Jesus said the end of the age would be characterized by
great deception and an upsurge of false prophets:
"Watch out that no one deceives you... False messiahs
and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders to lead
astray, if possible, even the elect." - Matthew 24:4,24
No doubt, this is already happening. The Body of Christ is
infiltrated with deceptions and false prophets and prophecies that will drag
many souls into tribulation and hell. As someone with a sheep dog ministry who
is called to watch the flock and, occasionally, to bark at these infiltrations,
I can tell you the greatest resistance comes from Christians themselves who don't
want to hear the warnings and would rather suppress them or call me a gossiper
and slanderer, rather than have an open, honest and Bible-based dialog about
the problems.
The Scriptures say we are supposed to test the spirits,
expose darkness and not to tolerate sin and evil. Jesus faulted the church in
Thyatira for tolerating a false prophet and false teacher:
"But I have this against you: You tolerate the woman
Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and teaches and deceives My slaves to
commit sexual immorality and to eat meat sacrificed to idols." -
Revelation 2:20
Jesus also criticized the church in Pergamum for having
false teachers in their ranks.
We can't root out these problems unless we talk
openly about them. Sometimes that means naming names, like the Apostle Paul
did:
"Alexander the coppersmith did great harm to me. The
Lord will repay him according to his works. Watch out for him yourself because
he strongly opposed our words." - 2 Timothy 4:14-15
In fact, leaders in the church are to be rebuked PUBLICLY,
like the Apostle Paul did with the Apostle Peter when Peter started favoring
the Jewish Christians and distancing himself from the Gentiles. I'm not saying mean, snarky comments are acceptable, or that we should not follow biblical protocol for confronting people, but there are times to publicly
expose and rebuke people:
"Don’t accept an accusation against an elder unless it
is supported by two or three witnesses. Publicly rebuke those who sin, so that
the rest will also be afraid." - 1 Timothy 5:19-20
I do not always phrase things in the nicest, gentlest way,
and the Lord is working on me there, but that does not mean these things should
not be said. They should.Those who shut
down open, honest discussions and warnings about false teachings, false
prophecies and false prophets are just as guilty as those who do not bridle their
tongues.
The realization and message in that article came about in an
unexpected, organic way. I did not imagine something like that would happen.
One thing led to another and, in hindsight, it was the Lord directing my steps.
Some people took the message to heart and others rejected
it. I thank God for those who did receive it. It makes me feel like all I went
through was not in vain. It cost me a lot in relationships, strain and illness.
Of the people who rejected it and considered me a slanderer or something like
that, not even one refuted what I said with the Scriptures. No one refuted the
fact that Bette’s vision of the lake of fire inside hell is unbiblical, or that
a vision uttering the cynical words “burn, baby, burn” about nuclear destruction
of America is inconsistent with the loving, just character of God, or that Bette’s
messages are sharp arrows of religious condemnation and fear. I think it says
something about how they value the word of God, as compared to how much they value
supernatural experiences or place blind loyalty in religious people who may be
leading them astray.
Recently Stevens released a video entitled “Witch hunt in
the church.” I did not listen to it, but would guess she says a “witch hunt”
is a bad thing, divisive, based on false accusations. Her choice of the phrase “witch
hunt” suggests medieval witch trials of dunking women in water to determine
whether they float and are guilty. But what do the Scriptures say? We are
supposed to test the spirits, root out false prophets and discern what is true
and false:
"Dear friends, do not
believe every spirit, but test the spirits to determine if they are from God,
because many false prophets have gone out into the world." – 1 John 4:1,
Holman
"But solid food is for
the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant
practice to distinguish good from evil." – Hebrews 5:14, ESV
Jesus warned us that the end of the age would be
characterized by false prophets and great deception:
"Many false prophets will
rise up and deceive many… False messiahs and false prophets will arise and
perform great signs and wonders to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. Take
note: I have told you in advance." – Matthew 24:11,24-25
In fact, false prophets and
witchcraft have become common in the modern church. I see many false prophecies on Christian websites that collect and post
prophecies from various people. For instance, all the prophecies that hail
Donald Trump as chosen by God to restore America or give it a reprieve, a type
of “King Cyrus” – those are all false. But where do the messages come from?
