campaign for couple seeking to resurrect their dead 2 YO daughter with prayer

[borndem]

<Sigh>. The older I get, the more cynical I get, but I just can't keep up.

As of midafternoon Saturday, a ******** page that was posted by co-workers and friends of the family had raised $57,238.

The Heiligenthals will use those donations to pay for funeral and family living expenses, the church said.
Hope for girl's resurrection shifts to Bethel memorial service

Nice to see you here, Wyle E !!

Yes, things get crazier and crazier by the day.
"Family living expenses." Hmmmm. Some of that money could do a lot of good, especially at this time of year and during this cold season.

Let's hope that the family will use that money to help others who have lost loved ones, or to help children have a warmer Christmas or other holiday with new coats, gloves, blankets, sweaters, shoes and socks, groceries, wood for a wood stove or fireplace, etc. Whatever can draw people closer together in love, hope and faith. JMO

 

[dalsglen]

This is one of the most bats**t things I've ever read on here. I, just... oh man

 

[sallye818]

I don't like the way the Go*****e account was brought into this.

 

[borndem]

I don't like the way the Go*****e account was brought into this.

You said it -- where's all that money going now?

I know the parents are ripped apart over the death of their little daughter, and I can understand them hoping, in the grips of their deep sorrow, for the possibility of what the church was proposing. I would not agree to it nor would I participate, but the parents made the decision to hope and pray that it was possible.
The parents seem to have accepted that their daughter was not going to return to them the way they had hoped -- and they seem to have acquiesced to the funeral, etc., fairly quickly.
I hope the funds raised will used wisely and shared with truly needy organizations and causes.

 

[cherrymeg]

What was the cause of death?

 

[Lilibet]

What was the cause of death?

I don’t believe we know, other than she “stopped breathing” in her sleep, according to her mother’s initial post.

 

[cherrymeg]

I don’t believe we know, other than she “stopped breathing” in her sleep, according to her mother’s initial post.

Is that normal for a 2 year old. I'm sure it happens but I thought toddlers were past the risk of sids. moo

 

[alexia98]

Is that normal for a 2 year old. I'm sure it happens but I thought toddlers were past the risk of sids. moo

Wikipedia says is not very common in developed countries

Sudden infant death syndrome - Wikipedia

 

[cherrymeg]

Wikipedia says is not very common in developed countries

Sudden infant death syndrome - Wikipedia

I remember when my son was an infant I was terrified of SIDS. I was so glad when he made it to one when you are supposed to be able to stop worrying about it. I had one of those sensor pads that went in the bassinet and was supposed to set off and alarm if your infant stopped breathing. That was 15 year ago but man that thing woke me up every five minutes. My son was breathing and not awakened by the alarm or me checking his breath. I returned it a few days later lol. Suddenly dying in your sleep at two seems like something else might have been going on.

 

[Lilibet]

These two lengthy first person articles give some context about Bethel Church and it’s attempts to resurrect Olive. They are both well-written and worth reading.

This in-depth article discusses Bethel’s beliefs and it’s controversial impact on Redding CA involving the entangling of church and state. I am eerily reminded of what happened in the small town of Antelope OR in the early 1980’s when followers of “spiritual teacher” Rajneesh attempted to take over. But I digress.
Rajneeshpuram - Wikipedia

The writer discusses Bethel’s School of Supernatural Ministries and describes the core beliefs:

The basic theological premise of the School of Supernatural Ministry is this: that the miracles of biblical times — the parted seas and burning bushes and water into wine — did not end in biblical times, and the miracle workers did not die out with Jesus’s earliest disciples. In the modern day, prophets and healers don’t just walk among us, they are us.

To Bethel students, learning, seeing, and performing these “signs and wonders” — be it prophesying about things to come or healing the incurable — aren’t just quirks or side projects of Christianity. They are, in fact, its very center.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/articl...e-young-saints-of-bethel-who-go-to-college-to

My husband and I live a couple of hours away from Redding. Several years ago, an older man we were very fond of was diagnosed with metastatic melanoma that had spread to his brain...at the same time that Jimmy Carter was being treated for the same thing. Rather than pursue aggressive medical treatment as Jimmy did, among other things he went to Bethel Church, hoping to be healed. He had an “eclectic” array of beliefs and was grasping at anything that might work. It didn’t. He died within a few months of his diagnosis. Jimmy is still alive. I don’t know if our friend would have had success with a similar treatment, but he was in his 80’s and was younger than Jimmy, so he might have done well also. Sadly, we will never know.

The Remarkable Cancer Treatment That Helped Jimmy Carter Combat Brain Tumor

This article from “Christianity Today” details the author’s experience visiting Bethel Church and discusses what they believe and practice, from the point of view of someone describing himself as a more mainstream Christian.

Inside the Popular, Controversial Bethel Church

 

[Blurgle]

Con artists: what a surprise.

 

[ColyH]

It seems like this church is taking advantage of this couple.

 

[borndem]

It seems like this church is taking advantage of this couple.

Ab.so.lute.ly. Like selling elixirs that are made of water and coffee grounds and a bit of sugar. For a headache, it might work if the person suffering believes it will. So, Bingo, a cure-all.

That's what, IMO, this church was doing. I do think that some of the members really believed that it might really work -- and now they think it's their fault because they they didn't pray as long as they should have, or they didn't use the right words, etc.

I would like to see this situation investigated, but unless there's a history of this type thing that is somehow documented -- which could be, IMO -- this thing will just die off, and the church will be a few thousand dollars richer, and waiting for the next one.
SMH. JMHO.

 

[squareandrabbet]

It seems like this church is taking advantage of this couple.

Yes, but they are equally enmeshed IMO, as I saw plenty of comments indicating that the mother is a leader/teacher in the "School of Supernatural Ministry" as well as a worship leader.

It's really sad as there are plenty of wonderful, spunky pictures and videos of little Olive out there and I so don't blame the parents, especially considering both parents were away performing in a worship concert and the child had been left with a babysitter , but this was so not the answer to try. I also saw claims that plenty of mainstream Christians sharing thoughts and prayers for them to get their wish, thought little Olive was somewhere on life support at the time; and not in a drawer at the morgue.

 

[PinkPrincessPoop]

Her instagram comments are open again and she posted a new photo (with a long bit of text); it has hands in circle with "Olive" written on them. It says in part: "We have no regret or remorse for trusting Jesus and are emboldened by the awakening He is breathing into the earth. We are brimming with hope in His complete and final victory, in awe of the beauty that is the Church, and we are pressing in, full speed ahead for all He has."

Someone I was talking with the other day about this said they had a suspicion Olive's name would be used for some type of "spiritual awakening" movement and that what is looks like is happening. MOO.