My friends, John from My Word Like Fire has published the following tract on the relationship between Bethel teachings and the New Age. I was exposed to, and was taught similar ideas from John Paul Jackson. And in and my dealing in the false prophetic I too, was considered a “seer”.
It is widely believed and taught therein, that the works of the occult, the supernatural and psychic power are truly from the Lord. Those who practice these things outside a relationship with the Lord, only have yet to know Him, and that and the church itself has forgotten its true ways. Nothing can be further from the truth. If you have ever heard of Christian prophetic booths set up at fairs and conventions, this is where it comes from.
Thank you John, for a work well done.
Read, and share –
From the Lighthouse BlogNEW BOOKLET TRACT: The New Age Propensities of Bethel Church’s Bill Johnson.
m'kayla's korner 
Reblogged this on Las Vegas Apologetics & Evangelism (LVAE).
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Thank you for sharing. The quotes from the Physics of Heaven book expose how bad these people’s thinking is. And it is getting worse and worse. Wow. How can people be so deceived? It’s really sad. Many of these teachers have good intentions and yet, they are in such dire danger. I pray the Lord will use writings such as these to open the eyes of many
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I have in meetings where I have been told of a certain “sound” sometimes even chords in the room, sometimes certain frequencies representing different things. Reading about the Quantum sounds makes me wonder if that is the same thing. I must admit feeling very uneasy about that. I have also heard the argument said that Christians need to return to the “old age” when the things that new agers do are actually part of our lost Christian heritage. And we wonder what is happening to the world. Deception is strongest as the enemy uses whatever your weak point is to attack,it wil be different things for different people and there is plenty of “fools gold” that people accept – and not only talking about gold dust! I was talking to someone about this and the response was “Well I am open to whatever God wants to give.” Which in itself is not a bad thing, however, the problem starts when people do not see that what is being given, imparted does not come from God. It is lack of discernment that accpts everything
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It is a “new age” teaching that certain sounds or chords bring healing, just as certain colors represent different things. Long ago I went thru “inner child healing” and learned bits and pieces of these ideas including visualization techniques. These ideas have been brought into the church, especially where you see the prophetic, healing methods such as SOZO, and dream interpretation used. Their ways are not different. The pastors, teachers and prophets have brought the ways of Satan into the church. And as you said, the lack of discernment has lead them to accept it all. I think along with the lack of discernment is the absence of desire to, as well.
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Thank you for telling people about this. It is published by Lighthouse Trails, and much of the booklet/tract deals with “The Physics of Heaven,” a book co-authored by Bill Johnson’s administrative assistant, Judy Franklin. The book advocates reclaiming (?) the truths that are in the New Age for use by the church!!!!
Bill Johnson has a chapter, as does his wife, Beni. Kris Vallotton of Bethel wrote the foreword. Banning Liebscher of Jesus Culture praises the book.
Thank you M’Kayla.
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I put in an order yesterday. 🙂
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I was asked to photograph a seminar on self empowerment recently, and all the stuff they talked about was the stuff they had been teaching in the Church, all of it new age. I think now that God was trying to show me something. Its strange for me, and even scary, to hear people speak out against the faith movement, but when you see the church from another perspective you begin to doubt. I hope God guides me to the truth, but in the meantime I’m going to stay out of churches for a while.
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Barry, thanks for the input. You don’t need to hope that God will guide you to the truth, He will. The Holy Spirit leads us to truth – John 16:13. If you are referring to the word of faith (faith) movement, let me say to you that the entire doctrine is based on what we could call new age beliefs, the Law of Attraction, and not on scripture. It is best to take those teachings that you hear and compare them with the bible and you will see they do not line up. My blog is full of information because the WOF is the basis of all we see going on now.
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Reblogged this on The Last Hiker and commented:
This article is so important. Even churches that are conservative are singing songs written at Bethel Redding. This leaven will spread, be on guard and be ready to protect your church from this error.
I God bless you!
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Last Hiker, unfortunately, most churches are being swept up into it.
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Yes, I go to a more conservative church and they sing Jesus Culture songs, and no one even thinks about what kind of theology is behind the words! It is a slippery slope. Half the people at my church have no clue what happens at Redding, but they went to the Jesus Culture event recently. Who knows what they were exposed to there. My pastor is a guy who is lately saying things like “chew up the meat, spit out the bones”–he was never like that. It is disappointing. People need to be warned!
