Bethel Chuch Pastor Gives Blasphemous Testimony: ‘Jesus Asked ME to Forgive HIM’
In 2015, Bethel Church pastor Seth Dahl preached a sermon called ‘An Unexpected Route To Joy.’ In an epic butchery of the gospel and a fundamental misunderstanding of the forgiveness of Christ, Dahl claimed he encountered Jesus in a vision, who then asked him to forgive HIM.
At the time of the sermon, Dahl was Bethel Chuch’s children’s pastor whose merchandise was (and is still) carried in their store. He has since left and founded his own group of companies geared around teaching and coaching families and children, including Seth Dahl Ministries, where he offers churches personalized children’s ministry coaching for $500 a month, with a minimum three-month commitment ($1500). This coaching consists of one 55-minute Zoom session per month (not even a full hour) which is a lot of money for 165 minutes worth of work.
In this clip, however, which Bethel purposefully clipped and featured on their YouTube channel, Dahl explains:
I had a pastor say some things that hurt me really bad. Hurt me so bad, messed me up emotionally, mentally, really mess me up. Nothing physical, nothing like that. A pastor I really respected said some words and hurt me so bad.
And one time I was laying on the floor, actually it was in this room, I’m laying on the floor and in a vision, in an encounter with God in a vision, Jesus picks me up and holds me so close that I can’t see anything.
And he holds me so close, and Jesus starts to weep. And he says, “Please forgive me. Please forgive me.” I said ‘what are you talking about, please forgive you?’ He said, “when that pastor hurt you, it’s as if I hurt you, because he’s a member of my body. Please forgive me.”
While there are few things a Bethelite likes more than coming up with new and novel theology, it should go without saying that this is very, very stupid. We ask Jesus to forgive us, not the other way around, and this not the way Jesus takes the blame for his church. Also give a bit of specificity to the hurt and it gets real weird real fast. I.e: “when that pastor did XYZ to you, it’s as if I did XYZ to you.”
“…Any pain I hold on to from a believer, any unforgiveness I hold on to from another believer, Jesus actually takes it, the bl- think about the cross; what Jesus did. He did not sin, but he paid for ours. He did not sin but he let us kill him for our sin. He took the blame for us. He took our blame and let us punish him for our stuff.
Taking our blame and letting us “punish him for our stuff” is not what happened on Calvary, and we have no reason to believe any of this happened or that it came from God, rather than a demon with a particularly cruel and wry sense of humor.
So why would he not look at you and say, ‘that pain you’re holding on to, that hurt you’re holding on to, that unforgiveness you’re holding on to, look; holding it against them is like you’re holding it against me because they’re a member of my body’?
And I wept when I realized I’d been in pain from God. From what I thought was God. I don’t know if that made sense. It wasn’t that God inflicted the pain, it’s that God took the blame for inflicting the pain and holding it against my brother was like I was holding it against God.
And I wept and wept and I wept as I forgave Jesus for something he didn’t do, but someone else did.
The Holy Nope, who recently interacted with his clip, also points this out:
If you are so spiritual that you are having vision encounters with Jesus, wouldn’t the spirit of God in you be concerned about getting the gospel right?
It was not us who punished Jesus, it was the Father. As a substitute for us and sacrifice for our sin, (Jesus) bore the full load of his people’s guilt, like a lamb without spot or blemish, on whom our sin is laid and was slaughtered under the wrath of God atoning for sin and satisfying God’s justice against his church.
Does Seth Dahl understand the cross and is there a connection here between such fundamental misunderstandings and these kinds of wild spiritual experiences?”
For more on Bethel:
Bethel Pastor Claims Adam is ‘Procreating With God’ and ‘Co-Creating’ When Naming the Animals
Little God Theology? Bethel Prophet Says you are ‘Made like God’ and Made ‘After the God-Kind’
Never Forget: Bethel Church Promoted Prophetic Uno Cards
Bethel ‘Pastor’ Says Michael the Archangel Dresses in ‘Wrestling Tights,’ is ‘always Grumpy’
Bethel Pastrix: ‘Jesus Laid in that Bed with Me and Started to Play with my Hair’
Bethel Church “Pastor” Says Angels Sit Around the Throne of God Having “Farting Contests”
Bethel Chief Prophet says God made Adam ‘Male’ AND ‘Female’ + Adam ‘co-created Eve’
Bethel Church Has a ‘Lab’ Where they Apply Scientific Methods to The Prophetic + People. Only
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I have no idea why churches are not trembling at the thought of having “stores” within their sanctuaries, let alone charging hundreds of dollars an hour for a zoom call, when these things enraged Jesus so much he flipped over tables and struck these types of men with whips.
To be fair, he no longer is a pastor at Bethel and sells the counseling services under his own business.
But this guy shouldn’t be around anyone professing to educate them in the ways of the Lord
This individual is clearly not qualified to teach. Anyone. Anywhere. About anything.
“I had a pastor say some things that hurt me really bad”. The pastor said” Seth you are not qualified to be a pastor”. Should have taken his advice and sold life insurance instead.
Wow. The audacity to even think that Jesus would ever have the need to ask US to forgive Him. What blasphemy.