clean

We have taken a stand…

Many churches that believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit have a close association of the teaching of Bethel Church in Redding, CA.

The senior pastor of that church teaches that Jesus substantively changed by giving up His omnipotence and laying aside His divinity when He became man, and teaches that He had to be born again because He substantively became sin:

• “Jesus had no ability to heal the sick.  He couldn’t cast out devils, and He had no ability to raise the dead.” (From: The Supernatural Power of a Transformed Mind)
• “Did you know that Jesus was born again? ... He had to be. He became sin.” (From: multiple sermon recordings online)
• “Jesus lived His earthly life with human limitations.  He laid his divinity aside...” (From: When Heaven Invades Earth)

We believe this is heresy.

Divinity is all-or nothing. God isn't "kind of God."  Saying Jesus became a little bit less God is the same as saying He became not-God.  And we believe that is heresy against Jesus, and nobody who is filled with the Holy Spirit could blaspheme against Jesus (see 1 Corinthians 12:3).  They say they are spirit-filled and it is clearly not the Holy Spirit.  So it is our firmly held belief that they are filled with a different, wrong spirit.

We have lost friends, church members and future church members because of this stand.  We urge church people who have gotten caught up in the teachings of Bethel to repent, and return to the Jesus of the Bible.