A Blog by Steven Kozar
“For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.”
Here’s a detailed (and disturbing) video of the false teaching from Bill Johnson’s popular YouTube video called “Presence of God by Bill Johnson”
For more information:
Check out the new and improved: The Messed Up Church website!
Here's a very instructive article from Rick Becker's "Famine in the Land" blog:
Bethel’s Delusions of Grandeur-Impervious to the Realities of the Carr Fire
Check out the new and improved: The Messed Up Church website!
Bethel "pastor" Kris Vallotton thinks it would be wrong to confess our sins to each other, because that would "create a culture where we are always looking for what is wrong with each other." Instead, Vallotton says we should look for the "goodness, the GODness, the gifts that God has given us."
“Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”
Kris Vallotton says that sometimes his group of disciples had to invent sins because they really didn't have any sins to confess that week. While it is not necessary to spell out the specifics of our sins, we should always be willing to "confess our sins to one another." Kris Vallotton teaches a twisted form of theology that believes "we just don't know how good we are." Check out this article and video to learn more: The (False) Gospel According to Moana.
“But if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.”
Here is one of the things that Jesus instructed us to ask for in the Lord's prayer:
“And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”
Why would Jesus want us to ask for forgiveness? Doesn't Jesus want us to look for the GODness in each other??
Kris Vallotton LIES About the Bible (And Carey Nieuwhof Loves It)
10 Reasons Why You Should RUN AWAY From Bethel Redding
Kris Vallotton RUNS From His Own Facebook Post!!
Bill Johnson and Kris Vallotton Want the Mantle of False Teacher William Branham
Kris Vallotton: Prosperity Preacher Exchanging Love for Wealth
Listen to Kris Vallotton twist the daylights out of God's Word in the second half of this episode of Fighting for the Faith
Check out the new and improved: The Messed Up Church website!
If everyone knew about what happened on this day (and stopped making excuses for it) a whole bunch of false teachers would put their tail between their legs, pack up their bags and go home. The "New Apostolic Reformation," the "Signs and Wonders Movement," the Hyper-Charismatic Movement (whatever it's being called at the moment) should not even exist.
Here's a video showing part of what happened on live television that day:
The "Super Apostles" were so proud of themselves that day; they could hardly believe that they were even gathered together at the same place. C. Peter Wagner (who does the official "commissioning" here) is the man who made up the name "New Apostolic Reformation" and then appointed himself God's leader of it. Other important "Super Apostles" on stage were Bill Johnson, Rick Joyner, Che Ahn, John and Carol Arnott, and the Super Star of the whole, messed up day: Todd Bentley.
These men were all gathered in Lakeland, Florida, to officially "commission" Todd Bentley to become part of the "Super Apostle" club. This is what the founder of the New Apostolic Reformation, C. Peter Wagner, said:
"I take the apostolic authority that God has given me and I decree to you, Todd Bentley:
Your power will increase.
Your authority will increase.
Your favor will increase.
Your influence will increase.
I also decree that a new supernatural strength will flow through this ministry.
A new life-force will penetrate this move of God.
Government will be established to set things in their proper order.
God will pour out a higher level of discernment to distinguish truth from error.
New relationships will surface to open the gates for the future!"
And rainbow-colored unicorns will spread golden pixie-dust and shift the atmosphere!! (Okay, I made up that last sentence...)
But within two months Todd Bentley's "revival" completely fell apart and these men were proven horribly wrong; they were proven to be false prophets on television for all the world to see!
Todd Bentley was having an affair with a woman from the church and abandoned his wife and children.
He was also found to be a fraud who couldn't provide any evidence for his claimed "healings" on national television.
And, it was revealed that he was showing up to these "revival" meetings drunk, as he went on stage and told elaborate stories about raising people from the dead, kicking people in the face and having regular contact with an angel named "Emma."
Here's Bentley telling the audience to call down angels at the Lakeland "Revival:"
ALL of these "Super Apostles" claim to hear directly from God and claim to have special "powers" and "anointings." They claim that they are part of a new and better church-not like the old, stuffy Bible-focused churches. They claim to "move in the prophetic" and some even claim to be "seers" who can predict the future. Rick Joyner claims to go to heaven on a regular basis-he evens claims to talk to the original (real) apostles, and he claims they wish they were him! Why didn't God tell any of these people the truth about Todd Bentley?
