The Physics of Heaven Book Review

Front Cover of "The Physics of Heaven"

The book "The Physics of Heaven" By Judy Franklin and Ellyn Davis (with chapters written by many New Apostolic Reformation leaders) reads like a manifesto for a sort of New Age-Christian mixture. It acts like a syncretistic think-tank (Syncretism is mixing of occult and religious systems with Christianity). It's so bizarre that it's hard to know where to start. It honestly feels like the authors are just floating their craziest ideas of how they imagine Christianity should mingle with all sorts of New Age and Occult practices. Because it is a well known and well reviewed book, I would like to take a shot at reviewing and analyzing it. My questions arise virtually on page one. Are there vibrations in the supernatural that we need to tap into? No! Does God play games with people? No! does He hide himself in sound and light? No! Does God speak to people through “hints” of other things like sound? No! Does God speak through sound, light, energy, frequencies, vibrations, and quantum physics? No! Unfortunately this book espouses all of these ideas, and takes all of the scriptures it uses out of context and applies meanings to them that the original scriptural authors did not intend. If you want a smorgasbord of New Apostolic Reformation teaching and “seers” as they are called, then this is your book. Chapters in this book are written by Ellyn Davis, Judy Franklin, Bill Johnson (Apostolic leader of Bethel Church, Redding, CA), Jonathan Welton (founder of the Welton Academy Supernatural Bible School), Ray Hughs (author of Sound of Heaven Symphony of Earth), Dan McCollum (Co-founder of the Bethel School of the Prophets and Founder of the activate school of prophecy), Cal Pierce (director of Healing Room Ministries Spokane, WA), Larry Randolph (author of the books User Friendly Prophecy, Spirit Talk and The Coming Shift), David Van Koevering (Quantum Physicist & Inventor), and Beni Johnson (Wife of Bill Johnson and author of Experiencing the Heavenly Realm: Keys to Accessing Supernatural Experiences) The forward for “The Physics of Heaven” is written by Kris Vallatton (Prophet and senior leader at Bethel Church in Redding, CA). There is also a chapter by the late Bob Jones (who was a self admitted sexual abuser).

The authors say in the preface that this is not a theological book, but then go on to state their clear purpose to “share what we have discovered so you can go on your journey of discovery with God into the realms of sound, light, energy, vibrations, and quantum physics.” That is clearly a theological goal. Their poor eschatology is also on display in that they teach that the world will get better and better until the reign of Christ is inaugurated by our dominion of it. The Bible is clear that the end times will become worse as in the days of Noah, not better (according to Jesus). 

This book also teaches that “the veil between the earthly realm and the heavenly realm is thinner than ever (kindle location 190).” They describe how they believe that Jesus is about to release a sound from heaven that will allow us to exceed the works that Jesus did. Furthermore, this book teaches that “bringing heaven to earth is our mandate (kindle location 228).” It is often written “the Lord told me” or “I feel like the Lord has told me.” These types of statements detract greatly from the sufficiency of scripture, and make their personal revelations from God greater or at least tantamount to God's all-sufficient revealed word as found in the canon of scripture. 

One of the writers explains a vision they had in which they observed God the father at the beginning of time and witnesses him creating. In the vision they heard him say, “let there be light.” I don’t think it is necessary to explain how preposterous this vision is. The vision that is explained is that she saw God the Father before the universe was created! There is not one biblical vision even remotely close to this one...this is a whopper! 

There are furthermore incredible Dominionism and Kingdom Now theological perspectives clearly espoused. Dominionism is the aberrant theological view that God has relinquished dominion of this world to the devil, and we as his church should take back dominion from him. Is the Logos, the word that holds all things together, Christ himself, available that we could have his nature? Absolutely Not! But this book espouses this very idea. The Apostle Peter is described in this book as carrying the “Let there be light” Spirit of God within him. This book is a prime example that not just anyone should be allowed to exegete and explain scripture (James 3:1). “The Physics of Heaven” claims quite clearly that the New Age has “uncovered truths” that the church has somehow missed or lost and should seek to retrieve them. 

Another astounding quote from the book is “whenever you see a counterfeit, it means a real exists...a lie just proves the existence of a truth...I decided to examine the New Age thought and practice for anything “precious” that might be “extracted” from the worthless (kindle location 366).” She wrote this to justify her syncretism with New Age teaching and truths. The author here admits her own syncretism. Moreover this book is produced and endorsed by Bethel. Chapters were written by Bethel leaders and approved as a Bethel resource. Bethel cannot claim anymore that they are not dabbling in the New Age, since their leadership is promoting and engaging in it themselves. There are a large amount of passages that indicate that God is giving a new revelation which also detracts from the sufficiency of scripture. God’s revelation is closed. Nothing can be added to or taken away from divine revelation. 