Perhaps the fertile imagination of the person writing them, but in many cases I
think the messages are fed to people by evil spirits. They are “channeling” spirits,
which is witchcraft. That’s why we are commanded to test the spirits. There is
only one Holy Spirit, but many impostors and many false prophets who give them
voice.
Heeding and following false spirits is a form of idolatry:
"But now I am
writing you not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer who is
sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or verbally abusive, a drunkard or a
swindler. Do not even eat with such a person. " - 1 Corinthians 5:11
This is why I separated from the group who uphold Bette
Stevens as a prophetess. They are not safe. Fellowship with them is an open
door to attacks and deceptions. I pray they repent of this idolatry and are
restored.
One more thing, and I've
said this before: Seeking after supernatural
experiences can be dangerous if we value them more than love,
the fruits of the Spirit and truth revealed in the word of God. It can
be a slippery slope into witchcraft. Witchcraft is real and gives
people a sense of power and importance, appealing to the carnal flesh, because it taps into something other-worldly and beyond ourselves. God certainly gives supernatural gifts and experiences, but we need to keep it in perspective and make
sure it is led by the Holy Spirit.
The following exposé is intended as a warning to Christians
about Bette Stevens and her ministry and teaching. I sincerely pray that those
who have been victimized by the religious spirit of condemnation and fear operating
through her will be set free and healed.
There is no Christian
omertà
Omertà is an Italian word for the code of silence employed
by members of the Mafia. Under this code, men do not interfere in the illegal,
nefarious activities of others and do not ever cooperate with authorities or
speak to them. Within the Mafia culture, breaking omertà is punishable by
death. As the Sicilian proverb states, "He who is deaf, blind and silent
will live a hundred years in peace.”
There is no such thing as Christian omertà. There is no code
of silence concerning dark deeds and false doctrines in the Lord’s house. On
the contrary, we are commanded to expose them:
“Don’t participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but
instead expose them.” – Ephesians 5:11
Leaders in the church are to be rebuked publicly, just as
the Apostle Paul did with the Apostle Peter when he stood aloof from the
Gentile believers:
“Publicly rebuke those [elders] who sin, so that the rest
will also be afraid.” – 1 Timothy 5:20
To be silent about sin and false teaching in the name of
keeping peace, or to accuse people of gossip, slander or disunity when they are
sincerely trying to expose works of darkness, is to assist the devil in his
coverup.
Background
Bette Stevens and her husband John are leaders of a ministry
called Victorious Vision Church. Bette claims to be a pastor and prophetess
ordained by a man named Patrick Kirk who claims to be an apostle (more on this
later). She specializes in “deliverance ministry” and prophetic visions. I do
not know Bette personally, but I have read and heard some of her messages and
have witnessed the harmful effects of her ministry on others.
Doctrines of
Condemnation and Fear
I think the best way to explain this is to just share my story.
My friend James exposed me to Bette Stevens. James manages
a Christian blog and online forum called “jcsouthwest,” where for a long time I
participated in the online community. James has a heart for ministry and
regularly creates posts with Scriptures and illustrative graphics. For most of
this year my wife and I also had regularly Skype sessions with James for
conversation and Bible study that we enjoyed.
James knew Bette and John Stevens and had participated in
Bible studies, calls and phone conferences they hosted. Bette’s videos and
messages were posted in the jcsouthwest forum. I watched a little of her videos
about end-times prophecies and teaching, but something about her tone and
presentation disturbed me. In one video in particular about the Mandela Effect,
she seemed fearful and hysterical. Fear and hysteria are not fruits of the Holy
Spirit. This turned me off, but I thought, well, maybe it’s a personality
conflict, maybe I’m being too critical. I know I can be that way sometimes.
In hindsight I was sensing something deeper. When I am around
people or places with a demonic influence or presence, I sometimes feel deeply disturbed
and agitated and intuitively know dark spirits are operating there. It happened
twice in the last week, for example. The first time was when my wife and I met
with a counselor at a local junior high school. The counselor was kind of cold
and the conversation was discouraging and didn’t fully make sense. I experienced
that disturbing, uncomfortable feeling and knew there was a spirit influencing
this person to discourage us. The other time was in a small, privately owned
bookstore. I felt darkness there and quickly left the store because I don’t
like to be around demons if I don’t have to. Discernment of spirits is a
spiritual gift from the Lord (see 1 Corinthians 12:10).
