Wandering Stars

Hey, there! I wanted to take some time this week and share another subject that has been near and dear to my heart for months now: the issue of false teachers and teachings. I understand that there is a very strong likelihood that some of the people that will read this will think, “Nate, I already knew that, you’re not telling me anything new.” That is perfectly fair, and to that I sincerely say, “good for you!” If that happens to be you, then this post isn’t written directly to you, though it may be written to someone you know. I am wanting to address my friends and family that may be mistaking goosebumps for the Holy Spirit or mantras that sound nice for sound doctrine. I’m not making fun of anyone, and I hope that I come across as respectfully as I am trying to be, but due to the prevalence of some of the teachers, teachings, and prophets I have been hearing about and listening to, I feel a need to say something in the hopes that it may be a help to someone other than myself. I am not attacking anybody, but I feel a need to point out popular, unbiblical teachings that look to me like spiritual cancer.

As a quick disclaimer for myself, I do not intend to supply direct quotes for every single thing that I share here regarding the various individuals I mention. I will cite every scripture, but regarding modern individuals and issues I will be sharing a very rough overview of things. It is my preference to give you the general information in this post and then direct you to the resources that I have used in researching this topic. (There will be a YouTube link at the bottom of this page and on the homepage for this.) This is not to dodge any sort of accountability on my part, it is just a lot of information and I would rather share portions of what I consider to be egregious displays of sin or bad theology and then allow you to do your own research on the subject.

Prophecy and Accountability

Are you familiar with Bethel Church in Redding, California? How about Bethel Music? If you have ever heard the songs “Reckless Love” by Cory Asbury or “Goodness of God” by Jenn Johnson, then you are at least tangentially aware of them and the worship portion of their ministry.

To be blunt, I have a lot of issues with Bethel’s practices and leadership.  I think there are a lot of serious, disqualifying problems with the leadership, and I think that they are, best case scenario, well-meaning but massively deceived and in need of sincere, long-term repentance and, at worst, full-on false teachers who are ship-wrecking the faith of many. To put it another, maybe gentler way, I think that while their intentions in ministry and growth may have been noble, they have been a harbor for the wandering stars that Jude wrote about, or in some cases have become those stars as their zeal for the supernatural has grown and their discernment has diminished. Here is an excerpt from the book of Jude to refresh your memory and help you understand the weight of what I am saying: “3 Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. 4 For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. 5 Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, 7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire. 8 Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties.9 But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” 10 But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed. 11 Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. 12 These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; 13 wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.”  (For clarity, Merriam-Webster defines licentiousness as: lacking legal or moral restraints; especially: disregarding sexual restraints…marked by disregard for strict rules of correctness) This might all sound extreme- especially if you look up Bethel. Have you ever seen Bill Johnson? He looks like such a friendly older gentleman, and on appearances alone I would love to have coffee with him and just listen to him talk. I like his voice and his smile. He has an infectious sort of energy. The same could be said for Chris Valloton, the prophet of Bethel. They're very grandfatherly figures. I say this because I know it would be easy to write off what I am saying as disrespectful, ignorant, or rooted in some sort of bitterness; I assure you, it is not. I’ve listened to several of their sermons as a part of my research to get a better feel for their teachings and teaching styles, I am reading their materials (as well as the materials of some of the people they have endorsed) and I can comfortably acknowledge that they seem like very personable people. Personability, though, isn’t really enough to lead the people of God according to the standards of scripture; there has been a longstanding practice at Bethel, one which has trickled out to much of today's charismatic/charismatic adjacent church, of taking dangerous liberties with the truth of Gods word. Those liberties and some of their consequences are what I hope to address and express today.

You can also find a lot of the tendencies I will point out here in a lot of the current popular names in Christianity- Paula White, Joyce Meier, Kathryn Krick, Steven Furtick, the Kansas City crowd etc.- and they usually seem like pleasant enough people. They are engaging speakers; intelligent, charismatic, and charming. They usually come across as having warm personalities, characterized by very down-to-earth vocabularies and anecdotal ways of teaching. They are great at driving up emotions and striking chords in the hearts of listeners. For all of that, though, they are deceivers. If we continue to tolerate these things in the body of Christ in the misguided name of love, rather than lovingly dealing with the issues and helping to restore people to Christ, we will continue to find that we are nursing a growing and gangrenous wound that will continue to damage the reputation of our Lord in the eyes of unbelievers. 

