#LetUsWorship Sean Feucht of Bethel Leads Worship Protests as COVID-19 Pandemic in Wisconsin Gets Worse

/ wonderingeagle

Sean Feucht is a controversial Bethel worship personality who has been leading worship protests around the United States. In three locations in Wisconsin he led religious rights protests as the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated and became worse. This post also explains how Sean Feucht is really no different than a drunk driver for his reckless behavior and why he should be prosecuted if people become ill and lives are lost.

“My concern with religion is that it allows us by the millions to believe what only lunatics or idiots could believe on their own. That’s not to say that all religious people are lunatics or idiots. It’s anything but that.“

Sam Harris 

“People are surprised to find out that an awful lot of people think that they’re idiots.“

Eric Schmidt 

Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’

Matthew 4:7 NIV

I planned to do this post in the context of California but with the fast changes of the COVID-19 pandemic in Wisconsin this blog decided to write about a perverse spectacle inside evangelicalism.

Who is Sean Feuchet of Bethel? 

Sean Feucht is a controversial worship leader from Bethel in Northern California. He was born in Missoula, Montana and did a mission trip to South America when he was 12.  He went to Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma where he claims he led a revival out of his dorm room that spread to several continents and is known as Burn-24-7. Sean also launched Hold the Line which claims that religious freedom is being threatened and works to counter that effort. Its about waging the culture war and aims to bring millennials into the evangelical political process. He has done a lot of missionary work including Iraq. Eventually Sean found himself in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania but in the course of time left to become a part of Bethel in Northern California. He has multiple worship albums out and has published several books including, “Culture of Revival – A Revivalist Field Manual: Vol. 2 Never Be Lacking in Zeal by Andy Byrd & Sean Feucht” , “Integrity: Character of the Kingdom” and “Fire and Fragrance : From the Great Commandment to the Great Commission.” His newest book which will be released shortly is called, “Brazen: Be a Voice, Not an Echo.” 

Sean ran on a Christian nationalist platform for Congress in the spring of 2020. It was classic New Apostolic Revelation theology. What was his platform? To bring back prayer in public schools and outlaw sex education also in public schools. He lost the primary though he had 25,243 votes. Sean is a worship leader at Bethel and has the backing of Bill Johnson who leads the Bethel movement.  He is married and has four children. As the COVID-19 pandemic descended across the United States Sean Feucht launched a religious freedom movement to protest scientific guidance in response to the medical crisis. 

 

The COVID-19 Pandemic in Wisconsin Grows Worse

Tis blog is not going to get into the political debate or issues that took place between Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers and the GOP controlled state legislature but if you want to read more about that you can do so here, here and here. Early on Wisconsin had largely avoided the COVID-19 pandemic as urban areas such as Seattle, Washington and New York City were being hammered by the disease. But the rural areas of Wisconsin started to face coronavirus infections. According to the New York Times the highest day of infections was July 24, 2020 with 1,144 Wisconsinites testing positive. The pandemic ebbed and declined until September. On September 1, there was 955 COVID-19 infections in Wisconsin. By the end of September that number had almost tripled to 2,428 testing positive for the virus. So far in the pandemic there have been 134,996 infections and 1,364 deaths. The death rate is rising and the concern is that as fall settles in Wisconsin and turns to winter the pandemic will spread considerably as more people go inside and seek shelter. Wisconsin winters are bitterly cold and I lived through a number of them. And while the COVID-19 numbers are high in Milwaukee and Madison they are soaring in the rural central and Northeastern part of the state. Cities such as Fond du Lac, Green Bay, Appleton, Marinet, and Rhinelander have the highest infection rates as of this writing. Part of the reason why the infection has spread is due to college resuming in person. Another factor according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel is that many people are not wearing masks and following health guidelines. The hospital system in the state is struggling and patients were transferred or sent elsewhere as they tried to grapple with the COVID-19 infections coming into the hospital.  The chief medical officer for Wisconsin, Ryan Westergaard has said that the state is in a crisis. If you would like to read more about the pandemic in Wisconsin I would encourage you to read the following articles. 

