Coronavirus Cause?
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California mega-church cancels its ‘faith healing’ hospital visits, citing coronavirus
BY RYAN SABALOW
A prominent Northern California mega-church whose members believe their prayers heal the sick and raise the dead is advising the faithful to wash their hands, urging those who feel sick to stay home, canceling missionary trips and advising its faith healers to stay away from local hospitals.
Bethel Church leaders say they’re in close contact with local health officials, but they’re not yet canceling services for the 6,300 people who attend services each week in Redding, one of the largest regular gatherings in far Northern California.
“Through email communications, signage, and church announcements, we are actively encouraging health practices and precautions to our whole community,” Aaron Tesauro, a church spokesman, said in an email. “We believe that wisdom, modern medicine, and faith are meant to work together, and express the value for each in the pursuit of continued health and healing.”
Bethel is one of the north state’s largest institutions. Some 2,400 students from around the globe are enrolled at the Redding church’s School of Supernatural Ministry. The church has around 9,100 other members in Redding, Tesauro said.
Bethel faithful are well known in Redding for approaching strangers and offering to touch them and to pray away their ailments including at local healthcare centers — a practice that is now at odds with public health officials’ campaign to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Health officials advise practice “social distancing measures” such as keeping at least six feet of space between people in public settings.
One Redding woman told The Sacramento Bee on Saturday that on Jan. 31, she was approached by two Bethel students in the emergency room at Mercy Medical Center in Redding. The pair said “they would pray over the people there and put Jesus in their hearts and this would heal us all and we didn’t need to stay at the ER and could go home,” the woman said in a text message. She asked not to be identified to protect her family’s privacy.
She said she filed a complaint with the hospital after one of the students touched her 5-year-old daughter without permission. Mercy didn’t return a message seeking comment.
Tesauro said that while students regularly visit hospitals to offer healing services, church leadership is now advising against it.
“Though we believe in a God who actively heals today, students are not being encouraged to visit healthcare settings at this time, and moreover, are taught that even under normal circumstances, they must receive permission from both the facility and the individual before engaging in prayer,” Tesauro said in the email.
Kerri Schuette, a spokeswoman for Shasta County’s Health and Human Services Agency, responded cautiously when asked what someone should do if approached by a stranger seeking to faith heal them.
“I would say that having a healthy barrier between yourself and other people is a good way to protect yourself from any of the diseases that are circulating right now,” she said.
RELIGIOUS SKEPTICS RESPOND
For skeptics of faith healing, Bethel probably would have been criticized no matter what it did in response to the virus.
As it was, there was no shortage of schadenfreude that a church known for claiming to have healed everything from brain tumors to deafness is now telling people to wash their hands to keep disease at bay.
“It’s clear that when it comes to something really serious like coronavirus, their actions speak louder than their words,” said Michael Shermer, the editor of Skeptic magazine and a professor at Chapman University in Southern California. “So, God is omniscient and omnipotent and can cure diseases if he wants, but just in case: wash your hands!”
Bill Johnson, the church’s founder, says on his website that not everyone who wants to be healed will be.
“Many visit Redding weekly, hoping that God will touch them. I am happy to report that many leave well and whole,” Johnson wrote. “But many others leave in the same condition in which they came. I refuse to blame God for this, as though He has a purpose in their disease. While Jesus did not heal everyone alive in His time, He did heal everyone who came to Him. His is the only standard worth following.”
Tesauro, the church spokesman, said the Bethel faithful believe in the healing power of prayer, but God also wants believers to practice common sense. “Healing happens, but it’s foolish to take risks,” he said in an interview.
Bethel is among a group of “charismatic” Pentecostal Christian churches whose beliefs are controversial among evangelicals. During religious functions at Bethel, church members reportedly speak in tongues and members claim gold dust and angel feathers appear out of the air.
Late last year, hundreds of church members gathered in an attempt to resurrect a 2-year-old named Olive Heiligenthal, hours after the toddler had stopped breathing and died on Dec. 14. Church members gathered to sing, “Come alive/ Come alive/ Come alive, dry bones/ Awake, arise/ Inhale the light.” Thousands of people posted on Instagram with the hashtag #WakeUpOlive.
In October 2008, a Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry student moved to Washington and started a “dead-raising team” that worked with members of the local fire department to pray over bodies found on emergency calls, according to the Redding Record Searchlight.
Johnson’s church produces a popular preaching subscription streaming service called Bethel.TV, and it sells products including apparel and books.