I realize that I have made several large statements so far, statements that need some explanation, so I will start sharing that now. You can probably tell, but I’m going to focus mostly on Bethel and Bethel adjacent teachers in this post for two reasons: 1) They are generally better known and readily received than some of the other names I have looked into, but many of their issues can be found in the other modern churches/movements. 2) I have spent a lot more time looking into them than the other big names that have similar leanings, so I am better versed in some of the particulars of the issues as they are presented by Bethel as opposed to those other ministries. I want to note that while I do have a lot of problems with the theology and church culture I have seen at Bethel, I don’t hate them and I don’t want to see them “burn.” They do maintain some orthodox doctrines, but they have also permitted and encouraged a lot of false doctrine over the years. In my opinion, there is too much trash mingled in, and- in light of recent events- unless it is dealt with promptly, Bethel will not be able to spiritually survive the season it is in. However, Christ had an immense amount of love and grace for the churches in the letters He sent in Revelation, and I believe we ought to have some grace as well- just not at the expense of discernment and healthy action.

Mike Winger, a former pastor and current Bible teacher on YouTube, took it on himself several years ago to begin addressing some of the practices and teachings at Bethel Church and holding them up to the lens of scripture, against which they were found to be significantly lacking. I want to credit him and the large amount of time he has dedicated to seeking public accountability from Bethel for a lot of the information I’ll be sharing here. One recent issue that he has addressed has been the years long downfall of false prophet Shawn Bolz, a sexual deviant and spiritual abuser who, while not on the staff of Bethel, used to serve as a prominent figure in their community and was touted as one of the greatest prophetic voices of our time… except for the fact that many of his “words of knowledge” (recitations of information about an individual or their loved ones, typically) are/were verifiably false; that is to say, his words were accurate, but not inspired by God. Where did he get this information? Facebook. It’s amazing the things you can find out about someone on Facebook. On at least one occasion, he actually got part of his information wrong because two separate women with the same name lived near each other and he couldn’t be bothered to verify he was talking to the right person. On another, he influenced a man named Elijah Stephens to financially ruin himself and his family through his data-mined prophecy. (Bethel Insider Asks Accountability For False Prophet: Will Bethel Respond?) Mike and several others have been calling for accountability for some time now, regarding Shawn Bolz’s “ministry” and other related problems which have collectively been dubbed “cover-up culture,”  but he has recently put out a video diving deep into the stories behind the cover up, which is linked here: The skeletons in Bethel's closet are now going to speak. The long and short of it is that he covers nearly six hours of material demonstrating how Shawn Bolz has faked prophecy for years, lied in the name of God, and used the authority and clout attached to his ministry to get away with sexually harassing and verbally and spiritually abusing his staff. He has been responsible for teaching others to prophesy and, like I said above, caused significant harm to others through his sham prophecies. A substantial portion of this was facilitated by Bethel and other churches (discussed in the video above and the playlist I will share) who gave this man a platform on which to speak. For an indeterminate period of time- though it was long enough for decisive action to be taken- several members of Bethel leadership (Bill Johnson, Kris Valloton, Danny Silk, and Dan Farrelly, at least) were aware of some of the victims and some of Shawn’s practices. Aside from taking soft action behind the scenes and quietly distancing themselves from him, they did not apparently take steps to expose him and the damage he was causing. They did this, as far as I understand, because of their “culture of honor” ideology that does not encourage public ousting of individuals like Shawn.

Shawn has also “prophesied” to pastor Bill Johnson publicly in the past.

 Speaking of Bill Johnson, are you familiar with his attitude towards prophecy? Not the generally understood charismatic stance on the gifts of the Spirit- the continuationist perspective- no, I mean Bill’s personal attitude. I’ll tell you: at least as of February 3, 2026, a little false prophecy and prophetic abuse is worth it to him to “be a part of what God is doing.” (Bill Johnson Says Fake Prophecy Was 'Worth It') In the past, he has also had seemingly no difficulty endorsing the work of Shawn Bolz (100% Proof: Bill Johnson Gladly Promotes Fake "Prophet" Shawn Bolz!) or other, arguably just as ungodly, practices whose roots are steeped in paganism and New Age mysticism (https://www.youtube.com/live/weHo7pO6cmQ?si=3u9NqVFel9ZGVtor). I believe this to be in line with Bill’s previously expressed “revival at any cost” way of thinking. To an extent, I can agree with this; spiritual revival is desperately needed in our country and our world, but it should not and cannot be pursued at the expense of sound teaching and Godly living, which is what appears to have been the case for some time at Bethel and many other “hyper-charismatic” churches.

