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Alternate known names: Brownsville Revivals, Elijah List, Florida Revivals, IHOP, Kansas City Prophets, New Apostolic Reformation (NAR)A movement within Protestant Christianity that embraces present-day apostles and prophets who claim they govern the church and give new divine revelation needed to set up God's EARTHLY kingdom., Toronto Blessing → see false prophet list.

Bill Johnson

Not Bethel, BUT Beth-"HELL" - How God Rescued Me From Bill Johnson's Bethel Cult

Last year around Christmas time, I was part of a prayer group where I live. It was a small group that met 1-2 times a week. All of us were DESPERATELY seeking God. It was a good fellowship. One evening after the session ended, I was tinkering around on the drums when one of the brothers, Dan came up to me with a look of soft urgency in his eyes. Seeming not to notice that I was in deep focus trying to perfect a drum rudiment, he proceeded to interrupt me with a question. In a notch above whispering my name he asked me, "Have you ever heard of Bill Johnson" Still working out drum patterns and attempting to simultaneously reply, I answered "I've heard the name before. I know he's in California but I don't know much about him." At this response, I saw Dan's face light up as if he had just received a shot of adrenaline. I knew he was ready to share, so sensing this, my drumming gradually teetered off into a complete silence. It was then that Dan began to advise and enlighten me about Bill Johnson's Bethel Church in Redding, California. Also he gave me the scoop about the church's School of Supernatural Ministry. [Side note: I hate typing for long periods of time so this is going to be a truncated account and I'll add more details over time.]

Okay, so Dan who has no binding ties to Bethel, suddenly sounded like one of their top recruiters/pitchmen. He began to tell me about how the presence of God permeated and saturated the campus at Bethel. He RAVED about the school. He RAVED about the music in the worship services. He RAVED about the teachings of Bill Johnson and Kris Vallaton. He raved about everything from the prayer tower to the coffee shop. After about an hour and a half of what could've EASILY qualified to have been a top notch infomercial, Dan made me an offer that two weeks later I found out..."I couldn't refuse." Dan told me that he was so confident that my walk with Christ would intensify by leaps and bounds by going to Bethel, that if I agreed to go, NOT ONLY would he pay my transportation there...he would also PAY THE $9000.00 TUITION required to attend the School of Supernatural Ministry. At the time it really sounded cool, but I was comfy here at home and saw no need to make any rash moves. However, later, some things were being shaken up at home and I began to lose peace. I remembered Dan telling me of the intense peace that was present around the Bethel atmosphere. Being that he contacted frequently to pitch me on Bethel after that prayer meeting night, it was during one of the times we made contact...I succumbed. I said "Okay Dan...I'll go check it out."

The next day we were at the Greyhound station. However, I got cold feet and asked for more time to think about it. After all this was new territory for me. New town, no where to live. New people was no big deal. I'm as gregarious as they come. I LOVE PEOPLE!!! Anyway, after thinking about it, I took the dive. The next day I was off to Redding. Set up with a nice motel, I found my way to Bethel the next day, and this would be the beginning of the road to my NIGHTMARE. Please note though, it didn't start out that way. When I attended Bethel for the first time it was LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT!! And that "love" would continue for the next two months. I immediately called Dan to tell him how right he was about everything. I even went on to tell him that he UNDERSTATED his description. I SWORE that I had died and gone to heaven. People seemed to really love Jesus. The view from the top of the mountain was ABSOLUTELY BREATHTAKING!!! There was something going on ALL OF THE TIME...LITERALLY 24/7. Being one that's GREEDY FOR GOD, it was the perfect milieu for me and my insatiable appetite for HIM. There were ubiquitous house groups within the community and I loved attending them. It reminded me of the New Testament church in Acts. I went to EVERY possible function that I could, and there were "ZILLIONS."

During a house meeting I was offered a place to stay...for FREE. And that was just in the nick of time as I began running out of money. A few days later, I began living with students from Bethel's school. Still floating on a cloud, I just seemed to see God's hand moving at every turn I made. Even from my first visit, I would get myriad "words of knowledge" spoken to me by many people EVERYDAY. I still have them written down. I think maybe ONE came true, but I know NOW that it was just a lucky guess..the rest of em' UN-lucky guesses...lol. So to make a long story short, I absorbed every thing Bethel offered I dove in seven days a week. I had my first "fire tunnel" experience at a house...my first impression...OVERRATED!! While everyone else that went through it laughed and convulsed hysterically, I was unaffected EVEN in spite of the countless attempts of others to "IMPART" (one of their buzz words) into me what they were feeling. Also, I found it strange that I couldn't even communicate with people even about simple matters like the weather or a basketball game without them jerking, shaking or convulsing...these convulsions were so profuse within the cult that for me it QUICKLY became overkill. Another idiosyncrasy was the constant belting out of the phrase..."WHOA" OR "WOE." This is heard constantly. Still seeing through rose colored glasses though, I overlooked the weird behavior and justified it by concluding that "God loves it when his kids are having fun with Him." Gradually though, I started deducing that this wasn't mere fun...it was borderline mockery, the shaking, the jerking, the laughing, the cackling, the convulsing....it just went on TOOOO MUCH!!! If it were done in moderation, it may have gone undetected by me, but this was INSANE!!!

During my entire time there, I NEVER ONCE heard Jesus get even a fraction of that type of praise, worship, or delightful frenzy. I might add that NEVER ONCE did I hear salvation, repentance, holiness, righteousness, judgement, or wrath preached, neither from the pulpit nor when I'd travel the streets with them. The whole business plan (because it's NOT a ministry) is to focus on LYING SIGNS and wonders....impotent magic tricks. I've always wondered why Bill would rave about all of these so-called and UNDOCUMENTED "miracles" happening through Bethel around the world, YET, when it comes to home, we never get to see any of em' manifested. For instance, Bill and his wife both wear prescription glasses...where's the healing? Bill had a hernia surgically removed...WHAT? No miracle? Bill's son Eric is deaf and has a speech impediment...C'mon Bill...that's your son..HEAL HIM!!!...Bill and his wife have gray hair (a sign of zinc deficiency)...but no "supernatural" intervention has taken place, yet all of this GREAT stuff is happening EVERYWHERE ELSE EXCEPT HOME ON BETHEL'S TURF!!! Gimme a break!!!

The real thing that got me though was the death of little J.C. the infant of two dear Korean friends of mine. He died from cancer at two years old. Prayers went out for him every second of the day.