Bethel Church Suspends Prophet Accused of Forcing Intern Into Bed

Bethel Church leaders suspended its overseer of prophetic ministry Sunday, pending an investigation into allegations of clergy sexual abuse and sexual assault. Ben Armstrong, 53, admitted years ago to a “moral failure” with an unnamed intern and was praised by the church for his honesty and held up as an example of repentance and restoration. But last week, a former student at the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry claimed that when she was Armstrong’s intern 16 years ago, he forced her into bed with him twice.

“I have a memory of him dragging my arms,” said “Sarah,” the former student, on the Feb. 13 “Wake Up and Win” podcast. “Not like on the ground, but he’s pulling me. And I remember saying ‘no’ out loud at least once or twice.” The woman said that she and Armstrong didn’t have sex, but “sexual boundaries” were crossed. She was 23 at the time. Armstrong was 37 and described himself as her spiritual father.

“He’s touching me,” she recalled on the podcast. “He pulls me down and I’m in the bed with him. … Keeping my virginity for my husband was extremely important to me. This is like part of the culture. So, this is my first sexual experience.”

Armstrong and other leaders at the 11,000-member charismatic church in Redding, California, have previously described the incident as an “affair.” Armstrong’s confession was used as an example in senior leader Danny Silk’s book, “Unpunishable,” which lays out “a roadmap for walking out repentance, reconciliation, and restoration.”

Silk described Armstrong as completely honest and forthcoming — an example of Bethel’s “culture of honor leadership.” On an accompanying podcast, Silk called Armstrong a “hero” for his maturity dealing with “a mess like this.”

The book does not name Sarah or include her side of the story but does note that she was Armstrong’s intern.

Christina Forêt, who co-hosts the “Wake Up and Win” podcast with her husband Blaise, said that no Christian should characterize what Armstrong did as an “affair.”

“Any grown adult, any man, any leader knows that someone who’s your spiritual daughter … that’s not an affair,” she said. “Clergy abuse was reframed as ‘a mess.’ Sexual assault was rewritten into a redemption storyline. And a crime was publicly rebranded as an affair. And it worked. The man responsible was platformed, restored, and praised for his honesty.”

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