Those that didn't like Mike, his ministry, or don't like Charismatics and kinda gloat, that's a bad move. You should grieve also. 1Corinthians 10:12 - lest you fall. This is time for introspection. This is a time to search our own lives." - Dr. Michael Brown
Dr. Brown is the master of strawman arguments and here are some examples for us. The issue is not "liking Mike." I do not know Mike Bickle. I only evaluate his teaching and ministry. I despise his ministry because it deceives people and leads people away from Christ, straight to hell. I have no doubt that some of the people in Matthew 7 who say Lord Lord will be there because of what Mike Bickle taught them. I do not however dislike Charismatics as I believe the gifts are for today. I dislike how Charismaniacs abuse the gifts. None of these strawmen are relevant because they do not make me gloat. This is a time to grieve but I do not grieve for Mike Bickle. I do not grieve for IHOP as an institution. I grieve for the victims. I grieve for the 10 + women whose lives were wrecked by a man pretending to be a prophet from God while he sexually abused them. I am grieving for the other victims - the IHOP community, that remains enthralled with the false teaching of Mike Bickle if not the man himself. I do not grieve for wolves. Also, the misusing of the key verse for today needs to be pointed out. The verse is about the proud who think they have arrived. I am in no way that, but I can speak intelligently, using the bible, to rebuke what is false as we are instructed to do. Mike Bickle being a raving heretic and now predator does not elevate me one iota. The story is not about me. I am just a guy with a bible telling you what it says. I agree with Dr. Brown that this is a time for self-evaluation, but I would go further to say that every day is such a time. Brown continues:
"Swaggart - I loved Swaggart, his preaching, and its emphasis on holiness. When he fell, I couldn't believe it. If you lead a house of prayer and the charges prove to be true, that doesn't take away your calling to lead a house of prayer. Think of Ravi Zacharias. Years and years of building a ministry, walking a certain way and you throw it away for a moment of emotional or physical pleasure. Matthew 7:2 says as we judge others is how we will be judged so let us by all means hold to accountability and righteousness on every level but let us be people of mercy. Galatians 6:1 says if someone is caught in a fault, you who are spiritual restore." - Dr. Michael Brown
Here we see some of the core problems with Dr. Brown. The problem is that you couldn't believe it. You claim to say there are not rock stars but that is exactly what Swaggart was, which is why you couldn't believe it. That is why 30 years later you still sound dumfounded and actually admit that you loved the holiness preaching of a man who when he was done preaching to you about holiness, would go hire a hooker. There is a fancy ministry term we have for that, and it is called being a hypocrite. Jesus actually spoke very much against that. The overarching point here is that after you discover he was busted with a prostitute in 1988 and again in 1991, maybe you shouldn't love his holiness preaching anymore because it was a lie. Likewise, Mike Bickle was a liar. It doesn't matter if you liked his exegesis or not - he was LYING. After preaching to you about something you liked, he was having sex with one of his sheep or trying to silence one he already had sex with. The entire thing he built was corrupt and false. So, I am sorry if you followed this wolf and now lead a prayer house, but your prayer house is just as false as Mike Bickle's, and you should run away from it as fast as possible. Find a good bible-based church and pray for repentance. Ravi Zacharias spent years and years building a ministerial façade. He spent decades lying about who he was. Now, I do not expect perfection from ministers because we are all human. I do however expect that my favorite minister is not importing sex workers from other countries, bringing personal masseuses on ministry trips, forcing them into sex and then lying about it. You know, at a bare minimum. Lastly here, have some mercy for the victims Doc instead of for your ministry buddies accused of sexually abusing them. That is the mercy we will be judged on. The next interesting quote is regarding an obvious question that he admitted he could not answer. To deflect however, he makes one of the most absurd anti-discernment ministry arguments I have ever heard.
"What happened to all the prophets - perfectly fair question but I do not have a simple answer.
