When Heaven Invades Earth

1. Briefly write what the whole book is about and why the author has written it.

When Heaven Invades Earth covers the Biblical and historical understanding  of signs and wonders, the supernatural in every day life and includes modern day anecdotes to reinforce that this message is for TODAY. Bill trusts the reader to see that miracles are their God given present mission, that correctly seeing who we are in Christ combined with risk taking naturally produces these God encounters.

Bill Johnson wrote this book so that when I walk out all these signs and wonders in my life I will be empowered by the Biblical foundation of present day miracles.  I will know that I am a new creation in Christ, a son of the Most High God, and that supernatural royalty includes supernatural authority to fulfill the Great Commission, and I will know Who I am drawing people to as I release his presence via miracles.  Bill is also is teaching me  deeper repentence for new breakthrough, the pitfalls evidenced in previous revivals, and the tactics of the Enemy that my faith will overcome.  Bill wrote this book to share that this supernatural life isn’t just theory it is happening already and that we are simply the next wave and possibly final wave of revival.

2. Briefly outline the major points of the book as the author presents them .

The Grounds for a Life of Miracles

• Jesus commanded us to heal the sick, cleanse lepers, deliver the possessed. There is no expiration date of this command except completion.
• Repentence means changing the underlying beliefs or lack of belief that causes sinful behavior not just change behavior so that you feel accepted by other Christians.
• The currency of heaven is faith.  Often we demonstrate faith by taking risks based on the promises of the bible.
• The Paradigm of an invading kingdom isn’t just a superficial convenient metaphor, it’s integral to the mission that Jesus called us to do and the Holy Spirit empowered us to do.
• Heavenly Invaders will face opposition from the enemy and he will attack us most often in our spiritual bank accounts, our faith.
• Jesus was an activation teacher.  His teaching style went way beyond Socratic method onto “Here, now you do it”.  Today’s healthy teachers and apostles do the same.
• Making up excuses for a life without miracles isn’t just boring it’s also destructive.
• As believers we owe the world an opporunity to see that “saved, healed, and delivered” means today.
• Living out a lifestyle of naturally supernatural flows from the identity we have already embraced when we chose to be reborn. We simply need to understand who we are and whose we are. From that revelation signs and wonders can’t be stopped.
• Like all invasions, this Heaven invasion upon also has tactics and strategies.  Satan’s actually on the defensive and his main tactic is scare tactics without any significant power or truth. Yet this tactic can tie up a  lot of believers because believing his lies gives them power.  Heaven’s main tactic is to keep one’s face turned to Jesus in worship and in hunger, and desire to emulate.
• Even with waves of signs and wonders permeating culture there will be rejection of the messengers and the Message Author. Some will not stand under associated stigma, some will make mistakes and not handle God’s rebuke well. Others will tire of following the Holy Spirit into new encounters and try to settle in something comfortable.
• The invasion is to happen at every level of culture, not just from the tops of corporations and media empires but even as prisoners pulling down Heaven into their cell block.
• The Current Revival stands on the ground that we have already won.  The church in final days will stand glorious full of power and excellence.

3. Thoughtfully explain at least 2 main strengths (or points of agreement) with the author AND least 2 weaknesses ( or points of disagreement) with the author

Strength(s):
Bill is kind enough to provide chapter headings that actually make logical sense.  The content of this book is so dense in teaching that doing really “artsy-fartsy” mysterious chapter headings would have damaged the cause.  Without these meaningful chapter headings and section headings it would be easy to get lost in the overall message.
As I read this book over last year, God hi-lited key phrases of penetrating truth without regard to where in the book the lesson resided. Even though I don’t remember where, I remember God hi-liting how Moses had to wait 40 years in the desert because without the relationship building between God and baby-Israel they would have ran from the giants they had to face in the promised land.  I needed that lesson on waiting.  This book served as a great daily reader.

Nits(s):

1. It’s already been addressed , but the original book cover needed a big ol’ redo.  Kudo’s to the updated design.
2. This book left me wondering if the Jason in the fast food drive-thru drug dealer story is Jason Westerfield.  

Main Room for Improvement:
Regarding actual content, this book could have used a deeper detail of structure at the beginning.  Imagine a “Miracles for Dummies” format (note: made up this example not sure if this book actually exists):  very thorough outlines with the Table of Contents.  Since this book is far too dense with insight to sit down and consume like a novel, readers would benefit from a not only a warning section like a “How to Read this Book” section in the front of the book, but also a daily reader type format like “A Life of Miracles in 90 Days”.  Bill or his editors could have built in a deeper outline where each section could clearly correspond to a consumable daily lesson.

The author could make the material more consumable by converting it into a narrative of a fictitious (or non-fiction example if he exists) protagonist. Start the book with a “baby revivalist” perhaps a backslidden bored Christian and then map out all the lessons of this book into key moments of this protagonist’s life.  The Glorious Church section at the end of this book would be the protagonist’s totally fullfilling connection to God evidenced by a healthy victorious ministry.   The best example of this style of teaching narrative is “Is That Really You God?” by Loren Cunningham.

4. In what way did this book impact your life as a rivalist? How will you be different?

I originally read When Heaven Invades Earth over the span of 2011.  Now that I have taken the time to really understand the structure of the book I can see that it’s the “Infantry Handbook” of the Heaven Invasion.  When I hear Bill Johnson and other Redding teachers speak I’ll know where in the big picture of the Invasion these teachings lie.   This book will have to remain at my side as the book that maps out all the content of first year BSSM.