FBI Raids Several Churches Near Military Bases in Georgia and Texas Accused of Operating Like a Cult and Targeting Soldiers

The House of Prayers church in Hinesville was the subject of a raid by FBI agent’s Thursday morning. The raid took place shorty after 8 am. The church is located on the 2500 block of Airport Road. Agents with with weapons were seen going from building to building, and a group of women were seen being guarded by an officer with a weapon. (Lewis Levine For The Savannah Morning News)

The FBI on Thursday raided three churches associated with the House of Prayer Christian Church in Georgia and Texas.

The FBI has not released a statement regarding the raids.

The House of Prayer is owned by the foreign nonprofit company House of Prayer Christian Churches of America Inc., which registered with the Georgia Secretary of State in 2004. The business’s listed officers are affiliated with the Georgia churches and use Hinesville, Georgia, post office boxes as mailing addresses.

Its churches, which are primarily located near military bases throughout the country, have been accused by former members and a veterans’ advocacy group of operating like a cult and targeting soldiers.

In August 2020, Veterans Education Success, an advocacy organization based in Washington D.C., asked the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Georgia Veterans Service to investigate alleged abuses of the GI Bill program by House of Prayer Christian Church’s Bible seminaries.

Veterans alleged the House of Prayer Christian Church “deceives the VA during inspections and targets veterans in order to access GI Bill funding, VA disability compensation, and VA home loans,” according to the organization’s letter to the VA and Georgia SAA.

Click here to read more.

SOURCE: USA Today; Savannah Morning News, Alexandra Koch