THE CHURCH MILITANT
Ephesians 5:11-"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them". This Christian News Blog maintains a one stop resource of current news and reports of its own related to church, moral, spiritual, and related political issues, plus articles, and postings from other online discernment ministries, and media which share the aims to obey the biblical commands to shed light on and refute error, heresy, apostasy, cults, and spiritual abuse.
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Showing posts with label Moral Relativism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Moral Relativism. Show all posts
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research
purposes:
The Great UnReason of 2020 is upon us.
That America is in the midst of a great pandemic of unreasonable or irrational fear is deniable only to those who have succumbed to it.
To be clear, fear, in itself, is natural, and is deserving of neither praise nor blame. Considered in itself, it is a morally-neutral emotion. However, as those who have thought about the matter from over the centuries and millennia know all too well, there is all of the difference in the world between fear that is reasonable and that which is unreasonable.
Aristotle’s analysis of fear and courage remains unsurpassed to this day. The man who Saint Thomas Aquinas would, some 15 centuries later, refer to as “The Philosopher,” noted that virtue, i.e. excellence of moral character, tends to be the mean between the emotional extremes of “excess” and “deficiency.”
So, for example, when a person habitually experiences an excess of, say, fear, he suffers from the vice, the moral weakness, of cowardice. When, on the other hand, a person habitually experiences a deficiency of fear, he suffers from the vice of recklessness.
Both extremes are unreasonable or irrational. Both express corruption of character.
It is only when a person, as a matter of habit, experiences a reasonable amount of fear that the person can be said to possess the virtue, the moral excellence, of courage.
It is only the courageous person who knows what to fear, when to fear it, and the extent to which he should fear it.
Courage is not the absence of fear. It requires the presence of fear. The fear, though, must be reasonable.
Hence, he who fears and endures the things he ought to, for the right purpose, as he ought to and at the time he ought to, as well as the one who dares accordingly, is a courageous man; for the courageous man feels and acts in as much as merit requires and reason prescribes.
Elaborating, Aristotle notes that errors in action occur “because we are afraid of what we ought not [be afraid],” or because we don’t fear “as we ought to,” “at the time we ought to, or the like.”
The courageous person is to be distinguished from the rash person, who suffers from a deficiency of fear, and the coward, who is burdened with an excess supply of it.
What Aristotle has to say about “the rash man” is particularly instructive, for all too often, most of us succumb to the lie that the trash talker, the “tough guy,” the bully, etc. has “balls,” as we say. We tend to confuse machismo, recklessness, with bravery. Aristotle reminds us that the two are actually in fundamentally different leagues, recklessness being a character defect, a vice, and courage being a character strength, a virtue.
On the other hand, he who exceeds in confidence about terrible things is rash. And the rash man seems also to be arrogant and someone who pretends to be brave. The attitude, then, which the courageous man demonstrates in matters terrible, the same attitude the rash man wishes to appear as of his own; therefore, he imitates him as far as he can. This is why most of them are cowardly; for, while they display confidence where they can, they cannot stand what is terrible.
Notice the paradox here. The rash man, Aristotle informs us, ultimately is a coward of a certain sort. He doesn’t have that which bravery necessarily requires: a reasonable supply of fear.
In his own way, Colonel Al Ridenhour, USMC, the founder of the combat art Warrior Flow and my own Senior-Master Instructor, makes essentially this very point to his students when he tirelessly tells them: “Just because a person is evil or tough, doesn’t mean that he’s brave.”
As for the cowardly person, however, Aristotle’s characterization is as follows:
Again, he who exceeds in fear is a coward; for both what he ought not [fear] and as he ought not [fear], and all the like follow on him. He is also deficient in confidence; but he is more apparent in situations involving pain. The coward, then, is a despairing person; for he fears everything.
It is insightful that Aristotle here observes the link, one that Christians would one day underscore, between cowardice—the fearing of “everything”—and despair. Conversely, then, and as he says, the courageous person “is the reverse; for confidence is a trait belonging to a hopeful person.”
Aristotle summarizes his analysis:
The coward and the rash man, therefore, as well as the courageous man are concerned with the same things, but they are differently disposed towards them; for the two former exceed and fall short, while the latter is moderate and as he ought to. Furthermore, the rash are reckless, and ready before danger but flee when it comes, while the courageous are keen at the time of action and quite before.
