Lou Engle
Lou Engle is among one of the more controversial Charismatic Christian pastors out there today. Due to the abundant number of false prophecies and teachings of Lou Engle it is impossible here to state every false teaching and un-biblical practice he promotes. This article is meant only as a general overview of his main false teachings. Unfortunately as with many of the Charismatic pastors, just as Lou Engle does, they take the word of God out of context and distort what the actual meaning of the word of God is; making it something that it isn’t. This seems to be a major problem within the Charismatic camp of late and something that will be addressed in later articles.
Lou Engle started his ministry and early 2000 and came out of the un-biblical movement called the Kansas City Prophet and Latter Rain movement. He is the senior leader of the International House of Prayer. He is also the founder of the event name The Call and the organization Justice House of Prayer which is a NeoCharismatic prayer house. All of these organizations are questionable at best and have unscriptural practices rooted in Dominionism and new age mysticism.
Jesus clearly warns in Matthew 7:15 – 20, “Beware of the FALSE PROPHETS, who come to you in SHEEP’S CLOTHING but INWARDLY ARE RAVENOUS WOLVES. You can identify them by their FRUIT, that is, by the way they ACT. Can you pick grapes from Thorn bushes, or Figs from Thistles? (17) A GOOD TREE produces GOOD FRUIT, and a BAD TREE produces BAD FRUIT. A GOOD TREE can’t produce BAD FRUIT, and a BAD TREE can’t produce GOOD FRUIT. So every TREE that does not produce GOOD FRUIT is chopped down and thrown into the Fire. Yes, just as you can identify a TREE by its FRUIT, so you can IDENTIFY PEOPLE BY THEIR ACTIONS.”
So let's use Matthew 7:15 – 22 examine the fruits of Lou Engle and see if these fruits are the fruits that a good tree produces. One of the major problems with Lou Engle is his teaching of radical theocratic view of the church. In other words, he believes and teaches that it is the church's job to declare war on the culture, which is another outshoot of Dominion theology; however this is a more radical view. In this view of militant Christianity he teaches that we have to take back the culture at any cost necessary and that there are spiritual jurisdictions set up over parts of this country. He teaches that we must do battle with these jurisdictions and take them back by a method of "storming them" then executing rain or Dominion over these jurisdictions in the name of Christ. Lou Engle is a big supporter of the use Joel’s Army and the Manifested Sons of God's to accomplish this task. For example; On March 8th 2008, at Mike Bickle of IHOP’s ‘Passion For Jesus Conference’, Lou Engle called for a "Civil War in the churches" declaring that it was time that the true Christians took back the churches by any means possible. Of course, we do not see this teaching of taking back jurisdictions or the culture with in the Bible. It is not our job as Christians to take back the culture or to start a "Civil War within the church" in order to accomplish this goal.
Another problem within Lou Engle's teachings is in the area of the use and method of prayer. As I mentioned earlier Lou Engle is senior leader of the International House of Prayer. The International House of Prayer is heavily into the use of the un-biblical contemplative or better known as centering prayers. This is nothing more than a Buddhist prayer method that is supposed to connect yourself with your inner spirit by emptying your mind and allowing spirits to talk to you. This prayer technique amounts to no more than new age mysticism wrapped in a Christian package. He uses this style of prayer in his events such as The Call and the Justice House of Prayer.
Lou Engle is also into the use of a method called "staking”. This is the unscriptural practice of taking and actually putting stakes in the ground and then having large groups of Christians pray, over them and claiming jurisdiction over that land. For example let's say that you want to claim Dominion or jurisdiction over the city you live in. You and your group of fellow “stakers” would go to all the corners of that city and put stakes in the ground and actually pray over those stakes claiming that you now have jurisdiction or spiritual dominion over that city. Nowhere in the Bible is this type of prayer supported. We are not supposed to be going around claiming Dominion or spiritual jurisdiction over areas by driving stakes into the ground and praying over them. This is actually a form of pagan worship not biblical prayer and worship that has its roots in Masonic teachings; which can be traced farther back to Baal worship.
As with any false teacher at first glance their teachings may sound well and fine but when we hold them in the light of Scripture they soon pale to the true word of God. If we look at biblical doctrine and compare the teachings of Lou Engle to the word of God we can see that the two do not match. When we look at the bible and what it teaches we can see that Lou Engle is not bearing good biblical fruit. Lou Engle's brand of Christianity is not the brand of Christianity that is consistent with biblical Scripture and teaching. Engle’s version of Christianity is a militant Christianity that focuses on what the believer has to do to take back the Earth for the kingdom of Christ. This teaching actually diminishes the sovereignty and power God. In turn what Ingle's this teaching is that Jesus is not powerful enough to establish His kingdom here on earth without the help of the believer. We have see from further examination the foundation of Lou Engle's teachings are based in pagan worship which is not biblical. In my opinion Lou Engle is one of the more dangerous charismatic teachers of today. He takes Scripture and contorts it into his own brand of Christianity not the biblical Christianity that Jesus Christ teaches.
