In numerous letters I
have been asked why I believe IHOP (International House of Prayer) falls into the
category of a “cult” group. The most
common question is: “How can a prayer
movement that is centrally focused on loving Jesus be labeled a cult?”
This is a good question
and one that I would encourage you to study well beyond the limited confines of
my blog. I will share with you some of
my research on the topic, but note that this subject is extensive and you will
need to conduct your own investigation to go deeper than just the overview of
information I give here.
First, we will need to
look at the basic definition of a cult.
I like to look at several definitions so that I can get a well-rounded
picture of what the word means.
According to the World
Dictionary: A cult is a specific system
of religious worship, especially with reference to its rites and deity; a sect
devoted to such a system; a quasi-religious organization using devious
psychological techniques to gain and control adherents; a group having an
exclusive ideology and ritual practices centered on sacred symbols and with
intense interest in and devotion to a person, idea or activity.
According to Larson’s
New Book of Cults: A cult is defined as
a group that represents a religious body that is unorthodox or spurious, and
has a wide perimeter of devotion to a great person, idea, or a thing.
The origin of the word
cult comes from the Latin word cultus, which connotes all that is involved in
worship- ritual, emotion, liturgy, and attitude.
Dr. Charles Braden is
quoted as saying, "A cult is any religious group which differs
significantly in some one or more aspects as to belief or practice from those
groups that are regarded as the normative expression of religion in our culture."
In addition to the
definition of the word, one must understand that groups can be sociological
cults and/or theological cults; and that being labeled a cult does not
necessarily mean the group is dangerous. Cult groups can have either a notably
positive or negative popular perception. There are many, many groups that would fall
under the blanket description of a cult, but pose no psychological, emotional,
physical or spiritual threat to their members.
To be defined as a dangerous
cult, a group must possess a certain number of sociological or theological characteristics
associated with already known dangerous groups.
I believe the easiest way to understand a group is to compare them to
other cult groups and analyze the similarities and differences.
I will start with a
group we can all agree was a dangerous cult:
The People’s Temple/Jonestown led by Jim Jones.
JIM JONES -
JONESTOWN - THE PEOPLE’S TEMPLE
Jim Jones was a sick individual
to say the very least, and his mental illness and inflated egotism began in
childhood. In interviews for the 2006 documentary
Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple, childhood acquaintances
recalled Jones as being a "really weird kid" who was "obsessed
with religion". As a child he was a
voracious reader and studied Joseph Stalin, Karl Marx, Mahatma Gandhi and Adolf
Hitler carefully, noting each of their strengths and weaknesses. He had few
friends and eventually abandoned the ones he had for the preference of reading
instead of playing. His mother believed she had given birth to what she called
the Messiah, so one can only assume that his initial onset of egotism stemmed
from her influence.
As he grew, so did his
ability to work a crowd and attract media attention. He was a man of charisma
and a speaker that was able to stir emotion in people. His beliefs were
predominantly Methodist, but he was greatly influenced by a Baptist Revival he
attended, noting that religious revivals were the means toward social change. In June of 1956 Jones organized a mammoth
four-day religious convention in a cavernous Indianapolis hall called Cadle
Tabernacle. To draw the crowds, he believed he needed a religious headliner, so
he arranged to share the pulpit with Rev. William M. Branham.
This is relevant to
mention for two reasons. First, Jim
Jones was a preacher. He stood at the
pulpit and preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He was a Christian. He used Christian terminology so that his messages felt familiar and comfortable.
