The Gospel of the Serpent – Bethel Teachings Gone Wrong (demonic? yes. intentional? no! Insights of a former student)

This is not a hit piece, but “the wounds of a friend.” Nobody from Bethel wants to insult “Papa” Bill and Kris, or the optimistic culture, but my reluctance combined with alarm are probable qualifications to do so. As of now, I don’t believe Bethel teaches “The Gospel of the Serpent” intentionally, but rather that many followers of the movement have been demonically tempted to infer it. I say this because I spent 3 years at BSSM and saw how the teachings were received and practiced, and 10 years later I’ve seen the fruit. In practice, “The Culture of Honor” popularized by Danny Silk looks like “I won’t ever criticize my friends or leaders.” Misunderstandings and errors are seldom publicly corrected in such environments. They tell you to “use your brain,” but don’t teach you how to flee from error or why you should. The only errors that were frequently discussed and warned against were the error of the cessationists, who don’t believe in the continuation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit; and the error of the spirit of religion or “legalism.” (The latter of which is broadly misunderstood and misidentified. If a church did not agree with Bethel, generally at BSSM we considered them to be deceived and legalistic. The irony was lost on us.) I was almost denied entrance to 2nd Year BSSM for suggesting that Bethel would do well to clarify some of its teachings, because all my peers were confused. The pastor interviewing me became shockingly angry and offended, demanding to know if “I thought I could run things better.” Later my revival group pastor told me he had to go to bat and fight to get me admitted to 2nd Year, as that leader had denied my application. This inability to receive constructive feedback is a hallmark of Bethel culture. We were taught about being free thinkers, but “free thinking” was intended to go against the teachings of other churches — not Bill, Kris, Danny, or our teachers.

I’m doing this because public teaching should be discussed and challenged publicly. The first Person we should be honouring in a culture of honour is God Himself. We all value truth, right? We want to serve God the way He wants to be served? Then there is nothing to lose and much to gain by identifying and correcting error.🖤 Bethel’s influence is far reaching, having trained up an entire generation of charismatic ministers. When you combine our teachings with the rise of the hypergrace movement, you get disastrous results. We need to clean up our act, but not quench the Holy Spirit or attack and devour each other. Admittedly, this is not an easy line to walk.

As mentioned, I myself am a grad of the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry in Redding, California. I am still “on fire” for God, and a practicing charismatic Christian. I slowly woke up to my own errors by noticing the fruit of my spirituality was not good. (How many false prophecies do you have to receive before you start asking questions?) Many friends from Bethel fell into sin and error and witchcraft, and a few of us noted an amplification of narcissism in the community. It’s taken me a while to take a strong stand. God loves the charismatic movement, He loves the people in the “New Apostolic Reformation,” and He doesn’t want any more damage done to the sheep. I want to address a serious point of confusion I believe to be demonically inspired, possibly by the same satanic spirit behind the Israelites’ worship of Nehushtan (the name given to Moses’ bronze serpent on the pole). Hence, my pet name for this error is the Gospel of Nehushtan, AKA The Gospel of the Serpent. If this seems a little woo woo I ask your forgiveness in advance: I am an avid learner but not a trained theologian. As Bethel culture prides itself on learning from the uneducated, this shouldn’t be a problem for most of my target audience. 🙃 Let’s get started.

Counterfeits and Fear

The error begins with the oft repeated saying that “Satan is a counterfeiter.” It was supposed to silence the cessationists who criticize charismatic Christianity for being “new age,” by pointing out that spiritual experiences in the Bible sometimes look a bit like things you see in the occult (specifically healings, miracles, visions, dreams, trances, & being “taken up” whether in or out of the body, things I believe God still does today). The other goal was to give glory to God by acknowledging that “every good and perfect gift” comes from Him, and “all things were made by Him and for Him.” While both of these statements are true, it is NOT true that Satan’s occult and new age methods are mere counterfeits. In fact, Satan’s occult and new age practices originated with demons the same way Satan is the father of lies. Because this was not emphasized, spiritually hungry Christians began exploring new age and occult methods. Disrespecting the power and craftiness of Satan is exactly what Satan wants Christians doing, in order to more easily ensnare and deceive us. (If this was a book I’d call it “Bethel and the Law of Unintended Consequences.”🤦‍♀️)

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

1 Peter 5:8 NKJV

1.) Consider the post below, taken from Kris’s public fb account:

Here we see a confusing message. First, we have “Satan counterfeits things that are valuable.” Many of my peers heard this message and began saying things to me like, ‘There is gold in the occult! Just find the gold! Take the gold!’ and ‘Just because it looks and sounds new age doesn’t mean it is! Satan just counterfeited it from God. It belongs to God!’

