claim that we cannot know the Scripture but can know what the Holy Spirit is saying by other means
the claim that the Holy Spirit leads us into truth (which He does through Scripture) by some subjective means that go "off the map" and beyond an "intellectual approach"
claims that Christ laid aside His divinity
extravagant claims in which they are the heroes and the rest of us the unenlightened dolts
claims that personal revelations and an "encounter with God" will keep us from pride and seeking glory (Johnson: 94)
Supposedly these elitists will set off a great revival of signs and wonders greater than those of Jesus.
Accordingly, with the right information, zeal, desire, piety, faith and anointing, any Christian can "make the supernatural natural" (Johnson: 133).
have some secret, mystical meaning that can only be assessed by certain elite persons with subjective spiritual impressions
Johnson claims, "For decades the Church has been guilty of creating doctrine to justify their lack of power. . ." (Johnson: 116). It is hard to imagine what "problem" he is reacting to . . .
He resorts to an often misused passage that promotes his anti-scholastic bias: "A powerless Word is the letter not the Spirit. And we all know, ‘The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life'" (Johnson: 116). This twisting of Paul's meaning in 2Corinthians 3:6 has a long history of use to promote subjectivism and mysticism. The false implication is that studying the Bible will kill you spiritually. The context shows that Paul was speaking of the letters written on stone (verse 3), meaning the Decalogue. Paul explains how the law "kills" in Romans 7:5, 6. It kills because of our sinful passions that it exposes, not because it is studied for what it means.3
The rest of us who love and believe God's Word (from Scripture, understood according to the Holy Spirit inspired authors' intent) are supposedly powerless. Johnson's teaching is false and is abusive to the Lord's flock. Ordinary Christians who cannot replicate the miracles of Jesus and His apostles are relegated to a lesser category: powerless Christians to be pitied by elitists like Johnson.
Those who feel safe because of their intellectual grasp of Scriptures enjoy a false sense of security. None of us has a full grasp of Scripture, but we all have the Holy Spirit. He is our common denominator who will always lead us into truth. But to follow Him, we must be willing to follow off the map—to go beyond what we know. (Johnson: 76)
I will claim that his supposed end-time revival is actually end-time apostasy.