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It makes me glad that I can no longer attend Bethel because of their music (it gives me seizures). But, though I live only 2 miles from Bethel in Redding, I now do not go to any church. Some regular Christian fellowship would help greatly, but we stay home. And we suffer greatly in physical pain. Thank you very much for this help; I greatly appreciate your making this available to us. I would love to go there to Bethel to give out this tract, but it is too expensive for me to do that. I will say that when it is up close, and there are not others to help in discerning, it is easy to get swept up in it. What alerted me a couple of years ago was the emphasis (which I also found in various christian writers) upon not criticizing at all. I found that if no criticism is permitted, then when false teachers or “prophets” come into the church, no one will be permitted to criticize, or “know them by their fruits”. So apparently that has already happened, and in most places such as Bethel, no one is permitted to evaluate Scripturally whether this is of God, or whether counterfeit. Another point: Although I was very impressaed at first that at Bethel they have a separate building allegedly for prayer. But due to the music playing in their prayer building, I am not able to pray there. I tried.
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I’ve been to Bethel, only to do a tour of my own. You are missing nothing in that prayer building. Tho the organization carries the name of associated with a place of God – BETHEL, He does not dwell there.
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In the Bible, Bethel became the place of idols. Jeroboam set up one of his golden calves at Bethel. The Israelites usually never made idols and said “Hey, let’s dance around these fake gods.” They usually made idols and called them “God.” Then they danced around them and did all sorts of ungodly actions. [Nehemiah 9:18 and Exodus 32:4,8]
Just like today.
I think it’s a particularly fitting name for the church of Bill Johnson.
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Jeremiah, I’m going to look into those scriptures. Thanks!
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M’Kayla,
Paul teaches Timothy to stay with sound doctrine. Paul wasn’t as concerned for the Preachers in the Pulpit who are there for selfish gain but that the Good New of God’s Gospel be preached. We are called to test the spirits. We are without excuse!
God is the Author and Perfector of our Salvation.
A man if Justified by God’s grace alone through faith in Christ alone and through His righteousness alone. It takes all the guess work out of His Sovereign Plan of Salvation. Salvation is a Gift from God. This is not a hyper grace message. Jesus tells us we will know His by their fruits. Bad trees can not produce good fruit.
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We attend a Bible Church and the music is played and led by a group of young men in the church. I don’t know what the Bethel Redding music is and would like to know what it is like to compare to our church. Our praises songs are projected on a screen and I noticed that one of them was from Hillsong. Is that one of the Jesus Culture song writers? Also, one of the instruments played is like a small hammer dulcimer or xylophone played with little sticks. Another intrument is a wooden box that sits on the floor in front of the young man and he slaps it with the palms of his hands. The songs we sing now are not the songs we were singing a few years ago when we had our choir and grand piano most every Sunday. Our Pastor still preaches from the Word of God every Sunday and the Sunday School classes still study the Word.
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It isn’t just music, it’s the bad theology the music comes out of. If they preach a false jesus, or, the other jesus as Paul wrote, then the worship music is about him/it as well. If you check out ibethel.com you will get a glimpse of the music Jesus Culture puts out. It isn’t the same people as Hillsong, tho I believe the theology/doctrine is.
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M’Kayla, this makes complete sense. I have had the suspicion for several years that New Age practices are coming into the church through the hyper-charismatics more than any other avenue. With the exception perhaps of the emergent church.
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I believe it is all connected. Bethel teaches new age practices and is a part of the emergent church.
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if we analyse the theme of most of the songs coming from Bethel/jesus culture/Ihop we find that the name of Jesus is rarely if ever used… sin, the victorious overcoming through the means of the cross & our heart of humility & thankfulness for Christ’s sacrifice is NOT present as a theme in any of the lyrics, instead its all about US & how BLESSED/LOVED/FAVOURED we are… its not worship its actually self indulgence – clarifying how good we feel about ourselves in the moment, in the environment of repetitive phrases & chord progressions…. music is being used quite deliberately to indoctrinate- lull people into false belief & quite literally hypnotic trance like states…… we would be well advised to look at any song & if truthfully, that song could be sung contextually to another person (even another false being such as Allah) – if its not clear that it’s Jesus we are singing to or about.. we should not be singing that song & calling it “worship” in our churches… The Holy Spirit should not be sung to either & worshipped, as the bible makes it clear that his role is always to point to Jesus being glorified & lifted up… he the holy Spirit seeks & requires no worship for himself..
the Bride, should always always be looking for her bridegroom – she only has eyes for him!
