The scriptures teach Jesus saying the following:
“On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” John 7:37-
It takes either an incredibly delusional person or someone who hasn’t taken the time to study and rightly exegete the Gospel of John, to twist this text in a sermon to teach that the Holy Spirit wants to manifest the glorified Christ of Revelations 1 in us.
That person who twisted the passage above is NAR Apostle Bill Johnson.
And we have footage of Bill Johnson preaching this ‘Little Gods’ heresy using the above passage.
This heresy is also called Manifest Sons of God, New Breed and the Manchild/Joseph Company heresy. They all have slight variations but essentially teach the same thing – that we can become Christs/Gods in human flesh.
This theology is not so easy to detect in the NAR because of how they approach the topic. But once you see them push this certain ‘theology’, there is no unseeing it. And this ‘theology’ is what we have called ‘Spirit of Adoption/Sonship’ (SAS) heresy. This is because NAR teachers use the same verse in Romans 8 but either emphasize the sonship or adoption aspect of a believer once they are born again.
This doctrine is addressed in these articles below (we’ve provided some of the scriptures they use to promote the SAS heresy):
Bethel Church peddling New Breed heresy (Part 1): Spirit of Sonship = Spirit of Adoption
Further examination of NAR Kenotic Jesus and NAR Spirit of Sonship/Adoption.
Remember – Michael Brown endorses this incredibly dangerous NAR cult.
Dr Michael Brown and Bethel Cult leaders endorse one another.
But why should this surprise us? And why doesn’t he condemn this teaching from his friends Bill Johnson and Kris Vallotton? The answer is simple – he holds to their same New Apostolic Reformation heretical ideas and practices. And just like Johnson and Vallotton, Michael Brown promotes the New Breed heresy.
Rosebrough exposes Dr Brown as a NARpostle at Isi De Gersigny’s circus church?
If you’ve being following any of Michael Brown’s recent discussions on FaceBook, you will notice that he has been defending his heretical brethren by appealing to their personal relationship with the Lord. This is actually proof Michael Brown believes the NAR SAS heresy, the reason being is that most Christians struggle to fall into alignment or find intimacy with God through the Spirit at all. Clearly his friends operate within this Holy Spirit ‘alignment and intimacy’ with God the Father the way Jesus was (which explains their popular supernatural ministries).
As we explained in previous SAS articles, because its origins are in the Shepherding/Discipleship Movement, this ‘theology’ forces sheep to submit to its leaders without question – these leaders are ‘spiritual fathers’ (Apostles) who are now raising up true sons of God to imitate Christ the way he submitted to His Father. So even in Michael Brown’s theology, we see him conform to the SAS doctrines which only leads people to conclude that NARpostles exist and the we must somehow manifest the New Breed here on earth right now.
Which brings us back to NARpostle Bill Johnson.
If you listen to most of Bill Johnson’s sermons, you will hear him often stressing the importance of the Christian’s ‘willingly surrendered, emptied, aligned heart’ before God. In his messages of being ‘filled up, going deeper, getting more, going up levels’, Johnson has been gradually becoming more grandiose in his claims towards how Christians are to manifest Christ here on the earth. But is it Christ?
Going back to that passage in John 7, Bill Johnson clearly lacks sound exegetical skills when it comes to reading the book of John.
This is because the book of John repeatedly states that Jesus was glorified when he was crucified.
The ultimate act of God’s glory is that Jesus, (both fully God and fully man), would willingly die on one of humanity’s most horrific torture devices to save human-kind from sin, death and an eternity in hell. His death means our sins are forgiven by God the Father, who appeased His Wrath on Heaven’s spotless Lamb. (In Revelations all of heaven worshiped Jesus – they worshiped Him as the Lamb.)
But according to Johnson, Jesus Christ was glorified not on the cross but in heaven. Not only that, Johnson teaches that we need to manifest through the Spirit, this glorified heavenly state. This flies in the face of Jesus and His apostles teaching that Christ is glorified in our persecution as Jesus Christ was glorified on the cross. Not only that, scriptures teach that we share in God’s glory by sharing in his suffering.
It’s pitiful that Johnson obsesses over Romans 8:16-17 to justify the SAS heresy but refuses to acknowledge the last half of the verse which contradict his SAS and Little Gods heresies:
“The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.” Romans 8:16-17
But if even a child reads the Gospel of John, they could question the ‘delusions of grandeur’ put forth by Johnson. For example, the Glorified Christ is a major theme in John’s gospel. But John emphasised this glorified hour being Christ’s death.
“When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.” John 2:22
The above passage states that the disciples remembered what Jesus said and what the scriptures had spoken AFTER his death. Ten chapters later, John notes this again by stating that they did not understand these things until AFTER “Jesus was glorified.” It was only after his glorious death that the disciples remembered:
“His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him.” John 12:16
In nearly every gospel account, they record Jesus illuminating his disciples to the truth of his teachings and how everything was done accordingly to the writings of the Law and the Prophets AFTER his death.
