AnonBerean12 - Dwelling in a House of Lies

I received the following message last night from someone who calls themselves "anonberean12."  Here is the message:

S.R.Claridge, I have read your blogs about IHOP and your book House of Lies. I know it's written about IHOP but your information in the book isn't accurate. You tried to make your character Max Sagan be like Mike Bickle, but Bickle is a true man of God and a true prophet. You are going against God and God will not allow you to spread lies about His chosen people. You are offended by what you don't understand and you're mocking people you shouldn't. If I were you I'd be careful. 

 

This isn't the first message I've received from an obvious IHOP member and I am certain it will not be the last.

 

IHOP cult members are obviously upset about my book.  They are angry because they think it was written about their cult group and at the same time, they accuse me of not accurately depicting IHOP.  I find this humorously ironic. 

 

House of Lies is a fictional story.  The fact that it has similarities to what has happened in the Bethany Deaton murder or the fact that people are drawing similarities between characters in the book and real-life cult leaders is coincidental.  As I have stated many times, I studied five cult groups before writing House of Lies.  IHOP was merely one of those five.

 

I have not "accurately" depicted IHOP because the book is not written about IHOP.  It is a story about a fictional cult group named P3.  The character of Max Sagan, the leader of P3, was designed to be a cult leader to which people could relate, a leader from which readers would sense a spirit of evil and deceit. It is obvious that on some level IHOP members are relating to Max Sagan.

 

If you are drawing similarities between the fictional Max Sagan and IHOP founder, Mike Bickle, those are your own personal conclusions and not a connection I have made.  If you are connecting the two then perhaps you should take a deeper look at the leader you are following.  Bickle, like many of the others I have studied, is a "self-appointed" prophet of God, and if you study his history you will find that not even one of his prophesies has come into fruition.  He disbanned the Kansas City Prophets because they were publically proven false.

Bickle claims to have visited heaven twice and says he has been chosen to change the face of christianity as we know it.... perhaps he is doing this by replacing God with his own ego (?)  Perhaps this egotism is the similarity you see between Bickle and my fictional character, Sagan (?)

I would ask you to compare Bickle to the real prophets from the Bible.  They were nothing like what you see in your cult movement today.

 

I am not "offended" by what I don't understand.  I am cautioned by what I do understand.  I am not the one who has jumped into a movement without studying it from the roots up.  I am not the one who has adopted an elitist attitude, one that refers to oneself as God's "chosen people," with the implication that others are not His chosen. (I am quoting from the above message sent to me.)

 

I am not mocking Mike Bickle nor any IHOP members.  I am saddened by him and by this cult group, just as I am saddened by other cult groups with similar beliefs and heresies. 

 

You want to point a finger at me because deep down you know I have struck a chord of truth, and when you allow yourself to ponder it, it reverberates through your fickle foundation; and you fear if it cracks beneath you, you will fall and when you fall there will be nothing left.   

 

What you need to understand is that it is only when you let go of the cult group that you will truly realize the depth of God's love and mercy for you.  He will not let you fall.

 

You can continue to threaten me, but your time would be better spent studying the movement to which you have devoted your life.  I will "be careful" as you said.... careful to examine every group from the roots up, looking at the fruit and making sure it is not dripping with judgmentalism, deception and utter falsehood.  It is my hope that you will do the same.

 

I will end this blog by asking you one question:  Could it be that House of Lies offended you because deep down you know you are indeed dwelling in a house of lies?  Could it be that it is just too close for comfort?  ~