Bob Jones describes in his chapter that God is preparing us for a “Second Pentecost” that will bring us into harmony with God, but Jesus has already brought us into harmony with God through his vicarious atoning death on the cross! He explains that God is also giving people the power of “blank checks” and “holy confiscation” for a great transfer of wealth. He says that we have not received the fullness of Pentecost. Jones ridiculously says that when God breathes on you it smell like apples. Really, I’m not joking that is in the book! He further espouses that there are positive vibrations in us and when we vibrate that we are opening a portal to heaven. Bob Jones further says that we are being prepared to receive the “priesthood of Melchizedek.” Sorry Bob, but that priesthood only belongs to one person, Jesus Christ (Hebrews 5, 6:20, 7)! He explains further that these vibrations can change DNA to have a genetic structure in harmony with God. 

Back Cover of "The Physics of Heaven"

Bill Johnson’s chapter says that “no revival has even made it a priority to leave a spiritual inheritance to the next generation (kindle location 540).” However, he is only looking at so called charismatic revivals whereas all the real revivals of history have carried on a missions flame for generations. Furthermore Johnson teaches that there are “unclaimed mantles” when he says, there are anointings, mantles, revelations, and mysteries that have lain unclaimed, literally where they were left, because the generation that walked in them never passed them on (kindle location 545).” What Johnson is saying here is that there are secrets and mysteries that we have missed in our faith which sounds an awful lot like Gnosticism. Gnosticism was an early Christian heresy that was an overemphasis on secret knowledge in respect to faith. And furthermore, this is why we have the Bible, so that we do not miss anything. We have everything we need in the scriptures. They are sufficient and in them God has communicated everything necessary for faith and life, worship and service. Johnson later on in this chapter describes that Christians must “unlock” mysteries of God. This chapter describes a dangerous precedent that God would give us “extra-biblical revelations” and that we should be searching for them. Johnson also intimates that God would never “make people sick” I guess he ignores the passages of scripture where God does send pestilence, sickness, disease, death, and the like. I guess he must have a hard time with the book of 1st and 2nd Kings where God smote many of the wicked kings of Israel, or for that matter the whole Old Testament and many parts of the New Testament (e.g. Ananias and Sapphira Acts 5:1-11 Blindness to Saul Acts 9:1-9 Elymas the Magician Acts 13:9-12).

In other passages the authors connect healing power with the emission of “powerful pulsing magnetic fields” and that this in some way indicates that we must tune in to those frequencies. In that same section they talk about how shamans, psychics, faith healers, and Hawaiian kahunas, etc. during times when they heal people become one with the earth’s geoelectric micropulsations. These healing practitioners are Animistic in origin and clearly demonic. Those types of healers clearly use the power of the devil and we should avoid such practices not dabble in them. 

Jonathan Welton’s chapter again denotes the importance of proper exegesis, because he doesn't do any. He begins his chapter with a scripture from 1st John 2:27 in which he claims it teaches that we should not ignore counterfeit gods. According to Welton, we should not be afraid of counterfeits because “whenever there is real, there is sure to be a counterfeit (kindle location 662).” What he is missing is that this passage in 1st John is actually warning people about false teaching and anti-christs. The Apostle John is warning them to “abide in Christ” as Jesus himself exhorted and prayed for us in John 17. In other words do NOT seek after other gods or counterfeits, but abide or stay in Christ. This passage of scripture actually teaches against what he is proposing. This is not about looking at counterfeits so you can know how to recognize the real! Even his own analogy breaks down. How do bank tellers spot a counterfeit? By handling the real thing enough that when a counterfeit is handled they can spot it immediately. Further on in the chapter he says that “if there is a counterfeit, there is an authentic that we need to find and reclaim (kindle location 679).” This is so dangerous. Basically, he is saying go search in all religions for the truth because if there is falsehood then there must be truth somewhere hidden in there. He claims the “counterfeit miracles prove that there are real miracles available to the church (kindle location 679).”

