THE SECRET MILLIONAIRE REVEALED

DANI JOHNSON: New Age Converging with New Apostolic

WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE?

Dani Johnson, author, motivational speaker, relationship expert, life coach, finance guru, preacher—and self-made multimillionare, will appear on the season premiere of ABC’s Secret Millionaire on Sunday, March 6, following promotional interviews earlier in the week on Good Morning America, and The View.[3] With the help of several notable televangelists, The Elijah List, the blogosphere, social media, fellow business experts—and even Oprah Winfrey—Johnson has used her notoriety, wealth, and popularity to influence millions with her unique brand of what she calls her marketplace ministry. [4]

FROM WELFARE TO WEALTH

The inspiration for this phenomenon can be traced to her checkered past that she recounts before megacrowds the world over, with candid boldness, raw emotion and riveting charisma. Born to abusive, drug-addicted, unbelieving, and impoverished parents, Johnson sought acceptance and recognition. Her parents, wanting more control over their teen, sent her to a Christian school when she was 13, where she found a compassionate teacher with a leaning ear. After a chapel meeting a few weeks later, she began weeping following the message. Someone asked her if she “wanted to meet Jesus,” and she said yes. “He became my safe place, He became my one thing, He became my strong Tower. Then I met Christians… Christians who love you when you’re perfect, but when you screw up, man you’re an outcast.”[5]

Johnson became pregnant at 17, but was forced to give up her child by (whom she considered) unforgiving, judgmental, and manipulative church leaders, who caused her to walk away from Christ.

“I paid because of the manipulation of church leadership… there was a pain and a suffering that went on for fourteen years…. I found myself walking away from God at 18. If I have to be like your people, I want nothing to do with them—nothing to do with You. Your people suck…. I went head first into the whole metaphysical world…. I found unconditional people in the metaphysical world. Then I came to the end of what that had to offer.”[6]

In the next three years, Johnson found some material success as a young entrepreneur. Then following a 7-day courtship with a man, she married him and moved to Hawaii. Sadly, her new husband turned out to be a conman who left her homeless and several thousands of dollars in credit card debt. Depressed, suicidal and penniless, Johnson became a cocktail waitress and substance abuser, just like the parents she despised. At a work party, Johnson snorted a line of cocaine for the first time; marijuana, alcohol, and immorality followed. The next morning, she found herself craving another line of cocaine, but could not obtain any—so she went for a swim in the ocean. Coming out of the water, a miracle occurred. “After a month of being homeless, I had a wild thing happen to me on a beach Christmas Day. I heard a voice that said, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”[7]

During a May, 2010 message that Johnson preached at Hillsong, UK, she recounted the same testimony where she clarified that the voice she heard “was the voice of the Lord. I didn’t know it at the time, but it was clearly the voice of the Lord….”[8] After rolling up her beach mat, Johnson’s ministry officially began. “ I started a business from the trunk of my car and a pay phone booth. And my very first year, I had made a quarter of a million dollars. My second year, I made one million dollars. This all happened by the time I was 23 years of age.”[9]

I want to prove to you that what I’m talking about [financial success] is absolutely scriptural. You see, God has His laws set up, and they are laws of success. Clearly, He did not develop you and me so you could fail. That’s not the heart of God…. See I have a dream to raise people up and equip the saints to succeed wildly so they are a force that must be reckoned with…. We set up danijohnson.com, it was like ‘Lord we want to win souls.’ We want to go to the lost and bring them in to the kingdom of heaven….”

Johnson’s marketplace ministry, however, would take place in the world—and outside of the established church.