  1. The Atlantic, “Wisconsin Is on the Brink of a Major Outbreak.”
  2. Forbes, “Wisconsin Posts Record Number Of New Covid-19 Cases, But Trump Still Plans To Hold Rallies.” 
  3. Wisconsin State Journal, “Wisconsin reports a record 27 COVID-19 deaths Wednesday.” 

Against the growing COVID-19 pandemic in late September Sean Feucht shows up to discourage people from wearing masks and violate health laws. One question this blog would like to answers is did Sean Feucht contribute to the COVID-19 pandemic in Wisconsin? Did he loves his neighbors so much that he led to them going to ERs in Madison, Milwaukee and Kenosha? 

 

Sean Feucht’s Worship Protests Across the United States

On July 24, 2020 Sean Feucht led a worship event beneath the Sundial Bridge in Redding to protest California Governor Gavin Newsome’s statewide protective mask order. Feucht claimed that masks would be made available however, when the event which had hundreds was held masks were not worn and social distancing discouraged. Shasta county government officials advised people to quarantine themselves. Feucht claims that in the pandemic the government is persecuting the churches. Wal-Mart is open why not the evangelical church? He then led an event on the beach outside San Diego also protesting the wearing of masks. When George Floyd riots broke out across the United States Feucht tried to capitalize on the event. Feucht who appears regularly on Fox News said the following about his events. “Where the world has only seen destruction and violence, we want to change the narrative and show that the church is rising up to change the storyline in our cities,” Feucht told the Fox hosts. “We’re not just going to watch our cities be burned and pillaged. We’re coming to bring hope and peace to the violence” And with that Feucht held worship rallies in Portland, Oregon and Seattle that went against the health country recommendations. He did this claiming that the evangelical church will not be intimidated and will protect its right to worship. In Portland his movement was met by protestors concerned about how Sean was harming public health. The protestors wore face masks while those who came to worship did not have masks at all. In Seattle protestors came and tried to pass out masks. Feucht said that the church would not be intimidated. Seattle reporter Casey Martin saw only two masks in attendance and that Feucht was intentionally violating the Washington Governor Inslee’s order about group size during a pandemic. 

And on Twitter Sean Feucht boasted of the event. 

 

Feucht in Kenosha 

Feucht’s Worship Events in Wisconsin

The events with Sean Feucht began in Madison on Monday September 14, 2020. September 15 Feucht was at a location on the Milwaukee lake front and then on September 16 he was in Kenosha at 10:00. Over 1,600 people in Milwaukee expressed interest in attending however this blog does not have the actual numbers of how many showed up. While the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote about Sean Feucht coming to Wisconsin this blog noticed that many regular press did not report or write about it. Feucht publishes his updates in The Federalist and did so during the Wisconsin events. 

In Madison Feucht led worship and proclaimed religious freedom on the steps of the state capital. In Milwaukee they did some baptisms and held an event in Kenosha. Feucht has been vocal in attacking Black Lives Matter and his event happened the same day the family of Jacob Blake organized a community activity of feeding the homeless and helping the elderly. About 200 people showed up at Feucht’s event in Kenosha according to the Kenosha News. In all the events in Wisconsin Feucht disregarded civil authorities and did not request a permit to allow an activity to take place. And in all three locations social distancing was violated, and masks were not worn. Over at Reddit people laughed and talked about how those who attended were candidates for Darwin awards in a post that started with the words, “What the fuck?” It should also be pointed out that according to some Ohio press that Sean Feucht is inflating the numbers of those who attend.  This blog grabbed the tweets from Sean Feucht’s account dealing with the events in Wisconsin which you can read below. 

