Weeks after The Passion Translation of the Bible was pulled from Bethel Church’s bookstore before being re-added, and after YouVersion, the worlds’ largest bible app announced they were investigating it, the California megachurch officially announced last week they are pausing the sale of it from their bookstore until they have “additional clarity” over some of the concerns that have been raised against it. A press release on their website states:
As a leadership team we have been in discussions regarding concerns around The Passion Translation. We understand reviews are underway by skilled organizations and recognize these will take some time. Until we have additional clarity, we are pausing the sale of The Passion Translation in our stores.
For the last few weeks, The Passion Translation has been getting beaten up and bashed, in light of a devastating exposé by the YouTube channel Minor Prophets.
The video reveals the extent to which its creator, Brian Simmons, routinely plagiarized or outright lied about where the translation came from and how he produced it, demonstrating repeatedly that much of Simmons’ “translation’ involved just making things up.
Notably, The Passion Translation has been heavily platformed and lauded by Bethel Church personalities, who routinely uses it as their preferred translation.
Bill Johnson’s endorsement of it is featured prominently on its website, where he hypes it as “one of the greatest things to happen with Bible translation in my lifetime.
In fact, Johnson has cut promo ads for The Passion Translation, saying there’s hardly a day that geos by where he doesn’t read it, and previously revealing “I actually read The Passion Translation every night before I go to sleep.”
As a result, Bethel Church has always carried it in their bookstore, sometimes with exclusive releases, and even had their own version of it, he Passion Translation Bethel Editon, which features a forward by Johnson himself:
