while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. - 2Timothy 3:13 (ESV)
Amidst the grind of discernment ministries, we come across a myriad of false teachers and organizations that often have differing perspectives and reasons for their deception. The key verse reminds us that false teachers can be deceivers and themselves deceived. I have often said that I can live with the fact that someone like Joel Osteen may actually have convinced himself that he is doing Christian good. Then you have someone that is more obviously a huckster such as Benny Hinn. It was almost comical to watch Charismatic leaders and gatekeeper such as Dr. Michael Brown fawn over the fact that Hinn claimed to have repented from the prosperity gospel, AFTER fleecing the flock to the tune of 50 million dollars. It is easy to repent then but Benny was just lying about that too as he was quickly back hocking his wares to the easily deceived masses.
When it comes to hucksters fleecing the flock however, perhaps not enough attention has been paid to Bethel Church, a virtual cesspool of false theology. Now, I have covered the greed of Bethel before, whether it be their silly weeklong prophecy conference which rakes in over a million dollars per conference or the absurd creation of new giftings such as "solutionaries" so that they can sell bogus trainings on such. The breadth and scope however of the false teachings of Bethel often drown out the fact that they are premier grifters. There is of little doubt that they fall into the deceiver category. They embrace nearly every false teaching out there today, perhaps because they have an angle for monetizing each one. I say these things as a backdrop to a recent revelation that the next big Bethel conference is called the "Regis Conference", to be held in May for only 50 choice business leaders. Why only 50? To provide the air of specialty, and besides, when charging $6000 per head, you are guaranteed a haul of $300,000 for just two days of specious content. Realize too that Bethel has minimized their own costs because of the twelve listed activities over the two days, two are meals, and six are conducted by Vallotton himself. That leaves four sessions, two of which are panel discussions, one conducted by the guests. The remining two activities are a prophetic ministry facilitated by his fake Spiritual Intelligence Institute team, the aforementioned "solutionaries." I am confident this is scheduled to sell the guests on ordering their own custom prophetic report for only an additional $2750. That's another 137K if he can convince them all to sign on. So, almost half a million dollars and he only has to pay one guest speaker. Even after paying his tribute to Bill Johnson, Vallotton stands to make a pretty penny in May.
And for what? His opening session is trying to convince these business folks that their work, is worship unto the Lord. While that sounds pious, it really depends on the work now, doesn't it? His second session is called "redefining reality," a subject Kris is well versed in. The point being that this really smells like a grift inside of a grift. The webpage promoting the Regis Conference boasts that they will connect and activate you with the "More of God." Once again, sounding spiritual but devoid of anything truly of God. The idea here is they want more. More money, more money, more money. They already have the million-dollar weeklong conference looming in August but why not shake down local business leaders and convince them that they too can become "solutionaries" by paying more money to Kris Vallotton.
This conference though is just a microcosm. It is a small glimpse into the broad Bethel grift. One might understand why they need to sell everything short of magical, angelic prayer cloths (don't steal the idea Kris!) when we find out that they just broke ground on a 96 million dollars "Apostolic Training Center." It seems they have outgrown their fake Supernatural School. Take in this staggering amount for a second. One church, with 12,000 congregants, has just chosen to "invest" in expanding themselves to the tune of 96 million dollars. This number of course will not be paid by Kris and Bill. This will be paid by the average person foolish enough to attend Bethel. According to a 2018 report, Bethel brought in over 21 million in tithes, which only represented 35% of their revenue. Bethel TV and music brought in another 25 million, which we should consider the next time we ponder if our churches should be singing Bethel songs. The answer is a resounding no. Tuition for their fake school also generated another 13 million. That's a whole lotta grifting going on. Now now, without being too negative, they did brag about their accomplishments for all that money by sharing some choice statistics from their 2020 Annual Report (thanks to Protestia). That includes an underwhelming 136 baptisms, which broken out over the 60 million in revenue amounts to just over $440,000 per baptism. Maybe if we look at the purported 15,000 "prophetic words" given. That is $4000 per prophetic word. About the same price tag for the 13,000 people who received prayer in the "healing rooms." There were 249 million Bethel music songs streamed, 12,000 conference attendees, and 523,000 Bethel TV members.
Maybe all of this faux-spiritual stuff is not your cup of tea. No worries! Bethel's grifting appeals to the non-spiritual as well with the "Bethel Conservatory of the Arts." Here you can pursue a BA in Acting from a thoroughly unaccredited school, for only $27,000 per year! Or you could go the frugal route and pursue and acting certificate for a measly $14,000. Are you instead into dance? Well, you are in luck because for only another 14K you can get a dance certificate. In fact, 14K seems to be the going rate even for "screenwriting" and "Film and New Media." Mind you, these are just tuition costs, no room and board included. Bethel actually proclaims that "God is raising up and army of actors who will release His kingdom to the world." There is no doubt an army of actors is rising in these end times but it sure is not from God. If you are a business leader, I will save you $6000 by telling you to not attend a sucker's conference. You are not a solutionary and Kris Vallotton cannot perform a personal prophecy report for you. If you are not a business leader and just a regular churchgoer - go somewhere else. Go somewhere that does not insult your intelligence and wallet. There is a real God and a real gospel. The time? It is running real short. Mark and avoid the grift of the master grifter - Kris Vallotton and Bethel church. Mark and avoid.