Now, before I get much further, it is worth pointing out that Bill Johnson and several other leaders at Bethel stepped forward in January to issue a public apology and begin the process of public repentance for the wrongs that they have perpetrated and permitted in the past, and that is good- but I must also point out that they have not, to my knowledge, issued a satisfactory apology for the false prophecy itself, or for fostering a church culture which is accepting of it. This apology was also only issued following severe backlash for a reprehensible statement made by Kris Valloton in response to Mike Winger’s exposure video. 

The repentance process in the months since has also incurred some questions regarding sincerity, but I will personally hold off on speculating about that. They seem to be somewhat aware of the fact that they provided fertile ground for these sins to take place, but don’t seem fully willing to commit to making the necessary theological adjustments to ensure these things are never allowed to happen again. (When I say theological adjustments, I am referring to Bethel’s status as a “hyper-charismatic” church; one that not only believes in the ongoing practice of the giftings of the Holy Spirit, but has what I would consider to be a peculiar fixation on a highly experiential relationship with supernatural things.) Their theology up to this point has been far too malleable and willing to homogenize with things that are not scriptural in order to create a better feeling experience. They also seem to be slow to realize that their leadership- beloved though they may be- are directly responsible for many of the problems and deal with it accordingly.

 A quick note regarding that quote above where Bill says it was “worth it:” he said that after the public apology/repentance was made, while speaking to Bethel women’s pastor Havilah Cunnington  at a meeting for Bethel BSSM Alumni. (Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry, affectionately referred to by some students as “Christian Hogwarts.”) Unfortunately, this attitude isn’t surprising; Bill expresses a passionate desire for the supernatural in his book “When Heaven Invades Earth,” a desire which, unchecked, kills discernment and paves the way for all manner of pain and spiritual abuse. (I want you to hear me clearly on this: I’m not accusing Bill of intentionally feeding people to wolves. I am asserting that his own unbiblical fascination with the supernatural has created an environment that is far too easy for wolves to creep into, and one where, even when they are found out, they are not dealt with adequately.)

Additionally, it has- at least in the past- been required that students of the BSSM get prophecy wrong in order to graduate; the logic has essentially been that: 1) If you aren’t wrong sometimes you aren’t prophesying big enough, and 2) if you’re going to get it wrong you had better learn how to get it wrong and “clean up your mess” in a loving, supportive environment, rather than out in the world, where (in my opinion) you would rightly be held accountable. I’m sorry, but “cleaning up your mess” is just not an adequate description of the harm that this reckless sort of attitude can cause. Faiths have been shipwrecked by these practices, and many have brought reproach to the church and the name of God after they have been taught to falsely prophesy.

