Bethel Church has selected third-party investigators to look into allegations of clergy sexual misconduct against its chief prophet, according to a press release issued by the embattled California church.
Along with Bethel admitting that they badly mishandled and ignored allegations of spiritual and sexual abuse perpetrated Shawn Bolz, someone they had platformed and promoted, they’re also dealing with the fallout after one of their former students alleged that Ben Armstrong, a Bethel pastor and Overseer of Prophetic Ministry, preyed on her, manipulated her, and then sexually assaulted her.
Bethel shared in a press release:
“As a broader leadership team, we want to understand and address how we can do better in the future by bringing in a third-party expert to review our governance, leadership structure, and culture. We want to ensure we have established clear accountability structures, prioritized the safety of all those engaging with Bethel, and upheld the standards that Scripture calls our leadership and culture to reflect.
We believe this kind of accountability isn’t just right, but necessary, and we will share concrete next steps for what that looks like in the coming weeks. As we have said before, we do not take the pain that those who have spoken up are experiencing lightly, and we are not moving past it quickly—this process matters deeply to us, but more importantly, to the heart of God.”
As a result, they hired Sintra Group Professional Investigations, an organization with “over 20 years of experience in investigative work, including trauma-informed investigative protocol,” to look into the matter.
It remains unclear to what degree Sintra Group has experience handling clergy sexual abuse cases within a church or religious context however. Their website does not mention this type of work; instead, it focuses on their contracts with government agencies and major corporations.
While Sintra states shares that their investigators are former law enforcement officers, each with more than twenty-five years of law enforcement service in investigations, supervision, and management, it appears the organization primarily conducst routine background checks for public agencies, with the occasional independent administrative investigation, including those involving harassment, hostile work environments, or embezzlement thrown in.
Many questions are left unanswered, however. Anti-abuse advocate Alyssa DeGraff asks on X:
We’ve reached out to both Sintra Group and Bethel church for comment on the latter’s experience handling clergy sexual abuse and will update this article accordingly.
3 responses to “Bethel Church Gives Update On Sexual Abuse Case, Selects Investigators”
Too much focus on “abuse” and not enough focus on the root of the problem – sensuality and sexual immorality. At a deeper level, loving pleasure more than loving God (2 Tim. 3). The preventative measures are already given in God’s word. He says “purge the evil from among you” (1 Cor. 5, Deut. throughout). But Bethel is a “church” with beliefs that are inherently focused on pleasure and comfort in the here and now. It’s all about feeling good and feeling good about oneself. Services that are designed to be some sort of euphoric experience, approaching delirium. It’s their feel-good drug, and they are insober addicts. If it were to prioritize away from the false gospel of pleasure, it would have to shut the doors. Where the Holy Spirit is at work, there will be no sinning – no catering to the wicked desires of the heart – no sensuality, no focus on self-pleasure, none of that mess.
In any cases where there may be feminists/marxists/activists involved, who are essentially at war with their Creator, the last thing they’ll want is to purge out the sensuality and sexual immorality, because that’s one of their most powerful tools.
Do what God says to do, and the wickedness will be brought to a stop, regardless of where it’s coming from.
Investigation is purposed to determine the facts of a case. It is not for trying to determine and develop future preventative and preemptive measures, which all too often will only punish the innocent. That is God’s domain. When you start trying to preempt and prevent in a manner other than what God has prescribed, you are pretty much rolling out the red carpet for every antichrist and wicked ideology in existence to waltz right in the door. If you’re going to prevent, then prevent as God says to prevent. If you don’t do as He says, then you’re asking for more and compounding trouble.
The Holy Spirit does not cater to wickedness of the heart, to wicked passions and desires. He discomforts wickedness, and comforts righteousness. He gives peace, sobriety, and contentment. Where there is love of pleasure rather than love of God, there is discontent. The sins listed in 2 Tim. 3, are examples of both seeking pleasure first, and discontent.
It is a matter of priority. Jesus said “seek ye first”, and all these things shall be added. He said, “your heavenly father knows that you have need of these things”. And that prioritization is the work of the Holy Spirit, to overcome the corruption that resulted from Adam’s sin. That prioritization is what it means to be truly born again. It doesn’t mean we have no joy in life – joy is a fruit of the Spirit. It just means our priorities are in order, and first obey the Lord. Ultimately, it means that we don’t lose focus of eternal matters, as the foremost priority. (and when Jesus says “seek ye first the kingdom of God, that’s what He’s talking about – His kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36)
“18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” (Romans 8:18-23)
We await a new heavens and new earth where righteousness dwells (2 Pet. 3, Isaiah 65). The Holy Spirit reminds us of this (reminding us of what God wants us to focus on, is one of His jobs – John 14:26, etc.) And that is what sets our priorities. (knowing what He does, and understanding the Gospel, is also how we test the spirits)
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