 

Feucht’s Behavior is Similar to a Drunk Driver and is Reckless. Some Analysis of the Situation 

There are a couple of things that need to be said before I continue. First let’s remember that Sean Feucht comes from Bethel which got a lot of press over efforts to raise a baby from the dead last year. Those prayers did not work and the baby today is still very much dead. The other aspect is that Bethel is very much apart of the New Apostolic Restoration movement. This is an organization that is very much devoted to Christian nationalism. Earlier this year I read how Sean ran for Congress in California but decided to not write about it. It seemed fringe and I try and make sure I have balance here at this blog in what I write about. When I decided to write quite a bit about evangelicals and the COVID-19 pandemic this situation fell into my lap. And I have to say that the more I read about Feucht the more angry I became. Let me explain why, 

He plays the religious persecution card while rejecting science. He attracts and intentionally places people in harm. If someone who attended any of these rallies in Wisconsin comes down with COVID as a result this blog is happy to give them a platform to write Sean Feucht an open letter and tell him how he threatened their life. But here is the deal. Feauch is extremely arrogant in all that he does. How many times in life as you go about it do you encounter someone who is privileged, arrogant or more? And you just think to yourself someone should have taken that person and beat the crap out of them behind a baseball diamond when they were younger. If that happened that would have straighten them out. Sean Fecht is one of those people who should have been beaten when he was younger. Some common sense would have been knocked into him. The neglect in these events is especially heinous. At any other time in life if a pandemic were not going on I would care less. Heck if he visited the same cities and held events when the pandemic is over I could care less. But to do it in Wisconsin when the COVID-19 pandemic is entering a dangerous stage, and then he leaves and takes no responsibility for what he does. Pardon my language but yes someone should have beat the shit out of Sean Fucht when he was younger. This story makes my blood boil. 

But there is another way to look at this story as well. You, me and everyone who reads this has a lot of freedom. More freedom than they possibly know. For example you can go and lock yourself up in your home and consume alcohol to the point of your death. You can drink yourself into death and liver cirrhosis and while I think that is horrific you can can do that. And in that situation the only person who you harm it yourself. Now if you are intoxicated and get into your Ford F-250 and you drive it down the road and are drunk and cross the lane and drive into a station wagon and kill a mother and two kids that is where your freedom ends. When your freedom endangers mine that is where it all ends. You don’t have the right to drive drunk. And yet Sean Feucht is acting like a drunk driver at every rally. He is placing people at harm and he really doesn’t care. That is profoundly sad and disturbing. And as such he should be prosecuted if a person who attends one of his events dies of COVID-19. But what will likely happen is that one of these days Sean Feucht is going to contract COVID-19. And when he gets the virus the root cause will be because he is testing God. He is like Satan testing Jesus. And when that happens this blog won’t have an ounce of sympathy. Not a tear will be shed. It will be a poetic form of justice as that is how these things work themselves out. But Sean Feucht in the opinion of this blog deserves no such respect. 

19 thoughts on “#LetUsWorship Sean Feucht of Bethel Leads Worship Protests as COVID-19 Pandemic in Wisconsin Gets Worse”

  1. “Bethel” as in Bethel in Redding, CA?
    I know a couple guys from Redding, and according to them Bethel has a reputation as a CULT. This in a town that has experience with a remnant of the Manson Family, was heavily recruited by the Rajneeshees, and is almost within sight of Mount Shasta (the Weird Religion capital of North Cal).

    One of the stories about Bethel is Bethelites going into the cemetery at night to lie on the graves of “spiritual giants” to “soak up their Blessing”. Don’t know if this is Bethel-specific or an NAR Spiritual Warfare thing.