Further on in that same chapter Welton says something so blasphemous I need to highlight it in this review. ““Are psychics and New Agee’s operating in real power?” The answer is yes, but they have climbed in as trespassers. They have not accessed the spirit realm through Jesus (kindle location 726).” The Bible thoroughly forbids New Age, Occult, Mystic, Animistic, and Sprit World engagement! And to say that we could access the spirit world through New Age practice and just do it in Jesus name is a serious deviation from Christian Orthodoxy and practice. To take it one step further Welton writes that, “New Age has Counterfeited, such as having a spirit guide, trances, meditation, auras, power objects, clairvoyance, clairaudience, and more. These actually belong to the church, but they have been stolen and cleverly repackaged (kindle location 759).” This is so far out of bounds. Furthermore, it is impossible to claim that spirit guides, trances, meditation, auras, power objects, clairvoyance, and clairaudience practices ever belonged at anytime to Christianity! This claim is completely afield. Not just afield, but Welton is not playing in the same stadium. I would dare say, we are not even playing the same game. This is undeniably an un-Christian message (Lev. 19:26; 31, Lev. 20:6, Deut. 18:10-13, 1 Chron. 10:13, Gal. 5:19-20, Acts 19:18-19, 1 Jn. 4:1).

Ellyn Davis in the next chapter asks, “could it be that God has given us other ways to sense the unseen and unheard (kindle location 886)?” My answer to her is if we needed it God would have told us. But rather He has not explained to us how to tap into the unseen and unheard in his word, but rather quite clearly forbidden such practices. She makes a case for crystals and essential oils usage when she describes that they have vibrations. Crystals have for a long time been associated with  the Occult and New Age practice. I would say the usage of crystals for such New Age purposes are off limits for those who claim Jesus as Lord! She further described how she believes that the Holy Spirit has given her pieces of the puzzle to the sounds of heaven. Again these are incredible fabrications that arrogantly seek to prop her up as some sort of “super-Christian.” But are these claims legitimate? Moreover is this subterfuge even a necessarily a Christian claim? Where is this in Christian tradition or the scriptures that we should seek the “sounds of heaven?” Nowhere. I feel the need here now to make a short list of things that should be considered off limits for Christians. Off limits Occult activities include fortunetelling, crystal ball gazing, numerology, or seeing psychics, tarot cards, Ouija boards, automatic writing, seances, mediums, spiritism, Astrology, horoscopes, I Ching, hypnotism, Transcendental Meditation, or Far Eastern Meditation, crystals, Witchcraft, Satanism, Voodoo, channeling, reincarnation, astral projection, ESP, New Age Movement, and any form of necromancy. 

Ray Hughes continues the atrocious handling of theology when he says that “we have been given the creative ability to release the sound of God (Kindle Location 955).” This is so off base it is hard to know even where he is getting this beside his own imagination. I can think of no biblical basis for this theological statement. And it is a theological statement because it makes a claim about God that He is a God who has given us the creative ability to release His sounds. Any statement about the nature or activity of God is a theological statement. So their claim that this is not a theological book is false. The whole book presumes to explain God’s nature and ways. Hughes further says, “with every revival, there has been a release of new music or new sound. Whether the music releases revival, or whether the revival releases the music varies from generation to generation. However, the sound changes as God’s people respond to what God is doing and saying (kindle location 982).” The preposterous claim that sound or music “releases” revival is especially appalling. Revival, or true historical biblical revival is a sovereign act and impetus of God, not of any music or sound that releases it. There is not one biblical precedence for this view. (See Blog There’s Gonna Be a Revival in This Land). The Christology of Hughs, and subsequently Bethel, is seen in his words, “we bring to life the full meaning of Emmanuel—Christ with us, Christ revealed in us (kindle location 1037).” Do we bring life to the full meaning of Immanuel Christ with us? No, Jesus is Immanuel “God with us.” We add nothing to his nature, or work. We are only witnesses to and recipients of his salvation, vicarious death, and victorious resurrection! We only take part by receiving Him in faith. This goes in the direction of the “little gods” or “little christs” theology. Which is taught in the New Apostolic Reformation. Christ is truly revealed in us, but we dot NOT bring to life the full meaning of Emmanuel! He himself is the eternal incarnate word of God, and we give no meaning to his incarnation. 

