LE††UCE (no†) PREY
A prominent Northern California mega-church (Bethel) whose members believe their prayers heal the sick and raise the dead is advising the faithful to wash their hands, urging those who feel sick to stay home, canceling missionary trips and advising its faith healers to stay away from local hospitals.
- Bethel Church leaders say they are not yet canceling services for the 6,300 people who attend services each week in Redding.
- In the past Bethel church members would offer to touch strangers to pray away their ailments.
- During church service members speak in tongues and claim gold dust and angel feathers appear out of the air.
- Evangelical Christian Justin Bieber is a fan of Bethel’s music.
One Redding woman told The Sacramento Bee on Saturday that on Jan. 31, she was approached by two Bethel students in the emergency room at Mercy Medical Center in Redding. The pair said “they would pray over the people there and put Jesus in their hearts and this would heal us all and we didn’t need to stay at the ER and could go home,” the woman said in a text message. She asked not to be identified to protect her family’s privacy.
She said she filed a complaint with the hospital after one of the students touched her 5-year-old daughter without permission. Mercy didn’t return a message seeking comment.
This church has come to News Views’ attention before:
Breaking News: Dead child not resurrected by prayer! and…
NUTTER WATCH: Family, church seek to bring 2-year-old girl back to life through prayer, song and praise
Much, much more in the original article that I recommend all read at the Sac Bee.
