The Theology of Bill Johnson and Bethel Church

22 Feb

The Theology of Bill Johnson and Bethel Church

by Radu Goga

Introduction

For the last 10-15 years I have watched the growth of Bethel church with both interest and concern, trying to keep an open mind and not throw out the baby with the bathwater. On the one hand I have admired their courage to step out and pray for people to be healed, whilst on the other hand I have seen first hand their theology be quite damaging to individuals and churches. Over the years, my concern has grown as I have seen more and more bizarre practices and manifestations at Bethel - “grave sucking”, “fire tunnels”, “gold dust” (which has been shown to be plain glitter) – to name just a few. Now, as a Pentecostal Arminian, I have no issues with the gifts of the Holy Spirit operating today. I believe in signs and wonders, and would welcome a genuine move of God. However, like the Bereans, we must be willing to test all things, and ensure that everything lines up with His Word (Acts 17:11). We are to hold on to what is good, and discard what is not (1 Thes 5:21; Gal 1:8-9).

Late in 2018, whilst part of a discussion forum, the question was asked as to whether Bill Johnson (BJ) is a false prophet. I was unprepared for this question. Not that I didn’t have serious misgivings for a number of reasons, but I realized that whilst I had read and seen many things, I had not done my own due diligence and read some of BJ’s writings for myself. So I undertook the arduous task of doing just that, reading his book God is Good (2016) and portions of When Heaven Invades Earth (2003), Face to Face with God (2007), Strengthen yourself in The Lord (2015), and other writings. I did my very best to check out some of the references from what other people had written, to ensure that I wasn’t coming to a conclusion based on hearsay.

For the purposes of this review, I will focus on 3 main areas that highlight the issues that I see with BJ’s teachings. The first is BJ’s overarching view of God, the second is his Christology, and lastly is his view of the Gospel. Finally, I will finish with my conclusion.

1. BJ’s Overarching view of God in the Bible

Whenever we consider any area of theology, the clear principle is that we go from the bigger picture/context (i.e. the whole Bible), to a narrower and narrower context (the OT/NT, the particular book, chapter and verses). That is not to say that God does not give us fresh revelation from a passage we have already studied, but rather that it will be in line with the rest of His Word. To base a theology from a narrow platform, without looking at a bigger context, is a guaranteed path to eisegesis, where we read what we want into a particular text. BJ frequently refers to Jesus as being “perfect theology” [1]. In practice, this means that his view of God is driven by the accounts of Jesus during His time of ministering on earth. That narrows things down to a period of time of some 3¹/₂ years, and the four Gospel accounts. For example, BJ states that when asked about Job’s sufferings, he immediately will say “what about Jesus?” and that “the story of Jesus is the only one I follow.” [2] BJ sees the story of Job as being about holding to our faith in the midst of trials and seeing God restore everything brilliantly, but he makes it clear that the story does not represent God’s design, and that “To attribute evil to Him tragically undermines our purpose on the earth, as it cripples our ability to re-present Jesus as the manifestation of God’s goodwill toward men.” [3] BJ goes on to say that if we view God as causing evil, we are left unable to distinguish a demonic attack. He says:

“It’s not complicated. Loss, death and destruction are the things left behind when the devil has had influence in a given situation. Jesus is the Good Shepherd…He gives abundant life. Here it is – loss, death and destruction vs. abundant life.” [4]

The problem with this is that it completely misses the point and creates a false dichotomy. God never causes evil, but He certainly does allow it, to outwork His purposes which we are often not privy to. It was only when God (the same Jesus Christ who gives abundant life!) allowed Satan to get to Job (Job 1:6-22; Job 2:2-6), that Satan was able to touch him. Without Jesus’ permission, it would have never happened. BJ quotes Hosea 3:5 and Jeremiah 33:9 as “two brilliant promises of God for His people of the last days”, and goes on to say that these blessings would have to be “so clear, and in my opinion so extreme, so as to be obviously manifested from God Himself, that people tremble with fear” (based on Jer 33:9) [5]. No explanation is given as to why we can turn promises made to Israel as being for the church (should the church expect the promised land to come into our possession as well?) and why 11 out of the 12 apostles were martyred for their faith and failed in appropriating these Scriptures. BJ goes on to say, using Psalm 67 as an evangelistic proof-text, that blessings are what caused nations “to see the heart of God and His nature, to the point that they were convicted of their own sins and turned in repentance to Him” [6] (and to clarify, the blessings must include money [7]). This is simply outrageous. Israel turned away from God every time things were going well, 1 Tim 6:6-10 warns clearly against the desire for riches, and Jesus makes it plain how hard it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God (Matt 19:23-24). BJ never deals with these Scriptures and so in this regard his theology is nothing more than a prosperity gospel veneered with spiritual-sounding jargon.

