Bethel Church in Redding, CA is pastored by Bill Johnson who claims to be an Apostle — that is, he claims Apostolic authority just like the twelve men during Christ’s time on Earth. Bethel Redding, like all cults, is filled with aberrant, unbiblical teachings and doctrines of demons, including false manifestations of the Holy Spirit, grave sucking, and the Prosperity Gospel.
Recently, one of Bethel’s songwriters and worship leader, Kalley Heiligenthal asked for prayers after her two-year-old daughter stopped breathing. Her daughter, Olive Alayne passed away on Saturday, December 14. The next day, she was asking for prayers to resurrect her daughter.
The saddest part is that during this mother’s grief and sadness, she wasn’t asking for prayers to deal with her grief and emotional distress — I could only imagine being horrific — but that she had been deceived by her cult that this is what she should be seeking. Sadly — and obviously — it did not happen.
I do not want to downplay this mother’s loss or make light of it, but I wholeheartedly hold her church accountable for this. Instead of teaching her how to think rightly and biblically about this tragic loss, her pastors and church were encouraging her in idolatrous thoughts.
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Kris Vallotton, second in command at Bethel and NAR apostle, affirmed Kalley’s idolatrous acts by republishing her request for a “resurrection.”
Proclaiming — a full day after the child’s death — that this girl’s time here on earth is “not done” is complete blasphemy against God. What he should have been doing is praying for this poor mother to seek God’s glory in the death of this child, open her eyes to the truth, repent, and believe in Jesus Christ for salvation — but that is not the gospel of the charismatic movement. The charismatic movement focuses primarily on the temporal and material things of this world.
The charismatic movement — and particularly, Bethel Redding — is an affront to the gospel of Jesus Christ and the gospel of grace. This false gospel that comes from this church has the potential to turn many people away from Christ as they now look at this and view this is a failure of Christianity. But the reality is, we’re not promised life on this earth, but we are promised eternal life.
