So far, Bethel has tried to say that the reason they said nothing for the past eight years is that the sample size of offenses was too small. No wait, it was because we could not get consensus as to the offenses. Just kidding, it was really because Shawn denied it and who can really say? Now it was because there was no definitive proof or repentance. We did not say anything because we just weren't sure. All the leaders who were sounding the alarm? Hey, they were free to do whatever they wanted but Bethel would keep its mouth shut. Even though now Bethel is admitting that on top of faking words of knowledge that could ruin people's lives, Bolz also engaged in sexual harassment and potentially violations of other labor laws. Did Bethel not own a calculator back then because this seems pretty easy to add up. If his character is so weak as to create hostile work environments through sexual harassment, doesn't that make the likelihood of the fake words of knowledge seem more credible? Also, all you did was recommend to the victims to seek legal action? And what? You walked away? You thought you had done your due diligence? Let me tell you what you didn't do. You didn't warn anybody! You kept feeding your sheep into the Shawn Bolz woodchipper and that culminated in the near death of Jubilee Dawn! We spoke to his board and had limited knowledge? Is that the best you can do?
"Romans 13 teaches us that God has placed civil leaders in place as ministers of God for the kinds of issues his former team member brought to us. Furthermore, their experience was absolutely important and personal, and as such was their story to tell, not ours, and to take action if they desired. This is the general context to which Kris was speaking in the text messages that were posted on social media." - Bethel Church
Oh, so now it is because of Romans 13? Not. There is no prohibition in Romans 13 that says a church leader cannot warn the flock about a wolf. None. The texts from Vallotton to the former Bolz Ministry worker were damning. Essentially, Vallotton told this person, hey sue him if you want. Also in these texts, Vallotton admits that he was pulling all of Shawn's books from the Bethel bookstore, referred to Shawn's prophetic ministry as dishonest, told Shawn to not invite any Bethel staff on his podcast, that he has no desire to have any relationship with him, advised Bolz's board to pull him from ministry, and spoke to other false teachers to advise them to cancel Shawn from their events. Wait a minute. I thought there was no consensus and only Shawn and the Lord know the truth? I thought it mattered that Shawn denied all of this? This statement contradicts itself all over the place. Keep in mind that Bethel is saying that Bolz was so bad that his prophetic ministry was false, pulled all of his books and forbade their staff from going on his podcast but not bad enough to actually warn the sheep? Perhaps this nugget from these texts gives the game away:
"At
this point we don't intend to make a public statement about Shawn. As you
pointed out, a public statement wouldn't just hurt Shawn but the entire
prophetic ministry world wide." - Kris Vallotton
Uh-huh.
Protect the brand at all costs. Screw the sheep. Screw the truth. Screw Jubilee
Dawn. By the way, since it is obvious Kris Vallotton knew full and well that
Shawn's ministry was entirely fake, why would that damage the prophetic
ministry worldwide? Wouldn't it show that you could police your own? Wouldn't
it start a needed conversation about standards? The bottom line is Kris was
concerned about the bottom line, which is always, the grift.
"Shawn
was a trusted guest minister who spoke often on our platform. If Shawn worked
for us, or was truly or officially under our covering, the situation would have
been handled much differently. We would have not just appealed to Shawn, we
would have required a comprehensive and righteous response. Whether
related or not, shortly after we addressed our concerns, it appeared that Shawn
took steps to adjust how he operated in words of knowledge. He just recently
spoke to some of the changes he has made, which can be found on his website." -
Bethel Church
Oh,
now it was that he wasn't an employee? That he was just a "guest minister?" If
this guy was so false and toxic years ago, why are you posting links to his
site in this very statement and selling the notion that he has made "changes."
Who cares! The man was caught LYING about what God had said. He was caught
mining social media and then faking words of knowledge, one of which almost got
someone killed! Who cares if he updated his fake "prophetic standards?" He had
no standards, and he is not prophetic! Why are you still treating this as if he
is anything but the wolf, we all know that he is? It does not matter if he
worked for you. You promoted him! You owed your sheep a warning.
"In the absence of clarity about both what really happened with some of the words of knowledge, and having addressed the issues with his former team members and found his response lacking, we made the decision to step back from our ministry connection. This meant: 1. We did not have him ministering to our people or movement, or have his materials in our stores (though we missed some things until recently). 2. We communicated our concern, confusion, and his denials to the leaders who initially raised concerns about the words of knowledge with us, as well as to leaders closely connected to Shawn and made the evidence available to them for them to make their own decision. 3. We firmly admonished and warned him, and he responded by making some changes in both of these areas. 4. We made it clear that global leaders were concerned and watching closely. These were all clear boundaries that produced some of the necessary changes." - Bethel Church
