Onething 2013

Back in 2013 (wow is already mid-February, I'm really behind on my posts), I went to a conference held by the infamous IHOP fellowship. If you haven't heard of them, they are a 24-hour prayer group which has branches in many states and countries and headquarters in Kansas City. There is a lot of controversy about the group though. For one thing, it is very Pentacostal/charismatic, which is controversial enough. But on top of that, there has been many rumors of cultish practices and problems (such as the murder of 2012), like aggressive leader Lou Ingle making dangerous statements such as the tornado that wiped out Joplin, MO was because of abortions. Needless to say, that statement and many others have caused a lot of backlash. Even more worrying is President of IHOP Mike Bickle, who has a precarious history with a major cult in the KC area. In 1992 he apologized for "being elitist" aka prideful (power to prophesize and heal the sick), and wanted to start anew. For now I will give Mike the benefit of the doubt and trust that God is working in his ministry.

So with all of this, why would I go? Seems like a pretty dangerous place to set foot in. But I truly believe that God can and was using that place for His glory, and if such a large body of believers were gathering only 30 minutes away from me, why shouldn't I go to have fellowship with them? Despite the fears and the controversy, God's kingdom comes first in my heart and I am compelled to love my brothers and sisters and worship in praise to His Holy name.

When I first arrived on the second-to-last day of the conference, I was greeted with what I could call "anti-IHOP" preachers, or sidewalk pastors. Most of them were actually from local churches and had a strong background in cessasionism, which states that all spiritual gifts of the Spirit manifested in the 1st generation disciples were lost over time, as evident in Acts in the Corinthian books, because those specific gifts were only necessary as a source of supernatural evidence of God's power. We in this modern generation have the Bible, and any person claiming to have the gifts is only coincidentally taking credit from God, who can still directly create miracles in this age. One of the preachers I met was Greg, a cop by day and a theologist by night. He firmly debated IHOP attendees that the Bible is the only primary source of the gospel, and any prophecy or "extra" knowledge that people of IHOP claim is heresy. Though he wasn't able to convince anyone who didn't already share his sola scriptura view, he did make a strong argument that almost 4 out of 5 people he interviewed cannot reasonably explain the gospel to him. I actually was a witness to this and felt really sad and burdened by this truth of American Christianity. Most of the attendees believe in God mostly due to feelings of passion and ecstasy (similar to what you see on stage) or personal experiences, but never bothered to apply the teachings of Jesus or bothered to sit down and understand the depth of the sacrifice made on the Cross. To these people, feelings seemingly from the Holy Spirit are enough.

After bidding Greg adieu, I went in and semi-immediately got stuck in the queue for the prophecy room. One of IHOP's most desirable features, one could wait in line for hours to be able to meet up with a person with the gift of prophecy, who can then interpret dreams or nudges into full blown predictions of the future. Since I don't believe in that kind of fortune telling stuff, I quickly left the line. After that I entered the bookstore. Similar to what I've seen in 2011, the majority of the books were from the Forerunner (almost Halo reference) store, with some universal Christian books lining one wall. One could see specific, but not all, books by Francis Chan and David Platt on display, which makes one wonder what was wrong with the other books. Why were they excluded? As surprising as the first time I saw it, there was a table devoted specifically for the End Times. Whether you are a pre or post-millennialist, that table only fuels the claims against IHOP that say IHOP and IHOP-EDU are fronts to building an elite army of Christian soldiers to lead God's followers into battle in Revelations. Kind of kooky but who knows. I'll hold out until more decisive evidence shows up.

In all honesty, one of the major reasons why I attended the second-to-last day was to hear Francis Chan. For someone who is so against cults, the prosperity gospel, and anything not based upon the Bible, why would he seemingly endorse IHOP with all its mixed messages? One only has to start listening to his message to see why. Here is a facebook message I posted almost immediately after the message:

Francis Chan just preached quite possibly the most dangerous sermon of this age, with so many pastors and churches ready to jump on him if he said even the tinest thing wrong, AND HE NAILED IT! WITH LOVE! Surprisingly, the was the best part wasn't even about that. All about Jesus.

Yes there were many who were watching the stream, including probably every notable radical/reformed pastor in the world, ready to disown or shake their heads in disappointment at Francis Chan. It was very clear that Francis was addressing these men in the first 10 minutes of his message, as well as teaching the story of the Gospel to the IHOPers, many I noticed were hearing it for the first time in full. He went on to criticize many bad theologies that are often held modern Christians, such as marrying a non-believer, having divorce, refusing to accept hell, and selectively ignoring wrath as part of God's character. Francis Chan then went on to subtlety criticize (with love btw) many of IHOP's core messages, such as shifting the focus of revival and prayer to expecting suffering and rejection, and miracles don't happen because God doesn't need them to work in our lives, using many Old Testament prophets as examples. He then ended on the note that alone time with Jesus (through Bible reading especially) was the richest experience he ever had, and trumps over any possible experience of elation praying with a multitude in a prayer room. Here is a brave man who is willing to rebuke many of his brothers and sisters at IHOP while still trying to hope that they can all truly set their priorities straight. In the words of C.S. Lewis, feelings are good, but they are not the greatest thing. God is. God is enough.

For me, I learned a lot from Francis Chan's sermon, which was very powerful and more meaningful than any of the emotion packed worship songs at the conference. It was also notable that the following night, Corey Russell really botched up the story of King David, and went back to the old IHOP message of bringing revival is important and more is better, totally contradicting Francis Chan's message and twisting Biblical context for an in-house purpose. To be honest, I still enjoy IHOP's prayer room and songs, as well as the rave fest for the countdown, the experience reaffirmed in me the idea to believe in God and the gospel through scriptural truth and reasoning, and to trust God independently of my feelings or my heart. I felt like many of the attendees were marginalizing who the Holy Spirit really is (the Helper and part of the Trinity), as well as boxing up Jesus for their own goals. Like Francis Chan, I will still call them my brothers and sisters, but I will also pray diligently that they are confident in their faith and trust God even in the darkest times when all feelings of closeness cease, and not be so impressionable and equate human emotions as voices from the Holy Spirit.