They Must Be Silenced

THEY MUST BE SILENCED

What the Bible teaches about how to relate to false teachers

By Pastor Brian Wilbur

Date: August 27, 2023

Series: Neglected Doctrines

Note: Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Introduction to Sermon Series

This sermon is the sixth sermon in a sermon series that will be preached intermittently over the next few years. The sermon series is entitled “Neglected Doctrines” and emerges out of my observation that certain important biblical doctrines are often neglected or undervalued by evangelical churches in America. By God’s grace, let’s be a congregation that gives careful attention to all that the Bible teaches!

Introduction to Sermon

Exactly six years ago on this date – on August 27, 2017 – I preached my first sermon here at South Paris Baptist Church. Since that first sermon, which I preached as a pastoral candidate, I have preached over 250 sermons here in my role as pastor. That is a lot of preaching content, and yet today’s sermon is one of the most difficult and unusual sermons I have given here. In this regard, I might be able to identify a little bit with Jude, the man who wrote the 65^th book of the Bible. Jude told the people that he was writing to that “[he] was very eager to write to you about our common salvation” (Jude 3). Nevertheless, Jude immediately goes on to say that “[he] found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). Why? Because ferocious wolves were threatening the congregation: “For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” (Jude 4) Although Jude would have preferred to write about the glory of the gospel, “[he] found it necessary” to write about doctrinal watchfulness in the face of false teachers. Jude had to draw clear lines in the sand; had to urge God’s people to guard those lines; had to instruct believers to “[build themselves] up in [their] most holy faith” (Jude 20) and not follow the way of the scoffers who “[follow] their own ungodly passions” (Jude 18).

The message that I have to share this morning isn’t exactly the same as Jude’s message, although it does relate to the same general topic. This sermon is titled: “They Must Be Silenced: What the Bible teaches about how to relate to false teachers”. The biblical principles regarding how to relate to false teachers are very clear. But applying these principles ‘on the ground’ – in actual circumstances, in real time – is a more difficult matter, and yet it must be done. So, let’s begin with the foundation, and then we’ll get to the application.

FALSE TEACHING IS A SERIOUS PROBLEM

First, we need to understand biblically how serious the problem of false teaching actually is. After telling us about the faithful prophets who spoke forth God’s Word, the apostle Peter sounded this warning:

“But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words.” (2 Peter 2:1-3a)

Here we see:

• the fact of false teachers: “there will be false teachers”;
• the location of false teachers: “among you” (that is, inside the Christian community);
• the motive of false teachers: “greed” (self-enrichment);
• the tactic of false teachers: they “secretly bring in” and “exploit”;
• the message of false teachers: they deny the Lord, and they declare “false words” and “heresies” (that is, their own discordant opinions that draw people away from the truth of Scripture);
• the impact of false teachers: “many will follow their sensuality” and “the way of the truth will be blasphemed” (that is, they give the church a bad name); and
• the destiny of false teachers: “swift destruction”.

Those who broker in “destructive heresies” lead others as well as themselves into ruin.

The apostle Paul also gave warnings about false teachers. He told the elders of the church in Ephesus:

“I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears.” (Acts 20:29-31)

In another place, Paul expressed concern for the Galatian churches:

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel–not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 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.” (Galatians 1:6-8)

In his second letter to Timothy, Paul told his protégé to “rightly [handle] the word of truth” (2 Timothy 1:15) and avoid nonsense:

“But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some.” (2 Timothy 2:16-18)

Just from these three passages from Paul and the earlier passage from Peter, notice the disastrous influence of false teachers: they upset or destabilize the faith of believers; their talk leads people into increasing ungodliness; they trouble the church, distort the gospel, and tempt Christians to abandon the true gospel; they don’t spare the flock; they draw people away from the safety of the flock grazing together in green pastures and into their own twisted ideas. Instead of leading you into spiritual maturity, they entice your flesh to indulge in sensuality. Instead of building you up in “the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Timothy 6:3), they tear you down with false words.