Likewise, BJ simply refuses to acknowledge that God’s acts of judgment in the OT and in the NT (e.g. Ananias and Sapphira – Acts 5:1-11; the prophetic judgment of Jerusalem – Luke 23:27-31; His warnings of judgment for the churches – Rev 2&3) are all part of a picture of who God is, which was given to us by God Himself in His Word. BJ clearly denies that God causes our storms, diseases and conflicts [8]. He resorts to using the passage of Jesus rebuking a physical storm as the proof-text that “the powers of darkness were involved in the storm, and they needed to be dealt with because they violated the heart and purpose of God on the earth.” [9] From rebuking a storm that was threatening to capsize the boat the apostles were in, BJ manages to extract a theology of saying that life’s storms are not the will of the Father! [10] If this isn’t eisegesis, what is? To turn trials and sufferings into purely a demonic attack or a result of sin is totally unbiblical. The words suffer & suffering appears 78 times in the NKJV NT, 64 of which are outside the Gospels. The call to suffering is prevalent throughout the NT, e.g. Acts 5:41; Rom 8:17-18; 2 Cor 1:5-7; Gal 3:4; Gal 5:11; Gal 6:12; Phil 1:29; Phil 3:8-10; Col 1:24; 1 Thes 2:2; 1 Thes 2:14; 1 Thes 3:4; 2 Thes 1:5; 1 Tim 4:10; 2 Tim 1:8&12; 2 Tim 2:9; 2 Tim 3:12; Heb 10:32; Jas 5:10&13; 1 Pet 2:19-23; 1 Pet 3:14; 1 Pet 3:17; 1 Pet 4:1; 1 Pet 4:13; 1 Pet 4:19; 1 Pet 5:10; Rev 2:10 – and this is not an exhaustive list!

It is beyond the point of this review to go through a theology of suffering, but it should be self-evident to any Bible reader that true believers are going to suffer, and it is an integral part of our calling. The same God who came to destroy the works of the enemy (1 John 3:8), is the same God who wills to take us through suffering. To ignore the overall teaching of Scripture and say otherwise is to create a God in your own image.

In the same way, BJ defines his theology of healing from the Gospel accounts of Jesus, and says that “Jesus healed all who came to Him, no exceptions. Setting another standard than what Jesus gave us is unacceptable” [11]. This has been BJ’s consistent theology over the years, stating back in 2003 not only that Jesus healed everyone but also that “To accept any other standard is to bring the Bible down to our level of experience, and deny the nature of the One who changes not.” [12] Not even the loss of BJ’s own father to pancreatic cancer has caused him to waver from this theology.[13] In fact, he concludes his recount of his dad’s death with the statement: “The devil is called the thief, and he stole from our family.” [14]

Again, the question we must ask is whether the Bible as a whole paints this picture of God in the area of healing, and whether in fact Jesus did heal everyone who came to Him. Let’s have a look at some Scriptures.

John 5:1-15 – Jesus only healed one man then withdrew from the miracle-seeking multitude (v13). Healing in and of itself is not the main thing Jesus is about – He healed the man for holiness (v.14). Of note is that when BJ considers this passage, he sets up a negative straw-man argument against those who might read into this passage that it isn’t God’s will to heal everyone, but he does not in any way explain why Jesus did not in fact heal everyone (yet there may have been “up to one thousand or more people gathered around that pool”). [15]

Mark 1:29-39 / Luke 4:38-44 – This clearly shows that even if we confine our view of healing to Jesus’ ministry, it is not true that he healed all who came to Him. After healing for a whole evening (Mark 1:32-34; Luke 4:40), the multitude sought Him out in the morning wanting more of the same – miracles, signs and wonders (Mark 1:37; Luke 4:42) – but Jesus moved on to preach the Word in other villages. He did not heal those who came to Him that morning.