I first started noticing problems when James’ posts and
comments became more condemning, harsh and perfectionist. One post was entitled
“Many Professing Christians Are in Hell” and showed the terrified face of a man
burning in hellfire and a woman falling backward into flames. Many of his
statements were true, but the tone lacked mercy and hope, and not everything
was true. He said that future sins not are covered when we believe in Jesus
Christ, and that we need to confess and ask forgiveness for each and every sin
to be forgiven of it. This implies we are continually bobbing in and out of the
grace of God, and if we happen to die at the wrong moment after committing a
sin, to hell we go. Is God’s faithfulness to his children really that fickle? This
is what the Scriptures say:
“For by a single offering he [Christ] has perfected for all
time those who are being sanctified.” – Hebrews 10:14
This means Christ’s one sacrifice covers our sins for all
time – past, present and future – for we who are being sanctified. Please hear
me carefully, because I am not saying we don’t have to repent of sins, grow in
our faith and remain steadfast in our faith to the end. That’s all true. For a
full response to this issue, please see the recent post:
In another post called “The Great Falling Away,” James
featured the verse in Hebrews 6 about those who have fallen away from the
faith. It’s a sobering verse, yet the author of Hebrews ended it on an
encouraging, hopeful note:
“Even though we are speaking this way, dear friends, in your
case we are confident of the better things connected with salvation. For God is
not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you showed for His name
when you served the saints—and you continue to serve them. Now we want each of
you to demonstrate the same diligence for the final realization of your hope.”
– Hebrews 6:9-11
But James left out that part of the scripture and ended his
quote by highlighting the prior verse:
“But if it produces thorns and thistles, it is worthless and
about to be cursed, and will be burned at the end.” – Hebrews 6:8
In other words, James focused on the fear of punishment in
hell and neglected the hope, salvation, mercy and fairness of
God.
He had also said we need to examine ourselves daily to check
for unconfessed sin. It’s this idea of continually gazing inward and obsessing
over whether we might have sinned here or there. This is not healthy and leads
to paralyzing introspection. The Scriptures say our eyes are supposed to be
on Jesus, not on ourselves. It’s the Lord who reveals what we need to repent of
and correct. In fact, the Apostle Paul said he does NOT examine himself:
“But to me it is a very small thing that I may be examined
by you, or by any human court; in fact, I do not even examine myself. For I am
conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted; but the
one who examines me is the Lord.” – 1 Corinthians 4:3-4
So, I watched James make a this turn toward doctrines and
images of condemnation and fear. When my wife saw these posts, she asked what
was wrong with James and cancelled her subscription to his blog. She is a
counselor who specializes in treating trauma victims and understood readily
how damaging this stuff is, especially for emotionally wounded people trying to
heal. God does not intend for us to live in fear and condemnation:
“There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out
fear.” – 1 John 4:18a, Holman
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are
in Christ Jesus.” – Romans 8:1, NIV
"A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice." - Isaiah 42:3, NIV
At that point, I began to gently challenge him on what he
was saying.
Witchcraft
I also noticed that James deferred to Bette Stevens as an
authority on God. Both in person and on his blog, James justified viewpoints by
referencing Bette and saying she taught those things. That seemed strange to
me. For Christians, the only authorities for God’s truth are the Bible and the
Holy Spirit. I wondered what this influence was?
Eventually I felt the Lord wanted me to re-listen to a
sermon by Derek Prince on witchcraft:
Prince defined witchcraft as controlling or influencing
people by any other spirit than the Holy Spirit, and said it goes on in the
church more than you think.
After pondering all of this for a while, my wife and I went to
the Lord one evening to ask a specific question: Is Bette influencing James
with a spirit of witchcraft? My wife has an unusual gift of “randomness” where
we ask God a question and she randomly opens the page of thesaurus or Bible and
it is amazing how what appears speaks to the question, though it requires
interpretation.
