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… Continue reading My brother’s keeper? What has Bethel got to do with us?
Tag: Bethel
The Bethel enigma: How ambiguity leads to confusion
I want to pick up here on one of the challenges with critiquing Bethel’s teaching. It’s the challenge of being able to say with certainty what their position is on a number of points. I don’t think it is impossible but it can be tricky at times. Here I’m going to pick up on two… Continue reading The Bethel enigma: How ambiguity leads to confusion
Calling out the gold
One of the themes in Bethel’s approach to pastoral care is that you don’t so much respond to someone’s sin because that doesn’t truly reflect their identity. Instead you should seek to honour and name correctly who they are now, their new identity. This is sometimes referred to as “calling out the gold”. This very… Continue reading Calling out the gold
Prosperity, success, world changers and the dominion factor
Banning Liebscher opens his book, “Rooted” with this claim: “Deep inside every follower of Jesus is a desire to have a visible, lasting impact in the world.[1] Is this true? There are two parts to this. First, is that what everyone really wants, and second is it what we should want. Your first reaction might… Continue reading Prosperity, success, world changers and the dominion factor
Rumpelstiltskin: Bethel and Prosperity
I would like to pick up on a quote I shared from Danny Silk’s book, the Culture of Honour, in a previous article. “Success is built through the value we maintain for the prophetic voices in our environment, because our prosperity comes through our agreements with Heaven’s culture, and the prophets clarify the reality of… Continue reading Rumpelstiltskin: Bethel and Prosperity
Bethel prophets
I’m continuing to look at Danny Silk’s book “Culture of Honour”. Last time, we looked specifically at Danny (and Bethel’s) understanding of who apostles are. Here, I want to have a look at what he says about prophets. Silk writes: The next vital piece in the government of a revival culture is the role of… Continue reading Bethel prophets
Bethel, culture of honour and apostles
One of the big ideas we are picking up on as we do this deep dive into Bethel theology is the idea of “a culture of honour”. The key person behind this is one of the main, Bethel leadership team, Danny Silk who has written a book by that name. Now, we might have an… Continue reading Bethel, culture of honour and apostles
Does heaven invade earth -more reflections on Bethel theology
The word “invasion” seems to be doing a lot of heavy lifting at the moment. It features heavily in the rhetoric about asylum seekers. It also shows up in the titles of a few books connected to Bethel and the New Apostolic Reformation. One book is titled “Invading Babylon” whilst another is called “When Heaven… Continue reading Does heaven invade earth -more reflections on Bethel theology
Shawn Bolz and the elephant in the room
I’ve mentioned in one previous article the issues around Shawn Bolz and specifically false claims of prophecy when it comes to words of knowledge that were apparently based upon social media data mining. Now, as it happens, I think that there is a potentially charitable view of how someone could get into such a situation. … Continue reading Shawn Bolz and the elephant in the room
Kenosis and Kingdom: The problematic theology of Bill Johnson and Bethel
Bill Johnson’s big argument in his book, When Heaven invades Earth, is that we are meant to experience the bit in the Lord’s prayer “Your kingdom come, on earth, as in heaven”, here and now. What does this specifically mean? Well, very early on, in the first chapter, in fact, Johnson tells the story of… Continue reading Kenosis and Kingdom: The problematic theology of Bill Johnson and Bethel
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