International House of Prayer - Haven of False Teachings

This institution had its origins in the Kansas City Prophets, men who claim to be contemporary prophets of God.

“International House of Prayer, based in Kansas City, is rapidly growing and nationally known. The ministry owns an entire shopping mall, two apartment complexes and a ranch. It is being used as a model to begin houses of prayer around the world. There are over 500 people who currently serve on staff…. The movement has spawned a host of ministries including prophetic and apostolic training schools, 24 hour worship and prayer, healing schools and a small association of churches called Forerunner Fellowship of Churches. On the surface, things look good. And what could be more important than prayer? But once one gets beyond the veneer and ambiance, there are significant causes for concern.

“Problems first arise when one begins to examine the selection of teachings offered at IHOP. …conspicuous by their absence are such Christian staples as; salvation, the resurrection, blood atonement, virgin birth, fall of man, sin, grace, final judgment, trinity, nature of God, Christian morality and nearly any other subject one would commonly expect to find in a Christian ministry which functions as a church for most of its members…. I do not mean, by this, to insinuate that those associated with IHOP do not believe in these doctrines. I suspect that they do. I am only pointing out that these foundational doctrines are not emphasized in the teaching ministry. In the place of these “meat and potatoes” subjects, one finds series on such topics as; prophetic art, the breaker anointing, the Jezebel spirit, the Anna anointing, becoming the David generation, Our Prophetic History (not that of the church in general but prophecies given to IHOP in particular), the global bridegroom fast, dream interpretation, prophetic training and instructions and the list goes on…. In addition to these problems, nearly an entire section of the book store is dedicated to the works of Roman Catholic mystics such as Madame Guyone and Thomas Keating. The works of Watchman Nee figure largely as do a host of books touting new prophecies, third heaven visitations and instructions on interpreting your own dreams…. The nutritional content of the majority of the material found at IHOP is extremely low. IHOP claims to be training Joel’s Army, the generation of end-time apostles and prophets that will be completely glorified and exercise dominion over the world prior to the Second Coming. Yet for all the talk about apostolic lifestyle and apostolic power, virtually no attention is given to apostolic doctrine! Compare this with the attitude of the apostle Paul.” (Keith Gibson, Apologetics Resource Center director for Kansas City, talk given at the 2005 Kansas City Conference on Biblical Discernment)

As you can see from Keith Gibson’s description, this organization is very aberrational, and often heretical in most of its teachings. Some of the well-known names associated with this group are Bob Jones (not the Bob Jones of the Christian University), Paul Cain, Mike Bickle, Rick Joyner, Jack Deer, Jim Goll, John Paul Jackson and Jill Austin. These people and their followers have given many false prophecies, and teach dominion theology, part of which includes the false teaching of Strategic Level Spiritual Warfare.

For some good information about IHOP, there is a blog developed just to expose their false teachings. I highly recommend it: http://ihopisnewage.wordpress.com/