UPDATE: ALLEGED CULT LEADER TYLER DEATON WAS LISTED AS “DIVISION COORDINATOR” AT IHOP BY MISTAKE?

Apprising Ministries warns that stories like this will be on the increase as spiritual darkness continues to grow. In my opinion I see this growing apostasy as a result of 1 Peter 4:17 judgments being sent upon the visible Christian church by the Lord Himself.

Continuing my coverage begun yesterday in IHOP University Student Confesses To Murder Of Former IHOP Intern To Cver Sexual Assaults I point you to a report today by Donald Bradley and Joe Robertson of the Kansas City Star where they inform us:

Jackson County prosecutors said Tuesday that Micah Moore, the man charged with killing 27-year-old Bethany Ann Deaton, told authorities that he acted on the order of her husband. Tyler Deaton was the spiritual leader of a group that allegedly used sex as part of its religious mission, according to court documents.

After Moore made his first appearance Tuesday in Jackson County Circuit Court in Independence, prosecutors acknowledged that Tyler Deaton is also under investigation in his wife’s death. Her body was found Oct. 30 in a van at Longview Lake with a plastic bag over her head, her death appearing to be a suicide. (source)

While God has seen fit that I’m primarily involved in the mission field of online apologetics and discernment ministry now, I began my ministry in counter-cult evangelism. So I can tell you from nearly 27 years of studying religious cults that this group, or cult, wouldn’t be the first to use sex in its “mission.”

Fox 4 KC reveals in Prosecutor: Religious Leader Ordered Murder of Wife, Bethany Deaton that:

Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker confirmed on Tuesday that Micah Moore told detectives that he killed 27-year-old Bethany Ann Deaton on the order of her husband, Tyler Deaton. Moore said Tyler Deaton is the leader of a close-knit religious group involved in sex with each other…

Investigators said Moore lived with Deaton, her husband and other men. A probable cause statement reveals Moore told a detective he and the other men in the home, including Deaton’s own husband, drugged her and sexually assaulted her for months.

“There was a series of affairs going on between the descendant and other roommates in the home, but also as you referred to homosexual affairs going on with the spiritual leader of this group, Mr. Deaton,” said Jean Peters Baker, Jackson County Prosecutor. (source)

In this case of the murder of Bethany Deaton, Bradley and Robertson are reporting that apparently her husband Tyler is now also being investigated:

After Moore made his first appearance Tuesday in Jackson County Circuit Court in Independence, prosecutors acknowledged that Tyler Deaton is also under investigation in his wife’s death. Her body was found Oct. 30 in a van at Longview Lake with a plastic bag over her head, her death appearing to be a suicide.

According to court documents, Moore, 23, said that he and other members of the group had engaged in a series of sexual assaults on Bethany Deaton at a house in Grandview, where several of the group lived. He later told detectives that Tyler Deaton told him to kill Bethany, “saying he knew Micah had it in him to do it,” according to court documents.

At the time the first-degree murder charge was filed against Moore, prosecutors redacted the name of the person that Moore said ordered him to commit the crime. But Tuesday, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker acknowledged the name was Tyler Deaton.

Baker also said the victim’s body would now need further examination. It had been sent to Texas for burial, but according to a county spokesman, the body has been returned to the Jackson County medical examiner’s office in Kansas City. (source)

Colleen Curry of ABC News adds today in Missouri Religious Group Investigated in Slaying of Bethany Deaton:

Tyler Deaton was described by one roommate as a “spiritual leader” who had “control over members of the household,” the detective’s report said. The man’s name was not made public, but he told police that he believed the community would lie for Deaton so that he could remain the leader of the group.

The roommate described Deaton as “angry” and “Frustrated” in the weeks before his wife’s death, and said that Deaton had described a dream in which he pictured himself killing his wife by suffocation, according to the detective’s report said. (source)

We’re also told that Tyler Deaton (26) is said to be “domineering and charismatic,” which is standard fair for any cult leader. It also seems that Deaton “led a group of followers” from “a college in Texas to the International House of Prayer in Kansas City.” Bradley and Robertson also bring to our attention that:

In a statement released late Monday, the organization’s president, Allen Hood, said Deaton was the leader of “an independent, close-knit religious group” that was operating separately from the International House of Prayer “under a veil of secrecy.”

