There is a new heretic in town with an old familiar name...

::::::::

But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned"every one"to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. - Isaiah 53:5-6 (ESV)

Click Here

To be honest, I had never heard of this Jim Baker, who pastors a church in Ohio. He came across my radar today from an article in Charisma News where he wrote extensively on why prosperity gospel is somehow sound doctrine. It is not. His reasoning was some of the same old tired arguments about needing money to be a blessing. That is not only unbiblical, but it pretends that somehow we will not raise our standard of living with each income raise allegedly pursued for the glory of God. I remember once when someone bragged that Creflo Dollar provided a ton of money to supply school backpacks for many children in the Bronx. Yeah, that is great, but he still was living in a million dollar mansion and flying a private Learjet. Was he a blessing? I am sure those kinds felt so but in the end, he blessed himself just a wee bit more, no? In my review of Baker's page on his false calling to develop an army of Christians who will create wealth, he announced he was proudly endorsed by the likes of Patricia King and Lance Wallnau as well as crediting Bill Johnson and Kris Vallotton as influences. This is enough to conclude that the man needs to be avoided like the plague but in case there was doubt, here is a blurb from his wealth with God webpage:

"My wife and I started leading a church in Powell, Ohio in 2008. We saw amazing breakthroughs in healings"blind eyes open, deaf ears healed, people getting out of wheelchairs, metal dissolving out of bodies, even several dead raisings. Miracles aren't just for Africa! In 2011, the Lord told me to go after finances the way that we went after healing. To me, that was an all-out ballistic assault. I ended up doing an 18-part series on finances and our church got amazing financial breakthrough. About 25% of our people got completely out of debt in 12 months, many including their homes. The Lord handed me an assignment to create a movement of Kingdom wealth-builders who understand that prosperity has a purpose. Prosperity isn't about toys and trinkets; it's about influence and impact." - Jim Baker

An 18-part series? Wow. That aside what caught my eye was the typical Charismaniacal claim to have seen unbelievable healings and even dead raisings. I am sure he got that shtick from Bill Johnson. No proof, just a ho-hum reference like it is a given fact. Doing a deeper dive, it turns out that the wealth scam might not be his most passionate false teaching. Divine healing appears to be. For the uninitiated, divine healing is an unbiblical teaching that confuses salvation with physical healing and demands that God must always heal everybody. This is a dangerous teaching that has shipwrecked the faith of many. I know people who blame God or themselves and never returned to church because they were promised this nonsense only to not be healed. The problem is that this teaching says that if we are not healed, it must be our fault. That somehow, we are not believing enough, and our faith is lacking. I am sure Baker also got this from Bill Johnson as it is a core teaching at Bethel. Of course, that is odd since Johnson wears corrective eyeglasses but a more recent turn at Bethel proved how false this teaching is. Bill Johnson's wife fought cancer and unfortunately lost. Was this due somehow to a lack of faith on her part? I do not even think so. I am sure she demanded her healing right up until she passed away. If this theology is true, then why do any faithful Christians die? So, I decided to listen to one of his sermons, linked above, so you do not have to. This sermon and my review revealed that not only is he a false teacher of this theology, but he is extremely good at it. He seems very down to earth and folksy. Yet he keeps making arguments that no one is making to prop up his teaching. I will paraphrase the lowlights and respond. This goes in the basic order of the sermon. Let's reason again together beloved.

"If you are a Christian then you have the gift of healing." - Jim Baker

This is a bizarre statement. The gifts are given as the Holy Spirit wills, not Jim Baker. 1Corinthians 12 teaches us that not everyone has every gift. Do all have the gifts of healing the bible asks? The answer implied in the original language was NO. These were rhetorical questions. Now let me be clear. God CAN still heal. God does still heal. The choice to however is His and His alone. Sometimes the person is called home regardless of our prayers. Despite this poor theology, not all of our prayers are answered in the affirmative. Jim Baker believes he already knows the will of God for every single person on the planet, saved and unsaved and that is to be healed. This is the sin of Lucifer, as Baker is usurping the role of God and denying His sovereignty.

"Mark 16 says they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover." - Jim Baker

This is listed as one of the signs that will accompany new believers but Mark 16:9-20 is widely believed to have been added to the text and not actually written by Mark. The language is inconsistent with the rest of the book. As such, we NEVER base doctrine solely on these verses. That said, the verse does not state that every person will be healed. Just that one sign is healing upon the laying of hands, indicating God can heal them. Not that He must.

"Unfortunately, in the church we have a lot of believers who don't believe. They have been taught the wrong things. If we had a three-day healing conference and you came the first day, received prayer and nothing happened, you came the second day, received prayer and nothing happened, you came the third day received prayer and were healed, guess what - God didn't change, you did." - Jim Baker

This is the usual refrain from the Bethelites who preach this nonsense. That we who insist that God is God, and His creation does not have His power, must somehow not believe. If they mean not believe in crackpot doctrine that tries to steal the power of God, yep, I do not believe. The bigger problem is this ridiculous example he gives. It is amazing that he does not see the logical disconnect he preaches because he staunchly preaches against works saying that people often think they must do something in order to receive their healing when that is exactly what he is teaching. This imaginary person had to do something in order for God to finally heal them on the last day of the conference, no? It is a cleverly disguised works theology that incorporates preaching against works!

