The Power That Changes The World, by Bill Johnson

[Note: This book was provided free of charge by Chosen Books in exchange for an honest review.]

A preface can reveal a lot of the concerns of an author, and in this case, the preface seeks to ground this book in such a way that it is not viewed as a threat by the mainstream Christians whose perspective is critiqued and contradicted in some ways and yet affirmed by others. The author’s manifest desire to moderate concerns over interpretations of scripture while simultaneously attacking a particular city where an unnamed cult is based point to the fact that the author has a complicated desire both to influence change within mainstream Christianity while simultaneously being seen as a legitimate insider rather than an outsider, a perspective that is demonstrated by the contradiction between the author’s nonspecific appeal to radical obedience to Jesus Christ being combined with continual references to nonbiblical Sunday church observance. This contradiction adds another layer to the recognized tension in this work between a desire to praise what is radical while not being judged as being too radical to be accepted and listened to, a difficulty that many reformers in any political or religious tradition understand all too well.

In terms of its contents, this particular book contains selective exegesis of various passages of the Bible that the author feels are ignored or marginalized, while giving a great deal of selective praise to such figures as David and Solomon. Rather than being evidence of a broad knowledge of biblical law and its application, or of the narrative and poetic and prophetic parts of the Bible, this book appears to be written with a specific goal in mind: to convince mainstream Christians to be radically obedient in loving others, appreciative of Christian efforts in faith and love that seek to provide larger cultural influence in key institutions like the family, arts and entertainment, the media, science and technology, the economy, and government, in ways that do not copy the ways of the world but that utilize a largely undeveloped “kingdom culture” that shows a great deal of optimism derived from a postmillennial optimism that promises that better times are around the culture in terms of a widespread societal regeneration if Christians will simply remain hopeful and support leaders like himself.

To be sure, the writing of this particular author in this book, and presumably elsewhere in his larger body of works, is a useful balance to the more pessimistic commentaries about larger societal trends that are particularly prominent in our society, but it should be noted that this book is not itself a balanced and fully biblical perspective, but is rather an element of a larger balance that has to be weighed and sifted. Of particular note is the fact that the author, after criticizing the selective readings of other believers of various prophetic messages, goes on to disregard whole large categories of biblical stories as being out of step with the contemporary season, and therefore unworthy of emulation. He does this on grounds that are entirely subjective, and if a reader is prone to doubt the credibility of the author in making such grand claims, then the absence of evidence and reasons provided for some of his positions on why certain models of biblical behavior are obsolete is unconvincing. Ultimately, this book will likely find its largest degree of support in circles where a combination of social action and postmillennial optimism is already popular, and will likely be roundly condemned by those who find his political or prophetic worldview defective. Fair-minded readers will find much to appreciate, but also a fair amount to critique, even if they have some sympathy for the author’s immense and likely insoluble dilemma between having the passionate desire to reform his faith tradition while remaining accepted and honored by it, goals which are nearly impossible to manage simultaneously.