Bethel Church, located in the quiet town of Redding, California, is home to one of the most dynamic healing ministries of our time. People journey to Bethel Church from all over the world, and are released from cancer, birth defects, chronic pain and just about any other disability that can be named. Sid recently interviewed the senior pastor, Bill Johnson, for his TV show, It’s Supernatural!
Bill says that the key to divine healing is the understanding that Jesus never healed anyone! Bill explains, “I don’t mean that healing did not happen through Jesus, because the Bible plainly says that it did. As we turn the pages of the New Testament, we read of the dead being raised to life, of people born blind receiving their sight and of oppressing demons being driven out of people. There is no question that God’s power worked in a mighty way through Jesus.
“But Jesus did not do these works in His own power. Jesus repeatedly said, ‘I, myself, can do nothing.’ Jesus moved in the power of the Holy Spirit; it was the Holy Spirit who did the miracles. This is an important distinction because it means you do not have to be a Christian superstar to combat suffering and disease. All you have to do is be open to the workings of the Holy Spirit.
“Once I got my mind renewed to this truth, I realized that the same miracles that Jesus did could flow through me! I started seeking after the Holy Spirit with all my heart. I burned with the desire to have more of God’s power in my ministry, no matter what the cost. God tested me to see if I were willing to risk looking foolish, but I told Him, ‘What ever the cost, use me. Here I am, use me.’ Miracles and healings began to flow through me as I followed His leading.”
People often ask Bill how he knows what the Holy Spirit wants to do in any given situation. He says, “It’s a learning process, but one sign I have learned to observe is when a feeling of compassion comes over me for someone. In Corinthians, Paul says that you are restricted by your affections. I believe that when I am moved by compassion, it is the Holy Spirit signaling that there is a special person present that He wants me to pray for. When my heart gets drawn into a situation in this way, I don’t always know what He plans to do, but I know that He wants to touch the person in some way.
“For example, when I was teaching at a healing conference earlier this year, I prayed for man with advanced cancer who had come from Canada. He looked very sick, and walked slowly and painfully with a cane when he came down to the front of the church for prayer. He said that doctors had given up hope, and that he was in the last stages of the disease, and taking morphine for his pain. I was stirred with compassion for his suffering, so I knew that the Holy Spirit was touching him, but there were no dramatic signs as I prayed for him.
“However, the next day, when he came back to the conference, his pain was less. He had not needed any morphine since the prayer, and he was able to walk without his cane. He continued to improve, and when he went back to Canada, his doctors found no evidence of cancer in his body! They gave him a clean bill of health. I later went to minister in his congregation in Canada and saw for myself the boldness and transformation that had come to his whole family. When people are healed so dramatically, the power of Messiah is shown to be very real.
“At Bethel Church, we believe that God will use anyone who makes himself or herself available, so we have a healing school that teaches people how we do it. After some basic teaching, we send our students out into the marketplace to put it into practice. On one occasion, a young lady from the Nashville area took three young people to the mall and started looking for people on crutches or with a cane or some other visible sign of a problem.
“They found a nine-year-old girl on crutches, so they asked the mother if they could pray for her. The girl was immediately healed and threw down her crutches. Her mother was quite moved by this. Then she said, ‘Would you please pray for my husband? He is a deaf-mute, unable to hear or talk. Our little girl has never heard her father speak.’ Our ‘students’ began to pray for him and his ears immediately opened. He could hear clearly when our student said, ‘You are also going to speak!’ God then loosed his tongue, and he started talking. That family was a scene of rejoicing. People who witnessed this miracle, the passers-by in the mall, were affected, too.
“Many miracles take place in public places. One young man felt the presence of God come on him in a grocery store and was led to pray for a man who had had three back surgeries and was in a lot of pain. He was instantly healed. There were numerous witnesses to this healing; as a result of seeing the demonstration of God’s power, two of them received Jesus and were born again. This is healing evangelism.”
“God wants to invade earth with His blessings and power. There are so many gifts in Heaven that He is just waiting for the opportunity to bestow. As a believer, you have a job to do here, not just sit passively. You are to do the works of the Messiah. The Bible says that if you sincerely hunger and thirst for righteousness you will be filled. Righteousness is intimacy with God. This life is just a blink of the eye compared to eternity. The highest adventure possible is walking with God, taking back the Kingdom, invading the earth with His power. It is for you, not just special people. It is for you.”
To hear this interview in its entirety, click here.
