Dr. Brown has decided culture wars are more important than teaching people biblically...

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For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. - Romans 1:16 (ESV)

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Dr. Michael Brown has enjoyed a storied career in ministry that includes a national radio program and has always garnered a good modicum of respect across theological divides. It seems things started to seriously unravel in the lead up to the 2016 election when he was as Pro-Trump as any pro-Trumper could be. Sure, he would sprinkle in enough opposing position to have a cogent defense from critics, but he had gone full dominionist during this time right up until all of the prophets he followed got the 2020 election wrong. He then started moonwalking away from outright dominionist philosophy while still espousing the essentials. He just learned to frame it better. Suddenly it was about "culture" and how Christians should have a voice in the public square too. It was very "seven mountains", while of course denying the seven mountains theology. This is much like when he wrote a book against greasy grace while calling Joseph Prince, the greasiest of them all, a "good brother in the Lord." The truth is that Brown became and still remains an essential gatekeeper of all things NAR dominionist and Charismania. That means he simply refuses to call out the silliest and most dangerous aspects of his beliefs by protecting the worst false teachers today. From 2020 until 2023 Brown has tried to rehabilitate his dominionist image posting many articles about how we do not worship man and how false the prophets and arguments were surrounding 2020. That apparently ends today as 2024 brings with it a new important announcement from Dr. Brown in the link above.

That announcement is he is going full-on NAR dominionist. He is eliminating the "Ask Dr. Brown" portion of his ministry. This was as he puts it; the bible answer man portion and he has deemed this inconsequential to his singular focus on the culture wars. Now he tries to couch this, as he couches everything, by claiming he does not believe in "taking over" culture but that is exactly what he advocates for. In this video he claims that all Christians are in the "line of fire", the name of the other portion of his ministry, which will now be the sole focus. Included is a new half hour program designed to prepare people for the battle. Because this is a war, as any good dominionist will argue. What is so diabolical about what Satan is doing here is that he has diverted the Christian attention away from the true war between good and evil and turned it into a war of Christians versus the unsaved. You know, the people who actually need the gospel. So those godless heathens who are ruining society are now in the crosshairs and the truly sad thing is Dr. Brown refers to this as advancing the gospel, when it is nothing of the sort. Legislating behavior will not save one single soul. You can wrap your Jesus up with barbed wire all you like but, in the end, he will just end up cutting people to pieces before they can be saved. It is so sad to see someone so learned specialize in missing the point so spectacularly. In this video Brown for example becomes agitated about Marxism. As if individual economic theory matters to God. Today's deep theology is that it does not. It does not matter if someone believes in Marxism, Communism, or Capitalism, as economic theory. They all need the gospel and they all can be saved. Not from their preferred economic desires but from their sinful ones. If you think Capitalism is sin free, then you simply have not been paying attention very well. Here is the thing. We can debate economic theory all day long, but it will still have nothing to do with the cause of Jesus Christ. Make no mistake about it though. Dr. Michael Brown is now full board NAR dominionist and his ministry efforts are going to increasingly represent these facts. Helping people understand the bible so that they might lead more godly lives and be transformed into the image of Christ? Yeah, not as important as right wing boogey men such as critical race theory. Once again, truly sad.

Dr. Brown used the second half of this one-hour program to discuss the ongoing Bicklegate debacle at IHOPKC. He said he would open the phone for calls but ended up filibustering his own show. I will just review the salient points for consideration today:

1. When referring to the fact that IHOPKC has now permanently separated from Mike Bickle, Brown claimed he "didn't know" why they chose to do that. This tactic is a common Brown weapon. When I confronted him years ago for going on the Benny Hinn show he pretended to not know any of the false prophet allegations against Hinn. Please. My cat knows Benny Hinn is false and he is agnostic, as far as cats go. The reality is that I am 100% confident that Dr. Michael Brown knows how to use Google. The reasons for the separation are widely known and easy to find. It seems odd that you would plan a national radio program knowing you would be talking about a story and not actually research that story. Dr. Brown kept using the phrase "if" Mike Bickle did something. There is no more "if" Dr. Brown and you know it. Bickle lured a 19-year-old sheep into a four-year sexual relationship by prophelying that God showed him his wife would die so they could one day get married. It is based on this that Stuart Greaves stepped down and IHOPKC permanently severed ties with Bickle.

2. "If Mike Bickle did something here than I was obviously wrong, but it doesn't change the quality of the man I knew." - Dr. Michael Brown

Yes, he really said this. First let me say that it is a step in the right direction to at least admit you are wrong, but the next step forward would have been to apologize for it. To apologize for defending it. To apologize for enabling it. To apologize for accusing those who were speaking the truth as being in sin. Brown did none of that. Instead, he took two steps back with this absurd notion that the revelations that Mike Bickle was a degenerate liar and spirit hustler don't change anything about the man you knew. Of course, it does! Let's dabble in an even deeper absurdity. Let's say that there is a famous preacher who was always teaching fantastic, even "anointed" for many decades. Then we find out that he was a serial killer over the same period of time. Shouldn't that nullify how great a teacher he was? Wouldn't it be safe to say at that point that God was not actually using this man at all? Ravi Zacharias was not a great holiness teacher, even though Dr. Brown still insists he was. He was a liar and a hypocrite. I can get great holiness teachings from someone who was not organizing an international cabal of sex workers and masseuses for his whims. The Mike Bickle you knew Dr. Brown? He wasn't real! Stop trying to save the Charismatic brand! Show some concern for the lives he destroyed!

3. "I wasn't aware, what else can I say?" - Dr. Michael Brown

How about - "I'm Sorry?" Look, no one expects someone like Dr. Brown to have psychically known that Bickle was a liar. Apparently, he was very good at lying. It is unfair to say "you should have known" and I am not saying that here. What I am saying is that once you do know, you should own what you've said, repent, and apologize. Stop saying "if." Stop trying to defend the years of false ministry. Stop trying to protect the brand. Draw a line in the sand and say you are on one side and people who lie on behalf of God to prey upon young women in order to commit adultery, are on the other side.

4. "Can God work through someone living a double life? God's gifts are God's gifts. If you have the gift of healing God can still heal the sick through you because it's God's gift." - Dr. Michael Brown

Ehh, not quite Doc. First of all, it is poor theology to say God can do something, therefore He did. So, can God use someone living a double life? Of course. He is God. The question is why would He? The reality is that we often see ministers who fall often railed against the very sin they are hiding. Ted Haggard, who used to run the National Association of Evangelicals was known for preaching about what he viewed as the evils of homosexuality, even though he was secretly having a 20-year relationship with a male prostitute who he liked to do crystal meth with. Ravi Zacharias was famous for preaching about purity and holiness but at the same time he was orchestrating an international network of sex workers for his leisure. Now we have Bickle, who also loved to preach on holiness but was doing so while committing adultery and pretending to hear from God to spiritually and sexually abuse a 19-year-old sheep.

So, it begs the question, what do we do now with the legacy of Mike Bickle. According to Dr. Brown, it remains untinged by these revelations, and I say that is patently absurd. Again, we are not talking about a struggle or an instance of sin but rather a repeated pattern over decades of abusing women and claiming God told him his own wife would die! While Dr. Brown concludes that God must have just been using an imperfect vessel, I conclude the opposite. At no time was Mike Bickle a prophet. He was lying about that too. At no time was God using Mike Bickle, which is why IHOP is such a theological cesspool. His idea of the performative 24-7 prayer has been widely reported as a breeding ground for eastern mysticism and transcendental meditation. He supported many things that would be an offshoot of his proclivity for sexual misconduct such as Jesus is my lover worship music and the bridal paradigm. Dr. Brown sees IHOP as a rousing success and thus, it becomes vitally important to whitewash the Bicklegate scandal. Instead, he should be seeing this for what it is. God is exposing a liar, and abuser and someone who has built his earthly kingdom through false prophecy and false teaching. There is nothing redeemable at IHOPKC. Nothing.