Aristotle’s examination of courage is not without its critics. Still, no honest discussion of this virtue can neglect it. I bring it up here because The Great UnReason of 2020, the mass hysteria over COVID-19, occasions as glaringly as any event ever could exhibitions of the very vices to which Aristotle drew our attention so many centuries ago:
Those who have rushed to indefinitely suspend civilization as we have known it in the name of preventing people from contracting a virus from which, it seems likely, as high as 99.6%-99.9% of those who contract it recover, a virus the majority of whom (50%-80%) it infects are never even sick enough to realize they had it, are at once reckless and cowardly.
At the very least, they are behaving recklessly and cowardly.
They are reckless inasmuch as they have rushed to appropriate measures that promise to adversely impact various dimensions of the lives of hundreds of millions of Americans, and billions of more human beings from around the planet who will inevitably be harmed by the oppressive decrees of governors and other authorities in America. For argument’s sake, we’ll assume that they didn’t have ulterior (ideological, political, and economic) motives but that they just didn’t slow down long enough in order to anticipate the ruinous consequences of their courses of action.
Those, the masses, who have eagerly acquiesced in these life-denying commands for the sake of preventing themselves from the possibility of getting sick act cowardly, for their fear is wildly out of all proportion to its object, a virus that poses a potentially lethal threat only to those for whom countless otherwise non-fatal viruses and infections of multiple sorts are potentially fatal, i.e. the elderly and immunocompromised.
Yet even here, most of those in this demographic recover from it, and a whopping 60% or so of people over 70 years of age who test positive for COVID-19 are asymptomatic.
The fear that motivates the comprehensive negating of our way of life is wildly irrational.
This is why it is all too rational to refer to this period in our history as The Great UnReason.
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research
purposes:
KYLE, Texas —A now former Assemblies of God (AG) “church” in Texas has announced that its elder board has decided to allow practicing homosexuals to serve in all capacities, including as pastors, and that pastors will be permitted to officiate same-sex ceremonies if so desired. The district office of the AG says it “moved swiftly” when it learned of the decision, and that the church is no longer affiliated with the denomination.
Dan Matlock, who leads Eikon Church in Kyle, presented several messages throughout the month of February in a “Clarity” series, where he also explained to the congregation that he himself had come to “a place of full affirmation” of homosexuals in the Church.
“We felt led by the Spirit this direction,” he claimed during his Feb. 6 message, asserting that he saw “bad fruit” coming from “unaffirming theology.”
He outlined that in 2018, two lesbian women who attend Eikon approached him and asked unabashedly if he would officiate their same-sex ceremony.
“I realized that if I were to tell them, ‘No, theologically, I’m bound by my conscience. I can’t do the wedding. I can’t do that,’ they would have been devastated. They would have been blindsided,” he stated. “They would have felt, ‘Wait, you’ll take my attendance, you’ll take my money, you’ll take my service, but you won’t take me in this pivotal moment of [my] life?'”
“That would have been so harmful to them because they didn’t expect that,” Matlock continued. “But I realized that at the same time, had I responded, ‘Sure! Absolutely. I’d love to do your wedding. Where is it?’ and then I were to perform said wedding, and then word would get out about the wedding … it would not have gone well. Right? Let’s be honest. There’d be a lot of people in the church who’d be going, ‘What? Dan did [what]? Excuse me?'”
He said that he realized that Eikon had not been clear on where it stood to those on either side of the issue.
Matlock then told those gathered that there is disagreement among professing Christians about homosexuality, but opined that he finds it “unhealthy” both for Christians who view homosexuality as sinful to be labeled as “haters” and for those who affirm same-sex relationships to be considered apostate. He explained that even leadership has varying views on the matter.
He presented a chart featuring a “spectrum” of beliefs about homosexuality and asked those present to contemplate which category corresponds to them.
Matlock also told those gathered that he believes those who affirm homosexuals have not thrown out the Scriptures, but simply view the text as referencing some other practice, such as temple prostitution or pedophilia, as it does not “clearly” condemn homosexuality.