"I was driving over here and just enjoying Him, singing in tongues." - Jim Baker

Really. I just included this because it gives us a window into how unstable his grasp on doctrine truly is. I am reminded of someone who once posted on Facebook gibberish and claimed that she was writing in tongues. We do not write in tongues. We do not sing in tongues. To claim so shows just a breathtakingly poor understanding of the bible. He follows this by citing Psalm 107:20 and Proverbs 4:20-22 as somehow proof of his teaching. The Psalm verse simply speaks to God healing the people of Israel, but we are not Israel. The Proverbs verse says that there is healing in His word and there is! But not on demand from the creation!

"It is always God's will for you to be healed, no matter how good, bad or ugly you are.

God is not up there waiting for your faith. He has already said yes. He died for your sins and in the same way, paid for your healing. If you listen to this and take it to heart, it will be impossible for you to stay sick." - Jim Baker

Once again, really. Nothing matters to God? Everyone gets healed regardless of their salvation, or sin? They just have to believe. Except the things of God are foolishness to those who are perishing, no? Why would anyone outside of God's grace believe with faith that a God they do not believe in can heal them? Notice the conflating of salvation and healing? This is where his theology goes off the tracks. Just because God demands faith in the work of Christ to save their soul that does not mean it also applies to healing in their physical body. Yet perhaps the most absurd claim made, and there were a lot in this sermon, is that if you just take his teaching to heart then it will be impossible for us to stay sick. Impossible! Ask Bill Johnson if it was impossible for his wife and if he is honest, he will have to admit no. Imagine the damage this can cause, especially to very sick people who are young in the Lord. He actually compares the state of living in adultery to the state of being sick and declares God would no more want you in adultery that in sickness. Wow. He has essentially decided that people who are sick are equivalent to people who choose to commit the sin of adultery in the eyes of God.

"If you hear somebody praying and they say, Lord if it be Your will heal me, that is a bunch of religious gas. That is a wasted breath prayer." - Jim Baker

This sermon just gets worse and worse. This comment completely undermines the sovereignty of God. He misuses 1John 5:14-15 that says if we pray according to His will, we know that we know we have what we ask. The problem of course is Jim Baker has pre-decided what that will is. For every human being on the planet. This is the Lucifer sin on steroids. Beloved, we all know faithful Christians who have gone home to be with the Lord. This obsession with this life, which is but a glimmer, is nothing short of idolization. Even the very scripture he cites we must ASK. Why bother since you think you already know the answer? Essentially Jim Baker is teaching his folks to petulantly approach the creator of the universe and demand that He heal them because he thinks He is required to all the time. Praying for His will is not "religious gas", and it is beyond insulting to say so. Praying for God's will is never wasted breath. Even his constant comparing to salvation misses the point. Sure, we know that God saves on all that call on Him in faith but isn't that still asking? Do we demand salvation from God? This is very bad teaching.

"By your stripes you were healed, it is already a done deal. Mark 11:24, the verse that Kenneth Hagin wrote. You have to believe and then you will be healed. Jesus is perfect theology - I got that statement from Bill Johnson He healed every person that came to Him, without exception, and every person the Father led Him to." - Jim Baker

The problem with using Mark 11:24 is again a matter of knowing the will of God. This verse about casting mountains into the sea is reliant upon our prayers aligning with God's will. Now, Baker has solved this because he has figured out what God's will is for healing every single person on earth. Note however he refers in praise to the likes of Kenneth Hagin and Bill Johnson. This provides us with an insight into why his teaching is so bad as Hagin and Bill Johnson are two of the biggest heretics in the past 50 years. Now let's deal with this poor teaching that says Jesus healed everyone as it is another core staple teaching of this false doctrine. It is also dead wrong. First of all, the gospel accounts were written by the followers of Jesus who were telling a story of His ministry and mighty works. To think they would retell every waking moment of His ministry is absurd. Jim Baker has no idea that all were healed and let's look at one story that does appear in the scriptures:

Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids"blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be healed?" The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me." Jesus said to him, "Get up, take up your bed, and walk." And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. - John 5: 2-9 (ESV)

Now, what can we learn from the text? There was not one man there that needed healing. There were multitudes! Invalids, blind, lame and paralyzed! This is where they went every day to try and get healed! Now Baker gets cute here and says that Jesus healed everyone that came to Him or He was "led to by the Father." This is the clever way Baker tries to insulate his teaching from this story. The problems are many. First, the text does not say that Jesus was led to this one man by the Father. More importantly, if it is ALWAYS the will of God to heal EVERYBODY, no matter how good, bad or ugly as Baker says, why did Jesus not heal the multitudes? What God does Baker portray that would lead Jesus to heal only one out of a multitude of people so clearly in need of healing? Baker might counter that the mandate for healing was a work of the cross, but he is speaking out of both sides of his mouth then. You cannot claim that Jesus healed everyone because all of that occurred prior to the cross as well. This statement about Jesus healing everyone is simply wrong and not supported by scripture. God chose this one man, in this one story and countless other scenarios of one or limited numbers to be healed because this was the plan. It is what led to the Pharisees wanting to kill Him. It led to the cross and our salvation.

