This is the latest excuse now. He just did not understand the scope of what was really going on. Perhaps then you should question if you were really called to get involved? After all, Brown fancies himself the voice of moral clarity but throughout this entire scandal has tried to silence the very people who understood what was going on. We can judge properly what people do and say. The truly amazing thing is Dr. Brown now has the benefit of full hindsight. He can see how HOP has lied to him, repeatedly, over these many months. He can see how the MacNamara Report is useless. He can see now how wrong and destructive his publisher has been. With all of this new knowledge to replace the initial poor understanding of the scope, Brown essentially takes the same position. Unreal. He now tells of how after his December 1st statement, a pastor he loves and loves him called him furious. He told Dr. Brown to shut up. That Brown had no idea what he was doing. That he was doing more harm than good. And that the IHOPKC ministry is like a cult, and everyone needed to post their stories and put them out. Dr. Brown then makes a heartfelt plea for forgiveness if people were hurt by his words. If he had just stopped there perhaps he would not have come off so self-serving and arrogant but he instead doubled down, after apologizing:
"What I do not apologize for is the call to say, let's not gossip on social media. I don't apologize for saying, let our communication be godly and edifying. I do not apologize for saying that social media is not the place for us to all speculate without knowledge and information. I never had any idea that months later we would still be having these conversations. This was supposed to be resolved in November, where are we now? March 12th? This is unimaginable. I don't apologize for saying we should not bear false witness against each other. I don't apologize for saying that social media is not the place to adjudicate this case. I do not apologize for saying we have to stop tearing each other down, attacking each other and hurting each other. It doesn't glorify Jesus." - Dr. Michael Brown
Gossip on social media? You mean what April Rose did and then your publisher used that to publicly declare Bickle exonerated? Something like that? Godly and edifying? Like when you told people who wanted and needed to talk about this burgeoning problem to grow up? We shouldn't speculate without knowledge and information? You mean like when your publisher smeared all the victims saying they were being used by Satan to tear down a good man? The truly sad thing is Brown acknowledges now that he never thought he would still be discussing this in March and actually calls that unimaginable. Except I imagined it. So did countless others who recognized the subterfuge and cover up being enabled by the likes of Dr. Michael Brown. You don't apologize for saying we should not bear false witness? Like when Strang said this was just a church fight and that the former leaders now advocating for the victims were just trying a coup? Is that what you mean? The true sad conclusion here is that Dr. Michael Brown has contributed to and enabled the complete tearing down and hurting of the victims, the advocates and anyone with the temerity to hold an opinion since this began. IHOP leadership has found a useful and willing stooge in Brown, who continues with his laughable positions, no matter how plainly wrong he knows he is. If you put out an apology that spends more time telling me what you are not sorry for? Yeah, then I am guessing you are not sorry for anything.
In closing, to highlight the utter disconnect Brown has on this, he closes the video by making two absurd statements. The first is that Mike Bickle could be restored in his walk and be closer to Jesus than ever but is disqualified from ministry because of a lasting reproach. Thankfully he is right about disqualification. The sad thing is the accusations of Jane Doe number one were not enough. It was the involvement of the two cases involving minors that pushed many like Brown over the edge. The tone-deaf part of this statement, however, is the assumption that Mike Bickle is saved. Closer to Jesus than ever? Seriously? When exactly did Mike Bickle show fruit in bearing with repentance? When he was a 20-year-old intern he abused a 14-year-old for years. When he was in his late 20's, and now married, he abused a 15-year-old for many years, even showing up at the girl's high school as her boyfriend. Then he lied about hearing from God regarding the 24-7 prayer model, reinforced by two other sexual predators and launched IHOP while he was abusing the daughter of a friend of his for four years, while married and in his 40s. These are not oopsies Dr. Brown. These are not mistakes. Restoration? No. Mike Bickle needs to hear the one thing he never uttered while running IHOP - the gospel.
The second thing Brown closes with is of course to affirm the prayer movement and the 24-7 model. He agrees with the prophetic history of IHOP, despite it now being proved to be false! Make no mistake about it beloved. This is the entirety of the gameplan here. Bickle is a lost cause and they recognized that once kids were involved but the ministry? That is the goal. Not to minister to the victims. Not to gain closure and healing. To salvage IHOPKC no matter how clearly the Lord is currently destroying it. Dr. Brown needs to stop apologizing by telling us everything he is not sorry for and gather his clown car of 24-7 prayer advocates and get out of the way. Let a truly independent source investigate so all the accusations be heard and known against Bickle and IHOP as an institution. Then they need to shutter the doors and return prayer to its necessary place in our lives as believers. Not this bastardized version of performative prayer for college credit. IHOPKC has always been a cult built on lies and mangled lives. The Lord has had enough, and rightly so.
Reverend Anthony Wade - March 19, 2024