The first word we received was “nocturnal,” meaning “of the
night” or “darkling.” This was about Bette. The second word was “non-believer,”
which was also about Bette. At this point, I began to feel a bit sick to my
stomach. I knew something was wrong, but did not think it was this wrong. I
also knew that I would have to speak to James. Another word was “non-stop,”
which I believe speaks to the nature of the spirit we are dealing with here. I
later came to understand that this is a religious spirit of condemnation and
fear operating in Bette and influencing James. This spirit drives people into a
frenzied, almost manic, “non-stop” state of religious activity – out of fear
that if they rest or stop they will surely be condemned to hell. What a
contrast to the rest that the true God of heaven offers to his people:
“Therefore, a Sabbath rest remains for God’s people. For the
person who has entered His rest has rested from his own works, just as God did
from His.” – Hebrews 4:9-10
From picks in the Bible, we received Deuteronomy 28, which
is about the blessings for obeying the Lord’s commands and the curses for
disobeying Him. If we obey Him, we receive His blessings. If instead we obey a religious
spirit not of Him, we will disobey the Lord and receive curses. We also received
a reference to 1 Kings 11 about Athaliah, a female descendant Jezebel in Israel
who usurped power through murder and intrigue. This was also about Bette and
showed a Jezebel spirit operating in her, which would explain her strange
influence over James as a man.
And we received a reference to Song of Solomon 5 about the
beloved yearning to find her lover at night, but the city watchmen assaulted
her and took away her cloak:
“I opened for my darling, but my darling had turned and
gone. My heart had failed me when he spoke — I sought him, but I couldn’t find
him; I called him, but he didn’t answer. The watchmen roaming the city found
me; they beat me, they wounded me; they took away my cloak, those guardians of
the walls!” – Song of Solomon 5:6-7, Complete Jewish Bible
Song of Solomon is a poetic metaphor about the relationship
between the beloved, who is the bride representing the saints, and lover, who
is the groom representing Jesus Christ. I believe this passage portrayed James
as a sincere believer being victimized by a nefarious watchman. It is profound
that the attackers are described as “watchmen,” which is the role Bette appears
to play as a prophetess.
I was shocked and sickened by all this – both the severity of
it and how strong the confirmations were. I knew I had to warn James and called
him the next morning.I talked about
dark influences from Bette – not the specifics of our confirmation – and
encouraged him toward messages of hope and redemption. He listened but ended up
rejecting the warning.
The same day, I saw a message from Bette Stevens that James had
posted on his blog. She described a voice that twice said “Burn, baby, burn,”
and called her into a vision about a nuclear attack on America. “O My God….. Why?????
Why Lord???????” she cried. It was clear to me that was not the Holy Spirit
speaking, but a false spirit. God is just and He judges mightily, but He is not
a mocking madman who delights in burning everything to the ground. The Jesus I
know would not say, “Burn, baby, burn,” about a nuclear holocaust in America.
That sounds like the sadistic Joker in the movie “The Dark Knight.” This word
from Bette confirmed what the Lord showed us the night before. She is under the
influence of a false spirit. I left a comment questioning the source of Bette’s
word, but James deleted it.
Religious Spirit of
Condemnation and Fear
There were more back-and-forth emails with James, and he left
some comments on his blog that I felt were directed at me. Anyway, the bottom
line was we were at an impasse. He thought those teachings and Bette’s ministry
were from God, and I believed they are false and a deception. I sensed the Lord
tell me to back away and so I did. I had stated clearly that the core problem was
this religious spirit of condemnation and fear which needed to be dealt with.
Incidentally, I came down with a strange, energy-draining
virus for about 3 weeks while confronting this spirit. It took a lot of rest
and prayer to shake it, but praise God He delivered me.
In the midst of the confrontation, I also experienced a
moment of doubt, because I felt like I was going way out on a limb. So I asked God
if I was on the right track. Do you know what He said to me? He said, “Am I not
leading you?” What else could I say to that but, yes, You are.
In the wake of this, the Lord moved me to read through the
New Testament epistles with this question in mind: What is salvation? It was
very helpful to clarify and refine my beliefs on matters related to salvation
and what it means to live as a follower of Jesus Christ. The following two
posts came out of my study:
During the time I was working on that study, I heard a song on
the radio that I felt confirmed what was in my mind about how fear and condemnation
drives people away from God. The song was "I Will Follow You into the
Dark" by Death Cab for Cutie. One of the lyrics says: "In Catholic
school, as vicious as Roman rule, I got my knuckles bruised, by a lady in
black. I held my tongue, as she told me, son, fear is the heart of love, so I
never went back."
Several weeks passed and James reached out to me in a short
email. It was nice and conciliatory, though vague considering the very specific
issues I had raised with him. I glanced at his recent posts and they seemed
more gracious and merciful. Perhaps he was softening? So I asked if he wanted
to catch up via Skype sometime. I also left a brief comment on his blog.
Shortly thereafter he left more hell-burner comments, such as: “You will indeed
go to hell by knowingly sinning and not asking for forgiveness!” It was uncanny
those popped up when I showed up again. Then he quickly put up two more posts with
condemning tones and messages. There was that frenzied religious spirit again.
I read Bette's book “Redeemed from Hell!!” in which she
claims she was taken into hell and given a personal tour by Jesus Christ. The
book was disturbing and clashed with my spirit. Since when does Jesus Christ,
the Lamb of God who sits at the right hand of the Father, descend into hell to
give the living personal tours of that spiritual prison? Many of the people
Bette said she encountered in hell were professing Christians! What a sinister message
of condemnation. Eerily, it contained the same harsh, emphatic tone and
condemning messages that I experienced with James. Because it was the same
spirit.
Bette said “Jesus” took her to visit the Lake of Fire - in hell -
and it contained people who committed the most serious sins, including
"arrogance," "blasphemy of the Holy Spirit" and,
ironically, "religious and controlling spirits." But Bette’s account contradicts what we find in the Scriptures. According to Revelation
20, human spirits are not sent to the lake of fire until Judgment Day, which is
after the end of this age and after Christ’s 1,000-year reign on earth. Then,
at the judgment of the great white throne, even death and hell, as well as
Satan and his angels, are thrown into the lake of fire. According to Revelation
14, the lake of fire exists "in the sight of the holy angels and in the
sight of the Lamb." So, the lake of
fire is not in hell. Quite the opposite - hell one day will be thrown into the lake of fire. And there is no one in the lake yet – not until Judgment Day
(except for the beast and false prophet who are taken there at the end of this
age, but that hasn’t happened yet either). Bette’s description of hell
contradicts the Bible.
I asked God if Bette's message was from Him, and this is
what I heard in my heart: "Would I contradict My own word?"
No, He would not. No prophecy or vision from God would contradict the Scriptures.
Furthermore, on John and Bette's web page, their biography states they
were ordained as ministers by their "Apostle and Overseer, Brother Patrick
Kirk." I did an Internet search on this man and could find hardly anything
about him, except for skimpy Facebook and LinkedIn pages. On his ministry
website, the "About" section only contains some pictures of frilly
handbags with Jewish graphics that he sells:
There is only one prophecy on his website from 2014, in
which Kirk said God addressed him as "Warrior General" and told him
of an "impending annihilation" where the US government was going to
lace our food supply with cyanide and arsenic. Then he gave an email for an infomercial
that sells survivalist books.
That does not pass the smell test. Who is this man and who gave
him the lofty title of apostle? What church or organization ordained him? His
resume said he pastored a church for two years in the 1980s. I don’t see hardly
anyone associated with him except John and Bette. He said God addressed him as “Warrior
General.” The same God who addressed Abraham, Moses and Jeremiah by their names
and called the Prophet Ezekiel “son of man,” calls Patrick Kirk “Warrior
General?” I don’t think so. Maybe the Archangel Michael, maybe, but not a mere
mortal.
I’m sorry, but all of this looks suspicious and strange.
I pray that anyone who has been harmed by Bette Stevens’
false prophecies and messages of condemnation and fear will be set free and
healed. God loves us and his commitment to us is not fickle and fleeting:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only
Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” –
John 3:16
“My sheep hear My voice, I know them, and they follow Me. I
give them eternal life, and they will never perish—ever! No one will snatch
them out of My hand.” – John 10:27-28
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