They were 100% wrong about Todd Bentley, and they were clueless about it! They stood up on that stage like blathering buffoons, talking all about how great Todd Bentley was, and all about the great things that were going to happen. Stacy Campbell even went through the trouble to hiss like a snake as she violently jerked her head back and forth, while she "prophesied over" Todd Bentley:
A few years later, Todd's new wife (the woman he had an affair with) showed that she could hiss and shake her head, too.
C. Peter Wagner should have tried to disband this New Apostolic Reformation, but he didn't; instead, he made excuses for what happened. Rick Joyner and Bill Johnson should have admitted that they don't really hear directly from God, but instead they decided to take Todd Bentley under their wing and tried to "restore" him to ministry. You can read more about this (and see more videos of the entire bizarre "commissioning") here: Grace to You.
These men and woman have all proven that they do not know what they're doing.
They do not know what they're talking about.
They do not rightly handle God's Word.
They do NOT speak for God.
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.”
— 1 John 4: 1
“For God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.”
— 1 Corinthians 14: 33
“An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land: the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction; my people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes?”
— Jeremiah 5: 30-31
“And her prophets have smeared whitewash for them, seeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ when the Lord has not spoken.”
— Ezekiel 22: 28
“Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions; they have not exposed your iniquity
to restore your fortunes, but have seen for you oracles that are false and misleading.”
— Lamentations 2: 14
“For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.”
— Matthew 24: 24
Lastly, it needs to said that not all Charismatics and Pentecostals are in agreement with the leaders in these videos (The NAR leaders). They've fought against the ideas in "The New Apostolic Reformation" and they are to be commended for that. Unfortunately, their voice is largely being drowned out by the much more prominent and popular leaders who've declared themselves the Super Apostles. God help us all to be faithful to His Word, and to ignore the teachings of men.
Here are few more articles about this event:
Here's recent case where Todd Bentley claims to be raising the dead with absolutely no proof: My Phone Conversation With TMU RE: Bentley's Resurrection Claim (Audio)
Here are some things the Super Apostles do NOT want you to know: Shocking Stuff You're Not Supposed to Know
"Smart phone prophet" Shawn Bolz and Todd Bentley together at "Azusa Now" in April 2016:
Here's a recent video showing Bill Johnson endorsing his good friend Todd Bentley:
Todd Bentley Commissions The "Apostolic Puppet Lady!!"
Check out the new and improved: The Messed Up Church website!
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. ”
“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.”
(Huh?)
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.
3. Are you carefully considering how dangerous it is to degrade and devalue the Word of God the way Bill Johnson, Kris Vallotton and Bethel does? Are you really comfortable abandoning what the Christian Church has taught, confessed and believed since its very beginning? On top of that, are you really comfortable handing over the Christian Church and its doctrines to men like Bill Johnson and Kris Vallotton? These men are getting rich off of the sheep they claim to serve; they are constantly selling stuff and giving speeches for money. These men make no bones about it-they make a lot of money and they're happy to continue making more. Is that who we should trust with the future of the Christian faith?
Please check out A Biblical Guide to the Prosperity Gospel.
4. Bill Johnson, Kris Vallotton and Bethel twist the Bible to make it say what they want it to say. Bill Johnson will take the English word from the Bible and try to extract some special new meaning from it; but the original word was never in English! Here's a really embarrassing example:
The word "repent" has nothing to do with penthouses-obviously! The original Greek word transliterated is "metanoia" and it means "I repent, change my mind, change the inner man (particularly with reference to acceptance of the will of God), repent," according to Strong's concordance. This is horrendous Bible twisting from a man who either has no idea what he's doing (and Bill Johnson has no training in the ancient languages that the Bible was written in), or he's so confident that he's hearing new messages from God that he doesn't care. Here's another example from the same book:
“For many years I misunderstood the biblical concept of desire. Psalm 37:4 tells us: ‘Delight yourself in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.’ Like many pastors, I foolishly taught that if you delighted yourself in the Lord, He would change your desires by telling you what to desire. But that’s not at all what this means. That verse literally means that God wants to be impacted by what you think and dream. God is after your desires. The word desire is made up of the prefix ‘de’ meaning ‘of,’ and sire meaning ‘father.’ Desire is, by nature, of the Father.”