In further presenting the views of those who are affirming, Matlock said that other issues in the New Testament are viewed by some as only cultural and not for modern times, such as Paul’s words on women in church leadership, or short hair on ladies, or exhortation about slaves obeying their masters. Matlock stated that Jesus said that remarriage following divorce is a sin, and most Christians don’t view remarriage as being tantamount to adultery.
“We have to acknowledge this: It’s not that Christians with a traditional view just don’t love gay people. They came to those beliefs very honestly. And at the same time, people with this more affirming bend, they didn’t come to that place just because they don’t care what the Scriptures say. Many of them came to this place honestly,” he asserted. “And it doesn’t make either one true or not true, but it’s helpful to understand how these people came to the conclusions they did.”
Matlock pointed to Romans 14, noting that Jews and Gentiles in the early Church were locked in various disagreements, that Christians today should “pursue unity over uniformity” in the midst of disagreement about the sinfulness of homosexuality.
“We all think very differently. We don’t believe the same thing about everything. Are you kidding me?” he said. “I’ve talked to people who have problems with how we do communion or when we do communion or how often we do it, about baptism — there’s lots of things that we’re not uniformity over. But in spite of those things, we say we want to have unity.”
He asserted that despite varied beliefs, the church had to reach a conclusion on what would be its “consistent practice,” however. Matlock advised that he went to the elder board last year and said that the church needed to be clear on what its practices will be, which launched nearly a year of discussion as to whether or not Eikon would be “fully inclusive” of homosexuals.
“That means they can serve in any capacity in the church from a greeter in the parking lot to a pastor on staff,” he outlined, adding that the board also contemplated whether leadership should be allowed to officiate same-sex ceremonies, if desired, and whether they could speak about their beliefs on the issue.
“On Sept. 8, 2019, elders of Eikon church decided that yes, Eikon church will be a fully inclusive church for the LGBT community,” Matlock said to some applause.
He then acknowledged that while the decision would please homosexual members and their advocates, it would also disturb other members of the congregation.
“You have to understand that to that community, this is a big deal for them — that they finally have a place where they can really be welcome in every area, not with an asterisk,” he said. “But I also recognize the confusion that you might be feeling, the tension that you might be feeling. That as excited as they are that they got a church, you’re realizing ‘I may have lost my church.'”
“I get it. I understand. And I’m sorry,” Matlock stated.
He then outlined to those gathered that he himself wrestled with the issue of homosexuality in 2015 and 2016, but that he “landed in a place of full affirmation.”
“I do believe that God can and does bless same-sex relationships, that God can and does bless same-sex marriages,” Matlock claimed.
“Dan Matlock has announced that he and Eikon Church will no longer be affiliated with the Assemblies of God,” Assemblies of God Senior Director of Public Relations and Communications Mark Forrester told the outlet. “The North Texas District moved swiftly and in accordance with processes outlined in the General Council Bylaws when first aware of the departure from the Assemblies of God’s position on marriage, sexual orientation, and gender identity — which is the only permissible stance for Assemblies of God churches and ministers.”
“The North Texas District is committed to helping members of Eikon Church find church families that continue to embrace the biblical views consistent with statement of faith originally embraced by Eikon Church,” he said.
As previously reported, while a common argument among those who struggle with homosexual feelings is that they were “born this way,” the Bible teaches that all are born with the Adamic sin nature, having various inherent feelings and inclinations that are contrary to the law of God, and being utterly incapable of changing by themselves.
“All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one to his own way,” Isaiah 53:6 reads, “and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
It is why Jesus came: to “save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).
Scripture outlines that Jesus came to be the propitiation for men’s sins (1 John 2:2; 1 John 4:10), a doctrine in Christianity known as substitutionary atonement, and to save men from the wrath of God for their violations against His law (Romans 4:25, Romans 5:9, Romans 5:16), a doctrine known as justification.
The Bible also teaches about regeneration, as in addition to sparing guilty men from eternal punishment, Christ sent his Holy Spirit to make those who would repent and believe the gospel new creatures in the here and now, with new desires and an ability to do what is pleasing in the sight of God by His indwelling and empowerment (Ezekiel 11:19, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Titus 3:5).
Jesus said that men must be born again, and be transformed by the Spirit from being in Adam to being in Christ, or they cannot see the Kingdom of God (John 3:3-8).
“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you. And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them,” Ezekiel 36:26-27 reads.