THE MARKETPLACE MINISTRY

In June 2009, during an interview on Divine Intervention Radio online, Dani Johnson explained, “I learned the gospel through business…I sought God out in the marketplace with my business… God is raising up people in the marketplace.”[10] Speaking before a live audience in Atlanta, GA in 2010, Johnson elaborates on her ministry as it relates to the Bible. Note her disdain for pastors—and by extension—the local church:

The current church structure wasn’t even in the Bible. Abraham was not a preacher, he was a businessman. David was not a preacher; he was a political leader, a military leader, a singer and a song writer. King David, the apple of God’s eye, that’s what he was. Joseph, he was not a preacher, not a pastor, not an evangelist, not a prophet, not a teacher. He was a political leader who had specialized skills in architecture and design engineering and management. He was all of these things, but yet when I would hear these people talked about from the pulpit, I would see preacher, evangelist, prophet, teacher. They had these titles, they wore these robes, they stood behind a pulpit, and to me, that would never be me. Number one I’m a woman. Not qualified. Right?…. [Abraham and David] were kings!… but we talk about the kings as though they’re preachers, but none of them were preachers but let me tell you a truth the Lord revealed to me this summer…. It was the kings that called the people into repentance, not the priests! It was the kings that called the people into repentance, not the priests! Guess who got rebuked first? The priests!… The truth has left the marketplace because the kings are busy trying to become priests. There is no separation between God and the marketplace…. I finally realized that God gave me a people that would never walk into a church; people like me.[11] [emphasis mine]

Johnson apparently forgot about Samuel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Zechariah, et al, true prophets of God. Unfortunately for her flock, she regularly misquotes, misapplies, and misuses the Word of God with impunity. During a “Spiritual Equipping in the Marketplace” seminar in Atlanta in November of 2010, Johnson stated that “Paul the Apostle” said, “Be perfect as I am perfect.”[12] ( Aware Bible students will recognize, that the Lord Jesus Christ said those words in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:48.) While preaching at Hillsong, UK, Johnson said with conviction that “Daniel refused to bow down and worship the image” that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.[13] (Actually, Daniel is not even mentioned in Daniel Chapter 3. Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego were the three Jewish nobles who refused to bow—and ended up in the fiery furnace along with a fourth man “like a son of the gods!,” in verse 25, a pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ.)

Another observation concerning this marketplace preacher is her maverick teaching style. She is outspoken, brash, bold, candid, cocky, charismatic, emotional… and at times irreverent. According to Johnson’s gospel, her personal life and experience is the litmus test for ultimate success—and earthly riches.

MIRACLES, SIGNS AND WONDERS

In 2008, Dani Johnson confirmed to Marcus Lamb (Daystar Network) that the voice she heard on that fateful Hawaiian beach was indeed “audible” and that it came from “God.” She also gave a glimpse into the Christianity she’d embraced:

I came across different people that God used in miracle signs and wonders and the very first time I ever had been prayed for in that way, I completely got laid out in the Spirit. I bawled for two-and-a-half hours on the floor just going, ‘He’s real!’…. This big God up there like paused for a minute and physically touched me. And I knew then that it was Him. I’ve chased that since then where it’s like, lord, I want that God. I don’t want the boring God behind the pulpit [laughing]. I want the God of signs and wonders. I want the God that parted the Red Sea. I want the God that brought water from a rock. I want the God that healed the sick that raised the dead, that cleansed the lepers—that forgave the prostitutes. I want that God. I don’t want this religious God. I want Jesus as He is in the Bible.[14]

Johnson preaches this God. In what appears to be an old-fashioned altar call, she ends her “Spiritual Equipping” seminar with a bonus session geared to save the masses. “We have every miracle you can imagine happen at a business—secular—seminar where… I preach the Word of God. We lay hands on the sick and we’ve had cancer healed, hearts healed, legs grow back—you name it, all kinds of miracles have happened.”[15] In her online radio interview with Divine Intervention, Johnson herself claims to be healed from a paralyzing back injury that left her wheelchair bound.[16] Appearing like a female John the Baptist, a Youtube video documents Johnson baptizing dozens of her converts in a hotel swimming pool in Chicago in May of 2009.[17]

She also claims that her prolific ministry has eclipsed the role of the traditional church. During one of these sessions (after asking for a show of hands for those hurt and wounded by the church) Johnson proclaims:

Don’t need a title, don’t need someone to ordain you… we have seen more souls come to Christ than more churches in this entire country, tens of thousands—tens of thousands of people getting their life right with their God. By who? A preacher? A business woman! [roars of applause]. [18] [emphasis mine]

What separates Johnson from the run-of-the-mill Word of Faith/Prosperity/Money preachers, is her public denunciation of lavish living. She and her husband, Hans, claim to live on only 10 percent of their income, giving away the rest to people in need.[19] This philosophy made her an easy choice for Secret Millionaire, as well as a marketable program profile for Oprah Winfrey. In fact, in 2008 Johnson published a prophecy (purportedly from the Lord) on her website entitled, “Word of Warning for all (Christian) Leaders!” :

In January, the Lord spoke a word that frightened me…. He said, ‘2008 is a year of consecration as well as a year of new beginnings. I will consecrate the leadership of the Body of Christ—the leadership, media leadership, educational leadership, and political leadership, etc…. You will begin to see leaders who will go before their people and repent… asking their people for forgiveness for the compromise they led with…’ In a vision…. He then showed me that the offerings were unclean; that they were a stench in His nostrils…. He then showed me a room of leaders around a table. Rising up out of the table was ‘Traditions of Man’. The leaders around the table were clinging to those traditions…. He showed me the leaders clinging to the weekly offering…. [20] [emphasis mine]

According to this “prophecy,” those who would not “consecrate themselves” would be stripped from influence and leadership—by God Himself. Most would fail.

[God speaking] “There will only be a remnant that will make it through. I will pour out my Spirit on them and they will receive a powerful anointing of Christ and will do even greater things than what Christ did while He was on the earth. I will trust them with influence than they have ever had. I will trust them with finances that will far surpass anything they have ever received in the past.” [21] [emphasis mine]

Johnson was apparently part of that chosen “remnant.” Two years later, while preaching at Hillsong, London, she self-replicated the spirit of this prophecy:

We [Christians] have abandoned our posts. We’ve abandoned our positions in the marketplace…Imagine that we are strategically placed in high positions—an army infiltrating government, an army infiltrating music, an army infiltrating politics, an army infiltrating entertainment, an army infiltrating—hello!—business, an army infiltrating education—an army infiltrating all those places wearing the banner of the Most High God before us.[22]

In keeping with this spirit, Johnson has opted for a kinder, gentler accumulation of wealth promoting a social gospel befitting Secret Millionaire. She has even mocked the money preachers publicly.[23] Why then does she continue to appear on their programs—to promote herself and her products? Here is a partial list of guest spots she’d done in the past three years: Hillsong’s (U.K.) Brian and Bobbie Houston, TBN’s Paul Crouch Jr., Benny Hinn, Morris Cerullo, and Paula White; CBN’s Pat Robertson, and Daystar’s Marcus and Joni Lamb.[24] Could this be an “infiltration” to a higher order?

While at Hillsong, Johnson related a testimony she’d been given by Lord Taylor of Warwick, a man who made history in 1996 when “he became the youngest and only black Lord amongst 1,700 Dukes, Duchesses, Earls, Viscounts, Bishops, Barons and Law Lords…[taking] the title ‘The Right Honourable Lord Taylor of Warwick’ and he has become one of Britain’s most senior black politicians.”[25] At the time, Taylor was also a member of Holy Trinity Brompton Church in London, birthplace of the Alpha Course, and purveyor of the Toronto Blessing—Holy Laughter (false) Revival.[26]

When he [Lord Taylor] heard me preach this message, he was emotional, saying, ‘Yes! Dani we gotta get you in government cause there needs to be more Christians out there with this message’…. Influence is what can change a nation. Influence can change a generation…. God wants you to have it. [27] [emphasis mine]

Taylor, by the way, was convicted of expenses fraud in January, and is facing jail time in England. He was found guilty on six counts of theft and false accounting between March 2006 and October 2007.[28]

