Bethel Church: "Being POOR Is A SIN!"

Bethel Church, Prosperity Gospel, and False Teaching

Hey guys, Colin here, and welcome back to the channel where the Bible and critical thinking meet to give you real Christian commentary about the things that matter. Thanks so much for watching, let's get into the video.

So Bethel Church is a charismatic megachurch in Redding, California led by pastor Bill Johnson. And I say pastor in quotation marks because he really isn't qualified to be one. In short, Bill is a Word of Faith or Prosperity Gospel preacher, which means he believes that God has guaranteed good health and financial blessing to all Christians as long as they have enough faith in their own hearts to receive those things.

This church also partners with some horrendous teachers and false prophets such as Mike Bickle, who runs the heretical organization IHOP, the International House of Prayer. But in any case, the topic of today's video is a deeper dive into the beliefs and practices of Bethel Church.

And I know some of you are thinking, come on Colin, we already know what Bethel is, we already know they're crazy and unbiblical, and there's nothing new you can tell us under the sun. But I think that those of you who say that are going to be very surprised with this video, because I myself didn't know some of these things until recently.

Specifically, I want to tell you a little bit about what Bethel said with regards to poverty. I do not believe I've seen anyone else report on this. So in this video, let's take another look at the theology of Bill and Bethel by diving deeper into their offering prayers.

I have a whole video on their offering prayers which will be linked in the description, but there are some new things that I just found recently within them that are absolutely shocking. So I'm scrolling through Bethel's website, and I see this in one of their pre-written prayers.

Bethel's Offering Prayers and the Repentance from Poverty Claim

First they pray for, Natural resources released, harvested, sold, and reproduced education, books, and universities that developed mind molders who influence the influential. Nothing wrong with this so far.

I mean, besides, of course, the fact that this statement is written in some of the most confusing English I've ever had the displeasure of reading. But remember that the Lord says we can ask him for blessings in our prayers, so there's nothing wrong with this theologically speaking, while there is definitely something wrong with this linguistically.

Philippians 4, 6 says, Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. The Lord wants to know the desires of our hearts, and he asks us to pray to him continually.

But Bethel's next section of this prayer is absolutely mind-blowing. It then says that they, Quote, Pray for repentance from poverty, small thinking, and envy. Yes, you heard that correctly. Bethel Church does not just suggest that their members do that.

No, they require that their members repent of their poverty. There's so many reasons that this is wrong, disgusting, unbiblical, inaccurate, and just about every negative word you could pull out of the hat.

Why Poverty Is Not a Sin

But let me offer you just three biblical points that demonstrate this. Number one, Being poor is not a sin, and therefore, there is absolutely no biblical reason to repent of it. Acts 3, 19 says, Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out.

Repentance is a concept that is fundamentally attached to sin, as the passage indicates. You only need to repent for things that are sins. Hopefully, we're all keeping up here. But poverty is never listed as a sin even one time in Scripture.

In fact, we have direct evidence that poverty is not a sin, which brings me to point number two. If Bethel Church says that poverty is a sin, then they are also saying that Jesus sinned. Let me explain why this is the case.

Jesus' Poverty and the Sinlessness of Christ

Bethel Church says that poverty should be repented of. In other words, being a poor person is a sin. But there's just one little problem here. Jesus himself was a poor person. Therefore, Bethel is saying that Jesus must have sinned.

In Luke 9, 58, Jesus says,. Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. Here's what Jesus is effectively saying here. I am so homeless that most animals have more of a home than I do.

So it doesn't sound like Jesus was very wealthy to me. Rather, it sounds like he's making it clear that even by the low economic standards of his day, Jesus would have been considered poor. So according to Bethel, Jesus needs to repent of his poverty, but he didn't.

Therefore, he must have sinned. But 2 Corinthians 5, 21 says,. If Jesus knew sin, according to this passage, then we would not have become the righteousness of God. Our entire salvation, the very core of the Christian faith, relies on the fact that Jesus was completely perfect, holy, and sinless.

Yet, Bethel Church's beliefs directly contradict and even refute that biblical fact. All the while, they pretend that they're a true church. And this is why their beliefs are so dangerous, guys. Romans 16, 17 commands us to Bethel is not a church that we should unite with, according to Scripture.

Rather, they are a church that needs a harsh rebuking. Bethel Church and everyone associated with them should be avoided as long as they hold to this terrible doctrine. End of story. And number three.

Bethel's Pride, Wealth, and Treatment of Poor Christians

Let's take a moment to realize how utterly disgusting and offensive this comment by Bethel Church is. They sit on their high horse declaring that poverty must be repented of because it's a sin, and they do this on the basis of literally no biblical evidence whatsoever.

And more than that, they say these things while living in California, which has one of the most successful economies in the world and is positioned in the single most successful country the world has ever seen.

Bethel Church has been blessed beyond their wildest dreams, not because of their works and certainly not because of their faithful Bible teaching, because Bethel Church wouldn't touch faithful Bible teaching with a 10-foot pole.

I wouldn't be surprised if their leader Bill Johnson had a restraining order filed against him by faithful Bible teaching, because he seems to stay 100 yards away from it at all times. So no, it was not Bethel's faithfulness that got them the blessings they have today, because they're not faithful.

Rather, they got these things because God in His sovereign will chose it to be so. And yet they have the gall to tell struggling and persecuted Christians in places like Africa and India and China that they need to repent of their poverty.

Seriously, what a disgusting thing to say. So in summary, this statement by Bethel Church dishonors God because it is offering an unbiblical prayer. It dishonors Jesus because it suggests that He needs to repent of sin that He never committed.

And it dishonors our poor brothers and sisters in Christ who have done nothing wrong by being in poverty. Bethel Church, you have sunk to depths so low that I didn't even think it was possible for you to go further.

But every day you astound me and surprise me with theology that is somehow worse than the day before. Folks, I know it's easy to see things like this and get fired up and passionate, just like I do and have been throughout this video.

But my suggestion is this. Let's take our passion and use it to pray for Bethel Church and to refute their horrible ideas. Let's pray that they would repent of this false teaching and turn to the truth of God's Word.

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