Bolz, Bethel, and the danger of ‘Kingdom now’

Realised eschatology, lost compassion, wilful blindness, and being all mixed up

Introduction

It was my wife who first alerted me to the storm brewing around Shawn Bolz that was rapidly drawing in Bethel Church, Redding. If you don’t know much about the furore, probably the best thing to do is watch the recent exposé video that brought the sad saga to a climax here. It was made by renowned and respected Bible teacher Mike Winger, and is very long, but it is certainly worth it to understand the depth of it all. However, if you’re strapped for time, I’ll do my best to summarise.

Shawn Bolz is an American false prophet who seemed to have godly character, a direct line to God and unerring words of knowledge until he was found to have deceptively mined from social media what he claimed was revealed to him by the Holy Spirit, meanwhile also allegedly exposing himself sexually to ministry colleagues without consent. Bethel leaders helped him gain popularity through ministry opportunities and events. They promoted his books. And they knowingly covered for him for years, denying allegations on his behalf and refusing to publicly call him out, until evidence became so well-known and understood that they were forced to re-examine the facts – and themselves.

Bethel and me

Bolz’s name was one I had vaguely heard of somewhere; his friends Bill Johnson (founding pastor of Bethel) and Kris Vallotton (a leader there specialising in prophetic ministry), on the other hand, were well known to me. Back in 2013, a friend was very taken up with Bethel’s teachings, and he asked me what I thought. Prior to that point I’d heard a little about them; I’d heard stories of gold dust falling from their air conditioning units, had seen some videos of their services, and was myself enjoying some of their worship music, whilst simultaneously been somewhat discomfited by the way they presented themselves. To be honest, I had instinctively put them straight into the ‘hyper-charismatic’ category of my brain, telling myself to be wary, whilst surreptitiously singing along to one or two of their songs.

My friend’s question forced me to get serious, and I was grateful for him and for the opportunity. I remember reading a few of Bill Johnson’s writings, and listened to a couple of sermons, one by Eric Johnson (one of Bill Johnson’s sons), and another by Kris Vallotton. To be honest, I was shocked. Eric was explaining how and why he didn’t preach about sin any more, and Kris, whilst making some good points and telling some phenomenal testimonies of healing (they may or may not have been true, I suppose) came off as an irreverent, self-indulgent showman who barely got into his Bible and threw out a relentless stream of statements that didn’t seem to stand up to the test of scripture.

From that point on – and probably in step with most other people in and around my conservatively-charismatic stream of Christianity – I nervously watched Bethel from a distance. Were they genuine brothers and sisters? Should we choose, play and sing their worship songs? What should we make of their posts and preaching, the stories about grave-sucking and other so-called-supernatural madness, and the testimonies of truth where some words certainly seemed to be consistent with scripture?

Though Bethel are just one of many similar ‘hyper-charismatic’ churches and movements, they have quite possibly been the most influential one in the world so far this century (although Hillsong, another international charismatic church movement, perhaps comes close), and this is probably why this current uproarious scandal matters so much to the worldwide church, and why we desperately need to understand why it happened, so that we can ensure that a similar tragedy does not play out in any small or large flock or field we happen to be responsible for.

‘Kingdom now’

Bethel is a Pentecostal, ‘charismatic’ church (like many I tend to use the terms interchangeably; for a fuller treatment of these terms and their importance, see the first chapter of David Pawson’s book ‘The Fourth Wave’). They are devoted to a continuationist pneumatology, believing (as I do) from plain scripture that the full experience and exercise of the Holy Spirit is for the church today. However, in order to properly understand the tragedy of Shawn Bolz and Bethel’s promotion and then protection of him, I believe we need to examine Bethel primarily through an eschatological (our interpretation of biblical prophecy) lens rather than a pneumatological (our understanding of the work of the Holy Spirit) one.

In the mid-to-late 20^th-century George Eldon Ladd taught on Biblical prophecy and its fulfilment. He wrestled with the time-bound tension between the ‘now’ (already-fulfilled prophecy) and the ‘not yet’ (prophecy still to be fulfilled at the consummation of history, and finally at Christ’s second return). He saw how Christ’s kingdom came and began at His incarnation, and continues to operate today wherever Christ is at work in the midst of His people on the earth, but believed that it would not reach its climax until Christ came again. This focus on the inception of Christ’s kingdom on earth is often referred to as ‘inaugurated eschatology’, and two streams of modern Pentecostal practice seem to flow out of it.

