Lord, Lord!
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
— Matthew 7:15–20
Shawn Bolz and Bethel Church
On January 17, 2026, YouTube Christian teacher Mike Winger released a video almost six hours long exposing a scandal within Bethel Church of Redding, California, one of the largest megachurches in America with over 11,000 members, an affiliated school of ministry, and two music labels. The scandal was centered around Shawn Bolz, a “prophet” who claimed to hear supernatural “words of knowledge” regarding people in the congregation. While Bolz was not on Bethel’s staff, the church platformed him to “preach and prophesy” in the church and with their teams on many occasions.
The scandal around Bolz was two-fold. First, he was accused of giving fraudulent “words of knowledge.” For those outside the charismatic Christian world, a “word of knowledge” is a specific message from God to a person in the congregation. Such messages are often authenticated by the speaker’s knowledge of the particulars of a person’s life: family member names, street addresses, etc. Those familiar with stage psychics may recognize that such things could be faked by cold reading, where the psychic throws out vague facts and becomes more specific based on the recipient’s responses, body language, etc..
Shawn went beyond the techniques of cold reading, however, and used a technique called “hot reading,” where he actually researched the recipients of these words of knowledge. He did this by using social media research on the people registered to attend his “prophetic” conferences. From a Premier Christianity article on the subject:
Bolz is on record as stating God gave him a “prophetic upgrade” in 2013 which allowed him to give more specific words of knowledge. That just happens to be the same year that Facebook made itself more searchable — allegedly allowing Bolz to look people up before meeting them. Winger also documents a case where Bolz tries to tell a person their address, but she doesn’t recognise the reference. It turns out that if you search Facebook, there’s another woman by the same name in that town who lived at that address.
Beyond the fraudulent words of knowledge, and even more concerning, Winger also documented Bolz’s abusive sexual behavior around men working for his ministry.
The main point of Winger’s video, though, is not just to expose Bolz. In fact, the accusations around him were already known to the leaders of Bethel Church. Rather than going public and repenting of having platformed a false prophet and a wolf among the flock, they had quietly backed away from him. This shirking of the responsibility for protecting the church of God is the focus of Winger’s video, and the focus of their letter of apology and repentance.
Ravi Zacharias
In a similar vein, after the world-renowned Christian evangelist and apologist Ravi Zacharias died, it came to light that he had engaged in years of abusive sexual conduct mainly occurring in the massage parlors he owned. As documented in another Premier Christianity article:
One interviewee said he called her his “reward” for living a life of service to God, and warned her not to speak out or she would be responsible for the loss of “millions of souls”.
In the case of Zacharias, a culture of deference for the “godly evangelist” led to a cover-up of multiple instances of sexual abuse.
The Heresy of the Balance
Both in the case of Bolz and particularly in the case of Zacharias, there we those who bought into an idea that a great leader must be given great leeway in his personal affairs, an idea that somehow the great works he does give him a free pass to engage in a little “fun,” now and then. Sure, some people may get hurt along the way, but how does that compare with the multitudes whose lives are changed for the better? We all have our own shadowy sins; shouldn’t we focus less on that and more on “calling out the gold” in those around us? Don’t the great works balance out a little abuse on the side?
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Jesus actually answered this idea directly in His sermon on the mount in Matthew:
Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
— Matthew 7:22–23
The heresy of the balance is appealing to us. We see the visible benefits of the ‘great man of God,’ while the human costs are hidden or invisible. For those in the business world, it’s like the toxic high-performer on the team. The sales guy that demoralizes the entire office, but whose numbers can’t be beat. The software developer cranking out features left and right, but who no one else can work with. The benefits are visible; the costs are hidden. In the toxic high performer, you don’t notice all the folks who leave the team or underperform because they just can’t stand the guy.
And in ministry, those hurt often just… leave. They don’t want to make a fuss. Better to move on to personal healing. And who can blame them? Too often, bringing forth the accusation does nothing more than re-victimize them as the predator paints them as his persecutors. And the world becomes ever more full of those who see the church as a place of abuse, because that’s what it has been to them. To accept the heresy of the balance is to reject the Holy Spirit’s power to use someone other than the superstar, and to neglect the abused child of God for whom Jesus gave His life.
What’s a faithful church to do?
The first step has to be cultural; we all need to recognize that great works do not excuse great sin. The Roman Catholic Church is having a reckoning. The Southern Baptists are having a reckoning. Scouting America is even having a reckoning. In all these cases, training and programs to root out abuse are making a difference. But in each of these cases, the safety programs were only born out of the wreckage of their victim’s lives. We can do better. We must do better.
Pastors must protect people from predators. And for when the pastor is the predator, systems of accountability and safety must be put in place even for the pastor. If that pastor is seen as a great man (or woman!) of God, the need for guardrails is even greater. When abuse comes to light, it needs to come to light, not be quietly dealt with via NDAs, allowing the perpetrator to victimize others, as they move on to another congregation. Maybe that’s why Paul advises:
Do not receive an accusation against an elder except from two or three witnesses. Those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all, that the rest also may fear.
— 1 Timothy 5:19–20
Churches ought to be places of healing, where redeemed individuals grow in grace and learn to live in community and love with one another. Pastors must protect the flock of God, knowing that they serve the great Shepherd, and will give an account to Him for those entrusted to their care. We must always choose to protect the sheep rather than the reputation of the shepherd.