Conversely, my Bible says not to try to take the gold out of the occult:

You shall burn the carved images of their gods with fire; you shall not covet the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, lest you be snared by it; for it is an abomination to the Lord your God.

Deuteronomy 7:25 NKJV (emphasis added)

The metaphorical application is extremely fitting. We should not try to take the gold from the occult, lest we be snared by it. Telling excited, spiritually hungry Christians (many of whom don’t read their Bibles) that Satan “only counterfeited” the occult has serious consequences. I know many believers who have explored:

* crystal energy work * magical oil and flower essences 🌺* astrology/horoscopes * Christian “Biblical” numerology * “Christian” Yoga * “Christian” destiny card readings * Gaia worship (nature obsession & extreme environmentalism) 🐳🌎* spirit animals * trying to create spiritual portals (citing Jacob’s ladder as a proof) 🪜* using guided visualization to try to engage in astral travel (we believed we were going to bypass all of Paul’s apostolic trials and authority and simply go to heaven ourselves with the power of imagination!🌈😃🦄) * rushing to “high places” and “thin places” to practice prayer and intercession * third eye opening 👁️* acupuncture * Reiki * quantum mysticism, etc.

Our prophetic training relied heavily on willful imagination (rather than waiting on God and receiving or filling the heart with scripture), and while I am not sure at what point this practice becomes dangerous, I am convinced that when combined with “let’s redeem the occult” it is extremely bad. We were told to start prophesying by making things up, and that eventually it would mysteriously become accurate. This sounds unnervingly like the process by which you invite a spirit of divination into your life, rather than the operation of a God-given gift of the Spirit. (Cessationists seem uncomfortable with nuance by temperament — I’m not. I believe God still speaks in visions, I just don’t believe we were hearing God 90% of the time.) We were taught that our thoughts are “the mind of Christ,” a twisting of scripture that resulted in people following their wishes and fantasies as if they were the word of the Lord. Lives have been destroyed.

Another example is the common, almost subconscious practice of imparting spiritual energy we believed was “Holy Spirit anointing” into physical objects such as flags, paintings, anointing oils, pictures, card decks, etc. The excuse was Paul’s handkerchief, but the problem is we weren’t the Apostle Paul. We were acting like we could use Holy Spirit like an impersonal power or force. Then, rather than simply treating these prayed-over objects as symbolic and beautiful, we believed they contained power to draw people to Christ and to heal, shift atmospheres because of their colours, etc. A subtle change of fundamental theology occurs in such environments, as believers become more and more fascinated with props–and to be frank, idols. More and more agency is ascribed to us and our props, and less to God. It does not lend itself well to humility, and lends itself very well to sorcery. (The problem is so deep, I suspect if my peers read this they wouldn’t see the problem!) I understand that we want it to be permissible to create power objects, but in light of the overarching narrative and doctrine outlined in scripture this looks like pride. Exceptions ought not to become rules. If God does it, great! If we do it, I have questions. At Bethel there is a strong reluctance to let go of any practice that feels good and yields results. The idea that there are spiritual things we can do that we shouldn’t seems to have been lost.

“We need to take back the occult” was a sort of catch phrase in the community, and again I believe this was demonically inspired. Kris and Bill didn’t have to say it directly, all they had to do was refuse to rigorously refute it. (There is a page on Bethel’s website devoted to defending the practice of Christian card deck reading. Kris Vallotton told me in an email exchange that he wouldn’t take a corrective stance against the occult book “Physics of Heaven” that he wrote the forward for, because though the ideas “weren’t great” the author was a friend.) The concept of taking back the occult was taken so seriously, friends of mine with strong minds for teaching started to feel obligated to study at what point occult practices were perhaps merely scientific. (In the Culture of Honour, the belief is that the job of Teachers is to justify and substantiate the claims of Apostles and Prophets. I consider this to be spiritually abusive.)

