Deaton Murder Trial Postponed AGAIN - Cult Details

The trial of Micah Moore has been postponed, yet again and is now scheduled for November 2014; over two years from the date of Bethany Deaton’s murder.  Some speculate there are higher powers at work with a trail leading right to IHOP’s doorstep.

Without re-hashing the entire story, I’d like to share a couple of links that will give background information and updated information you may not have heard before.  I will admit some of it was new to me.

Read here and see what Rolling Stone didn’t tell you about the Deaton case: 

http://thecosmiccathedral.wordpress.com/2014/01/23/what-rolling-stone-didnt-tell-you-about-tyler-deaton/

In my research I’ve had the opportunity to talk with many people in and around Grandview, home of IHOP-KC.  Some are current members of IHOP, some former members and some with no affiliation at all.  There are many perspectives but I’ve noticed a common thread in every story.  One word, really.  Cult.  No matter who I interview, the word comes up.  They are either convinced IHOP is a cult, concerned that it might be a cult or defending it as a non-cult entity. 

Years ago, IHOP founder, Mike Bickle, created a list of seven ways to recognize the difference between a religious community and a cult. 

1. Opposing critical thinking

2. Isolating members and penalizing them for leaving

3. Emphasizing special doctrines outside scripture

4. Seeking inappropriate loyalty to their leaders

5. Dishonoring the family unit

6. Crossing Biblical boundaries of behavior (versus sexual purity and personal ownership)

7. Separation from the Church

The irony is when analyzing the testimonies of numerous former members, IHOP clearly meets all seven of these statutes.

One former FITN intern said, “I, as well as several people I know, were shut down when we dared to question our teachers.”

One former IHOPU student wrote:  “IHOPU discipleship is based on assimilation and a shame-based unity.” 

Another student noted, “The cycle of victim blaming or quasi-Stockholm Syndrome is alive and well there (at IHOP).”

But profound was an utterance from the lips of a former IHOPU teacher when he said, “Toxic faith, lies, pride, shaming…these kinds of things are sadly becoming an epidemic at IHOP.” 

I could literally quote from hundreds of testimony, but in the end the IHOP-ers will continue to defend their theology and claim that anyone against them is “disgruntled” or “misled.”  So, the point becomes moot and the agenda not to talk-down but rather to share the experiences of those who have been and are still involved with a hope to educate others.

In speaking with a literary acquaintance, the book House of Lies by S.R.Claridge came up in conversation, prompting me to contact the author, whose vast personal interest in IHOP was one of the driving factors behind her controversial novel.  Why the controversy?  As some of you will recall, two weeks after the release of House of Lies, which describes a cult member being drugged and ultimately murdered near a lake in Kansas City, Missouri; Bethany Deaton is found dead under similar circumstances.  FOXNews and the rest of the mid-west wanted to know if the author knew more than she was letting on.

The answer, yes.  Interviews with several reporters indicated that the author’s sister is personal friends with Mike Bickle and in leadership with the IHOP organization; starting an offshoot called Gateway House of Prayer (GHOP) in St. Louis.  In an interview Claridge expressed concern for her sister, stating, “IHOP possesses cult-like tendencies, theologies and practices of which I believe are detrimental to the individual, destructive to families and downright dangerous.”

After the release of House of Lies, Claridge received hundreds of hostile emails from IHOP members upset about the book, some of which stated that they were “praying for her to die.”

In a recent interview, Claridge stated that the hate mail, as she called it, has died down but she fully expects it to ramp up again when the sequel to House of Lies is released in 2015.  “I’ve said it a thousand times, ‘the books are fiction’ but their hatred of me is only proof that I have struck a chord of truth within the pages.”

What is that truth?  According to a former IHOP Editor, “members suffer from a spirit of elitism, and a demonic arrogance that trickles down from the top and stems from the belief that they really are the chosen members of God’s elite army.”  Upon what is this belief based?  A vision allegedly given to Mike Bickle from God. 

What happens if a member questions the validity of the vision?  Former member Anthony wrote, “Asking questions about or having any skepticism about the foundation of IHOP or Bickle’s vision is forbidden.”  Another former member, Kris Koppy said, “I was shamed for asking questions, shamed for disagreeing, shamed for thinking differently than the IHOP way.”

