Pentecost Festival Draws Thousands to London
LONDON – "God is good and He's better than you think," pastor and faith healer Bill Johnson told a packed Methodist Central Hall Sunday night.
"And He's in a good mood too. He's not mad with me and that's reason to be very happy," he added.
Johnson was in the capital for the final night of Pentecost Festival, which brought thousands of Christians to London to experience the best the church has to offer in celebration of its birth 2,000 years ago.
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Pentecost Festival director Andy Frost said the festival was about demonstrating that the church "is as relevant now as it was when it started."
Johnson, who serves as senior pastor of Bethel Church, Calif., encouraged Christians on Sunday to believe that God had already dealt with their sins and that they could perform the miracles they so often read about in the Bible.
"It would be a shame to read about so many wonderful things in the Bible and not experience any of them," said Johnson, who has led prayer sessions for healing that have seen people healed of their cancer, broken bones, learning disorders, and emotional problems.
"We've got to turn it around. If we're not seeing what Jesus promised then Jesus is not the problem. The problem is never with Him. Adjustments have to be made," he said.
He admitted that there were many times believers did not see breakthrough because they were stuck with the thought that their particular problem could not be solved or healed.
At times of doubt and disbelief, Johnson urged Christians to remember the power of the blood of Jesus and that Jesus never told anyone who came to him that he could not heal their problem.
"How effective is the blood of Jesus? Does it take care of some of the sin or all of the sin? At some point we're going to have to believe we are born again. The blood of Jesus deals with the sin – period. The only question now is how empowered by the Holy Spirit are you willing to become?"
Johnson said Jesus was the perfect example of a man who could not perform any miracles by himself but had become nothing so that he could do everything through the power of the Holy Spirit.
He went on to say that Christ's call to people to become his followers was not only for the select few or "experts" but for everybody.
He encouraged all Christians to believe that the power to perform miracles had been given to them as followers of Jesus, saying that the minute they confessed their faith in Jesus "all of Heaven postured itself to see what could be conquered in his name."
"We've been assigned to invade the realms of impossible. Your job, your talent doesn't matter. A person yielded to the Holy Spirit will accomplish much."
Citing the scene in the New Testament where Jesus curses the fig tree, he said believers were obligated to "produce the fruit of the impossible" for Jesus.
"My assignment is not to go to Heaven but to bring Heaven to Earth. We've got to stop confusing my destiny with my assignment," he said.
The third annual festival kicked off on Tuesday with seminars, talks and dozens of events reflecting the diversity of the church.
Friday night, some 5,000 people filled the Hammersmith Apollo for a night of worship and prayer with Holy Trinity Brompton, Hillsong and Jesus House. It was a historic night, with worship led by Tim Hughes, Reuben Morgan, Pete Wilson and the Jesus House Choir. Speakers included Nicky Gumbel, Gary Clarke and Pastor Agu Irukwu.
On the other side of town some 1,000 people filled Methodist Central Hall in Westminster to hear a prophetic word from Christian activist Shane Claiborne, co-pioneer of The Simple Way, a faith community dedicated to transforming inner city Philadelphia.
The following day, there were performances and testimonies by freestyle beatboxer Intensi T and weightlifters and bodybuilders from Christian charity Tough Talk.
