Dreaming with God (Bill Johnson) book review

Johnson and others in the "third wave" movement make a very critical error. They teach that Satan is incapable of performing any signs, wonders or healings. On p. 43, Johnson writes, "The devil himself has no creative abilities whatsoever. All he can do is distort and deform what God has made." However, the devil is very capable to send false dreams (Job 4:12), speak lies to believers (1 Chr 21:1; Luke 4:8), cause disease (Job 2:7), cause sickness (Luke 13:16), cause delay (1 Th 2:18), and even appear to men as an angel of light (2 Cor 11:14). What does Johnson think about the fact that the devil translated Jesus from the desert to the top of the Temple in Jerusalem? (Mat 4:5).

The members of the Third Wave have a necessity to say that Satan has no power. They use this to reject the notion that their own "power" comes from dark sources like "Emma-O" and from demons (often only temporarily) releasing their grip of disease. Men are created "a little below" angels. Can men not perform works in the material? If angels are unseen, and fallen angels as well, how do their works appear to us on the earth? Witchcraft? Sorcery? Mystery? False Miracles? Magic?

Here, a verse stands out as a warning against those who think the devil has no power:

"This evil man will come to do the work of Satan with counterfeit power and signs and miracles. He will use every kind of wicked deception to fool those who are on their way to destruction because they refuse to believe the truth that would save them." (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10)

This teaching in Dreaming with God is dangerous and wrong.

Today, most churches suspect that we are entering into the Tribulation time. Even churches that do not believe in the gifts can see that the fig tree is producing fruit. Yet, Bill Johnson teaches that the devil has no power! It is in this end time, we are warned, that the antichrist will perform the greatest signs and wonders:

And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by [the means of] those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. (Rev 13:13-14)

Johnson's problem is that he must justify the strange fire he deals. To silence his critics, he must deny the Old Testament, deny that Satan and demons have power to cause (or release) sickness, and he must pick and choose scriptures in a crazed dance around the truth.

On page 81, Johnson tells how he taught a class on "Signs and Wonders". What does Bill think of 2 Thes 2:9 "Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders." Of course, if you have taught yourself that Satan is impotent, then there is no problem to believe signs and wonders.

Is it a little bizarre that the class is called "Signs and Wonders" with such an eery parallel to this scripture warning us of Satan's works?

Johnson continues in error on page 142 in a section very ironically titled "The Error that Breeds Errors": Johnson writes, "To value the scriptures above the Holy Spirit is idolatry. It is not Father, Son, and Holy Bible; it's the Holy Spirit. The Bible reveals God, but is itself not God. It does not contain Him. God is bigger than His book."

God is certainly bigger than what is in the Bible. However, when the spirit a man like Johnson hears goes against the Bible and operates very differently than God's works in the Bible... we must be reminded that an UNHOLY spirit does NOT trump scripture! Because Johnson believes and teaches that Satan cannot perform the works he sees in his church, he has been deluded. The signs and wonders he interprets also lack the wisdom of the Holy Spirit.

Do not be fooled. Johnson is not proactively teaching his adherents that God is bigger than the Bible. Johnson mentions these rules over and over again because he is responding to his detractors who bring biblical wisdom against what goes on at meetings of Johnson and other sideshow freaks of the NAR like Todd Bentley and John Crowder (who "tokes the Holy Ghost" as he would a pipe of crack cocaine). Detractors correctly point out the strange fruit of NAR teachers. Johnson is really telling them, disguised as a (n incorrect) teaching, that he, Johnson, has the Holy Spirit to lead him- and so this trumps the Bible. This is how he justifies himself.

Hey, Bill, listen to this old Marine Corps adage: "When you're making excuses, any excuse will do."

Read below as Bill Johnson completely misinterprets a "sign":

A roadrunner appeared several times at his church and eventually died there. Johnson interpreted this as a sign that prophecy would increase. He equates the roadrunner to an eagle, and says that eagles represent Prophets.
Actually, eagles represent those who hope in Jehovah.(Isaiah 40:31). "We will fly on wings of eagles" refers to all believers, not simply prophets. The eagle flies high above the earth where it can see for miles in all directions. An eagle's eyesight is 5 to 6 times as powerful as a human's. He has two centers of focus (foveae) and can simultaneously see forward and lateral objects. When the wind shifts, he knows first. The eagle makes his nest on the rock, in the mountains, or at the tops of trees. This is like a wise person, blessed with the Holy Spirit.

