Kris Vallotton offers up his defense of the cesspool known as Bethel Church...

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And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, "Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?" And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners." - Mark 2:15-17 (ESV)

https://www.charismanews.com/marketplace/82577-bethel-church-god-the-bad-and-the-ugly

These pages have often written about the cesspool of false theology that is Bethel Church in Redding California. This church is headed by Bill Johnson, who has never met a heresy he has not embraced and incorporated into his own church. Johnson teaches prosperity, word faith, false signs and lying wonders, NAR, gold dust, gem stones, angel feathers, glory clouds, mandatory healing raising the dead, grave sucking, and nearly any other heresy you can think of. He operates a school for the alleged supernatural where he teaches kids how to act out the gifts of the spirit, while they think they actually have them. Johnson once said that God is not in control of this earth because he left us in control. That is the depth of the garbage this man spews. Now maybe he means well. I could care less. This is about leading people away from the true Jesus by selling them a false one. This is not a game. The eternal destination of the souls of man hang in the balance between true doctrine and the vile corruption of scripture that Bill Johnson traffics in. at Bethel, the number two guy is Kris Vallotton. Vallotton has written books about how you can be rich if you are saved by eliminating a made-up concept known as the "poverty mindset." While Johnson can be tricky because he sounds so peaceful, Vallotton is easy to discern because he has simply never met a bible verse he could not mangle beyond recognition. The above link is to Vallotton's latest offering to us. A full-throated defense of Bill and Bethel. Let's break out our bibles and reason together once more because this could get very messy. As Vallotton's piece is excessively long, I will try to only respond to the salient points.

"There has been much written about Bethel Church in Redding, California, and the movement that we have had the privilege of being a part for more than three decades. Most of what has been said about us is positive. But a small yet influential coalition of people have shared negative reports about us. These reports often include words such as controversial, unbalanced or even the word cult to describe us. To be frank, I can understand why certain religious leaders or unbelievers might view us through these perspectives. We certainly have made our share of mistakes, both as a leadership team and those who follow us. And we have such a high value for freedom and risk that it has created a kind of "research and development" culture where people are encouraged to take risks. I think this stems from the fact that we view ourselves much more as pioneers than settlers. Therefore, we celebrate creativity, revelation, invention and innovation above comfort, safety and security." - Kris Vallotton

Gotta give it to Kris as he is a master of bovine excrement. Allow me to translate this nebulous definition. The "risk" he refers to is the fact that Bethel encourages people to prophesy by whatever pops into their heads. Just pretend that God is saying it to you. The risk of course is that they are wrong so often. The "R and D" is just their exploratory nature of assimilating nearly any heresy into their mainstream of services. For example, they take their false view on prophecy and started open mic nights masquerading as prayer services. Anyone at these is welcome to come up to the microphone and "prophesy" whatever the devil has laid in the wickedly deceitful hearts. What I absolutely love is his notion that they are pioneers and not settlers because they are right. The bible is the settled word of God. No need to pioneer anything beyond it but that is the schtick of Bethel. Jesus once raised someone from the dead? Let's have a dead raising team! We believe in this gnostic vision of anointing? Let's vist the graves of dead false prophets and suck their anointing off for ourselves. Yes, they are pioneers at Bethel. Pioneers of idiocy and heresy.

"This R&D culture has attracted some of the most wonderful and extraordinary individuals on the planet. Of course, we've also managed to draw some very broken and strange people. It's important to remember, however, that there are some really weird and broken people mentioned in the Bible who God used powerfully. Unique guys such as John the Baptist, Ezekiel and Hosea come to mind, as well as messed-up people such as Rahab and Samson. Bethel has chosen to be a family, and as such we do our best to love people wherever they are in life, regardless of their character, doctrine, political views or philosophical persuasions. Much like our natural families (whom we don't get to choose), God often assigns people to be part of our spiritual family who, like Jacob, walk with a "limp" yet still deserve to be loved. We work hard to try to understand these people, although we sometimes don't agree with their perspectives." - Kris Vallotton

Yeah, no. this sloppy agape version of love is not biblical at all. No one is suggesting that as Christians we should not extend the love of Christ. Loving them however is not affirming their false doctrines and giving them a platform or pulpit. This may seem like a light point but it really is critical to their errors. We are not called to admit into the family of God people with differing doctrines. Whenever the bible speaks to unity they are speaking about unity in the word. Unity in doctrine. God did not assign you heretics anymore than God assigned Alexander the Coppersmith to the Apostle Paul. The bible commands that churches expel the sinful member let alone allowing the roving heretic.

