How did we get here?
Scandals surrounding charismatic figureheads like Shawn Bolz and Todd White have recently filled the newsfeeds of many evangelicals. If you’re unfamiliar with what I’m referring to, a quick search for Mike Winger on YouTube will quickly bring you up to speed.
Mike is an online Bible teacher known primarily for careful, verse-by-verse teaching through Scripture. In recent months, however, he paused his normal teaching schedule to investigate and expose patterns of deception among certain high-profile Christian leaders. In his videos, he examines alleged prophetic words that appear to be fabricated, analyzes questionable healing claims, compares teachings against Scripture, and documents patterns of financial or spiritual manipulation within parts of the charismatic movement.
His goal is not spectacle but reform—calling the church to greater discernment and biblical fidelity.
I have deep respect and appreciation for the work Mike is doing. His research is thorough, thoughtful, and grounded in Scripture. By all means, take the time to watch his videos. But be prepared—the material he uncovers is deeply troubling, and that may be putting it lightly.
Over the last few months, I’ve sat through nearly twenty hours of his content, and one question keeps coming back to me:
How did we get here?
How did the body of Christ platform spiritual grifters and charlatans?
How did we allow people with such questionable character into positions of spiritual authority?
How did we drift so far from Jesus while loudly preaching His name?
The answer is multi-layered. But one place we would do well to begin is with the human appetite for spectacle.
How Spectacle Undermines Spiritual Health
In John 4:43–45, Jesus returns to Galilee after spending two days with the Samaritans. The Galileans welcome Him warmly. But if we read earlier in John’s Gospel, we discover something important: their enthusiasm is not rooted in devotion to Jesus but in fascination with His miracles.
They crave the wow-factor. Awe. Surprise.
Spectacle.
Earlier, in John 2:23–25, we are told that many people “believed” in Jesus because of the signs He performed, yet Jesus did not entrust Himself to them because He knew their hearts.
This exposes a spiritual dynamic that still threatens the health of churches today: miracle-oriented faith rather than Christ-centered faith.
The crowds in Galilee wanted Jesus primarily for what He could do, not for who He was.
Jesus confronts this tendency directly when a royal official approaches Him about his dying son:
“Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” (John 4:48, ESV)
Now hear me clearly: I am not diminishing the reality of miracles. Jesus performed them, and He still does. That is a hill I will gladly die on. To deny miracles entirely while claiming to believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ is the very definition of cognitive dissonance.
But our charismatic brothers and sisters, you would do well to take these words of Jesus to heart. They are not a condemnation of signs and wonders. They are a diagnosis of the human heart.
The problem arises when the sign becomes the destination rather than the pointer directing us to Christ.
Unfortunately, many churches today unintentionally cultivate this very dynamic.
It happens when worship becomes a spectacle.
It happens when programs become the attraction.
It happens when sermons become motivational experiences rather than our encounter with the Word of God, and allow Him to shape us through it.
The result is not deeply devoted disciples of Jesus but a wide, shallow pool of religious consumers.
Research confirms the danger of this drift. A study by the Barna Group found that 47% of practicing Christians say they attend church primarily for personal encouragement rather than spiritual transformation or mission (Barna Group, 2021).
In other words, many believers approach church the same way the Galileans approached Jesus—seeking benefits rather than surrender.
Healthy churches resist this drift by continually re-centering their identity around the person of Jesus.
The theologian Dallas Willard warned that churches often substitute spiritual experiences for genuine discipleship. The true measure of spiritual formation, he argued, is not emotional intensity but transformation into Christlikeness (Willard, 1998).
That distinction matters deeply.
A church can create powerful moments and attract huge crowds without forming mature disciples.
John’s Gospel gives us a contrast. The Galileans’ faith was shallow and spectacle-driven, but the royal official’s faith deepened through trust in the word of Jesus.
Healthy churches cultivate that kind of faith.
They teach believers to trust Jesus even when miracles are absent.
They emphasize obedience over emotional experience.
They prioritize formation over attraction.
And pastors and church leaders would do well to ask themselves one difficult question:
Are we forming disciples who trust Jesus—or consumers who chase spiritual experiences?
The health of our churches depends on the answer.
Returning to the Way of Jesus
The scandals shaking the evangelical world should grieve us. But they should also cause us to examine the soil that allowed them to grow.
False teachers do not flourish in a vacuum.
They flourish where discernment is weak. They flourish where character is ignored. And they flourish where spectacle becomes more valuable than faithfulness.
The church does not need better performers. It needs better shepherds.
It does not need louder voices. It needs deeper disciples.
The way forward is not cynicism or endless outrage. The way forward is repentance and re-centering—a return to the slow, simple, transformative work of discipleship.
Jesus never promised to build His church on charisma, spectacle, or viral influence.
He promised to build it on Himself.
And when the church anchors itself again in the person of Christ—His Word, His character, His mission—something remarkable happens.
Spectacle fades.
Discernment grows.
And resilient faith begins to take root again.
That is the kind of church the world desperately needs.
And it is the kind of church Jesus still delights to build.
Grace & Peace,
Mike
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References
Barna Group. (2021). State of the Church 2021. Barna Research.
Willard, D. (1998). The divine conspiracy: Rediscovering our hidden life in God. HarperOne.