It makes one wonder what will happen next?  If you truly want to know why not make an appointment at the IHOP Prophecy Rooms, where you can receive prophecy-on-demand.  Different from fortune telling?  You tell me; but sign up quick because, according to the IHOP website, time slots fill up fast.  http://www.ihopkc.org/propheticministry/appointments/

“A perverse and wicked generation looks for a sign, but none will be given to it.”  Matthew 16:4

Does anyone else find it even remotely ironic that the IHOP symbol itself is waving a red flag?

Additional Resources:

http://www.ussolutions.net/bethany-deaton.html

http://www.ussolutions.net/listall-8/101-ihop-murder-scandal/bethany-deaton-news/59-sex-cult-murder-linked-ihop.html

http://thecosmiccathedral.wordpress.com/2014/01/31/babel-pentecost-and-the-house-of-prayer-my-time-at-ihop-kc/

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/06/the-seven-signs-youre-in-a-cult/361400/

Tyler Deaton's Inner Circle Crumbling

Immediately following Micah Moore’s confession to murdering Bethany Deaton, Alan Hood of IHOP-U (International House of Prayer University) made a statement denying that Tyler Deaton and the members of his group were an active part of IHOP.   

Hood said: “Mr. Deaton led his religious group entirely independently from IHOPU.”

Following this statement, it became clear that Tyler Deaton was listed as a Division Coordinator of the IHOP “Friendship Groups.”  Also, Tyler Deaton wrote on his blog that he was an active member of IHOP.

 

“I am student in Kansas City, MO at

the International House of Prayer,

in the second year of a 6-year

preparation to overseas missions.”

There is now more evidence to support the fact that Tyler and his group were indeed actively involved in IHOP.

Boze Herrington, a friend of Tyler Deaton and Micah Moore, who moved with the group from Texas to IHOP in Kansas City, is listed on FB as an “Editor at the International House of Prayer.”  

Herrington also has a blog, though he hasn’t posted since July of 2012.  http://thetalkingllama.wordpress.com/2011/12/ 

In a December 2011 post, Herrington writes, “I’ve gotten to the end of this year and I’ve realized, people aren’t all that bad. I don’t know where I’d be without them. Even the people I’m not allowed to talk to. It hurts, but I enjoy them. I like them.”

Is this another case of IHOP telling its members not to talk to people who question their beliefs?  Or to “fast from their families” as it has been called by many IHOP attendees.

Also, members of  Tyler Deaton’s original group are beginning to talk and what is being said is troubling.  Several members have eluded to the notion that Micah Moore didn’t kill Bethany Deaton, that one of the others did, and that Tyler (being the leader) forced Moore into taking the blame, stating, “he knew he had it in him.”

We’re now learning that that statement, which the media and all of us thought to mean he had the strength to kill Bethany, may have meant he had the fortitude to protect his friend and do jail time.

Was Bethany killed out of accidental rage and then Tyler and his friends tried to make it look like a suicide?

That’s the story we’re hearing now.

According to one anonymous group member, who has since left IHOP and returned home to Texas, “I realized they were capable of anything.  We were capable of anything.”

What role does IHOP play in all of this?  One ex-member says it is the distorted teachings of the Bridal Paradigm that adds a sensual undertone to the relationship of humanity and Christ, sending hormonal surges through the mass hypnotic worship sessions. 

Did this message pave the road to Bethany’s sexual assault?  Several friends from the tight knit group say YES.

One member, who has recently un-friended Boze Herrington on Facebook, claimed that Herrington didn’t do well with the news that Tyler and Bethany were getting married.  They wed on August 18, 2012.

On August 19, 2012  Herrington posted these photos to his Facebook page.

 

 

His photo albums have more pictures of Bethany Deaton than anyone else, but no photos of Tyler and Bethany’s wedding.  One friend states this is because “he was secretly in love with Bethany.”

Was Bethany Deaton’s murder a crime of passion?  Accidental rage?  Or was it a deliberate murder to keep her from telling her therapist about being sexually assaulted by Tyler, Moore, Herrington, Vowell, Cain, Matt, Gehring and others?

The truth will eventually spill out and IHOP will need to answer a lot of questions about the ramifications of their false teachings.  One cannot open the doorway to evil and then claim no responsibility when the child steps inside.

