U.S. megachurch seeks $100K, prayers to ‘resurrect’ singer’s dead child

A Christian megachurch in California is soliciting prayers and US$100,000 in donations on behalf of two of its members, who are holding out hope that Jesus will “resurrect” their recently deceased toddler.

Kalley and Andrew Heiligenthal say their daughter, Olive Alayne, passed away on Dec. 14 at the age of two.

Kalley is a well-known singer at the Bethel megachurch in Redding, Calif., and she shared the news of her family tragedy with her 262,000 followers on Instagram Sunday.

“We’re asking for prayer. We believe in a Jesus who died and conclusively defeated every grave, holding the keys to resurrection power,” she wrote in the post.

“We need it for our little Olive Alayne, who stopped breathing yesterday and has been pronounced dead by doctors.”

The post goes on to ask for “bold unified prayers from the global church to stand with us in belief that He will raise this little girl back to life. Her time here is not done, and it is our time to believe boldly, and with confidence wield what King Jesus paid for.

More than 151,000 people had liked the post and another 16,000 users left comments by Thursday. A majority of the comments encouraged her to keep hoping for the child’s resurrection.

Her cause of death has not been released. However, the Redding Police Department confirmed that they responded to a medical call early on Dec. 14. “It resulted in a death,” Sgt. Brian Torum told McClatchy News.

The Heiligenthals are clearly being encouraged by the Bethel Church, a powerful Christian organization in Redding that claims to have approximately 11,000 followers and nearly half a million fans on Facebook. Bethel also has its own TV service, music label and media wing, and it’s in the middle of building a $96-million campus for itself in Redding.

The Bethel Church says it recently held its first-ever prayer service dedicated to a person’s resurrection. The group’s pastor, Bill Johnson, explained in a video on Wednesday that resurrection is possible because “we have biblical precedent; Jesus raised the dead.”

“Bethel Church believes in the stories of healing and physical resurrection found in the Bible (Matthew 10:8), and that the miracles they portray are possible today,” the church told the Redding Record and Spotlight newspaper on Tuesday.

The girl’s body has been at the Shasta County Coroner’s Office since it was transferred there from the hospital on Dec. 14, Bethel Church told local station KRCR News.

The church has set up a GoFundMe page to raise US$100,000 for the family, although it does not specify exactly what the cash will be used for. The campaign had raised more than $44,000 by Thursday afternoon.

The GoFundMe page quotes Kalley Heiligenthal’s post about resurrecting her daughter, then calls for people to help “bless, honour and support the family in the coming days.”

“We have set up a gofundme in an effort to support the Heiligenthals,” wrote organizer Peter Mattis. “Please join us with your prayer, your solidarity and your financial support.”

The campaign story is clear in that the funds are for financial support for the Heiligenthal family, and the family is entitled to use the funds for a memorial service of their choice,” the fundraising platform told Global News in a statement.

Bethel Church told KRCR that the page was set up to cover unknown expenses for the family during this time — as well as future expenses for their child, who is still deceased.

The church and the Heiligenthals have drawn sharp criticism from some individuals who have accused them of trying to make money off the tragedy. Some have also chastized the church for encouraging an impossible goal, rather than helping the Heiligenthals deal with their unfortunate reality.

“This is either lunacy or a giant scam in the making,” Twitter user @5thTMNT wrote on Tuesday.

“This is so sad,” tweeted author Chrissy Stroop. “I have observed firsthand people getting psychologically destroyed, for years, because they didn’t get an expected miracle. Waiting for a resurrection, though, is next level unhealthy. But they also have a GoFundMe seeking $100,000 for … what?”

Kalley Heiligenthal has been posting daily messages on Instagram, saying that each day is a “good day for resurrection.”

Tens of thousands of people have replied to her posts. Many offer messages of support. Others have expressed sympathy for the couple’s loss while pointing out that their expectations might be unrealistic.

“Is she currently on life support?” one person wrote. “Just curious on how that works logistically if she’s been pronounced dead?”

Not to me - I can't see any 'church' using such a thing to raise money. What a perversion of Scripture!

This makes me intensely bitter, and maybe that's sinful.

I lost a child, a 20 year-old beloved son when I was a member of a large Holy Spirit-led healing church. I didn't get a lot of support from the staff. The next Sunday, they had a special speaker, who talked about a sick child, and he talked about his pain when he thought he would lose that child - and he asked: "God, why?"

I was deeply touched, and felt the same way.

In the next breath, he said the child was saved! "Praise God!" from the congregation.

But where did that leave me? Faith is easy when God answers prayers, and these churches demand we pray because they tell us God will give us what we want if we do.

But what kind of failth do you need to maintain the love of God when he DOESN'T answer prayer?

These people have a cheap faith.

We had a little ministry in that church, but were always considered to be outsiders. What kept me there was the fact that it was a very good place for our ministry, and I saw people healed from spiritual, mental and emotional problems time and time again through our little group. Not my doing, but blessed by just being there to witness the work of the Holy Spirit.

Over the course of a year we saw people relieved of alcoholism, and three people suffering from chronic life-long depression were relived of that ailment. (How often to do you see that!) It was encouragement to me to keep doing what we were doing!

The pastor, in the prayer groups would constantly ask for miracle of healing - "I want healing of sickness and disease - cancer, life threatening illnesses! That will bring people in this town to Jesus!"

I pointed out to him the people who we witnessed being cured in our group... "Well, that's nice." he said, "Nothing wrong with that. But I want big, dramatic healings!"

Jesus had come and was healing people right in front of us, and he couldn't see it. Thank God the Holy Spirit was able to work with us, despite this guy!

That pastor's wife told the story of her young son, as a child years ago, diagnosed as very sick... she prayed, and suddenly he was healed! Proof, she said, that God hears, loves us and answers prayer!

So, where does this leave me? I guess by her logic God doesn't hear my prayers, love my or answer my prayers.

After my son died, some of my Christian friends never spoke to me again. (Many remained close, and helped me through that time.) But virtually no help from any of the pastoral staff. I didn't fit their model of what they expected from God, I suppose.

I remember sitting in a branch of that church where the pastor knew of my struggles. He just seemed to get a blank look on his face when I cried during prayer groups. One Sunday he turns toward the group of his "favorites," the little inside clique of the church, all seated together. He frowns and starts the service with "We just received some terrible news. We heard Rick Warren's son died. It's a surprise to us when we hear about terrible things happening to good Christians."

I was sitting 15 feet away from the guy. He knew my struggles - but he was better able to show concern and compassion to someone 3000 miles away that he had never met, than he was able to express to a member of his own congregation that he knew was struggling with the same thing!

I had to come up with my own money to bury my child - we had the service at a different church, by my ex-wife's request, and I certainly had no problem with that. The funeral home let me pay the bill over several months, and when I could afford a plot I bought one, and I paid for the stone in monthly payments over a period of about a year.

It's what the members of the congregation have to do. We're not bless and taken care of like the pastoral staff.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.