Bethel “Pastor” Explains Her View On Financial Blessing!

Fight For Truth

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Hey guys, Colin here, and welcome back to the channel where the Bible and critical thinking meet to give you real

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Christian commentary about the things that matter. Thanks so much for watching, let's get into the video. So Bethel Church is a hyper -charismatic church located in Redding, California, and led by Bill Johnson.

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On his watch, Bethel is complicit in teaching the prosperity gospel and word of faith theologies to greater and lesser extents over the years.

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But one of Bethel's most widespread ideas is that you can consistently receive visions from the

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Lord as well as direct audible statements from him that carry divine weight. Of course, we know that technically there are people in Scripture who experience this kind of revelation.

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The problem is that this revelation in Bethel Church specifically is quite often seriously unbiblical.

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It's out of step with Scripture. That's a very important difference. In fact, there is a female pastor named

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Jenna Winston from Bethel Church who recently had a vision, and she told some other charismatics about that vision in a recent video.

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So we're going to watch that video as we compare her statements to Scripture and see what we learn. We're going to do this using three biblical points.

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Number one, here's the first clip where Jenna talks about the frequency of her visions from God. Watch this.

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A couple years ago, I, because I do see angels every day, but... So in this clip, she provides the context for her statement at large when she says, quote,

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I see angels every day, end quote. There are a few serious problems with this view. The first problem is that it does not reflect the biblical model or narrative of how a believer can interact with angelic beings.

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Let me explain what I mean. Hebrews 13, 2 says, quote, do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares, end quote.

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So the passage says that angels are not always instantly recognizable, at least in many cases.

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Why wouldn't the writer of Hebrews simply say, you guys need to open your eyes spiritually by the power of the spirit, and you'll see angels every day, just like Jenna Winston does.

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And therefore, you'll know exactly when you're entertaining angels. The writer of this passage says none of those things.

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Rather, he simply says that some people have demonstrated biblical hospitality and kindness to such a degree to everyone they meet that they've actually entertained angels without knowing that they were angels.

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Of course, this verse does not say that it is impossible to see angels on all occasions. So I don't think that it refutes her point entirely.

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Don't think I'm saying that. But it does seem to indicate that believers do not have access to the kind of spiritual insight into the spiritual realm that Jenna claims to have.

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But stay tuned, because this isn't my only argument. There are also cases in Scripture where people have known that they were seeing an angel.

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Mary and Joseph and those who saw Jesus's empty tomb are some examples of this. Well, that brings me to my second point.

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The second problem with her statement here is this. I want you guys to tell me in the comments, go do some research, go read your

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Bibles, and find me one single Bible verse that shows someone who saw angels every single day after they got saved.

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Show me one verse that even says it's possible or even suggests that it's possible to see angels every day on earth.

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I'm willing to bet that you're going to come up with the same answer I did, which is that there is no such example in all of Scripture.

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There are people in Scripture who experienced some of the most direct intervention and revelation from God that one could ever imagine.

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And these people saw angels once or twice or even a few times in their entire life. But these angels were almost always carrying some sort of message from the

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Lord. It was always either that or they had some mission for the Lord on earth. So pay attention to what

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Jenna Winston is actually saying. Pay attention to what this Bethel pastor has just described. She says that she sees angels every single day, but we know that there is not one person in Scripture who could say the same thing.

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In fact, angelic sightings are quite rare in the Bible. Therefore, according to her, she has more spiritual insight into the spiritual realm than Moses, Elijah, Abraham, David, Matthew, John, Paul, or Peter.

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Do I even need to continue? The point I'm trying to get across is this. There is a serious problem when you suggest that you have more private revelation from God than any of the people we look to in Scripture did.

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In fact, more private revelation than anyone who wrote Scripture had. That tells me that you're either quite confused and you genuinely believe this stuff, or you're really just making things up.

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And I believe that in this case, it's the former, not the latter. There's absolutely no way, though, that she has more spiritual insight and revelation than any of the people in Scripture that I just mentioned.

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And the irony here is that Jenna is a really good example of the hypercharismatic movement at large.

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She is a female pastor at Bethel Church. She's a leader in the church. But 1 Timothy 2 .12

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says, quote, I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man, end quote.

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That is a clear and obvious revelation offered in Scripture that this woman has either chosen to disobey or at least ignore.

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And therein lies one of the main problems with the hypercharismatic theology. They often find themselves receiving what they believe to be direct and private revelation from God on a daily basis, while at the very same time, they ignore the

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Word of God in several important ways, which is, of course, His perfect revelation to all Christians.

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In other words, they choose to believe their private visions, their messages, and their prophecies. And these things are deeply important revelations from God in their view, which must be obeyed.