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God bless you for the truth you present in this blog. I am so thankful I was able to find it! I am Pentecostal and have been all my 33 years of life. Down through the years I have noticed strange manifestations that just never set right with me (laughter, convulsing, shrieking, etc.) The church I attend now has just recently started incorporating Jesus Culture songs into the praise and worship part of the service. I am a part of the choir and after learning about their theology and Bethel church I have a hard time singing their songs! I have even tried to bring up the topic of their heretical teachings and it just seems to get swept under the rug. Where is discernment anymore? I feel like in singing their songs we are in some way endorsing their false doctrines and ushering in whatever spirit it was that inspired these songs when written. It grieves my heart to see people so blind and ignorant of the Word of God!
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I highly recommend these booklets guys! I ordered some from Lighthouse Trails. They are nicely put together and well worth the small amount of cash LT is asking.
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I’d love to have one of those tracts! 🙂
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To see how Satan has shut down the works of God through the Holy Spirit by creating counterfeits and deceiving “Christians” into believing they are doing Satanic things in the name of God is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. So sad to see the power of God on earth through those He himself said would do even greater than He be called “new age” and evil. The blind leading the blind right here. You should not talk about things you know nothing about. Satan can only counterfeit not create and you are glorifing him by what you are saying.
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Why don’t you read the tract before making rash judgements. I was born again in a word of faith church and believe in the power of the Holy Spirit, but what these people are doing is wrong, the new age and its teachings are of satan and have no place in the minds and hearts of believers. The greater works Jesus was talking about refers to the leading of the lost to salvation anyway, NOT the reclaiming of the new age principles that Bill Johnson claims belongs to believers.
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Amen Barry! It is all about salvation. The reason Christ died! Yay for posting! 🙂 🙂
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Not one but many passages in the Bible make it abundantly clear that signs and wonders alone are no proof of godliness. Besides I am not sure how many real miracles happen in these places. When Jesus was around it was obvious that what He was doing was from God. People were INSTANTANEOUSLY healed of anything. Even resurrected. Jesus did not live a lavish lifestyle or demand money for His ministry. He always told the truth no matter how unpopular it may have been. i do not know anyone who has such integrity. Noone is 100% blameless. Therefore to talk about blasphemy to the Holy Spirit when we are merely pointing out some serious doctrinal concerns is unfair.
Besides noone talked against signs and wonders per se. MKayla is against charismania not against charismas. We all agree that it’s wonderful to witness God using His people to bring healing and deliverance. But Moses warned even if a prophet’s words come to pass, the prophet is false if he leads you away from God. What these people generate is not true worship but idolatry. I have seen it firsthand.
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We can’t deny the Gifts of the Spirit and one of them is Healing. God gives certain Gifts to His chosen. These Gifts are to be used to Edify, not to glorify self. We are the body of Christ and different members has different Gifts. It is my understanding that all believers have at least one Gift.
Is Bill Johnson teaching his students in his Supernatural Ministry how to use this Gift or is he teaching them how to receive this Gift? I believe he is misleading his students. (many will be lead astray)
God imparts Christ Jesus’ righteousness in us when we are Justified by faith. He also give us all the Fruit of the Spirit when He saves us. But all His children do not receive all the Spiritual Gifts. (we all know this). It seems that Bill is teaching that the believer receives Divine Power, and this is not true. It is true that we receive the Holy Spirit when God saves us, but we are mortals (we still live in the flesh).
New Age religion is not teaching about Christ and Him crucified and the fact that believers are saved sinners, but God has new mercies for His each day.
I don’t think Bill teaches about our sinful nature in our flesh. Matter of fact the Church is leaving this now. Many have become a Feel Good seeker and there are many Preachers/Teachers drawing millions to this teaching in order to capitalize.
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REGARDING your trip to Bethel in search of the Labyrinth ( I heard you speak of it on an interview online). It exists and is the activity known as “Pre-Service Prayer” held in the room across from the “Sanctuary”. I went on evening ( I think it was before the Friday or Sunday PM service) expecting, of course, a Holy Ghost inspired radical prayer time. LOL. What I found were about 100 people praying silently going walking in a circle, going nowhere, saying nothing. At the end, everyone held hands in the circle and the leader said a weak, spoken prayer and then everyone off to service. Very strange, weak, void of God and I never went back. It came to my mind when I heard you speak that you had been there in search of it. Its there, wont be “called what it really is”, like everything else, hidden from possible discovery, but obvious to those who are “awake”. Blessings to you!
