Shawn Bolz is the founder and former senior pastor of Expression58 Church and is now the CEO of Bolz Ministries. Bolz is closely tied to Bethel Church in Redding California, a hyper-charismatic, New Apostolic Reformation church which is known for its music and its working of false signs and wonders. According to Bolz’ bio found on Bethel’s website, he “has been a pioneer in ministry, including the prophetic movement, since he was in his teens,” and “his focus is on intimacy with God, creativity through entertainment and social justice.”
Bolz is now a traveling speaker who visits different churches around the country to “prophesy” and give people “affirmation from God.” In the video below, you can see Bolz giving what appears to be cold psychic readings much like those of the fraud John Edward.
Bolz is also the author of a book titled God Secrets, a book that promises to deepen your relationship with God through divination. Bolz says God will tell you personal, private secrets about people and that will help you grow closer to the Lord.
In the description of the book on Bolz’ website, he says,
God loves to tell us specific information about people that we wouldn’t naturally know on our own! God has been known to reveal birthdates, anniversaries, family nicknames, pet names, and even bank account numbers at times! The sharing of these personal details help to develop trust and strong connection to the Lord.
He doubles down on this claim in this video.
This, of course, is nonsense and is no different than what fortune tellers do–a practice starkly condemned in Scripture (Leviticus 19:31, Isaiah 8:19, Deuteronomy 18:10-12, etc. etc.). While Bolz claims to be drawing people closer to the Lord, in actuality, he is drawing people away from God by teaching for shameful gain things he ought not to teach (Titus 1:11).
Shawn Bolz is a false teacher, a fraud, and a wolf in sheep’s clothing. What he practices is completely foreign to anything resembling Christianity. He should be marked and avoided.
I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. –Romans 16:17