Kris Vallotton said on his personal blog on January 23, 2021 “God gave us a way to judge prophecies because He didn’t expect people to be infallible. God put checks and balances into the body of Christ…In the New Testament, there’s nowhere that says getting a false prophetic word makes you a false prophet. It’s all about the heart!  False prophets  are people who lead people astray on purpose…I feel like the Lord is cleansing all areas of culture, including the prophetic movement. He’s pruning us to become noble people that live with convictions.” (https://www.krisvallotton.com/how-i-processed-my-inaccurate-prophetic-word-your-top-questions-answered) I can somewhat agree with Kris that God knows that we aren’t infallible- Psalm 103:14 says “For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust.”- but there is a significant difference between God’s compassionate understanding of our shortcomings and the notion of Him accepting and expecting false prophecy as a necessary matter of course. Here, Kris is essentially saying that, “if you didn’t mean to hurt anyone, it’s still okay to make it up! Just try again.” He may not have meant it that way, and he may regret it now, but it is what he said, regardless of the other pleasantries about nobility. In one of his previous churches, in an effort to “cultivate the prophetic,” Bill encouraged members of his leadership to imagine what Jesus would say to them if He were in the room, and then told them that those imaginings were prophetic- nevermind the accuracy of such things, and nevermind the clear words of 2 Peter 1:20-21: “20 But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, 21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” Do you think Isaiah, Jeremiah, Joel, Malachi, or Elijah were ever wrong in their prophecies, or had to “experiment” and help God along? Do you think that the Holy Spirit is somehow incapable of making His words come out clearly, or seeing them come to pass? Do you think Jesus had to “test the waters” a bit, or was mistaken in any of His prophecies? According to some, like C.S. Lewis, the answer is: yes. He said, in The World’s Last Night, that “It is clear from the New Testament that they all expected the Second Coming in their own lifetime. And, worse still, they had a reason, and one which you will find very embarrassing. Their Master had told them so. He shared, and indeed created, their delusion. He said in so many words, ‘this generation shall not pass till all these things be done.’ And he was wrong. He clearly knew no more about the end of the world than anyone else…It is certainly the most embarrassing verse in the Bible. Yet how teasing, also, that within fourteen words of it should come the statement “But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.” The one exhibition of error and the one confession of ignorance grow side by side. … The evangelists have the first great characteristic of honest witnesses: they mention facts which are, at first sight, damaging to their main contention… The answer of the theologians is that the God-Man was omniscient as God, and ignorant as Man. This, no doubt, is true, though it cannot be imagined. Nor indeed can the unconsciousness of Christ in sleep be imagined, not the twilight of reason in his infancy; still less his merely organic life in his mother’s womb.” – C. S. Lewis, in The World’s Last Night, pages 98-99” (This citation was pulled from a website called Daily Minyan, a blog operated by a former Messianic Jew who became “disillusioned” with the faith and is now bolstered in his disillusionment by the words of men like Lewis and Valloton. Here is the link to the post from which I pulled the citation, in case you are interested in hearing what he has to say about it: https://dailyminyan.com/2014/09/04/c-s-lewis-on-jesus-false-prophecies/) I don’t mean to condescend, but a lack of ability to comprehend a passage or concept in scripture does not provide valid grounds to spout blasphemy about the nature of Christ or the nature of God. (GotQuestions offers a succinct and logical alternate interpretation here: https://www.gotquestions.org/this-generation-not-pass.html) Does blasphemy sound like too strong of a word? It shouldn’t; if you say that Jesus Christ falsely prophesied, then you are saying that He is, on some level, a liar. If He is God, then He cannot lie, unless you mean to insinuate that God can lie, which is something that scripture strongly refutes. (Hebrews 6:18; Titus 1:2) The Bethel leadership, however, have long been content to stand behind pleasant notions of revival and the moving of the Holy Spirit within their church while propagating this sort of nonsense. They seem to have a history of pursuing prophecy and spiritual experiences at any cost, even if the cost is calling God a liar or causing Him to appear impotent and fickle in the eyes of unbelievers. They have, intentionally or otherwise, taught and caused others to blaspheme God through speaking their own vain words as though He had spoken them.

Do you see the problem with all of this? I am not against prophecy- I want to see it! I also want to see healings like we see in Acts. I want to see blind eyes opened, deaf ears able to hear, prophets and everyday brothers and sisters calling people to return to God, and great moves of the Spirit of God. Paul encourages us in 1 Corinthians 14:1 to: “Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.” I can’t and don’t disagree with the scripture on this, but I don’t want to continue to see the counterfeit version of it masquerade about, making the rest of the body of Christ look foolish. I don’t want to keep hearing unbelievers say that they feel vindicated in their unbelief by the reckless folly of people who are unsound in their doctrine and teach others the same things. Here is some of what God Himself has to say about false prophets according to the book of Jeremiah: “16 Thus says the Lord of hosts,“Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are leading you into futility; They speak a vision of their own imagination, Not from the mouth of the Lord. 17 “They keep saying to those who despise Me, ‘The Lord has said, “You will have peace”’; And as for everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart, They say, ‘Calamity will not come upon you.’ 18 “But who has stood in the council of the Lord, That he should see and hear His word? Who has given heed to His word and listened?19 “Behold, the storm of the Lord has gone forth in wrath, Even a whirling tempest; It will swirl down on the head of the wicked. 20 “The anger of the Lord will not turn back Until He has performed and carried out the purposes of His heart; In the last days you will clearly understand it. 21 “I did not send these prophets, But they ran. I did not speak to them, But they prophesied. 22 “But if they had stood in My council, Then they would have announced My words to My people, And would have turned them back from their evil way And from the evil of their deeds.” (Jeremiah 23:16-22) Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are leading you into futility. In Deuteronomy 18, He gives a very clear-cut metric for determining whether or not a prophet is false and what to do with them if they are: “19 It shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him. 20 But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’21 You may say in your heart, ‘How will we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’ 22 When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.” (Deuteronomy 18:19-22) Many of these modern day “prophets,” such as Chris Reed or IHOP’s Mike Bickle seem to have very much been in the habit of speaking presumptuously on behalf of God, leveraging their ministerial positions like the sons of Eli to take advantage of women who should have been safer than safe in their presence. I want to point out that in Deuteronomy, though it is in the Old Testament, God clearly states that the prophet who speaks presumptuously in His name- regardless of intention- shall die. The criteria is not solely a matter of the heart, as Kris said in his old post, and it is dangerous to believe that it is.