"On the other hand, there are always malicious people who work hard to deceive the masses by intentionally ignoring the context of our teaching to make some distorted point. I don't understand how these people live with themselves when they intentionally twist something we teach to deface our character or undermine our ministry. Some people are so convinced we're a cult that they are willing to sacrifice their own integrity "to keep people from going astray." For example, we've had people write negative reviews about our books that they have never read, or blog about the source of our income or how we spend our money without even checking the facts. Disagreeing with someone is one thing, but lying to make your point is downright wrong.

We think it's important to give people the freedom to disagree with what we teach or practice without feeling like they are being disloyal or dishonoring. We have strong feelings about certain subjects that are even contrary to what some of our good friends believe. But we don't want to be right at the expense of being together. If Jesus only had relationships with people who were doctrinally perfect ... well, I would be the only one He would be hanging out with. (I'm only joking!)" - Kreis Vallotton

We know you are joking because there is nothing sound about your doctrine. The point he is trying to make here is to play the victim card. I have enough to do in my life that the last thing I would want to waste time on is lying about what people are teaching. The facts are that Vallotton routinely teaches so egregiously false that it requires a response so people are not deceived. I have reviewed chapters from his books that he has made available because I would never spend a dime to help someone working against the cause of Christ. For example when he writes that people who are poor suffer from a poverty mindset, there is no context that can save him. I have no desire to be together with someone who is not serving the Lord. The issue is not perfection as that was just a strawman argument. Jesus would gladly spend time with those who were not doctrinally perfect so that they might learn correct doctrine. If they refused however, He would move on as he did with the people from His own hometown.

'There are a few subjects that come up over and over with people who are opposed to us or that misunderstand our position on certain issues. I thought I would try to clarify some of these issues for the people who truly care about our perspectives. I'm not writing an exhaustive theological dissertation on each point to try and convince our detractors that we are right; I'm just trying to make it clear, in simple terms, what we believe and why. Signs, wonders and miracles seem to be a constant point of turmoil with people who oppose us. Some write about me, Bill Johnson or Bethel Church as if we were the originators of the idea that Christians should have a supernatural lifestyle. This is comical to me. People will often write something like, "Bill Johnson says," and then go on to quote the Bible word for word. Yet some Christians choose to live with less than Jesus paid for, and that is their prerogative. It's common for Believers to shrink back when some reporter asks with a sarcastic grin, "Do you believe you can do miracles or drink poison and not be harmed, or pick up poisonous snakes?" I personally hate snakes, but my response is that I believe everything that Jesus said about me! Let's face it folks, the world has some doctrines that take a lot more faith to swallow than we do. They believe in creation with no Creator, in fetuses that aren't people, and they are convinced that life with a purpose originated from a cosmic accident. It takes more faith to make God disappear than it does to live for Him." - Kris Vallotton

While I agree that it takes more faith to believe in some of the wild theories of the world, that does not mean you place your faith into nonsense. The point the reporter was making was how literal are you taking things written in the bible perhaps not meant literally. For example, just because it says drink poison and pick up snakes that does not mean you should. The problem of course is that Kris and Bethel do not traffic in the supernatural that belongs to God. Jesus certainly did miracles when He walked the earth but they were always surrounding salvation, which is the ultimate supernatural miracle. What is truly sad and comical is the miracles Vallotton believes in are all carnal in nature. Silliness such as gemstones appearing magically and glory clouds pumped into the sanctuary through the air ducts. His miracles are false signs and lying wonders that bring no glory to God. That is why they are opposed.