So in as much as Jesus healed thousands upon thousands, He did not heal all He could have or all that came to Him. Matt 8:16-17 quotes Isa 53:4-5 in terms of physical healing, but it is clearly stated as a fulfilled prophecy during Jesus’ time on earth. It does not state a guarantee of physical healing in this lifetime, based on the Cross. This is consistent with the rest of the NT, which shows sickness present within the church:

Gal 4:12-14 – Remarkable that it’s because of an illness that Paul preached the gospel to the Galatians (v13)! Paul himself clarifies that this physical infirmity is a trial allowed by God (v14 - see also 2 Cor 12:7-10).

Phil 2:25-30 – An illness almost unto death.

1 Cor 11:29-32 – self-inflicted in a way but still sickness.

2 Cor 12:7-10 – Almost certainly an infirmity given Gal 4:12-14, possibly the very same one.

1 Tim 5:23 – Note that Paul mentions frequent illnesses!

2 Tim 4:20 – Paul cannot heal his companion Trophimus and leaves him sick in Miletus.

James 5:13-18 – Clearly implies sickness can be present in the Body of Christ.

1 Peter 2:18-25 – This passage is the clear call to unjust suffering. In light of the above scriptures, how can we exclude illness from suffering? Moreover, in this case the Holy Spirit treats Isa 53:4-5 as spiritual healing, not bodily healing. God did not need to go to the Cross to win healing or health for a people group. He already showed that He could do that with the Jewish people in the OT (Deut 7:15 & 8:4). So to turn physical healing into a main focus related to the Cross (on the basis of one Scripture that has multiple interpretations), simply undermines what the Cross is really about – forgiveness of sins and reconciliation to God.

Now, I do believe that God wants to heal us and will heal us. It is our inheritance in Christ (Rom 8:21; Rev 21:4). I believe that God is Sovereign, but I do not believe in an exhaustive, fatalistic sovereignty of “what will be, will be”. I firmly believe in praying in faith for people to be healed. But if He chooses not to heal us in this lifetime so that the illness brings us closer to Him, so be it. Healing in this little wisp of smoke called “life” is insignificant compared to an eternally perfect body. Rom 8:31-39 says that nothing in this creation - “tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword” (the list can obviously include sickness) - will separate us from the love of God. This is the key issue.

Joni Eareckson Tada sought physical healing of her quadriplegia. She prayed and fully believed that God would heal her. In her words, “I certainly believed. I was calling up my girlfriends saying, ‘Next time you see me I’m going to be running up your sidewalk. God’s going to heal me’”. Yet Joni is still in a wheelchair today. More than fifty years after the accident that left her paralyzed, God has still not healed her. Her perspective is one of great faith: “God may remove your suffering, and that will be great cause for praise. But if not, He will use it, He will use anything and everything that stands in the way of His fellowship with you. So let God mold you and make you, transform you from glory to glory. That’s the deeper healing”.

Kathryn Butler, a doctor, says this: “Death is the consequence of the fall (Romans 6:23). It overtakes us all, and most commonly recruits illness as its vehicle. When Christ returns, no disease will blot God’s creation (Revelation 21:4), but for now, we wait and groan as our bodies wither. We may perceive our healing to be the greatest good, but God’s wisdom surpasses even the most impressive reaches of our understanding (Isaiah 55:8). We cannot bend his will to resemble our own.”

For those who hold such a view of God as outlined in the previous two quotes, here is what BJ has to say to them (underlines mine):

“When I talk about the goodness of God and His greatness displayed in Jesus, I don’t forget that He was also the one who chased the moneychangers out of the temple with a whip. This, too, is love, as Jesus hates whatever misrepresents the Father! In the same way, it is a misrepresentation of the Father to say He permits sickness to discipline us. This is not true any more than it is to say He uses sin to discipline His children. For sickness is to my body what sin is to my soul. It’s time for those moneychangers to get chased out of the temple.” [16]

“The level of deception even in the hearts of God’s people has been so strong that there is an arrogance masquerading as humility teaching us to receive the evil that comes our way as the mysterious hand of God. It’s arrogance because it comes from the soulish ideals of people without biblical roots, without biblical surrender.” [17]

“The will of God must be displayed by a praying people, unwilling to sit on the sidelines and see the devil continually steal, kill, and destroy, and then watch the theorist give God the credit. Masking our unbelief with a spineless theology is the great deception. This continual misrepresentation of the nature and heart of God for one another and for the world must stop. Stupidity often looks like intelligence in the absence of experience.” [18]