Bethel is perhaps best known internationally for its Christian music. Justin Bieber is a fan. The Bethel track “No Longer Slaves” was one the top three songs on his iPod playlist, according to a 2017 Buzzfeed News article. The song’s YouTube video has been played 115 million times.
LAWSUIT OVER CLIFF FALL
Bethel’s belief in the power of resurrection at one point factored into a local attempted murder investigation.
In 2010, a Redding man claimed in a lawsuit that he became paralyzed after he was either pushed or allowed to fall off a cliff above the Sacramento River by two members of the School of Supernatural Ministry after a night of drinking together, the Record Searchlight reported.
Rather than call authorities, the suit alleged the two students, who believed he had died, attempted to reach him so they could pray him back to life. After spending hours unsuccessfully trying to ford the river and push through blackberry bushes, they eventually notified authorities, who found the unconscious man and took him to a local hospital.
For a time, Redding police investigated the incident as a possible attempted murder, but no charges were filed.
Bethel Church has deeply ingrained itself into Redding’s political scene.
In 2011, the city was nearly forced to close its dilapidated Civic Center from a lack of funds. Bethel founded a nonprofit that now manages the facility. The building is still owned by the city, and the church says the nonprofit is an independent entity from the church.
The Civic Center receives $750,000 a year from the church, which uses it for its School of Supernatural Ministry. The building also is featured prominently on the church’s website.
BY RYAN SABALOW
A prominent Northern California mega-church whose members believe their prayers heal the sick and raise the dead is advising the faithful to wash their hands, urging those who feel sick to stay home, canceling missionary trips and advising its faith healers to stay away from local hospitals.
Bethel Church leaders say they’re in close contact with local health officials, but they’re not yet canceling services for the 6,300 people who attend services each week in Redding, one of the largest regular gatherings in far Northern California.
“Through email communications, signage, and church announcements, we are actively encouraging health practices and precautions to our whole community,” Aaron Tesauro, a church spokesman, said in an email. “We believe that wisdom, modern medicine, and faith are meant to work together, and express the value for each in the pursuit of continued health and healing.”
Bethel is one of the north state’s largest institutions. Some 2,400 students from around the globe are enrolled at the Redding church’s School of Supernatural Ministry. The church has around 9,100 other members in Redding, Tesauro said.
Bethel faithful are well known in Redding for approaching strangers and offering to touch them and to pray away their ailments including at local healthcare centers — a practice that is now at odds with public health officials’ campaign to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Health officials advise practice “social distancing measures” such as keeping at least six feet of space between people in public settings.
One Redding woman told The Sacramento Bee on Saturday that on Jan. 31, she was approached by two Bethel students in the emergency room at Mercy Medical Center in Redding. The pair said “they would pray over the people there and put Jesus in their hearts and this would heal us all and we didn’t need to stay at the ER and could go home,” the woman said in a text message. She asked not to be identified to protect her family’s privacy.
She said she filed a complaint with the hospital after one of the students touched her 5-year-old daughter without permission. Mercy didn’t return a message seeking comment.
Tesauro said that while students regularly visit hospitals to offer healing services, church leadership is now advising against it.
“Though we believe in a God who actively heals today, students are not being encouraged to visit healthcare settings at this time, and moreover, are taught that even under normal circumstances, they must receive permission from both the facility and the individual before engaging in prayer,” Tesauro said in the email.
Kerri Schuette, a spokeswoman for Shasta County’s Health and Human Services Agency, responded cautiously when asked what someone should do if approached by a stranger seeking to faith heal them.
“I would say that having a healthy barrier between yourself and other people is a good way to protect yourself from any of the diseases that are circulating right now,” she said.
RELIGIOUS SKEPTICS RESPOND
For skeptics of faith healing, Bethel probably would have been criticized no matter what it did in response to the virus.
As it was, there was no shortage of schadenfreude that a church known for claiming to have healed everything from brain tumors to deafness is now telling people to wash their hands to keep disease at bay.
“It’s clear that when it comes to something really serious like coronavirus, their actions speak louder than their words,” said Michael Shermer, the editor of Skeptic magazine and a professor at Chapman University in Southern California. “So, God is omniscient and omnipotent and can cure diseases if he wants, but just in case: wash your hands!”
Bill Johnson, the church’s founder, says on his website that not everyone who wants to be healed will be.