The occult practices mentioned above are not things Satan counterfeited which we should embrace and reclaim. They corrupt our dependence on the Holy Spirit and the Holy Bible He authored, limit our childlike dependence on the Father, and open us up to demons. Interestingly, and I believe by the design of Satan, Bethel strongly discouraged traditional deliverance. You should never have a continuationist environment without deliverance. Bad call. The atmosphere in First Year of BSSM was extremely demonic. (This was well known at Bethel, and was considered to be evidence that Holy Spirit was moving and “stirring up the sediment” in our lives.) Everyone was giving impartations to everyone, and my experience of Sozo ministry was that it pet the demons for a while, but most people didn’t get lasting freedom. I left Bethel more demonized than when I arrived, and I am not alone in that.

I had a roommate on staff at Bethel (not a pastor) who started studying Wicca and held Solstice celebrations in our apartment (I was viewed as a bit “religious” for refusing to participate). As for sex, while Kris highlighted the joy of healthy intimacy in marriage, a number of my former classmates began to believe they could embrace alternative sexual lifestyles and have done so (the roommate who embraced Wicca decided she wanted to marry my other roommate, who got a sex change and they are now living as if married – Bethel did remove them from staff and bring correction, but the deception had too strong a hold by then). Kris in particular emphasized same-sex platonic love and bonding, and while he openly taught traditional marriage and highly prized purity (he started a dating site to encourage healthy marriages and wrote the book “Moral Revolution”), his celebration of deep male bonding sometimes resulted in bizarre piles of men on the ground all “drunk in the Spirit” and touching each other. Why? Because they couldn’t get their need for physical touch met by making out with some girl (not wanting to fall into sin, lead her on, or commit). Thus the deep, sometimes awkward same-sex bonding. I mention it because my own roommates fell into the alphabet life, and many others have too. It’s fair to say there was a lack of healthy physical, spiritual, and theological boundaries at Bethel. Where teachings are vague, demons are present, and nobody wants to hurt anyone’s feelings or be called religious, people stray from the truth. Teachers will have to give an account to God for this, and should take heed. Bill and Kris are both teachers, whether you capitalize the “T” or not. They have taught an entire generation!

2.) The next oft-repeated line seen in that fb post is, “Many Christians have more faith in the devil’s ability to deceive them, than the Holy Spirit’s ability to lead them.” The implication of this is the more faith you have, the less cautious you will be in the practice of spiritual gifts. Caution is equivocated with a lack of faith, and is a good way to become an outsider at Bethel. Sometimes when I was hesitant regarding practices or teachings, leaders said it was because I had father issues, wasn’t trusting “Daddy God” enough, and needed to encounter His love. This was effective because I did in fact come from a trauma background, and didn’t want it to hinder me from encountering God. Now, years of inner healing and deliverance later, when I try to talk to fellow charismatics about closing doors to the occult and renouncing false spiritual gifts they still shout at me from 1 John 4:18:

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

1 John 4:18 NKJV

The fear mentioned in 1 John 4:18 is the fear of judgment, not the fear of the Lord which is the beginning and root of all true wisdom. If we don’t understand the distinction, we will use 1 John 4:18 to justify reckless and unbiblical behaviour. This is very convenient if you have made supernatural experience into an idol, are spiritually lazy and don’t want to read your Bible and obey God, or are proud and desiring to invent new and exciting ways of practicing the faith. Unfortunately, most of us at BSSM fell into at least one if not all of these categories! Here is 1 John 4:18 in context, clearly talking about our assurance of salvation and not the practice of gifts:

Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us

1 John 4:17-19 NKJV (in context, emphasis added)

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction. . .
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. . .
The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom, And before honor is humility.

Proverbs 1:7, 9:10, 15:33 NKJV (emphasis added)

I am emphasizing here that in the Bible there is a form of fear that is extremely celebrated! Mainly, the fear and respect for God that causes you to diligently seek to do things His way, to lay aside your own opinions and desires, and to humble yourself. It was understood by the authors of Scripture (who wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit) that the fear of the Lord would cause one to study and practice the things written in the Bible (such as it was at the time). The Holy Spirit is all over the Bible, and loves it, as He wrote it! Dreams, feelings, words and visions from Holy Spirit are good. . .but you don’t always know if they are from Holy Spirit. The Bible is the most reliable way to hear from and grow in God. The Bible has much to say about Satan’s occult practices, and none of it is good. Here is God’s take on “redeeming the occult” and “finding the gold” in pagan religious teachings and practices:

“When you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord, and because of these abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you. You shall be blameless before the Lord your God. For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, the Lord your God has not appointed such for you.