In regard to marriage, Jesus also outlined in Mark 10:6-8, “But from the beginning of the Creation, God made them male and female. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh.”
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research
purposes:
The point of Mark Dever in this video clip is very clear; whites should reconsider being “single-issue voters” on the abortion issue because it separates whites and blacks.
Dever, who is a prominent figure in “woke” evangelicalism from the headquarters of his Washington D.C. church, has heavily promoted Democrats like Thabiti Anyabwile (aka Ron Burns), a black nationalist who endorsed first Bernie Sanders and then Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic primaries. To Mark Dever, “social justice” doesn’t apply to the unborn.
In a recent clip, Dever claims that white people are unsophisticated in voting against abortion because, in his pessimism, Dever doesn’t think anything can be done about abortion anyway.
In the clip (below), Dever says, “I think of the things that most separates white Christians and black Christians in America is one-issue voting…I can vote for a candidate who I disagree with on some very important issues – that I don’t think they’re going to get anything done on – but I agree with them on these other issues that are going to help a lot of people.”
He continues, “I think a lot of our African American brothers and sisters realized like a long time ago, well there are going to be a bunch of different issues that are going to affect us. I think white Christians think this is the only moral way to approach voting. I think they’re never thought of anything else…
Dever went on, “Even if you don’t adopt that thought yourself, can allow space for that in your church as a morally legitimate option for voting?”
Hell no, we can’t.
The year 2019 was the most successful year for anti-abortion legislation since the passage of Roe v Wade. Only a Beltway Democrat like Mark Dever could look at last year’s legislation around the country and still presume “nothing can be done” about abortion. All the while, Dever and everyone around him in woke evangelicalism are trying to get as many Christians to vote Democrat as possible.
Mark Dever is a wicked, wicked man. Like Albert Mohler and Ligon Duncan, these men pretended to be conservatives in an epic long-game, before showing their true colors when it matters most.
No “space” in our church should tolerate anyone voting for a candidate who believes it’s acceptable to kill the unborn. That’s not social and it’s not justice. It’s anti-social and it’s injustice.
He is one of those “false brothers who snuck in to spy out” the church, seeking only to undermine it.
Might Christ destroy Mark Dever with the brightness of His coming, along with all those who seek to legitimize the murder of the unborn.
THE ONE HOUR DOCUMENTARY: The purpose of this video is to evaluate the teaching of Dr Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, on the subject of homosexuality. Mohler is encouraging the Church to embrace the issue of sexual orientation, a psychological concept that is entirely without biblical warrant. He accuses evangelicals of having lied about the nature of homosexuality and of practicing a form of homophobia. He fully supports the ministry of same-sex attracted Sam Allberry, a Church of England priest. His position is similar to that of the gay agenda, which seeks to normalize homosexuality in society and the Church.
Some believe that Southern Baptist Seminary President and likely upcoming SBC President, Albert Mohler, is a hero of the Conservative Resurgence. In fact, Mohler is no hero for conservative causes. A more careful examination of Albert Mohler reveals he has overseen a hostile takeover of the SBC by Critical Race Theorists, feminists, and Cultural Marxists and has platformed the most radical woke Social Gospel advocates under the sun. While saying one thing, Mohler has proven himself to almost always be doing the opposite of what he preaches.
One of the more tragic aspects of Mohler’s compromise is on the subject of the ‘gay Christian’ movement. Evangelicalism has been bombarded by homosexual “experts” on human sexuality who pretend to be believers but who are not set free of their queer desires. Mohler has embraced these “Same-Sex Attracted” self-promoting faux-martyrs and bid them swift godspeed to corrupt the church.
Dr. E.S. Williams has produced a new documentary about Mohler’s gay agenda, which you can read about in the press release below.
Dr. ES Williams, a member of Charles Spurgeon’s Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, in collaboration with respected researcher, Reverend Thomas Littleton, has produced a new video titled Albert Mohler and the Gay Revolution. Drawing heavily from Mohler’s own words, a strong case is made that the President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary has strayed from historical, biblical teachings on one of the most important cultural issues of the day.
The facts uncover that Mohler is playing into the hands of a pro-homosexual ideology that has contributed to the undermining of the family and the culture at large. Mohler’s comments reveal his view that the Church must appropriate sexual orientation, a psychological concept that is without biblical warrant.
