What you’re about to hear really shouldn’t sound all that crazy, particularly coming from a man who says Jesus barged in on him while he was laying naked in the bathtub and told him what his destiny was going to be. I mean, if you’re that close to God, then it follows that God will do anything for you—including placing his faith you.
Bethel Church in Redding, California, the hub of all things delusion, is proudly led by two men who fancy themselves as modern-day prophets and apostles of God. These self-appointed messengers of Jesus are none other than Bill Johnson and Kris Vallotton, the Dynamic Duo of folly. Bethel Church is a hotbed of debunked “manifestations” of the Holy Spirit and is most notably known for its display of “glory clouds,” a phenomenon that has been thoroughly discredited by actual religious leaders and experts. And let’s not forget about the equally absurd practice of “grave sucking.” These practices are not only misguided, but they directly oppose biblical teachings.
Bethel Church, a cult in every sense of the word, is built around the delusional and grandiose visions of its two leaders at the expense of the truth contained in Scripture. The church’s livelihood is sustained by the fantastical tales spun by its pastors as “revelations” from God, and the emotionally stimulating “worship music” that keeps the masses charmed.
The central message of Bethel Church is simple: “make love to Jesus” by creating a “heaven on earth” experience through worship. But the latest fiction to come from the lips of these charlatans is that for whatever reason they could come up with, God “trusts” the desires of men. In this clip, Vallotton claims, acknowledging that it would be controversial (because it’s a lie) that God “loves free will” and that God doesn’t just want us to fulfill His will, but that part of his will was for him to fulfill our dreams and that He “trusts” our desires. He goes on to twist Psalm 37 to make this point.
“When you delight yourself in the Lord,” Vallotton says, “He trusts your desires and He wants those to be fulfilled.”
The statement made by Vallotton in the clip, that God “loves free will” and “trusts” human desires, is not in line with the biblical understanding of God’s nature and relationship with humanity and is almost as bad as the time another Bethel pastor said that Jesus asked him for forgiveness. The Bible clearly establishes God as sovereign and having a plan for humanity, but also permits humans to exercise their free will, within their nature, and face the consequences of their choices. The notion of God “trusting” human desires implies a degree of doubt or unpredictability on God’s part, which is contradictory to the biblical teaching that God is all-knowing and operates with complete certainty, and is a dishonest interpretation of biblical teachings.