Going back to John 12, Jesus claimed, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” John 12:23. Jesus then explains how we as Christians must live this glorified “pick up the cross” life just like him:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.” John 12:24-26
“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified,” started at the communion table (once Judas had left), and finished at Christ’s death. Jesus stated:
“When [Judas] had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once.” John 13:31-32
And this was what Christ mentioned in his ‘High Priestly’ prayer:
“When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you,”” John 17:1
“And now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence with the glory I had with You before the world existed.” John 17:5
We even see Gospel of John talk about how the death of Peter was an act of glorifying God:
“(This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”” John 21:19 (Emphasis added)
What was this moment where Jesus was glorified? It was the cross. How do we share in Christ’s glory? In our suffering and persecution, in similar fashion his Apostles were killed and persecuted. The church has understood this Glorified Christ doctrine for 2000 years. Go into any traditional church and you will see Christ Glorified on the cross. We share in this glory at his communion table. We taste his glory. We drink in his glory. We partake in his glory by confessing our sins and finding assurance in his death that we are forgiven of all our sins.
So Bill Johnson is without excuse.
Bill Johnson is either biblically illiterate OR he is has another agenda in order to promote such a damning and blasphemous heresy.
It is so damnable and heretical that Bill Johnson is putting a wedge between the actual Christ and Holy Spirit and his ‘false christ and false holy spirit’. Dare we suggest that what he confesses below is that he believes in a false trinity? What Father would pour out a spirit to encourage us to manifest a Jesus scripture even hinted at doing?
“And if [the Holy Spirit] given before Jesus dies, raised from the dead, is ascended and is glorified, then that Holy Spirit will make you like the Jesus headed to the cross, and not the Jesus that is ascended at the right hand of the Father, and is glorified.”
This scriptures have never taught us to manifest in person the Glorified Christ in Revelations 1 through his idea of the ‘Holy Spirit’. At the end of the sermon, Apostle Bill Johnson concludes his message with this:
“Maybe go home and read Revelations 1 and look at that and go, “I’m like that? Glorified at the right hand of the father?” This is your impact, now, in the world.”
So if you can’t become glorified little gods or manifest on earth the glorified Revelations 1 Christ, are you really Christian? If you’re not sure, ring into Michael Brown’s show and ask him how you can obtain this New Breed status. After all, he is equipping and training God’s army and expects this new breed of leaders to arise as well.
“Times of great evil lie ahead. God’s army must be equipped and trained.
Then it can come forth.
A new breed of leaders must arise.”
Source: Dr Michael Brown, What Happened to the Power of God?, Destiny Image, Revival Press, Published 1991, pg. 161.
This all comes back to his error of the SAS heresy. And the only way to expose this error is by calling Bill Johnson out as a heretic, rebuking him sharply for his blasphemies so he can be reintroduced to the Christ’s gospel of salvation.
Judging by the title of the YouTube video, Johnson preached this blasphemous sermon on the 4th of November, 2012.
[If this video is pulled – we will upload the appropriate segments]
TRANSCRIPT 1
46:10 – 51:00
“On the last day of the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, ‘if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in Me, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water’. Listen, ‘But this He spoke of concerning the Spirit, whom does believing in Him will receive. The Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.’
Alright, last part we are going to make tonight is this; Jesus was prophesying something that was going to happen, but couldn’t happen yet. He said, they were going to receive the Holy Spirit, who would flow like a river out of their heart. But He said they couldn’t receive the Holy Spirit yet.
In John 14, he says, ‘He who is with you, will be in you.’ So He’s declaring the Holy Spirit is around them, but He’s not resident in them. That can’t happen until they’re born again. So Jesus is saying, you’re going to receiving this Holy Spirit who will become in you a living river, a river of living water, but He hasn’t been sent yet because I haven’t been glorified.
What did the Holy Spirit come to do? We know that He came to teach, we know that He came to convict, we know that He came to direct, we know that He came to comfort. We know all these kinds of things that He came to do in our life. What do you think the number one responsibility of the Holy Spirit is? Is to make you like Jesus. The number one responsibility of the Holy Spirit is conforming you into the image of Christ.
Now, think with me. The Holy Spirit, I’ve always wondered as a young man, why didn’t You give the Holy Spirit to the disciples, they obviously could have used Him? And then you read here why, it says, ‘they couldn’t because Jesus had not been glorified’.
So why they did they have to wait until Jesus was glorified? See Jesus died, He was raised, He ascended, and was glorified. So why was the releasing of the Holy Spirit to people connected to Jesus being glorified? Because the Holy Spirit is making us like Jesus. And if He’s given before Jesus dies, raised from the dead, is ascended and is glorified, then that Holy Spirit will make you like the Jesus headed to the cross, and not he Jesus that is ascended at the right hand of the Father, and is glorified. [Audience applauds]
1 John 4:17, puts it this way, it’s a scary passage but it’s true, because it’s in the Bible. 1 John 4:17 says this, ‘As He is, so are we in this world.’ Think about this, John is the one who had his head on Jesus’ chest at the last supper. John is the one that had a tenderness, a closeness to Jesus, he saw Him in His final moments. He is also the one, if you read Revelation chapter 1, is the one who saw Him like the song that we sang tonight. Eyes of fire, hair white like wool, feet burnish bronze. John saw Him the suffering Jesus, the next thing he sees is the ascended, glorified, eyes of fire Jesus. And that John, having seen that said, ‘As He is’, not ‘As He was’. As He is, so are we in this world. Christ in you, is the hope of glory.”
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Categories: Bethel "Church", Line of Fire