What's being missed with the 'waking' of Olive at Bethel Church, Redding

The story out of Bethel Church in Redding, California, this past week -- following the sudden death of two-year-old Olive Heiligenthal -- is tragic. The hearts of people across the nation have gone out to her parents in compassion -- not just because they lost a child, but also because of the false hope they've clung to that their little girl would come back to life.

Many news sources have already reported on this story. But I want to point out what has been missed. In their coverage of the fiasco, reporters have noted that the parents' church, Bethel Church, has rallied around the parents' prayers for a resurrection -- calling for people across the globe to join them in those prayers. But what Bethel Church has been engaged in, since Olive Heiligenthal died on Saturday, is not prayer. They've actually been making "declarations." There's a big difference.

Prayer vs. Declarations

In the New Apostolic Reformation -- the global movement that Bethel Church is part of -- equivocation is common. By equivocation, I mean that leaders in the movement often call two different things by the same name. The result is ambiguity that allows them to promote non-biblical teachings while cloaking those teachings in biblical terminology.

Case in point: Consider Bethel Church's use of the word "prayer." Historically, prayer has been understood by Christians as making petitions or requests of God to do such-and-such a thing. That's how prayer is taught in the Bible. And that's the understanding most people will have of the word prayer when they read articles stating that Bethel Church is "praying for a resurrection."

But when Bethel Church uses the word "prayer," they often mean something very different. They're generally not requesting or asking God to do such-and-such a thing, such as asking Him to resurrect Olive Heiligenthal. Rather, they're often referring to the making of "prayer declarations," or just "declarations," for short. So, what is a declaration?

A declaration is making verbal affirmations that allegedly release God's power to create a desired reality. In much the way God spoke and brought the world into existence, believers today – who are created in the image of God –  also have the power to bring things into existence through their spoken words, according to Bethel teachings. Declarations are seen to be more effective than traditional prayer because they don't ask God to do something He has already authorized believers to do themselves. These teachings about declarations can be found in Bethel "apostle" Bill Johnson's books, including When Heaven Invades Earth. Yet they're not supported by Scripture. Rather, they're in line with the teachings of Word of Faith movement leaders such as Kenneth Hagin and Kenneth Copeland.

Yet the uninitiated missed the fact that what Bethel has been calling for is not actually prayer as it is normally understood. Instead they've been calling for declarations. Here's the call the church issued on their Facebook page, December 15.

Our God is the God of miracles, and nothing is impossible for Him! We are asking you, our global church family, to join with us in prayer and in declaring life and resurrection over @kalleyheili and @apheiligenthal’s daughter, Olive Alayne! (emphasis mine)

The phrase "declaring life and resurrection over ... Olive" was lost on the media as well as many mainstream Christians. Yet Bethel's call for declarations wasn't lost on the insiders, i.e., those who hold to Bethel teachings. This can be seen in the nearly 3,000 comments posted on the church's Facebook page, in response to the call. Notice the many Bethel followers who used the words "declare" or "declaring," such as this comment posted by a Rick Davis: "Praying, and declaring resurrection Life for Olive … Little Olive, arise, in Jesus's name!" And here is a similar comment from Susie Mehlig: "Father in Jesus name we decree and declare Spirit of life come back into Olive!" (emphasis mine).

And this video shows Olive Heiligenthal's parents, Kalley and Andrew, on stage at Bethel Church leading congregants in the singing of a declaration: "Olive, come out of that grave. Come out of that grave, in Jesus' name."

Even the hashtag that has gone viral, #wakeupolive, reflects the language of declaration, not petitionary prayer.

Equivocation of 'Prayer' to Downplay Bethel's Failure

Bill Johnson has employed this equivocation in an apparent attempt to downplay the church's failure to resurrect Olive Heiligenthal. Notice, in his official statement to the media, he suggests that the only things Bethel Church has been doing at their meetings this past week is taking part in "singing and prayer." Here's what Johnson said:

Since that night, and at the continued request of the Heiligenthal family, Bethel Church has hosted prayer and worship gatherings which consist of singing and prayer (this is the first-ever public gathering of prayer for resurrection that Bethel has hosted).

Prayer and worship gatherings. He makes it sound as if the church has been engaged in merely an old-fashioned prayer meeting. But this couldn't be further from the truth.

Yet why would Johnson downplay the main activity -- making declarations -- taking place at the Bethel Church meetings this week? Could it be because, despite the thousands of declarations that have been made on Olive Heiligenthal's behalf for five days, her lifeless body still lies at the morgue? This is certainly tragic -- but even more so because so many of Johnson's followers have doubled down and refused to admit what's obvious to everyone else -- they have a broken theology.

And here's the kicker. The failure of the church's declarations suggests something bigger than failure to raise one little girl. It suggests that Bethel Church's entire paradigm -- of bringing heaven (or God's physical Kingdom) to earth through spoken declarations -- is also based on false hope.