I want to begin by stating that this post is my opinion (only), and I am not asking anyone to agree with me, nor am I asking anyone to endorse or recommend my thoughts. I am listening to the Lord and Holy Spirit and asking God to lead me to the fullness of His Truth in this matter. Therefore, as more information becomes available, I may find Holy Spirit giving me new revelations, at which time I will be open to new understandings of this situation.
I have spent the last several days contemplating the devastating and disturbing news surrounding Shawn Bolz and his association with Bethel Church and its Senior Leadership. Over the last 20 years or so, the advent of social media has been a vehicle for the promotion of various popular ministries in the Church, especially the employment of the Spiritual Gifts among the Charismatic segment of Christianity. To be clear, Spiritual Gifts are special abilities, talents or capacities given to Christians by the Holy Spirit, with the goal of serving God and the members of the Church. We find those gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12, and among them are the gifts of wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miraculous powers, prophecy, distinguishing between spirits [discernment], speaking in different kinds of tongues, and also the interpretation of those tongues.
Interest in the Spiritual Gifts has been like a magnet, drawing the young and un-churched to those in the ministry who could offer something new and exciting for the edification and growth of the Church. In truth and honesty, I am a believer that those Spiritual Gifts are still available to Believers today. But because of the sinful nature of man, Social Media has been a path to gaining millions of followers, money, and celebrity-like status among some of these ministers. And this coincides with what the Bible tells us (in 2 Timothy 3:1-9) will be the condition of the Church "in the last days" ... the Church will find itself in times of difficulty ... people will be (among many things), lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient, ungrateful, unholy, lacking self-control, reckless, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions; men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. Sadly, these traits have led unrighteous men to immense influence in the Modern Church.
From the recent disclosures about his behaviors and how he operated his ministries, Shawn Bolz has been a classic picture of 2 Timothy 3:1-9. He began his ministry in the early 2000s and quickly became a darling of the Charismatic Church, garnering huge followings for his prophetic "words of knowledge". I will admit that I have always been skeptical of these "performance style" ministers whose prognostications have seemed too often, vague and general in nature. In addition, my spirit has been troubled by what has appeared to be "swarms" of people within the Church [beyond the Charismatic community], eager to gain the same kind of reputation and stature within their Christian denominations. I am quite aware that the Bible warns that in the last days, "many false prophets will arise and deceive many people" (Matthew 24:11).
And then along comes Mike Winger's exposé of Bolz's alleged misconduct. Mike Winger is an evangelical theologian and Christian apologist; a YouTube personality who is well-known for exposing spiritual abuse and sexual misconduct in Christian circles, along with critiquing Christian ministries that he doesn't agree with. So, could there be bias in his reporting of Bolz's alleged sins? Of course! While he chose to reveal his accusations against Bill Johnson, Senior Pastor of Bethel Church in Redding California, along with Senior Leaders in that Church, he neglected to bare the alleged negligence of Greg Laurie, founder of Harvest Christian Fellowship, to supervise a former pastor, Paul Havsgaard, who allegedly sexually abused children at a shelter in Romania. Like, the leadership of Bethel, Laurie and church leaders ignored the reports of abuse, and did not take appropriate action, allowing Havsgaard to continue to have contact with the children. Why expose one sin, and not the other?
Here is a simplified summary of Winger's accusations against Shawn Bolz and Bethel Church: rather than receiving divine revelation when prophesying words of knowledge over individuals, Shawn Bolz was leading a ministry of fraud and deception. Specifically, it is alleged that he data-mined social media sites, such as Facebook, for relevant information that he could manipulate to appear as if he heard from the Holy Spirit. Not only was this fraudulent and deceitful, but there are alleged instances where his "word of knowledge" led to physical and spiritual abuse of those seeking God's truth. In addition, there are many victims of alleged sexual abuse by Bolz himself against his own staff. Men have come forth with explicit reports of alleged deviant behavior towards themselves; behavior, that if true, is without question, unholy and obscene.
While I am unaware of legal investigations [at this time] into these claims, they have now been elevated due to the involvement of one of the best-known movements within contemporary Charismatic Christianity, Bethel Church. Bill Johnson is its Senior Pastor, and is a man who is simultaneously one of the most well-respected, as well as vilified, pastors in the American Church. He often finds himself pitted against the rigid, legalistic and religious segment of the Church, who do not believe in the supernatural acts of God [or the Spiritual Gifts] in today's world. In full disclosure, I have perceived Bill Johnson as an excellent teacher on the Kingdom of God; a man of God who actually does Kingdom work for the Lord. He is a fair, loving and compassionate man. But he admittedly does not like conflict and tends to err on the side of mercy, rather than correction, when it comes to the failures of people under his purview. And that has landed him in this tumultuous, ugly, and very public indictment of him and his Church.
