international House of prayer
History:
IHOP (International House of Prayer) was founded May 7th 1999 by Mike Bickle and started in a small building in Grandview, Missouri. They have expanded over the last eleven years and in 2010 had about 1,000 staff members, about 1,000 in their student body with over 4,000 attending their weekly service. As of 2010, they are holding nationwide prayer meetings, sermons and live streaming events through a network they founded called God TV[1], which alternates between playing music and prayer meetings 24 hours a day seven days a week.[2]
Theology, Doctrine and Teachings:
IHOP officially holds to evangelical post tribulation and affirms historical premillennialism. They also hold to the teachings of the New Apostolic Reformation which is part of the Manifested Sons of God theology which came out of the Latter Rain Movement. This theology teaches that it is the Christian’s responsibility to take back society in order that Jesus Christ may return to set up His kingdom here on earth. This is also known as a 7 Mountain mandate or Kingdom now theology. They also hold to "Harp and Bowl"[3] style worship. This style of worship features musical prayer and derives its name from revelations 5:8, which describes heavenly creatures holding harps and golden bowls which symbolic of the prayers of the saints. A common feature of Harp and Bowl worship is continuous prayer and singing. In the case of IHOP they use a "tag out" method to relieve one another from prayer and singing. A common method of prayer used within IHOP is what is called Contemplative or Breath Centering Prayer.
Summary:
It is the view of Empowered by Christ that IHOP is outside the norms of Orthodox Christianity and may be considered a cult due to its various unorthodox religious teachings. We say this because of their teaching and use of Dominion theology and Manifested Sons of God theology which subscribes to the seven Mountain mandate. These teachings claim that Christians must take back the culture before Christ can return which is contrary to biblical teachings on the return of Christ. They also hold to a militant Christianity in which they want to take back the culture by any means possible or needed even if that means going to war with the culture. They believe that it is their mission to prepare the earth for Christ's return. This teaching is contrary to what is taught in Matthew 23, where the Bible talks about the time before the return of Christ. The Bible teaches Christians will not take back culture or society but that there will become a false church and religion that will take over the world not true Christianity.
IHOP also has problems with the over exaggeration of the use charismatic gifts. We are in agreement with IHOP that the charismatic gifts did not cease at the time of the completion of the Bible. However, Empowered by Christ believes in the correct biblical use of the charismatic gifts in adherence to what is taught in 2 Corinthians chapter 14. IHOP unfortunately does not hold to a biblical use of the charismatic gifts. Their over exaggeration of the charismatic gifts falls in line with the teachings of the New Apostolic Reformation which is a un-biblical and non-Christian movement. The New Apostolic Reformation movement is not based on biblical doctrine but is based on experiential feeling based un-biblical extra revelation teachings. They believe that experience and the extra revelations they receive from supposed Angels and Spirit guides hold value over the actual inspired word of God. This goes against what is taught and 1 Corinthians 4:6, where it is stated not to go beyond what is written in the word of God. Based on this teaching alone it is our belief that IHOP is disqualified to be considered to be within the realm of Orthodox Christianity and is trending towards cultish behavior.
Another area of great concern within IHOP is when it comes to the area of prayer. Prayer is an essential part of every Christian’s growth and our walk with Christ and should be held in the highest regard's in our relation with Christ . It saddens us that IHOP promotes and uses what is known as "contemplative or breath centering" prayer which is in not biblical but Satanic. This style of prayer is where you empty your mind and concentrate on breathing and slowing your heart rate down and bringing yourself into a state of meditation with a clear and emptied mind. You are focusing in this method of prayer to open the different chakras, or levels of your mind. This style of prayer is actually an Eastern Buddhist style of prayer with a Christian lacquer painted over it. This prayer method is no more than eastern mysticism wrapped in pretty package. In this style of prayer you are trying to find your "serpent" power. The Bible speaks very clearly on how we are supposed to pray. We are supposed to pray to our Heavenly Father and Christ not clearing our minds and centering on ourselves. The Bible is very clear that we are not supposed to clear our minds but instead renew our minds in the word of God as stated in Romans 12.
It is our overall view at Empowered and Christ that the organization of IHOP due to its many false teachings and anti-biblical beliefs is not a trustworthy or biblical organization that Christians should be attending. At the very least they are trending towards cultism and could be considered a non-Christian cult. This is not to say that anyone who is attending IHOP is a cult member but we challenge you If you are attending or know someone who is attending to study what they are teaching and compare it to with the word of God teaches. You will find that what they are teaching goes against what the word of God is teaching.
[1] Reading Eagle. McClatchy-Tribune (Reading, Pennsylvania). 8 August 2009. Retrieved 12 February 2011.