 

 

 

Ironic Justice: How much Truth Does Novel Unveil

By Michael Duran

December 2012 -  Written by Susan Claridge (S.R.Claridge) as a political cult suspense, House of Lies has been stirring up controversy, particularly in the mid-western region.  Though the book was released in early October, the story follows real events in a too-close-for-comfort fashion, particularly with the recent murder of International House of Prayer (IHOP) intern, Bethany Deaton.  Claridge insists the book is fiction but readers suspect there is more truth to the story.  See full story Fox 4 News.

House of Lies portrays a woman who attempts to save her sister from a cult group located in Kansas City, Missouri and discovers the cult “stretches far beyond its pseudo-evangelical, House of Prayer veil, penetrating the upper echelon of the United States government and pushing a lethal, international agenda.”  (Quote taken from back of book.)

Claridge states she researched five cult groups in order to write the book and admits that one of them was the International House of Prayer located in Grandview, Missouri.

The story of Bethany Deaton, drugged, sexually assaulted and then killed so she wouldn’t talk is all in the book, as is the fact that the woman’s body was found by a lake.  Another likeness, Deaton worked at Menorah Medical Center and the woman in the book was taken to Menorah Medical Center.

But the similarities don’t stop there.

Many Grandview residents and ex-IHOP members confirm that the book accurately describes what takes place behind the armed guarded doors of IHOP-KC.  (See NYT article on armed guards.)

“The look like zombies roaming our city,” said one Grandview woman who asked to remain anonymous, adding, “Most local businesses won’t hire them anymore.”

Another resident said, “There is no light in their eyes, most of them look like walking corpses.”

A friend from Texas who knew Micah Moore (the IHOP member who confessed to killing Bethany Deaton, upon the order of her husband, Tyler Deaton) said this about Moore:

“We were never the best of friends, but I would describe him as being intelligent, soft-spoken and kind. I am only beginning to learn about IHOP and what kind of a community they are creating and promoting. However, I have to say that even though there is some evidence that Deaton's group began in Georgetown, TX while the members were students at SU there appears to me to have been a dramatic change in Micah since he moved to Kansas City to join IHOP. The pictures that have come out in the past week show that the light is gone from his eyes. Bethany Deaton is not the only victim in this horrible tragedy, merely the first to come to be revealed.”

Numerous blogs have detailed evidence of corruption inside the IHOP group, but it took a murder to finally make the media take notice. 

Bethany Deaton’s death was said to be a suicide, then a murder, then back to a suicide.  In the novel, cult members are told the woman committed suicide and the cover up is inside the Kansas City Police Department.  The book paints the picture that cult leader, Maxwell Sagan, is so powerful that individuals will do anything he says…even kill.

One ex-IHOP member said, “People will do anything Bickle says.”

Is it possible that the book holds even more truth and that Grandview Police will also do anything Bickle says?

Does Bickle have the resources to pay them off?  It certainly appears that way.  Between what he charges students to attend the university, what he charges interns, camp-goers, conference attendees, the fact that seventy-five percent of the IHOP-KC bookstore is filled with books written by Bickle, (all self-published books so all monies go to him) it would stand to reason he has the financial means.

In addition, his wife, Diane Bickle, owns Gladheart Realty, which (just like in the book) shares the same lot as IHOP-KC and is responsible for providing all of the apartment buildings, hotels and housing for members.  A deeper look into this financial structure would prove interesting.

How deep does this corruption go?  According to ‘House of Lies’ it dates all the way back to the foundation of the cult group. Is that true of IHOP?

On a blog post by Claridge, who has made her opinion of IHOP known, the author stated:

“IHOP is a cult, but don’t take my word for it; study it for yourself, starting at the very beginning.  My advice is to research the Kansas City Prophets (namely Paul Cain, Bob Jones and their relationship to Mike Bickle), read all versions of the Blueprint Prophesy and all 233 pages of the Ernie Gruen Report.  Look at Bickle’s involvement in the Toronto Blessing, Vineyard Ministries and read/listen to/watch his sermons on his ‘open visions’ and two visitations to heaven.  What you will find is that every prophecy was been proven false and that Scripture has been twisted to form a foundation of deception.”  (Author Blog)

IHOP has been accused of having a spirit of elitism, one to which Bickle admitted by saying, “We had an elite spirit. That’s become more and more real to me- it’s so repulsive.”   