Bill Johnson doesn't even bother to consult a concordance, which is a very simple way to learn the meaning of any word found in the Bible. Instead, he demonstrates that he is horribly incapable of teaching a Biblical passage. The Hebrew word translated into english as desire is "mishalah." It simply means "request" or "petition," but Bill Johnson is telling people that "God is after their desires" because de and sire means "of the father," according to him. This is a complete fabrication and a deliberate twisting of God's Word. Why would he do that? Who knows? Maybe it's because he's appealing to the selfish desires of his gullible audience. He is definitely tickling itching ears.
5. Bill Johnson didn't have enough sense to know that he was getting scammed by Todd Bentley at The Charismatic Day of Infamy. All of the "Apostles" of the New Apostolic Reformation gathered together to commission Todd Bentley as the great new leader whose revival meetings (the "Lakeland Revival") were a big deal for a few months of glory in 2008. But Todd Bentley was a fraud, adulterer and drunk, and none of those "Apostles" (Bill Johnson being a primary member) had enough discernment to figure it out. These are the men who claim to have all sorts of special insights directly from God, but they were utterly clueless. Does that sound like the kind of guy whose direct "downloads" should be trusted to establish new doctrine? After Todd Bentley abandoned his wife and children, Bill Johnson tried to restore him back to ministry-ignoring the fact that he was utterly disqualified by his despicable, sinful behavior. Even today, Bill Johnson supports and promotes the fraud Todd Bentley. Here's something he posted on his Facebook wall just recently:
So Bill Johnson openly supports and endorses his friend, the fraud Todd Bentley. By the way, even that promo for Bentley's "revival" is fraudulent: that's a an old photograph of a Billy Graham meeting in Los Angeles.
6. Bill Johnson & Kris Vallotton are both big fans of the creepy cult leader William Branham (1909-1965). Branham was so detached from Biblical Christianity that even Word of Faith founder Kenneth Hagin called him a false teacher and predicted he would die two years before it happened from a car accident in 1965. Although he died on Dec. 24, 1965, Branham's followers refused to bury his body since they believed he would rise from the dead. They finally gave up and buried him on April 11th of the next year. Branham didn't believe in the Trinity. Branham believed he was the end-time "Elijah." Branham taught that Eve and the serpent had sexual intercourse and Cain was born, and that consequently every woman potentially carried the literal seed of the devil, so he always believed women to be inferior and untrustworthy. Branham was a pathological liar who told many variations of stories for decades with conflicting details. Bill Johnson and Kris Vallotton have stated that they want the "mantle" of William Branham.
7. Bethel Church claims to be special place where the "Presence" is tangible, and miracles happen every day, yet when a coven of witches went there to get prophetic words spoken over them, they were told nothing but positive things and were actually encouraged to continue in their witchcraft. Seriously. Read about it: Bethel Church Tells Witch that She's "On the Right Path" and "God is So Proud of Her!"
8. Bill Johnson has established new doctrines that are not taught anywhere in Scripture, and these new doctrines have become foundational beliefs that have caused a great deal of confusion. For example, a foundational belief at Bethel is that "we must create a culture that welcomes risk-taking." Once this belief is established, people feel free to make stuff up and do things that are weird, harmful and unbiblical. Another foundational belief is that "we owe people an encounter with God."
This "Encounter Gospel" teaches that people cannot believe in God unless we do some supernatural miracle for them, and it eliminates the need for a sinner to repent of their sins. This idea adds a great deal of confusion and it conflicts with the Bible's teaching that the Holy Spirit works through the Word of God to convert people. On top of these new doctrines, Bill Johnson & Co. are always degrading the use of reason and elevating a mystical/gnostic approach to knowledge. This is a recipe for utter confusion, and it lays a foundation for people to abandon their Christian faith, which should be based on God's Word. Check out these Bethel sayings and notice how murky, unbiblical and anti-intellectual the thinking is:
9. Although Bill Johnson, Kris Vallotton and other Bethel pastors will claim to be focusing on "nothing but Jesus" the truth is that they don't. Listen to these people "preach" and you'll hear lots of talking and stories, but the emphasis is never on the simple and finished Gospel message that Jesus Christ came and gave His life as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. The Apostle Paul said "I preach Christ and Him crucified," but the Bethel message is focused on what they're doing and what's going to happen next. This is no accident. Bill Johnson has repeatedly said that he wants Bethel to focus on only one thing: "revival." This is not what the Bible teaches-but it's what Bill Johnson teaches. Why? Because Bill Johnson had an experience at the "Toronto Blessing" that caused him to devote himself to this form of "revival." The Toronto Blessing was so controversial that the founder of the Vineyard movement, John Wimber, went to the Toronto Airport Vineyard Church and told them they were in serious error. Wimber then cut the church out of his Vineyard fellowship for being too far removed from Biblical Christianity. Bill Johnson took over Bethel Church and steered it into the very controversial Toronto Blessing kind of teaching, and that caused the Assemblies of God to cut them off in a similar way. Bethel Church is so far on the fringe that it is creating its own new and unbiblical doctrines.
