How Bethel’s bonkers book butchers the Bible
This is part 4 of a five-part series of posts reviewing the book The Physics of Heaven, which came out of the hugely popular Bethel Church in Redding, California.
The claims of this book are so shocking and dangerous that Living and Powerful is doing something we’ve never done before — examine a single work in-depth.
Here are the other installments:
The devil’s first words to the human race questioned the word of God — and yet, the devil hypocritically quoted Scripture when he tempted Jesus.
Likewise, false teachers throughout church history have proof-texted the Bible, claiming it supports their beliefs. Of course, like the devil, their interpretation and application of their proof-texts are horribly wrong.
The Physics of Heaven is no different. The first installment in this series showed how Bethel’s book points us away from Scripture as where we can find the contemporary revelation of God — but yet we see Bible verses sprinkled throughout, ripped kicking and screaming out of context. This post will go through them and show how they’re badly and dangerously abused.
Note: The heading for each reference reflects what the book’s authors claim.
‘Quantum physics and the spirit realm’
Reference: 1 Corinthians 15:46, “However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual.”
What they say: In Judy Franklin’s introduction, she follows that verse with, “We believe that there’s a lot we can learn about God by looking at the natural world. … We believe that God is revealing things in the sciences, particularly in quantum physics, that can be directly related to the spiritual realm.” She calls it “The revelatory connection between quantum physics and the spirit realm.”
What it actually means: The passage is about the resurrection of the dead (verse 42), when our bodies will be instantly transformed from natural to spiritual. It has nothing to do with revelation, and obviously nothing to do with quantum physics.
The ‘field energy’ of two or three
Reference: Matthew 18:19-20, “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”
What they say: In chapter 1, Franklin writes, “Individually, each of us may not have a square yard of zero-point field energy in us, but two or three of us together do, and the Bible says that whatever two or three agree on will be done. So we truly have the power within us and around us to move many, many mountains” (another misuse of Scripture, but we’ll focus on the “two or three” clause).
What it actually means: The “two or three” principle is vastly cited across modern evangelicalism, with a wide array of applications — and no regard for its original context. The passage is about church discipline, when a brother is sinning and unrepentant. Jesus says in verse 16, “But if he does not listen, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed” (quoting Deuteronomy 19:15). His teaching is that if the discipline process follows God’s instructions, He approves of it, as if He were standing there with them, and that it’s binding in heaven (verse 18, another clause widely abused). God does not need two or three people gathered to do anything or be anywhere. To think that passage has anything to do with “zero-point field energy” is deep-end lunacy.
Vibrating at His word
Reference: Isaiah 66:2, “But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word.”
What they say: Bob Jones writes in chapter 3, “The word ‘trembles’ in this verse can be vibration. And everything vibrates.”
What it actually means: Jones leaves out “poor and contrite spirit,” which tells us what it obviously means: a reverent fear of the Lord that recognizes one’s own sinfulness (what poor in spirit means). To twist it into quantum mysticism is a sick perversion.
The surrounding witnesses
Reference: The “cloud of witnesses” in Hebrews 12:1.
What they say: Bill Johnson writes in chapter 4, “Do you know why we’re surrounded by a cloud of witnesses? ... They’re all waiting to see what we will do with what we’ve been given.”
What it actually means: This one is also very commonly misunderstood by believers of all stripes who, in today’s rampant focus on self, assume the witnesses are witnessing us and cheering us on.
Remember that this verse comes right after the “Hall of Faith” in Hebrews 11 — chapter 12 starts with “Therefore,” meaning it continues the theme. The witnesses are the people in chapter 11, and that chapter was about their faith in God. They were witnesses of Him — often at great cost (the Greek word translated “witnesses” is martys) — and so are we. The beginning of chapter 12 is an exhortation to “run the race” with the same endurance that our fellow witnesses did, and that Jesus did. They’re not standing around looking at us; we’re running with them.
Knowing God through frequencies
Reference: Romans 1:20, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made …” (that’s where the quote ends in the book).
What they say: In chapter 6, Ellen Davis asks about that verse, “Could it be that there are things that we can better understand about God through things He has made such as vibrations and frequencies?”
What it actually means: Notice that Davis leaves off the last part: “… so that they are without excuse.” That connects to what the passage is about.
We can’t see God with our eyes. We can’t know anything about Him by looking directly at Him. But we can look at what He has made, all of creation, to know invisible attributes of God. The explicit application in Romans 1 is that this is enough to convict mankind of sin, leaving us without excuse.
Also, that verse is in the past tense; the understanding it speaks of has been fully revealed throughout human history, not hidden. It’s been fulfilled all along, with no need for new revelation from quantum physics.
Faith as a substance
Reference: Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
What they say: This is a hallmark verse of the hypercharismatic movement, also called Word of Faith. They interpret “substance” to mean an entity or force that we use to do what we want. This force is “activated by sound,” Cal Pierce says in chapter 9.
But the movement’s most egregious error is not that we use faith, but that God does (something brazen heretics like Kenneth Copeland teach). David Van Koevering writes in chapter 13, “Hebrews 11:1 says that faith is a substance. It is the invisible substance from which your physical world was and is being created by Jesus Christ.” He then quotes Annette Capps: “God used faith substance and word energy to create the universe."
