Just as there are questions about The House of God’s (THOG) doctrine, some of its practices concern observers. A few of those practices are outlined below.
One common practice is to use a synonym finder for words in the Bible during preaching and teaching, according to former members and former Pastor Mark Duke’s recorded sermons.
A former member of five years said, “(We were) never taught to look at original languages. We used the synonym finder on the English language and the King James Version.” A former member of two years verified this.
In the frequently asked question section of a 2005 House of God document, the question is posed, “Why do you use the King James Version of the Bible and not a newer translation?” One of several answers listed is that other translations “have not helped our cause.”
Michelle Dear visited House of God meetings with her sister (a House of God member, who is now part of Freedom Foundation) in 2002. “Mark (Duke) would stand there with the KJV, and every other word in the Scripture he would have someone read out of the thesaurus, and this would go on for three hours,” she said. “At the end of it, my husband and I had no idea what we heard. Nothing of substance was communicated.”
Allan McConnell, president of Radar13 Ministries in Birmingham, said this is one of his biggest concerns with Duke’s preaching. “By repeatedly stopping the person reading Scripture and focusing on one word from a passage and then substituting words from the synonym finder, Duke can within mere seconds deviate from what God’s Word really says into something to support his own beliefs and agenda,” McConnell said. “It’s Scripture twisting at its worst.”
A second issue of practice concerns divorce.
Despite a statement in the 2005 document proclaiming a “100 percent success rate for those who follow the teaching” to heal their marriage, Duke gave reasons besides adultery for divorce in a 2006 sermon. “God said to Israel, ‘I’m gonna give you a divorce decree;’ unfaithfulness is not just about physical sexuality. Unfaithfulness and adultery in a marriage is turning from God’s will and His Word — that, my friends, gives you the right to nullify that marriage.”
Renee Windows, who was courted by THOG, said, “As far as divorce (is concerned), if you were not on the same page with your spouse, then you probably made a mistake because you were not walking with the true Christ they believe. Therefore the choices you made back then are now void.”
According to the former member of five years, there have been at least seven divorces in the church. “All have been wives leaving the husband because in all cases, the husband was standing up to [his wife].”
One man, who wishes to remain anonymous, said Duke told his wife to divorce him because he would not attend THOG. He suggested marriage counseling but his wife said she would only go to Duke for marriage counseling. “There came a time when the only way she would be able to entertain the thought to stay with me would be if I immediately started attending the church,” he said, noting their marriage did end in divorce.
According to McConnell, Duke counseled the husband of Shawn Samuelson, now operations director and chairwoman of the board of directors for Freedom Foundation, to divorce her and then moved her into his home as his spiritual partner.
The church even paid for the divorce of the former member of two years, who was having marital problems upon first attending THOG.
Aside from allowing divorce, THOG has been known to arrange marriages. “He (Duke) would make wedding matches, and it would happen in two days,” said the former member of five years. “He’d prophesy that they (a couple) should marry, and then two days later, he’d marry them in his yard.”
Dear and her mother, Patricia Morin, testified that this was the case for their relative. Dear said they found out that she was getting to know a guy in May and by July, had gotten married within two-days notice. Both of them said the family had not met the man and was not invited to the wedding.
“It didn’t make any sense,” Dear said. “Even her very best friend didn’t know she was getting married. My mom was in complete devastation; it was like she was robbed of her daughter and getting to share this time with her. … That was the point that we realized that something was really wrong.”
A third controversial issue concerning the practices of THOG is exclusion.
In a sermon from May 2006, Duke said, “You cannot, you cannot communion with the old. You cannot communion; I want God to talk to you about that. In the old system, we’re gonna hang out with old relatives and old friends and they’re enemies — they’re enemies. You need to see clear that’s that old system you’re in. And I can see that clearly.”
A relative of House of God members said, “‘Stand against’ is a phrase they will use against their enemies — anyone who would keep them from being involved or going to the meetings.” This person is estranged from family members involved in THOG.
The man mentioned earlier whose ex-wife is a House of God member said, “Once my wife started going to The House of God, her actions changed. She was contentious about anything that had to do with making any compromises that would make her miss any House of God meetings.”
Morin said her daughter gave up things she loved, such as drinking coffee and traveling, because she claimed these were issues of pride that were standing in the way of God.
And she excluded family in the process.
“Once she became involved with Mark Duke, her relationship with her family began to deteriorate to the point of no contact,” Morin said. “As a family, we have been excluded from any interaction with her husband and her children.”
Dear echoed Morin’s sentiment.
“Every holiday, every birthday, every Mother’s and Father’s Day, there is a heaviness and undercover of sadness. This is the kind of grief that never ends because she is still alive but is not choosing to have that relationship (with us).”
In interviews with The Alabama Baptist, five people said THOG has destroyed their families and their own lives and another person said THOG tried but failed to destroy her family.
Now “they (THOG) will try to discount me,” said the former member of five years. “They will label me. That’s what cults do. When people left the church, they labeled [them].”
The former member of two years said, “Things were so corrupted in such a neat and tidy package that it didn’t seem as if anything was wrong with it. The people involved are good people and mean well. It is sad to see these people in this trap.”
What stood out most to Dear as she visited House of God meetings was a common thread in people’s testimonies as to why they were there — vulnerability.
“They were vulnerable in some way. A lot of them had been wounded by churches,” Dear said, noting one man had lost his job and some men lacked a father figure.
“In some way, there was some sort of need in their lives, and Mark was somehow meeting that need. Mark had a gift of noticing your weakest moment, your greatest vulnerability, and he’d give you the sense that he could fix it.”
But Morin has hope that her daughter will find her way back to her family once again. “We miss her so much, and we’re praying that one day, she’ll come home,” she said.
Although many attempts were made to speak with a current member of THOG, no one responded to these attempts.
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