Bethel Church Redding New Age Card Reading

There's been controversy in recent days, afterward a few Christian sites--including Pulpit & Pen and ChurchWatchCentral--reported that people associated with Bethel Church in Redding, Calif., and others who are part of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) have been using "Christian" Tarot cards, called "Destiny Cards." I couple, in particular, was identified as promoting the apply of these cards--Ken and Jenny Hodge.The Hodges lead an Australian system chosen Christalignment, which takes teams of hole-and-corner Christians to New Historic period festivals. These teams prepare up booths, that look like psychic booths, and seek to evangelize New Agers by offering Christianized versions of psychic services. Their services include "Destiny Card" readings, modeled after Tarot cards. The Hodges written report that many former students from Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry have joined them in offering these menu readings.In response to these reports, Kris Vallotton--a senior associate leader at Bethel Church and co-founder of Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry--wrote a lengthy mail service on Facebook condemning the utilize of these cards and urging anyone using them to "apologize." He insinuated that the use of such cards past any Bethel graduates would be a misapplication of Bethel teachings.Sounds skilful, right? A prominent NAR leader condemns an unbiblical practise. Not so fast.

Kris Vallotton'southward major flip-flop

Before long afterward, Vallotton retracted his condemnation. His scathing mail mysteriously disappeared from his Facebook folio, without an explanation. But you can still read information technology hither. Today, he wrote a new Facebook post--completely reversing his previous denunciation of the Destiny Cards. He described the Hodges as "astonishing people trying to be destroyed past the fake news media."   And then at present he acknowledges that they are using the cards and approves. What caused Vallotton to flip-bomb--going from urging anyone using the cards to "repent" to describing the cards' proponents equally "amazing people"? What changed his mind about the cards?Apparently, he was persuaded when Jenny Hodge wrote him a message on Facebook, opening with some major name-dropping. She revealed that she and her husband, Ken are the parents of Ben Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald is a former, long-time pastor at Bethel Church building and a graduate of Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry. He now leads a prominent NAR organization called Awakening Europe, which maintains a formal partnership with Bethel Church. The Hodges' shut relationship with a Bethel giant surely caught Vallotton's attention.Jenny Hodge also told Vallotton that the menu readings they do are like to those offered by other NAR organizations and that the cards are not Tarot. She said that they have taught their "card reading" method of evangelism in many Australian churches and have even taught it to students at Bethel Church when the Hodges visited Redding, Calif.

Damage control

Jenny Hodge also posted a public video statement on her Facebook page defending the use of Destiny Cards and seeking to articulate up "misunderstandings" about them. In short, she says that Destiny Cards are not Tarot Cards because they are original decks of cards, created by "prophetic artists" working with Christalignment. And, unlike Tarot cards, Destiny Cards do not predict the time to come, according to Hodges. Rather Destiny Cards provide "destiny revelations," which she says simply reveal "giftings you are born with in your life."She goes on to show some of the dissimilar sets of Destiny Cards her organization uses to provide readings. These include a "Love Destiny" set, which appears to be used to reveal an private's spiritual giftings. They besides include brute and color sets, which purport to reveal the meanings of certain animal or colour impressions people may receive during an come across with God at a New Age festival.In short, Hodge attempts to downplay the similarities to Tarot cards. Nonetheless, bank check out this advertisement that her organization, Christalignment, posted for their booth at a New Historic period festival. Have notation of the types of questions they claim their "seers" will answer, including questions about "life issues, jobs, and relationships":

Going into new realms: This year Christalignment are offering you amazing encounters from the Third Sky realm together with highly authentic destiny revelation using our own cards in the one service. As we guide you through the meet,our seers will also answer your questions on life bug, jobs & relationships. The following modalities are too offered: Dream interpretation, Spiritual cleansing,Emotional Healing, Animal & Colour card readings.

This ad makes it sound as if their seers make predictions. However even if the cards don't brand predictions, they purport to provide revelation into present situations. So the similarity between Destiny Cards and Tarot cards may be closer than Jenny Hodge cares to acknowledge.Despite Jenny Hodge'south portrayal, Tarot cards are not used simply to predict the futurity. They're too used to provide revelation into the by and present, equally this beginner's guide for reading Tarot cards explains. And types of information Tarot cards are used to reveal include an individual's talents and special abilities. For case, that'south the purpose of this 5-card spread of Tarot. But this seems awfully similar to the "Honey Destiny" set used by the Hodges.Tarot cards also incorporate many symbols--including symbols of colors and animals. And Tarot carte readers are encouraged to acquire what letters the symbols are communicating to them. But doesn't this sound a lot like the colour and fauna sets included in the Hodges' Destiny Cards?

What makes Tarot Tarot?

What makes a Tarot menu a Tarot card is non just if it predicts the futurity. Tarot are decks of cards that are used for divination. Divination is an attempt to obtain data past supernatural means, apart from God--not just most the hereafter, but also about the past and present. And divination is explicitly forbid in Scripture (Deuteronomy 18:10).For those who might object past suggesting that there's nothing wrong with Destiny Cards because their users are seeking information from God--and not from other spiritual entities--consider this question. Where does Scripture back up seeking information from God in this manner? And if there's zippo wrong with so-called Christian divination, what's to stop Christians from making their own version of the Ouiji Board?In a future mail service, I intend to tap into a larger problem with NAR, which is the common teaching that Christians need to "reclaim" many practices that have been stolen by New Agers.

Update: Destiny Cards are predictive, after all

Before long after I published this mail, I was contacted past a reader who constitute the following statements made on the Christalignment website about their Destiny Cards: "Our cards lead the way," and "Nosotros believe they are more than predictive and college than most tarot, and tin accost a current life question that yous may have." Read the statements here. The reader said, "I don't understand how they can say they are not like Tarot, nevertheless compare them to Tarot, and say they are 'more than predictive,' but they say they don't predict the future?"Very good questions, indeed. I'd like to see Jenny Hodge answer them.Also take annotation that the Christalignment website descriptions of the Destiny Menu sets are very unlike from the descriptions Jenny Hodge provided in her Facebook video. Not only exercise the cards serve predictive functions, according to the website, but they announced to have other things in common with Tarot cards. For example, in the Facebook video she indicated that the Psalm Bill of fare Readings are but Scripture verses. But look at the post-obit description from the website:

Psalm readings are similar to tarot in that cards are counted out according to your birth date date  & year [sic]. Just three cards are used and these will represent your past, present and future.

The description of the Animal Card Readings set sounds eerily similar to the fauna totem spirit guides found in Tarot cards.

Many people are continued to animals and in a reading using these cards 3 will usually appear in the run across. The meaning of the animal will have great significance to the client and could give deep insight to life issues.

And, finally, consider this description of the "Destiny Readings" set, which sounds similar the set she called the "Beloved Destiny" set in her Facebook video.

Our unique Destiny cards, which we have developed, are then accurate, that fifty-fifty if your life circumstances change dramatically, on your return to practice them once more years afterwards, yous will find the results identical, such is their accurateness. They are able to give profound insight into relationships, career and spiritual life.

How are these not like Tarot cards again?

Another update

Since writing this a couple of hours ago, I noticed that Christalignment has altered their website descriptions of their Destiny Cards, removing the discussion "tarot" and making other significant changes to the wording I cited to a higher place, including distancing themselves from animal totems and their claim that their cards will certainly predict the futurity. See an archived image of the page as it appeared just a few days ago, on December thirteen. Then compare it to the current page, after they altered it.And here are screen captures from the original page.

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Holly Pivec is the co-author ofA New Apostolic Reformation?: A Biblical Response to a Worldwide Movement andGod's Super-Apostles: Encountering the Worldwide Prophets and Apostles Motility. She has a primary's caste in Christian apologetics from Biola Academy.

solomoncrian1947.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.hollypivec.com/blog/2017/12/the-christian-tarot-card-controversy-at-bethel-church-in-redding-california/7409

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