My brother’s keeper? What has Bethel got to do with us?

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When God speaks to Cain, asking him about his brother Abel in Genesis 4, Cain retorts, “Am I my brother’s keeper? Of course, the implicit and obvious answer is meant to be “Yes you are?”

We’ve been conducting a deep dive into the theology and culture of Bethel, Redding, CA. It might be tempting to argue that we are not our brothers and sisters’ keeper. Our responsibility is surely to our own churches. Does what happens over there have anything to do with us?

Well, I want to suggest that yes it does. This is not a call to be busy bodies but we cannot ignore what happens to one part of the family. Furthermore, in any case, what happens at Bethel does have an affect on what happens in our own local churches.

The heart of the issue

There have been lots of issues raised concerning Bethel over the years.  I would argue that the key issues are as follows.  There are three  key areas of belief that matter.

  1. Kenosis theory – Johnson has said on more than one occasion that Jesus laid aside his divinity in order to do miracles as a man, in the power of the spirit so we can follow the same example.
  2. Culture of honour.  Our role as the church is to being heaven (the supernatural) to earth.  In order for this to happen, we need to properly name and honour  the 5 fold roles. Crucially the definition of apostles and prophets is substantially different to our understanding. They are those who are more engaged with Heaven. They see into Heaven and so have the blueprint to recreate it on earth.  Teachers are just a level c gift. They can get in the way if this by their desires to be correct. Teachers play the correct role by teaching the church to implement what the apostles and prophets say.
  3. Dominionism.   This is sometimes referred to as The Seven Mountain Mandate.  We are to bring in the kingdom now by taking control of the key spheres in society, politics, education, entertainment, religion, science  and  business. This is a key component to Christian Nationalism with both indirect and direct links to the UK version of this. 
  4. These feed into the kinds of issues that we have seen in terms of culture, most notably around the Shawn Bolz case where the concerns raised are that although Bethel leaders may have confronted Bolz privately concerning allegations around his conduct and especially evidence of fraudulent practices behind his prophetic claims, however, Bethel failed to warn others about concerns and even until recently were endorsing his ministry.  Then there are questions around the handling of the situation regarding Ben Armstrong.  His case has been held up as an example of restoration.  Following an affair, not only did Armstrong’s marriage survive but he was swiftly restored into senior public ministry.   However, following the disclosures about Shawn Bolz, further questions have been raised about whether issues concerning Armstrong, particularly given that the affair seems to have been with an intern assigned to him were properly addressed.  

What we believe affects how we live and arguably, concerns about how sin is handled and accountability of leaders links to those underpinning beliefs as we have seen.  Specifically, a concern to protect the mission at all cost, of bringing heaven to earth and exercising dominion, combined with a culture of unquestioning honour for leaders leads to a lack of accountability and transparency.[1]

Be alert – our responsibility

Addressing the Ephesian elders at Miletus, the apostle Paul said:

“28 Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock that the Holy Spirit has appointed you to as overseers, to shepherd the church of God,[h] which He purchased with His own blood. 29 I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 And men will rise up from your own number with deviant doctrines to lure the disciples into following them. 31 Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for three years I did not stop warning each one of you with tears.[2]

Schools can fail an Ofsted inspection if the answer to one question is “no.” Students are asked “do you feel safe here?”  Churches are not inspected in the same way, however, those of us who are elders need to remember that our responsibility is to provide and protect, to lead the flock to pasture, to feed them good food from God’s Word and to lead them to shelter, to protect them from harm.   Fellow elders, our first responsibility is to keep the church safe.  

Notice that whilst there is a danger of wolves coming in from the outside, Paul sees the biggest danger as coming from within and so, the call to be alert means keeping a watch on what is happening within a local church starting with elders keeping a watch on themselves through self-examination and mutual accountability. 

With that in mind, I would highlight the following areas where we need to be alert, specifically in relation to the danger caused by Bethel culture. These are the three questions that I would be encouraging the eldership team in any church to ask:

  1. Self reflection – are there aspects of Bethel culture that we have picked up ourselves?
  2. What exposure do our congregation have to Bethel culture, directly and indirectly?
  3. What aspects of the same culture have been picked up within our own movement/network?  This may be direct from Bethel or it may be from different sources 

Now, I write from within a charismatic context and so I think that some of those challenges may be have a specific urgency within our context.  Bethel has had a more direct and obvious influence into the culture (theology and practice) of charismatic churches.   However, there are good reasons for non-charismatic, conservative evangelicals to pay heed too.  First because members of your churches may be picking up on the same teaching through books and YouTube videos.  Secondly because some of the same ideas may well have come into your own culture with the more charismatic flavoured aspects trimmed off.  Thirdly because there may be different issues with your own culture but they are likely to be there and culture problems tend to be caused by belief and teaching problems.

Conclusion

Responding to a movement that is popular within church circles but whose influence and impact may not be as benign and positive as assumed is no easy task.  We want to get the balance right, we don’t want o unfairly malign brothers and sisters.  We may worry perhaps too that challenging unhealthy beliefs and practices may prove divisive and unpopular.  Perhaps we need to be braver.

There is though a remedy, help and encouragement.  After commissioning the Ephesian elders with their daunting task, Paul concludes with words that we need to be reminded of, words that will strengthen us.

“And now[i] I commit you to God and to the message of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all who are sanctified.”[3]

[1] I believe it is better to state things in this way  whilst noting that some have directly accused Bethel of cover up.  I believe that we have to be careful and cautious in this regard and recognise that we cannot judge underlying motives and intent.  A cover up culture implies that there is an intentionality, a maliciousness to the agenda.  I do not believe that we have the evidence to assert this. 

[2] Acts 20:28-31.

[3] Acts 20:32.