Second, choosing William
Branham is significant because Branham was a major name at the forefront of the
Latter Rain movement and was known for the miracles, signs, and wonders of his
revival style meetings. Branham, though initially ordained as a Baptist pastor,
converted to the Assemblies of God and remained there until he had his
credentials stripped in 1949. The reason Branham had his credentials stripped
is that in spite of his “miracle and healing” services, he also promoted false
doctrines such as the denial of the Trinity, the teaching that the Zodiac and
the pyramids were as much God’s Word as the Bible, the Serpent’s Seed doctrine
which taught that Eve had sex with Satan in order to conceive Cain, and most
bizarre of all he popularized the Manifest Sons of God doctrine as originally
postulated by Earl G. Paulk. This
doctrine taught that rather than Christ returning physically in his second
coming, there would be a re-establishment of the apostolic and prophetic
ministries and that the remnant that walked in these ministries would walk so
much in the power of God that they would become the fulfillment of the Second
Coming. Branham died in a car accident in 1965, but many of his followers were
so duped that they waited by his grave for several days fully expecting him to
arise from the dead in the same way that Christ did. Though Branham is still in
his grave, his legacy of deception lives on in a group of men who feel ordained
by God to continue his work…. men like Mike Bickle and those of the
International House of Prayer.
Mike Bickle wrote a
book entitled, Growing in the Prophetic, published in 1996, in which he calls
William Branham a “true prophet of God.”
(page 63)
Just like Jones, Bickle
promotes the Apocalyptic ideas of the Latter Rain movement and the Manifest
Sons of God, though he has assigned new terminology to avoid past
ridicule. IHOP members are called
“Forerunners,” participating in the “Harp & Bowl.” The lingo has changed but
Branham’s methods are still in use at the International House of Prayer, just
as they were at Jonestown.
In the 1960’s Jones
started making his elitism known, stating that anyone who was not a member of the
People’s Temple were “drugged with the opiate of religion and had to be brought
to enlightenment.” Bickle has expressed
similar elitist views, stating that other members of the body of Christ (those
not a part of IHOP) are suffering boredom, dead in their spirituality and
spiritually inferior.
Jones was able to gain
public support and contact with prominent local and national United States
politicians; and he also forged media alliances with key columnists and others
at the San Francisco Chronicle and other media outlets. Why?
Because Jones believed that the only way to achieve social change
in the United States was to mobilize
people through religion.
Likewise, Bickle, with
Lou Engle at his side, profess to their desire to achieve social change in the
United States by way of banning abortion and homosexuality, taking a highly
publicized political route straight to Washington. Engle has gone as far as to say it is better
to be dead than to be a homosexual and better for a woman to die than to abort
her baby. He has also proclaimed that
natural disasters (i.e. the Joplin, Missouri tornado and Hurricane Katrina) in
the United States are God’s punishment for these things.
With publicity also
comes media scrutiny and it was a 1977 article in New West Magazine in which
previous People’s Temple members were interviewed and claimed to have been
physically, sexually and emotionally abused by Jones, that made him immediately
move his group to Guyana, wherein he officially named the place,
“Jonestown.” Jones denied the
allegations and then ran and hid.
Similarly, whenever
Bickle has come under media scrutiny, he has denied, altered his terminology,
twisted words, outright lied, and gone as far as to disassociate himself with
members and other religious organizations.
Examples: When Paul Cain and Bob
Jones came under scrutiny for homosexuality and sexual misconduct, Bickle
dis-banned the KC Prophets; a group of prophets he claimed were influential in
laying the foundational roots of IHOP. When
Gruen filed what became known as the Gruen Report, questioning Bickle’s
theologies and practices, Bickle changed his church’s name from Kansas City
Christian Fellowship to Metro Vineyard Fellowship, hiding beneath the then
large blanket of Vineyard churches. Then, when Vineyard Ministries came under
scrutiny with the proving of falsehood in the Toronto Blessing, Bickle dumped
the Vineyard title.
When an infant (Jeremiah Candler) was starved to death by their IHOP member parents, who were fasting under the encouragement of Bickle’s teachings, he disassociated himself from them, claiming they were never IHOP members.
When Bethany Deaton was murdered by fellow IHOP members, he disassociated himself with them and called their group a separate cult. These are but a few examples of a history of running, denying, lying and hiding.
When an infant (Jeremiah Candler) was starved to death by their IHOP member parents, who were fasting under the encouragement of Bickle’s teachings, he disassociated himself from them, claiming they were never IHOP members.