Dr. Williams states, “As we shall see in this video, Mohler’s position today is similar to that of the gay agenda, which seeks to normalize homosexuality.” Williams also points out that in spite of a 2005 position held by Mohler declaring that the modern concept of sexual orientation opens the door for the homosexual lobby to reinterpret the meaning of Scripture, a decade later Mohler has changed his mind; we see a compromised man who radically changed his position. Similarly, the video shows that Mohler uses the language and tactics of the progressive left to accuse those who disagree by calling them “homophobic.”
Albert Mohler has made repeated public statements exposing his theological drift from sound, biblical doctrine. He makes a very strong defense of his 2011 article from The Christian Science Monitor where he accuses evangelicals of having “lied about the nature of homosexuality.” He also belittles those who adhere to a conservative viewpoint on homosexuality, claiming it “can only be described as a form of homophobia…” In other venues, he has indicated that the traditional, conservative Christian viewpoint on homosexuality is “rooted in ignorance and fear.”
Mohler’s full support of the same-sex attracted narrative is also shown in his promotion of the book “Is God anti-gay?” written by Sam Allberry, a same-sex attracted priest in the Church of England. Allberry has publicly described himself as having “sexual, romantic and deep emotional attractions to people of the same sex,” and his book claims to offer a positive and liberating way forward for the same-sex attracted. Mohler applauds the ministry of Allberry and stresses that his book is full of “biblical wisdom.”
In contrast to the secular worldview espoused by Mohler, Dr. Williams affirms the biblical response stating, “Same-sex attraction, which Mohler wants the Church to embrace, is a sterile, unnatural perversion that denies the creation of God.”
The evidence outlined in this video makes a compelling argument that Albert Mohler’s accommodation to progressive ideologies and worldviews will not only destroy the Southern Baptist Convention, but indicates that Mohler’s theological error is a direct attack on what the Word of God declares regarding the sin of homosexuality. _______________________________________________________________ SEE OUR PREVIOUS POSTS ABOUT ROSARIA BUTERFIELD: https://ratherexposethem.blogspot.com/search?q=ROSARIA+BUTTERFIELD
Bethel Church posted Olive Heiligenthal’s image all over social media as they prayed for her resurrection.
A Charismatic megachurch caused national headlines after they announced a campaign to pray and raise money for a resurrection after the unexpected death of a 2-year old toddler in their congregation. The pastor, Bill Johnson has attempted to use the Biblical example of Jesus performing resurrections as his basis to plead with God for a miraculous intervention. While this may all seem noble and godly on the exterior, upon closer examination, this prayer plan came from a church that is filled heretical, unbiblical and even occult practices. And it is sad commentary on the lack of discernment of many well-meaning Christians today who are looking for churches based on sound Biblical doctrine.
#WAKEUPOLIVE – BETHEL CHURCH’S PRAYER CAMPAIGN FOR A RESURRECTION
According to reports:
“Music echoed throughout the cavernous space as hundreds of congregants of a church in Redding, Calif., jumped up and down with their hands in the air. At the front of the room, a worship leader danced around a stage lined with lit Christmas trees as giant screens played the song’s lyrics.
“Come alive/ Come alive/ Come alive, dry bones/ Awake, arise/ Inhale the light”
The group was praying for 2-year-old Olive Heiligenthal, who Bethel Church says unexpectedly stopped breathing on Saturday. But the worshipers were not praying for her soul to find rest or for her family to be healed. They were asking God to raise her from the dead.
Kalley Heiligenthal, a worship leader at the church, and her husband, Andrew Heiligenthal, called 911 when they realized their daughter was not breathing, Bethel’s leadership said in a statement. First responders tried to revive Olive at her home and at the hospital, but the church said she was pronounced dead the same day. Her body was transferred to the Shasta County Coroner’s Office.
The church said its congregants believe in the miracle of resurrection, “which is modeled by Jesus in the New Testament of the Bible.” This is Bethel’s first public gathering of prayer for someone to return to life, according to a statement from the church’s leadership.” (source).