Basic Principles of Church Discipline

In addition to the issues of false prophecy, there appears to be a severe lack of discernment and ability to carry out meaningful church discipline among the Bethel leadership and in circles similar to them- usually those of a more charismatic persuasion, though these issues can of course be found anywhere. Referring back to Shawn Bolz, I have another question: before today, have you ever heard of him? How about Judy Franklin? Ben Armstrong? Chris Reed? I’ve already said several things about Shawn. Judy Franklin is the author of the books The Physics of Heaven and Experiencing the Heavenly Realms, and should have been shut down and lovingly corrected for attempting to produce and teach the New Age heresies she was permitted (and encouraged by Bill) to circulate for years. Chris Reed is, as I said earlier, another false prophet, spiritual abuser, and recipient of some of Bethel’s unsanctified grace, inspired by the principles supplied by Danny Silk in his teachings on discipline, punishment, honor, and leadership. Ben Armstrong is listed on the Bethel staff page as “prophetic overseer-”though he is currently on administrative leave following a recent revelation of more alleged abuse. He has been accused of sexual abuse and misconduct multiple times since the late 2000’s and was previously removed from leadership for a “moral failing” (an affair which has since been revealed as possible serial assault) and then “restored” following a season of repentance. This term, “restored,” which is frequently used in these circles, does not biblically mean what they have- at times- used it to mean. For them, restoration  seems to have historically meant “full reinstatement to ministry” following repentance. That is not always accurate in these contexts; you can be disqualified for ministry by your actions, and that is a good thing- it maintains the purity of God’s people and ensures a high standard of holiness. Paul does say, in Galatians 6:1, “Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted.”  Paul also says, in 1 Timothy 3:1-7: “1 It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do. 2An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money. 4 He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity 5 (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?), 6 and not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil. 7 And he must have a good reputation with those outside the church, so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.” I am not trying to twist scripture to erase the grace of God- far from it! But I am trying to demonstrate that these people do not- or at least have not in these instances-  shown a robust, consistent understanding of what the Word of God says about discipline and dealing with false teachers and wolves. Paul’s restoration is to relationship with Christ, not ministry. Bethel and churches like them are fond of the principles found later in 1 Timothy 5:17-18, which say: “17 The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. 18 For the Scripture says, “YOU SHALL NOT MUZZLE THE OX WHILE HE IS THRESHING,” and “The laborer is worthy of his wages.” But they and ministries like them have readily neglected or (practically) outright rejected the next two verses, which instruct us: “19Do not receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two or three witnesses. 20 Those who continue in sin, rebuke in the presence of all, so that the rest also will be fearful of sinning.” It is good to honor our leaders, it is right to honor them and their instructions, but it is only right insofar as they are fulfilling their scriptural obligations. When that ceases to be the case, our responsibility to honor God says that we are to remove such men and women from their positions because they have disqualified themselves. Many of the leaders that have been exposed have had many accusations brought against them, and these accusations have been ignored or softened in the name of honor when the correct response would have been investigation and prompt removal. This is not punishment, it is the enactment of God’s instructions, the upholding of His will. If the leaders of a ministry are willing to tolerate and even publish/endorse materials such as The Physics of Heaven, Translating God (Bolz), and Developing Your Prophetic Filter: How to Process the Prophetic (Reed) in spite of the many issues with the ideas or individuals who created them, then they are failing miserably at their duty to lovingly correct and restore those who are caught in trespass. At that point, they are encouraging and rewarding sin in order to maintain an illusion. Another verse that is frequently taken out of context in these circles- also in part thanks to individuals like Danny Silk- is 1 John 4:18: “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.” This is taken to mean that the very concept of punishment is fundamentally wrong, but this is incorrect; if you include the previous verses, 4:16-17, you get a fuller picture of the meaning of the passage: “16 We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.” The passage is there to inform believers of how they may know and be assured of their eternal security in Christ on the day of judgement, saved from wrath by the love of God. This is not necessarily condemning punishment as a concept, this is telling us how we may know that we may live confidently in the knowledge that we will not face everlasting punishment, and yet it has become popular to conflate this passage referring to eternal security with our own day-to-day issues. The reality is that God Himself would rather discipline than punish, but is perfectly willing and just in punishing sin, and likewise we ought to have a similar attitude when and where appropriate. For example, it would be foolish (in my opinion) to say that everyone who sells drugs should be put to death: that would be an extreme punishment where a sharp disciplinary action may be more appropriate. But it would also, in my opinion, be foolish to take someone like Ted Bundy and say, “it’s not my place to punish him; he needs to be rehabilitated.” Hebrews 10:28-29 says “28 Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?” That sounds like a cut and dry declaration, doesn’t it? But Hebrews also goes on to say, in chapter 12, verse 11, that: “All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.” Sometimes a stern response- which some might describe as punishment- is the thing that God uses to discipline us so that we might be saved from ourselves and our sin. I’ve referenced this several times before, in previous posts and discussions, but in 1 Corinthians Paul writes about a man caught in gross sexual immorality, who is cast out of the church for “the destruction of his flesh,” and then in 2 Corinthians is welcomed back in by Paul because he has realized the severity, the shame of his sin, and desires earnestly to be restored in his relationship with God and His people. There is a time and a place for both options, and I believe that it is the job of followers of Christ to lean heavily to the side of gentler disciplinary measures, but we are denying an important aspect of justice- something that matters dearly to the Lord- if we decide that it is distasteful to straighten out unrepentant evil. Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5) were struck dead on the spot by God for attempting to deceive the Holy Spirit; where was the display of Bethel style discipline there? Punishment, biblically speaking, may be a component of discipline, but it can just as easily be a standalone verdict from which there is no further course to pursue. An irony of the historical lack of willingness to enact firm congregational discipline (as often as is evidently necessary) is that they are almost certainly condemning many to an everlasting punishment through their inaction by neutering the consequences of sin.