When Bethany Deaton was murdered by fellow IHOP members, he disassociated himself with them and called their group a separate cult. These are but a few examples of a history of running, denying, lying and hiding.
Similarities between
Jim Jones and Mike Bickle cannot be ignored or dismissed.
Let’s look at fifteen
characteristics of Jim Jones and the People’s Temple and compare them to Mike
Bickle and IHOP.
(1)Jim Jones was a
leader with charisma and passion. He had
the ability to stir excitement in others and convince them that he was speaking
truth. Eventually he even convinced them
that he was God.
(1)Mike Bickle is a man
of passion and charisma and he has proven to be good at stirring excitement in
the youth; convincing them that he has visited Heaven twice and that he has
been chosen as the Apostle of the Lord to create an end-times army and usher
the church into new apostolic revelation.
(2)By moving his group
to Guyana, to establish what became known as Jonestown, he took drastic
measures to separate his members from outsiders, or what he considered to be the
unconverted.
(2) When his ideas were
questioned at South County Christian Fellowship in St. Louis, Missouri, Bickle
moved his group to the smaller community of Grandview, Missouri to establish
IHOP. With the help of his wife, Diane’s, Realestate business, they began
buying up rental properties and housing units in Grandview to create what is
commonly known as the IHOP campus. Over
the past decade, Bickle has taken drastic measure to make his IHOP-KC campus
separate from outsiders in and around KC.
(3) Jones became the
centralized authority that structured the philosophy and lifestyle of Jonestown
members. In doing so, he created an “us”
versus “them” complex against those not belonging in the group and viewed outsiders
as spiritually inferior.
(3) Bickle is the founder and centralized authority figure of IHOP-KC. He has structured the philosophy and the lifestyle of IHOP members, even instituting their own unique verbiage or “lingo.” In doing so, he has created an “us” versus “them” complex against those not belonging in the group and has admitted to developing a spirit of elitism. He has openly stated that he views all others (believers outside of IHOP) to be spiritually inferior and to fall under the deception of the enemy.
(4)Jones enforced financial dependency, ensuring member’s personal assets were donated to his group, and making them less likely to be able to leave.
(4)Through the design
of the IHOP internships, Bickle subtly enforces a certain financial dependency
which makes it harder for students, interns and members to leave. They pay
elevated rent and/or tuition and are scheduled with prayer room hours that are
not conducive to employment outside of IHOP.
If they cannot earn money on the outside and are being supported as a
“prayer missionary” by donations that they will feel pressured to pay back upon
leaving and have no means to do so, it promotes a feeling of being, in essence,
trapped.
(5)Jones used the
influence of hypnotic states, purposefully inducing a state of manipulative
mind control through repetitive chanting, continuous singing, and
meditation.
(5) Bickle doesn’t hide
the fact that he uses the meditative methods of Father Thomas Dubais, going as
far as to say he believes Dubais’ book, “The Fire Within” should be the IHOP
handbook. Bickle calls his meditation,
“communing prayer” or “centering prayer” and combines it with repetitive
chanting, and long hours of mantra-based singing. These are psychological, hypnotic practices
used to break down the normal defense mechanism in the brain, thereby opening
the human mind to suggestion.
These methods are
chosen with intent.
(6)Jones ensured his
members were rarely left alone, each having roommates and assigned duties that
kept them busy and kept their minds from being unattended.
(6) Bickle has
structured IHOP so that students and interns have little choice but to have
roommates. They cannot financially
afford to live alone. In addition, they
are required to spend a certain amount of time in the Prayer Room and doing
various other duties, so there is a lack of prolonged privacy. If a member tries to seek out too much alone
time, they are reminded of this verse and via peer pressure, pulled back into
activity: Hebrews 10:25 …”not forsaking our own assembling together,
as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you
see the day drawing near.”