Bethel Church is a non-denominational charismatic church in Redding, CA. They have built a massive, global following through their mega-popular Christian contemporary music that is sung in thousands of churches all over the country every Sunday. They preach that the Holy Spirit has empowered them to prophesy and perform supernatural miracles, “signs and wonders” on a regular basis. However, there is a great deal of wildly unbiblical practices in this church.
BILL JOHNSON’S MANY HERESIES
Here is a video that breaks down some of the incorrect, unbiblical teachings of Bethel Church pastor Bill Johnson:
In stunning fashion, Johnson states that the Apostle Paul was preaching “another Gospel” because he stated that God permitted him to be ill with a “thorn in the flesh.” Let’s examine this passage in context:
“And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” – 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
Note that Paul gave the specific reason for why he suffered the “thorn” – to keep him humble. Jesus personally appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus, leading to his conversion to the Christian faith. Paul communed with God in Sinai. 13 of the books of the New Testament were written by him. He was given the power via the Holy Spirit to perform miracles. All these things could have led Paul to be full of himself – puffed up with pride that he was the special Apostle of Christ. But the thorn was a reminder to remain humble.
Also note that Paul said he prayed 3 times to be healed and God did not heal him. Why? God told him “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness .” God forgiving Paul for all of the sins in his life was enough consolation and furthermore, The Lord wanted Paul to lean on God in the moments he felt physically, emotionally or spiritually weak. This is when God demonstrates His strength: when we humbly cry out in affliction and paid for help from Him.
The fact that Christians will suffer in this life is taught all throughout Scripture. Jesus Christ said: “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33).
Yet Bill Johnson stated in the above video that the notion that God would allow any Christian to suffer bad health was “another Gospel” – essentially labeling that passage from 2 Corinthians as heresy! This should give any Christian pause – a pastor is directly telling his Church that certain parts of Paul’s teachings are false. And that any teaching that agrees with it is false. In a ‘Signs and Wonders’ ministry believers are to command and demand their miracles and believe they are entitled to every healing, blessing and prosperous situation ever mentioned in the Bible. This is not sound teaching.
When Job, whom God called the most faitfhul man on Earth in his day, lost his home, wealth and children in a day. Let us examine his reaction:
“While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house: And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.” – Job 1:13-22
This passage alone absolutely shatters the notion that we Christians should have an expectation of health, wealth, good looks and prosperity. Maybe we will have all those things, maybe not. As we live in this Earth, which is still under the curse of sin and death, nothing is promised to the Christian. Notice Job, whom God called the most faitful man on Earth, did not immediately demand a resurrection. He did not break into song to “manifest the Spirit” for supernatural power. He simply dropped to his knees and worshiped.
Job did not know why God allowed these things to happen but he trusted God had a great and mighty purpose in it. That is faith. It is trusting God when you do not know what is going to happen.
CAN WE PRAY FOR MIRACLES?
Christian can always ask God to do the impossible.
There is no sin or shame in praying for God to perform a miraculous, supernatural act in your life. Even in praying for the dead to come to life, we see Biblical examples of Jesus doing this. However, there is great danger in following teachings from a pastor or church who do not follow or teach the Bible accurately. What Bethel Church has done is precisely what Johnson discusses in the video above: preaching “another Gospel.” His false teaching incorrectly states that if the healing does no happen – the fault is on the person praying, because they should have the power of signs and wonders. This not only can lead to massive disappointment and confusion for the congregation, it leads to great spiritual error.
CHANNELING DEMONIC SPIRITS – BETHEL’S “DRUNKEN” CHURCH SERVICES
Bethel Church practices getting “drunk” and “high” in the Spirit.
“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” – 1 John 4:1
One of the principal teachings of Bethel Church is that they can make the Holy Spirit manifest at their church services and take control of the congregation. This is demonstrated through acting “drunk”- a term the church uses for when you start laughing uncontrollably and enter into wild, chaotic behavior and spasms. There is absolutely no Biblical example of this whatsoever in Scripture. You will never find any instance of a believer in God acting irrationally or intoxicated as a sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit.
