Unstuck

Have you ever been stuck in a rut?  Have you had times when you’ve felt alone and overwhelmed, unable to see any light at the end of the struggle, or just stuck in the continuous cycle of that sin that you can’t shake?

If you’re anything like me, which I’m sure you are in this sense, then you’ve definitely been there!

One of the things that I find with almost every Christian is that they want to change. As we grow in our faith and knowledge of God we are confronted with our own sinfulness and our failings as we, an unholy people, try to live holy lives for God’s glory. But it isn’t easy, is it? Continue reading “Unstuck”

A problem with Christianity today…

Have you ever spent any amount of time with a 4-5 year old? I remember a few years back spending a good chunk of time with a wonderful family whose son was 5 at the time. One of the things that you would hear approximately every 10 seconds was “why daddy?” It was quite cute because the wee fella was from Northern Ireland so you can imagine the accent that goes with it. He was in the middle of the phase that most children go through of wanting to understand things and so he constantly asked questions.

But fast forward a few years and children, generally speaking, stop asking why.Continue reading “A problem with Christianity today…”

Can science explain everything?

Have you ever been in a room or a conversation where a discussion is taking place and the others involved in it look at you, and you can read from their faces, that they think that you are not intelligent enough to join in?
Have you ever been in a conversation where you’re asked a question and you panic, you don’t know the answer, and so the cold sweat starts and you just freeze.

This can be often be the case for people when it comes to the whole Science vs Religion debate. Continue reading “Can science explain everything?”

5 Principles for reading in 2019…

One of the questions that I often get asked is “How can you read so much, you’re already so busy, how do you find the time?”

This question usually comes after people hear that for the last five years I have set myself the challenge of reading 5 books a month. This wasn’t and isn’t an easy task and two of the biggest reasons that I can read so much is because 1) I get very little sleep and 2) I started to discipline myself to read.

Let me tell you a little unknown fact about myself… Continue reading “5 Principles for reading in 2019…”

Bible reading and devotions…

So it’s now the 8th January… how’s that New Year’s resolution coming along? Have you taken the first bite of chocolate? Have you skipped leg day? Did you give in and devour the whole bag of crisps?

New Year’s resolutions aren’t bad things but we are bad at them. After a week or two (if we last that long!) we give up and continue life as normal. Sadly this is also true for our spiritual New Year’s resolutions, isn’t it? So many times I have spoken to people who have said that this was the year that they were really going to do it, this year they would read their Bible and pray every day. Is it really that easy? Well yes and no…Continue reading “Bible reading and devotions…”

When Heaven invades Earth

One of the biggest names in many churches today is Bethel it’s usually because of their music. However, whilst there are many people who love their music there are many people who do not like it. The reasons for such feelings vary; some people don’t like the sound of their music but other dislike their music because of the lyrics.

Therefore, when I picked up When Heaven invades Earth I had a feeling that I would not like the book.

But Sabine, my wife, challenged me to read the book with an open mind and to underline the book with two different pens; green for the parts that I agreed with and red for the things that I disagreed with. Sabine also told me that there needed to be at least one green line in every chapter. This challenge sounds easy, but I’m afraid to say it wasn’t.

This book has sold in the millions, people say that they have been ‘blessed’ by it but as I read it all I could feel was sadness, disappointed and frankly anger.

Words are important and there are many words that I do not use lightly, but sometimes things need to be brought to the light. This book is heresy, and I do not say that lightly!

The book supposedly teaches how the gospel brings the power of Heaven down to earth and Johnson argues that Christians can do this.

The reason this book made me angry is because it does not portray the Trinity accurately, it denies Christ as the Son of God and it reduces the Holy Spirit to a ‘miracle dispenser’. These teachings are so dangerous but sadly they are not as far away from us as we would like to think. Many churches sing songs from Bethel music and as pastor of Bethel Church in California, this is the theology that is behind their songs.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that in every song there is heresy, nor am I saying that every person who likes Bethel is a heretic. But I am saying the the theology that Johnson promotes in this book is not in accordance with Scripture and nor is it glorifying to God.

