Part 3: Bill Johnson

Our trust in God is demonstrated by action…How can we not pray for the sick? I am not implying that everyone we pray for will be healed—surely they are not! But I am asserting that Scripture never qualifies who will be healed. Our task is to pray; God is the one who heals. (Wimber 1987: 171)


Bill Johnson, pastor of Bethel Church in Redding, California, has seen the supernatural power of God manifested in great measure over the last decade. Even more, he has cultivated such an environment of faith and testimony whereby his congregation regularly prays for people in the streets and in shopping malls. Laypeople in Redding, California weekly report wild healings and hearts turned to Christ. Johnson is an excellent example of a Western leader who is taking risks in Jesus’ name to allow God’s love to be disclosed through his power. Unlike other healing-evangelists, Johnson is neither showy nor emotional. He is rather quietly spoken and calm as he welcomes the Presence of the Spirit to invade a situation.

Johnson’s second book, The Supernatural Power of a Transformed Mind addresses the realities of the Kingdom, and welcomes Western believers to allow God to begin to transform our minds to show us what “normal Christianity” truly is. In chapter one, he begins by recounting the story of two people who came to Bethel in great physical need: a man with tumors and a woman with lung cancer who had great difficulty breathing. After being touched by the power of God, the man left the church with pants that no longer fit him, because the tumors had disappeared. Likewise, the woman left pain free and breathing normally. (Johnson 2005: 19-20). Johnson asks:

“Is that normal? Absolutely! But is it common in today’s church? Not yet. But God is changing the way Christians think about the so-called impossible. He is teaching us to work hand-in-hand with the Kingdom so the reality of heaven comes crashing into earthly problems and overwhelms them. The results are astounding miracles, great victories over the enemy, healing, deliverance, revelation, and more.”
(Johnson 2005: 19-20).

Lessons Learned from Johnson’s story:
1. My mind has so much room left for tranformation.
2. Even today, it is possible to see great works of God’s power here on American soil.
3. The normal Christian life is that of the realities of the Kingdom being made present, “on earth as it is in heaven.” Instead, the majority of us in the West have settled for a sub-normal Christian life, bereft of God’s power.

(Dot on Redding, California Photo from Wikipedia.)