Leaving aside the fallacy of the argument “sickness is to my body what sin is to my soul”, it is astounding and heartbreaking that BJ can write so harshly against fellow believers. Are Joni Eareckson Tada’s “misrepresentation of the Father”, “arrogance”, “soulish ideals without biblical roots, without biblical surrender”, “spineless theology” and “stupidity” the reasons for her spine still not functioning properly? BJ repeatedly complains in his writings of being unfairly criticized (and I would agree the spirit in which many criticize BJ is unhelpful, even if their critique may be correct), yet BJ’s attitude towards those who don’t hold his theological convictions is horribly judgmental and leaves no room for any middle ground. Either you accept his view of God, or – according to him - you have no biblical roots or surrender, and it’s time for you to get chased out of the temple. It reminds me starkly of what one Bethel follower said to me some time ago: “You’re not a Christian, you don’t even know Jesus. When was the last time you healed someone?” That is the conclusion if you follow BJ’s theology to its logical end.

BJ’s overall view of who God is starts and ends with his interpretation of the person of Jesus: “Whatever you think you know about God that you can’t find in the person of Jesus you have reason to question. Jesus Christ is the fullest and most precise revelation of the Father and His nature that could ever be made known.” [19]

Problem is, if you get that interpretation wrong, and that then becomes the hermeneutic by which you interpret the rest of the Bible, you have just created your Jesus genie. Consider this statement by BJ: “The Lord is looking for His Word, declared with courage, so that He has to show up to confirm it” [20] (emphasis in original).

In a sense, BJ is right. Either God wishes to heal everyone, period, and all the limitations are on our side, or there is an element of sovereignty involved (irrespective of how one sees sovereignty). The Bible teaches the latter, for the same Jesus who healed thousands upon thousands and exhorted us to pray for healing also said these words: ‘The LORD said to him, "Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the LORD?’ (Exo 4:11).

Moreover, consider the following NT Scriptures regarding suffering:

“That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death…” (Phil 3:10)

“We give no offense in anything, that our ministry may not be blamed. But in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God: in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in fastings…” (2 Cor 6:3-5)

“Are they ministers of Christ?--I speak as a fool--I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness-- besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches.” (2 Cor 11:23-28)

“For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death; for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, but we are dishonored! To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless. And we labor, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we entreat. We have been made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things until now.” (1 Cor 4:9-13)

How can God be any clearer than that in His Word? The irony is that, completely contrary to BJ’s view of God, the apostle Paul makes it clear that all of this suffering comes from the Lord (“God has displayed us…”). So ignore what the Bible teaches as a whole in the area of suffering or of sickness, and you have just created a false God. The “wonderful plan for your life” that God had for 11 out of the 12 apostles was intense persecution and martyrdom! You cannot have His resurrection power without the fellowship of His sufferings. Intense suffering is actually one of the distinguishing marks (among others) of apostleship or prophethood. [21] Many – if not most – of today’s so-called apostles & prophets bear no resemblance to the apostles & prophets of the Bible, and their God bears little resemblance to the revelation He has given us of Himself in the Scriptures.

2. BJ’s view of Christology

When we consider Christology (who Christ is in terms of His Deity and his humanity), there must by necessity be an area of uncertainty. There has only ever been one person fully human and fully Divine, and how that is possible is somewhat of a mystery. Nevertheless, over the early church centuries, there were numerous church councils that fiercely defended what some of the key aspects of Christology are, and many things that BJ states are in direct contradiction with Scripture on this critical topic.

In a book published in 2015, BJ states that “Jesus did everything He did as a man, laying His divinity aside, in order to be a model for us. At His baptism, He received His anointing as the Spirit descended on Him and remained, and He was declared by the Father to be the Son of God” [22] (emphasis in original).

In previous books, he makes the following statements:

“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” [23].

“Jesus set aside His divinity, choosing instead to live as a man completely dependent on God” [24].