(7)Members of Jonestown
were encouraged and later, forced to share personal secrets in front of other
group members and in written journals that were used as a source of
intimidation.
(7) There are numerous
testimonies from IHOP-KC camp-goers, interns and students that they were forced
to share private information during the IHOP application process and via
journals that were then turned in to their team leaders. It has been proven through a private
investigative report that these journals have been used by IHOP leadership to
device fraudulent prophetic words in an attempt to manipulate individuals.
(8)Jones would give
long lectures and schedule long prayer and worship sessions in order to tire
and confuse minds.
(8)Bickle’s teachings
are lengthy, at best, as you can watch on YouTube, on the IHOP website and on
GodTV. Even lengthier are the worship
sets that can last hours, repeating one or two phrases. These are purposefully designed to be long
and tiring to relax the mind and make it easier for members to fall prey to the
power of suggestion.
(9)Jones taught his
group meditative methods of centering their thoughts on God and on their
apocalyptic agenda.
(9)I’ve already covered
this above, but Bickle teaches centering prayer (also called contemplative
prayer and communing prayer) and gives specific steps on how to seek the Holy
Spirit and ask for revelation and prophetic vision. His focus is on building the end-times army
of the Lord that will usher in the Second Coming of Christ.
(10) Jim Jones claimed
to be God.
(10) Mike Bickle claims
to have heard the audible voice of God and to have visited Heaven twice and to
be the chosen Apostle of the Lord to prepare for the Second Coming. One of his fellow IHOP leaders, Lou Engle,
preaches that the spirit of Elijah will descend upon him and that he is the
spiritual Charles Lindbergh.
(11)Jones encouraged
very strong peer pressure, each member helping to exploit other member’s desire
for acceptance and thereby providing a sense of belonging and community.
(11)The average age
range for IHOP members is 19-27. Bickle
targets this age group because this is when the wild, teenager naturally begins
to seek a more stable place of belonging and acceptance in the world. This is the age when they begin to question
things spiritually and philosophically and this is the age when they are most
easily sucked into something that “feels” good.
Bickle promotes accountability among friends, which, in essence
encourages peer pressure to go with the flow and not question. More importantly than holding each other
accountable, is holding ourselves accountable to God; but Bickle knows that by
pushing peers to hold one another accountable, it promotes peer pressure and a
fear of being judged and ridiculed.
Fear, ironically, builds deeper community; though not a pure community.
(12)Jones manipulated
minds through the use of sensory deprivation, lack of food, lack of sleep and
drugs.
(12) IHOP enforces
mandatory fasts. They are not called
“mandatory,” but participation is “highly encouraged.” Participation is enforced by the closing of
every food-offering establishment on the campus. In addition, most students, interns and
camp-goers don’t have the means (financially or otherwise) to go off campus and
purchase food. Participation is enforced
through the fear of the disapproval of peers and leadership. Food deprivation coupled with sleep
deprivation from long hours in the prayer room and studying leave the mind wide
open for manipulation. When a person is greatly fatigued and hungry, and is
forced into prolonged activity, it can make them vulnerable to normally
offensive beliefs and suggestions.
I do not know if drugs
are used at IHOP to increase the hypnotic, meditative state of members.
Slipping a narcotic into a member’s food or drink is a common cult tactic and
it would not surprise me if IHOP were engaging in such manipulations. We do know for a fact that the drug, Seroquin, was given to Bethany Deaton prior to her murder. We know that Bethany was an IHOP member and so was her alledged killer. What we don't know is where the drug came from and if other IHOP members were privy to it being used.
(13)To secure the new
cult family feel, Jones placed rules on social relationships, allowing members
to marry only other members and deny all other familial relationships.
