I've never been part of the church in Indiana nor have I personally met any of the brothers or sisters that live there. My experience has been with a group of young people that we knew that lived here in Pensacola that became very cult like after being exposed and entrenched into the teachings of Mike Peters. I always assumed that it was just them, because they were young, taking a good teaching too far.

Taking it further than it was ever meant to go by Mike. But after reading all of the other testimony's on Factnet, they all seems way too similar for it just to be a coincidence so I thought that I should post what I saw take place to a group of precious young saints after becoming involved with the teachings of the group from Indiana.

So, in my mind, either all of the testimonies on Factnet are lies and fabrications and the fact that my experience with the group in Pensacola being almost identical to the testimonies are totally, completely and purely a big coincidence OR there is no coincidence and there really is cause for concern.

I've watched the video (and LOVED it!) and have all of the Indy books and have read most of them and have made countless copies of the video and have passed them out to others. Much of what we watched on the video we absolutely loved and it really made my heart sing and set me free. I stayed up all night with a friend watching the video and was just filled with excitement to learn more of what we believed the Lord was showing us. I still think that much of what was said in the video was/is really good and have only becomed concerned with the teachings from the Indy church as of very recent and that is why I'm writing this to you. We first became introduced to the teachings of Mike Peters through some friends of ours who had also graduated from the same ministry school as my husband. This was a group of young people, all single in their 20's and very zelous for the Lord. These were some of the most sincere, sweet, dedicated and Jesus loving people anyone could have ever met. There was one girl out of the group that alway stood out to me the most.

I'll just say her name is Eve. Eve was a very godly young lady.  She was gentle and humble and kind to everone.  It's hard for me to discrible just how precious this girl is.  To think that the others would later declare her as an unbeliever just boggles my mind. I can distictively remember thinking that who ever had the priveledge of marrying this sweet girl was going to be one blessed man. A year or so later she married one of the young men from their "group". I’ll call him Doug. Doug was also a precious man of God.


This group of young people were introduced to Mike Peters teachings from some friends of theirs who were living in S.C. The group in S.C. were really into it and now the group that we knew in Pensacola were becoming more and more involved and influenced by the teachings. I read the stuff too and thought it was great and it wasn't until the group came from S.C. for a visit that I had my first of many red flags. When the group came from S.C. I was pumped, because this was a group of young people who actually have been living "daily life" for some time and I was just so sure that we were going to see some awesome fruit and I couldn't wait to meet them and hear all about what Jesus was doing in their midst.


One of the girls that came from S.C. I recognized because we used to attend the same church in Pensacola a year before. I’ll call her Star. When I knew her before, she always had a big vibrant beautiful smile that always seemed so genuine and joyful. And always gave me, and everyone a very warm welcome. I was excited to see that she was part of this group and I ran up to her with a big "Hi Star!!!" Expecting her usual greeting. But instead she gave me a flat "Hi" and had such a sterness about her. Just very stern and serious. I dont' know how else to describe it. It was completely different from the person that I met the year before. And after that we hardly talked at all. I would try to engage her but she just seemed distant and cold.

The group stayed in Pensacola for at least a week and she was this way the whole time. There were other weird things but this is just one of many that stuck out to me as odd. At this time Doug and Eve were about to be married and Star commented how proud she was of this other couple who decided not to go on a honeymoon because they wanted to be with the "Body” and not see themselves as separate. Eve started feeling guilty for wanting to have a honeymoon with her new husband and I just wrote it off as some young people who don’t have a ton of wisdom yet taking things to a hyper extreme, but other than that ....NO BIG DEAL. Jesus will bring balance to the group.

 If their focus is on Him and I was sure that it was, He will work it all out in time. I was not concerned. Then came a discussion that took place over titles. One of the young ladies from S.C. mentioned how she would not teach her children title distinction because it would hinder the kingdom of God and Jesus forbid title disctinctions etc. That it would be wrong to teach them to say Ms. Rachel or Mr. Tom etc. I threw out my 2 cents, not knowing that I was stepping on anyone’s pet doctrine. I thought we were just conversing about stuff. I said something like, “Oh, I think it just depends on the situation.” I didn’t think what I said would be that big of a deal, but it was to them. The atmosphere got really funky and I started realizing quick that if I did not agree completely with the teaching of Mike Peters that there was going to be a problem. I felt walls go up instantly. It was wierd! Over a discussion about whether it’s ok to teach our children to say “Hi Mr. Tom!” to our neighbor. I believe that if someone is convinced this way about non essential things, like not using Mr. and Mrs, that they should be free to not use or teach their children to not use Mr or Mrs, but it was going way way way beyond that and was totally being embraced as a very important foundational doctrine because "Jesus forbids it" and "If you don't obey Jesus then you must not be a true Christian." 