"Another subject that has drawn a lot of attention recently is dead raising. I need to be honest; I have personally never raised anyone from the dead although I have tried twice. But here again Jesus said, "And as you go, preach, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons....," (Matthew 10:7-8). Contextually, Jesus is only speaking to twelve disciples, but the truth is that a large portion of what Jesus taught was only given to twelve guys. And almost all of Paul's epistles were written to specific groups of people, yet we still understand that most of what he penned applies to us today. Furthermore, Jesus commanded His guys to make disciples of all nations by, "teaching them to observe all I commanded you..."(Matthew 28:19-20). Some of the students from the Supernatural School of Ministry read this verse and decided to go down to the morgue and "practice" raising the dead! Crazy? Maybe, but I admire their faith and their guts. It wasn't Bill or me who gave them the idea, they were actually inspired by reading the Bible. Evidently, they thought they should believe what Jesus said. They definitely have more faith and courage than I do. So far they haven't raised anyone at the mortuary from the dead, but it hasn't deterred them a bit. I have heard of some students from another school that started a DRT team. You guessed it, the letters stand for Dead Raising Team! I really don't know if they have had any success yet. I do know of several Christians who have raised the dead. Radical? Yeah! But hopefully if you're born again, you believe that you will be raised from the dead someday so you can go to heaven." - Kris Vallotton

This is why I love reading Vallotton. He simply does not care to understand the bible so he just keeps making obvious errors that make it easy to discern. Matthew 10 is Jesus sending out the 12 and the text clearly says that. The instruction Jesus gives was to them, not Kris Vallotton. His childish justification is ridiculous. He admits that contextually Jesus speaks to the 12 and then ignores the context? What Vallotton fails to realize is the difference between historical narrative and instructional text. When Jesus sends the 12 out this is narrative. When Paul writes letters to groups of people he is instructing them and thus, us. Again, this does not mean that we do not learn from historical text but we do not apply to ourselves that which God did not intend. Note that when Jesus is speaking to the twelve he is not "teaching them." He is giving them orders.

The gall to then absolve leadership at Bethel for what students at Bethel do is beyond the pale. Look at what he says. Students from his school decided to raise the dead but he thinks it has nothing to do with the way they are taught? Nonsense and if Johnson is their pastor then he should have stopped it. These kids do not have faith in God but in the false teachings they were indoctrinated under. The Bethel dead raising team claims 15 resurrections without one shred of proof. They make a mockery of the witness for Jesus Christ and His resurrection. As does Kris by pretending a fake raising in this lifetime is somehow equivocal to when Christ will raise us on the last day. It is not radical. It is heretical and the notion that Bethel leadership is somehow not in control of what their students do tells you all you need to know. If these kids started having snake handling parties would Kris just marvel at their faith? Unreal.

'I don't think we have taken more ridicule for anything than gold dust and feathers. It all began one day while someone was preaching, and these tiny white feathers started falling from the ceiling in the sanctuary. It wasn't raining feathers or anything like that (people tell tales), but they were very obviously there and easily seen. At first no one said anything. We all thought there were birds in the AC ducts or something. Then other leaders began to report the same phenomena happening in their churches. Our maintenance staff investigated the bird theory. No birds, feathers, or nests were discovered anywhere in the ductwork or the ceiling. It also started to happen in people's homes. It always happens when we are talking about the things of God. The phenomena tends to come and go. No one at Bethel has ever preached on feathers (that I know of), but at times it is nearly impossible not to mention them when we are teaching because several of them are falling right in front of the pulpit all at once. I have witnessed this myself a couple hundred times in several different buildings. I have had several skeptics ask me "if I believe in feathers." I want to say no because I understand that I sound like a kook, but I have seen them with my own eyes. Then there is the infamous gold dust; again the phenomenon comes and goes. The first time I ever witnessed this myself was at a MorningStar conference more than fifteen years ago. The speaker released the "glory of God" in the room, and suddenly gold dust appeared on everyone's face and hands. You didn't have to try hard to see it; tiny flakes of something resembling gold glitter were everywhere. (There were several hundred people in the room that night, so it's possible that some people didn't have gold dust on them as I didn't examine every individual.) Since that time, I have personally witnessed this hundreds of times. For some reason, the dust usually only appears on people's hands and faces. Sometimes it will just appear on a few people, and other times it will show up on hundreds of people all at once.