 

But nothing has been done to rectify the problem. 

In fact, according to several family members of those involved in IHOP-KC, the elitist spirit has gotten worse.  “We can’t even talk to our son anymore because he acts as if we don’t ‘get it,’ like we don’t understand God because we aren’t a part of this end-times army.”  (Mother of an IHOP member who asked to remain anonymous for fear of destroying her relationship with her son.)

This elitism and families separated from their children is apparent in House of Lies, as it is in the reality created by IHOP. 

One mother wrote:  “I haven’t spoken to my son in over a year because he was told to stay away from us, his family, and he said he was given a prophetic word that IHOP was his family now.  He won’t return my calls.” 

Bethany Deaton was estranged from her family, drugged, raped and murdered.  Was she the first?  Was she the only?

According to John Colwell, she wasn’t the first and she will not be the last. “I spent four years in and around this community exposing their practices on my web site www.hisapostle.org This cult has a history of rapes and other felonies all being covered up by their leaders. The most perverse leaders in the body of Christ are IHOP leaders. I guarantee you eventually all will be exposed and you will find that this episode (Bethany Deaton’s death) was just typical of the practices taught and exemplified by many of their leaders.”

How much truth does a fictional book unveil? 

If Bickle can take the truth of God’s Word and turn it into lies, why can’t God take fiction and use it to expose the truth about IHOP, a cult group that is destroying lives? 

Some are calling it "ironic justice. "

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Murder in Grandview Brings Novel to Life

By Michael Duran

Grandview, MO  -  Calls and emails came pouring into local media stations as the murder of Bethany Deaton struck a chord with readers of the book, House of Lies.  One reader said, “The book was being played out in real life, and it was scary.”

Bethany Deaton and her killer, Micah Moore, were members of the International House of Prayer (IHOP) out of Grandview, Missouri, a group some say is a cult.

Moore confessed to killing Deaton and told police he was ordered to murder her by Deaton’s husband, Tyler, a known leader at IHOP.

Not only does House of Lies mirror Deaton’s murder, but it also raises a question now on many readers minds:  Does the author know more about what goes on at IHOP and if so, why isn’t she speaking up?

In the novel a woman is drugged, murdered so she doesn’t talk and found by a lake in Kansas City, Missouri.  Sounds all too familiar, making the fact that the story was written before the Deaton killing that much more intriguing.  “I think the book was prophetic,” said one Grandview resident.  “We’ve always known IHOP was a cult and now God’s using a fiction story to prophetically reveal the truth.”

Other similarities have readers expressing concern over what might really be happening behind IHOP’s closed doors. 

Author S.R.Claridge told Fox 4 news that her story is fiction and was written after she studied five cult groups.  “It isn’t written about one cult group or one cult leader,” Claridge explained.

Ex-IHOP members see the book in a different light.  They say it depicts exactly what takes place in the 24/7 prayer movement. 

Ex-member, Julie Basham, says House of Lies describes IHOP with “eerie accuracy.”  Basham claims the repetitive chanting, swaying and mantra-based meditation is right on.  She also described IHOP as a “place where young people are encouraged to abandon their families and friendships and become a part of an end-times militant army.”

Another ex-member turned anti-IHOP crusader, William Fowler, stated the book “accurately depicts the demonic activity within the group and the use of deliberate and false prophetic information to deceive believers.”  

Fowler went on to explain that, similar to what is in the novel, IHOP has political connections and a political agenda in place.  “They are a very dangerous group,” Fowler warned.

If this is true, can we expect more from the pages of House of Lies to play out in real life?  That’s the concern of some Grandview residents, though Claridge tries to belay their fears, confirming the book is a work of fiction.

Fox 4 news reported that Claridge has a sister inside the IHOP organization, the Director of the Gateway House of Prayer (GHOP) in St. Louis.  Ironically, or not, the premise of House of Lies is that a woman sets out on a course to save her sister from a cult in Kansas City.  Too close to not be real?  Claridge told Fox 4 news that the book was not written about her and her sister, but readers and ex-IHOP members aren’t buying it. 

Basham said, “I think God is using IHOP’s lies against them, to expose the truth, and He is using a fiction writer to do it.”