The Errors of Shawn Bolz
The following are the notes to the discussion found at this link (https://www.facebook.com/tammy.cheetham.77/videos/575072752992437/?id=100014819433180) for anyone who would like to study the subject more in depth.
Yes, we wanted to have a short discussion concerning some of the problems with Shawn Bolz so that people can be warned about his ministry and teachings. He recently appeared at Lou Engle’s event called “The Send” in Orlando, FL, held on Feb. 23, 2019, and he speaks at prophetic and NAR events on a regular basis.
Now, let’s first give some biographical information about him from one of his websites: “Shawn Bolz is the author of “The Throne Room Company,” “Keys to Heaven’s Economy: An Angelic Visitation from the Minister of Finance,” and “The Nonreligious Guide to Dating and Being Single,” and he is also an international speaker and pastor, with a focus on the prophetic. Shawn has been a minister since 1993. He taught, ministered, mentored, and prophesied at Metro Christian Fellowship with Mike Bickle in the ‘90s, and in the early 2000s he joined the International House of Prayer in Kansas City. After leaving Kansas City in 2005, he founded and still pastors Expression58 in Los Angeles—a mission base and church focused on training and equipping Christians, encouraging the creative arts, and loving people in the entertainment industry and the poor.
Shawn is a board member and representative of The Justice Group based in Los Angeles, California, with whom he has worked on social justice issues and missions operations around the world. He and his wife are also the founders of Bolz Ministries—created to inspire and empower God’s love around the world, and iCreate Productions—formed to produce media that motivates and transforms culture.
Shawn currently lives in Los Angeles, California, with his ministry partner/wife and their two beautiful daughters.” (http://keystoheavenseconomy.com/) (Well, of course right off we see huge red flags. I mean an angelic visitation from the minister of finance? What is this even? And, then, “the nonreligious guide to dating and being single?” Why would anyone who claims to be a pastor write a book that is a “non-religious guide” to anything? One of the reviews I read specifically said, “It’s not Christ-centered.” And, that, of course, is quite odd. Going on, the fact that he spent many years at Mike Bickle’s church is quite alarming and also gives us an understanding into his “prophetic” ministry. Mike Bickle, of course, runs IHOP, has promoted the false teacher Bob Jones extensively over the years, and has stated that he heard God’s audible voice say, “I will change the understanding and expression of Christianity in one generation.” And, then, we find Shawn’s church is called Expression 58 so apparently he has bought into the seeker sensitive mindset. Additionally, he has worked on social justice issues. Then, his iCreate Productions was formed to produce media that “motivates and transforms culture” which shows that he is a promoter of the Seven Mountain mandate. Sadly, we see no mention of preaching the gospel of salvation, but rather an extreme focus on the here and now).
And, speaking of Bob Jones, Shawn wrote the following memorial to him in his book “Translating God: Hearing God's Voice for Yourself and the World Around You”: “In Memory of Bob Jones, whose childlike faith in the supernatural helped me believe in my own experiences. Because of your encouragement and trust and the hours and hours you spent with me, showing me that God in me was as powerful as God in you, will never be forgotten. I still don’t understand half of the prophetic words you gave me, but the other half developed what I am doing now.”
For anyone unfamiliar with Bob Jones, the following is from one of his testimonies: “On August 7th of 1975, I was driving a pickup truck with my wife and my dog. And there came a ball of light in the pickup truck and it really frightened me, it was about the size of a basketball. And I was looking for a place to pull over the pickup and the light spoke and said, ‘Peace, you don’t have to be afraid of me, fear not’.” Now, a true believer would not automatically assume this was from God, but Bob Jones did and regaled audiences with prophecies he says he received from this ball of light. You know, sister Tammy, we have read about and listened to many false teachers since we’ve been doing these discussions who say God spoke audibly to them, they saw lights and angels, and were taken to the throne room of heaven, and so forth. But, God’s Word says to try the spirits and we do not believe these experiences are from God just because these people say so. We always check their doctrine. And, here is a quick example from the same video where Bob Jones is recounting these experiences. He relates a “trip to heaven” in which he says an unidentified man said, ‘The enemy killed you before your time. I want you to go back.’ Well, that is completely man’s thinking to say God would have allowed the enemy to kill us before our time. The book of Job so absolutely tells us otherwise. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvBpGPwavkQ)
And, then we have the fact that two women came forward in 1991 and told Vineyard leaders that Bob Jones had used his prophetic authority to touch and fondle them sexually. Jones admitted it and was removed from ministry. (http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/kcp.html ) (Now, obviously no one is immune to sin, but the problem is that Mike Bickle and many others continue to hold Bob Jones in such high esteem and continue to share his prophecies).
Shawn Bolz also has close ties with Bill Johnson and Bethel Church in Redding, CA. He has spoken there many times and Bethel TV has allowed him to convert the teachings from his book “Translating God,” that I just mentioned, into an 8 week E-course on their network for $50.
(http://www.828ministries.com/Diary/Translating-the-Heresy-of-by-Anthony-Wade-Christianity_Faith_Prophet-170114-152.html). Speaking at Bill Johnson’s Open Heavens conference in 2015, Shawn says he has learned the most from Bill Johnson. Speaking directly to Johnson, Shawn says: “I don’t have any idolatry towards you, but it’s close.” Of course, everyone in the audience laughed, but we shouldn’t joke about such things because far too many people do idolize Bill Johnson and hang on his every word. Additionally, Bill Johnson wrote the forward for his book, “Translating God.” (https://www.facebook.com/notes/shawn-bolz/bill-johnsons-forward-for-translating-god/10153738914067650/)
So, we can see that the influence from Mike Bickle, Bob Jones, and Bill Johnson has had a great impact on his life and ministry, sadly so because these men are all false teachers.
One of Shawn’s most blatant false teachings is that people can be taught to have the gift of words of knowledge. We see this announcement of an event at one of his ministry’s websites: “GOD SECRETS | A Word of Knowledge Event with Shawn Bolz: Shawn will be teaching and demonstrating how to hear God in a way that impacts people’s lives around you the way Jesus did! This will be a day-long workshop with 5+ hours of focused teaching, equipping, and empowering to help you hear and give words of knowledge! Come be activated through demonstrations and group activities to help to take your understanding of this gift to the next level!” And, this event was held in June of 2017. (https://bolzministries.com/words-of-knowledge-are-going-to-be-a-norm-in-the-next-move-of-god/) (However, 1 Cor. 12:8-11 clearly states these gifts are given by the Holy Spirit and different gifts are given to different people. Let’s read these verses: “For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.” So sadly here is a case of a false teacher deceiving people by teaching something completely contrary to God’s Word and also people are not being Bereans and checking out what he says for themselves).
And, then I found a Facebook video for another one of these events which was just held yesterday. Can you play the video please, sister Tammy? (https://www.facebook.com/ShawnBolz/videos/595678947565917/) (So, those who attend are going to be activated? They’re going to practice the gift of the word of knowledge? There is no place in God’s Word where we are given the idea that is how the Holy Spirit operates).
Sister Tammy -Right and it’s like you say a gift, you can’t be taught a gift or activate a gift, you know it’s given like you’ve already explained, by the Holy Spirit, He distributes to whoever He please, it’s just crazy, really, just trying to muster up some kind of you know, and what they are actually doing is entertaining another spirit which is quite scary.
(Well, we already gave the scriptures that show the Holy Spirit gives those in the body of Christ spiritual gifts. We cannot work these up. We cannot attend seminars. This is all quite sad because he says they will discuss over 60 Bible-based stories at this workshop, so we know he had to read and study the Bible to find these, but he somehow missed the clear statements in 1 Cor. 12 concerning the Holy Spirit giving the gifts).
And, then, from two sources we learn that Shawn believes one can learn how to be rooted in Christ from the teachings of the Catholic mystics. The first source is a Facebook video in which he talks about contending for the deep relationship with Jesus and the knowledge of Him, not for the ministry performance driven life. He explains how the break he took from the ministry in his late 20's enabled him to learn the depth of being rooted in Christ. He states: “ I studied anybody in history who had that deep connection with God for the sake of connection…and I found them in the mystics in the Catholic church…I studied St. Teresa of Avila, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Catherine of Sienna, St. John of the Cross.” (https://www.facebook.com/GrahamCookeBBH/videos/10155262616193918/) 6:24 left
Additionally, from an Elijah List article he authored we have these statements: “I spent a year reading about everyone who had ever seemed to have a deeper personal connection with God. I read through biographies and autobiographies of modern revival figures, early church figures, the saints, the Catholic mystics; and after each one, I just kept crying out, "I want to know You! I want to be with You! I want this to be a "for real" experience and lifestyle." Then one day I heard Jesus say, "I want what you want more than you want it. I want you to be with Me and to know Me and to encounter Me far more than you do!" http://www.elijahlist.com/words/display_word.html?ID=16454 (Well, as I said earlier, sister Tammy, we have come across so many false teachers who say they’ve heard God’s audible voice and we just have to ask why should we believe any of them?)
Here is a tweet he wrote on March 4, 2017: https://twitter.com/shawnbolz/status/838219798085521409 “If you come into alignment with Jesus all of the sudden you can become the full dream of the Father, just like Jesus was.” (Well, Jesus was not a dream of the Father, but rather always a member of the Trinity. And, we are not going to become a dream of the Father, just like Jesus was. These statements denigrate Jesus and we find this a lot from Bill Johnson with his Kenosis heresy, so we shouldn’t be surprised that Shawn would have picked up on this thinking).
Shawn spoke at Azusa Now held on April 9, 2016 which featured all the false teachers in the NAR camp. In addition, listeners may remember that Lou Engle kissed the feet of Catholic leader Matteo Calisi at this event. When Shawn delivered words of knowledge during his allotted time he read statements off his Iphone which resulted, rightly so, in a lot of conversation. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzdjsWjFRU0) (So in response, while giving words of knowledge at the Send event which I mentioned at the beginning of the discussion, Shawn said, “But, I have my phone and I get criticized for writing notes down in my phone because people think people are sending me text messages, or I’m researching on the internet, I’m not, I’m just looking at my notes because I’m a tech guy.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=263&v=yFqn3hF8xDI) 4:23 in (But, this statement is obviously just to try and throw people off because if someone was truly hearing from God he or she wouldn’t need notes period).
Now, we want to give one example of how Shawn operates:
At this same event, Shawn called out a young man named Dennis. He said, “You’re either from the Ukraine or your parents were.” (Well, which is it, Shawn? We’re sure God knows. But, someone might think even to say the Ukraine might seem pretty specific, and I will mention this more in a minute).
“And, you moved to America and I think either to Washington state or Washington DC.” (Again, which is it? There’s a difference of 3,000 miles in those two locations).
“The Lord Himself has been walking with you since you were a little boy.” (Totally vague. Many people have been saved as young children and this could apply to them).
“And you have had a hard time there in the middle because of some of the things that have happened in your family, but it is going to give you power over divorce and broken families and adoption and foster care.” (A hard time there in the middle? What does that even mean? And, if someone might be thinking well, Shawn doesn’t want to say it because it’s personal, we still have the fact that just about everyone today could name something they’ve experienced that was difficult for them growing up. And, what does it mean to say what you experienced will give you “power” over divorce and broken families and adoption and foster care? I mean, Shawn doesn’t actually say that Dennis experienced these things so we cannot assume so and then going through these things gives one “power” over them? Jesus will heal the broken hearts of believers who have experienced traumas and so forth, but Shawn doesn’t even mention Jesus. And, it is worth noting that Dennis just stands there while he says this part, while at other parts he looks quite surprised and has a strong reaction).
“The Lord is saying He's raising you up. There's something you are supposed to build. An awakening movement.” (But, this conference is called the Send so obviously the words of knowledge will include some sort of commissioning).
“I think you are on the West coast now but you will be on the East coast…Pennsylvania. God is saying He’s awakening something in Pennsylvania and He’s calling you to lead a movement.” (So, I guess he’s decided it was Washington state rather than Washington, DC. Now, this might seem pretty amazing that Shawn says Pennsylvania and he’s obviously right based on Dennis’ reaction in the video. However, I discovered a very interesting site called pipl.com. And, now it doesn’t work well for common names, but for uncommon ones it’s a gem. When I typed in Dennis Melnichuk which is the fellow’s full name which I know because this fellow made a video giving his name and saying the word that Shawn released was so incredibly timely and accurate. But, remember that everyone pre-registers for these events and Shawn Bolz could have had access to his name. So, at this pipl site I found two links showing he had lived in Washington and Pennsylvania. Scrolling down I found the name Den Melnichuk and it said the Ukraine. And, then, noticing the fact that Shawn keeps emphasizing awakening, well, on the link with his name that says Pennsylvania, one can see his twitter page and under his picture and name it says awakened generation.org. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJBwwoXB5Vo).
More one thing that Shawn states is that God is going to send Dennis to North America and to South America and He’s going to commission him over the Ukraine and eastern Europe.
So, let’s read this paragraph on the main page of Dennis’ site: “Awakened Generation. It is the heartbeat to know God by personally encountering Him, the pursuit to love Jesus and to partner with Him for the sake of the world, it is the passion to see His Kingdom here on earth and the desire to see the declaration of His good news reach out into all the world. Our heart-cry is that sons and daughters of God would rise up and carry His love so that many more would become passionate lovers of Jesus. This is our anthem. That we may be an awakened generation. (https://www.awakenedgeneration.org/) (Well, it is easy to see why Shawn emphasized Dennis affecting these places in the world after reading this).
(https://pipl.com/search/?t=N2QzMjA0OTIwMTdiZjBlOTAzZjMwZDRkZDg3NzAzODU3ZTczOTZiYTBjZWZiNmFk&in=8&q=Dennis+Melnichuk+&l=&avatar=avatar-1)
(http://www.828ministries.com/articles/Shawn-Bolz-Continues-to-Pr-by-Anthony-Wade-Prophet_Spirituality-190301-413.html)
And, I want to mention that when someone challenged Shawn about getting the information in advance from social media sites, etc. here is his response: “A lot of the information that the words of knowledge or the facts about people that I get are not on Facebook or internet searchable places. I know we live in the information age and things can be found online but the amount of work it would take to figure out who is going to be there and how to track them down would be exhausting.” https://jonnyleaders.wordpress.com/2016/04/12/shawn-bolz-evidence-his-words-of-knowledge-are-mostly-online-public-knowledge/ (To which we would say not really. He obviously has a ministry staff and someone else could be assigned to this. Everyone has to pre-register for these events so we know people give their names, addresses, and emails at the very least, so he is being quite disingenuous to say it would take a lot of work to find out who would be in attendance).
But, the absolutely most important point to remember about Shawn Bolz is that he preaches another gospel. Here is a quote by him: "I love the simple gospel that causes us to have love that inspires faith and then we have to share it." -- Shawn Bolz
What is missing from the equation Shawn has outlined for us? It is the same thing missing from the seeker friendly and purpose driven churches across this land. The answer is repentance. The true Gospel does not cause us to have love. It causes us to repent of our sins. Love is a fruit of the indwelt Holy Spirit. You do not get there without first repenting. In the teaching sphere of Shawn Bolz however, love is a direct cause from hearing the Gospel and that could not be more wrong. (http://www.828ministries.com/Diary/Translating-the-Heresy-of-by-Anthony-Wade-Christianity_Faith_Prophet-170114-152.html)
Sister Tammy - I often hear people that have come out of the seeker friendly churches, they say they never spoke about sin, they never spoke about on repentance, the forgiveness of sin you know, the blood of Jesus Christ We never hear these terms and if we do it is distorted anyway because what is the source, where is it all leading? Like we can conclude with this, it’s all the NAR kind of ideology and I often think as well, knowing people and being brought in a family that has been involved in the occult that the spirits know, sometimes you know they operate through different systems, the spirits do know different things and that is another way that they can be opened up if they are opened up to all of this mess, they are easy targets for the spirit of antichrist you know to actually say thigs to them so even whichever way we look at it there is something wrong, we can discern that there is a wrong spirit in operation so just to interject there.
That is a very good way to end this up and it’s very important. And, we just need to stop being naïve. The enemy is out there working overtime and, Shawn Bolz, you watch his videos and he seems like one of the nicest guys you could ever meet. But, you can’t be taken in by the personalities. That’s what people are doing, charismatic personalities, and we have to get away from that. We have to check the doctrine. We have to see what they’re up to. Just look at his history. You can’t work with Mike Bickle, Bob Jones, and Bill Johnson and have proper doctrine, you just can’t. The problem is with this bunch, the NAR, is they’re pushing doctrine to the side; they are emphasizing experiences. We need to avoid anyone to do with the NAR.
The following are the notes to the discussion found at this link (https://www.facebook.com/tammy.cheetham.77/videos/575072752992437/?id=100014819433180) for anyone who would like to study the subject more in depth.
Yes, we wanted to have a short discussion concerning some of the problems with Shawn Bolz so that people can be warned about his ministry and teachings. He recently appeared at Lou Engle’s event called “The Send” in Orlando, FL, held on Feb. 23, 2019, and he speaks at prophetic and NAR events on a regular basis.
Now, let’s first give some biographical information about him from one of his websites: “Shawn Bolz is the author of “The Throne Room Company,” “Keys to Heaven’s Economy: An Angelic Visitation from the Minister of Finance,” and “The Nonreligious Guide to Dating and Being Single,” and he is also an international speaker and pastor, with a focus on the prophetic. Shawn has been a minister since 1993. He taught, ministered, mentored, and prophesied at Metro Christian Fellowship with Mike Bickle in the ‘90s, and in the early 2000s he joined the International House of Prayer in Kansas City. After leaving Kansas City in 2005, he founded and still pastors Expression58 in Los Angeles—a mission base and church focused on training and equipping Christians, encouraging the creative arts, and loving people in the entertainment industry and the poor.
Shawn is a board member and representative of The Justice Group based in Los Angeles, California, with whom he has worked on social justice issues and missions operations around the world. He and his wife are also the founders of Bolz Ministries—created to inspire and empower God’s love around the world, and iCreate Productions—formed to produce media that motivates and transforms culture.
Shawn currently lives in Los Angeles, California, with his ministry partner/wife and their two beautiful daughters.” (http://keystoheavenseconomy.com/) (Well, of course right off we see huge red flags. I mean an angelic visitation from the minister of finance? What is this even? And, then, “the nonreligious guide to dating and being single?” Why would anyone who claims to be a pastor write a book that is a “non-religious guide” to anything? One of the reviews I read specifically said, “It’s not Christ-centered.” And, that, of course, is quite odd. Going on, the fact that he spent many years at Mike Bickle’s church is quite alarming and also gives us an understanding into his “prophetic” ministry. Mike Bickle, of course, runs IHOP, has promoted the false teacher Bob Jones extensively over the years, and has stated that he heard God’s audible voice say, “I will change the understanding and expression of Christianity in one generation.” And, then, we find Shawn’s church is called Expression 58 so apparently he has bought into the seeker sensitive mindset. Additionally, he has worked on social justice issues. Then, his iCreate Productions was formed to produce media that “motivates and transforms culture” which shows that he is a promoter of the Seven Mountain mandate. Sadly, we see no mention of preaching the gospel of salvation, but rather an extreme focus on the here and now).
And, speaking of Bob Jones, Shawn wrote the following memorial to him in his book “Translating God: Hearing God's Voice for Yourself and the World Around You”: “In Memory of Bob Jones, whose childlike faith in the supernatural helped me believe in my own experiences. Because of your encouragement and trust and the hours and hours you spent with me, showing me that God in me was as powerful as God in you, will never be forgotten. I still don’t understand half of the prophetic words you gave me, but the other half developed what I am doing now.”
For anyone unfamiliar with Bob Jones, the following is from one of his testimonies: “On August 7th of 1975, I was driving a pickup truck with my wife and my dog. And there came a ball of light in the pickup truck and it really frightened me, it was about the size of a basketball. And I was looking for a place to pull over the pickup and the light spoke and said, ‘Peace, you don’t have to be afraid of me, fear not’.” Now, a true believer would not automatically assume this was from God, but Bob Jones did and regaled audiences with prophecies he says he received from this ball of light. You know, sister Tammy, we have read about and listened to many false teachers since we’ve been doing these discussions who say God spoke audibly to them, they saw lights and angels, and were taken to the throne room of heaven, and so forth. But, God’s Word says to try the spirits and we do not believe these experiences are from God just because these people say so. We always check their doctrine. And, here is a quick example from the same video where Bob Jones is recounting these experiences. He relates a “trip to heaven” in which he says an unidentified man said, ‘The enemy killed you before your time. I want you to go back.’ Well, that is completely man’s thinking to say God would have allowed the enemy to kill us before our time. The book of Job so absolutely tells us otherwise. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvBpGPwavkQ)
And, then we have the fact that two women came forward in 1991 and told Vineyard leaders that Bob Jones had used his prophetic authority to touch and fondle them sexually. Jones admitted it and was removed from ministry. (http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/kcp.html ) (Now, obviously no one is immune to sin, but the problem is that Mike Bickle and many others continue to hold Bob Jones in such high esteem and continue to share his prophecies).
Shawn Bolz also has close ties with Bill Johnson and Bethel Church in Redding, CA. He has spoken there many times and Bethel TV has allowed him to convert the teachings from his book “Translating God,” that I just mentioned, into an 8 week E-course on their network for $50.
(http://www.828ministries.com/Diary/Translating-the-Heresy-of-by-Anthony-Wade-Christianity_Faith_Prophet-170114-152.html). Speaking at Bill Johnson’s Open Heavens conference in 2015, Shawn says he has learned the most from Bill Johnson. Speaking directly to Johnson, Shawn says: “I don’t have any idolatry towards you, but it’s close.” Of course, everyone in the audience laughed, but we shouldn’t joke about such things because far too many people do idolize Bill Johnson and hang on his every word. Additionally, Bill Johnson wrote the forward for his book, “Translating God.” (https://www.facebook.com/notes/shawn-bolz/bill-johnsons-forward-for-translating-god/10153738914067650/)
So, we can see that the influence from Mike Bickle, Bob Jones, and Bill Johnson has had a great impact on his life and ministry, sadly so because these men are all false teachers.
One of Shawn’s most blatant false teachings is that people can be taught to have the gift of words of knowledge. We see this announcement of an event at one of his ministry’s websites: “GOD SECRETS | A Word of Knowledge Event with Shawn Bolz: Shawn will be teaching and demonstrating how to hear God in a way that impacts people’s lives around you the way Jesus did! This will be a day-long workshop with 5+ hours of focused teaching, equipping, and empowering to help you hear and give words of knowledge! Come be activated through demonstrations and group activities to help to take your understanding of this gift to the next level!” And, this event was held in June of 2017. (https://bolzministries.com/words-of-knowledge-are-going-to-be-a-norm-in-the-next-move-of-god/) (However, 1 Cor. 12:8-11 clearly states these gifts are given by the Holy Spirit and different gifts are given to different people. Let’s read these verses: “For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.” So sadly here is a case of a false teacher deceiving people by teaching something completely contrary to God’s Word and also people are not being Bereans and checking out what he says for themselves).
And, then I found a Facebook video for another one of these events which was just held yesterday. Can you play the video please, sister Tammy? (https://www.facebook.com/ShawnBolz/videos/595678947565917/) (So, those who attend are going to be activated? They’re going to practice the gift of the word of knowledge? There is no place in God’s Word where we are given the idea that is how the Holy Spirit operates).
Sister Tammy -Right and it’s like you say a gift, you can’t be taught a gift or activate a gift, you know it’s given like you’ve already explained, by the Holy Spirit, He distributes to whoever He please, it’s just crazy, really, just trying to muster up some kind of you know, and what they are actually doing is entertaining another spirit which is quite scary.
(Well, we already gave the scriptures that show the Holy Spirit gives those in the body of Christ spiritual gifts. We cannot work these up. We cannot attend seminars. This is all quite sad because he says they will discuss over 60 Bible-based stories at this workshop, so we know he had to read and study the Bible to find these, but he somehow missed the clear statements in 1 Cor. 12 concerning the Holy Spirit giving the gifts).
And, then, from two sources we learn that Shawn believes one can learn how to be rooted in Christ from the teachings of the Catholic mystics. The first source is a Facebook video in which he talks about contending for the deep relationship with Jesus and the knowledge of Him, not for the ministry performance driven life. He explains how the break he took from the ministry in his late 20's enabled him to learn the depth of being rooted in Christ. He states: “ I studied anybody in history who had that deep connection with God for the sake of connection…and I found them in the mystics in the Catholic church…I studied St. Teresa of Avila, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Catherine of Sienna, St. John of the Cross.” (https://www.facebook.com/GrahamCookeBBH/videos/10155262616193918/) 6:24 left
Additionally, from an Elijah List article he authored we have these statements: “I spent a year reading about everyone who had ever seemed to have a deeper personal connection with God. I read through biographies and autobiographies of modern revival figures, early church figures, the saints, the Catholic mystics; and after each one, I just kept crying out, "I want to know You! I want to be with You! I want this to be a "for real" experience and lifestyle." Then one day I heard Jesus say, "I want what you want more than you want it. I want you to be with Me and to know Me and to encounter Me far more than you do!" http://www.elijahlist.com/words/display_word.html?ID=16454 (Well, as I said earlier, sister Tammy, we have come across so many false teachers who say they’ve heard God’s audible voice and we just have to ask why should we believe any of them?)
Here is a tweet he wrote on March 4, 2017: https://twitter.com/shawnbolz/status/838219798085521409 “If you come into alignment with Jesus all of the sudden you can become the full dream of the Father, just like Jesus was.” (Well, Jesus was not a dream of the Father, but rather always a member of the Trinity. And, we are not going to become a dream of the Father, just like Jesus was. These statements denigrate Jesus and we find this a lot from Bill Johnson with his Kenosis heresy, so we shouldn’t be surprised that Shawn would have picked up on this thinking).
Shawn spoke at Azusa Now held on April 9, 2016 which featured all the false teachers in the NAR camp. In addition, listeners may remember that Lou Engle kissed the feet of Catholic leader Matteo Calisi at this event. When Shawn delivered words of knowledge during his allotted time he read statements off his Iphone which resulted, rightly so, in a lot of conversation. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzdjsWjFRU0) (So in response, while giving words of knowledge at the Send event which I mentioned at the beginning of the discussion, Shawn said, “But, I have my phone and I get criticized for writing notes down in my phone because people think people are sending me text messages, or I’m researching on the internet, I’m not, I’m just looking at my notes because I’m a tech guy.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=263&v=yFqn3hF8xDI) 4:23 in (But, this statement is obviously just to try and throw people off because if someone was truly hearing from God he or she wouldn’t need notes period).
Now, we want to give one example of how Shawn operates:
At this same event, Shawn called out a young man named Dennis. He said, “You’re either from the Ukraine or your parents were.” (Well, which is it, Shawn? We’re sure God knows. But, someone might think even to say the Ukraine might seem pretty specific, and I will mention this more in a minute).
“And, you moved to America and I think either to Washington state or Washington DC.” (Again, which is it? There’s a difference of 3,000 miles in those two locations).
“The Lord Himself has been walking with you since you were a little boy.” (Totally vague. Many people have been saved as young children and this could apply to them).
“And you have had a hard time there in the middle because of some of the things that have happened in your family, but it is going to give you power over divorce and broken families and adoption and foster care.” (A hard time there in the middle? What does that even mean? And, if someone might be thinking well, Shawn doesn’t want to say it because it’s personal, we still have the fact that just about everyone today could name something they’ve experienced that was difficult for them growing up. And, what does it mean to say what you experienced will give you “power” over divorce and broken families and adoption and foster care? I mean, Shawn doesn’t actually say that Dennis experienced these things so we cannot assume so and then going through these things gives one “power” over them? Jesus will heal the broken hearts of believers who have experienced traumas and so forth, but Shawn doesn’t even mention Jesus. And, it is worth noting that Dennis just stands there while he says this part, while at other parts he looks quite surprised and has a strong reaction).
“The Lord is saying He's raising you up. There's something you are supposed to build. An awakening movement.” (But, this conference is called the Send so obviously the words of knowledge will include some sort of commissioning).
“I think you are on the West coast now but you will be on the East coast…Pennsylvania. God is saying He’s awakening something in Pennsylvania and He’s calling you to lead a movement.” (So, I guess he’s decided it was Washington state rather than Washington, DC. Now, this might seem pretty amazing that Shawn says Pennsylvania and he’s obviously right based on Dennis’ reaction in the video. However, I discovered a very interesting site called pipl.com. And, now it doesn’t work well for common names, but for uncommon ones it’s a gem. When I typed in Dennis Melnichuk which is the fellow’s full name which I know because this fellow made a video giving his name and saying the word that Shawn released was so incredibly timely and accurate. But, remember that everyone pre-registers for these events and Shawn Bolz could have had access to his name. So, at this pipl site I found two links showing he had lived in Washington and Pennsylvania. Scrolling down I found the name Den Melnichuk and it said the Ukraine. And, then, noticing the fact that Shawn keeps emphasizing awakening, well, on the link with his name that says Pennsylvania, one can see his twitter page and under his picture and name it says awakened generation.org. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJBwwoXB5Vo).
More one thing that Shawn states is that God is going to send Dennis to North America and to South America and He’s going to commission him over the Ukraine and eastern Europe.
So, let’s read this paragraph on the main page of Dennis’ site: “Awakened Generation. It is the heartbeat to know God by personally encountering Him, the pursuit to love Jesus and to partner with Him for the sake of the world, it is the passion to see His Kingdom here on earth and the desire to see the declaration of His good news reach out into all the world. Our heart-cry is that sons and daughters of God would rise up and carry His love so that many more would become passionate lovers of Jesus. This is our anthem. That we may be an awakened generation. (https://www.awakenedgeneration.org/) (Well, it is easy to see why Shawn emphasized Dennis affecting these places in the world after reading this).
(https://pipl.com/search/?t=N2QzMjA0OTIwMTdiZjBlOTAzZjMwZDRkZDg3NzAzODU3ZTczOTZiYTBjZWZiNmFk&in=8&q=Dennis+Melnichuk+&l=&avatar=avatar-1)
(http://www.828ministries.com/articles/Shawn-Bolz-Continues-to-Pr-by-Anthony-Wade-Prophet_Spirituality-190301-413.html)
And, I want to mention that when someone challenged Shawn about getting the information in advance from social media sites, etc. here is his response: “A lot of the information that the words of knowledge or the facts about people that I get are not on Facebook or internet searchable places. I know we live in the information age and things can be found online but the amount of work it would take to figure out who is going to be there and how to track them down would be exhausting.” https://jonnyleaders.wordpress.com/2016/04/12/shawn-bolz-evidence-his-words-of-knowledge-are-mostly-online-public-knowledge/ (To which we would say not really. He obviously has a ministry staff and someone else could be assigned to this. Everyone has to pre-register for these events so we know people give their names, addresses, and emails at the very least, so he is being quite disingenuous to say it would take a lot of work to find out who would be in attendance).
But, the absolutely most important point to remember about Shawn Bolz is that he preaches another gospel. Here is a quote by him: "I love the simple gospel that causes us to have love that inspires faith and then we have to share it." -- Shawn Bolz
What is missing from the equation Shawn has outlined for us? It is the same thing missing from the seeker friendly and purpose driven churches across this land. The answer is repentance. The true Gospel does not cause us to have love. It causes us to repent of our sins. Love is a fruit of the indwelt Holy Spirit. You do not get there without first repenting. In the teaching sphere of Shawn Bolz however, love is a direct cause from hearing the Gospel and that could not be more wrong. (http://www.828ministries.com/Diary/Translating-the-Heresy-of-by-Anthony-Wade-Christianity_Faith_Prophet-170114-152.html)
Sister Tammy - I often hear people that have come out of the seeker friendly churches, they say they never spoke about sin, they never spoke about on repentance, the forgiveness of sin you know, the blood of Jesus Christ We never hear these terms and if we do it is distorted anyway because what is the source, where is it all leading? Like we can conclude with this, it’s all the NAR kind of ideology and I often think as well, knowing people and being brought in a family that has been involved in the occult that the spirits know, sometimes you know they operate through different systems, the spirits do know different things and that is another way that they can be opened up if they are opened up to all of this mess, they are easy targets for the spirit of antichrist you know to actually say thigs to them so even whichever way we look at it there is something wrong, we can discern that there is a wrong spirit in operation so just to interject there.
That is a very good way to end this up and it’s very important. And, we just need to stop being naïve. The enemy is out there working overtime and, Shawn Bolz, you watch his videos and he seems like one of the nicest guys you could ever meet. But, you can’t be taken in by the personalities. That’s what people are doing, charismatic personalities, and we have to get away from that. We have to check the doctrine. We have to see what they’re up to. Just look at his history. You can’t work with Mike Bickle, Bob Jones, and Bill Johnson and have proper doctrine, you just can’t. The problem is with this bunch, the NAR, is they’re pushing doctrine to the side; they are emphasizing experiences. We need to avoid anyone to do with the NAR.