[2] Wikipedia: IHOP
[3] Wikipedia: Harp and bowl
IHOP (International House of Prayer) was founded May 7th 1999 by Mike Bickle and started in a small building in Grandview, Missouri. They have expanded over the last eleven years and in 2010 had about 1,000 staff members, about 1,000 in their student body with over 4,000 attending their weekly service. As of 2010, they are holding nationwide prayer meetings, sermons and live streaming events through a network they founded called God TV[1], which alternates between playing music and prayer meetings 24 hours a day seven days a week.[2]
Theology, Doctrine and Teachings:
IHOP officially holds to evangelical post tribulation and affirms historical premillennialism. They also hold to the teachings of the New Apostolic Reformation which is part of the Manifested Sons of God theology which came out of the Latter Rain Movement. This theology teaches that it is the Christian’s responsibility to take back society in order that Jesus Christ may return to set up His kingdom here on earth. This is also known as a 7 Mountain mandate or Kingdom now theology. They also hold to "Harp and Bowl"[3] style worship. This style of worship features musical prayer and derives its name from revelations 5:8, which describes heavenly creatures holding harps and golden bowls which symbolic of the prayers of the saints. A common feature of Harp and Bowl worship is continuous prayer and singing. In the case of IHOP they use a "tag out" method to relieve one another from prayer and singing. A common method of prayer used within IHOP is what is called Contemplative or Breath Centering Prayer.
Summary:
It is the view of Empowered by Christ that IHOP is outside the norms of Orthodox Christianity and may be considered a cult due to its various unorthodox religious teachings. We say this because of their teaching and use of Dominion theology and Manifested Sons of God theology which subscribes to the seven Mountain mandate. These teachings claim that Christians must take back the culture before Christ can return which is contrary to biblical teachings on the return of Christ. They also hold to a militant Christianity in which they want to take back the culture by any means possible or needed even if that means going to war with the culture. They believe that it is their mission to prepare the earth for Christ's return. This teaching is contrary to what is taught in Matthew 23, where the Bible talks about the time before the return of Christ. The Bible teaches Christians will not take back culture or society but that there will become a false church and religion that will take over the world not true Christianity.
IHOP also has problems with the over exaggeration of the use charismatic gifts. We are in agreement with IHOP that the charismatic gifts did not cease at the time of the completion of the Bible. However, Empowered by Christ believes in the correct biblical use of the charismatic gifts in adherence to what is taught in 2 Corinthians chapter 14. IHOP unfortunately does not hold to a biblical use of the charismatic gifts. Their over exaggeration of the charismatic gifts falls in line with the teachings of the New Apostolic Reformation which is a un-biblical and non-Christian movement. The New Apostolic Reformation movement is not based on biblical doctrine but is based on experiential feeling based un-biblical extra revelation teachings. They believe that experience and the extra revelations they receive from supposed Angels and Spirit guides hold value over the actual inspired word of God. This goes against what is taught and 1 Corinthians 4:6, where it is stated not to go beyond what is written in the word of God. Based on this teaching alone it is our belief that IHOP is disqualified to be considered to be within the realm of Orthodox Christianity and is trending towards cultish behavior.
Another area of great concern within IHOP is when it comes to the area of prayer. Prayer is an essential part of every Christian’s growth and our walk with Christ and should be held in the highest regard's in our relation with Christ . It saddens us that IHOP promotes and uses what is known as "contemplative or breath centering" prayer which is in not biblical but Satanic. This style of prayer is where you empty your mind and concentrate on breathing and slowing your heart rate down and bringing yourself into a state of meditation with a clear and emptied mind. You are focusing in this method of prayer to open the different chakras, or levels of your mind. This style of prayer is actually an Eastern Buddhist style of prayer with a Christian lacquer painted over it. This prayer method is no more than eastern mysticism wrapped in pretty package. In this style of prayer you are trying to find your "serpent" power. The Bible speaks very clearly on how we are supposed to pray. We are supposed to pray to our Heavenly Father and Christ not clearing our minds and centering on ourselves. The Bible is very clear that we are not supposed to clear our minds but instead renew our minds in the word of God as stated in Romans 12.
It is our overall view at Empowered and Christ that the organization of IHOP due to its many false teachings and anti-biblical beliefs is not a trustworthy or biblical organization that Christians should be attending. At the very least they are trending towards cultism and could be considered a non-Christian cult. This is not to say that anyone who is attending IHOP is a cult member but we challenge you If you are attending or know someone who is attending to study what they are teaching and compare it to with the word of God teaches. You will find that what they are teaching goes against what the word of God is teaching.
[1] Reading Eagle. McClatchy-Tribune (Reading, Pennsylvania). 8 August 2009. Retrieved 12 February 2011.
[2] Wikipedia: IHOP
[3] Wikipedia: Harp and bowl