    As for NAR (New Apostolic Reformation), their reputation as “Mighty Spiritual Warriors” isn’t much better. I know them not for Christian Nationalism but for tales of Weird-Ass Spiritual Warfare bordering on (if not crossing over into) actual Ritual Magick.
    * These are the “Pagan Temple Screamers” who rallied at an ancient stadium(?) in Ephesus (yes, that Ephesus) emceed by Ted Haggard.
    * They claim they killed Mother Teresa through Imprecatory Prayer. (How does that differ from casting a Death Hex? “O GREAT CHEMOSH! O GREAT BAAL! RAIN DEATH AND DESTRUCTION DOWN UPON THESE MY ENEMIES!”)
    * And they tried to climb Mount Everest to engage in Spiritual Combat with a Demon “Queen of Heaven” in “Operation Ice Castle”.
    Mix that with Christian Nationalism (i.e. Handmaid’s Tale for Real) and you have a combination Theocracy and Mage-ocracy — Rule by Witchfinders-General smelling out Witches in a Demon-Haunted World.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Did a little more checking regarding Bethel the Redding Cult. They don’t need to worry about getting COVID because they have their own in-church Dead Raising Team! (Who have been routinely casting Raise Dead in third world countries on the other side of the globe where it can’t be checked.)

      They even uploaded a group photo of the Bethel Dead Raising Team: Three or four Virile Young Men in too-tight “Dead Raising Team” T-shirts (white letters on black) showing off their pecs and biceps in bodybuilder poses. I am not making that up.

      Liked by 1 person

  2. Culture-war politics masquerading as Christian faith. Because (sarcasm font) nothing spreads the gospel of Christ, demonstrates grace, and reflects the love of the Father like brash confrontationalism and acting to willfully jeopardize your neighbors’ health. And then he has the nerve to claim that his antics are bringing “unity” into these communities. Well, yeah, bringing unity in the turning of many hearts away from the Christian faith by misrepresenting that faith.

    Liked by 2 people

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  5. For what it’s worth, today I read in a YouTube comment thread that masking up WAS The Mark of The Beast.

    (This was a Coast to Coast AM thread on Nephilim so I knew coming in things were going to get weird, but I really wasn’t expecting a Christian Invasion. Checking their website, Coast to Coast has pastors on End Times Prophecy on a regular basis these days; I liked my weirdness fix better when it was ghosts, UFOs, and cryptids instead of All Conspiracy All The Time.)

    Liked by 1 person

    • Meanwhile, QAnons are boasting about receiving the Mark, in among Revelation-style language and “prophecies.” They’re praising Trump like he’s their savior, and saying the Mark is not physical; apparently it’s a mark of the chosen….

      Um, I don’t think that Mark is what you think it is…..

      Liked by 1 person

      • Oh hey, I saw this same “prophecy” over on a QAnon video the other day:
        https://www.unsealed.org/2017/01/the-revelation-12-sign-compendium.html

        This guy has some interesting articles. I take it with a grain of salt, but note overlap between these and QAnon. I don’t know if they’re talking to each other, but the speculation–Evangelicals, QAnon, ex-vangelicals and progressives, Jews in Israel–has been running rampant the past few years.
        https://www.unsealed.org/2020/09/could-it-be-did-war-in-heaven-just.html

        The Orthodox interpretation I’ve gleaned over the years, assuming I understand it right, is that the prophecies are three-pronged: 1) They were written in code and metaphor to describe what was already happening/had happened. 2) They will happen continuously over and over. 3) There’s also the End Times final fulfillment.

        I want to look at it rationally and not sound like the QAnon video I watched the other day. I don’t want to set a date like countless other people have done over the past 2000 years. How much of this is actual prophecy? Or–since we’ve seen these Antichrist figures many times over the course of human history–is the entire set of prophecies just a poetic way to describe things that are not mystical at all, but in fact very human tendencies? Strongman comes into power, tickling the ears of groups which bow down to him, but oppressing many, until finally his downfall. Until then, he starts so many wars that we see famine, poverty, destruction of the earth, etc. And the earth itself keeps having earthquakes, tidal waves, etc.

        Except that now the earth is dealing with climate change. And they’re planning that Third Temple. And the peace treaties are being signed with Israel. And we have nuclear weapons. And the churches are worshipping Trump while QAnon says they have the Mark….

        It’s mind-boggling.

        Like

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