Before moving on, the even larger problem here is the constant Christian confusion regarding the prophecies of the Messiah contained in Isaiah 53. This error is made not only by the NAR, false teachers and believers of divine healing but of many well intended churches as well. Isaiah 53, the key verses for today, portends of the coming Messiah with breathtaking accuracy that could only come from God. Is this about physical healing in our bodies? Absolutely not. This is describing the sin-sick condition of our eternal souls. That is the sickness He bore. Our transgressions were why He was pierced. Our iniquities were laid upon Him. By those stripes that He bore, we are spiritually healed. We are saved. This is the plan of salvation, not a secret code that means we all receive physical healing on this side of heaven. Can God heal? Absolutely and the bible says to go to the elders in the church to receive the prayer of faith if we are sick. Not to approach Jesus like it is a foregone conclusion. Why compel us to even go to the elders if this false theology was accurate? Either way, it is time to stop turning the prophecies of Christ's coming to heal our sin condition, with this blanket immunity from sickness that so many are falsely teaching today. God is sovereign, which Baker will now mock as well.

"Sovereignty has become this thing where we can just sweep everything under the rug that we don't understand and blame it all on God. As if God's putting sickness on people to teach them a lesson. Somehow we point our finger at God and say, God this is Your doing. That's disgusting, it is not the God of the Bible." - Jim Baker

While it is true that some "blame" God for anything and everything, this is a strawman argument. No one with discernment is making that argument when it comes to the sovereignty of God. Sickness came into this world through the fall of man. What we are saying is that while God may choose to heal many people, it obviously is not everyone. Some people are called home. Others die to face judgment. That is the God of the bible. Perhaps Baker should spend more time reading it instead of trying to leverage it. Here is today's deep theology. It is the height or human arrogance to think we have figured out everything about an infinite God, who created the entire universe by merely speaking it. What does Baker do with the scripture that says how much higher the ways of God are? So yes, we do not understand quite a great deal about God and to decide His will so globally like Baker does is inherently foolish and dangerous. When I say God is sovereign, it is not in an attempt to sweep anything under the rug. It merely is acknowledging that He is God and I am but a creation of His. We all would be wise to do this as well.

"Religion makes people stupid. Who is in control of healing, you or God? Don't answer, you are going to get it wrong. You are in control of healing. Who was in control when the blind people were healed? They were because they came to Jesus." - Jim Baker

It is fitting that we would end this review with such a blasphemous statement. God is not in charge of healing? Then why pray at all? Why seek the elders? Why do what the bible clearly instructs us to do? This is just another example of the sin of Lucifer, trying to be God. Beloved, the bible is not confusing regarding healing. It is a gift listed that the Holy Spirit MAY choose to give. Why do we need the gift of healing if everyone automatically gets it? Why did God bother to instruct us to seek the elders of the church? Why did Jesus bother with the saliva and mud on the blind man's eyes? One day, Jim Baker will get sick. He cannot avoid it as this is the state of our earthly bodies from birth. Eventually one day it may be too much, and he will stand before Christ and answer for all the faith he shipwrecked by telling people he knows better than what the bible actually instructs.

Beloved, I wish we were in charge of our healing. If we were, no one would die. This is again a matter of loving this life and not considering the eternal gift of salvation. I understand because all we know is this life and eternity seems far away and is through faith. The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord and Jim Baker obviously has very little. The hubris it takes to say things like if you take my teaching to heart you will never get sick or that God is not in charge of any healing we might receive staggers the mind and spirit. Baker seems to be a very likable fellow. He also seems to genuinely believe this. It is not a matter of intent. As my former pastor was fond of saying, we can be sincere and sincerely wrong. Jim Baker is sincerely wrong here. This is what happens when you allow Bill Johnson, Kris Vallotton, and Kenneth Hagin to form your theology. We serve a great God. We serve a merciful God. We serve a loving God. We serve a wrathful God. Can He heal? Of course, He is God. Do not catch yourself in the position of telling God what He must and must not do. Do not say in your heart "I will ascend to heaven." Do not believe the promises of you being like God. If you are sick pray because He is full of love and mercy. Do not be petulant and presumptuous. As for the new Jim Baker, mark and avoid him like the original.

Reverend Anthony Wade - June 30, 2023

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.