“He laid his [sic] divinity aside as He sought to fulfill the assignment given to Him by the Father: to live life as a man without sin” [25]

“Jesus Christ was entirely God. He was not a created being. Yet He became a man and lived entirely within man’s limitations. His ability to demonstrate power, walk on water, and carry out countless other divine manifestations was completely due to the fact that He was without sin and was totally yielded to the Holy Spirit.” [26]

The above quotes could be interpreted to say that Jesus retained all His divine attributes yet chose not to exercise them; however, the following clearly illustrates that He no longer had inherent deity:

“Jesus could not heal the sick. Neither could he deliver the tormented from demons or raise the dead. To believe otherwise is to ignore what He said about himself, and more importantly, to miss the purpose of His self-imposed restriction to live as a man. 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.” [27] (emphases in original)

“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 follow…. Jesus so emptied Himself that He was incapable of doing what was required of Him by the Father – without the Father’s help.” [28] (emphasis mine)

"Jesus was sinless for sure. The spotless lamb. BUT He BECAME SIN. He needed to be raised from the dead. Acts 13 calls Him 'the first born from the dead.' He did not raise Himself. The Father through the Spirit raised Him. He was born of Mary. That's one. He was raised from the dead. That's two. 'Again.' It's not a statement creating a new doctrine. It's to make people think, which gets scary for some. Primarily it's to help us appreciate the fact that Jesus had become sin and was in need of the resurrection as much as we are in need of being born again." [29] (emphasis in original)

This is now very dangerous theology since by very definition deity cannot stop being deity. If Jesus’ divinity can be laid aside then it was never true divinity. Deity is not an attribute that comes and goes. It is or it is not. The Scriptures confirm this in saying that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb 13:8). Yet with BJ’s claim that Jesus had no inherent ability to perform miracles in and of Himself (even if He wanted to) he has, in effect, reduced Jesus to less than God. The point is that Jesus Christ could not just be God before and after His time on earth. He had to be God throughout His time on earth. Consider the following:

1) Jesus Christ forgave sins. He said to the paralytic, "Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you" (Matthew 9:2, also recorded in Mark 2:5 and Luke 5:20). The Pharisees were greatly offended and rightly said “Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?" (Mark 2:7). So Jesus goes on to do a great miracle to prove His divinity – “But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" -- He said to the paralytic, “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house." Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!" (Mark 2:10-12).

Jesus could not forgive sins simply out of a right relationship with God and anointed by the Holy Spirit. Only GOD can forgive sin in relation to God. It was Jesus’ divinity that was at work, and the miracle which followed was done to prove it.

2) When speaking to the Jews, Jesus said: "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM." (John 8:58) When asked what sign He would show the Jews, Jesus Christ stated: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." (John 2:19) Moreover, He also said: "My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father." (John 10:17-18)

Power over death belongs to God alone, but to allay any possible misunderstanding, a few verses later Jesus leaves no doubt over His existent deity: “I and My Father are one." (John 10:30). The Jews confirm this again by taking up stones to stone Him. Jesus answers saying: "Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?" The Jews answered Him, saying, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God." (John 10:32-33)

3) Reconciliation with God is a two-way street. On the one hand Jesus had to be fully human in order to be our representative sacrifice, but he also had to be sinless. The Bible says that we have been redeemed “with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Pet 1:19). That sinlessness and purity could not come from his humanity, but only from His divinity: “"Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). Moreover, to enter the heavenly Most Holy Place with His own blood and satisfy His own wrath, He likewise had to be God (Heb 9:11-28). Revelation makes this even clearer:

“And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth.” (Rev 5:6)

This now strikes at the heart of the gospel and of salvation. For if we deny that He was fully God whilst on earth, then He cannot save us. We are still lost for eternity. This is why Paul makes such a strong statement in Gal 1:8-9: “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.” The word ‘accursed’ in Greek is anathema and means ‘a thing devoted to God without hope of being redeemed, and if an animal, to be slain; therefore a person or thing doomed to destruction’.

In the same vein, we should also note that BJ repeatedly separates ‘Jesus’ from ‘Christ’:

“Christ is not Jesus’ last name. The word Christ means “Anointed One” or “Messiah.” It is a title that points to an experience. It was not sufficient that Jesus be sent from heaven to earth with a title. He had to receive the anointing in an experience to accomplish what the Father desired. The word anointing means “to smear.” The Holy Spirit is the oil of God that was smeared all over Jesus at His water baptism. The name Jesus Christ implies that Jesus is the One smeared with the Holy Spirit.” [30] (underline mine)

This is not an isolated statement. A few years later BJ writes: “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 there could be no title.” [31] (underline mine)

This is now heretical theology. It completely flies in the face of not only Heb 13:8 (“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever”), but a whole series of other NT Scriptures which show that Jesus has always been the Christ:

Matt 1:1-17 – the genealogy of Jesus Christ clearly calls Him the Christ at all points. Verses 16 and 17 interchange 'Jesus' and 'Christ' when referring to the same person.

