Bethel Church

Looks like a supermarket. Has the exact same intention.

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Not to be confused with the Bethel compound in Brooklyn, New York, from which the Jehovah's Witnesses' publishing arm is based. Also not to be confused with the many other churches with Bethel in the name.

Bethel Church is a megachurch based in Redding, California, led primarily by Bill Johnson (1951–) and his family. Outsiders, especially other Christians, see it as a heretic cult influenced by new age bullshit. They used to be part of the Pentecostal Assemblies of God until 2006, but are currently non-denominational and charismatic, proselytizing primarily through music and "miracles". The church runs several ministries with cringeworthy names including "Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry" and "Jesus Culture".

Bethel Church has an uncomfortable-at-best reputation in Redding. With a member count equivalent to 10% of the town's population and a "Seven Mountains Mandate" driving a desire to influence government, the economy, media, etc., their influence is hard to miss. The church has donated millions to local projects, and many local businesses are run by Bethel members. However, members have been banned from proselytizing at numerous locations in Redding, including the Sundial Bridge at Turtle Bay, and residents rightfully worry that their "Seven Mountains Mandate" is an attempt to subvert the separation of church and state.

Bill Johnson and his wife Beni have publicly supported Donald Trump since 2016. Their son and daughter-in-law, Brian and Jen, as well as Bethel Music musician and failed Republican Congressional candidate Sean Feucht, were three of a gaggle of pastors who joined a "faith briefing" and photo op at the White House to pray for Trump not to get impeached the first time around.

Magic tricks

In keeping with charismatic tradition, Bethel services often feature "holy rolling," that is, extravagant behavior from congregants such as falling to the floor, speaking in tongues, laughing, crying, and dancing, which is attributed to possession by the Holy Spirit. Services also feature a "glow glory cloud," which appears to be gold glitter dropped from the ceiling over the congregation.

Bethel practices faith healing, as is typical for charismatic churches. Unfortunately, they don't keep it confined to staged performances during services; students in their revivalist school are known for going as far as to approach visibly disabled locals out in public and asking to pray over them. A man named Jason Michael Carlsen unsuccessfully sued a student at their school for allegedly pushing him off a 200-foot cliff, and instead of calling 911, driving down to the bottom in hopes of getting to pray over him. Carlsen was found by first responders and survived, but was in a coma for a month and his injuries rendered him paraplegic.

The main thing that distinguishes Bethel Church from other charismatic/evangelical churches is their belief that, with prayer, dead people can be brought back to life. This belief is linked to the resurrection of Jesus, faith healing, and being "born again." One offshoot of the church is the Shelton, Washington-based "Dead Raising Team," which is primarily dedicated to this particular nonsense. In 2019, the Dead Raising Team claimed to have "brought about 15 resurrections amidst the 60 teams worldwide."

Bethel Church and the Dead Raising Team's most infamous and saddest attempt at raising the dead involved Olive Heiligenthal, a two-year-old who died suddenly in December 2019. Bethel's and related congregations sang and prayed for Olive's resurrection for days until Olive's parents moved past the denial stage and announced their plans for a funeral.

Front groups and offshoots

See the main article on this topic: Front group

The Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry (BSSM), nicknamed "Christian Hogwarts," provides 1-3 year certificate programs for revivalists-in-training. Thanks to a lack of accreditation or financial aid, the tuition alone is almost $5000 per year. Activities include:

• Faith healing of strangers
• "Treasure hunts" on Thursday nights, in which students gather to "hear God's voice" give them a description of a random person, whom they then split up to go find and proselytize
• "Tunnels of fire" on Friday nights, consisting of whatever the fuck this is, sometimes done in public
• "Grave soaking/sucking," a practice that has been nominally banned, in which students lay on top of a dead church member's grave, hoping to absorb their blessing or “soak up” the deceased’s “anointing"
• Dead-raising attempts
• "Bethel Music" is the church's main record label, headed by Bill Johnson's son Brian. Like the Australia-based Hillsong Music, Bethel Music is well known for making emotionally charged, repetitive Christian rock, performed live at Bethel Church services.
• "Jesus Culture" is the organization's youth ministry, which itself runs the Jesus Culture Sacramento church in Folsom, California, and its own record label, Jesus Culture Music.
• "CHANGED Movement" is an ex-gay ministry. They claim not to support conversion therapy or insist that all queer people must become ex-gay, but with their whole message being "God can radically transform their sexual orientation," the homophobia is not at all subtle.

The church has several other lesser-known front groups and offshoots, including:

• Bethel Christian School, a Pre-K-8th grade private school
• WorshipU, a training ground for aspiring Bethel Music signees
• Bethel Conservatory of the Arts, an accredited training ground for aspiring Bethel Music signees
• Bethel Leaders Network, the church's way of expanding its influence beyond the Johnson family and Redding
• Bethel School of Technology, a coding bootcamp
• Mission Intensive Training School, a training ground for aspiring colonizers missionaries colonizers
• One Glance Ministries, a missionary group that also runs the Dead Raising Team.

External links

• Bethel Church
• Bethel's YouTube channel, with wackiness and wingnuttery abound.
• BSSM
• Jesus Culture's YouTube channel, a one-stop-shop for Jesus-y millennial caterwauling.
• The Dead Raising Team's website, embarrassingly less slickly designed than Bethel's site.
• How a miracle-obsessed megachurch conquered a California city by Eric Ting (June 28, 2023) SFGate