false religions/ minor movements/the call



The Call  was started in 2000 and is an organization which sponsors prayer meetings and is led by Lou Engle along with other Christian leader’s pastors in the U.S.   Originally planned as a co-ed youth version of Promise Keepers[1]. The Call hosts 12-hour or 24-hour events which combine prayer, sermons, and Christian rock worship and gospel music.[2]

So what does The Call teach and promote? From the sources and statements above one might say that it sounds like a good thing that Lou Engle is promoting prayer. After all what is wrong with promoting prayer?  At the surface it does sound good, but as often is the case with a closer look what is revealed is not so biblical nor is it so good. What The Call really turns out to be is nothing more than a blasphemy before a Holy God. The god that The Call  is praying to is not the God of the Bible but a different God. 

For our examination of what The Call actually say’s it stands for and teaches the best place to look is at their own website and their own words, which can be found at www.thecall.com. We have attached a screenshot below of their mission statement from their webpage from the “Who We Are” section.  Let their own website prove that they who they really are praying too. Upon a closer read of their statement from either their website or  from the provided screenshot below this article we can get a very quick feel for what Lou Engle’s The Call is all about. 

Right away in their first statement we can see that The Call is allegorizing biblical texts right from Joel Chapter 2. They are using Joel chapter 2 out of context and applying it straight to the New Testament Church of today. Even more precisely they are trying to apply this text to the American Church. Which of course when we read Joel chapter 2 in it’s correct context we find that it has nothing to do neither the New Testament Church or to the American Church.

This type of allegorizing of biblical text is quite common upon movements like the NAR (New Apostolic Reformation), and Joel’s Army, which is the base for The Call.  Leaders like Lou Engle thrive on the lack of biblical knowledge and people's emotions for them to fall for these allegorization's of biblical Scripture and sly of hand scripture twisting (s) . They base their entire movements on improper eisegesis of biblical text. Hence making their movements a false movement because it is based on a false anthropology of man and his place in accordance to God. In a very real sense they try lifting man above God by formulating prayers and demanding a response from God by their work based formulation of prayers and legalistic rituals of Old Testament law.

As you read further down their belief statement you can see that The Call is very much into Dominion theology or Kingdom now theology by their own words as quoted below.

"We must drop every barrier that divides us and unite in urgent, humble fasting and prayer with the promise that God will pour out His Spirit (Joel 2)"

Once again we see that they have a false premise in which they are basing their mission statement on an improperly interpreted Old Testament Scripture. 

One of the major problems with The Call and others that use the methodology of prayer that is present in this movement is that they are searching for extra biblical revelation that exceeds what is written.  They try to supersede what is written in Matthew 6: 9-15 where Jesus Himself tells us how to pray. According to Jesus this is all we need to know when  praying.
 
Pray then like this: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
10  Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11  Give us this day our daily bread,12  and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.13  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.14  For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,15  but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."As we can see by Jesus's own words above we don't need extra biblical revelations or any other extra new way of praying that is promoted by The Call or any of its associate groups. What we need is to follow what the bible says and Jesus says about how to pray.  Plain and simple movements like The Call while in theory may be a good thing in reality are not. Why would any one want to attend or be associated with a group like The Call  that has a false premise?  In short, if someone invites you to go to an event associated with The Call decline this invitation. Instead take the time to warn them of about their dangerous teaching and agendas.    To do so here is a recap of the problems with The Call they are as follows;



  • They have a false anthropology or being from which they base their movement on. 

  • Many teachers within the movement use allegorization and narcissistic eisegesis to make their movement viable.

  • Teachers and leaders within the group use emotionalism and people’s lack of proper biblical knowledge to push their Reconstructionist theology and agendas  

[1] Mark Hemmingway (August 18, 2008) Hearing TheCall  National Review

[2] Ed Hornick, (August 13, 2008) McCain, Obama to address 'values voters'  CNN