The Central Theological Message from Bethel Church is "Make Love to Jesus"

Several years ago, Ann Voskamp released a book for women essentially explaining to them how they could seek out an "intimate" relationship with God. Consider this excerpt from her book, The Joy of Intimacy. In the last chapter, she writes “I fly to Paris and discover how to make love to God.” In her mind, the idea of God's love for man was erotic and experiential.

This thinking typifies the entire charismatic movement we see today in churches like Bethel, Hillsong, and other more extreme experience-based churches. Their message: learn how to make love to God.

Churches like Bethel have mastered the art of producing an emotional experience and labeling it a move of the Holy Spirit. If you watch any of the worship services of Bethel, it's filled with ethereal music with chord structures that are scientifically proven to heighten one's emotional state. It is, in fact, extremely similar to a drug-induced ecstatic experience.

Music theory has made great strides in understanding the progression of chords and its role in projecting emotions to the listener. As one article notes, "A chord by itself doesn't have a narrative value, but a chord progression does and generates a particular emotional effect."