Johnson says that Jesus could only do miracles once He ‘received the Holy Spirit’ and that today Christians can do far more than Jesus did. As I read this, and I marked pages upon pages of red lines I was shocked to know that many Christian listen to this teaching and do not see it for what it is.

One of the allegations brought against Reformed Christians is that they put the Holy Spirit in a box and restrict His work, and I’ve heard it said that charismatics ‘unleash’ the Holy Spirit. However, the opposite is often true. To reduce the work of the Holy Spirit simply to Him dispensing miracles, giving Christians ‘power’ and being an impersonal force in fact reduces the work of the Holy Spirit.

All you need to do is study Church History and you can see that there is nothing new under the sun, heresies come back but with different makeup and clothes.

This book promotes things contrary to Scripture, it denies the sufficiency of the Bible and it does not give an accurate description of God.

I cannot give this book a rating, because it is false teaching and I don’t think any Christian should read it for their ‘edification’. Instead I think that everyone needs to be aware of the false teaching that this book and this man promotes and we cannot shy away from calling it what it is… heresy.

If you are a Christian in the pulpit or in the pew, I encourage you to warn people about this book and this teaching.

As I flick through the book to see the bits that I underlined with the green marker, there is at least one in every chapter, I see bible verses and statements like “Jesus is Lord”.

There were other things in the book that sounded ok, but I know that Johnson would take them further than I would and further than the Bible would.

The heresy in this book is so dangerous because it seems so close to the truth. If you do not think about his teaching properly or if you do not take the whole book into consideration then you might want to give him the benefit of the doubt. Johnson has such a small view of God, of Christ and of the Holy Spirit and it saddens me to know that many people are caught up in such teachings.

The only person I would recommend this book to is someone who is trying to understand a modern day heresy or someone who has others around them who are caught up in such teachings.

This review was not written out of a hatred for Johnson or for Bethel music, but it was written out of my heart for Christians to be taught well. I have been praying for Johnson and will continue to do so, please join me and warn people about this teaching.

Is This It?

Everyone has heard of a midlife crisis, who knows maybe you have even been through it or are going through it right now, but have you ever heard of a Quarter-Life Crisis?

Children nowadays are raised with the hopes and aspirations of their parents on their shoulders, and so when people often leave university or go into their first job they have a certain aim or goal in mind as to where they want to be in a few years time. However, this very rarely plays out.Continue reading “Is This It?”

Short Christmas giveaways…

Christmas gives us a wonderful opportunity to tell people about Jesus, it gives us the opportunity to give a reason for our faith in God and it gives us the chance to take people beyond the crib and to look to the cross. Here are a few booklets and tracts that I’ve looked at that could assist you to tell people about Jesus this year…Continue reading “Short Christmas giveaways…”

Emotions: Mirrors of the Heart

There are some books that I read right away and others that I put to the side and, to my shame, forget about. Emotions is one of those books. I’ll be honest and say that the only reason I bought it was to get free postage and packaging from 10ofThose, but man I am so glad that I did.

Our emotions are powerful, they dictate our attitude, our perspective, our approach to life and they affect the way we interact with others. But how much emphasis should we put on them?Continue reading “Emotions: Mirrors of the Heart”

Three great children’s books

This is a bit of a different post from my normal weekly book review, instead of giving a bigger review of one book, I decided to give three shorter reviews of three great children’s books. If you don’t have children, don’t stop reading! These books are great ideas for gifts for families and children for Christmas and beyond.

As an avid reader one of the things I always encourage folks to do is to start reading whenever you can and as early as you can, that goes for children too. As adults we have the responsibility to teach children about God; If you are a parent you do this by talking and reading to children about God, and as friends of families we can do this by Continue reading “Three great children’s books”