I will also be honest in stating that I don't discern much about Shawn Bolz's actions that can be dismissed. And he continues to deny all allegations. In the case of Bill Johnson, Bill has reached out with a public message, acknowledging that his greatest strength, in this case, became his greatest weakness. "I believe in people when they don't deserve it. In this situation, it became unsanctified mercy. In my commitment to wanting to see Shawn in a place of health, I didn't see what I needed to. I didn't want to believe the accusations against Shawn were true, and it blinded me to reality in my loyalty to a friend, neglecting that there was a real issue that needed to be addressed. I could've chosen to see through the eyes of my team [who were willing to bring correction] and access their discernment, but chose not to. As a result of my inaction, which slowed this process down, more people were affected, and additional injuries in the prophetic, and trauma in Shawn's own team, took place."
So, how will this all shake out? At the moment, it is very destructive and harmful to the Church. Church Leadership failed their flock. Fraudulent prophets were allowed to continue their deception and perverse activities. Even when Bill Johnson was convinced of Shawn Bolz's injurious sins, he chose to appear on a national broadcast program endorsing Bolz's latest book. You can imagine what that did to the soul and spirit of one of Shawn's victims who had come to Johnson in hopes that he could be trusted to end the victimization. Again, Johnson put his friendship ahead of righteous judgment and action.
While Bill Johnson and his senior team have announced their intentions to recommit themselves to "responsibility, truth, accountability, and transformation in Christ", great damage has been done to their reputations, character, and spiritual identities. Can they ever be trusted again? In the end, Bill Johnson has besmirched the name of Bethel Church, choosing to keep quiet, even when they finally came to agreement of the alleged sins of Shawn Bolz. They left their Church family, other ministries, and other associates of Shawn Bolz susceptible to his perversion and spiritual manipulation. I have no doubt they will humbly repent and change their ways of operation, but the question now becomes how do we, as the Body of Christ and the Church, move forward and recover from this betrayal?
Unfortunately, how God will respond is probably remarkably more holy and righteous than we humans will treat this debacle. The Bible says God desires these traits in the one who sins: humility, profession of sin, accountability, true repentance, transformation, and a purified heart. For those of us in the flock and Christian community, we are to offer prayer, grace, reconciliation, restoration, forgiveness, encouragement, and hope. Of course, each one of these traits must be approached in sincerity and trustworthiness. We must all understand that it is God who is the Author and Lord of Truth and Restoration. We must be willing to overcome our own judgmental natures and biases against opposing denominational differences, and move forward in the Spirit of Renewal and Restoration of the Church. At the same time, we must not compromise, ignore, or look away from those who have sinned. And it must all be done in humility and fear of the Lord.
Yes, men have gravely sinned; men who were trusted and admired. But I would like to offer you this bit of what I consider great wisdom from an article, by an author who calls himself, The Biblical Man. He writes, "The Church has taught us to perform. Not Jesus. The Church. Jesus sat with tax collectors. Ate with prostitutes. Touched lepers. Called [to service] fishermen who stank like the sea. He never once asked for a résumé. He asked for honesty.... That's all He wanted. That's all He ever wants."
"David committed adultery. Then murdered to cover it. Then kept the throne. Not because God approved. Because God wasn't finished. Nathan came with a story about a lamb and David broke wide open. I have sinned against the LORD. Six words. No excuse. No explanation. No spin. God called him a man after His own heart. Not a perfect man. A broken one who stopped pretending. Your pastor didn't tell you that part. He told you to be like David the warrior. David the worshiper. David the king. He skipped David the adulterer. David the murderer. David the man so broken he wrote psalms face down in the dirt. Because broken doesn't fill pews. Performance fills pews."
So, I fear the Modern Church has become all about performance... Who is more popular on Social Media ... Who can garner more attention and sell the most books ... Whose ministry is greater and whose reputation is broader ... Who has more to protect from scrutiny? All of which leads to those sins the Bible warns us about in these last days: the love of self, the love of money, pride, arrogance, abusiveness, unholiness, lacking self-control, being led by various unrighteous passions, and being corrupted in mind and soul, thereby being disqualified regarding the [protection of] the faith.
My prayer is that all involved -- from Shawn Bolz [the rebellious one] to Bill Johnson [who chose mercy over protecting his flock] to Mike Winger [who appears to pick and choose who he will publicly condemn] will break wide open and confess, I have sinned against my LORD! May we all remain humble, repent, and seek the Lord's Face for the times we have sinned against Him, and ask for His gracious forgiveness. I don't believe God is finished with Bill Johnson or Bethel Church, and I pray Shawn Bolz humbles himself and drops to his knees in repentance. Because, there for the Grace of God, go you or I.
Psalm 51:17 My [only] sacrifice [acceptable] to God is a broken spirit; A broken and contrite heart [broken with sorrow for sin, thoroughly penitent], such, O God, You will not despise.
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