10. Benny Hinn. He's an obvious false teacher who is known for his outlandish and luxurious lifestyle, his highly staged "Miracle Crusades," and his Prosperity Preaching (which only makes Benny Hinn prosperous).
Bethel loves this guy.
There is no excuse for this, and if you are trying to justify this in your mind right now, you are part of the problem. Benny Hinn is a showman and a huckster, and he knows what to say in order to retain as large an audience as possible. Benny Hinn recently made a special appearance at Bethel.
Here's an "NBC Dateline" segment on Benny Hinn from 2005:
Bethel Bonus section:
Heidi Baker imparts demons at Bethel (no big deal...)
What a Bargain-Bill Johnson's $400 Thumb Drive!! (Maybe that's how he can afford an Aston Martin?)
Bethel Redding's Liturgical Prayer to the God of Mammon (it's just the heretical prosperity "gospel" rearing its ugly head)
The Lord Grabbed Jenn Johnson by the Hair and Sent Her Into Outer Space (This is Bill Johnson's daughter-in-law "preaching" at Bethel)
Jenn Johnson: "The Lord Has A Reflector Mirror Under His Armpit" (This is normal in the world of Bethel)
Jenn Johnson Got More Cute By Believing What God Said About Her (Yes, she really said this)
Kris Vallotton: "Wealth is the Magnetic Attraction to Prosperity" (Kris Vallotton is getting more and more wealthy as he tells everyone: "But it's not just about money!...")
Kris Vallotton: Prosperity Preacher Exchanging Love for Wealth (This guy really loves to talk about getting wealthy, but remember, it's "not just about the money!...")
Kris Vallotton LIES About the Bible (And Carey Nieuwhof loves it)
Topless Dancing at Christalignment "Workshop"-Does Kris Vallotton Approve? (This is so weird, creepy and unbelievable it should be another whole series of articles, oh wait, it is. There are many links in this article)
Bethel Redding Fire Tunnel with Puppets (Bethel Pastor, Seth Dahl, is selling and biting a man on the neck with his $100 puppets, just watch this video because it can't be explained...)
Victims of Bill Johnson’s SOZO Ministry speak out (This is another can of worms, and articles...)
In summary, Bethel Church, Redding, has bad Christology, bad Pneumatology, and bad Soteriology. If you believe that "theology doesn't matter," you're a perfect candidate to fall for this bad theology. Theology is just a word that means "teaching about God." By definition, Bethel teaches theology, but they disguise it as something so totally new and fresh that people are fooled into thinking it's something "better" or "more spiritual." But it's just their version of teaching about God. Remember, as soon as someone starts teaching about God, they are doing theology.
So, Christology is what you believe about Jesus Christ, Soteriology is what you believe about salvation and Pneumatology is what you believe about the Holy Spirit. Those issues can be discussed in another article.
Do your homework. Take your Christian faith seriously and stop following these false teachers. Here is another article that can help you think more about this:
Bethel is part of The New Apostolic Reformation:
The New Apostolic Reformation Cornucopia of False Doctrine, Dominionism, Charismania and Deception
-This article by Steven Kozar; check out his new and improved: The Messed Up Church website!
If everyone knew about what happened on this day (and stopped making excuses for it) a whole bunch of false teachers would put their tail between their legs, pack up their bags and go home. The "New Apostolic Reformation," the "Signs and Wonders Movement," the Hyper-Charismatic Movement (whatever it's being called at the moment) should not even exist.