Johnson would publicly reject the title of marketplace apostle, but she doesn’t need it. Her incredible influence, power, and wealth has been aptly demonstrated—even before she appears on Secret Millionaire. The millions who attend her seminars, buy her products, and promote her on the Internet are overwhelmingly sold on the merchandise. Some are willing to spend $500 for a 40-minute, one-on-one, coaching session with Johnson.[29] Others pay out $1995 to attend her 3-day “Creating a Dynasty” seminar.[30] Negative reviews are extremely rare on Twitter, Facebook or even finance blogsites. Johnson even appeared on a segment of The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch on CNBC.[31] NAR (New Apostolic Reformation) aficionados frequently list her books and CDs on their websites.[32]

An online press release sums up her marketplace ministry:

Dani Johnson is the part of a growing trend of companies that use business as their congregation and the boardroom and public events as their pulpit. Far from typical so-called Judeo-Christian venues, the First Steps to Success events focus on business development, personal growth, people skills, leadership and more… Complete with live music concerts, training for the development of Personal and Spiritual Life, the jam packed crowds of 900+ people have been truly something the local church could take cue from. Records indicate that on average 40-70% of the attendees either give their life to Christ for the first time at the events or re-commit a previous dedication. Attendees have commented that Dani has a ‘non-churchy’ style to her teaching and preaching. She incorporates real-life issues with the reality of a non-perfect past that God has worked thru in her life and the lives of those she coaches…Teaching principles on wealth, business development, the reality of finances taught in the Bible and how it plays a big role in the purposes of God in the world today, Dani Johnson teaches cutting-edge strategies both in business and all areas of life. Focusing on a total ministry, Call to Freedom International, the head corporation of Dani and Hans Johnson meet the need of the body, soul, mind and spirit.[33]

Dani Johnson is the latest crossover leader between the New Age and the New Apostolic Reformation. With her appearance on ABC’s Secret Millionaire, she will be taking this false prosperity gospel to new heights.

THE TRUTH:

But godliness actually is a means of great gain, when accompanied by contentment. For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. And if we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith, and pierced themselves with many a pang… But flee from these things, you man of God; and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness. ~ 1 Timothy 6:6-11