The roadrunner, contrarily, is called the "clown of the desert" and runs along the ground. Rarely, it can be found in a tree. This bird cannot see beyond the nearest bushes. It's habitats make it virtually blind! The roadrunner is not in the same Genus, Family or even ORDER as the eagle. In fact, the roadrunner is a member of the Cuckoo Family! And, this is the spirit in Johnson's church and in this book.

Would an omniscient God make this symbolic representation and interpretation thereof? Or, is this explanation the work of Johnson's private interpretation?

(I have written a separate article on Bill Johnson 555)

In the book, Johnson mentions that he kept seeing "555" in different places. After a time, he concluded that this means "you should write a book."

Johnson says in this book, Dreaming with God, that explaining how 555 means the person noticing it or seeing it many times should write a book is difficult to explain. And, therefore, Johnson declines to explain this to the reader.

However, in the Bible, the number 5 is associated with death. Here are some examples:

The number of death: 2 Samuel verses 2:23 (Abner kills Asahel), 3:27 (Joab kills Abner), and 20:10 (Joab kills Amasa). All these men were speared or knifed "under the fifth rib."

The number of division: For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. (Luke 12:52)

Are these the three fives Johnson saw? How has he interpreted these? Since interpretation belongs to God, why does Bill Johnson decline to inform us how he interpreted it? Johnson says in his book that it would take too long. It is short, simple, and easy to write, "I prayed and my Father in Heaven showed me the meaning." What force interpreted for Johnson? Perhaps it was a very long series of synchronicities, like the initial coincidences of 555 he noticed.

Interpretation belongs to God:

(Gen 40:8) "And they said unto him, We have dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter of it. And Joseph said unto them, Do not interpretations belong to God? tell me them, I pray you."

In Daniel 2:17 - 2:23, Daniel asks his friends to pray with him for an interpretation from God. In a "night vision", God reveals the thing to Daniel. Daniel praises God and says, "He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what [is] in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him."

Notice this important point: Popularly, people in the church point out that interpretation of dreams belongs to Jehovah. However, notice that neither Joseph nor Daniel specify or limit their statements to just dreams. Interpretation of any sign, dream, open vision, closed vision, scriptural passage, meeting with an angel, or revelation belongs to Jehovah. Even when an angel is the direct giver of the meaning, it is because God gave him the meaning. There is no private interpretation.

If any man desires understanding, wisdom, and discernment, let him ask our Father in Heaven, who knows how to give a good gift to fulfill our righteous desires.

See how simply I have explained it? What is it that Johnson cannot share with us? How long can it really take? I suspect Mr. Johnson's reason for excluding his interpretive methods is because the darkness is afraid of the Light. And... that is the seed that inspired his book!

Some examples of 555:

1. The Washington Monument, which is an Egyptian obelisk, is 555 feet tall. It was designed and built by Freemasons. The masonic temple is a place where "the god of your choice" is worshiped. Top masons, who surpass the highest official degree of 32, must sign a document that the "Great Architect" they worship in the temple lodge is really Satan.

2. In a warning the Holy Spirit gave me in April, 2011, I was shown that the stock market descent would begin with a 4.04% percent, one-day, decline. On that day, August 8th, 2011, the combined change for the Chicago and S&P indexes was a 4.04% drop. The S&P alone dropped 6.66%. The Dow dropped 5.55%. Does 555 in this case seem to represent something good, or something negative? Here are links to the warning I posted on my blog, and a second post the day it was fulfilled:

April 3rd warning from the Holy Spirit

August 8th fulfillment of Stock Market Descent Beginning

3. (Note: I am adding this on October 20, 2011. The previous parts of this article relating to 555 were all written before I found this article!) Third example of 555- It is used by the occultists! That is correct, occult followers, numerologists and such consider 5 to be the number of death (just as I found reading the Bible), and they also believe that something is amplified when applied in triplicate! 555, therefore, is an enhanced death power. Wow. Here is the article I found today: Master Number 555

I hope some people are being set free by this article. And, yes, that includes Mr. Bill Johnson of Redding.