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Debunking the Heretical "Bridal Paradigm" of IHOP

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For God is a Lover
Looking for a lover so He fashioned me
God is a Lover
Looking for a lover so
He formed my heart
God is a Lover
Looking for a lover so He fashioned me
God is a Lover
Looking for a lover...

Song 3

Come be the fire inside of me
Come be the flame upon my heart
Come be the fire inside of me
Until You and I are one

I could go on and on but I think the point has been made. Don't tell me where you stand on your affirmation page when what you do and endorse every week is the opposite. These lyrics are soft core pornography. If Jesus is not our Lover Mike, why do you keep making "worship" songs that call Him such? The "kiss of God's Word has nothing to do with a physical kiss yet you reference Song of Solomon 1:2?

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is better than wine; - Song of Solomon 1: 2 (ESV)

The reference you give is specifically for a physical kiss! The larger problem is the reliance on the Song of Solomon to prop up this false paradigm. No book in the Bible is less understood than Song of Solomon. I look at it as Warren Wiersbe did:

"While the Song of Solomon illustrates the deepening love we can have with Christ, we must be careful not to turn the story into an allegory and make everything mean something." - WW

We should do well to remember the author of Song of Solomon as well. Solomon did not exactly have a great track record when it came to women. He had 1000 wives and concubines and despite explicit warnings from God, he married foreign women who eventually led him into idol worship. Back to the Bickle comments. So you correctly affirm that Song of Solomon has nothing to do with sensuality but then admit to using phrases such as "the romance of the Gospel? Seriously? I think we are adults here Mike. I think we know what the word romance means. It is related to eros love. Yet the love God has for us is spiritual; agape love. The Word also deals with phileo love, which is a brotherly love. It is how we are to treat each other. Neither has anything to do with eros love and neither has anything to do with romance. What exactly is the point of using phrases like "the adventuresome love that is filled with the spirit of abandonment?" Can you be more sensual and less biblical than that? You will not find such language in Scripture but rather in the latest trashy romance novel or the new 50 Shades of Grey movie. You can try to couch things by throwing in "loves and obey Jesus" but it is surrounded with such blinding carnality, I am left wondering what was the point? Lastly on this portion, can you be anymore dishonest in abusing Acts 16: 22-26?

The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them,and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bonds were unfastened. - Acts 16: 22-26 (ESV)

They were beaten to within an inch of their lives and thrown into a dungeon. In the inner prison with their feet in stocks. They were praying Mike, praying. They were also singing hymns that I am confident did not contain any Misty Edwards-esque lyrics. How in the world can you turn that picture into just "singing songs of love to Jesus" and supporting a bridal paradigm is beyond me. We continue with the affirmation:

Jesus was the first to introduce the bridal paradigm to the Church. He referred to Himself as a bridegroom (Mt. 9:15); He compared the kingdom to His Father arranging a marriage for Him (Mt. 22:2); He described ministry as those encountering Him as a bridegroom (Mt. 25:1); He will return in answer to the prayers of His Church crying out in her bridal identity--"The Spirit and the bride say, 'Come!'" (Rev. 22:17).

Jesus did not introduce the bridal paradigm. Matthew 9:15 is in a section dealing with fasting! He used the allegory of a bridegroom to make His point. The misuse of Matthew 22:2 is more staggering. This was a parable about salvation! Matthew 25:1 is another salvation parable. Yes in these parables Jesus is the bridegroom but that does not mean you take them and create paradigms and theology out of thin air. It certainly does not mean you over-romanticize or sexualize them either. The Revelation Scripture is presented correctly but he overlooks once again that this is not a personal identity but a collective one as His church. Bickle's Scriptural gymnastics are startlingly abusive to try and prop up his paradigm. The affirmation concludes:

Passages that point to Jesus as the Bridegroom God: Isaiah 54:4--12; 62:2--5; Jeremiah 2:2; 3:14; 31:32, Ezekiel 16:13--15, 32; 23:1--45; Hosea 1:2; 2:7, 14--23; 3:1--5; Matthew 9:15; 22:1--14; 25:1--13; John 3:29; 2 Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 5:25-32; Revelation 19:7-9; 21:9; 22:17.

I am not going to go through these one at a time because the point has been made and no is disputing that God uses the imagery of the church being His bride, which makes Him the bridegroom in that analogy. The problem is to take verses wildly out of context or with absurd hermeneutics and cobble them together to create a fantasy paradigm laced with sexual overtones and romantic innuendoes, while crafting inappropriate false worship songs, all the while denying it. The bridal paradigm is a sick and twisted theology that enamors many young Christians, especially women. I see young women all the time referring to themselves as the bride of Christ. Referring to Him in clearly sexual and romantic language. Here is a quote from Bickle's book, Passion for Jesus:

"God is not some mystical, nebulous force that loves the masses but not individuals, who love is focused on vast populations but not on a single person. You serve a deeply loving, passionate God whose heart is ravished by the beauty of your sincere, devoted heart. You are so beautiful to Him that you take His breath away!"

Even here we see Bickle striving to take what is meant for the collective and apply it to the personal. Does God love us individually? Of course He does but the bride is not us individually. So the heart of God is ravished by us? We are so beautiful to Him that we take His breath away? Seriously? Can we get anymore carnal in our language and imagery? If He put this into a movie it would be rated NC-17! What do you think happens when you tell a 16 year old girl or a 24 year old woman that they ravish the heart of God? That God is just a lover so he fashioned them? Does that feed their Spirit or their flesh? The answer is clear. IHOP is a very very dangerous place beloved. Besides being a proven false prophet, Mike Bickle teaches an end time army dominionist theology wrapped up in the blanket of an overtly sexual gospel. Google search IHOP survivors and see some of the carnage he has already wrought, including a pending murder trial involving IHOP participants who on the side were running a sexual cult. The bridal paradigm is simply put, demonic. Mike Bickle has now affirmed that.

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Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to (more...)
 
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