ENDNOTES:
1. Scriptures taken from the New American Standard Bible Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission, pg. 1954.
2. Youtube, Dani Johnson video montage, danijohnson.com; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYVgFjx6XI;(about the 7:50 minute mark).
3. Dani Johnson Official website, http://www.danijohnson.com/; “Spiritual Equipping in the Marketplace” seminar, Atlanta, GA http://www.danijohnson.com/2010/dani-johnson-spiritual-equipping-in-the-marketplace-live-in-atlanta-georgia/ (video intro); Youtube, Secret Millionaire sneak preview, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OJs4PvaJmw&feature=related.
4. Yahoo News, “Dani Johnson To Appear On ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’”, San Antonio, TX (PRWEB), Feb. 17, 2011; http://news.yahoo.com/s/prweb/20110217/bs_prweb/prweb5081204_1/print.
5. “Spiritual Equipping” seminar, ibid (about the 3:30 minute mark).
6. “Spiritual Equipping” seminar, ibid (about the 4:10 minute mark).
7. “Spiritual Equipping” seminar, ibid (from the 1:10 to the 2:35 minute mark).
8. Hillsong podcasts, Dani Johnson, “Ministry in the Marketplace,” Sunday 18th April 2010, 6pm; http://www.hillsong.co.uk/podcasts?page=1
9. Hillsong, ibid (about 8:30 minute mark).
10. Divine Intervention Radio web log, Episode #63:” Multi-Millionaire Business/Life Coach Miraculously Healed of Paralysis, Dani Johnson,” http://www.divineintervention.typepad.com/divine_intervention/2009/06/episode-63-businesslife-coach-miraculously-healed-of-paralysis-dani-johnson.html (about the 19:57; 28:45 minute mark).
11. “Spiritual Equipping” seminar, Atlanta, GA, Ibid (from about the 10:39 to the 22:50 minute mark).
12. “Spiritual Equipping” seminar, ibid (about the 75:45 minute mark).
13. Hillsong, ibid (about the 30:03 minute mark).
14. Daily Motion, “Dani Johnson on Daystar”; http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5rrod_dani-johnson-on-daystar_news (about the 6:12 minute mark).
15. Johnson on Daystar, ibid (about the 16:34 minute mark).
16. Divine Intervention Radio, ibid (about the 47:19 minute mark).
17. Youtube, “Getting Baptized by Dani Johnson,” http://youtube.com/watch?v=-uIIrWAyNpI&NR=1.
18. Spiritual Equipping seminar, ibid (about the 24:56 minute mark).
19. CBN.com, “Dani Johnson: Her Spirit Driven Success”; http://www.cbn.com/700club/guests/bios/dani_johnson042108.aspx.
20. Dani Johnson Official website, “Word of Warning for all (Christian) Leaders!”; posted Oct. 12, 2008; http://www.danijohnson.com/2008/word-of-warning-for-all-christian-leaders/.
21. Dani Johnson, “Word of Warning,” ibid.
22. Hillsong, ibid (about the 33:10 minute mark).
23. Hillsong, ibid (about the 15:40 minute mark).
24. Hillsong, Ibid; TBN, PTL w/Paul Crouch Jr., Feb. 1, 2008, www.paulcrouch.com/watch-us/podcast?view_all;TBN, PTL w/Paula White, Mar. 15, 2010, www.tbn.org/index.php/2/49/85.html?view_all; Johnson on Daystar, ibid; Youtube, CBN w/Pat Robertson, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IyPXkAL-jE&feature=related; Youtube video Montage w/Benny Hinn, Paul Crouch Jr., Donny Deutsch & Morris Cerullo, danijohnson.com, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYVgFj-x6XI.
25. The Identity Network, Dan Wooding, “Lord Taylor of Warwick finds love at a Buckingham Palace Garden Party,” Oct. 2, 2008; http://www.identitynetwork.net/apps/articles/default.asp?articleid=50083&columnid=.
26. Wooding, ibid.
27. Hillsong, ibid. (about the 31:30 and 34:20 minute mark)
28. Robert Mendick, “Lord Taylor: the strange tale of the convicted peer and his 24-day marriage to wealthy businesswoman,” The Telegraph London (online), Jan.29, 2011; http//www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/8290284/Lord-Taylor-the-strange-tale-of-the-convicted-peer-and-his-24-day-marriage-to-a-wealthy-businesswoman.html.
29. Dani Johnson Official website, http://www.danijohnson.com/coaching.
30. Dani Johnson Official website, http://www.danijohnson.com/events/creating-a-dynasty (click ‘register now’ button).
31. Daily Motion, “Dani Johnson on The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch,” http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x48osj_dani-johnson-on-the-big-idea-with-d_school.
32. Elijah List, http://www.elijahlist.com/words/display_word/9120; Identity Network, http://www.identitynetwork.net/apps/store/default.asp?view=search&searchtype=Product+Title&keywords=Dani+Johnson&categoryid=2344&groupid=0&sort=; Kingdom Living International, http://www.schoolofthekingdom.com/exousia-school-of-ministry/about.
33. PrWeb Press Release Newswire, “Business Trainer Dani Johnson Leads Spiritual Equipping Training in Chicago, Illinois, Nov. 11 & 12 at Business Seminar,” http://www.arealchange.com/DJC%20press%20release.pdf.

*Gaylene Goodroad is author of My Life in “The Way,” From the Broad Way of the East to the Narrow Way of Christ. To read this online book, scroll down my blog page, http://mylifeintheway.blogspot.com, and click the (pdf) link on the bottom of the page. See Herescope review: https://herescope.net/2010/03/my-life-in-way.html . See also: https://herescope.net/2010/07/chuck-norris.html.