Now, all of that said, I want to be fair by also sharing that I have heard both Kris Valloton and Bill Johnson make comments about the need to deal with sin when it arises, to correct and reprove brothers who are in error, and that is good. In 2015 Bill gave a public rebuke to a man named Jason Westerfield, a “son of the house” as he put it, that was leading people into error deemed egregious even by Bethel’s loose standards. (Bill himself joked during this rebuke about their propensity to attract and allow a lot of absurdity.) I heard Kris in a semi-recent teaching tell a story about how he and his wife once decided to give their grandchildren an extravagant Christmas, like I’m sure many grandparents would love to do. In this story, one of the children responded in an incredibly ungrateful way- we’ve all been there, I’m sure- and Kris decided that the following Christmas would be better spent taking their grandchildren to go deliver gifts to other kids in more impoverished neighborhoods, both to bless and to help teach them to be appreciative of their blessings. I think that was also good, and it demonstrates that there is, on some level, an understanding of practical, kind, and caring disciplinary action. I’ve also heard him tell the story of how he dealt with his son as a pre-teen who thought he might be gay, and how he lovingly corrected him and nurtured him into the man he is today. I believe he is a compassionate man and one who has, in the past, demonstrated the ability to deal with some issues in a timely, loving, and effective manner. Unfortunately, current events have revealed that Bethel leadership as a whole has not been consistent in dealing with other major problems in the same way for a long time, and has mistaken inaction/insufficient action for grace and their mission to “bring Heaven to Earth” as having a higher priority than seeking justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God the way He commands us to. 

Why Am I Writing About This?