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Hi Meri, I wasn’t in search of the Labyrinth but I did want to see what Bethel actually looked like, and that was when I saw the Labyrinth. It shows the connection with the Emergent movement of the church to include other faiths and practices of Catholicism, Buddhism and Hinduism. I am glad you came to the truth.
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I have a BA in Bible, an M.Div in Bible and a PhD. in Theology and believe that the Bible is completely true. I’ve read the Bible over 20 times and written numerous books. One day a strange looking man was in my office and he asked me, “How many sick people have been healed by your ministry? How many demons have you cast out? I answered none. That was just over 20 years ago. My degree’s actually taught me why God doesn’t do today what He used to do. Then I began to believe that what Jesus taught some ordinary people might have been what He wanted us to teach when He told us in Matthew 28 that we were to teach what he taught as we made disciples. Now I have seen many of the miracles of the Bible in my own life. I have cast demons out of many, but people who once would have respected me theologically now reject me, deny what I have to say and yet they see none of the power or miracles of God. Is that not exactly like the religious crowd that tended to oppose Jesus and his disciples?
I would like to dialogue about what the Bible says about healing, miracles God speaking and how to hear God’s voice.
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My ex-wife moved to Redding and my 18 year old daughter and 20 year old son moved out with her( moved out there for Bethel church). My son has now been sucked in hook line and sinker to bills teachings. How do I get him out?
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There are a number of people, including myself, who moved to Redding, often to obtain desperately needed healing. Many of these have become disillusioned about Bethel. If your family members were able to contact some of those around Redding, and speak to them face to face about the problems at Bethel, and how they contradict Scripture, it may help. Sometimes face to face meeting can accomplish what wrritten words cannot. Of course this would need to be truly heavily accompanied with prayer that the Holy Spirit would bring the needed conviction.
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Very good advice!
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You ask how to get your son out.
Tell your son that Christ Jesus died on the Cross for his sins. That Jesus was fully man and fully divine. God in Him. God incarnated born of a virgin, His name was Jesus the Messiah. He came to seek to save the lost. Christ Jesus was sinless and your son like all believers are saved sinners. We live a life of repetitive repentance. Bill is robbing true joy from your son. Maybe your joy is not flowering because there is a distance between you and your son. Tell your son that God is conforming us in His Son’s image. That God does not bless everyone with the Spiritual Gift of laying on hands – healing. Jesus’ ministry on earth was not all about miracles of healing. Jesus was bringing Light in to a dark world (And people loved darkness) Those in Christ hearts have been – healed, turning stone hearts in to hearts of flesh by the powerful working of the Holy Spirit. Jesus told the adulteress to go and sin no more. This women turned from her sins and received forgiveness from the man Jesus fully divine who would eventually die on the Cross for the sins of the world. Gifting Salvation unto all who would come to be believe in Him. Conversion – Repentance and Faith. Bill is simply misleading our children, but we must understand there are many false teachers in the world. Paul warned Timothy over almost 2000 years ago about the Super Apostles etc. etc. Bill at Bethel is such a creature. He recruits the youth assuming they have the Gift of Healing and teaching them how to use the Gift regardless if they have the Gift or not. Bill must be making good money with so many laying on of hands. But lets not forget about our other friends such as Joel Osteen: the happy preacher, the new age religion, prosperity preacher man who doesn’t preach. They are coming in all sizes and are hard to expose. Bethel is in alliance with IHOP…IHOP places a small twist on words but if you listen closely you will see Bill’s influence.
Is Bill also teaching them they are sinless, just like Jesus? I think so, in a subtle way. Can our children walk out in the desert defeat satan like? Jesus was fully Divine – God in Him. Let them go out in the desert for 40 day without food and water and see if they don’t start grumbling a little.
Sir, with all do respect hard love is necessary at times. I will be praying God word’s will reveal to you words to speak to your son. Be kind and gentle but bold in Christ.
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Tenderhearted hit the mark. Someone close in the community needs to step up and correct but read Matt 7 and Luke 6 and be careful not to share holy things with the dogs…If they reject correction and turn to falsely accuse you then you will know they are not who they say they are. Jesus said when He calls their name they will recognize His voice. John 10 is also a good read. This is not a warfare against flesh and blood. Satan is the prince of this world, the prince of the air. We either live in the kingdom of God or live in the kingdom of satan. God has given satan limited authority in the world and those who have not been justified by faith in Christ are being ruled by satan whether they realize it or not.
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