(13) IHOP has very
distinct rules about students and interns fraternizing with one another. Here are some of their socializing rules as
found on the IHOP-KC website:
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
The International House
of Prayer (IHOPKC) community expects all its staff members (all staff,
students, and interns) to make a personal commitment to live counter to the
prevailing moral laxity of our society by not participating in, advocating,
supporting, or condoning sexual activity (heterosexual or homosexual) outside
of marriage, marriage being understood to be between a man and a woman, as set
forth in the Scripture. Further, we will demonstrate our commitment to Christ
and to each other by refraining from any use of tobacco, and the public or
social* use of alcoholic beverages. This commitment includes summer, breaks
from school, and trips outside of Kansas City for all those who plan on
returning to IHOPKC after their break, summer, or trip.
*“Public or social”
describes any gathering including persons who are not members of your immediate
family, whether in Kansas City or elsewhere.
Dating Policy for
Students
Dating or courting is
not permitted during a student’s first semester of IHOPU. However, students in
a relationship before enrolling as students may communicate through written
communication only. If the dating relationship is with someone living in the
Kansas City area, this must be disclosed on the application form. If you are
engaged, please inform the Discipleship Group leader to whom you are assigned
within the first two weeks of school.
Dating Policy for
Interns
Dating and courting are
not permitted during the One Thing and Fire in the Night internships. They are
not permitted during the first track of Intro to IHOPKC and Simeon Company.
However, interns in a relationship before beginning the internship may
communicate through written communication only. If the dating relationship is
with someone living in the Kansas City area, this must be disclosed on the
application form. Applicants who are engaged should disclose this on the
application form as well.
_______________________________________________________________________
In addition, IHOP
encourages members to “fast from their families” or anyone who questions or
takes offense to the IHOP philosophy.
They are taught that others will not understand, will take “offense” and
will question what they are doing. There
are numerous testimonies about kids who have stopped communicating with their
parents, siblings and life-long friends because they have received a “prophetic
word” from IHOP leadership instructing them to do so.
(14)Jones forced
members to have sex with one another to enhance the depth of shared focus and
spirituality and further unite the community as one. He also participated in sexual activity with
members.
(14) I do not believe
IHOP encourages the use of sexual activity to enhance spirituality. I do know that Bickle’s Bridal paradigm
teaching and emphasis on Song of Songs, coupled with the sensual overtones of
the mantra-based music certainly lends itself to a spirit of sensuality that,
if misunderstood by members, could easily lead to abuse.
I think that Bickle’s
theology in this arena is dangerous, though I am not making an accusation that
he or his leadership team have been involved in sexual misconduct.
(15)Questioning the
authority of Jim Jones resulted in punishment, both psychological and
physical.
(15)There are many
accounts within IHOP where people have been kicked out of the group for questioning,
ignored by peers, ostracized, threatened and even emotionally and
psychologically abused because they expressed doubts.
Of the fifteen
characteristics found in The People’s Temple movement and in the leader, Jim
Jones, thirteen of those are shared traits of the International House of Prayer
and leader, Mike Bickle.
Now, I ask you, is IHOP
a “cult”? Should we keep a watchful
eye? Is it dangerous?
If you look only from
the outside, from the surface level, you will think it is merely a group of
people who love Jesus and are coming together to devote their lives to worship
and prayer. That’s what outsiders saw of
The People’s Temple too; but it was and it is a mirage.
Look deeper, from the
foundation up, and the truth will begin to reveal itself. Look deeper and a sinister spirit will
emerge. Stand IHOP’s principals against
those of Jim Jones, David Koresh, Marshall Applewhite, etc., and you will soon
see a thread of common deceit woven through them. It is a thread dipped in superiority and laced
in hate, cleverly disguised beneath an evangelical veil of God’s so-called End-Times
purpose.
They go after the youth,
the naïve, for a reason. They want the
outcast, the introverted, the lonely and the misunderstood because they can
offer them something no one else can:
belonging, purpose, and community.
IHOP can give them all they’ve ever wanted and never had. They’ll do anything for acceptance and what
IHOP banks on (literally) is that they will accept anything just to belong.
IHOP speaks of
empowering the youth, but it is the youth that empowers this cult. Deception spreads faster than truth because
it is easier to accept and it feels good.