One is the more balanced position that Christ’s supernatural kingdom of power and miracles has come and is here, and that He can and does move powerfully today in the heart and hands of believing members of His kingdom who seek their King for those miracles, but that His kingdom has not yet been fully consummated just yet, and that it cannot and will not until He returns to institute it Himself. Verses such as Isaiah 9v6 (‘the government will be upon His shoulders’), Habakkuk 2v14 (‘the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord’), and many other passages are seen as still unfulfilled. We can know mighty measures of Christ’s power now, and see Him rule and reign in our hearts and through our hands as we live day-to-day, but that day in which Christ establishes dominion over the earth He created and returns it to its pre-fall state has still not come. It is a pre-millennial position.

The other position might be termed ‘dominion theology’, sometimes referred to as ‘kingdom now’. It is not new, but in the last thirty years it has found a more developed and driven expression through the work of Peter Wagner and others at Fuller Theological Seminary. Wagner helped to build a network of like-minded churches and leaders which has come to be known as the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), all of whom take inaugurated eschatology much further and into the realm of what might be deemed ‘realised eschatology’.

Put simply (perhaps too simply), their argument is as follows: Adam had dominion; Adam’s fall through disobedience gave dominion to Satan; Christ won that dominion back through His victory over death and hell at the Cross; He handed this authority to the church; and He cannot (or will not) return until He sees His church take back control of earth’s governments and institutions. In this sense, then, there is an expectation that the church will grow across the earth in size and strength – and the world will correspondingly become better and brighter – until Christ comes back to assume His throne.

‘Kingdom now’ is avowedly post-millennial and believes much of biblical prophecy has already been fulfilled, and rejects a pre-millennial eschatology that sees the world growing increasingly dark and wicked and the church saved out of it, or perhaps through it, in line with a more literal, non-allegorical reading of Biblical prophecy. (In saying this, it is important to point out that large numbers of Christians on the more reformed or conservative-evangelical wing of the church are also post-millennial, and though often cessationist in their experience and exercise of the Holy Spirit and His gifts, still pray and act out of a similar eschatological conviction, without perhaps taking the view to the same extremes.)

Having begun with this root, then, it is perhaps no surprise that Bethel’s primary, unequivocal and repeated ministry focus is ‘heaven coming to earth’. Indeed the Bill Johnson book often referred to as his most popular is titled When Heaven Invades Earth: A Practical Guide to a Life of Miracles. It seems to serve as the foundational text for his ministry, focusing on Christians walking in the supernatural power of God and experiencing the kingdom of heaven on earth, and it runs as an unbreakable thread through everything Bethel do and say. You can see this mindset quite clearly in two of Kris Vallotton’s blog posts published in the 2010s, titled ‘Context for Justice Part 1’ and ‘Mercy triumphs over judgement’ respectively:

‘Miracles are simply the observable result of a superior kingdom being superimposed over an inferior territory or a more highly developed ecological system breaking into a descended reality’

and

‘Therefore, it is our responsibility to leave to those yet to be born a world in revival as their inheritance. Hanging in the balance of eternity is the ultimate climax of our Creator - the kingdoms of this world becoming the Kingdom of our God.’

For Bill and Kris, then, the signs ‘that follow those who believe’ (Mark 6v17) are not just ‘confirming the word’ (Mark 6v20) but also confirming Christ’s dominion over the earth. There is a danger that, in of themselves, they are what our itching ears want to hear and our hungry eyes want to see. They can come with indisputable blessing, but also tend to focus our gaze on temporal gain instead of eternal joy. And all of this is why Bethel teaching and ministry, and perhaps the teaching of the church local to you who also align themselves with dominionist theology, could be dangerous to our souls. If we concentrate our affection and energies on prosperity and dominion, we will find it hard to explain suffering and persecution, and will find it much harder to identify frauds and accept failure.

Bolz is not the first and will not be the last

Mike Winger published a second 3.5-hour long second video to YouTube in response to the Sunday-service video apologies of Bethel’s Dann Farrelly, Kris Vallotton and Bill Johnson. In the midst of that video there is a key moment in which Winger pauses, breathes, and simply expresses his longing that Bethel re-examine its view of prophecy. And that, for me, is the clincher. Because, for all their corporate cover-up and messy management, if they do not correct their erroneous beliefs about biblical prophecy and the work of the Holy Spirit at the root of their movement, they are doomed to repeat the same cycle.

