The Email Chain

Many people will bump into members of the Hope of Israel Christian Ministries as they sell bread at Farmers markets across the state.  One will see smiling faces, odd but pleasant people serving them as they purchase their genuinely wonderful bakery products.  Few will have any insight into who they really are, who David Kriss really was and, what they represent.


On at least three occasions I have heard from members of the Cult that David regretted his final interaction with me.  Indeed, I have heard that he hung around shopping centres near where I live in the hope of running into me.  Obviously I cannot tell how David was thinking or about his regrets, but I can tell how he has acted. 
I had an email correspondence with him some 13 months before he died.  We bumped into each other in a local Shopping Centre and had a brief and amiable chat.  He expressed a desire to meet up again, maybe for a coffee.  I tentatively agreed to this, figuring that we may be able to work through some issues.  Unfortunately, as you will see, the meeting never took place.  David had my email & my phone number, if he really felt regret or desire to reconcile, he knew where I was and, he didn't.  I wish that he did and I wish we could have chatted.  My last email went unanswered.


Here is that email correspondence.  For ease of reading I will paste it earlier to later.  I post this to give some insight into how David dealt with people, you will see the same methods in his followers.  His true colours begin to emerge in his last couple of emails.

The obduracy of Apostle David Kriss

“That which has been is that which will be, And that which has been done is that which will be done.  So there is nothing new under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 1:9

A young man born in 1847 in Scotland became a Presbyterian minister in Australia, where he was known for his hard line stance against sinful living.  At the age of 41 he arrived in Chicago, USA, where allegedly a string of miraculous healing followed his ministry.  John Alexander Dowie was hailed a great man and idolised by many as a Prophet, healer and Restorer.  In June 1901 Dowie declared himself to be ‘Elijah’[1] of the Last Days and the restorer of all things, preparing the way for Christ’s return.  He started wearing High Priestly robes based on the Aaronic garments of Exodus 28.  He bought 6,000 hectares of land outside Chicago and founded Zion City, a place to be based on Christian principles including the absence of doctors.  It was his dream that Zion cities would be established everywhere as his attempt to restore all things.  He died a sick old, wheelchair bound man in financial ruin, still believing that he was the Elijah.

This is a very sad story, yet there is a modern one much like it. David Kriss was a Melbourne based Messianic Jew who called himself a Prophet and Apostle.  He had his own ministry called ‘The Hope of Israel Christian Ministries’.

Vale David Kriss

by Matthew Harris


Three days ago, whilst in that twilight of sleep, the phone brusquely awoke me.  I got up to answer it, only to be greeted by the news that David Kriss is dead.  I have gone through much soul searching over these three days and wish to document my feeling over the passing of David Kriss.