Faking Prophecy in the Church

Shawn Bolz Meets Shawn Spencer

Though I don’t typically write on current events, the recent exposure of Shawn Bolz for using “data mining” to fake prophetic abilities deserves some comment, particularly as I mention him a handful of times in A Magical World.

For those unfamiliar with Bolz, he is a figure who has made a reputation for himself through the Charismatic “gift of prophecy.” More specifically, he has been known to operate in what is commonly termed a “word of knowledge,” whereby the Holy Spirit ostensibly reveals hidden details that could not have been otherwise known.

In Chapter 5 of my book, I cite examples known to me personally of this phenomenon. I also cite examples from church history, including figures from recent decades such as John Wimber or Jack Deere. In the process of writing the chapter, I wanted to include some examples of this “gift” being used today. Bolz came to my attention through commendation from a friend of mine as well as by Elijah Stephens, director of the Send Proof documentary—which I considered well produced and which I employed in Chapter 8 of my book.

In making his documentary, Stephens cooperated with high-profile skeptics like James Randi and Michael Shermer, as well as stellar academics like Craig Keener and Candy Gunther Brown. He has defended his work on programs like the SPCK’s Unbelievable? as well as podcasts like Remnant Radio (alongside whom he has taught online classes).

Roster for Word & Spirit School of Ministry. Elijah Stephens, second from the left, pictured with the hosts of Remnant Radio.

As part of his documentary, Stephens includes a clip where Bolz recites information about his personal life details and gives him an alleged word from God: “Make the film.” Stephens is awestruck and counts this as a turning point in the production of Send Proof. To this day, Stephens’ website says that “In March of 2015, I was commissioned by Shawn Bolz . . . to make a documentary.” He expands on this “commissioning” with the following blurb:

A year ago I created a website about the film. Then I waited in faith for the next step. At the end of February 2015, Bethel Church in Redding, California had a conference with Shawn Bolz as one of the speakers. Oblivious to this event occurring, I was just living my life. Suddenly, I began receiving texts that Shawn had called out my name as well as my wife, Alison. I immediately drove to the church. He then gave me one of the most accurate prophetic words of my life. He told me my birth date in addition to several other accurate words of knowledge. He also said that God was commissioning me to make this film. You can listen to it below. It will blow your mind.

As of the writing of this article, you can still listen to this “word of knowledge” online. In hindsight, it almost seems obvious that the details he mentioned could easily have been obtained through public records and social media. The one exception might be his declaration that “doctors and medical professionals are gonna trust you,” which did turn out to be true.

So, on the basis of a network of trust, I read a few books by Bolz. My immediate reaction to these works was twofold:

1. This man has a tenuous grasp on biblical theology

2. He may also have a genuine ability

Readers of mine will note that I am wont to combine academic resources with the experiences of practitioners. The latter group often lacks the erudition and nuance that I like to see, but I have always valued the contribution of intuition when dealing with spiritual experiences. Therefore, I decided to include a few mentions of this modern-day “prophet.”

Still, though, I included caveats like the following:

As a writer and teacher, Bolz leaves much to be desired. He often meanders into irrelevant discussions and blunders on some basic biblical hermeneutics. Furthermore, his attempts at publicly prophesying about the future are filled with ambiguity and are, in my estimation, unhelpful. His books are valuable, however, in their documentation of his experiences operating effectively in the revelatory word of knowledge.¹

It has also recently come to my attention that Bolz has now moved away from giving such stage appearances at all. He prefers to remain on his Youtube and Television programs and pronounce vague predictions of the future. Joshua Lewis has wryly (and accurately) called these “words of obvious,” capturing the aforementioned ambiguities: This will be “the year of real estate,” 2024 will manifest a major “transfer of wealth,” etc.

Based upon this defect alone, one early reader questioned whether Bolz should be mentioned in the book at all. Furthermore, more diligent researching would have revealed that there was already enough evidence online pointing to his “data mining” practices prior to the recent kerfuffle. It turns out that Shawn Bolz is just a Christian Shawn Spencer, using cold reading and hyper-observation to fake a preternatural gifting. The information may be true, but it’s not coming from where you think it is.

James Roday Rodriguez plays Shawn Spencer, a fake psychic who works for the Santa Barbara Police Department on the USA Network’s Psych

Now that this evidence has become overwhelming, here I must admit my error in judgment.

I find myself in a similar position as Jack Deere, who, in good faith, gave credence to the prophetic abilities of Paul Cain in his landmark Surprised by the Power of the Spirit (1993), only to later discover Cain’s deep moral compromise. (Fortunately, none of my points rested on the integrity of Bolz.) Unless I decide one day write a fully revised edition (à la Deere), I must leave this blemish intact. As a certain governor of Judea once said, Quod scripsi, scripsi.