Dan McCollum talks about the “God Vibration” and makes his erroneous claim, “God’s voice and the sound of angels can also be heard and experienced by man. A whole new realm of encounter awaits those who possess three simple qualities: expectancy, intentionality, and intimacy (kindle location 1162).” Is there a secret realm that awaits man where we can hear the audible voice of God and sound of Angels? No, that is never promised to us as Christians. God never promises that we will hear his audible voice. If we want to hear God’s voice then we should read his word. If we want to hear it audibly then we should read it out loud. Likewise, God never promises Angel encounters as a result of our expectancy, intentionality, or intimacy. This is extra-Biblical teaching, and is perilous for us as Christians. He closes his chapter by saying, “Intimacy is the incubator of increased encounters from the supernatural realm (kindle location 1175).” This sounds wonderful that God would bless intimacy like this, but can he link that to any biblical precedence? This I am afraid could lead to a works salvation. Paul wrote, “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him (Colossians 2:6).” How have we received Jesus? By grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9), that is how we must continue to walk in Him. This type of teaching is a slippery slope. One where we slide back into a works gospel like the Galatians had. They were again trying to “do” something to keep their salvation and to attain their own sanctification. Jesus through the Holy Spirit is the justifier and sanctifier of the brethren. This teaching is perilous because it could lead people into a gospel of works.

Cal Pierce in his chapter describes angelic encounters. He first describes an angelic encounter he had with the “energy angel” who prophesied to him about the current “energy crisis.” He described how the angel went back to his hotel room with him. The angel spoke about how if we continue to draw resources from the planet they will run out, but if we draw resources from “above" they will never pollute the planet and never run out. Pierce said that the angel told him about a “water car” and then disappeared. The angel soon returned with a scroll in his hand and on it were the blueprints for a car powered by water. The angel said he was an engineer and said he could show Pierce how it worked through the power of water and light. The angel then said that he had been “walking with” Pierce for thirty years.  Pierce told the angel that he was amazed by seeing an angel. The angel replied that he was amazed too, because he had been trying to get Pierce’s attention for thirty years. This is so outlandish it is hard for me to believe that I have to write a real serious and circumspect critique. It was hard not to laugh as I read these absurd claims. The reason that I feel like I need to write this critique is because “The Physics of Heaven” has received an enormous amount of praise on internet platforms where books are sold, and only very few negative reviews. Pierce goes on to described an encounter with a man who “God had taken to heaven and shown how to produce four dimensional objects with sound (kindle location 1224).” This man claimed that he had used sound to project a miniature house into existence. Pierce went on to elaborate on what the “energy angel” revealed to him, “He said that because God spoke His creative will, man can also speak words that create (kindle location 1231).” Is this true in any sense? No! Our words do not create! Only the sovereign creator God has the power to create anything “ex-nihilo” (out of nothing). This is an outworking of the “little gods” theology that describes that everything that God is, we are too, and have the same capabilities within us. Pierce further argues that angels obey the command of the word of the Lord and in the same way they obey and enact our word and bring them to fruition. He closes his chapter with the idea that, “Angels are around you to activate the revelation of the truth that you speak out into its creative form (kindle location 1245).” All in all, Pierce claims that he encountered the “energy angel” who gave him plans to build a water powered car, encountered a man who went to heaven and God showed him how to create little houses with sound, and as a result teaches that angels help “activate” our words when we speak the truths that we speak! Again this is so far off the mark that I believe that Pierce is not in the same ballpark. Moreover, I believe he is not even playing on the same team. As stated before these authors are not playing the same game as the Christian church of antiquity. 

Larry Randolph in his chapter says that the, “spiritual discoveries of the New Age movement could be likened to the time in the Old Testament when the Philistines stole the Ark of the Covenant from Israel. In both cases, then and now, that which belongs to the church fell into the hands of unbelievers. So, in order to posture ourselves for the next move of God, like King David, we must take back what is ours. Certain dynamics such as synesthesia, quantum physics, and “vibrations” are God-stuff, and we must not be afraid to seize what belongs to the Creator of all things (kindle location 1358).” This is apostasy! Here Randolph takes a historical narrative passage of Scripture, that is not meant to be prescriptive but rather descriptive of historical events, and makes them have spiritual meanings that they do not have. Randolph here does some pretty creative exegetical calisthenics. There is no way that the Philistines stealing the Ark of the covenant has a parallel to the New Age “stealing” practices from Christianity that we must steal back. This is absolute hermeneutical rubbish! 