That part I was not comfortable with and had some concern, but still not too much because of their youth and their sincere devotion to Jesus. After seeing so many "Christians" that have such wordly standards, it was kind of a breath of fresh air to see some young people so firey and zealous even though at times they took things a little too far. I was hopeful for the group also because I learned that both of the groups were in almost daily contact with Mike Peters. And I was sure that if he knew to what hyperliteral extent they were taking his teaching on "Jesus teachings" that he would set them straight and help bring balance to them. One of the girls got really stary eyed while telling me about how Mike Peters came to visit them (in Florida, I think) and how kind and humble he was and how much love he showed them. It was like he was a super star to them. And it really made me kind of sad because I was thinking to myself, “Man, this guy I’m sure does not want this kind of admoration! Don’t you all hear what he’s saying?? It’s not all about Mike Peters or any guy. It’s about Jesus!”


From the video, it really did seem that the group in Indiana's mind set was all focused on Jesus and that our daily relationships with other saints will help us along the way. This is something that I totally agree with and just thought that the group in Pensacola was taking some of the teaching's too far. Looking back, there were a couple of things that seemed odd to me and I wish I would have given it more thought at the time. One thing was that after I watched the video my appetite was ready for some meat. I was hungry for what deep things the Lord was showing these saints who were living this simple yet sold out Chirstian walk. It seemed to me that all of the books, even though they were slightly different, hammered the same verses over and over and over. I began to wonder if they ever move beyond that and get on to deeper things or if, to them, this was IT.

As Christians we should be careful when there seems to be an over emphasis on 1 or a few select verses over others. That is usually when someone is starting a man made doctrine so it did concern me, but there was still so much good that I had gleaned from that I was willing to overlook it. Something else that I took mental note of was that all of the books and emails and video were all written (unless I'm mistaken) by Mike Peters. I mean, I liked what I read for the most part. But I wondered if this was such a "Body" ministry where no one person is exhaulted or called "Master" then why does everything seem to be written and even centered around Mike Peters. I did not know if this was the case, but this was just something that I took mental note of and hoped that it wasn't the case and that the church in Indiana was really centered around Jesus and not the teachings of Mike. But I guess I just expected to hear more from others, given the way that the church is portrayed in the video. 

A good friend of mine emailed the Indy group and I was suprised when she told me that Mike emailed her back. I can remember that it seemed odd that it was Mike again and wondered why it seemed to be always him. I wasn't sure if this was the case, but again, I just took mental note.

At this time, I’m still telling others about the Allathisfeet webpage and still making copies of the video and giving it to others. The group is acting more and more distant and wierd, but I’m thinking that it’s just them being too extreme because of their youthful zeal and not too worried. I had at least 6 different people who aren't really conected with eachother called me and ask me if they (the group of young peole) where ok. Concerned friends, whom are genuine Christians called to ask me about why the groups behavior had changed so much and were concerned about some of the terminology that they used and thought it just seemed odd. They would leave Mike Peters books at people’s houses when they left (like a Jehovah's Witness). They would talk to these families about family idolitry and other Indy doctrine that the books seemed to perpetually hammer. I told them that they were ok and not to worry about them. I even told them not to judge the Indy books by the weird behavior of the group because I really thought that the books and video contained some really good stuff to ponder. One of the group members brothers told me that he thought that the group was in a destructive cult. I did not take him seriously and I’m very sorry for that.


The day that I knew that I knew that something was very seriously amiss was the day that Eve called me. She was a young married girl from the “group”. She was about 8 months pregnant. One of the most precious girls I’ve ever known. I hadn’t talked to her in months as the group became more seclusive. She called me crying and kept saying over and over “I just want to obey Jesus. I just want to obey Jesus!” I asked her to come over and after a long while she finally opened up to me and told me that she had been disfellowshipped by the others in the group and even by her own husband. The reason was because of pride, independance and family idolitry. The others took notice that she seemed to care a little too much, in their group opinion, about the birth of her upcoming first baby. This baby was to be born at home and they thought that she was more wrapped up in it than she ought to be. They thought that she asked the midwife too many questions, and read too many books to prepare her for her first homebirth. They did not feel like it was spiritually healthy to focus so much on something that is natural and not spiritual. I'm sure they had other "issues" they saw in her too. This girl was and is one of the finest Christians I've ever known so for them to take exception with her and to even catagorize her as an unbeliever was a huge, major red flag for me.


