10 Reasons Why You Should RUN AWAY From Bethel Redding

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There are a gazillion reasons for those who attend Bethel Church in Redding, CA to RUN AWAY from that “church.” Steven Kozar of Messed Up Church lists 10:

1. Bill Johnson & Kris Vallotton (and other Bethel pastors) put their own words above the Word of God. Listen to them talk and you’ll hear very few actual Bible verses, but you will hear a lot of their own thoughts and ideas that they claim to have received directly from God. This is not accidental. They believe they are a new and better type of Christian leader who can hear directly from God and get “downloads” of new information. They believe the Bible is merely a good starting point that has useful information about God, but to really know Him you must go further than the Bible-you need to go “off the map.”

“None of us has a full grasp of Scripture, but we all have the Holy Spirit. He is our common denominator who will always lead us into truth. But to follow Him, we must be willing to follow off the map—to go beyond what we know. ”  — Bill Johnson “When Heaven Invades Earth-A Practical Guide to a Life of Miracles”

 

“It’s difficult to expect the same fruit of the early church when we value a book they didn’t have more than the Holy Spirit they did have. It’s not Father, Son and Holy Bible.” — Bill Johnson, YouTube video: “Friendship With God” https://youtu.be/P4RZ_ctiwlE 

 

2. Go back to the previous point. Seriously, that is enough to end the discussion. If the Bible is only a starting point (because we need to get new and better information) than this is not the historic Christian church. In fact, even the Roman Catholic Church believes that we can’t have a bunch of different people running around claiming to speak for God; that’s why they have only one Pope. In the Bethel/NAR way of thinking, practically everyone is their own Pope! Bethel teaches that we must have a subjective and mystical connection to the Holy Spirit that allows us to receive more than the clear meaning of the Word of God, because the Word of God isn’t enough.  View article →