Bethel Church Accused of Practicing Occult in Use of 'Destiny Cards'

**FaithfulOne** · 01-02-2018, 01:08 PM

https://www.christianpost.com/news/c...-cards-211143/

Bethel Church, a controversial megachurch in Redding, California, is now under fire in Christian circles for allegedly promoting New Age occultism in the use of "Destiny Cards," which critics have likened to tarot cards.

Leaders of the 9,000-member congregation have been accused of working with a Melbourne, Australia-based group known as Christ Alignment, a group that claims to have worked with many churches in that country to do readings.

Christ Alignment staff describe themselves as "trained spiritual consultants," and say on their website that they "draw from the same divine energy of the Christ spirit."

"We practice a form of supernatural healing that flows from the universal presence of the Christ. We draw from the same divine energy of the Christ spirit, as ancient followers did and operate only out of the third heaven realm to gain insight and revelation," they say.

Marsha West of the Christian Research Network argues that the Destiny Cards are just another name for tarot cards which Christ Alignment uses to "practice the prophetic."

Has anyone else heard this? My question is (and I read the article a couple of times to make sure I was understanding it) why do people feel the need to improve upon what the Word says to do? "And I, if I be lifted up in all the earth, will draw all men unto me" (John 12:32)

This kind of thing is unnecessary and distracting.

**Quest** · 01-02-2018, 01:35 PM

I saw it on Facebook...it looks very much like Christians trying to mimic the world to appear more palatable...

Jesus associated with sinners but did not become one. Tarot cards with 'prophetic pictures' may can be used by Holy Spirit but this seems to be a replacement for the real power of God to minister....if we have the gift of the word of knowledge or the gift of healing we don't need gimmicks....

This merely conveys the message that they can buy a bunch of cards and pull one each day to get direction...

I admit I don't know much fact wise regarding this practice but at glance I would not touch it with a ten foot pole...

I don't believe in reading a dream interpretation book to interpret dreams either....dreams given in scripture were prophetic and unique words from God...

**curly sue** · 01-02-2018, 02:26 PM

I've been following it over at the Christian Post. It is gimmicky bait.

**John** · 01-02-2018, 02:46 PM

New age invasion. It's been under the radar for awhile under various guises/ministries but now is showing itself openly.

**Susan** · 01-02-2018, 03:04 PM

It sounds like a "bait and switch" scheme to me.

**John** · 01-02-2018, 05:52 PM

It doesn't work that way (evangelism), the bait and switch, that's why the church is full of new agers and pink haired prophets obsessed with orbs.

**A.J.** · 01-02-2018, 07:40 PM

Seems to me we discussed this recently. Was it in another thread? I tried to search, but my searches never pull up what Krys's do.

**Bookman** · 01-02-2018, 07:48 PM

In the community we used to live in, some Christians set up a tent near the fortune teller at the local street fair. But their sign said, "Psalm Reader" (not "Palm Reader"). I got a kick out of that.

**Smitty** · 01-02-2018, 08:58 PM

Theresa Dedmon who is on staff at Bethel created Destiney Cards as a tool to share Christ (Creative evangelism).
This is what she says they use Destiney Cards for:

1. To encourage people.

2. To give people hope.

3. To lead people to Christ.

These cards are nothing more than another tool to reach people with the good news of the gospel.

We did the same thing 12 years ago at a church I was affiliated with. But we didn't use cards as an evangelistic tool, we used a haunted house during Halloween week.

We offered free admission to our haunted house which we built in a section of our church. At the end of the "tour" we had a live Jesus crucified on the cross and this is where we shared the gospel with those who opted to go through our haunted house. We had well above over a 1000 people who went through it, and 99.9% of those people were sinners.
We had 10%, or a little above 100 people receive Christ and get saved in our haunted house. Everyone heard a short gospel message and received a gospel booklet, along with an invite to come to our Sunday service. Several families who came to our Sunday services later on got saved. All because we used a haunted house for the glory of God. I'm sure the devil was mad because he stirred up a couple of other churches in the area to "cast stones" at us for using the haunted house. So, I'm glad there're using Destiny Cards to get the gospel exposed to sinners.
http://www.theresadedmon.com/blog/sh...-destiny-cards

**A.J.** · 01-02-2018, 09:00 PM

Originally Posted by Bookman

In the community we used to live in, some Christians set up a tent near the fortune teller at the local street fair. But their sign said, "Psalm Reader" (not "Palm Reader"). I got a kick out of that.

Some prophetic groups will go to a psychic fair or even just in a coffee shop or on the street and set up a sign that says “Spiritual Readings.” They accomplish amazing things.

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