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A review by coffeestainsandinkspots
Reckless Christianity: The Destructive New Teachings and Practices of Bill Johnson, Bethel Church, and the Global Movement of Apostles and Prophets by Holly Pivec, R. Douglas Geivett
informative
slow-paced
5.0
Bethel Church, out of Redding, California, has its share of controversy but also more than its share of influence. Holly Pivec and Doug Geivett have written several books on the New Apostolic Reformation, the larger movement behind Bethel, but in this book, they focus specifically on Bill Johnson and the dangers of the teachings coming out of Bethel.
Holly and Doug do a good job of balancing the task of evaluating poor theology but also having love for the people who are in a movement that they are critical of. I had an opportunity to participate in a book group with the authors, and that trait is evident in them personally and in the book. Reckless Christianity is more on the scholarly side of writing. There are a lot of footnotes, and it takes time to digest all of the information. If you have some knowledge of the NAR/Word of Faith movement already, then you should definitely pick up this book. But if you are new to the topic, you may want to start out with one of Doug and Holly's earlier books such as Counterfit Kingdom. That or be prepared to do a lot of googling.
All in all, this is an excellent resource for people to understand the teachings of Bethel and the larger NAR movement. I would encourage you to pick it up, no matter your position or feelings about Bethel, and evaluate what Holly and Doug are saying for yourself.
Holly and Doug do a good job of balancing the task of evaluating poor theology but also having love for the people who are in a movement that they are critical of. I had an opportunity to participate in a book group with the authors, and that trait is evident in them personally and in the book. Reckless Christianity is more on the scholarly side of writing. There are a lot of footnotes, and it takes time to digest all of the information. If you have some knowledge of the NAR/Word of Faith movement already, then you should definitely pick up this book. But if you are new to the topic, you may want to start out with one of Doug and Holly's earlier books such as Counterfit Kingdom. That or be prepared to do a lot of googling.
All in all, this is an excellent resource for people to understand the teachings of Bethel and the larger NAR movement. I would encourage you to pick it up, no matter your position or feelings about Bethel, and evaluate what Holly and Doug are saying for yourself.