Shawn Bolz Church Court Case

UPDATE: 01262026:

I share below my innocent experience of Shawn Bolz prior to a statement that was released from the stage at Bethel Church. (https://www.youtube.com/live/QMywWJY5azQ?t=3920s)

In early 2025, Shawn had denied the allegations and put a statement of integrity on his website. I was not aware of sexual misconduct. I thought this whole argument was about the accusation of his data mining of prophetic words. I believed him when he said it wasn’t true. I thought he had perhaps blundered and missed a prophetic word, but no one could convince me that he was a fraud. I believed. I still think most of his words of knowledge and prophetic ministry are from the Lord. Although I also believe that the Lord is refining his character… pruning that vine to make it more fruitful. I waited for a year, often deeply troubled about this situation. I prayed and prayed and released a forgiveness video on YouTube.

I thought at the time that I was forgiving a fairly innocent man. I am forgiving someone I perceived as a friend… but would I be as willing to forgive a fiend? That is the real challenge before us. Because real pain exists. But forgiveness is the only thing that heals that pain. Not dead victimizers. Do you wish for all victimizers to die? Would you not be dead also? Who among us has not sinned? Every sin renders someone a victim of a lack of love. We are all in need of forgiveness. And Jesus teaches us that we cannot receive what we refuse to give (Matthew 6). So I still choose to forgive Shawn Bolz even though the allegations turned out to be true. I forgive the fiend… even if he isn’t publicly confessing the truth yet… I believe he will. I pray he will.

Last January, a pastor brought Shawn Bolz to my attention regarding the accusation that he data mined fake words and prophecy. I didn’t believe it. I investigated it myself, and the video I watched was far from conclusive… at all. The “evidence” was: “What Shawn Bolz said was already on Facebook. Therefore, he got it from Facebook.”

That’s ridiculous. So what?

I was aware of the drama between Bethel and Shawn, and this deeply troubled me. Why aren’t they making a public statement? Why the kangaroo court of slandering him privately and removing his books? What is wrong with his books?

I was not privy to any of the details… Partly because I didn’t want to dig any deeper into the drama of it. I don’t like wading into the swamps of sin in anyone’s life.

To quote a line from Prince of Egypt: “I did not see because I did not wish to see.”

Here is the official statement released yesterday: https://www.bethel.com/news/an-important-letter-from-bill-kris-and-dann-on-behalf-of-bethel-leadership

Bethel has close ties with Shawn. They needed to go all the way in their Matthew 18 discipline of Shawn. The final step for someone found guilty if they will not repent is to tell it to the church. Make it public. Now justice is served. Shawn, the body, and the victims can now heal.

Shawn Bolz was a tough nut to crack. He denied the allegations. “It’s not true,” he said. And I believed him. My own honor compelled me to. I was a prisoner of honor in this instance. Because without Matthew 18 being brought to full completion, as it now has, it remained unresolved. I thought, “What about regarding someone innocent until proven guilty?”

I secretly wondered if he was like Ted Bundy, deny, deny, deny, until the bitter end. I remember watching the film about Ted Bundy, played by actor Zac Efron. He couldn’t admit to anyone the evil that lived in him. But without confession, the evil remains.

Without Shawn’s confession and without the church rising to protect the body (me), I was gridlocked into maintaining the honor I have always held for my brother Shawn.

Just because he has foibled (and who of us hasn’t?), perhaps in very grievous ways (the extent of which I only learned about today) does not mean he is not my brother. He is getting spanked publicly! God is disciplining his son, whom he loves, before the whole world! It is time to cheer! Justice is here!

God will set him right.

What if we all knew about all of our most shameful thoughts, words, and deeds in each other’s lives?

I will be the first to confess all, but I have children to protect. Why bring up things that Jesus has forgiven and forgotten? Things I have long since repented of and confessed? I am as innocent as Jesus has made me. I am an open book to my Father and dwell in intimacy with Jesus. He knows me inside and out and told me yesterday that he likes me! I was moved to tears.

Confession is to agree with God. We agree with what he says about himself. We have a holy confession that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

I shower my brother Shawn with all the LOVE of the Father. I pray Papa’s love upon everyone that Shawn’s sins have wounded! I pray for the fullest extent of confession, healing, and forgiveness.

Time to hug it out!

I realized last night that I had been on the defense side of Shawn’s case. I had to be for honor’s sake. And this was because I wasn’t close to the situation as Bethel church was. I didn’t know what they knew. I still don’t know the sordid details of Shawn’s shame. I don’t really care to. Up till now, it had been a shadowy kangaroo court of underhanded whisperings. Backroom hushed conversations and leaked texts. To those who were victimized by a prophetic word from Shawn… my heart goes out to you!

Please, on behalf of our brother Shawn, please forgive him. What does forgiveness mean? Take it to Jesus and allow him to teach you what forgiveness means. As you come to view Shawn through Papa’s heart, you will come to know how Papa sees you. You will step into “Christ in you, the hope of glory” identity when you share in Papa’s heart of compassion for Shawn.

I stand in on his behalf and repent to you of these wrongs that were done. There is no mincing words. This was a partnership with evil.

I am sorry for the wrongs committed against you. Please forgive me for misrepresenting Christ Jesus.

Psalm 51 prayers are lifted up on behalf of our brother Shawn.

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

51 Have mercy on me, God, according to your loving kindness.
    According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.
² Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity.
    Cleanse me from my sin.
³ For I know my transgressions.
    My sin is constantly before me.
⁴ Against you, and you only, I have sinned,
    and done that which is evil in your sight,
so you may be proved right when you speak,
    and justified when you judge.
⁵ Behold, I was born in iniquity.
    My mother conceived me in sin.
⁶ Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts.
    You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
⁷ Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean.
    Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness,
    that the bones which you have broken may rejoice.
⁹ Hide your face from my sins,
    and blot out all of my iniquities.
¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God.
    Renew a right spirit within me.
¹¹ Don’t throw me from your presence,
    and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.
¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation.
    Uphold me with a willing spirit.
¹³ Then I will teach transgressors your ways.
    Sinners will be converted to you.
¹⁴ Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, the God of my salvation.
    My tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
¹⁵ Lord, open my lips.
    My mouth will declare your praise.
¹⁶ For you don’t delight in sacrifice, or else I would give it.
    You have no pleasure in burnt offering.
¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit.
    O God, you will not despise a broken and contrite heart.

¹⁸ Do well in your good pleasure to Zion.
    Build the walls of Jerusalem.
¹⁹ Then you will delight in the sacrifices of righteousness,
    in burnt offerings and in whole burnt offerings.
Then they will offer bulls on your altar.

In the movie The Last Duel, the perpetrator of a horrific crime was slain in a duel of honor before the king and all the people of France. The crowds cheered as justice was served and the criminal was slain.

I am cheering as justice is served in this case concerning Shawn. I pray for his speedy repentance and recovery.

I wish for Shawn to experience the lovingkindness of God and full healing. I plead the blood of Jesus over Shawn. Our Savior has died in his stead. I pray for healing for his family and for a massive impartation of Papa’s heart and the mind of Christ in his life. We look forward to you rising again to be the blessing God has created you to be… All in God’s good timing!

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The following is my experience of Shawn Bolz prior to yesterday’s public release of a statement by Bethel church:

I have always honored and respected Shawn Bolz as a beloved brother and an honorable man of God. His example and influence were instrumental in who I am as a believer. He teaches about and shares his experience with the gift of the Word of Knowledge and Prophecy in his book Translating God. 

Word of Knowledge is a gift in which God ‘reads someone’s mail’ about the details of their life to show that He knows and that he deeply cares for us. It often partners with the other gifts, such as healing or the gift of prophecy, to reveal the ‘strengthening, comforting, and encouraging’ Word of Christ and reveal the Heart of Papa regarding someone and their situation or destiny. 

Shawn’s journey into the gift of Word of Knowledge and Prophecy was similar to that of John Wimber. His journey required persistence and involved many discouraging years. He was about to give up when the Lord finally opened the floodgates for him. Riveting stories abound in his books on the subject.

Shawn shared destiny-shaping words of knowledge and prophetic words before 60,000 people at the Azusa Now conference. He said that even though he had a speaking slot at the conference, God hadn’t yet given him anything. 

While waiting before his time at the mic, he stressed about it, but then finally resolved to tell Bill Johnson that he had nothing. Once he decided that and released it to God, he lost himself in worship. It was during worship that God started to speak to him about several in the audience and their prophetic destinies. The people who received the words were interviewed afterward, and they confirmed them. So encouraging!  

Shawn will often emphasize obedience over performance. On one occasion, he was with Bill Johnson in Australia, and the Lord had given him a very specific list. Every single word flopped! Swing and a miss through the whole list! A year later, as he drove from Los Angeles to Las Vegas to a meeting, for which he had not yet received any words of knowledge, God told him to get out his list from the Australia event a year ago. The words of knowledge applied to the people in that meeting! 

Shawn is a human being, just like you!

Shawn did as the Scripture says, which you also can do, in that he earnestly desired and went after the spiritual gift of word of knowledge. It was a long, arduous journey of studying and seeking and learning to hear God’s voice. He learned to recognize and honor the very unique way that God spoke to him. How God speaks to you will always be as unique as you are.

After reading Shawn’s book Translating God, I was on a plane sitting next to a woman. I prayed, “Lord, can you give me a word of knowledge about this woman?”

He told me, “She loves hiking in the mountains.”

I turned and asked her, “Do you happen to enjoy hiking in the mountains?”

She showed me the photo on the cover of her phone screen. It was of her sitting on a huge rock out on a hike in the mountains near where she lived. I shared Jesus with her, gave her a bible, and my Reflect Love album. I still pray for her from time to time.

Once, during a prayer session on YouTube, as I prayed for a woman regarding her son, I heard the name “Christopher”. So I just said it out loud. I was not bold enough to actually claim or ask if it was his name or not. I then received a prophetic word about his calling and prayed into it, which was a great comfort to his mother. After the prayer, she then confirmed that his name was, in fact, Christopher. I have only dipped my toes in these gifts of the Spirit. I am learning and growing in this gift, and you can too!

I don’t have space in this book to even scratch the surface regarding all the miracle stories that are coming to mind right now. I wish I had time to share my space/time travel experience.

My Prophetic Word for Shawn Bolz