NAR evangelist Dan Bohi’s impartation ministry is a foreign concept for most Christians in the Nazarene denomination. I never heard of impartations until I came to my home church. The word was used occasionally by my pastor but it was excessively used by those in NAR circles, especially among Dan Bohi. Impartations are becoming more frequently referenced in my home church, likely due to Bohi’s influence.

I’ll examine Bohi’s theological claims about impartations in his book Holiness and Healing, co-authored by NAR Nazarene pastor Rob McCorkle. As I’ve done throughout this series, I’ll cite quotes directly from his book alongside their corresponding page numbers for your reference. 

Impartations

Concerning impartations, Bohi says, “It simply means to impart or to give. Paul talked about his desire to impart or to give a supernatural gift to the Christians in Rome. (Romans 1:11)” (page 126) Now that we have a basic definition from Bohi along with a scriptural citation, let’s examine his prooftext closely.

Given that it’s never a wise exegetical practice to cite a singular prooftext due to the risk of taking scriptures out of context, I’ll provide Romans 1:8-15 with verse 11 highlighted,

“First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you—  that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.”

 Given the context of Bohi’s prooftext, does it sound like he provided a sound Biblical interpretation of the scripture? No. The ESV Study Bible comments on verses 11 – 12, “mutually encouraged – Paul desires as an apostle to encourage the Christians in Rome, but it is also noteworthy that their faith serves to inspire and strengthen him as well.” (page 2158) This is not a passage that can be used to reinforce the practice of impartation as defined by Bohi.

Holiness and Healing describe how McCorkle took his church staff to a Healing and Impartation School led by Randy Clark, another influential NAR personality. McCorkle said that during one of the services, “I went up and interrupted his message with my hands held out ready to receive. We have already talked about manifestations, but I remember Randy blew on me like Jesus did His disciples (see John 20:22)”. (page 129) There is a disturbing implication of this story. John 20:22 states, “And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”” He’s equating Clark to Jesus in actions and authority. Bohi affirms McCorkle on page 141 when he says this passage is the “template for impartation.” McCorkle continues, 

“Listen, he blew on me, and I fell on the ground and couldn’t move for about forty-five minutes! I remember people started coming forward and were standing around me, but I was incapacitated. I was resting in God’s presence. I was out, Dan! I couldn’t move! I remember thinking that if my staff told anyone what happened to me, I would fire them. Finally, when I was able to stand up, Randy laid hands on me and started praying a prophetic prayer that I would be used by God to redig the wells in the Holiness movement…About twenty minutes later, he found my wife, and he prophesied the same thing over her. That was an impartation that has forever changed my life.” (page 129 – 130)

Bohi described his personalized impartation with the same person, Randy Clark, but it was through a phone call conversation. During this conversation, Clark “prayed for a thousandfold increase in my ministry, and he prayed that the demonic realm would be pushed back, the kingdom of God would come, and revival would break out wherever I went. He prayed that the healings and miracles Jesus did with His disciples would start occurring in the Church of the Nazarene and beyond.” (page 133)

Shortly after Clark imparted on Bohi, Bohi claims his ministry was catapulted into the supernatural. Bohi describes how his ministry was changed, 

“The next few weeks after Randy’s prayer were amazing. I immediately went to this revival in Waco, Texas. I had a word of knowledge for someone’s stomach and the lady was completely healed. In that same meeting, someone’s deaf ear was opened. Then I went to Wichita Falls, Texas, and during that meeting a little boy’s eyes were healed and he was able to see. From there, I went to Tyler, Texas, and prayed over a man with Parkinson’s disease, and he was touched. He was completely healed and stopped shaking. Then I went to Ovilla, Texas, where I saw a lady get out of a wheelchair. In Athens, Texas, God’s power fused the heel bone of a worship leader. After that meeting, I went to Gilmore, Texas, and the pastor’s back was healed. In Denison, Texas, a lady’s arms were healed from nerve damage. While in Odessa, Texas, a seventy-year-old woman with neuropathy was healed. In Belton, Texas, a retired district superintendent’s cancer was healed.” (page 135 – 136)

These are pretty miraculous claims resulting from a phone call impartation, especially with no scriptural support. Bohi states that he usually does impartations at the end of all of his services, he writes,

“But before I call people forward to pray an impartation over them, I give them two warnings. Obviously, people have to be hungry to receive from God. I don’t force anyone to receive an impartation. People have to desire more of God, or otherwise, an impartation is fruitless.” (page 143)

This clip demonstrates what a call for impartation at the end of Bohi’s service looks like.

In this video, Bohi openly says that he wants to do impartations and transfer the “anointing” because the “anointing is transferrable.” This peculiar impartation transaction he’s describing between himself and others is void of any scriptural support. Bohi admits that this theology is controversial, but trivializes it because “the controversy only occurs when people don’t know the Word. There are many people who call themselves students of the Word, but they don’t even know what is actually in the Word.” (page 145) This is the theological gaslighting that keeps the NAR alive and well.

Conclusion

In the Evangelical Journal of Theology, Ervin Budiselić wrote a paper titled, The Impartation of the Gifts of the Spirit in Paul’s Theology, he concluded, 

“Impartation lacks any biblical support because this doctrine is based solely on a verb that is only used five times in the NT and only one time in connection with the gifts of the Spirit (Rom 1:11). The only way that support for impartation can be found in the Bible is to take this word and attach certain ideas and meanings to it, and then to read back into the text this meaning wherever that fits with the impartation argument. But in this way, the Bible is forced to teach what it does not actually teach. Furthermore, the Bible does not mention the gift of impartation, how impartation happens, who the properly authorized persons are who can impart anointing, gifts, etc., nor how an average believer can recognize and discern these authorized impartation experts. All such teaching is made up and added to the Scriptures.” (page 265)

Bohi, once again, has failed to make any credible scriptural case for his theology. My research of Bohi and his practice of impartations has given me a respect for how easily people will believe anything. 2 Timothy 4:3 comes immediately to mind, “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions.” Bohi is scratching those itching ears eagerly. The only reason why people endure these unsound doctrines is that it suits their fancy.