This book continues in this vein until it mercifully comes to an end. This is just a small sampling of the preposterous and erroneous teaching found in this book. I highly discourage you from reading “The Physics of Heaven.” I wanted to bring your attention again to two points. This book is obviously false teaching of the most flagrant manner, and second it is inextricably linked to Bethel Church, Bill Johnson, and the New Apostolic Reformation. It has chapters written by all the senior leaders of Bethel, and approved by and sold in the Bethel internet store. People cannot say anymore that there is no false teaching at Bethel. This book is hard evidence that the teaching and beliefs of the main senior leadership at Bethel are aberrant. If you must read “The Physics of Heaven” please know that there is egregious biblical, theological, and even scientific errors on almost every single page. Keep your heresy radar on full alert as you read! Our hope is not found in any mysteries of sound, light, energy, vibrations, Quantum Physics, angelic experiences, or other New Age chicanery, but rather in Christ and Christ alone is our great and everlasting hope.

Is God's Love Reckless?

Is God’s Love Reckless?

There’s a new song out written by Cory Asbury and produced by Bethel music it’s called “Reckless Love.” This song has won many awards this year and has been number one on the Christian and Gospel Billboard chart and even high on the

secular charts. Many have thrown their hat in the ring with critique of its message including John Piper, Relevant Magazine, etc. This song is so popular in fact, we could say that it is the “How He Loves” of 2018 (which was written by John Mark McMillan and covered by David Crowder).

The lyrics of the chorus of “Reckless Love” are...

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God

Oh, it chases me down, fights 'til I'm found, leaves the ninety-nine

And I couldn't earn it, I don't deserve it, still, You give Yourself away

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God, yeah

So I want to throw my hat in the ring also to ask the question if God’s love is indeed Reckless? Or if He is reckless or if maybe the expression of His love is reckless? I was brought to this topic because we sang this song on Sunday at church. I thought immediately to myself that, “God’s love is NOT reckless!” I became quickly distracted and could not sing the rest of the song because I was so disturbed in my spirit that we might think or sing that God’s love was reckless. 

To avoid any confusion of terms we need to define the word reckless. I will define it like the artist Cory Asbury defined it so that I am consistent with his intentions and meaning. He defines reckless as “He (God) is utterly unconcerned with the consequences of His actions in regards to His own safety, comfort, and well-being.” He has defined it in this way, but what does the first language English speaker think when they hear the term reckless. My thoughts went to a more precise definition like that given by the Oxford dictionary. Oxford defines reckless as, “Heedless of danger or the consequences of one's actions; rash or impetuous.” All you need is a good thesaurus to gain a broader understanding of the word. Some synonyms are without caution, rash, careless, thoughtless, inattentive, hasty, impetuous, or impulsive, 

First of all we need to be fair to artists. Artistic license should be granted to those who are writing music, poems, and or otherwise using art to describe a seemingly indescribably awesome God. I want to grant Asbury grace in that, however that does not let him and other artists off the hook for not describing the nature, character, and works of God in precise, and accurate ways. I know also that artists choose words and ideas sometimes, as Asbury said he has here, to shock us on purpose. I also want to give leeway for those instances. But the more I thought about this the more I cannot get over the usage of this word in description of what God’s love is like. 

Asbury clearly states that he is not saying that God is reckless. However, that is a reckless thing to say...that God does reckless stuff, but His character is not reckless. That is like saying that as a father I am not reckless but I do reckless stuff with my kids. Doing reckless things with or for my kids would make me a reckless father. Asbury cannot have it both ways. Put a different way, maybe we say God sometimes acts without wisdom, but his character is wise. It doesn't compute. God only acts as defined by his character and he cannot change his character to act in an unwise way. For instance, it would be correct to say, God is wise and thus all his actions are wise. In the same way God is not reckless in his character, thus he cannot act recklessly or do seemingly reckless things. They may seem reckless to us but they are not reckless and should not be characterized as such. He cannot act recklessly either in the the doing or carrying out of his loving actions.

Looking at the definition again, we cannot say any part of God’s nature is rash, careless, thoughtless, inattentive, hasty, impetuous, or impulsive but that is the definition of reckless. He is none of those things, thus He cannot act in that way. He is rather the exact opposite of all those things. God is thoughtful, attentive, long suffering, patient, calm, circumspect, considerate, thoughtful, and wise. And those things of his character do not change, “I the Lord change not, therefore you oh sons of Jacob are not destroyed.” (Malachi 3:6) The triune God has eternally exercised his love, even before we were created. The triune God has exercised love from before time because He is love (1 John 4:8). God’s love is expressed in several dimensions, benevolence, grace, mercy, and persistence. Persistence may be what Asbury is really trying to get at. God is often described in the New Testament as withholding judgement and continuing to extend his love and grace over long periods of time. His persistence, patience and long suffering is also on display over and over again with Israel in the Old Testament. One of the most popular verses that display Gods persistence and patience is found in 1 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” (2 Peter‬ ‭3:9‬ ‭ESV‬‬). He is persistent in that He is persistently giving man chances over and over again to respond in repentance to His offer of love and grace. 