Deception becomes a powerful addiction, one that must keep growing
larger and larger in order to satisfy. But, eventually, as history has proven,
all prophetic end-time army movements end in disaster. Is IHOP any different?
It is built upon false
prophesy, guilty of participating in mental and psychological manipulations by
way of sleep and food deprivations, isolationism from the outside, threats and
fear tactics, acts of punishment and violence, bigotry, elitism, and IHOP
leaders (namely Bickle and Engle) suffer from similar superiority complexes as
those of Jim Jones, Marshall Applewhite and David Koresh.
Leaders with charisma
and a demanding public persona know what to say and when to say it. They know how to play the game better than most
politicians. They talk the talk but the
path they are walking is not one of truth, but one of destruction. Most of the members inside these types of
groups can’t see it and don’t know it; and sadly, most don’t find out until
it’s too late.
We don’t want to
believe these types of groups exist because we have this insatiable need to
feel we are smarter now… that we’ve learned from Jonestown and Waco….but,have
we?
Religious groups that
have been focused on the End-Times and are Apocalyptic-driven have consistently
and historically resulted in disaster. I’ve
already noted Jonestown, but here are just a few more examples:
MARSHALL APPLEWHITE -
HEAVEN’S GATE
Marshall Applewhite
shared the same superiority complex as Jim Jones and Mike Bickle. Applewhite encouraged his followers to see
him as Christ, as the only way to salvation.
His teachings were said to be popular because they had “Christian
elements that were basically grafted onto a New Age matrix.” It was
said that Applewhite effectively controlled his followers by packaging his
teachings in familiar terms, even creating his own lingo that only his members
would understand. It was said he “fit the traditional view of a charismatic
leader” and that he was a “master manipulator.”
Members were not forced to stay, but most did and had little contact
with their families of origin or with their neighbors or friends.
Thirty-nine (39) people
died in a mass suicide.
STEWART TRAILL - THE
CHURCH OF BIBLE UNDERSTANDING (aka FOREVER FAMILY)
The Church of Bible
Understanding is a destructive cult started in 1971 by Stewart Traill in
Allentown, Pennsylvania. The cult targeted teens as young as thirteen years
old, by drawing on their weaknesses, offering them a place of acceptance and
understanding and giving them the hope of being chosen by God for a greater
purpose.
Traill teaches that he
is the reincarnation of Elijah, that Elijah’s spirit rests upon and within him,
and that he knows the date of the return of Christ. Members of the cult live in
a commune and donate 90% of their income to the cult. Traill amassed a fortune
and owns four planes and a half million dollar mansion. According to former
members, Traill controls every aspect of members’ lives through harsh
criticism, shame, and public humiliation.
Ron Burkes, a staff
member at a residential treatment center for former cult members says this:
“Traill has one of most
effective means of shutting down critical thinking I’ve ever seen. Of the hundreds
of people I’ve treated, The Church of Bible Understanding is definitely in the
top five in terms of harm and psychological damage.”
CHARLES MANSON - THE
MANSON FAMILY
I could write a book
about Charles Manson and his psychosis and deception, but I won’t. The one thing I want to mention is that
Manson is described as a person of charisma, able to motivate others toward
action and a convincing speaker.
He convinced his
members that they were living in a time of social turmoil and that more turmoil
was coming. He told them they were an “elect
group that was being instructed to preserve the worthy from impending disaster.”
This group had a strong emphasis on the apocalypse, highlighted by their booklet, A Timely Message from Heaven: The End of the Present Time.
New members were
required to study it and be trained in it, reading it as many as six times.
They also taught that Mother Mary had a special role in the Apocalypse, and that
she communicated to the leadership. They saw themselves as a proverbial Noah’s
Ark, a chosen ship of righteousness in a sea of depravity.
In March 2000, 300
people burned in a fire intentionally set by leadership. Once the debris was cleared 500 plus graves
were discovered beneath. The death toll
is somewhere between 800 and 1100 people.