Having offered this mea culpa, I’d like to move on to offer a framing of our understanding of figures like Bolz.

The Nature of Preternatural Impressions

Given that I have seen enough of the truly supernatural, I am not tempted to dismiss all instances of prophecy after a public failure like this. I am also uncertain as to whether all of Bolz’ prophetic career is characterized by fakery. After all, the context in which I cited Bolz highlighted his admitted failures to correctly hear the voice of God,

Consider, for instance, the following excerpts from his Translating God:

As a person gets feedback, it starts to grow him. He can begin to feel when a word is 100 percent accurate and/or when it isn’t. He can sense which parts felt inspired by the Holy Spirit and actually connected with his audience versus which parts felt like human encouragement or his hopes for good things to happen. He can also then start to learn what is disconnected, uninspired, and doesn’t land at all.²

This concept of getting feedback on the accuracy or inaccuracy of an alleged “word of knowledge” aligns both with the counsel of teachers in the Charismatic movement as well as the experience of remote viewers, who need to verify which parts of their session were accurate versus junk. They learn to discern the “signal” from the “noise.”³

More from Bolz:

For about five years I was very particular and tracked everything that was trackable. If there was any word I gave for the future, I would get people’s e-mails or phone numbers, even after public meetings, and would e-mail them a day or week after and ask how it went. About sixty percent of the time it was amazing and brilliant, and I grew in faith from those stories. They gave me a lot of courage to keep going. Another 30 percent of the time, people still felt encouraged but couldn’t necessarily weigh my word as being accurate, clear, or already fulfilled. Then about ten percent of the time there was no fulfillment.⁴

Bolz offers this and many other examples of him getting a word wrong as he attempted to discern the prophetic voice of the Holy Spirit. This, as it happens, jibes with the experience of other prophetically-gifted ministers. Take the following anecdote from Jack Deere’s experience with John Wimber:

The summer before my seminary fired me (1987), Leesa and I went to a conference of more than three thousand people at John’s church, The Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Anaheim. After a morning plenary session, the prayer team was praying for a hundred or more people at the front of the auditorium. Wimber stood on the stage and said, “There is a woman here who has cancer, and you have not come forward. Please come down to the front so we can pray for you.” No response. He continued, “You flew in on Tuesday. You came here to be prayed for. Let us pray for you.” No response. He said, “You’re sitting in the back, and you’re wearing a pink dress.” A woman wearing a pink dress got up from the back row and walked up to the prayer team.⁵

Deere describes his reaction to this spectacle:

Afterward, I said to John, “That was amazing. That must have gone off like a foghorn in your mind.”

“No, Jack. It was just the opposite. It was so faint I almost missed it. I was ready to walk off the stage, and I had the slightest impression that we were supposed to pray for a woman with cancer.”

“What about the flying in on Tuesday?”

“When no woman came forward, I thought I should wait a moment longer. ‘Tuesday’ just floated through my mind. A lot of people come in a couple of days before the conference to enjoy Southern California. I thought that’s what ‘Tuesday’ meant.”

“Pink dress sitting in the back?”

“Well, when she didn’t come forward, I saw pink floating over the back of the auditorium for a couple of seconds.”

“John, you called out a woman in front of three thousand people because of those flimsy impressions?”

“Jack, I do it all the time. That’s just the way God speaks to me when I’m praying for people. I’ve had better luck adjusting to his way of speaking than trying to get him to adjust to my way of hearing.”

Whatever one thinks of these preternatural impressions, 100% accuracy and clarity seem to be the exception rather than the rule. Most of time, this gifting comes across “through a glass, darkly.” Thus, the reputation that Bolz later developed for being uncannily too accurate actually arouses some suspicion.

Furthermore, from my study of prophetic practitioners and the field of parapsychology, I have come to recognize that preternatural impressions of this sort often come from the intuitive aspect of our consciousness rather than through the logico-rational side. Thus, many “words of knowledge” or “impressions” come in the form of symbolic imagery, feelings of warmth or color, physical sensations, and the like. What is rare to receive with accuracy is alphanumeric characters—full names, addresses, birth dates, usernames, etc.

In her history of the Pentagon’s psychic spying program, Annie Jacobsen writes that alphanumeric information was “extremely rare” and “the holy grail of remote viewing.” Only a few extreme outliers, like Pat Price and Angela Ford, showed significance signs of success in this area.⁶ Parapsychologist Edwin May has likewise spoken of the “low bandwidth” of alphanumeric data transfer, explaining why psychically-gifted individuals aren’t constantly winning the lottery!