Hood expressed grief at Bethany Deaton’s death and said the organization would “continue to fully assist all law enforcement agencies in their efforts to uncover the extent and specifics of this horrific crime.” (source)

Then in their latest report Authorities seeking more witnesses in Deaton investigation Bradley and Roberstson are now alerting us:

Authorities put out a plea today for witnesses to come forward in the investigation of a woman allegedly murdered by a member of a religious sect headed by her husband… The new request from the Jackson County sheriff’s office asks anyone with information about “past or present criminal activity of this group” to contact authorities.

“While we understand the safety concerns of those with information, we would also like to assure everyone they may always provide information via the TIPS Hotline in a completely confidential manner,” the release said. (source)

In closing this out, for now, let me point you to Friends of Bethany Deaton Looking for Answers where Joanne shares:

According to an email I received yesterday from a college friend of Tyler and Bethany Deaton, people who knew them are shocked, hurt and confused… According to my source there were some who found Tyler “creepy” and they visited his meetings at SU in order to discover what was going on there:

“There were several of us who didn’t trust the group at face value but remained close to them because they were either involved in our religious fraternity/sorority or were friends with them. They never excluded anyone, but we definitely felt their distinctness. If you belonged, you knew. We joined several activities (prayer sessions, worship nights, bible studies, etc) in order to investigate why we felt so disturbed by the group. Unfortunately, nothing ever “happened” and our suspicions remained unfounded. There was never any evidence they were actually dangerous.

This source also confirmed Tyler and his prayer group were obsessed with IHOP.

“Other than their language (extremely influenced by IHOP teachings. They were a little more than obsessed with the place), we couldn’t explain why we were so uncomfortable with the group.” (source)

She then makes an interesting observation:

According to newspaper reports and a statement released by IHOP “ Allen Hood, said Deaton was the leader of “an independent, close-knit religious group” that was operating separately from the International House of Prayer “under a veil of secrecy.” ((http://www.kansascity.com/2012/11/14/3915020/suspect-appearing-in-court-in.html#storylink=cpy, accessed 11/14/12.))

But according to the International House of Prayer’s own Handout dated 11/04/2012 by IHOPKC Friendship Groups, Tyler Deaton is listed as a Division Coordinator! (This has since been taken down)

If indeed Tyler Deaton operated as a home fellowship Division Coordinator for IHOP, how is it that IHOP is stating that Deaton was the leader of a completely independent group? You can’t have it both ways Allan Hood. (source)

Finally, there does appear to be evidence that Tyler Deaton has been, at the very least, influenced by The Bridal Paradigm of IHOP director Mike Bickle:

This comment came in on another post that explains IHOP’s bridal theology and may explain some of why and where Tyler Deaton went off.  I also want to add that on Tyler Deaton’s facebook page he listed 3 scripture quotes from the Song of Solomon, which is where Mike Bickle gets his Bridal Paradigm theology…

“Thanks, truthspeaker… the reason this was the first thing I thought of is because IHOP explicitly emulates the Moravians under Zinzendorf.  For those here who don’t know about them, they were a pre-Reformation Protestant group which was under the leadership of Count Nicholas von Zinzendorf in the mid-eighteenth century.  Zinzendorf was a “radical” Pietist who was influenced by Christian “bridal” mysticism common in Germany at that time including the writings of Jane Lead and Jacob Boehme.

One of the central focuses of this type of mysticism is the marriage between the bride and bridegroom.  Anyone who is familiar with IHOP knows about the 24/7 prayer rooms, focus on becoming the bride of Christ, harp and bowl worship, etc. and much of this is taken from the Moravian movement.  Most radical Pietists in Zinzendorf’s day emphasized that this was a spiritual marriage even as far as promoting or requiring celibacy.  Zinzendorf instead believed the marriage act was a sacred act where believers didn’t unite with one another but with the divine…

I am NOT claiming that IHOP explicitly or even implicitly teaches or promotes what was going on at the Deatons’.  But, since there is SO much focus on Moravian spirituality (or more importantly, how IHOP has interpreted and reenacted it since the reality of what happened in the eighteenth century is a bit different), it wouldn’t take much for participants to go look into this stuff on their own and try to reenact it themselves to release more spiritual power or even gain it for themselves.” (source)

You can read the rest of this comment as well as the post I reference above in its entirety right here.

Further reading

• IHOP TO PARTNER WITH ROMAN CATHOLICS FOR UPCOMING ONETHING CONFERENCE
• IHOP ENTERS DOMINION/CHRISTIAN RIGHT POLITICS
• TRANSFIGURATION AT IHOP