The more egregious portion of Tamaki's false teaching here is the interjection of tithing into this discussion. Psalm 91 is not even remotely about tithing. Understand what Tamaki is essentially saying about God here. He is teaching that God will only protect you if you pay Him first. What kind of a mafioso god is Brian Tamaki trying to sell here? This is what happens when so called Christian leaders are hirelings instead of pastors. People who seek to make money from the flock instead of watch over them. Tithing was part of the Old Testament civil laws that was nailed to the cross. According to Galatians, if one insists on tithing, or any part of the law, then he renders Christ useless. Tamaki was rebuked by several local sources because you do not need the indwelt Holy Spirit to see that he is a huckster. He damages the cause of Christ and the Gospel. He embodies the warning from Peter in our key verses.
As does Bill Johnson from Bethel Church in Redding California. Bethel is a literal cesspool of false teaching. A chief hub of NAR dominionism, experiential Christianity and false signs and lying wonders, Bethel also loves to teach divine healing. Johnson claims that God must always heal us and if we do not experience healing then it must be due to a lack of faith on our part. This from a man who clearly does not understand irony or hypocrisy as he wears corrective eyeglasses. Yet the second link above shows that Bethel canceled their "healing rooms" and advised their "faith healers" to stay away from local hospitals. The church released the following statement:
"We believe that wisdom, modern medicine, and faith are meant to work together, and express the value for each in the pursuit of continued health and healing." -- Bethel Spokesperson
Wait a minute. Bethel teaches mandatory healing by God! Why now when faced with something so viral do you suddenly feel the need to partner with the world of medicine? Because the truth is that Bethel never actually heals anyone. The coronavirus has simply exposed their lack of faith in the snake oil they usually sell. Not all of the Bethelites got the message however:
"One Redding woman told The Sacramento Bee on Saturday that on Jan. 31, she was approached by two Bethel students in the emergency room at Mercy Medical Center in Redding. The pair said "they would pray over the people there and put Jesus in their hearts and this would heal us all and we didn't need to stay at the ER and could go home," the woman said in a text message. She asked not to be identified to protect her family's privacy. She said she filed a complaint with the hospital after one of the students touched her 5-year-old daughter without permission. Mercy didn't return a message seeking comment." -- Sacramento Bee
This is what happens when you indoctrinate the young with false teaching. Listen, this is not about whether God CAN heal -- of course He can. This is about whether He must heal all of the time. To tell people they did not need to stay in the hospital is reckless. Do not also lose sight of who is reporting this story. It is not Charisma News but rather the secular Sacramento Bee. This is again what Peter warned us about in the key verses. From the article, we see a comparison between the sanity of the world versus the insanity of Bill Johnson:
'As it was, there was no shortage of schadenfreude that a church known for claiming to have healed everything from brain tumors to deafness is now telling people to wash their hands to keep disease at bay. "It's clear that when it comes to something really serious like coronavirus, their actions speak louder than their words," said Michael Shermer, the editor of Skeptic magazine and a professor at Chapman University in Southern California. "So, God is omniscient and omnipotent and can cure diseases if he wants, but just in case: wash your hands!"' -- Sacramento Bee
"Many visit Redding weekly, hoping that God will touch them. I am happy to report that many leave well and whole," Johnson wrote. "But many others leave in the same condition in which they came. I refuse to blame God for this, as though He has a purpose in their disease. While Jesus did not heal everyone alive in His time, He did heal everyone who came to Him. His is the only standard worth following." -- Bill Johnson
