JOSHUA SELMAN’S WAR ON JOHN THE BAPTIST

By Akin Ojumu

A large swathe of contemporary Christianity suffers from a profound misunderstanding of the power of God. Many churchgoers have been catechized into an egregiously distorted definition of “spiritual power.” 

To these people, power means spectacle. Power means people collapsing under the so-called “anointing.” Power means congregants shrieking hysterically, bodies convulsing on the floor, chairs supposedly levitating with people still sitting on them, and assorted theatrical performances presented as evidence that heaven has entered the building.

Biblical power has been reduced to Pente-rascal and Charis-maniacal showmanship.

But the God of the Bible is not a circus performer. He does not perform tricks for applause. He does not need smoke machines, emotional manipulation, choreographed collapses, or spiritual pyrotechnics to prove that He is God.

Yet this warped understanding of divine power has become so deeply embedded in certain corners of modern Christianity that preachers can now confidently sit in judgment over biblical figures themselves.

Enter Joshua Selman.

Selman’s conception of spiritual power is so detached from the plain teaching of Scripture that he can boldly suggest that John the Baptist failed to realize his spiritual potential.

According to Selman, John certainly came in the spirit and power of Elijah. The problem, apparently, was that John used the “spirit” but neglected the “power.” And this supposed failure, we are told, explains why Herod eventually had him beheaded.

If that sounds too outrageous to be true, hear Selman in his own words:

“John the Baptist came in the spirit and the power of Elijah. Unfortunately, he manifested the spirit of Elijah, but he did not manifest the power of Elijah. Had he manifested the power of Elijah, he would not die the way he died. Because the same way that woman looked for Elijah, that was how Herod and Herodias looked for him. There was an ability he had. He came in the spirit and the power of Elijah. He used the spirit and ignored the power.”

Think carefully about what is being asserted.

John the Baptist—the man whose birth and ministry were announced by an angel, the man filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb, the man specifically commissioned by God to prepare the way of the Messiah—supposedly failed because he did not properly deploy his supernatural arsenal.

In other words, John had Elijah’s spiritual ammunition but forgot to fire the weapon.

That is not biblical exposition. That is charismatic mythology imposed upon the biblical text.

The fundamental problem is that people who think this way have reduced the power of God to miraculous spectacle.

Now, Scripture certainly records genuine miracles, signs, wonders, healings, and mighty works. God can and does display His power supernaturally according to His sovereign will.

But biblical power must never be reduced to people screaming, jumping, collapsing, writhing on the floor, or participating in staged displays marketed as manifestations of the “anointing.”

The New Testament gives us a far more profound demonstration of divine power:

Romans 1:16

“For I am not ashamed of the GOSPEL, for it is the POWER OF GOD for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation.

When the Gospel is faithfully proclaimed and spiritually dead sinners are convicted of sin, brought to repentance, reconciled to God, and transformed through faith in Jesus Christ, that is divine power at work.

A sinner becoming a saint is a greater testimony to the power of God than a hundred people collapsing on a Church floor.

A rebellious heart being conquered by the Gospel is power. A sinner turning from darkness to light is power. A man who once hated God being reconciled to God through Christ is power. A spiritually dead person being made alive is power.

And measured by the mission God actually gave him, John the Baptist operated magnificently in the spirit and power of Elijah.

The angel Gabriel had already explained what that phrase meant before John was even born.

Luke 1:13–17

“But the angel said to him, ‘Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.’”

There it is.

The Bible itself defines what John’s ministry in the “spirit and power of Elijah” would accomplish.

It was not that John would call fire down from heaven. It was not that John would become bulletproof. It was not that John would destroy Herod with supernatural force. It was not that John would escape every enemy who threatened him. 

It was that John would turn people back to God and prepare a people for the coming Messiah. And that is precisely what John did.

He preached repentance. He confronted sin. He rebuked religious hypocrisy. He baptized multitudes. He pointed Israel toward Christ. And when political power confronted him, John refused to dilute the truth merely to preserve his own head.

That was not failure. That was faithfulness.

John did not “ignore the power.” John fulfilled exactly what God sent him to do.

The tragedy of Joshua Selman’s interpretation is that it evaluates John according to modern charismatic expectations rather than according to the divine commission explicitly stated in Scripture.

Selman apparently looks at John and asks: Where are the spectacular miracles? Where is the supernatural escape? Where is the Elijah-style fire? Where is the demonstration of raw spiritual force?

But Scripture asks a completely different question: Did John faithfully accomplish what God sent him to accomplish?

And the answer is an emphatic YES.

The Lord Jesus Himself settled the matter.

Matthew 11:11

“Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist.”

That is not faint praise. That is the verdict of Jesus Christ.

The Lord Jesus did not say: 

“John was great, but unfortunately he failed to maximize the anointing.”

He did not say: 

“John had Elijah’s power but neglected to activate it.”

He did not say: 

“John would have lived longer if only he understood spiritual warfare.”

He declared that among those born of women, none had arisen greater than John the Baptist.

So, let us put the matter plainly.

If Jesus Christ gives John the Baptist such a resounding commendation, by what authority does Joshua Selman downgrade his ministry? If Christ declares John great, who is Selman to declare him deficient?

If Gabriel says John would come in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn Israel back to God, who gave a twenty-first-century self-appointed apostle permission to redefine that power as supernatural self-preservation?

The entire argument rests upon reading charismatic assumptions into the biblical text. 

And sadly, John the Baptist is frequently mistreated in precisely this way. Some Christians appear almost embarrassed by him because their theology recognizes “power” only when miracles are flying across the room. 

They cannot conceive of a man possessing divine power while sitting inside Herod’s prison. They cannot understand how a prophet can be powerful and still be executed. They cannot imagine that faithfulness may lead not to earthly triumph but to martyrdom.

But the New Testament understands something modern celebrity Christianity routinely forgets:

The power of God is not measured by a servant’s ability to avoid suffering.

If avoiding persecution proves spiritual power, then Stephen was powerless. If supernatural escape is the measure of anointing, then James the Apostle failed. If dying at the hands of wicked men proves that someone neglected divine power, then virtually the entire history of Christian martyrdom becomes evidence of spiritual incompetence.

And taken to its logical conclusion, such theology eventually collides with the Cross itself.

Jesus Christ was arrested. Jesus Christ was beaten. Jesus Christ was mocked. Jesus Christ was crucified.

Was that because He “ignored the power”?

God forbid.

Sometimes the greatest demonstration of divine power is not escaping suffering. Sometimes it is remaining faithful to God through suffering, even unto death.

John the Baptist did exactly that.

He stood before a corrupt king and called sin what God called it. He refused to massage Herod’s ego. He refused to compromise truth to preserve his influence. He refused to negotiate with wickedness in order to save his own life.

And he paid for that faithfulness with his head.

That is not a preacher who failed to operate in the power of God. That is a prophet who feared God more than he feared the king.

The real problem is not John the Baptist. The problem is a theological system so intoxicated with manifestations, anointings, mantles, dimensions, impartations, supernatural abilities, and displays of spiritual power that it can no longer recognize biblical faithfulness when it sees it.

John fulfilled his mission. John prepared the way of the Lord. John turned many in Israel back to God. John identified Jesus as the Lamb of God. John confronted wickedness without fear. John remained faithful unto death. And Jesus Christ Himself testified to his greatness.

John the Baptist did not fail to use the power. He demonstrated exactly the kind of power God sent him to demonstrate.