Sound doctrine promotes good spiritual health

It cannot be emphasized enough that sound doctrine is worth dying for. Sound doctrine is “in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God” (1 Timothy 1:11). Faithful teaching lines up with God’s character, God’s heart, and God’s saving work. Sound doctrine also “accords with godliness” (1 Timothy 6:3). Just as healthy food accords with and promotes the eater’s physical health, so healthy doctrine accords with and promotes the believer’s spiritual health. Sadly, false teachers act wickedly by obscuring your view of the truth and by seducing you with lies.

Don’t be like the wicked chaplain who sought to make it easy for Christopher Yuan to remain in bondage to his sin. Christopher Yuan writes this in this month’s edition of Tabletalk magazine:

“Before my conversion to faith in Christ, I confided with a chaplain about my sexuality. I was astonished when the minister handed me a book explaining that the Bible does not condemn homosexuality. Everything inside me wanted to accept those assertions to justify my life as a gay man. I began reading that book in one hand and the Bible in the other. In the following months, the Holy Spirit removed the blinders from my eyes and convicted me that the chaplain and the book clearly distorted God and His Word.”[1]

Like this chaplain, false teachers distort God’s Word and lead people to ruin. Like the scribes and Pharisees, false teachers “shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces” (Matthew 23:13). By contrast, faithful teachers present God’s Word clearly and without apology, which leads people to sanctification. By teaching the biblical view of sin, the biblical view of repentance, the biblical view of faith, and the biblical view of salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus, faithful teachers open the kingdom of heaven to all who have ears to hear.

HOW TO ADDRESS FALSE TEACHING

Second, we need to understand how the Bible tells us to address false teaching. Keep in mind that I’m painting with broad biblical brushstrokes here: what we do in a specific situation will depend, in part, on the nature and severity of the false teaching, the overall character of the false teacher, and the type of relationship that we have with the false teacher. Even so, it is helpful to see the big picture, as there are many New Testament instructions about how to address false teachers. Let this panorama of instruction sink in:

• Paul to the church in Rome: “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 Jesus Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.” (Romans 16:17-18)

• Paul to the church in Colossae: “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.” (Colossians 2:8)

• Paul to the church in Thessalonica, which was faced with erroneous teaching about the future day of the Lord: “Let no one deceive you in any way.” (2 Thessalonians 2:3)

• Paul to Timothy: “[Charge] certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.” (1 Timothy 1:3-4)

• Paul on the responsibility of an elder: “He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.” (Titus 1:9)

• Paul to Titus: “For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach. One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith” (Titus 1:10-13). I borrowed the four words “They must be silenced” for the title of this sermon. Notice that the silencing and sharp rebuking isn’t merely about being right on paper – it is about the well-being of other people who are being destabilized by these false teachers. Such people need to be restabilized in the truth of Scripture.

• The author of Hebrews to early Christians: “Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace” (Hebrews 13:9).

• John to his fellow believers: “Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.” (2 John 9-11)

• Jesus to the church in Ephesus: “I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false…. [You] hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.” (Revelation 2:2, 6)

• Jesus to the church in Pergamum: “I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth.” (Revelation 2:14-16)

• Jesus to the church in Thyatira: “I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, and I will strike her children dead.” (Revelation 2:20-23)

This is a weighty collection of passages. The assumption is that believers first of all know the truth. We cannot be vigilant against error unless we have a firm grip on the truth. So, to quote Paul’s words from Colossians 2, you must be “established in the faith, just as you were taught” (Colossians 2:7). We want to be like the church in Rome, which Paul praised with these words: “I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another.” (Romans 15:14) If we know and cherish sound doctrine, then we ­– the church and its leaders – will be motivated and equipped to be alert and watch out for false teachers, and contend for the faith, and see to it that no one takes us captive or deceives us or leads us astray, and test the legitimacy of those who claim the mantle of Christian leadership, and hate the works of heretical movements, and rebuke and silence those who oppose sound doctrine, and avoid troublemakers who trip people up with unbiblical teachings, and refuse to tolerate or be partners with leaders and movements that are spreading a faulty message.