Why does God do these things, you ask? I really don't know. I have often been among different groups of leaders who are speculating about the purpose of these signs. I have heard many ideas that sound good and make me feel better about the things I have experienced. But the truth is, I really don't know why these things happen. Therefore, I do think feathers and gold dust qualify as "wonders."' - Kris Vallotton

Heresy and stupidity do not mix well. These are two of the fake signs and lying wonders that Bethel is famous for, with gemstones and glory clouds being the others. These are not miracles. These are not signs. These are not wonders. How do I know this? Because they are nowhere in the bible! You know, God's final revealed will to us! Did He forget to mention them? Now mind you, there are two types of angels that are shown in the bible as having wings but there are zero references to feathers and more importantly - why? Why in the world would God randomly drop feathers at Bethel Church in Redding California? This is how you can be sure this is not from God. These bogus manifestations bring absolutely no glory to God and instead give all glory to Bethel. Show me someone who is set free from a lifetime of addiction. Show me someone who was previously diagnosed with cancer and is now free. Show me a life once bound to sin set free through the saving grace of Jesus Christ. Those are miracles. Save your silly manifestations of carnal showmanship.

"Another manifestation that is more prominent, but equally hard to explain, is people falling down or laughing hysterically for no obvious reason. We call the "falling down" experience "being slain in the Spirit." This happens often when we lay our hands on people to pray for them (although it happens in other situations also). Sometimes people just seem to fall over backwards as if they just passed out. Some are conscious, while others act as if they are asleep or in some sort of trance. They most often fall backwards (I have no idea why). It has been happening for so long that we now station "catchers" behind people when we pray for them so they don't get hurt when they hit the floor. When the people who have been "slain in the Spirit" get up off the floor, they frequently share testimonies of experiencing God in some incredible way. I personally have never had this experience myself, but I have watched thousands of people fall down when I am praying for them. Could they be faking? No question, some are. But if you have ever witnessed this phenomenon personally, you would see for yourself that many of these people fall in such a way that if someone didn't catch them, they would bounce off the floor. In many cases it would be impossible to fake this kind of fall. Could it be the devil? If it is the devil, he is doing a wonderful job of helping people get closer to God. In almost every case where people have been "slain in the Spirit" they report being more convinced than ever of God's love for them. This may all sound strange, but it's no stranger then many things that people experienced in the Bible.

One of the manifestations that has been most offensive to people is something we call "holy laughter." This condition occurs when, for no obvious reason, people just begin to laugh hysterically as if they are drunk. Some laugh so hard that they literally fall on the ground. These people report being overcome by intense joy that can't be expressed with words. I have watched thousands of people all at once overcome by this manifestation. It's fun to witness someone who is really serious encounter this experience. Again, I have never experienced this condition myself, but I have carried my wife out of several meetings when she was so "spiritually drunk" that she couldn't walk. Weird you say? Yeah, I agree, it looks that way to me too. I love what Angela Monet said, "those who danced look quite insane to those who didn't hear the music." I think this quote applies here. Again, it's very hard to attribute this to satan when the fruit of this manifestation is always positive in the people having the experience. I must admit that some who watch people having this type of encounter are offended." - Kris Vallotton

I was saved in a Charismatic church. The phenomena of slain in the spirit was a given. For years it did not happen to me until one prayer service night at a local church, shortly after someone close to me had died. The pastor laid hands on me and I went down. I was out for a few minutes where I did feel God minister to me regarding the death of my friend. Fast forward a few years and I was leading my discernment ministry. The study of the bible led me to the only conclusion I can reach - slain in the spirit is not biblical. Period, full stop. So now what am I to do with my personal experience? According to what Bethel teaches, I would side with my experience. This experiential Christianity is a core doctrine of Bethel and Kris Vallotton. I however always allow the bible to dictate what is real. Thus, my only conclusion was that my experience was false. I do believe God ministered to me as He will use anything for His glory. The reaction of falling down however I had to attribute to an emotional reaction, not a spiritual one.