But that has not stopped the false teachers at Bethel Church from encouraging their thousands of followers from engaging in just this very thing. In the extremely disturbing video below, Heidi Baker and her husband Rolland, leaders in Bethel, summon what appear to be demonic forces all throughout the congregation:
The young man in the video (who Baker “laid hands on”) is writhing on the ground and screaming in sheer agony a mere 2-3 feet from Baker and she does not even pay him any mind. Clearly, this is what she wanted to happen. Beloved, this behavior is not of the Holy Spirit. At no point in the Bible does any person who is indwelled with the Holy Spirit of God, ever roll on the floor, enter into gyrations, scream wildly or exhibit any form of erratic behavior. This is critical to understand because there are many churches today who false teach that “drunken” behavior or falling out onto the ground, are signs of being “filled with the Holy Ghost.”
What we see in the video is much more in line with demonic possession:
“And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him. And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.” – Mark 5:1-5
Notice in the passage above, the man, possessed with numerous demons, was uncontrollable. He had to be chained and restrained because he was so violent and irrational in his actions and no man could “tame him.” All the while he was cutting himself and screaming. This is the result of demon possession in Scripture.
Once Jesus healed this man, the evidence of this miracle was from his very calm, normal behavior:
“Then they went out to see what was done; and came to Jesus, and found the man, out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid. They also which saw it told them by what means he that was possessed of the devils was healed.” – Luke 8:35-36
This man had experienced the healing power of God Almighty. He had a direct encounter with the Divine and what was the reaction? Was he acting irrational and insane? No, he was now calm and “in his right mind.” The fact that his demeanor was so normal frightened onlookers who were used to his animalistic behavior when he was possessed by demonic spirits. Keeping this in mind, what spirit was indwelling the young man in the video above? The Holy Spirit? God forbid. Do not be deceived.
Here is a clip of Bethel teaching congregants to enter a “Tunnel Of Fire” in which their fans are allegedly catching “Holy Spirit Fire”:
Again, notice there is no preaching taking place. There is no place for the Bible to be taught. It is merely emotion, wild spirituality and experience. This is not how a church service should be run. There is no example of this in Scripture whatsoever. The Bible says:
“Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge. If anything be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace. For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted. And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.” – 1 Corinthians 14:29-33
The Lord is not “the author of confusion.” This is a difficult challenge – when a church appears to have the best intentions and motivations but are not following the Bible, they are no different than any secular, New Age or pagan belief system. Jesus Christ said: “… the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” (John 6:63). If a Church is not basing their beliefs or practices on what is sound, Biblical doctrine, then they do not have the Spirit – no matter what “manifestations” or spectacular behavior takes place.
CHILDREN TAUGHT TO “RELEASE SPIRITS”
Again, we see Bethel Church engaging in unbiblical practices. Here there are teenagers teaching other children on how they can “release spirits”:
PROMOTING THE LOVE OF MONEY
Kris Valotton, a leader in the church, has promoted the heretical “Prosperity Gospel” – the false teaching that if a person gives a great deal of money the pastors of a church God will give greater blessings. There is no Biblical basis for this teaching whatsoever and it is manipulative in that it pressures the congregation to give more money to the pastor as “evidence of their faith.” Here is a perfect example of how deceptive this teaching can be:
There are numerous errors in this very short clip. First off, the Valotton is describing the events of John 12:
“Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.
Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, which should betray him, Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein. Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this. For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always.” – John 12:1-8
Valotton says that Mary poured a “years’ worth of wages on Jesus” and as a result of this she received the revelation that “Jesus is the Christ and was raised from the dead.” As seen in the passage above, the Bible never states that because of her generous “giving” Mary received a “special revelation” or “extra revelation” from God. It’s just in the text at all. The reason Jesus points to for Mary’s act of worship was that it was a foreshadow of His death on the cross that would take place just days later. The oil Mary used was normally reserved for the dead as a part of the funeral and burial process.
Additionally, the Mary in this passage was the sister of Lazarus, whom Jesus resurrected from the dead. This was not Mary Magdalene – the disciple of Jesus who was the first to see The Lord after His resurrection:
“The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him…
Then the disciples went away again unto their own home. But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre, And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.
And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God. Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her.” – John 20:1-2; 10-18
Notice it was Mary Magdalene, not Mary of Bethany who was the first to receive the revelation that Jesus had indeed risen from the dead. Valloton is not even teaching the Bible accurately. But he can get away with this subtle deception because he is not actually reading the text – he is merely paraphrasing Biblical events in his own words.