JOSEPH di MAMBRO &
LUC JOURET - THE ORDER OF THE SOLAR TEMPLE
The Order of the Solar
Temple was a secret society created by Joseph di Mambro and Luc Jouret, based
upon the new age myth of the continuing existence of the Knights Templar.
Along with its interest
in the Knights Templar, the group incorporated astrology, medieval legend, and
Christianity into its beliefs; with an emphasis on the end of the world.
While Jouret talked
publicly about environmental issues and the end of the world, Di Mambro led
their followers through elaborate ceremonies, which included guided meditations
and prayer.
On October 5, 1994
investigators found 48 people dead. Some may have committed suicide while
others were most likely killed. Some had been injected with tranquilizers or
had plastic bags over their heads while others were shot. Di Mambro, his wife
and his children, and Jouret were among those killed.
DAVID KORESH -
BRANCH DAVIDIANS
The Branch Davidians
were a splinter movement from the Seventh Day Adventist Church, and what they
inherited was the Adventism’s extreme Apocalypticism. They believed themselves to be living in a
time when Christian prophecies of a final divine judgment were coming to pass.
Koresh was described as
vibrant, charismatic and convincing. He
encouraged his followers to think of themselves as “students of the Seven Seals”
from the book of Revelations.
He proclaimed to be the
final prophet of God.
Koresh played the
guitar and sang in a band and recruited people through the use of his
music. In 1985 he traveled to Israel
where he claims to have had a vision from God telling him he was the modern day
Cyrus. He then had his name changed from
Vernon Howell to David Koresh. The name Koresh is a transliteration of the
Persian name of Cyrus, the Persian king, who allowed the Jews - who had been
dispersed throughout Babylonia by Nebuchadnezzar - to return to their
homelands. His first name, David, symbolized a lineage directly to the biblical
King David, from whom the new messiah would descend. By taking the name of
David Koresh, he was "professing himself to be the spiritual descendent of
King David, a messianic figure carrying out a divinely commissioned
errand."
Koresh taught a “House
of David” doctrine that was based on a purported revelation which involved the
reproduction of 24 children by chosen women in the community. These 24 children
were to serve as the ruling elders over the millennium after the return of
Christ. Another teaching in the “House of David” doctrine was one of continual
prayer and worship.
When the FBI stormed Mount
Carmel on April 19, 1993, 82 people died, 21 of them were children.
Each one of these
leaders had charisma. Each one of these
leaders had a Christian background and incorporated Christianity into their
teachings. They were/are smooth talkers,
pursuing the young, the needy, the vulnerable and the naïve. Each one had a focus of preparation for the
End Times. Each one emphasized the need
for more prayer, meditation, and worship.
Each one created their own lingo and suffered from superiority complexes
and severe egotism. Each of these leaders has claimed to have either visited Heaven, heard the audible voice of God, been labeled an Apostle or Prophet of God or had the spirit of Elijah descend upon him.
Now, I ask you, how is
IHOP and its leaders any different? Are we to believe that everyone else was wrong, but Bickle and Engle and IHOP is right? Can we take that chance when history so venomously repeats itself, and now we have a significant trail of obvious signs to tell us when there is something wrong? Can we afford to ignore the signs?
Just because someone
teaches Christianity doesn’t make them right or safe. Look deeper.
Seek out the foundations upon which any group is built and if it is sitting
on a bed of lies, false teachings and false prophesies, RUN! If these so-called prophets have a history of mental illness, RUN! If EVERY word that proceeds from their lips isn't true, RUN!
I know what they are doing at IHOP feels good and looks good… but there is an underlying danger there; one that has and will reveal itself again and again. It is deceptive. It is demonic. It is no different than Jonestown or Waco or Heaven’s Gate or any other Apocalyptic movement.
Jonestown ended in 900 deaths...
... IHOP isn't any different...but my prayer is that it ends differently. ~
... IHOP isn't any different...but my prayer is that it ends differently. ~
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