I know the possible backlash people

respond with often when this is done. However, there is a Biblical president for this when

necessary—especially when dealing with dangerous doctrines or false teaching. Paul

named and rebuked Peter publicly for unscriptural practice (Galatians 2:11-14). Paul

named Hymenaeus and Alexander (1 Timothy 1:18-20) and Philetus (2 Timothy 2:15-18)

and Alexander the Coppersmith (2 Timothy 4:14-15). John named Diotrephes (3 John 9).

And these were inspired writers! Imagine having your name forever engraved in holy writ

as a heretic! Peter also talks about such people:

"But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false

teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the

Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction." (2 Peter 2:1)


13

It is out of a heart of genuine concern that I write this, hoping that some may come

to see the dangers of such a 'ministry'. The errors they propagate are not just periphery,

but essential doctrines having to do with the nature of Christ Himself and the Gospel! The

title "wolves" is not one said lightly, but when it comes to the essential message of

Christianity there are very strong words used in opposition to those who would distort the

one message that saves! We bark at the wolves for the sake of the sheep. Am I saying for

you to delete all your Bethel music and picket the concert? No. Not necessarily. However,

I'd encourage those of you who were planning on going to the concert to seriously

reconsider—take the time to investigate for yourselves—and should you still decide to go,

to be on your guard to test ALL things Biblically.

Catch the Fire Revival Ministry is the group led by John and Carol Arnott. Catch the

Fire is simply a repackaging of the Toronto Airport Vineyard and the false revival of 25

years ago known then as the “Toronto Blessing." If you're familiar with the history and

what transpired at the Toronto Blessing, you can understand my cause for serious concern

(see footnote for more info).34 This could be a return or restart to the mess which started

back then and spread this sort of error worldwide. There's much more I could have written

about and I'd encourage you, if you're interested to dig for yourself. Far from asking you to

lay aside your reason, or be unquestioning in what I've "authoritatively said"—this is

simply a call for Biblical discernment.

I've seen the horrible mess that this sort of theological error can lead to. The false

promises and broken trust. The emptiness of the 'hope' it offers. The lies, the deception, the

false assurance and conversion. This is NOT what the Christian message is or what the

blood of thousands of martyrs have been spilt over to preserve the true message of the

Gospel for us today. Though some of their songs may be harmless and even good for use as

"Christian worship"—their doctrine is dangerous and their 'gospel' is false and there are

some of their song lyrics that go off into error as well (see footnote).35 Undoubtedly at the

concert there will be some preaching. Let us not get caught up in the emotionalism and

miss the truth. Our worship must be in spirit AND truth—we cannot divorce the two.

Please consider this thoughtfully and prayerfully.

34

http://crossencountersmin.com/uncategorized/the-toronoto-blessing-20-years-of/ 35

http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/worshipsongratings.html
http://crossencountersmin.com/uncategorized/the-toronoto-blessing-20-years-of/http://crossencountersmin.com/uncategorized/the-toronoto-blessing-20-years-of/http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/worshipsongratings.html

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