Matt 1:18 – “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows…

Matt 2:4 – Herod inquires "where the Christ was to be born" - again it's a person (sometimes called Jesus and sometimes called Christ).

Mark 1:1 – “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”

Luke 2:11 – “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

Luke 2:26 – It had been revealed to Simeon him by the Holy Spirit that “he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.”

John 20:31 – “but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”

Rom 1:3 - "...concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh" - note the literal embodiment of the person known as Jesus Christ .

1 Cor 10:1-4 - "Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ."

1 Cor 10:8-11 - "Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come." destroyer.

Thus, in line with Heb 13:8, we see Christ not as an 'anointing' or a 'title' that He picked up on earth, but as a Person who has dealings with people throughout the ages!

The reason this is such a crucial point comes from the fact that ‘the Christ’ (or Messiah), is in fact a divine term. In Matthew 26:63-65 and the parallel passage of Mark 14:61-64, the high priest confronts Jesus:

But He kept silent and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked Him, saying to Him, "Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?" Jesus said, "I am. And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven." Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, "What further need do we have of witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy! What do you think?" And they all condemned Him to be deserving of death.

This is the very reason Jesus was put to death! Because He claimed to be the Christ, the divine Son of God (Matt 16:16; Luke 2:11; Luke 4:41; John 6:69; John 11:27), the Lord (Luke 2:11,26), the King of Israel (Mark 15:32). It is what Paul went on to preach after the revelation Jesus gave him on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:4-5, 20-22; Acts 18:28; Acts 26:22-23; Rom 5:6-8; 1 Cor 1:9; 2 Cor 1:19; 2 Cor 5:14-21), and what ultimately Paul was beheaded for.

Moreover, His suffering as a ‘divine human’ (‘Christ Jesus’) had been foreordained from the beginning of the world:

“Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.” (1 Pet 1:10-11)

“He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.” (1 Pet 1:20)

Then He said to them, "Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day.” (Luke 24:46)

The bottom line is that Jesus has always been the Christ. He has always been divine. He was the Christ before His birth when He was dealing with the Jewish people and the rest of humanity, in the womb of Mary, as a child growing up, before His baptism and after, on the Cross and after His death, and after His resurrection. For BJ to state that Christ was not Jesus’ last name but something He received after His baptism is to again deny His inherent divinity. It is of note that the apostle John writes the following:

“Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son.” (1 John 2:22)

In other words, you cannot have God without accepting that Jesus has always been the Son, the Christ, one with the Father. John goes on to say:

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.” (1 John 4:1-3)

The underlined sentence in Greek is ‘sarx erchomai’, which word-for-word means ‘in the flesh has come from one place to another’. [32] This is something that BJ denies when he says that Jesus came to earth but only picked up the title of ‘Christ’ when He was anointed. Over and over, BJ deconstructs Jesus’ divinity, which is in line with what a spirit of antichrist would do, as per the Scriptures of 1 John 2:22 & 1 John 4:1-3!

The separation of Jesus from the Christ, is actually a New Age teaching. In The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ, Levi Dowling makes the following statements:

“The word Christ is derived from the Greek word Kristos and means anointed. It is identical with the Hebrew word Messiah. The word Christ, in itself, does not refer to any particular person; every anointed person is christed. When the definitive article ‘the’ is placed before the word Christ, a definite personality is indicated, and this personality is none other than a member of the Trinity, the Son…” [33]

The word Christ means “the anointed one,” and then it is an official title. It means, The Master of Love. When we say ‘Jesus, the Christ’ we refer to the man and to his office; just as we do when we say…Lincoln, the President…Lincoln was not always President, and Jesus was not always Christ. Jesus won his Christship by a strenuous life…we have a record of the events of his christing, or receiving the degree Christ. Here is where he was coronated…” [34]

“…and now you stand ready to take the last degree. Upon your brow I place this diadem, and in the Great Lodge of the heavens and earth you are THE CHRIST. This is your great Passover rite. You are a neophyte no more; but now a master mind. Now, man can do no more; but God himself will speak, and will confirm your title and degree. Go on your way, for you must preach the gospel of good will to men and peace on earth; must open up the prison doors and set the captives free. And while the hierophant yet spoke the temple bells rang out; a pure white dove descended from above and sat on Jesus’ head. And then a voice that shook the very temple said, THIS IS THE CHRIST…” [35]

Notice the striking similarities with BJ’s Christological statements: