If anyone is still following this story, you probably already know by now that Bethel has issued an “appeasement” statement, basically to cover their backs so that they will never have to tell the truth about this whole story/hoax.
I am sending Bethel one last letter/email, and then I am done. However, this is an Open Letter, for anyone who wants to see it. Email has been sent to a Donna on staff at Bethel, Pastor on Call, as well as to Bill Johnson ministries.
To Donna and the Bethel staff,
I did read your statement about the miracles in Brazil which you erroneously reported.
First of all, I would like to make myself clear, I do believe in miracles such as the dead being raised. So the dead being raised is not “staggering—and we know—hard to believe” nor is it “wonderfully uncomfortable and ‘out of the box.’” I was trained at the Iris Ministries missions school in Mozambique. The miracles I saw there were verifiable, there were neighbors and family members all around to witness the deaf’s ears being opened and the blind eyes being opened. When possible, we noted their names and locations. If someone was to question their testimony, we would be able to find them and their family and neighbors again to testify they were healed. For example, Selma, a teenager, was healed from deafness in both ears, on the outskirts of the village of Namapa. I have her photo and I would be able to find her again if I went back to Namapa. Her entire family was there and witnessed her healing.
Yes, the world is a big place, and though it seems Brazil is a land far, far away, it is my home, and it is not “another part of the world”. I don’t think anyone at Bethel realizes what the nation of Brazil has been going through, nor what the residents of Teresopolis have been going through. Over 800 people are dead, in Teresopolis and surrounding region, while another 600+ are missing, and 30,000 people have been left homeless.
An apology, not an excuse, is still in order from the Bethel staff. The miracle has no eyewitnesses because it never happened. Bethel should send a team to Brazil, ready to work hard in humanitarian relief, and to try to find those eyewitnesses, if it plans to maintain that the story is true.
Some local missionaries went to Teresopolis to find eyewitnesses. There were none. “We are learning, the hard way, what it is like to report such a dramatic miracle prematurely, with the possibility of it not being true and/or the difficulty of documenting it to everybody’s satisfaction if it is true”, however, what if it is not true?
What amount of evidence does Bethel need for Bethel Church to report that it was not true?
And I quote from the eyewitness account: “We made contact with the National Security Force, who are patroling the area, and they took us to the school from where the community support is being administered. Talking to the coordinator of the operation, we confirmed that no foreign teams were in Caleme during or after the disaster, thus debunking once and for all the story of the supposed ressurections”.
If there was no foreign team there, then how would there be any resurrections done by a foreign team?
I don’t believe that anyone at Bethel will ever respond to this email, and I don’t believe that anyone at Bethel has the grace, dignity, nor humility to ever state that the story, in its entirety, not just the faux newspaper article, was false. However, I guarantee, that Bethel will never hear the end of this faux pas. There are too many Bible-believing, Holy Spirit-filled Christians who are hurt and saddened by Bethel’s response and perpetuation of a hoax.
The church in Brazil is reporting on this as well, however, they are reporting the truth. Christian blogs, church websites, and Christian (as well as secular) news agencies are reporting with headlines such as:
“Resurrection in the Serra of Rio de Janeiro is False”
“News about Resurrections in Teresopolis reverberate outside of Brazil through a Christian Site”
“News about Resurrections in Teresopolis reverberate outside of Brazil through a Christian Site: The news is not true and the source was not revealed”
“American Christian Site Spreads False News of Resurrection in Teresopolis”
Bethel’s ambiguous response and “washing of hands” of the issue, has not suddenly made Brazilians believe that this ever happened. Why? Because those who live in this country, who love this country, and serve God in this country, know the real, hard truth of what has really happened in Teresopolis, and also, the truth that not only was the newspaper altered, but that the entire story is not true.
I find it sad that Bethel will believe the “friend” of two second-year Bethel school students that said it happened, over the EYEWITNESS accounts of two long-term missionaries serving with a reputable Bethel-friendly organization.
You may be asking yourselves, if anyone is at all is indeed reading this message, why am I spending so much time researching this? Brazil is a nation that God put on my heart when I was seven years old. It is now my home, and God has given me this nation to live my life poured out among the fatherless, abused, and impoverished here. I find it a personal matter, as well as a national matter, when un-truths are reported about a land I love so deeply.
I believe that, Bethel, as a church, has a responsibility to the people of God in Brazil to repent, to acknowledge that they perpetuated a hurtful hoax about a nation that is currently suffering from the greatest natural disaster in its history.
Thank you, to anyone who has read this.
-Emily Vieira
*This post has been edited 15:30 (Brasilia time) on February 5, 2011. Our heart is not to hurt or to divide, we just really want people who stand for the truth and will believe the truth, no matter how hard it is. With much respect to those who are doing relief work in the area, I have edited this post so as to protect them. Thank you all for understanding this.
