Bethel Church Shuts Down their ‘School of Supernatural Ministry’ Due to COVID Fears…Again…
Does God cause Sickness? “I refuse to create a theology that allows for sickness… You can only give away what you have. Can God give away sickness? No: He’s not sick. You can’t give cancer if you don’t have it….Does God ever choose not to heal? No. ~Bill Johnson.
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In a deliciously ironic turn of events that will never be appreciated by head healer Bill Johnson and the charismaniacs at Bethel Church in Redding, California, the School of Supernatural Ministry (SSM) has announced that they are discontinuing in-person classes and transitioning to online-based zoom learning due to several students and teachers coming down sick with the coronavirus. The School of Supernatural Ministry is currently operating at 70% capacity, having close to 1600 students.
Amid criticism within the community that Bethel SSM students have been spreading COVID-19 from within the school and giving it to the outside community, senior associate leader Kris Valloton said that the infections are coming from off-campus, with strict protocols in place for the school itself in terms of cleanliness, hygiene, and social distancing.
Bethel’s School of Supernatural Ministry focuses much of its culture and experiences on the miraculous, and describes its mission in part:
“The school is designed to equip students not just to minister in the gifts of the Spirit but to live a supernatural lifestyle. You experience life-changing revelation about yourself and the world around you as you become aware of the Kingdom within you and are encouraged to be naturally supernatural by bringing heaven to earth wherever you go. We believe Jesus meant it when He taught us to pray “Your Kingdom come…on earth as it is in Heaven.”
Rather than healing the students with the coronavirus, however, Bethel Church has demonstrated that they are unable to rise to the supernatural occasion, choosing instead to quarantine whole classes with nary a supernatural shake of the little finger to be seen.
In addition to classes moving to Zoom, Bethel has announced they will likewise cancel their next few in-person church services, which aren’t even been held indoors, but rather outdoors at the old baseball diamond.
Lest one ask why Bethel doesn’t send these poor sick souls to visit the “healing houses” and “healing rooms” that they’ve had set up across the city, where people can come and get supernaturally healed from cancer, short legs, back backs, deafness, leukemia, unspecified foot pain, and a host of other physical maladies, the healing rooms have been shut down for nearly 8 months due to fear of catching COVID-19.
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I do believe Bethel is a fraud, and I don’t trust anyone who places experience over God’s Word or doesn’t keep order in their churches. With that said, how do Cessationists, like you, (and all of the other online Calvinists and Cessationists), explain Dr. Craig Keener’s two-volume work on modern-day miracles? Especially the documented ones. God doesn’t heal everybody. He didn’t heal the apostle Paul. He allowed all of His disciples to suffer, and He calls everyone who follows Him to take up their cross — which seems to be ignored by the likes of Bill Johnson. Yet, God is the same yesterday, today, and forever; and He is still a miracle working, wonder-working, all mighty, all powerful, all encompassing God who is able to save to the uttermost. Calvinists and Cessationists do God a dishonor and have more in common with David Hume than they do the first and second-century church. They do God a disservice when they write off every miracle in our world today as a hoax; or when they judge everyone who believes God still works miracles today as a charlatan and a fool and not a real Christian or as enlightened as they are.
The greatest miracle takes place everyday when those who were dead (in sins) are raised to eternal life (in Christ Jesus) by the death and Resurrection of Christ. The deaf hear the Word of God and the eyes of their understanding are open. They that were mute and couldn’t praise God now praise him with their lips. Those who were lame (spiritually couldn’t walk upright) now walk God. They see, hear, praise, follow and are raised from death and darkness to glorious life and light. The power of gospel is the greater works.
Cessationist’s believe in the power and work of the Holy Spirit, and that God heals. This article doesn’t deny that. The issue is these false apostles who claim the gift of healing, and teach it, and make $$$ from teaching the deceived to ‘activate’ their gift. Bill Johnson and the like assume authority and power, so they continually need to show false miracles. This keeps the bait on the hook, so the simple keep coming to these false teachers to learn the secrets of hearing God, or learn the secrets of healing. It’s disgusting. Instead of encouraging people to make prayers and supplications to God, they fleece the sheep by making them dependant on the false teachers secret techniques and teachings.
Deut 29:29
1 Jn 2:26-27
Heb 1:1
God has not spoken by the mouth of today’s self proclaimed prophets and apostles. They are deceitful snakes who assume authority and hold people captive.
Cessastionists believe a false dichotomy, like a lot of crooked arguments you may find, where both sides hold a false hidden premise (or perhaps a few in this case), and pretend their two sides are the only one, while both sides actively try to prevent the false premises they hold from ever being discussed. It is an intentional form of deception that some knowingly practice – and if you are not knowingly practicing it, you are being fooled. That, and choosing names for themselves that are unbiblical in use (as the bible does not use them as names for groups), and which pervert the underlining scripture they are taking them from (to despise those who believe the passages, but don’t believe they things they added to them). IE you can certainly believe that there are gifts of the Holy Spirit, and not believe any of what “charismatics” believe – which is pretty apostate. babbling hypnotic speech being one example. And you can certainly believe that Love is the greatest thing, without reading the meaning of “cease” as at all meaning the gifts of knowledge, wisdom, discernment, etc have vanished. It’s not even the context – because none of you are face to face with the Lord in heaven. But like the first name, leads to abhorrent behavior – all gifts have ceased to exist (and a atheist or even satan type claim – and one I had pulled on me recently), and attacks all Christians of every background that believe God still answers prayers and does miracles for his people – as the poster above rightly points out, and not just some ludicrous claim like babbling nonsensical speech. It’s a weak argument, and that’s good that it is weak, because if both sides are really the same, they don’t care which side you go on, just as long as you keep the arguments up and never find the truth and escape.