She confessed to me that when she joined into group discussions and said something that was not totally in line with Indy doctrine but something that was really on her heart that she felt was from the Lord, the group would unanimously tell her that she was not hearing right and that was not Jesus speaking through her. She became more and more untrusting of her own thoughts and her own ability to hear the voice of God. She spoke out less in group discussion which was seen as unspiritual and would get admonished for that too. She was very confused and frustrated. Eve also thought that her and her husband Doug ought to not spend too much time with the others in the group and she thought that they should have more husband and wife time than what they were getting. Eve did not think that it was healthy and I think she was right. Her husband told her she was clinging to shadows (meaning the shadow of the married relationship) instead of clinging to Christ (and His Body) and was not pleased with this. So when her husband and the group brought her “sins” to her she spent several days crying, praying and fasting and trying really hard to repent. She said that she felt like the Lord said that He forgave her and that He accepts her and when she went to the others to tell them that she repented and feels right with God, they said, “No. We don’t think that you have.” I think that is around when they began to shun her. She was left alone for weeks. She was in the last month of her pregnancy with her first child and she was spending it alone. Her husband went to eat and fellowship often with his “true family”.


When she first came to visit me after the phone call when she was crying that she just wanted to obey Jesus, she very much did seem to me to act like someone in/coming out of a cult. Full of fear and guilt. She admitted to me that she did not think that she was born again and was very confused. I was afraid to say too much to her because I was afraid that she would run away, like a wounded animal, and never come back, so I tried to just listen. In her mind, I knew that she was not free of the control and condemnation. Sure enough, 4 days later she called me on the phone to “repent” for coming to see me. She said that the others in the group helped her to see that she was looking for a pain killer when she came to see me when she should have embraced the cross that was before her to die to her sin and accept Jesus and “truely” live for Him. Her mind was still very much in bondage. She spent more days alone and during this time she prayed cried out to God and got in the Word and that is when she started getting free. When she stopped reading all of the Mike Peters books and simply got in the Word of God. She then came to see me more. She said that she was brought before the group and that they declared her an “unbeliever” sense she was unwilling to see things their way (which, of course, in their mind, is Jesus’ way) and even her husband was a witness to this and may have even been the main one to initiate it.


During this time, I told her to call or email Mike Peters and let him know what is going on. Surely he would be appauled at what is taking place under the influence of his teachings. She told me that she was not sure about that as Doug had daily contact with him and spends much time emailing him back and forth over the situation. I remember thinking that Mike surely had no idea what was “really” going on, but I started to wonder myself. I knew that the group held him up in such high esteem that they would not be treating Eve this way if Mike said not to. I believe that Mike even came to visit the group during this time, but cannot say for sure. But there is hope!!!! The saints here prayed and prayed and prayed for the situation, and the situation has gotten better. Much prayer is still needed but we are confident that He who began a good work will complete it. My intention is not to air out a bunch of someone else's dirty laundry. I really hate doing that. But I hope that others may benefit from me sharing this, and others will be warned not to take the teachings to a hyper extreme even though there may seem to be much good in it. Just a few weeks ago, I handed out one of the Indy videos to a friend who is recently out of the IC. This time, I did it with a disclaimer and said to discern though it and just glean from it because we had some friends that took the teachings to a hyper extreme and became very cult like. She was the one who came across FactNet and passed it on to me. When I read the testimonies, I knew that this could not just be a coincidence that so many of these testimonies are so similar to what I saw go on in this group. I believe many of the people in this group really love the Lord and I do not doubt their sincerety or their salvation. Most of the people in this group are probably in it because of their love and zeal for the Lord is such that it is causing them to look for something more than what they experience in Sunday morning "church". So lets all pray for these brothers and sisters. Let's pray for eachother and not bite and devour eachother. This is my hope in this matter. That we will all learn from this and be closer to the Lord Jesus Christ because of it. This is my hope and my prayer.
If anyone wishes to contact me you can email me at hamilton6@bellsouth.net.


blessings,


Kate from Pensacola