Never known Bickle to have a loosie-goosy spirituality? How about now? Isn't the problem that you did esteem him in the Lord for so wrong and now that esteem seems misguided at best? How many people did you personally lead to Mike Bickle? Isn't that the real question Doc? Why are you not apologizing to the body for misleading them right into the arms of a predatory wolf? Where is Francis Chan's apology? Does this bring a larger indictment against the things of the spirit? Obviously not but it does indict the false things of the spirit that Mike Bickle trafficked in, and Dr. Brown fully supports. IHOP was notorious for transcendental meditation, eastern mysticism, and other abhorrent practices. The soaking prayer garbage, the bridal paradigm, you name it. It is all indicted now and should be. Who cares a whit if Ravi Zacharias said something true once? The point is that while he was saying it, he was paying prostitutes and spiritually manipulating female masseuses in dire need of money. That overrides whether he once exegeted Galatians well. Who cares? I can find a good source of Galatians exegesis from someone who does not have an international network of sex workers from Thailand to South Korea, as Zacharias had. The body of Christ does not need Mike Bickle just like they did not need Ravi Zacharias. As for Hybels, for the love of all that is pure, stop minimizing the sins of your friends! Bill Hybels retired in disgrace, and he is lucky to have avoided criminal prosecution. He will still answer to the real judge one day, rest assured. To try and downplay the massive hurt he caused by again, sexually abusing many women over many years is just despicable. By the way, that is not "throwing stones." It is reading news reports. For the record, the seeker sensitive model was and remains wildly unbiblical. Hybels canvassed the neighborhood where he had planned to launch Willow Creek and discovered the unsaved masses were uncomfortable with crosses, so he removed all of them from his church. If you think that is good, I suggest you actually read the bible. Church is for the sheep, not the goats. We want the unsaved to come so they can hear the Gospel, which according to Romans is the only way they can be saved but salvation remains a supernatural event that belongs to God alone through the Holy Spirit. So, dumbing it down to make the unsaved feel more comfortable about their sin? Yeah, that will never work and is always at the expense of the saved, who the seeker friendly movement purposefully starves to death spiritually. Unfortunately, Brown was hardly done yet:
You say yeah, but there are so many scandals associated with IHOP - actually when you think of how many thousands of people around the world are involved with this, when you think of how many leaders have served there over the years, many of whom I know, actually the scandals have been quite rare but one is more than enough. You say what about the accusations that there was cult like behaviors, I am not close enough to know but let everything be examined. You say, what if some of the stuff by the spirit was counterfeit. Take the fall of Jerry Falwell Jr. That puts Liberty in a bad light, no it doesn't. Liberty is a great school. My oldest granddaughter graduated there last May.
Wow, so IHOP is not that bad because Bickle only sexually abused a handful of women? Keep in mind Dr. Brown that this is only what we know. Maybe some of the other people there that you are still esteeming in the Lord are no better. Why would they be having been taught by Mike Bickle? You again dismiss the many, many stories of cult like behavior from people directly involved in IHOP! It has been examined! Stop it already! All of the spiritual junk was counterfeit! I included this mention of Liberty for a reason. I once questioned Dr. Brown on his radio show about Bethel and Bill Johnson and mentioned their heretical school of the fake supernatural because they clearly think they can teach people how to perform the gifts of the spirit. This is not a matter up for debate as they admit it and recruit off of it. Dr. Brown bristled harshly and told me he knew I was wrong because - he taught there. As if his personal experience trumps what the bible says. We see the same thing here. Liberty University is good in his eyes because his granddaughter graduated from there. Who cares? How does that change that it was founded and operated by Falwell Sr., who was incredibly false, and his son was worse. It is so spiritually disingenuous to respond to credible biblical critique with, "but I know him!" I only have one more blurb from the Brown broadcast:
I believe this is part of a larger purging in the body. I began to sense in 2019 a rising hunger and thirst for revival in the body. I was grieved because America is so deeply messed up, morally ands spiritually in so many ways, so deeply divided, that you'd think there would be more hunger, more desperation, there'd be more repentance, more crying out, there'd be more humbling of ourselves - God help us. God revive. God have mercy. You think that there would be but where is it? Refiners fire. It's God not wanting to move if there is sin that is covered up.
Let me say it again. This does not deny the reality of the Holy Spirit. Thus does not deny the truth of the bible. Listen to Mike Bickle go through Romans. Listen to his careful teaching verse after verse exegeting scripture. If he taught accurately, he taught accurately. This does not deny the love of Jesus message that he preached. The truth of scripture.
Once again, I am just saddened that someone so intelligent can be so blinded. Brown here interjects the very dominionism he always denies. This "America is messed up" theology is straight up NAR. Now, Brown is right that we are deeply divided in this country and those divisions are within the church as well. I also agree that you would hope there would be more seeking God in such dire times but what Brown cannot see is he is the divider. The NAR dominionism is nothing more than a tool of the Republican Party who is constantly trying to divide America into two camps and the other camp are always labeled as the bad guys. Greg Locke and Mario Murillo have built ministerial careers on vilifying anyone who would dare to vote Democratic, saying they are irredeemable. They drive the church into the arms of the most morally reprehensible man ever to seek public office and do so gladly in churches across this country. It is idolatry pure and simple.
Mike Bickle once exegeted Romans correctly? Well bully for him. Was this before or after sexually abusing victim number ten? Was he bullying victims at the time? Accusing them of falsely accusing him? Was he actively engaged in covering up Bethany Deaton's murder at the time? Once again, I do not need Mike Bickle to exegete Romans if he is going to sexually and spiritually abuse his sheep! Of course, scripture remains true, but the teachings of Mike Bickle are all false today. Even if he once handled Romans well, he did so while lying and abusing people. He did so while building a million-dollar empire by forcing young kids into prayer rooms at three in the morning. The truth of scripture? Yeah, that reveals Mike Bickle is disqualified from ministry, but scripture said that a long time ago. Only Dr. Brown wasn't listening. He was too busy esteeming Mike Bickle in the Lord. Don't get me wrong, he sounds very sincere in this video, and I do not doubt that he is torn apart by finding out someone he thought was good, was in fact EVIL. The problem is instead of dealing with this to protect the sheep, he seems intent on splitting the bill. Sure, investigate and IF Mike is guilty, blah blah blah BUT, don't leave the theological cesspool that Mike Bickle created! As if the years of abuse had no effect on anything else. As if Mike Bickle created a church model pleasing to God while he was spiritually and sexually abusing everyone. He did not. IHOP need to be shut down. The people who were duped, need to be directed to real churches so they can hear the real gospel. When people think of Ravi Zacharias today, they think of a liar and charlatan. They think of an international network of sex workers at his disposal. They think of him spiritually threatening his victims into silence. They do not fondly remember how he was esteemed in the Lord and once gave a good teaching on 2Chronicles. Hopefully one day we can say the same about Mike Bickle and the spiritual septic tank formally known as IHOP.