What about this. There are many "quote" discernment ministries. They may use that name for themselves. Others may use that about them. Many times I have issues with them because I feel they are hyper-critical. But the discernment ministries regarding Ravi Z, why didn't you discern that something was wrong? Understanding that the charges against him have been validated. All of you in discernment ministry, why didn't you recognize that? What about the southern Baptists? Do you know how many major scandals they have been in, in recent years? Including allegations of major leaders, covering up sexual sin. How come others didn't know. I don't know." - Dr. Michael Brown
Are you serious? I am stunned that such a learned scholar would ask such a fundamentally stupid question. Discernment ministries do not pretend to be prophetic. Discernment is the ability to tell what is of God and what is not. It is not clairvoyance. Southern Baptists? I personally wrote about their latest scandal last month. It seems however that Dr. Brown is inferring that discernment ministries should have been able to magically tell the problem existed before it came to light. That isn't discernment, it is psychic parlor tricks. I have never been to Kansas City. I have never met Mike Bickle. Others however, such as Dr. Brown has. Francis Chan has and declared how much he loved Mike Bickle. The question is not how come some discernment ministry in New York didn't know but rather why those ministers declaring their love for Bickle did not know. I need to add here that I did tell you about Mike Bickle. Discernment ministries have told you for decades, but you refused to listen. We told you IHOP was a cult. We told you IHOP covered up the Bethany Deaton murder. We told you that they employed a former sexual abuser of minors and when asked about it IHOP leadership dismissed the victim by saying the perpetrator had undergone 18 months of repentance and restoration. We told you the bridal paradigm was horrific heresy. We told you the worship music was soft core pornography. We told you the 24/7 mandatory prayer was unbiblical and performative. We told you every time someone escaped and retold horror stories of abuse and spiritual manipulation. We told you about Bickle's false prophecies and those of the false KC Prophets. We told you over and over and over again, but you called us heresy hunters. You said we were divisive. You said you knew the man's heart. You said you knew him personally. How dare you try and say now that it was discernment ministries who should have warned everyone about the wolf you kept excusing from the correct warnings of discernment ministries! The unmitigated gall is staggering.
As for the simple answer you cannot seem to find, let me provide it for you. The reason why all of those prophets couldn't see anything is that they are not actually prophets. They are like the prophets who advised King Ahab who didn't want to listen to Micaiah, the only real prophet hearing from God. The problem Doc, is you believe in and follow nutcases who do not really hear anything from a God they do not actually serve. You keep acting as if the only problem here is the sexual abuse of the ten or so women. You still refuse to see what is underlying it. You refuse to see how Bickle's corruption was not just a statement on Bickle but on the entire thing. The IHOP 24/7 prayer nonsense, the false prophet brigade, Bob Jones, the Kansas City prophets - all of it! You still want to hold onto the rotten core now that you discovered that the seeds were false and corrupt. I saw a tweet from Dr. Brown today exhorting sheep in Kansas City that now is not the time to walk away! That instead they should be running into the very same horse manure prayer houses that birthed Mike Bickle and lied to them for over 40 years! The ignorance is overwhelming! No! Go find a real church that preaches the actual gospel of Jesus Christ while there is still time! Do not listen to people who think that you should stay in the same muck that you just discovered you have been mired in for years.
"Sometimes we have this loosie-goosy spirituality. Now I have never known this to be true regarding Mike Bickle and if these charges prove to be true, a shocker, a grievous shocker for someone I esteemed in the Lord. A grievous, painful shock. Does this bring a larger indictment against the things of the spirit, of course not! Goes back to Ravi - does his actions change the truth that he spoke? Bill Hybels, famous from Willow Creek Church and the seeker sensitive model, as he was getting ready to retire, there were accusations of sexual misconduct, some were retracted, some denied, others confirmed, or confirmed by outside organizations looking at things - what does that say about seeker-sensitive? It really doesn't. You have to evaluate it by itself. Not to throw stones at Bill Hybels." - Dr. Michael Brown