Both sides, as an observation, are very weak on what the gift of prophecy, tongues, and interpretation really are – at least, and two of those would be helpful in getting to an explanation. They both propose a notable redefinition – that “tongues” really means “language”, when it seems more normal to thing tongues means tongues. And they both seem to lean on the KJB, which has at least several problems in this distinction – ie it adds unknown to tongue to clarify, even though the word isn’t even there in the greek, and it’s being taken in a different way then intended, and it translates the completely unrelated and not similar in derivation greek word for language as tongue too, confusing two words, which again works if you understand whats being said, but not if you use it to prove what isn’t intended.
Jesus said people couldn’t see the kingdom of God and receive what he was saying, and ” 8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth” in John 3. It’s very like it’s talking about what Jesus is saying, in fact, it it is. And likewise, in Revelation 2 it says “7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches;”. And to put it all together, when you are born again, and a new creature in the Lord, you have new eyes to see the kingdom of God, new ears to hear the Spirit, and a new tongue to praise the LORD.
It means tongue. It does not mean babbling speech, it does not some foreign language power that ceased to exist – in fact THAT tongue exists in every real Christian on new birth – both groups seem to disparage that tongue though. Their idea of gifts also seem to both be something that operates at the will of the believer apart from God, that the believer can perform at any time (and after building up this straw object, one proclaims doing a myriad of ludicrous false things as being “it”, while the other says, see it doesn’t operate like the false idea we had – it ceased! Discernment, knowledge, wisdom, teaching have ceased! Oh but new birth tongue of a new man in Christ has ceased!).
Needless to say, answers to prayers have not ceased to exist, nor has God ruling the heavens and earth, nor has his direct miracles, and if prayer is answered, all those things can be asked for in prayer. And if God even answers one, it is a gift. It’s possible some people seem to have more prayers answered in one area, or is given more talent there, but it’s still is God doing it. So, yes, God still gives thing to his people (and both groups misuse the word gift too).
I could go on perhaps listing the things both groups have in common, including misdefining words, but oh sinners, can you not see what a gigantic structure of artifice the whole thing is?
Actually, God DOES and IS still speaking. But the real Christians who hear from Him don’t have a spotlight on them. Don’t have magazines promoting them. or any oromotion at all . How does ONE person hearing from God communicate to hundreds of millions of people, especially with an unpopular message?
I won’t call myself a prophetess, but God HAS spoken to me, and HAS healed me supernaturally as well. I try to communicate what I believe was Him speaking, and I have seem what He said coming to pass over tge past 30 years. But the reach of one individual with a message , try as we might, barely makes a dent in the sea of voices of hundreds of millions of people. I assure you God is still speaking. But as far as I know there is no magical megaphone to reach the world with what He said. I am not rich, can’t afford advertising, and even if/when I write a book , how would I promote it? Would people even read it? Bill Johnson & the NAR have magazines & music to promote their ministries , and have even been on “Christian” television . The charlatans always have the $ and the promotion , so they are the ones who get heard.
I find it absolutely ama ing that the Ancient Prophets were included in the hoky scriptures.
Most likely it happened long after their deaths. At least they had a central city & gate where they could call out God’s message as the people walked to the Temple every day. Modern day people who hear from God have very limited ways to reach the people. It’s heartbreaking. Here we sit in the midst of judgment from God (admittedly with some reprieves as God gives people time to repent) , and the churches have barely any idea that it’s people of God mixing paganism in with Christianity and/or those who turn away from it to false gods/false gospels & even witchcraft & shamanistic practices that brings His judgment upon us.
I have been lucky to reach a few thousand people out of hundreds of millions. I don’t hear God most days. I’m blessed to have ever heard Him and tbh I wonder why He would speak to someone with so little reach. I don’t even have a church bc the churches in my area are messed up /compromised. God told me He was going to show me across the country the preachers who have “broken the bonds” and gone their own way. He has been doing that for over 30 years. And sadly where I am now I despair of ever finding a true place of actual biblical Christian fellowship. But I guess that’s not uncommon in times when many depart from the true faith and give heed to sexucing spirits and the teachings of demons.
There is so much infiltration of the church and so little discernment it’s shocking. But I guess we should have seen it coming since the Lord and His apostles DID warn us about it.
Anyway, don’t write God speaking off just bc you personally don’t know of anyone He has spoken to. Or because most if not all those people claiming to be prophets who are known to the public are false prophets. The condition of the churches literally makes me weep. Thank God there is always a remnant.
But no as far as I have seen, cessationists only believe teaching & preaching andmaybe duscernment still exist. They forget that ALL the gifts are needed to build up Christian, to bring us to maturity in the Faith & for the work of ministry. Just bc the fake is so prevalent foesn’t mean the real no longer exists.
So sorry for the typos. I’m on my phone which makes it difficult. *God’s HOLY Word, not “hoky”! I thought turning off auto correct was wise with the horrible errors it makes but too many typos seem to get past me.
These POS people (Bethel) keep a luxury home in my small town. They came here in Sept. with ‘visitors’ to their SCAM church, refused to wear masks in our ONE local restaurant. They single-handedly infected our town.
These people are definition of EVIL. Selfish brainwashed losers.
What town & state do you live in?