Furthermore, God’s love is not reckless but meticulously, precisely planned, and carefully coordinated within the eternal Trinity. We see this clearly in the first chapters of the Bible, that His plan was actually an eternal plan. Right after Adam fell God said, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel."”‭‭(Genesis‬ ‭3:15‬ ‭ESV). This verse has long been understood at a prophetic statement referring to what Jesus would do on the cross. Is the cross an ultimate statement of God’s love? Yes it is the ultimate statement of every part of His character. The cross makes it possible for man to receive God’s love and grace. It is the expression and propitiation of his justice, righteousness, perfection, holiness and every other part of His character. The cross was planned by the Trinity from long before the fall, the fall was no surprise to God. He didn’t react and say, “well then I better come up with a pretty reckless plan to win them back!” In a video of the song “Reckless Love” (seen below) Asbury explains some thoughts that led to the song... “He (God) doesn’t wonder what he will gain or loose by putting himself on the line. He simply puts himself out there in the off chance that you and I might look back at him and give him that love in return.” The extension of the love of God is not a mishap or an “off chance.” This paints God as a being that just hopes against hope that we will love Him too. According to this God risks giving love for the “off chance” that you will return love.

God is not leaving his love to chance, or bending the laws of nature like the reckless superhero Ironman blowing everything up in his way to save the love interest of that particular Ironman sequel film. His love is not extended so that He could possibly have the chance to be with us like we are the center of the universe. He is extending his love and grace continually because He is love and grace (1 John 4:8; 1 Corinthians 13:11), and we would only find true love and grace in Him. He isn’t bending over backwards so that He can be with us, but rather He has made it possible that we can be with Him! Peter confirms this idea in 1 Peter 3:18, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,” (‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭3:18‬ ‭ESV‬‬).

The devil is actually the reckless character in the spiritual realm. He comes to “steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10)." And he, “prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8)." We could say that God didn’t care about the “consequences of the actions of his love.” But that is also misleading. Did Jesus know of the consequences of His looming death on the cross? And the separation and sin-bearing that He would experience? Of course, and He even asked for God to remove the cup of wrath! And His soul was agonizing to the point of death! He knew and embraced the consequences, and cared deeply about them. But Jesus went through it because it was the will of the Father. And He loves the Father that’s why He follows through on His Father's will. Jesus said, “But I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.” John 14:31) 

I would like to gently lead us, and maybe even Asbury and the whole Bethel worship team, that has often put man in the center of the worship universe, to a fuller more accurate picture of the character of the love of God. I hope this post at least gets us thinking of the Bethel leanings toward Pelagianism (see video below), and a God that only sent his Son to the cross because He thought we were that valuable. Pelagianism is the teaching that people are not born into sin, and that "people are good and mean to do good even if they are not saved." (Quote from Eric Johnson Pastor at Bethel)


Of course this is flat out wrong and condemned in Pelagianism at the Councils of Carthage and Ephesus! I beg you to consider the source of your worship songs and the theology that stands behind certain worship movements. Because theology affects and influences liturgy and vice versa. That is why I wrote “Divergent Theology” to expose these terribly unorthodox theological leanings. I have spent much time in that book dealing with the theology, teaching, and practice of Bethel and the New Apostolic Reformation. 

In closing, I would like to say that using this verbiage in reference to the love of God most likely will mislead people as to the true character of God. I fear it could confuse people, make man more important than he is and make God less worthy than He is. When I believe that God is in reckless pursuit of me, then I elevate my worth over and against God’s infinite worth. When He is Reckless in pursuit of me, He actually becomes Feckless and the concept of his Recklessness backfires. This concept, I fear, turns God into hopeless romantic with no backbone, and the result is a Feckless God. The truth is, that God extends His love because He is love, not because we are so desirous to Him. We sinners are utterly undesirable to a holy God. But because He is the center of the universe, and it would be a terribly unloving thing to keep himself to himself, He extends His love to us because He is love. And it is all “to the praise of His glory.” So let’s be thoughtful as we sing “Reckless Love” and all other worship songs because liturgy affects, forms, and informs our theology. And we definitely want to believe the right stuff about God. Right?