Lou Engle started his ministry and early 2000 and came out of the un-biblical movement called the Kansas City Prophet and Latter Rain movement. He is the senior leader of the International House of Prayer. He is also the founder of the event name The Call and the organization Justice House of Prayer which is a NeoCharismatic prayer house. All of these organizations are questionable at best and have unscriptural practices rooted in Dominionism and new age mysticism.
Jesus clearly warns in Matthew 7:15 – 20, “Beware of the FALSE PROPHETS, who come to you in SHEEP’S CLOTHING but INWARDLY ARE RAVENOUS WOLVES. You can identify them by their FRUIT, that is, by the way they ACT. Can you pick grapes from Thorn bushes, or Figs from Thistles? (17) A GOOD TREE produces GOOD FRUIT, and a BAD TREE produces BAD FRUIT. A GOOD TREE can’t produce BAD FRUIT, and a BAD TREE can’t produce GOOD FRUIT. So every TREE that does not produce GOOD FRUIT is chopped down and thrown into the Fire. Yes, just as you can identify a TREE by its FRUIT, so you can IDENTIFY PEOPLE BY THEIR ACTIONS.”
So let's use Matthew 7:15 – 22 examine the fruits of Lou Engle and see if these fruits are the fruits that a good tree produces. One of the major problems with Lou Engle is his teaching of radical theocratic view of the church. In other words, he believes and teaches that it is the church's job to declare war on the culture, which is another outshoot of Dominion theology; however this is a more radical view. In this view of militant Christianity he teaches that we have to take back the culture at any cost necessary and that there are spiritual jurisdictions set up over parts of this country. He teaches that we must do battle with these jurisdictions and take them back by a method of "storming them" then executing rain or Dominion over these jurisdictions in the name of Christ. Lou Engle is a big supporter of the use Joel’s Army and the Manifested Sons of God's to accomplish this task. For example; On March 8th 2008, at Mike Bickle of IHOP’s ‘Passion For Jesus Conference’, Lou Engle called for a "Civil War in the churches" declaring that it was time that the true Christians took back the churches by any means possible. Of course, we do not see this teaching of taking back jurisdictions or the culture with in the Bible. It is not our job as Christians to take back the culture or to start a "Civil War within the church" in order to accomplish this goal.
Another problem within Lou Engle's teachings is in the area of the use and method of prayer. As I mentioned earlier Lou Engle is senior leader of the International House of Prayer. The International House of Prayer is heavily into the use of the un-biblical contemplative or better known as centering prayers. This is nothing more than a Buddhist prayer method that is supposed to connect yourself with your inner spirit by emptying your mind and allowing spirits to talk to you. This prayer technique amounts to no more than new age mysticism wrapped in a Christian package. He uses this style of prayer in his events such as The Call and the Justice House of Prayer.
Lou Engle is also into the use of a method called "staking”. This is the unscriptural practice of taking and actually putting stakes in the ground and then having large groups of Christians pray, over them and claiming jurisdiction over that land. For example let's say that you want to claim Dominion or jurisdiction over the city you live in. You and your group of fellow “stakers” would go to all the corners of that city and put stakes in the ground and actually pray over those stakes claiming that you now have jurisdiction or spiritual dominion over that city. Nowhere in the Bible is this type of prayer supported. We are not supposed to be going around claiming Dominion or spiritual jurisdiction over areas by driving stakes into the ground and praying over them. This is actually a form of pagan worship not biblical prayer and worship that has its roots in Masonic teachings; which can be traced farther back to Baal worship.
As with any false teacher at first glance their teachings may sound well and fine but when we hold them in the light of Scripture they soon pale to the true word of God. If we look at biblical doctrine and compare the teachings of Lou Engle to the word of God we can see that the two do not match. When we look at the bible and what it teaches we can see that Lou Engle is not bearing good biblical fruit. Lou Engle's brand of Christianity is not the brand of Christianity that is consistent with biblical Scripture and teaching. Engle’s version of Christianity is a militant Christianity that focuses on what the believer has to do to take back the Earth for the kingdom of Christ. This teaching actually diminishes the sovereignty and power God. In turn what Ingle's this teaching is that Jesus is not powerful enough to establish His kingdom here on earth without the help of the believer. We have see from further examination the foundation of Lou Engle's teachings are based in pagan worship which is not biblical. In my opinion Lou Engle is one of the more dangerous charismatic teachers of today. He takes Scripture and contorts it into his own brand of Christianity not the biblical Christianity that Jesus Christ teaches.