Vallotton wrongly concludes that because people claim to have drawn closer to God during this occurrence, that they must have. What do you expect them to say? To showy 'look at me" spirit that pervades the Charismatic church requires one to respond as spiritually as possible. Let me ask you this. If people are "doing business" with God, have drawn so close to Him because of being slain, then why do they go up again the following week? Anyone who has spent anytime in the Charismatic church knows that each week the very same people are getting slain. Where is the growth in Christ? Where is the maturity? Why do they need this revolving experience just to draw close to the God they claim to serve? As for holy laughter - are you kidding me? Laughing uncontrollably as if they were drunk? Is self-control one of the gifts of the spirit or not? Your wife was so spiritually drunk she could not walk? Where is that in the bible Kris? Oh that's right - it is not!

"There is a rumor that continues to resurface that Bethel Church doesn't believe in doctors or medicine. Jesus said,"...It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. I don't know of a single person on our staff that wouldn't go to a doctor if they didn't get well after prayer. We have a medical doctor named Dr. Andre VanMol who has been on Bethel's church board for many years, along with a physician's assistant named Julie Winters, who also serves on our board. I think the rumor may have started because of the way we warn people about what they might experience from their doctors after they have received a miracle in their bodies. Many doctors simply won't believe in miracles. Therefore, when someone gets instantly healed of a medically verifiable disease and then goes back to their doctor for verification, sometimes the physician refuses to acknowledge their healing, even though all the tests come back negative and their symptoms are completely gone. (Frankly, I think some doctors are simply afraid of being sued for a misdiagnosis, or thought of as being crazy by their peers). Because faith plays a huge factor in miracles (Jesus often said, "...your faith has made you well,"), it is imperative that the people who are recipients of divine healing don't start doubting that they are well and then end up sick again. Therefore, we tell people that they should consult their physician to verify their healing, but they should be aware that this dynamic is fairly common among the medical community." - Kris Vallotton

Let me first point out the misuse of the key verses for today. Kris leaves off the qualifying portion of the verse. The context is provided in the key verses as well as the missing part of the quoted verse. Jesus is not speaking about physical healing. He is clearly speaking about spiritual healing through salvation. He came not to call the righteous, but rather sinners. Now, let's deal with what Kris is trying to say here. To be honest, I have never heard anyone accuse Bethel of not believing in medical doctors. I would think they are far too carnally minded for that. The issue I think that Kris is trying to cover up for is the notion of divine healing. This is essentially mandatory healing. In other words, God must always heal us and if we are not healed it must be a problem with our faith. This is an amusing false theology coming from someone who uses corrective eyeglasses but I digress. The fact is that this theology robs God of His sovereignty and can absolutely wreck the faith of many who do not get healed. It is a dangerous teaching indeed.

Vallotton concludes with some backslapping about how great he and Bethel are, which are not worth reviewing here. I will close with his final words:

"What is our sin? Extending mercy to people who don't deserve it? Trusting people who are still messed up? Maybe! Or is it that we give people hope who deserve to be punished? Probably! Are we too easy on sinners, don't emphasize sacrifice enough, and refuse to acknowledge bad news as acts of God? Some think so. Or could it be that we are simple-minded and childish in our zeal to see God demonstrate His love and His fascinating wonders among us? Guilty as charged!" - Kris Vallotton

Zeal is one of your greatest sins Kris because it is not placed in the Gospel. Instead it is based on your sloppy agape definition of the love of God. Your zeal spends so much time asking if you could that you never examine if you should. Could you extend grace and restore other false teachers as you bragged in your closing? You could but the real question is if you should. Can you empower people to behave as if they have spiritual gifts which they actually do not possess? Again, you could, but should you? Should you teach people that all can prophesy and charge them five grand a year to attend your bogus supernatural school to "learn" the gifts when the bible says the spirit gives the gifts as he wills? You could and do, but should you? Could you let anyone walk up to God's holy desk to offer prophecies to your congregation? Could you allow kids to pretend they are raising the dead or sucking off residual anointing from the tombs of dead heretics? Could you teach people that if they are not healed that it must be their fault? Could you bask in false wonders that provide glory only to yourself and your church? Yeah sure. You could do all of these things and many more but you shouldn't. That is really the point Kris.

Reverend Anthony Wade - September 13, 2020

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.