2 Timothy 4:2-4: “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”
The Bethel Ministries megachurch, based in Redding, California, is well known for its outrageous antics and Christ defying behaviour.
From promoting extra-biblical revelation to attempting to raise people from the dead, it really doesn’t take much discernment to know this church is filled to the brim with heresy.
Then there is the falling gold dust and feathers which appear at their meetings, apparently sent by God, as He often did that in the Bible. Oh no wait, He didn’t.
A “glory cloud” also apparently appears at meetings, similar to the pillar of cloud that guided Moses and the children of Israel. One would imagine they would deny a smoke machine is in any way utilised at meetings.
Add in to the mixture the rumours of ‘grave sucking’, denied in somewhat unconvincing terms by Bethel’s leader, Bill Johnson, and you have a truly frightening prospect.
However, all this doesn’t seem to be deterring Journey Community Church in Antrim from inviting this heretical mob to spread their lies and deceits in Northern Ireland.
Bethel Church were in Glenmachan Church of God, a rather licentious pentecostal church in east Belfast, for a conference, called the Kingdom Come Conference, which was organised by Journey Community Church in Antrim.
We are not sure why they didn’t host the event at their own premises, but perhaps it wasn’t big enough to cope with the numbers they expected to join in this rejection of any form of decent worship or preaching of God’s Word.
The main draw, as it were, of Bethel Ministries is the method employed by so many charismatic heretics throughout our land and further afield – Contemporary Christian Music (CCM).
Music thumping out which sounds just like a pop concert carried out by any worldly music act, singers flailing about on stage, whipping the attendees into a frenzy, characterises much of this nonsense.
Creating a racket is not an indication of nearness to God.
Amos 5:21-24 says: “I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.”
All this worldliness makes it easier to introduce the heresies taught by this evil movement, giving its adherents a false assurance of salvation.
And this is what Journey Community Church is inflicting on its followers and the people of Antrim and Belfast and throughout Ulster.
John Ashe (pictured, top) is the leader of Journey Community Church and he is quoted promoting the conference online.
He has serious questions to answer in organising and promoting this absolutely outrageous event.
Does he agree that there is extra Biblical revelation?
Bethel Ministries does.
Its leader, Bill Johnson, says in his book, ‘When Heaven Invades Earth’, the following: “Those who feel safe because of their intellectual grasp of Scriptures enjoy a false sense of security. None of us has a full grasp of Scripture, but we all have the Holy Spirit. He is our common denominator who will always lead us into truth. But to follow Him, we must be willing to follow off the map—to go beyond what we know.”
So the Bible doesn’t quite cut it for Bethel Ministries; private revelation, allegedly by the Holy Spirit, is very much the thing.
The Bible, however, stands alone. It says in Revelation 22:18: “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book”.
But Bethel Ministries, John Ashe and Journey Community Church know better, they think.
Does John Ashe believe that it is possible, today, to raise someone from the dead?
Bethel Ministries does.
Another senior figure in that movement, Kris Vallotton, wrote in the Charisma Magazine of 27 February, 2012: “Some of the students from the Supernatural School of Ministry decided to go down to the morgue and “practice” raising the dead! Crazy? Maybe, but I admire their faith and their guts. It wasn’t Bill or me who gave them the idea, they were actually inspired by reading the Bible. Evidently, they thought they should believe what Jesus said. They definitely have more faith and courage than I do. So far they haven’t raised anyone at the mortuary from the dead, but it hasn’t deterred them a bit. I have heard of some students from another school that started a DRT team. You guessed it, the letters stand for Dead Raising Team! I really don’t know if they have had any success yet. I do know of several Christians who have raised the dead.”
That truly is laughable, isn’t it? Or it would be if it weren’t so sad.
Does John Ashe believe it would be appropriate for members of Journey Community Church to head to a morgue, perhaps at Antrim Area Hospital, to try to raise people from the dead?
As for the grave sucking, as we mentioned above, it has been denied in rather unconvincing terms.
In his book, ‘The Physics of Heaven’, Bill Johnson says: “There are anointings, mantles, revelations and mysteries that have lain unclaimed, literally where they were left, because the generation that walked in them never passed them on. I believe it’s possible for us to recover realms of anointing, realms of insight, realms of God that have been untended for decades simply by choosing to reclaim them and perpetuate them for future generations.”
Does John Ashe believe that “anointings, mantles, revelations and mysteries have lain unclaimed” because the dead didn’t pass them on before they breathed their last?
But hey, we’ll ignore all that because Bethel play some catchy music, won’t we?
The chief musician helping make Bible rejection look attractive is Kristene Di Marco, while also in attendance is Eric Johnson, the senior pastor and presumably a relation of the leader, Bill Johnson. Chris Cruz, the Young Adults Pastor and Jordan Di Marco, the pastor of the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry.
This is, of course, the school which boasts students who were trying to raise people from the dead.
The Kingdom Come conference was held over the past three days, from 4-6 April, and we would encourage readers to share this article widely to help warn of the dreadful heresies being promoted by Journey Community Church.
While the Antrim branch was hosting this event, there is also a branch in Downpatrick, County Down.
We would encourage all readers to speak out forthrightly and fearlessly against this church as it has entangled itself with the dreadful blasphemies of Bethel Ministries.
And to anyone who attended the conference, please consider this matter in the light of God’s Word and see whether such teachings as propagated by Bethel Ministries are in any way defensible.
1 John 4:1: “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”
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