I want to be clear about something: I didn’t enjoy writing this- it feels sensational and harsh. It has depressed me; I have felt a lot of anger, sadness, and eventually a certain amount of emotional numbness as I have read articles and listened to videos on this subject. Honestly, I would have rathered spent the time working on my other projects and focusing on cheerier things- but I believe we as the body of Christ have a responsibility and need to start being more harsh in our response to leaders who propagate the attitudes, teachings, and lifestyles that I have discussed here today. Some people that are caught up in this are genuinely deceived, of course, but that only exacerbates the need to address these damnable behaviors. When we tolerate these things, we are giving license to the world to blaspheme the name of God, because we ourselves are not honoring Him, and if we won’t, why would they? I have listed several names here, all from Bethel or the general NAR (New Apostolic Reformation- that’s a topic for another time) or hyper-charismatic camp, but these issues exist everywhere and must be addressed everywhere. I have said some strong things, but I don’t hate any of the people whom I have named or alluded to here; like I said at the beginning, I think they are either deceived or genuinely evil- possibly both- but I do not hate them.

If anything, I weep for these people, as well as their victims.

Since issuing that public apology, Bethel has been fairly quiet about their proceedings going forward, and I do not totally fault them for that; I think it would be foolish for them to be overly vocal at this time. They have, however, made a few major missteps that are cause for concern (shutting down the Bethel Alumni FaceBook group, for one, where their former students were able to easily communicate about the things they witnessed and experienced at Bethel.) They have also been somewhat vocal about continuing to release music, like Jenn Johnson’s album “Happy” that will be coming out later this month. Personally, I consider this to be a bit poorly timed, given the circumstances.

I don’t mean to be overly harsh with any of this, but I truly believe that some of the people I mentioned here today are on their way to an eternity removed from God, and that they are leading thousands of people with them through their teachings and practices- and I may know some of these people. So could you. How could that not make my heart sad? Sad and angry. Sad because of the unfortunate destination of so many souls, and angry because of the callous disregard for God’s word and character, the mockery that is made of His holiness, and the love that these people have for themselves or their silly movements that they have allowed to overshadow the love that they ought to have for God, His sacred Words, and their fellow man. But I still have hope for these people.

Because God saved me. I was a blasphemer, I showed others it was acceptable to blaspheme, I trampled His blood, and I fell hook, line, and sinker for the deceitful lusts of the world as a child, and remained enamored until I was in my mid-twenties. I had a pious facade, knew the right surface-level answers, and did whatever I wanted when no one was looking. God would have been well within His right to leave me to my own devices, self-deluded into believing that I would be shown special favor for my sins, or that they weren’t quite so bad. He’s done the same for a lot of you who might be reading this right now. If He was/is willing to take me in, I have no reason to believe that anybody else is beyond hope. In order for this redemption to take place, though, there must be a repentant heart, and so far I don’t see consistent signs of that being present in the individuals I have talked about today. I hope to see this change before it is too late. I also hope that, while this is a much longer read than I was anticipating, it will be of some profit to you or someone you know. I apologize for any lack of clarity or detail; there are simply too many problems to address and I don’t have the capacity to address all of them as completely as I would like to at this time. I will be sharing a small library of various videos that I have used in researching this subject; please, take some time and look through it. Most of it will be podcasts from various Christian sources that have been investigating and reporting on the things I shared here today. It will be more comprehensive in scope than what you have just read. If you find anyone you recognize, look into it and test what you have read and heard for yourself. We get the sort of problems we provide a tolerant environment for, and we get the sort of leaders we deserve. This is what has happened, I believe, at Bethel and many churches like it. If our leaders are hidden reefs, it is because we have ceased to mind the course of the ship. If they are clouds without water, it is because we have become content living under clouds that promise but cannot produce life. If they are twice dead trees who bear no fruit, it is because we have failed to test them for signs of life and require lasting fruit of them. If they are wild, foaming waves, it is because we have failed to test the waters and ensure that they are safe. If they are wandering stars, it is because we have become so fixated on earthly things that even those that are meant to be fixed firmly on heavenly things have begun to forget their place.

I sincerely hope for better things in the body of Christ and in Bethel in the months and years to come, but only time will tell. For now, we should pray for them and those who have been hurt by their neglect for so long, which includes some of the members of their own staff and student body. (Much of the information that has been made public about the goings on at Bethel have come from former employees and BSSM alumni.) We should continue to hold them and ourselves accountable when we see these things take place, and we should continue to strive for holiness so that we do not find ourselves slipping into the same practices.

Wandering Stars Playlist:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyccaGPSV2Rg6qIthIi1PVwhN6aswon8G&si=xzhMJkj6oW2fQu40