And as it happens, Bolz built a reputation around exactly this type of alphanumeric prophesying. In one of his books, Bolz shares a story where he called out “MonkeyPower123,” at a prophetic ministry event in Anaheim, which just so turned out to be an old username of one of the attendees.⁷ These types of clairvoyant insights seem almost too good (i.e., too precise) to be true.

Lessons from Uri Geller: Easier to Fake It

At this juncture, I think it may be helpful to juxtapose the case of Shawn Bolz with that of one of the most controversial living psychic performers: Uri Geller.

Uri Geller demonstrates his alleged spoon-bending abilities. Image credit CitationPod.

Famous for his supposed spoon-bending and ESP abilities, Geller has been a subject of widespread praise and ridicule for decades. Irwin & Watt explain:

Generally Geller has been reluctant to participate in scientific research, preferring the more lucrative television and lecture circuit. He has tended to be uncooperative in projects in which he has agreed to participate and curiously enough the few “scientific” studies with Geller by and large have been methodologically weak (cf. Targ & Puthoff, 1974; Marks & Kammann, 1980). There are instances in which Geller has been shown to cheat (Hutchinson, 1988; Jaroff, 2001) and, of course, there are many magicians who claim to be able to replicate Geller’s feats under the same conditions in which Geller performs (Fuller, 1975; Randi, 1975). Without adequate testing in properly controlled conditions it is impossible to validate Geller’s psychic talents.⁸

What interests me is the the number of people who are adamant that they have witnessed genuine psychic functioning by Geller. Even the veteran researcher Russell Targ takes Geller seriously in the 2019 documentary, Third Eye Spies.

Loyd Auerbach explains his own point of view:

The main question surrounding Uri Geller has been whether he was/is a skilled magician/fraud or whether he has genuine psychic abilities—though of course he could fit in both categories. I have heard reports from observers of Uri Geller, both believers and disbelievers, many of whom were skilled observers. I have seen videotapes of some demonstrations on TV talk shows, I watched him do an ESP task on a local talk show in San Francisco several years ago (after which I got to meet him for the first time), I spent some time with him at his estate in England in 1991, where I got to know him better. I have had lengthy discussions with people who know him very well, as well as with debunkers who take the opportunity to disdain his abilities at every mention of his name.⁹

Auerbach, who has vast experience in the fields of both parapsychology and stage magic is partial to a “both-and” answer to this question: “The best answer I can give to the above question is that Uri Geller is a wonderful entertainer who sometimes displays psychic abilities.”

He goes on to explain why this is plausible:

Keep in mind that I don’t think anyone can be psychic all the time, whether using PK or ESP. Keep in mind that an entertainer has to perform every time he or she is in front of an audience and everyone has some degree of psi ability (as even Uri has said). As I mentioned earlier, I have spoken to a number of magicians and mentalists who believe that they have had PK and ESP experiences in their personal lives, and even on stage during their performances. I believe that Uri has often provided a stimulus for others to have a psychic experience.

Given that these preternatural abilities cannot be easily produced “on demand,” a conflict emerges when a figure (whether “psychic” or “prophetic”) is scheduled for a “performance.” Though this person may have displayed genuine abilities in the past, there is now pressure to “make something happen” to avoid humiliation.

Jimmy Akin offers similar thoughts on Geller:

It’s possible that he’s a genuine psychic who also uses magic tricks. This is a known phenomenon in parapsychology, because psychic functioning is supposed to be difficult and unreliable. And celebrity psychics in particular can be afraid of failing in front of others because they’ve got a reputation to maintain. So if they’re not under carefully controlled conditions, they may use magician’s tricks to make things easier on themselves and avoid embarrassing themselves and harming their reputation.

Going back to the 19th century there have been celebrity psychics who have admitted this to parapsychologists, saying, “Hey, you know, being genuinely psychic is hard. It’s a lot easier to cheat than to be psychic. And I will cheat if you let me.”

This may explain the equivocal data on Geller. It may also explain the equivocal data on the notorious Steven Greer, who claims similar witnesses to his ability to “summon” extraterrestrials through esoteric meditation techniques, but who has also been shown to cheat when he is scheduled to perform.

Something similar may explain the sad story of Shawn Bolz.

I find it unlikely (though possible) that Bolz rose to notoriety completely via data mining people’s information. As I said before, I have seen enough of the “real stuff” to know that it is out there. If even a kernel of the stories in Bolz’ book are real, then he had some learning experiences where he got things partially right.

When, however, he was confronted with success and fame, he was faced with a temptation to cheat. Martyn Lloyd-Jones often said that “the worst thing that can happen to a man is to succeed before he is ready.”¹⁰ Bolz, one surmises, was not ready. In the most charitable view, this data mining may have been done as a means of “priming the pump” of faith (a woefully misguided intention). At its worst, it became a cynical means of self-aggrandization at the expense of the naive.

One might further compare Bolz with Kathryn Kuhlman, who seemed to possess a genuine ability to make people feel heavy and drop over involuntarily—classically known as being “slain in the Spirit.”¹¹ Francis MacNutt wrote of his own skepticism of this phenomenon before he met a colleague who “was so sensitive to this power that he couldn’t even get near [Kuhlman] but repeatedly fell down in the aisle as he tried to approach the platform.” This was soon followed by MacNutt’s own experience of falling down upon his encounter with Kuhlman.¹² Yet MacNutt also recognized that “toward the end of her life she sometimes lacked spiritual power” and manufactured these spectacles. He quotes from Jamie Buckingham’s (sympathetic) biography of Kuhlman:

There had been times in the past when, if she even got close to me, I would go down “under the power.” But that day it was just Kathryn—with her hands on my jaw. I loved her too much to disappoint her. With a sigh of resignation, I fell backwards in to the arms of the man behind me.¹³

As a researcher, my tentative conclusion is that Bolz is a stage performer who may have demonstrated prophetic abilities in the past. Furthermore, speaking as a Christian, he can be categorized as a wolf who has wrought damage to the faithful—the men and women who took his words as if they were from Heaven.

Takeaways

Some lessons that we can learn from the Bolz case are as follows:

• Be suspicious of prophetic words that are uncannily accurate with alphanumeric characters. This is not a foolproof test, but experience indicates that it may be a clue that the “prophet” is cheating.

• Be suspicious of any “prophecy” which is limited to information that can be found through public records or social media.

• Remember that even if an individual is gifted with preternatural knowledge, one must still discern whether any attached directives or applications are the will of God. A gifted individual may meld a genuine clairvoyant data point with his or her own opinions and biases.

• Remember that giftedness does not imply maturity. This is something we all learned at Lakeland.

• Remember to prioritize spiritual growth over success. Any of us, had we been in a similar position, may have fallen into a similar temptation. Let us pray we do not succeed before we are ready. But for the grace of God, there go I. . .

1. Matthew McGuire, A Magical World: How the Bible Makes Sense of the Supernatural (Independent, 2024), 137n74.

2. Shawn Bolz, Translating God: Hearing God's Voice for Yourself and the World Around You (ICreate, 2015), Kindle Location 2003.

3. New readers might hesitate on my comparison of prophetic gifting with psychic functioning. The relationship between these phenomena is a nuanced one, and my position is that, at minimum, they seem to operate via the same mechanism, even if not always the same source. Therefore some of the lessons learned in the field of parapsychology may provide insights into the mechanics of prophetic giftings. Chapter 5 of A Magical World touches on this, as well as my other articles on ESP and the Wiesinger Hypothesis.

4. Bolz, Translating God, Kindle Location 1833.

5. Jack Deere, Why I Am Still Surprised by the Voice of God: How God Speaks Today through Prophecies, Dreams, and Visions (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2022), Chapter 12. (For this and the following excerpt.)

6. Annie Jacobsen, Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government’s Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis (New York: Back Bay Books, 2017), 162, 355.

7. Shawn Bolz, God Secrets: A Life Filled with Words of Knowledge (ICreate, 2017), 92–93.

8. Harvey J. Irwin and Caroline A. Watt, An Introduction to Parapsychology, fifth ed., (Jefferson; London: McFarland & Co., 2007), 119.

9. Loyd Auerbach, A Comprehensive Guide to Discovering Your Psychic Powers (Woodbury: Llewellyn, 2017), Chapter 9. (For this and the following excerpts.)

10. As cited in R.T. Kendall, Holy Fire: A Balanced, Biblical Look at the Holy Spirit’s Work in Our Lives (Lake Mary: Charisma House, 2014), 1.

11. One of the most balanced treatments of this strange phenomenon is John White’s When the Spirit Comes with Power: Signs & Wonders among God’s People (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1988).

12. Francis MacNutt, Overcome by the Spirit: The Extraordinary Phenomenon That Is Happening to Ordinary People (Grand Rapids: Chosen, 1990), 18–19.

13. Jamie Buckingham, Daughter of Destiny (Plainfield: Logos, 1976), 281, as cited in MacNutt, Overcome by the Spirit, 146–147.