“Many visit Redding weekly, hoping that God will touch them. I am happy to report that many leave well and whole,” Johnson wrote. “But many others leave in the same condition in which they came. I refuse to blame God for this, as though He has a purpose in their disease. While Jesus did not heal everyone alive in His time, He did heal everyone who came to Him. His is the only standard worth following.”
Tesauro, the church spokesman, said the Bethel faithful believe in the healing power of prayer, but God also wants believers to practice common sense. “Healing happens, but it’s foolish to take risks,” he said in an interview.
Bethel is among a group of “charismatic” Pentecostal Christian churches whose beliefs are controversial among evangelicals. During religious functions at Bethel, church members reportedly speak in tongues and members claim gold dust and angel feathers appear out of the air.
Late last year, hundreds of church members gathered in an attempt to resurrect a 2-year-old named Olive Heiligenthal, hours after the toddler had stopped breathing and died on Dec. 14. Church members gathered to sing, “Come alive/ Come alive/ Come alive, dry bones/ Awake, arise/ Inhale the light.” Thousands of people posted on Instagram with the hashtag #WakeUpOlive.
In October 2008, a Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry student moved to Washington and started a “dead-raising team” that worked with members of the local fire department to pray over bodies found on emergency calls, according to the Redding Record Searchlight.
Johnson’s church produces a popular preaching subscription streaming service called Bethel.TV, and it sells products including apparel and books.
Bethel is perhaps best known internationally for its Christian music. Justin Bieber is a fan. The Bethel track “No Longer Slaves” was one the top three songs on his iPod playlist, according to a 2017 Buzzfeed News article. The song’s YouTube video has been played 115 million times.
LAWSUIT OVER CLIFF FALL
Bethel’s belief in the power of resurrection at one point factored into a local attempted murder investigation.
In 2010, a Redding man claimed in a lawsuit that he became paralyzed after he was either pushed or allowed to fall off a cliff above the Sacramento River by two members of the School of Supernatural Ministry after a night of drinking together, the Record Searchlight reported.
Rather than call authorities, the suit alleged the two students, who believed he had died, attempted to reach him so they could pray him back to life. After spending hours unsuccessfully trying to ford the river and push through blackberry bushes, they eventually notified authorities, who found the unconscious man and took him to a local hospital.
For a time, Redding police investigated the incident as a possible attempted murder, but no charges were filed.
Bethel Church has deeply ingrained itself into Redding’s political scene.
In 2011, the city was nearly forced to close its dilapidated Civic Center from a lack of funds. Bethel founded a nonprofit that now manages the facility. The building is still owned by the city, and the church says the nonprofit is an independent entity from the church.
The Civic Center receives $750,000 a year from the church, which uses it for its School of Supernatural Ministry. The building also is featured prominently on the church’s website.
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Coronavirus is the least of the worries of the world, its just a flu. Cancer is way more serious and that exists, even in babies. Why? Because when Adam and Eve sinned, the world was cursed and part of the curse is illnesses.
Jesus loves us enough to save us from sin, death and hell. But He will not save us from this flesh facing death or illness here, everyone dies, unless they are alive at the rapture.
Jesus loves us enough to save us from sin, death and hell. But He will not save us from this flesh facing death or illness here, everyone dies, unless they are alive at the rapture.
Good questions! Perhaps it is simply a fulfillment of Prophecy ?
Definition of pestilence
1: a contagious or infectious epidemic disease that is virulent and devastatingespecially : BUBONIC PLAGUE
2: something that is destructive or pernicious
Here is a Prophecy, that everyone seems to have forgotten about,
Could we be near the end, and Pestilences (Diseases that Kill) are Prophesied:
Revelation 6:8 (ESV)
8 And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth.
Matthew 24:3-7 (NKJV)
3 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?"
4 And Jesus answered and said to them: "Take heed that no one deceives you.
5 For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many.
6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.
It could be just a sign of the Times, a fulfillment of the last days before HIS COMING TO SET UP THE 1000 Year KINGDOM.
I am ready and a waiting for HIM to Call us out to go to the Wedding of the Lamb, how about you?
Were did you get the Idea that Life on this earth would be perfect for Christians ? ? ? That is the 1000 Year KINGDOM life with CHRIST on the Throne of David.
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we had an old woman who had other medical issues die from coronavirus today.This virus came in albania a few days ago and it seems people are taking it lightly 
I do not want to scare everybody, but China working on a Biologic Weapon and it got loose ? ? ? It could be man made and deliberate.
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