Bethel leaders introduced and then indulged Shawn not because he was their friend, or because they would lose face, but because he seemed to possess a gift from God that they prize, seemingly above everything else. He (along with others) satisfied a craving for the evidence of dominion, for signs and wonders that to them are the end, not a means to what is supposed to be the end – the glory of God in the souls of men. He was a gift to the church to be grandstanded, not to be exposed and thrown down. They didn’t care as much about those he abused as much as they care about power and charisma. Rather than be satisfied with the gospel of Christ and the saving of souls, they feast on demonstrations of power and prosperity. Too often it seems they are more excited about seeing a human body healed from disease than about seeing a human soul saved from sin. And until that changes, there will be another Bolz.

Other possible contributory factors

It would be wrong to say these roots are the only explanation for such leadership and ministry failure. A few other elements seemed to stand out to me as worthy of mention, so that we might examine ourselves and ensure we are in as good a place as possible to meet any similar challenges in the future.

Have we lost (or perhaps misdirected) our compassion?

In the case of Shawn Bolz it appears that Bethel (and let’s not forget his own ministry board) lost sight of what compassion can sometimes looks like in practice, and who that compassion needs to be extended to. Bill Johnson has spoken about his dislike for confrontation, and how he too easily believes the best in people who are telling him they are telling the truth, but actually deceiving him. Our own Prime Minister in the UK has recently spoken about a similar scenario, and none of us are immune to the dangers such situations and people present us.

But in the case of Shawn Bolz, his overseers and patrons forgot that compassion so often looks like loving challenge and correction in the best interest of that person and those they are impacting, and that might demand confrontation. Beyond all of this, it appears that those who deserved and demanded true compassion – Bolz’s nameless and platform-less victims – were eclipsed by the man of reputation who abused them, and that should never be. We should start the other way around.

Are we wilfully blind? 

It seems like Bethel and Bolz didn’t see through Bolz, and didn’t hear his victims, because they didn’t want to. None of us are perfect in this regard. We are subject to our own proclivities and longings, and not all of these are sanctified. But it is worth asking whether this was a factor so that we can be better prepared to examine our own hearts, and those of others that we might be responsible for.

Are we too comfortable with a mixture of good and bad? 

I think it’s possible that those with responsibility for Bolz were way too comfortable running the risk that he might be doing bad stuff because in their opinion there was lots of good stuff coming out of his ministry too. Perhaps in their minds that was worth tolerating. I mean, no-one is perfect, right? We saw much of that in the eventual post-mortem on Mike Pilivachi’s ministry here in the UK with Soul Survivor – ‘but look at all the great things that are happening’ was the continual refrain used by those ignoring or excusing him.

When we act in this way, we forget we serve the God with ‘eyes like a flame of fire’ who examined the seven first-century churches of Asia Minor and was absolutely unwilling to tolerate evil in any church’s midst, even when it existed alongside what in our minds might be redeeming features of divinely-approved good.  This examination climaxes in chapter 3 with the church at Laodicea, to whom the Lord famously said ‘because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth’ (Revelation 3v16).

The charismatic movement that birthed Bethel is happy with mixture, and is on record as having said so. As Winger points out, one of the fathers of the movement – so-called Kansas City Prophet Mike Bickle who founded the International House of Prayer in the same city – said the following:

'I’ve seen a lot of fake, but I’ve seen a lot of real. And the real is worth it. I will allow the fake – I don’t want the fake on the platform – because I don’t want to promote the fake. I’ll allow the fake in the room because I so believe in the genuine…the genuine is in our midst, and I will allow a whole lot of hamburger helper to allow the genuine to take place.'

Bethel and you

Bolz was the fake on the platform. He is not the only one. You and I must do all we can to be aware of what is false and what is evil, and reject it whenever and wherever we find it. We must diligently test spirits and leaders against scripture (1 John 4v1) like the Berean believers did (Acts 17). We must passionately pursue and recapture the radical middle of word and Spirit, refusing to throw out either one at the expense of the other, no matter how much we may have been dried out or scared off by someone who has done so.

We must find a safe local church which tackles and tests error, with faithful elders who teach the truth and handle spiritual gifts with courage and sensitivity, while recognising that no church has perfect doctrine and practice in every area. We must share what we learn and what burdens us with brothers and sisters we know who are perhaps being led astray (or at risk of being so), sensitively and calling out those leaders, churches and movements we know to be false and deceptive, supplying the evidence as we do. All of us have responsibility somewhere, with someone, and the age-old danger of 'deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy' (1 Timothy 4v1-2) is still very much present in our midst.

Finally, let’s be humble, and pray for healing for victims, repentance for leaders, and discernment for those having to make difficult decisions about where they fellowship and who they follow.

May the Lord bring a deeper unity in His true church, in and through His truth!