There are two final points being missed here. The first is this notion that everything else was ok with Mike Bickle, if only he didn't abuse all these women. No. Mike Bickle created a cult in Kansas City that thrived on secrecy, loyalty and bad false theology. He openly supported the Bridal Paradigm and created horrific worship music. The 24-7 prayer house is NOT biblical. It is just another Charismatic attempt to exalt man instead of God. To force kids supposedly in school to sustain this to all hours of the morning for your own ego and bragging is not a Christian venture. Neither are the other prayer houses that have crept up because of this false teaching. Defenders will scream that I am against prayer and that is ludicrous. Prayer is obviously a vital part of any believers' life. So is sleep. So is making sure you are not in a cult, being abused by your leader. Even if these allegations never came to light, Mike Bickle would remain one of the most egregious false teachers and prophets in the world.
Which brings us to the final point. IHOP needs to be burned to the ground. No, not the actual buildings. The idea. It seems the leadership thinks that removing Bickle solves the problems, but he was only the head of the snake. Having someone else step into that void of heresy and false teaching does not solve anything eternally. People will scream about the "IHOP community" but that is who this is for. Realize they were not only lied to for decades about who Mike Bickle really was, but they were lied to about everything. Listen to the survivors! Go read the horrific story of Bethany Deaton. Read about the missionary at IHOP accused of sexual abuse of a minor back in 2018. When the victim discovered this man was now working at IHOP she asked leadership how they could employ him. Their response was that he had provided them with a psychologist practioner report stating he had completed an 18-month repentance and restoration process. For sexually abusing a minor. Just 18 months of saying "my bad" and you are good to go into ministry again? Absolutely sick. We must look at the big picture of IHOP, which was founded on lies and false prophecies by a man who manipulated and abused people in the name of Jesus while creating some of the absolute worst heresies today. IHOP was Mike Bickle, and both now need to go away. Bickle needs to be forever remembered now as Ravi Zacarias. A liar who got caught. A huckster and a wolf. Beloved, wolves know the bible. They can preach probably better than half of the legitimate preachers today. Here is one of the statements from the leadership team, trying to salvage IHOP:
"We know there's lots of great questions to ask. In a time like this, you don't want to feel like it's not OK to ask questions. We just might not be able to answer all those questions at this time. And we hope that's OK. Because there's times like this where just careful, deliberate, slow answers can feel like secrecy." - David Sliker
Only fitting we close by a comment from someone named Sliker because this is pretty slick. It feels like secrecy Mr. Sliker because it is. It is time for the people who call themselves Christian to rise up in support of the sheep instead of the wolves. There is absolutely nothing redeemable at IHOP. There is nothing to salvage. The cult, its leader, the egomaniacal prayer house, the abuse of students, the abuse of women, the horrific worship music, the bridal paradigm, the false prophets, the false teachings - it all has to be burned to the ground. An outside investigation needs to release all of the details it can while protecting the victims. Any potential violations of law need to be properly investigated by law enforcement. Mike Bickle needs to go away and IHOP needs to be nothing but a stain and blight upon the history of Christianity that we should all learn from in the future.
Reverend Anthony Wade - November 1, 2023