Deuteronomy 18:9-14 NKJV (emphasis added)

And again,

You shall burn the carved images of their gods with fire; you shall not covet the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, lest you be snared by it; for it is an abomination to the Lord your God.

Deuteronomy 7:25 NKJV (emphasis added)

Card reading, quantum mysticism, crystal use, yoga, the creation of power objects, using traditional methods of divination – this is occult. The Bible never says that Jesus died so we could freely practice the occult. That is not what it means to have the keys to the kingdom. The Bible does NOT teach that “Satan is a counterfeiter.” It teaches that he is a deceiver. None of these things are counterfeits, they are authentic demonic practices and doctrines. You can’t practice these things with the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit is Holy. He will not participate in an abomination. The actions themselves are abominable, and because they are abominable only unclean spirits facilitate them. Don’t touch Yoga, astrology, card reading, divination, idolatry and power objects, astral travel (willful spirit journeys to heaven, etc), crystal healing, or any other of this stuff with a ten foot pole. Don’t whitewash them with Christian language. Trying to talk to the dead is still necromancy and mediumship–the line in Scripture about the cloud of witnesses hasn’t changed anything. Seeking to communicate with Mary and dead saints is forbidden. You have the honour of communicating with God Himself.

Who told you you needed more? 🐍

Snakes and More Snakes

As our cessationist brothers and sisters continued to raise a cry of alarm that Bethel was going off the deep end in some of our teachings and practices, a desire arose to prove the “Satan is a counterfeiter” line with Scripture. One attempt is detailed below.

“The wrong snake?” 😓 You can see that this line of thought was already present in the community, as Bill touched on it in the following post from 2013 (I heard these things often in my time at BSSM, 2012-2015):

While I believe Bill and Kris are brothers in Christ, I admit I am very frustrated by these confusing messages and the spiritual doors they opened in the community. This time Kris openly stated that “fear of the dark side” will cause you to “screen out the wrong snake.” I hate to break it to everyone, but in the Bible THERE IS NO GOOD SNAKE!

1.) Moses’ Staff

Moses was in charge but the staff belonged to Aaron. Yes, the staff did turn into a snake. However, the snake was not meant to show us a “good snake.” A snake Moses has authority over is not a “good snake” any more than Satan is good simply because Jesus has authority over him. Below you will see an example of an Egyptian headdress, which had a serpent on it. This serpent represented one of the principalities or powers behind the throne.

A quick google search will give you this information. Here is what study.com had to say about it:

The Uraeus serpent represented the Egyptian snake goddess Wadjet, patroness, and protector of Lower Egypt. In ancient Egypt, the Uraeus represented divinity, sovereignty, and royal authority. The pharaoh wore a Uraeus symbol on his crown in order to represent his authority of Lower Egypt.

God was the one imitating Satan here, for the purpose of humiliating him. If anyone was presenting a counterfeit, it was Moses and Aaron! By throwing down his staff and having it turn into a serpent, Aaron was demonstrating God’s authority over Egypt. Similar to how Jesus defeated Satan by “becoming” a curse for us, Moses and Aaron in that moment defeated Wadjet by their rod becoming a snake. The Bible tells it like this:

Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, “When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, ‘Show a miracle for yourselves,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your rod and cast it before Pharaoh, and let it become a serpent.’ ” So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and they did so, just as the Lord commanded. And Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent.

But Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers; so the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments. For every man threw down his rod, and they became serpents. But Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods. And Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, as the Lord had said.

Exodus 7:8-13 NKJV

Did this mean the serpent was now a “redeemed” symbol? Absolutely not. Do we all run around trying to become sin and become curses? God forbid! The only significance of this event was God’s authority over the powers of darkness, both at the level of principality and lower ranking demons (the magicians’ rods). In no way is this an appropriate “proof text” to show that charismatic excess and new age compromise are illegitimate concerns in the Bethel movement and in the body of Christ. In fact, by using this “some snakes are good” line, more and more charismatics became comfortable with the sort of occult practices I mentioned earlier. “Not all snakes are bad!” they chanted.

