Description
Bethel Church, California, is one of the most popular and polarising churches in America. With its own Christian music label, reports of miraculous healings, and the manifestation of a glittering Glory cloud, the congregation of Bethel Church is ever-growing. Bethel Church situates itself in the global movement of the New Apostolic Reformation, believing that present-day apostles and prophets must govern the church. Some praise the church for the clear manifestation of God’s activity; others see the integration of controversial and hazardous practices into the church.
In Reckless Christianity, Holly Pivec and R. Douglas Geivett provide meticulous research and an incisive critique of the Bethel movement. Citing its charismatic senior leader, Bill Johnson, as promoting a “reckless” Christianity, Pivec and Geivett return to Scripture, the authoritative Word of God, to provide guidance on the boundaries of practice and where these boundaries are crossed. In its pursuit of experimentation, Reckless Christianity argues that the leaders of Bethel are pulling its followers into a dangerously speculative and experience-driven Faith.
About the Author
Holly Pivec is an independent researcher who writes on New Apostolic Reformation, apologetics, and theology.
R. Douglas Geivett is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Biola University, California. He specialises in the philosophy of religion, philosophical theology, epistemology and the history of modern philosophy.
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
1 The Man, the Ministry, and the Movement Transforming Churches Worldwide
2 The Bethel Apostles and Prophets Governing Churches
3 Evaluating the Bethel Apostles and Prophets Governing Churches
4 The Bethel Apostles and Prophets Giving New Revelation
5 Evaluating the Bethel Apostles and Prophets Giving New Revelation
6 Bringing Heaven to Earth
7 The “Greater Works” and the “Billion-Soul Harvest”
8 Evaluating Bethel Teachings about the “Greater Works” and the “Billion-Soul Harvest”
9 Reckless Christianity
Bibliography
Subject Index
Scripture Index
Endorsements and Reviews
Reckless Christianity exposes the dangerous and heretical teachings and practices of the Global Movement of Apostles and Prophets. I was struck by the parallels with the so-called Toronto Blessing, or ‘Laughing Gospel,’ that was all the rage thirty years ago. It seems every generation has to cook up something new that allegedly takes us back to the miracles and prophecies of the first-generation church. Pivec and Geivett rightly warn their readers to steer clear of this new heresy. Craig A. Evans, author of From Jesus to the Church
Pivec and Geivett have produced an impressive, even-handed, and meticulously researched and documented critique of the burgeoning Bethel movement. This book is written in an easy, readable style undergirded by scholarly rigor in support of all of its claims. Beyond its value as a clarion warning against one of the most rapidly spreading toxic movements within evangelical Christendom, I recommend this book as a model for how to exercise spiritual discernment, evaluate evidence, and sort through competing truth claims. Alan W. Gomes, author of Unmasking the Cults