What it actually means: “Substance” is a King James translation, over 400 years old. The modern English word does not commonly convey the same meaning. More recent translations include certainty (NASB), assurance (ESV) and confidence (NIV). Even a sidenote in the original 1611 KJV clarifies that “substance” means “ground, or confidence.” The word conveys something we can stand on — metaphorically.
Faith is simply trust; it’s being sure of who God is, based on what He has revealed. It’s not a substance in the way we use that word today, and nowhere does the Bible teach that God uses faith to create; there is no need for an omniscient, omnipotent God to have faith in anything.
Drunken disciples
Reference: Acts 2, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.
What they say: Larry Randolph says the “sound from heaven” on Pentecost caused the disciples “to see fiery tongues, which caused them to feel drunk, which, in turn, caused them to speak in a heavenly language.”
What it actually means: The disciples did not feel drunk. That is an outright fabrication.
The myth of being “drunk in the spirit” is derived from bystanders mocking the disciples as drunk, and from Peter’s denial: “For these are not drunk, as you suppose.” But Peter wasn’t saying they weren’t drunk in that way; he’s saying they’re not drunk at all. There was no drunkenness involved in any way.
The same principle applies to Ephesians 5:18, which doesn’t contrast two kinds of drunkenness, but drunkenness against something completely different than drunkenness. The filling of the Holy Spirit makes us sober, with the fruit of self-control.
Speaking things into existence
Reference: “… call the things that are not as if they are,” from Romans 4:17.
What they say: A section header in chapter 12 reads, “By Faith, We Can Speak Things Into Existence,” followed by that citation.
What it actually means: This is another favorite fragment of the hypercharismatic movement, and it goes to the heart of their most abominable heresy.
That passage isn’t about creation, but even if it was, the clause in that verse explicitly attributes the calling to God. Not us. God speaks things into existence. Not us.
Applying a power or attribute of God to man is no less than the deification of man. The next and final post in this series will further show how this book, and that movement, teaches the religion of the serpent: “You will be like God.”
Sentient rocks and trees
Reference: Various.
What they say: In chapter 12, Davis writes, “Scripture tells us that rocks can cry out, stars can sing, and trees can ‘clap their hands’ in joy, so we wouldn’t be too surprised to discover that they have a form of consciousness too, a ‘mind’ as it were.”
What it actually means: The anthropomorphism of non-sentient objects in Scripture is a literary device. They’re poetic, hyperbolic or metaphorical expressions.
Similar example: When I wrote that this book rips verses kicking and screaming out of context, I did not mean that Bible verses literally kick and scream. It’s an expression. Bible writers used expressions, like “run the race” in Hebrews 12.
Only the madness of this book would actually think rocks have human-like consciousness.
Subatomic Scripture
Reference: 1 Corinthians 1:28, “God has chosen ... things which are not to bring to naught things which are.”
What they say: When David Van Koevering cites that verse in chapter 13, he inserts parentheses, calling “things which are not” invisible and “things which are” visible. He then says, “This Scripture makes sense only when you understand it at the atomic and subatomic level.”
What it actually means: All you have to do is read the passage to see how far this crazy train has gone off the rails: “26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. 27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.”
“Things which are not”: Foolish, weak, base, despised.
“Things which are”: Wise, mighty, noble.
Makes perfect sense at any level.
The Holy Spirit’s upper bandwidth
Reference: John 16:13, “… when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth ... and He will show you things to come.”
What they say: In chapter 13, Van Koevering claims “Jesus Himself told His disciples that they will get their upper bandwidth back. … Jesus is saying, ‘I want to show you your future. You can know My will and My plan for your life, although right now, you don’t have the upper bandwidth to see or observe it. But when the Spirit of truth comes, He will give you the upper bandwidth to see things to come!’”
What it actually means: They’re just making stuff up and putting it in Christ’s mouth.
This is an example of how this book conflates the natural and the spiritual. Jesus didn’t say the Holy Spirit would reveal things about “your future” or “your life,” but whatever He reveals, why muddy what Jesus said with metaphysical concepts like bandwidth? We today can receive this teaching just as the apostles did back then, the way Jesus said it. To quantum-ize it just adds confusion, and God is not the author of confusion. These authors are.
‘Matter has memory’
Reference: Joshua 24:27, “And Joshua said unto all the people, ‘Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us; for it hath heard all the words of the LORD which He spake unto us: it shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest you deny your God.’”
What they say: Van Koevering again: “Was this an Old Testament quantum physicist saying that matter has memory?”
What it actually means: Oy. This guy.
Go three examples up for when the Bible attributes human characteristics to inanimate objects.
Joshua was simply saying that when the people see the stone that he set up, it will remind them of the covenant Joshua made with them (verse 25). That’s what monuments are for, to remind us of things.
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So many people in this movement are biblically illiterate. By that I mean, they latch onto certain English words and phrases with no regard for what the rest of the passage (or even verse) says, and no regard for linguistic, historical, cultural or theological context. Instead of exegeting the text to determine the author’s intent and how the hearers and readers at the time would have understood it, they just import their own desired meanings.
These people have no business being in pulpits, on screens, in bookstores, or anywhere else where others can hear them.
And it’s not just the hypercharismatics, but the vast majority of modern evangelicalism. This is because, by and large, we don’t teach the Scriptures in churches. We give TED talks with verses sprinkled in — like The Physics of Heaven does.
One more post to come, about the book’s worst abomination of all.
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To make sure everything I’ve said about The Physics of Heaven was understood in context, you can read the book here, for free.