2.) The Bronze Serpent on a Pole

Bill’s quote is actually the more disturbing of the two. While the fb post above does not expound on the matter, it was frequently taught at Bethel that the bronze serpent on the pole is another example of a “good snake,” and showed that we should not be afraid to do things that looked new age or occult. We should ignore critics from outside the movement, they said, except to be encouraged that “persecution” meant we were on the right track. We were told to simply trust our discernment (which at Bethel means feelings). Here is what the Bible says about the serpent on the pole:

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:14-15 NKJV

The people answered Him, “We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever; and how can You say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’ ?

John 12:34 NKJV

As you can see, it was understood that to be lifted up like the bronze serpent meant to be killed. They knew that was a dead and defeated serpent (and certainly not a resurrected one). In the Bible, a good snake is a dead and defeated snake. Here is the account of the serpent Jesus was referring to:

Then [the Israelites] journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very discouraged on the way.  And the people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.” So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died.
Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord that He take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.”

Numbers 21:4-8 NKJV

This strongly reminds me of the original fall of man. In the Garden, Adam and Eve despised the food given to them and wanted the food (knowledge and experience) that was not given to them. This was the temptation of the Serpent. It still is.

In the wilderness, the people despised the water and bread from heaven, and wanted to return to the food of Egypt. (This was the temptation of the Serpent as well, depicted by Wadjet.) They clearly had water, or they would have been dead. They had food, but coveted the food of Egypt. They were rejecting God by rejecting His simple ways. In response to their longing for Egypt, a land of idols and food sacrificed to idols, God sent fiery serpents into the camp. It’s as if God was saying, “You want to return to the serpents? Fine, here are your serpents!” (I worry the same happens in our environments, with spirits of divination a la the python spirit of Acts 16:16) After they repented for their sin, God told Moses to lift up a serpent on a pole. This dead serpent represented the eventual destruction of the curse, which Jesus bore on the cross. It was another picture of the Serpent’s humiliation.

However, and this is an important critique of what Bill claimed: That snake was not “a snake that represented Jesus.” It represented the Serpent that He would defeat. Its crucifixion was good, its humiliation was good. It wasn’t. The serpent still represented the fiery serpents, and the penalty brought onto mankind by the temptation of the original Serpent.

…nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents…

1 Corinthians 10:9 NKJV

The serpent on the pole shows the defeat of the Serpent, just as Jesus on the cross defeated the Serpent. Jesus is not and never was and never will be “the good snake,” as He did not redeem the Serpent but defeated it. He was lifted up like the serpent was, but He is the Son of God and He rose from the grave. This is not mere semantics, because there is a real Serpent out there who is still resisting his defeat and who wants us confused. We must not be confused on this point.

I did a quick google search of “Satanic cross serpent” just to help my brothers and sisters understand that I’m not inventing a problem that doesn’t exist. As you can see, Satanists are not confused about who the Serpent is:

(A little third eye symbolism popped up as well, just to clear that one up for you. Third eye opening is demonic.)

I don’t assume Bill and Kris intended to promote Satanism or the occult, but their vague and mysterious sayings about snakes and us “not being afraid of things that look occult” have opened a door for many of their followers and students. This symbolic connection between Bill and Kris’s statements and imagery embraced by Satanists is out in the open and laughing in our faces, letting us know plainly what spirit is behind the push to blur the bounds between occult and Christian spirituality. I would like them to take note, look at the fruit in the Bethel community and the warnings issued by the body of Christ at large, and do some course correcting. Combined with the youthful hypercharismatic superiority many of us had towards those who emphasized caution or old fashioned Biblical theology, these vague sayings have done actual tangible harm to the body of Christ and to individuals. If they are shepherds they should start taking this seriously.

But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.

John 10:12 NKJV

Let’s look at Bill’s quote again:

Now look at what happened in Israel hundreds of years after Moses, when Hezekiah the reformer began to eradicate occult practice in the land:

He removed the high places and broke the sacred pillars, cut down the wooden image and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made; for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it, and called it Nehushtan.

2 Kings 18:4 NKJV

The Serpent managed to tempt the children of Israel to worship its image. I can almost hear their protests when Hezekiah showed up: “But this is a good snake!” Why is there so much conversation at Bethel (and in more progressive circles of charismatic Christianity) about “redeeming the occult” and “redeeming things of the world?” Spiritually, this is where it stems from. The Serpent is a spirit. It wants you to believe the cross gives you permission to worship it, to seek its power and its knowledge, and to do whatever you want (just like Satan does).