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But they do all of this, while often at the very same time, they disobey several clear passages in God's perfect revelation as offered in His Word.

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And this brings me to point number two. Here's the next clip of Jenna where she talks about a vision she had, and it has angels in it, along with Jesus himself.

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Watch this. What it's for me, like an encounter for me, like there's obviously a different feeling and whatever to it.

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This angel drops in and I'm like, hello, you know, type of a thing. And it was holding a key up like this.

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And then it had a ring and it had three keys hanging. And I you know, the other ones are very personal to me.

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But when it got to the last key, as it was telling me what each key was, all of a sudden all these other angels showed up and I'd never heard the term angels of harvest.

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And all of a sudden Jesus is there. And Jesus proceeds to tell me that I was being given the authority to send the angels of harvest, to go back through people's generational lines and pick up any blessings, mantles, giftings, callings, anything that was unused in the spirit.

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So she says that she was given the authority from Jesus himself to go through people's generational lines and, quote, pick up any blessings, mantles, giftings, callings, anything that was at that moment unused in the spirit.

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End quote. So in Jenna Winston's view, there are callings and giftings for your life that can be found in your generational lines and in your ancestors.

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This is more reminiscent of Buddhist religious theology than anything resembling biblical Christianity.

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There is absolutely no example in scripture of someone being called to use a gifting from God that they had to retrieve in the spiritual realm from their generational past.

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In other words, it's just not biblical. First Peter 4 10 says, quote, As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace.

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End quote. This passage shows us that gifts are given actively in the present by God himself to build up his church.

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It says to use the gift that you've been given to edify your brothers and sisters. But it does not say that you should go find a gift that someone else in your familial past has been given and retrieve that gift spiritually so that you can use it in the present.

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It just doesn't say that. So one of the problems with this insane and bizarre worldview coming out of Bethel Church from people like Jenna Winston is that it can take people's eyes off of the actual gifts they have in the present reality and how they can use those gifts to glorify

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Christ and instead puts their eyes on these magical spiritual gifts that you can find in your generational past.

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This is sending people on what might be called a wild spiritual goose chase rather than giving them a clear biblical answer.

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There's really so much confusion, so much absurdity that goes on in hyper charismatic circles. It's quite sad.

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This is ultimately a distraction from Christ and a distraction from true biblical obedience and sound theology.

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And this brings me to point number three. In this next clip, Jenna gives us some important insight into her worldview.

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Watch this. Well, months and months went by and actually it wasn't until I was at Lauren Hasson's on my birthday and she'd asked me to share and the

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Lord, like it was in me so much to do this. And I was kind of nervous about it because I realized some people are like, you know, but I'm like, whatever, it's my truth, you know, whatever.

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So I pray this. And for weeks I was getting messages. This is probably one of the most important and revealing videos

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I've ever seen come from someone involved at Bethel Church. Pay careful attention to this. She says that this story, this vision that she was given, this is something that she has to tell people about.

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And why does she have to tell people about it? Well, quite simply, because it's her truth. Her mission in this video is to tell people what might be called, quote, her truth.

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So let's go ahead and compare this statement to scripture, though. John 17, 17 says, quote, sanctify them in the truth.

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Your word is truth. End quote. The Bible represents what might be called the truth. It is the transcendent and objective reality that exists outside of yourself.

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It is the truth of the world that God has created and we cannot change it. This is what scripture calls the truth.

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But contrast the biblical concept of the truth with this woman's attention being placed on what she calls her truth.

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And apparently her truth is so true that she actually needs to share it with other people. This shows us something very important about many, not all, but many emotionalist, hyper

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Pentecostal Christians and their theology. You see, there is a common idea in many, again, not all, but many of these movements that your own subjective experience can absolutely settle a particular theological matter.

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And this kind of thing is what might be called your truth. And it should be the way in which you view the world, or at least a major part in the way you view the world.

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There is an encouragement in many of these movements to see the world in your way rather than God's way, or if not that, at least to assume that your way is

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God's way, that the two are one in the same. And this is a very dangerous idea because there is no such thing as your truth or my truth or his truth or her truth in scripture.

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There is only the truth. And that comes when you believe the word of the living God, not every foolish idea that pops into your fallen head.

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So in summary, not only is Bethel's female pastor violating what the scriptures teach with regards to the roles of men and women in the church, but she's also preaching a convoluted form of subjective truth that will undoubtedly lead people away from God and towards their own flesh and their own sinful ideas.

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She and all of those who follow her can indeed be forgiven in Christ of all of these things. Let's never forget that.

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So let's pray earnestly that she would repent of this foolishness and turn to the truth of God's word.

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And until next time fight for truth, never surrender and keep your eyes open. Thank you. And God bless.