Similarly, he says that Judas did not receive revelation because he was a thief and stingy. There is also nowhere in the Bible that states this. Yet Valotton creates this “principle” and concludes by stating “God gives back to you spiritual things when you sow natural things.” This may sound Biblical but it’s not in the Bible.
Micah 3 states:
“Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity. They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the Lord, and say, Is not the Lord among us? none evil can come upon us. Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest.” – Micah 3:9-12
This type of worldly, material-focused preaching is heresy. It is an example of “teaching for hire” the very thing that Micah rebuked the priests in ancient Israel for doing. Bethel’s School of “Supernatural Ministry” which Vallotton states: “We’re equipping a company of revivalists to transform the world” charges $5000 for admission. The church made $60M in income in 2018, of which over $20M was “tithes and offerings.”
Bethel drew controversy in early 2019 for using “destiny cards”, a set of cards with imagery and symbols used to “divine” someone’s future and give them a “reading.” Christalignment, the company that makes the cards, states this about their spiritual services:
“All Christalignment team members operate only out of the third heaven realm. That means we are all hearing from Christ spirit. This ensures safety for you and a way higher level of accuracy. … We have developed 7 sets in total of destiny cards which are so accurate, that even if your life circumstances change dramatically, on your return to do them again years later, you will find the results identical, such is their accuracy. They are able to give profound insight into relationships, careers and your spiritual life.”
Here is a clip of the Christalignment team giving readings at the Rainbow Serpent festival in Australia:
Notice the young girl admits to taking “2 hits of acid” before her reading. All the while the videographer from Christalignment tries to coax her into stating that she had Christian conversion. Does any of this seem like a young woman who heard the Gospel – that she is a sinner, guilty before God and sentenced to damnation and can only find forgiveness of her sins through faith in the shed blood of Christ Jesus on the cross? Does this seem like a person “in their right mind?”
The Bible strictly forbids any type of occult or New Age practices:
“There shall not be found among you anyone that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch. Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee.” – Deuteronomy 18:10-12
Bethel Church Pastor Theresa Dedmon sells prophetic “Destiny Pants” that can prophesy and summon angels.
This is the danger of mixing Christianity with witchcraft. In a published statement, Bethel Church was adamant that they do not endorse using tarot cards. However, using cards to determine one’s future, whether you call them tarot or “Christalignment” is practicing divination – which is a sin. Furthermore, the way the Christalignment creators discuss Jesus themselves, is in a New Age fashion – not a Biblical one. By referring to the “Christ Spirit” they are “aligning” with the notion of a “Christ Consciousness” – the New Age notion that Jesus is a spiritual force that you can tap into, rather than the Son of God who died on the cross for your sins. Do not be deceived.
FOLLOWING JESUS IN THE AGE OF THE CELEBRITY CHRISTIAN
Bethel’s wildly popular music brings in many unsuspecting followers.
In this era of social media, more and more Christian pastors, churches, bloggers and “influencers” are drawing massive followings who cling more to personality than sound doctrine. Thus, when confronted with an article like this that exposes the clear and often brazen heresy and sin within a particular ministry and react with anger because their “favorites” are being “attacked.” Beloved, if this is you, take time and pray to God for patience and understanding.
The Lord gave us His Holy Bible for a reason – it is the standard for all believers. And if a Church or pastor or Christian is leading people away from it, that is sinful rebellion. In the book of Romans, we read:
“Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.” – Romans 16:17-18
Bethel Church has caused numerous offense contrary to the Bible and must be avoided. Pray for those who are under their sway to receive loving, Biblical correction and leave. And for those involved in the leadership of that church, pray they repent. Many souls are at stake and the only thing that can save them is the Biblical Gospel – trust and faith in the atoning work of Jesus Christ who died so He could take the punishment we all deserve for our sins. Lord willing, more of those deceived by Bethel will come to know this and truly follow the Savior of Scripture and not another Jesus.
[B&E: Here are videos from a longtime Bethel member exposing the sinful and occult practices of Bethel Church and their School of Supernatural Ministry.]
Chris Rosebrough of Fighting for the Faith interviews "fired" Bethel member for exposing apostasy, etc:
Holly Pivec, NAR/Bethel Researcher, interviewed by Doreen Virtue, ex-new-ager:
