The scandal rocking Bethel Church and the world of charismatic Christians
In a nearly six-hour video, a Christian theologian exposed one of the most influential churches in the country
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California’s Bethel Church is a major hub of charismatic Christianity, where believers and students at the affiliated Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry are taught about “faith healing,” raising the dead, and the importance of trusting prophets. And you better believe there are plenty of self-described prophets who take advantage of that gullibility.
But that armor of faith took a major hit recently when Mike Winger, a conservative theologian with a popular YouTube channel, published a nearly six-hour video detailing the “skeletons in Bethel’s closet.”
The biggest revelation was that Shawn Bolz, a minister who’s been boosted by Bethel and its leader Bill Johnson, was lying about being prophetic, using parlor tricks that are better suited for a low-budget television psychic who pretends to speak to the dead. (Sure, the rest of us knew Bolz was lying the moment he said he was a prophet, but this video comes with receipts.) There are also allegations of sexual misconduct. And more importantly, there’s evidence that Bethel leaders knew all of this, yet kept platforming and celebrating Bolz anyway.
Not all of this is new information. They’ve been floating around online for years, but Winger compiled those theories, gave credit where it’s due, and packaged everything in a video that I admittedly couldn’t stop watching. The end result is a damning portrait of a powerful ministry.
I was tempted to write more about this myself, but I realized I knew someone who had close ties to that world and could do a far better job explaining why the revelations are such bombshells.
Promise Backlund grew up in this world. Her family is close to Bethel’s leaders, she attended their school, and she was a worship leader in their ministry. Now, however, she’s left the fold and talks about her atheism online—including in her forthcoming book Gospel of Lies (affiliate link).
There’s frankly no one better positioned to speak to atheists about what just happened and why it matters.
So that’s what we did.
I don’t usually post my own videos in this newsletter, but I thought this discussion was a good time to do it.
I’m grateful to Promise for sharing her time. You can subscribe to her channel here.
"I used ta get the people jumpin’ an’ talkin’ in tongues and glory-shoutin’ till they just fell down an’ passed out. An’ some I’d baptize to bring ’em to. An’ then – you know what I’d do? I’d take one of them girls out in the grass, an’ I’d lay with her. Done it ever’ time. Then I’d feel bad, an’ I’d pray an’ pray, but it didn’t do no good. Come the next time, them an’ me was full of the sperit, I’d do it again."
– John Steinbeck, Grapes of Wrath 1939
This was fiction, obviously, but not exactly made up, if you know what I mean. Been going on for centuries before that too.
𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑒𝑥𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡.
Oh, gee, there's something new ... isn't it? [facepalm!]
No, I haven't watched Hemant's video yet, but if there is a common theme among stories regarding churches and preachers gone rogue, there it is, and it continues to astonish me that people out there continue to think that the whole concept of religions and churches aren't just valid but necessary to our culture.
Because too much evidence says something entirely different.