Bethel Church's Bill Johnson says Spirit of God 'does not rest upon every believer'
Bethel Church Senior Leader Bill Johnson told attendees at a recent conference in Texas that the Holy Spirit indwells but "does not rest upon every believer."
“The Holy Spirit lives in every believer, but He does not rest upon every believer," Johnson, who who has lead the Pentecostal Bethel Church in Redding, California, since 1996, told attendees at the 2026 Southwest Believers’ Convention at the Fort Worth Convention Center.
The July 29 message, titled “The Sacrifice of Praise,” was one of several featured sessions during the annual conference hosted by Kenneth Copeland Ministries and broadcast by Daystar. The convention also featured Kenneth Copeland, Bill Winston, Jesse Duplantis, Creflo Dollar, Mac Hammond and Nancy Dufresne.
Speaking before thousands, Johnson, 75, argued that worship is more than music and should become the defining characteristic of the Church.
Sharing his belief that “the Lord is restoring the Church into being a presence-oriented people, a presence-oriented culture where the actual manifested presence of God is the central theme,” Johnson urged attendees to heed Jesus’ words in John 15:7: “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”
“The entire purpose of life is found in being able to co-labor with God and actually have His word filter through our personality, through our will, and have it become manifest in the earth. But it takes the abiding, and it takes the Word,” he said.
"The abiding is living in that felt realization of his presence. There actually has to be an awareness of the person of the Holy Spirit who is God on earth," he added. "A consciousness, an awareness of him. It's not an emotional feeling although those are involved."
Johnson mentioned that a friend of his told him: "If [God's] as big as he says he is, He shouldn't be that hard to find."
"Learning to recognize the actual presence of God and living from that place of presence is the supreme value," Johnson said.
He said that while he believes the Holy Spirit indwells all who have put their faith in Jesus Christ, He “does not rest upon every believer.”
“He can, and He's willing to. There's just literally, on our radar is, the fact that we can recognize that God is with us," he said.
In a July 30 response to Johnson’s assertion, evangelist Justin Peters pointed to New Testament texts to refute the notion that a Christian can be indwelt with the Holy Spirit without having the Spirit “rest upon” him or her.
Pointing to Romans 8:9 and 1 Corinthians 6:19–20, Peters said, “Now, riddle me this, Batman. How can the Holy Spirit indwell in me and not rest upon me? Does that make any sense? If He is indwelling me, doesn't that kind of assume that He's resting on me? If He's inside of me?”
“It's just these nonsensical platitudes,” he added.
Peters suggested Johnson’s use of semantics to question God’s Spirit residing within the hearts of His people doesn’t change biblical truth.
“Dear friends, the Holy Spirit of God is inside of us. He is in our hearts. If He is in my heart, I'm pretty sure He's on my shoulder too,” said Peters. “If He's indwelling me, it goes without saying that He's resting upon me. This makes no sense.”
In May, Bethel Church announced a sweeping review of its leadership culture and distanced itself from several controversial figures in the charismatic movement, including Todd Bentley, Mike Bickle and Shawn Bolz.
In a May 28 update released by Bethel leadership, the influential California megachurch said feedback from congregants, staff, alumni, elders and leaders throughout the broader Christian community revealed areas of its culture and leadership that require “attention and reform.”