I assume Bill and Kris intend no harm, but rather than understand that the serpent on the pole is the death of Satan’s works, we started to believe that the serpent on the pole redeemed Satan’s works. “Some snakes are good” turned into “some occult practices are good” and “some things that look like sin aren’t sin anymore.” As far as I know this happened demonically, not naturally or intentionally. These things aren’t taught directly, they just kind of happen. It’s like leaven. Charismatics are very much the frog in the pot. Everything practiced in the occult and new age, all its wisdom and teachings, is the food–the knowledge and experience–of the Serpent.

I had to do a lot of repenting for misunderstanding these things and opening myself up to the demonic. My prayer is that many others will do the same. (I met a small group leader last year who was strongly influenced by Bethel, bragging about how his little girl was a seer and therefore tormented by seeing demons everywhere and was having nonstop spiritual encounters. He took pride in how special she was, but asked us to pray that she would “only see angels.” I tried to gently introduce the topic of deliverance, as at the time I was seeking some myself, and was politely asked to leave the group.)

Like the Israelites before us, many are worshiping an idol. This Nehushtan truly is a false gospel, a false cross. Instead of being grateful for Christ’s sacrifice for our sins, many are grateful because they believe Christ’s sacrifice means they can sin. Instead of fearing the God who sent His own Son and being careful to honour His commands, many are looking to the Serpent to find spiritual wisdom, power and insight. No longer satisfied with the Bread of Life and the pure waters of the Spirit, we have coveted the gold of pagan religions and become idolatrous ourselves. We are so hungry for a sign, for an encounter, for knowledge, we are willing to court fiery serpents in order to have them. This may be why at Bethel we read William Branham’s multi-book biography written by his cult following, and had many controversial charismatic teachers brought in to give us impartations. Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland — should these people really be imparting spiritual power into naive bible students? It stopped being Jesus at any cost, and became power and knowledge at any cost. I don’t want us to stop praying for people to be healed or to stop prophesying (if it’s authentic), but to read our Bibles, stop opening doors to demons and to get our teaching straight. That is my goal with this. A confrontation is necessary both to rid the movement of error and to cast demons out of individuals:

And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.

Matthew 11:12 NKJV

Jesus didn’t die to redeem the occult. He died to redeem you. Jesus didn’t die to redeem sin. He died to redeem you. . .from sin.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:14-15 NKJV

Conclusion

I know that many will want to quote the following:

For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

Luke 11:10-13 NKJV (emphasis added)

God is a Good Father. Yes. But you get what you ask for. If you seek signs and divination and supernatural agency offered by spirits of witchcraft, offered by Satan, then that’s what you are going to get. If you want yoga, you’re not going to get Holy Spirit, but spirits of yoga. Holy Spirit doesn’t work in yoga. If you want to practice quantum mysticism and the law of attraction, you’ll get the spirits that facilitate it. If you don’t want a wrong spirit, stop knocking on the wrong doors. The Bible says we are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Ignorance doesn’t save you, so stop refusing to learn as an excuse to do what you want. Explore this topic, listen to testimonies of people who came out of new age, listen to what the cessationists are warning us about (just take their hard stance with a grain of salt), read your Bible, and be open to reform.

“For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.”

1 Samuel 15:23 NKJV

My overarching concern is that the teachings that came out of Bethel, a place I absolutely adored, have been twisted somewhere between intent and reception and facilitated a false Jesus. I think we forget that “we war not against flesh and blood.” Bethel hasn’t been careful enough. I am not saying the leaders aren’t Christian, or that those of us who attended (or currently attend) aren’t Christian, but that there is a mixture seeking to shipwreck the faith of many. We simply have to be humble enough, and fear God enough, to become educated on these matters and repent of any error or partnership with false spirits. Full stop. This movement has had too much influence and we need to take responsibility.

For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!

2 Corinthians 11:4 NKJV (emphasis added)

There is so much I want to say about the influence of gnosticism in the charismatic church, the unhealthy emotional state of many who become less and less comfortable with our human emotional reality (everything is supposed to be happy happy happy!!!), the uncomfortable restoration of a pastor who committed adultery with his student– but this is already a book so I’ll stop. I have seen too many friends go in strange directions or fall away altogether to stay silent about all this. I hope what I’ve said will contribute some value to the conversation at large. God bless!