HOW TO FIGHT HONORABLY ON THE DOCTRINAL BATTLEFIELD

Third, let’s think about how to fight honorably on the doctrinal battlefield. Keep in mind that we may sometimes disagree about how to handle a specific situation. But there should be no disagreement that we are, in fact, called to take a firm, strong, and clearheaded stand against false teachers and their errors. If over the course of several years we never take a firm, strong, and clearheaded stand against anyone inside the Christian community, then the most probable explanation is that we are asleep at the wheel or that we are unwilling to take tough stands or that we prefer sloppy compromises and superficial alliances over steadfast conviction. In light of Scripture’s repeated warnings on the subject, is it really possible that our congregation will never be in a position where we have to deal with false teachers?

On the other hand, if over the course of several years our default mode is to always make sure that we are taking a hard stand against somebody, if we are always chomping at the bit to have another false teacher to call out and critique, if we thrive on doctrinal controversies and can’t wait to learn about additional opportunities to silence people, then the most probable explanation is that we are immature in our character and we have not yet learned to excel in patience, kindness, and grace.

Even so, the Lord clearly calls His people to be vigilant in the face of diverse and destructive errors. Therefore, we must be ready and willing to represent the Lord faithfully on the doctrinal battlefield. And yet, this battlefield exposes us to many hazards – hazards that can only be avoided if we are clothed in good character and wearing the armor of God. Of course, we can avoid the hazards of the doctrinal battlefield if we avoid the battlefield altogether, but avoiding the battlefield altogether is simple disobedience, and disobedience is never a promising solution to anything. Go to the battle – enter the fray – and do so with the Lord’s equipment. No mere man exercised greater doctrinal vigilance than the apostle Paul, and he said this:

“[As] servants of God we commend ourselves in every day: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left” (2 Corinthians 6:4-7).

We have no business dividing up what God has joined together. We cannot pick and choose between “genuine love” and “truthful speech”. If we exhibit a form of love without truth, we will hurt the people we love by exposing them to heavy doses of error, which is bad for their souls. If we exhibit a form of truth-telling without patience, kindness, and genuine love, then we will impede the spread of truth by putting a bad taste in people’s mouth. Of course, all of this is quite impossible to pull off without the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. And without the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, it will be much better for everyone if we just go home and stay off the battlefield. But if the Holy Spirit is empowering us to do what God commands, then we must do the work assigned to us. In the Lord’s strength, we can prove faithful in the battle by doing what Paul instructed Timothy to do:

“And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness.” (2 Timothy 2:24-25)

Notice that kindness, patience, and gentleness is not deployed in the service of theological sloppiness and doctrinal carelessness. Instead, these gracious qualities are deployed as essential accompaniments to doctrinal faithfulness: the Lord’s servant knows the truth, is able to clearly articulate the truth, and is willing to correct those who oppose it. In this way, healthy Christians contend for the faith without being jerks. They may be accused of being jerks – and there is no shame in the mere accusation – but they must not actually be jerks. And they must not be jellyfish, either. Instead, they are Christian warriors – captured by God’s grace, compelled by God’s truth, commissioned by the risen Lord – and they are ready to preserve and proclaim sound doctrine for the nourishment and growth of God’s people. God’s church is, after all, “a pillar and buttress of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15), and a pillar and buttress are not flimsy.

The bottom line is that congregations – its leaders and members – must be vigilant against the encroachments of false teachers. Pastors and elders must take the lead, set the example, and take special responsibility for matters that pertain to the whole church (Sunday School curriculum, worship music, the church library, and so on). At the same time, every Christian must be established in sound doctrine and exercise discernment for the sake of your own soul, for the sake of your family, and for the sake of your sphere of influence. The Bible instructs all of us to be watchful and to see to it that we are not led astray.

The challenge of wolves in sheep’s clothing

As we seek to exercise level-headed discernment – not as pick-a-fight heresy hunters, but as humble and gracious persons who love biblical truth – we need to be aware that false teachers operate inside the Christian community and have a Christian appearance. There are obviously false teachers outside the Christian community, but the false teachers that are most dangerous and that the New Testament warns us so much about are the false teachers who operate from the inside of the church. Paul refers to “false apostles, deceitful workmen [who disguise] themselves as apostles of Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:13). Paul refers to Satan’s servants who “disguise themselves as servants of righteousness” (2 Corinthians 11:15). Jesus says, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” (Matthew 7:15) So, a superficial evaluation of false teachers may not reveal their falseness: they do their best to look like sheep, act like sheep, talk like sheep; they do their best to disguise themselves as righteous emissaries of Christ. Since they are masters of disguise, a high percentage of their public ministry is going to look Christian, is going to look okay, is going to look right. Therefore, we are going to have to slow down and be careful discerners: we don’t want to make a mistaken conclusion in either direction – we don’t want to mistakenly conclude that a faithful teacher is a false teacher, and we don’t want to mistakenly conclude that a false teacher is a faithful teacher. The biblical call to discernment requires us to go beyond appearances and to dig deep. Don’t be stunted in your own doctrinal maturity and exercise of discernment, but grow in doctrinal maturity and wisdom so that you can do your part to protect your household and your church family from destructive influencers.

THE APPLICATION: EXPLAINING A RECENT DECISION THAT THE ELDERS MADE

Now with all that said, I am finally read to get to a very important point of application. I’m not going to give a sermon like this every time the elders make a tough call. But since this is the first time since I’ve been here that we have done something like this, I think it is important for you to understand the mindset of the elders and the sense of responsibility that we have for the well-being of our church family. It is also important for you all – as a congregation – to be a well-formed and well-informed congregation. Therefore, today’s sermon is useful to equip you with knowledge and wisdom.

Here is the point of application. Earlier this year we – the elders – made a tough call: we suspended the church’s use of all songs associated with Bethel Music, which is affiliated with Bethel Church in Redding, California. All the elders, along with our elder-in-training, were in complete agreement in making this decision. Previously, we had sung some Bethel-affiliated songs in corporate worship, but now they have all been set aside. Why?

The first reason: walking in unity with one another

There are actually two reasons why. The first reason is only indirectly related to today’s sermon, whereas the second reason is directly related to today’s sermon. The first reason is simply this: there was a small but growing number of church members who expressed concern about or objected to our use of Bethel Music because of Bethel Church’s serious errors. From the elders point of view, this would have been a sufficient reason to suspend the music. The reason is simple: Romans 14:1-15:7 urges us to walk together in peace and to worship the Lord together in unity. If the worship of some mature and thoughtful members of our church family is hindered or unsettled by the use of certain songs, then with literally hundreds of unobjectionable songs at our fingertips, why not simply set aside the use of those unsettling songs for the sake of pursuing unity with all of our fellow worshipers? There is no song – or no particular version of a song – that I have to have sung in our worship service, and I am willing to have any song set aside for the greater good of being unified as a church family when we worship the Lord. The elders agree that this is an attitude that all of us should have. Now this doesn’t mean that we cancel any song that anyone fusses about. We do want to be thoughtful about it. We want to weigh the reasons why people have expressed concern about a song, and determine whether those concerns are reasonable. If someone’s concern is overly scrupulous or nit-picky, I am willing to attempt to alleviate his or her concerns. But in the present case, it is evident that the people who had concerns about Bethel Music had reasonable concerns.

The second reason: Bethel’s teaching ministry has serious failings

While this first reason may have been reason enough for us to suspend Bethel songs, the second reason is even weightier and it solidified our decision. It became evident to us that Bethel’s teaching ministry is characterized by serious and injurious failings – and we don’t want to platform, promote, support, or endear you to a ministry that has this level of doctrinal failings. Notice that I didn’t say that we don’t want to platform, promote, support, or endear you to a ministry that has failings. I didn’t say that! If that was our outlook, then everyone would be suspended, including ourselves, because every ministry has some very real failings. So I want to be clear: we are willing to platform, promote, support, and endear you to imperfect ministries, since that is the only kind that exist. But the New Testament warnings that I mentioned earlier are not designed to get us to dismiss every teacher on account of any failure. Instead, what is important to discern is whether there are patterns and emphases in a teaching ministry that would tend to have an injurious effect on the body of Christ. In our estimation, Bethel rises to that level and therefore justifies suspension.

A few things that I appreciate about Bethel Church

In the interests of honesty and courtesy, I don’t mind telling you that I appreciate certain things about Bethel Church. So many people have an atheistic and materialistic view of the world, but Bethel has a supernatural worldview: they believe that the living God is active and at work in this world (and so do I). So many people have a woke progressivist view of morality, but Bethel adheres to a biblical view of marriage and sexuality (and so do I). So many people have a therapeutic view of salvation, but Bethel believes that Jesus suffered the wrath of God on the cross in the place of sinners (and so do I). So, I’m not going to stand up here and pretend that Bethel is complete and total wickedness. Bethel has some good points, and we would do well to pray for Bethel, that their entire ministry would be recalibrated according to Scripture, so that they might bear good and lasting fruit.

And yet, Bethel is promoting egregious errors

But the good points notwithstanding, Bethel has some bad points that are so egregious that as the pastor of South Paris Baptist Church, I don’t want you under their influence. If you choose to listen to one of their songs on Apple Music, that’s your decision. It’s not my place to police your playlist. But I do want it to be publicly known that I don’t want you under Bethel’s influence, and I don’t want you to be endeared to their ministry. Their musical productions are excellent and very popular in the worlds of contemporary Christian music and worship music, and I don’t want their excellent music to endear you to their larger ministry. Through its music, ministry school, and global reach, Bethel is influencing millions of people.

Bethel’s fundamental problem

In my opinion, the most basic problem that Bethel has is that they are unruly and reckless when it comes to operating within the boundaries of Scripture. If I had to distill my concern about Bethel into a simple statement, I would say that they routinely violate the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture (the doctrine which I preached on April 30). From their perspective, Scripture is not a gloriously sufficient green pasture within which to graze and grow, through which the Holy Spirit sanctifies and shapes our lives, and to which our hearts and minds must tenaciously submit. For them, Scripture is a springboard to launch into new ideas, new experiences, and new realms that go beyond what the Bible addresses. Their approach to Scripture is unbiblical and dangerous to people’s souls. They want to experience supernatural phenomena on a regular basis – and when I say supernatural phenomena, I’m not talking about the supernatural Holy Spirit working through the supernatural Word of God to supernaturally convert and transform sinners into saints. Instead, they want to experience miracles and healings and visions and new prophetic revelations on a regular basis. In pursuit of this unruly agenda, they handle Scripture in a sloppy way.

My effort to assess Bethel’s ministry

In addition to watching or reading numerous reviews of Bethel’s teachings and ministry, and watching numerous sermons from their lead pastor Bill Johnson, I also read three books that reflect Bethel’s ministry culture. I read When Heaven Invades Earth: A Practical Guide to a Life of Miracles by Bill Johnson. I read Experiencing the Heavenly Realm: Keys to Accessing Supernatural Encounters by Judy Franklin and Beni Johnson. Beni Johnson was Bill Johnson’s wife prior to her death last year. Judy Franklin served as an administrative assistant to Bill Johnson for many years. Bill Johnson wrote the foreword to their book. I also read The Physics of Heaven: Exploring God’s Mysteries of Sound, Light, Energy, Vibrations, and Quantum Physics, co-authored by Judy Franklin and Ellyn Davis with contributions from many other authors. Kris Vallotton, one of Bethel’s senior associate leaders, wrote the foreword to The Physics of Heaven. The titles to all three books reveal an emphasis on the heavenly and the miraculous. Let me give you some insight regarding these three books. I am not attempting to articular a comprehensive review of each book, but am only seeking to alert you to some significant concerns that help account for our decision to stop using Bethel music.

Interacting with When Heaven Invades Earth

The subtitle to Bill Johnson’s book – A Practical Guide to a Life of Miracles – is built on the conviction that the preaching of the gospel ought to be accompanied by manifestations of power in miracles and healings. I’m not an anti-charismatic, so I don’t dismiss Johnson’s writing simply because he encourages miracles and healings. My critique is based on his inordinate emphasis on miracles. In a May 6, 2019 Facebook post, he said, “The Gospel requires miracles to be fully preached.” In the book, he writes: “When miracles are absent, so is the glory of God, which is the manifested presence of Jesus.” (p. 102) He writes: “Without miracles, there can never be a full revelation of Jesus.” (p. 104) He writes: “Something happened in me that won’t let me accept a gospel that isn’t backed with signs and wonders.” (p. 121) He writes: “Jesus gave people the right to disbelieve it all if there was no demonstration of power upon His ministry. I hunger for the day when the Church will make the same statement to the world. If we’re not doing the miracles that Jesus did, you don’t have to believe us.” (p. 75) When miracles are prized and sought after and required in this fashion, it effectively replaces Scripture as the preoccupation of the believer’s mind. It is sobering to think that in Jesus’ masterful sermon on the mount, he called us to attain a heart-level righteousness expressed in godly conduct, and the only time in the sermon he mentioned prophesying, casting out demons, and doing many mighty works was in the context of false Christians who claimed to have done these things in the Lord’s name, and yet at the final judgment the Lord tells them that He never knew them and that they must now be banished from His presence (see Matthew 7:21-23).

Interacting with Experiencing the Heavenly Realm

Bill Johnson also wrote the foreword to Experiencing the Heavenly Realm. Speaking of the book’s two authors, Judy Franklin and Beni Johnson, Bill Johnson writes: “These two authors are among the most qualified people I know for such an endeavor to write a book about experiencing God.” (p. 24) The book is basically a guidebook that is intended to lead you into heavenly encounters with God – encounters in which you visit God in heaven and, as the back cover of the book says, “Experience love in the third heaven realm.” The apostle Paul was transported to the third heaven, and came back speechless (see 2 Corinthians 12:1-4). The apostle John had profound visions that he recounted in the Book of Revelation. But according to Franklin and Johnson, such visitations to heaven are available to any believer. Beni Johnson writes, “After reading John’s encounters, we can see that it is God’s intention to take us into His realm to uncover His glorious mysteries.” (p. 210) I believe it would be more accurate to say that after reading John’s encounters, we can see that it was God’s intention to take John into His realm in order to reveal His glorious mysteries to the rest of us through John’s written record.

In the book, Judy Franklin describes numerous heavenly encounters in which she, among other things, stands or sits on God’s lap (p. 77, 83), puts her arms around His neck (p. 83), kisses His cheek (p. 83), sees the “Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit all dancing” (p. 85), hears the Holy Spirt inviting her to dance with him (p. 149), “[talks] with God in the garden” (p. 88), and “Jesus [takes her] hand and [they] started walking through the woods” (p. 141). When I consider the Holy-Spirit inspired record of Job’s vision, Isaiah’s visions, Daniel’s visions, Ezekiel’s vision, Paul’s visions, and John’s visions, they are worlds apart from what Judy Franklin describes. That said, if she had simply told me in private that she had some unique heavenly experiences, and if she didn’t make a big deal about it but walked honorably in sound doctrine and holy living, I probably wouldn’t give her a hard time. But she is the one who decided to make a big deal about it by telling the whole world about it through her book. Moreover, the situation worsens when you consider the fact that she is writing this book in order to lead you, the reader, into similar heavenly encounters. She has sought to lead Bethel’s ministry students into these heavenly encounters, and she offers a template in the book to lead you into these heavenly encounters. She claims that God “has indeed created a garden for each of us to come to” (p. 158), and she claims divine authorization (see p. 176-177) to “[lead] people to the gate of Heaven” (p. 175) and into a heavenly experience. She uses a process called visualization in which the disciple pictures Jesus in his mind or her mind, walks up to the Jesus thus pictured, and waits for Jesus to do something (p. 176). Who knew that heavenly encounters were so easy to come by? The responses are predictable. She hears people say things like: “He hugged me.” “He kissed me.” “He’s dancing with me.” “He put His hand on my head.” (p. 177) As it is with the teacher, so it is with the student.

One very measured and gracious reviewer of this book made this sobering observation:

“… there is no Biblical basis for Christians to have person-to-Person relationships with any Person of the Trinity in the third heaven through visualization, quite the contrary, but, on the other hand, the occult world has been using the technique of visualization to contact Jesus, God, Mary, people living and dead, etc. for thousands of years.”[2]

One of my favorite hymns begins, “When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word” (from the hymn “Trust and Obey”). But seeking to walk with the Lord in the light of our own vivid imaginations is not the way to be healthy and holy and happy in Jesus.

Interacting with The Physics of Heaven

From The Foreword

Finally, we come to the book The Physics of Heaven. Kris Vallotton, one of Bethel Church’s senior associate leaders, wrote the foreword to this book. He calls it a “powerful book” that “reads like a journal that emerged from a Holy Spirit think tank” (Loc. 85). He wrote,

“The apostle Paul went on to say that the Saints are to,“…bring to light…the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 3:8-9).” (Loc. 89-94)

One would hope that a simple quotation from Scripture in the foreword to a book wouldn’t land the foreword writer in trouble. But there are two problems here. First, Paul did not say that the saints are to “bring to light the…the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God”. Instead, Paul described his own apostolic ministry as bringing the mystery to light:

“To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 3:8-10)

The apostle Paul brought the mystery to light for the benefit of the church, so that the church might reveal God’s wisdom to the universe.

Now here is the second problem: Vallotton claims that the project undertaken by the authors and contributors in The Physics of Heaven book “could be the beginning of this Ephesians passage being unveiled to spiritual beings in heavenly places.” (Loc. 94) This is, frankly, an absurd and wildly reckless statement. The Physics of Heaven is a book about “the mysteries of sound, light, vibrations, and quantum physics” (Loc. 114) and how these physical realities interface with the metaphysical-spiritual world. Do you know what “the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God” was – do you know what the mystery was that was brought to light by the apostle Paul? Paul clearly tells us in Ephesians 3:6, “This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” The stunning reality that the church displays “to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places” is that Gentiles are included in God’s family, such that believing Gentiles and believing Jews are at peace with one another because of the peace that Jesus achieved for His people through the cross. The church has displayed this gospel-generated peace, this triumphant wisdom of God, for two thousand years! And yet, Kris Vallotton takes Ephesians 3:8-9 completely out of context and gives it a clever metaphysical spin, and then has the gall to say that now – in the 21^st century, through the strange metaphysics of The Physics of Heaven book – “could be the beginning of this Ephesians passage being unveiled to spiritual brings in heavenly places.” This sleight of hand, in which a Scripture is quoted in defense of an unscriptural idea, is reckless and it catches the ignorant unaware.

From Chapter 1

In Chapter 1, here is how co-author Judy Franklin describes The Physics of Heaven:

“Its sole purpose is to share what we have discovered so you can go on your own journey of discovery with God into the realms of sound, light, energy, vibration, and quantum physics. Why? Because I believe what the Lord has been showing both of us is the absolute truth that will help us bring God’s kingdom to this earth. The Lord is ready to use sound, light, and energy in ways we never dreamed….” (Loc. 144-149)

Seriously? The missing ingredient in us bringing God’s kingdom to earth is the mysterious laws of physics?

She also writes:

“The next thing the Lord told me was that soon He would release a sound from heaven that will literally change the structure of how we think. This new sound will transform us like the transformation spoken of in Romans 12. Our minds will be renewed so that we think like Him and are no longer conformed to this world but conformed to this world but conformed to the will of God. Bringing heaven to Earth is our mandate, and to do that we need to think more like heaven.” (p. 2)

According to the apostle Peter, the Lord’s precious and very great promises afford us with everything that we need for godly living (see 2 Peter 2:3-4). We have the very Word of God – and the Holy Spirit indwells, renews, and empowers us. But according to Judy Franklin, we should be on our tiptoes awaiting a new and transformational sound from heaven. By what authority does she make this claim? She says “the Lord told me”, which means that she is basing her claim on a claim of personal revelation from the Lord, but this personal revelation doesn’t line up with what God has already revealed about the sufficiency of His Word and Spirit to transform His people.

From Chapter 2

In Chapter 2, the other co-author Ellyn Davis claims that we Christians have much to learn from the New Age movement:

• Davis writes: “I decided to examine New Age thought and practice for anything “precious” that might be “extracted” from the worthless. 

“At that time, I could not find a single Christian leader who shared a similar interest in finding out if there were truths hidden in the New Age. Now we are beginning to hear more and more revelation that is in line with what New Agers have been saying all along and we are hearing more and more teaching about Christians “taking back truths” from the New Age that really belong to citizens of the Kingdom of God.” (p. 14-15)

• Davis also writes: “I believe that the Holy Spirit is moving again. So do all of the Christian leaders who contributed to this book. They are all trying to position themselves to be “where the puck is going to be,” not where it’s been.

“None of them want to be caught in the “dove dung” left behind when the Spirit moves on. They all agree that the next move of God will cause a shift at the deepest level of who we are–perhaps at the very “vibrational level” that the New Age movement has been exploring. They also all agree that there are precious truths hidden in the New Age that belong to us as Christians and need to be extracted from the worthless.” (p. 18)

This doesn’t square with the Bible’s instruction to trust God’s Word and not chase spiritual insights from other sources:

“[Take] care that you be not ensnared to follow them [the nations], after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods?–that I also may do the same.’ You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way, for every abominable thing that they LORD hates they have done for their gods…. Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it.” (Deuteronomy 12:30-31a, 32)

The point is not that the nations never stumbled upon a true or helpful concept. The Canaanites, the Egyptians, the Babylonians were, like all human beings, image-bearers of God. As image-bearers of God, they must have discovered, from time to time, something that was true. And there is no doubt that New Agers have, from time to time, said something that is true. But what difference does that make? When it comes to pagan religious systems, their overall system – considered in its entirety – is abominable, idolatrous, and false. Furthermore, everything that is necessary for godly living and God-honoring worship is to be found in God’s Word. The question is: do we trust the Lord, that He has given us all that we need in His Word? If we do, then we won’t be seeking to harness sound, light, energy, and good vibrations as a newfound power to bring heaven to earth. The message of the cross will do:

“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:18)

And precisely because the message of Christ crucified is the power of God unto salvation, we know that we have nothing to be proud about. We must always stay near the cross, we must stay humble and unimpressed with ourselves, we must boast in what the Lord has accomplished, and we must not get cocky in our effort to discern and silence error. But we are willing to discern and silence error, because the Lord has commanded that we do so, and obeying Him is what His grateful and humble followers must do.

ENDNOTES

[1] Christopher Yuan, “The Testing of Daniel and His Friends”. In Tabletalk Magazine, August 2023, Vol. 47, No .8: p. 19.

[2] Karl Kemp, “Caught Up to Heaven Through Visualizing Jesus? Part 1” [part of a book review of Experiencing the Heavenly Realm, Expanded Edition]. September 8, 2020. Available online at faithwriters dot com: https://www.faithwriters.com/article-details.php?id=205732

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Franklin, Judy and Ellyn Davis (With Bill and Beni Johnson, Larry Randolph, David Van Koevering, Bob Jones, Ray Hughes, Cal Pierce, Dan McCollam, and Jonathan Welton). The Physics of Heaven: Exploring God’s Mysteries of Sound, Light, Energy, Vibrations, and Quantum Physics. Shippensburg, PA: Destiny Image Publishers, Inc., 2012. Kindle Version.

Franklin, Judy and Beni Johnson. Experiencing the Heavenly Realm: Keys to Accessing Supernatural Encounters, Expanded Edition. Shippensburg, PA: Destiny Image Publishers, Inc., 2016. Kindle Version.

Johnson, Bill. When Heaven Invades Earth: A Practical Guide to a Life of Miracles. Shippensburg, PA: Treasure House (an imprint of Destiny Image Publishers, Inc.), 2003. Kindle Version.