Apologetics Index

Pastored by 'apostle' Bill Johnson, Bethel Church in Redding, California is an influential church in the so-called New Apostolic Reformation (NAR).

The NAR is a heterodox movement in Protestant Christianity in which people follow present-day apostles and prophets who claim to govern the church and give new divine revelation that is needed to set up God's kingdom on earth.

Bethel's teachings and practices also identify the church as part of the equally problematic Word-Faith Movement.

» Update: A Biblical Response to Bethel Church's Attempts to Raise a Two-Year-Old Child, Olive, From the Dead.

Since Christ's sacrifice for believers is said to suffice for our cleansing for sin, making animal sacrifices unnecessary, some people see the description of millennial sacrifices in Ezekiel 40-48 as contradicting New Testament teaching about the finality and sufficiency of Christ's sacrifice on the cross.

Many people who have taken to themselves the role of shepherding God's sheep use the rod and staff to beat the sheep when they should be gentle, yet they stand by idly when wolves attack the sheep.

Christians who think of themselves as more spiritual than common believers are usually less spiritual in the things that really matter to God.   

The same reasoning that develops a five-fold ministry doctrine from Ephesians 4:11 could develop a seven-fold or eight-fold ministry doctrine from other scripture verses.

Steven Hassan is a cult expert with nearly 40 years of experience.

Hassan, a licensed mental health counselor (M.Ed. LMHC, NCC), is at the forefront of the cult education and recovery field, in which he has been involved since 1976.

A former cult member himself, he is an expert on the subject of mind control -- the coercive persuasion methods used by manipulative people to recruit and hold on to followers.

An extremist sect controversial for its un-biblical beliefs and cult-like practices. Theologically Aggressive Christianity Mission Training Corps is a cult of Christianity. Sociologically it is a destructive cult.

Update, September 28, 1018: Cult leader Deborah Green, 71, has been sentenced to 72 years in prison.