Here's a video showing part of what happened on live television that day:
The "Super Apostles" were so proud of themselves that day; they could hardly believe that they were even gathered together at the same place. C. Peter Wagner (who does the official "commissioning" here) is the man who made up the name "New Apostolic Reformation" and then appointed himself God's leader of it. Other important "Super Apostles" on stage were Bill Johnson, Rick Joyner, Che Ahn, John and Carol Arnott, and the Super Star of the whole, messed up day: Todd Bentley.
These men were all gathered in Lakeland, Florida, to officially "commission" Todd Bentley to become part of the "Super Apostle" club. This is what the founder of the New Apostolic Reformation, C. Peter Wagner, said:
"I take the apostolic authority that God has given me and I decree to you Todd Bentley:
Your power will increase.
Your authority will increase.
Your favor will increase.
Your influence will increase.
I also decree that a new supernatural strength will flow through this ministry.
A new life-force will penetrate this move of God.
Government will be established to set things in their proper order.
God will pour out a higher level of discernment to distinguish truth from error.
New relationships will surface to open the gates for the future!"
And rainbow-colored unicorns will spread golden pixie-dust and shift the atmosphere!! (Okay, I made up that last sentence...)
But within two months Todd Bentley's "revival" completely fell apart and these men were proven horribly wrong; they were proven to be false prophets on television for all the world to see!
Todd Bentley was having an affair with a woman from the church and abandoned his wife and children.
He was also found to be a fraud who couldn't provide any evidence for his claimed "healings" on national television.
And, it was revealed that he was showing up to these "revival" meetings drunk, as he went on stage and told elaborate stories about raising people from the dead, kicking people in the face and having regular contact with an angel named "Emma."
Here's Bentley telling the audience to call down angels at the Lakeland "Revival:"
ALL of these "Super Apostles" claim to hear directly from God and claim to have special "powers" and "anointings." They claim that they are part of a new and better church-not like the old, stuffy Bible-focused churches. They claim to "move in the prophetic" and some even claim to be "seers" who can predict the future. Rick Joyner claims to go to heaven on a regular basis-he evens claims to talk to the original (real) apostles, and he claims they wish they were him! Why didn't God tell any of these people the truth about Todd Bentley?
They were 100% wrong about Todd Bentley, and they were clueless about it! They stood up on that stage like blathering buffoons, talking all about how great Todd Bentley was, and all about the great things that were going to happen. Stacy Campbell even went through the trouble to hiss like a snake as she violently jerked her head back and forth, while she "prophesied over" Todd Bentley:
A few years later, Todd's new wife (the woman he had an affair with) showed that she could hiss and shake her head, too.
C. Peter Wagner should have tried to disband this New Apostolic Reformation, but he didn't; instead, he made excuses for what happened. Rick Joyner and Bill Johnson should have admitted that they don't really hear directly from God, but instead they decided to take Todd Bentley under their wing and tried to "restore" him to ministry. You can read more about this (and see more videos of the entire bizarre "commissioning") here: Grace to You.
These men and woman have all proven that they do not know what they're doing.
They do not know what they're talking about.
They do not rightly handle God's Word.
They do NOT speak for God.
Lastly, it needs to said that not all Charismatics and Pentecostals are in agreement with the leaders in these videos (The NAR leaders). They've fought against the ideas in "The New Apostolic Reformation" and they are to be commended for that. Unfortunately, their voice is largely being drowned out by the much more prominent and popular leaders who've declared themselves the Super Apostles. God help us all to be faithful to His Word, and to ignore the teachings of men.
Here are few more articles about this event:
Here's recent case where Todd Bentley claims to be raising the dead with absolutely no proof: My Phone Conversation With TMU RE: Bentley's Resurrection Claim (Audio)
Here are some things the Super Apostles do NOT want you to know: Shocking Stuff You're Not Supposed to Know
"Smart phone prophet" Shawn Bolz and Todd Bentley together at "Azusa Now" in April 2016:
Here's a recent video showing Bill Johnson endorsing his good friend Todd Bentley:
Check out the new and improved: The Messed Up Church website!
© Steven Kozar for Pirate Christian Media & Messed Up Church. Read a little about Steve on "Kozar's Korner." Prints of his paintings are available on our Bakesale and on his art website stevenkozar.com.
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