Late last year, we covered a school that was dubbed “Christian Hogwarts” near my hometown in Northern California. The Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry, in Redding, was getting a lot of attention for its promise to teach students how to spot a “true prophet” as well as how to perform miracles.

It turns out there’s more. Not only are students trying to walk through walls, they’re up to something called “grave sucking.”

Grave sucking, also called “grave soaking,” is where people lie on the graves of deceased Christians to absorb their blessings.

Pastor Banning Liebscher explained that he and other church leaders aren’t pro-grave sucking but they aren’t about to stop it either.

“I’m not a proponent for it, I’m just saying like there’s an anointing on Elijah or Elisha, there’s an anointing on his grave that made the guy come back to life, and maybe there’s an anointing [here],” says Liebscher, the founder and director of Jesus Culture. “And then it started getting to where like, I don’t know man, I don’t know what students were doing. But it was weird. But that’s the stuff that all of a sudden has blown up all over the place.” … “We have a real passion for history and revival history and men and women of God, so whatever it is — the Whitfields and the Wesleys and the Luthers and the Booths and for us, the John G. Lakes and the Kathryn Kuhlmans,” Liebscher says. “We read that stuff, love that, stirs us, inspires us. I don’t know who would be a good example — I don’t know who would’ve been over there. John Wesley. Going to John Wesley’s grave if you’re over in England or Booth’s grave, just going and visiting it and just praying at the grave like ‘Lord, what General Booth did in the Salvation Army, God, do it again in our day and let us see a transformation happen in society like he did.’ We’d go visit that and people might pray or whatever. And then — again, these are students — and then it kind of starts going like, alright, well now they’re lying on the grave.”

So… that’s a thing people actually do.

Now what about the walking through walls a la Platform 9 ¾…?

“We were in staff one time and these students — I don’t even know where this came from — but I was getting emails from this from my pastor friends from around the nation,” Liebscher says. “And social media puts it all out there right now. But they were like putting coins on the wall, and they were staying. And they’re like, ‘Oh man, this is God. This is supernatural.’ Because the coins were staying on the wall. This is literally what happened.’ “And we’re in a staff meeting going, ‘What? That’s weird. Why are you doing that?’ Somebody go pastor them and talk to them. Students that are trying to walk through walls, because it’s in the Bible, right? So they walk through walls. They’re trying to practice walking through walls. And we all are like ‘Uhhh, yeah, that’s a little out there.’ …

These are college students. Have we mentioned that yet?

Apparently it’s never occurred to them that walls may just be a bit sticky or damp, and that’s why the coins remain on there for a while.

As for banging their heads into walls, that would explain so much…

Liebscher went on to say that he and the school’s founder, Bill Johnson, haven’t intervened to stop students from participating in unsanctioned supernatural activities. This, according to the pastor, is because Bethel doesn’t police its students.

I’m okay with that. But they could at least do us all a favor and videotape the students the next time they try to walk through walls. I could use a good laugh.

(Image via Shutterstock)

