Beni Johnson of Bethel Has Passed of her Cancer

Wife of Bill Johnson, “pastor” of Bethel Church in Redding, California has passed away this morning from Cancer.

She had been diagnosed with an advanced stage of cancer, from which she was sadly unable to fight. Yesterday evening, as her condition worsened, select members of the congregation held what they called an “emergency healing service” as she worsened and ultimately succumbed to her illness.

Please do not misunderstand, I also prayed for Beni. My own father passed from cancer in 2011. It is a terrible wasting scourge, and I wouldn’t wish it on my enemies, and Beni and Bill are not my enemies. I pray for Bill, who is now faced with moving forward without his beloved wife and partner of many years. However, their church is well-known for its false “faith healing” doctrine and is so-called “school” that teaches others to try (and fail) at this nonsense. It is tragic to me that God in His infinite wisdom has chosen to take Beni from this life. It is my sincere hope that she truly turned to Christ in faith, and that she is with Him now. I will not speculate on more than I am entitled to know.

One would think that these people would have gotten the message after their lack of success in raising little Olive from the dead. I hurt for her mother, who only called for prayer support after little Olive had passed. This and all that followed was a true tragedy.

Beloved, God can heal if He wishes. I believe I have seen an actual case of this, and recently. However, in our day and age, there is no need for the works that accompany and establish the authority of an Apostle of Jesus Christ. Those men died out around the turn of the first century, and such works have no other reliable historical record. By the time of Augustine of Hippo, everyone universally said that these gifts had ceased and they were only for the establishing the authority and credibility of the original Apostles in the new Church. To pretend they still exist smacks of Montanism, and to pretend to yourself that you HAVE these gifts (despite all evidence to the contrary) is a not-so-subtle form of insanity.

Please pray for Bill Johnson, for the loss of his life’s partner. This loss must be extremely difficult for him, and pray that the Lord would really show Himself to Bill in such a way that Bill is regenerated and brought into the kingdom of God.