As for the gifts, it seems Dr. Brown is of the opinion that once a spiritual gift is given, that the recipient is in constant possession of it. Nonsense. If so, why aren't all of the folks with the gift of healing parked inside emergency rooms? For the same reason psychics do not win the lottery. God gives the healing, not man. So, God may use a man to heal but He decides when or if He will use him again. I know many preachers who can put together a solid, biblical sermon. That does not mean it is from the Holy Spirit. Paul warns Timothy to watch only two things. His doctrine and his life. Mike Bickle never watched either. In Brown's world, the all-powerful God saw Mike Bickle lying about what He had said in order to bed a 19-year-old and commit adultery but said, oh well, I am going to use him anyway. I do not believe such a notion is supported by scripture in the slightest. Then God saw Bickle claim God said his wife would die in order to further this adulterous relationship for four years, while building IHOP, but God said, oh well, I guess I will keep using this guy. Beloved, that is simply insane.

5. "Take Ravi Zacharias. There is no question God used him. Gave him intellectual insight. Every human being is flawed on some level. If you have a book from Mike Bickle that drew you closer to Jesus that was God working through Mike Bickle." - Dr. Michael Brown

No Dr. Brown, there is a serious question. God did not need Ravi Zacharias nor Mike Bickle. He doesn't need me, you or any mortal human being. Ravi was a gifted teacher but that does not mean the gift came from God. In order for that to be true, God would have seen Ravi coercing and spiritually blackmailing female masseuses all over this world to serve his sexual needs but decided to look the other way and use him anyway? I seriously doubt that. God draws people, not man. It is like the tired old defense of Joel Osteen that says some come to the Lord through his ministries and I say no. The bible says in the key verse that it is only through the gospel that one is saved, and Joel Osteen does not preach the gospel. Now, can someone start at Joel's church and eventually seek God and the gospel more fervently and be saved? Absolutely but they were saved in spite of Joel Osteen, not because of him. So, there is no book from Mike Bickle that will draw you closer to Jesus. If that has happened be careful what Jesus you have drawn close to because the one Bickle preached for forty years is false. The bible says there are false Christs and we need to test everything. Remember, IHOP was built on Bickle's adultery.

6. "Why didn't the Kansas City prophets, Bob Jones and Paul Cain know? Some would say they too were false but I know people who received amazingly accurate prophecies from Cain and I know someone personally who said Paul Cain was the godliest man he ever knew." - Dr. Michael Brown

Really. The Paul Cain I read about was disgraced after admitting to homosexual sin and was caught soliciting prostitutes at IHOPKC. That is your godliest man ever? Cain is also one of the cabal that anointed Todd Bentley a prophet. Its funny because Brown refers to Bentley in this video in another capacity, pointing out his disqualification due to repeated sexual sin. So, the ministry where he punched and kicked people to impart healing was ok? No! I understand Brown tries to protect the brand at all costs, but all of this garbage has to go. Bob Jones, Paul Cain and Mike Bickle were not prophets! They were liars and manipulators! IHOPKC was built on this rotten foundation! Did God use these liars? No! One of these three was caught soliciting hookers and admitted to grievous sexual sin. Another abused a 19-year-old sheep by claiming God told him that his wife would die so they could be together. Could God choose to use these hirelings and charlatans? Sure. He is God. But why in the world would He? The answer of course that escapes Dr. Brown is He wouldn't. I know this is difficult for Dr. Brown because he was friends with Bickle and he fell for the lies as easily as everyone else did. It is time however, to care for the sheep again and take a stand for what God takes a stand for. Ravi Zacharias, Paul Cain, Bob Jones, and Mike Bickle were not serving God and God was not using them. It is time we come to grips with that so that all those who were lied to can heal and move on to hear the real gospel of Jesus Christ.

Reverend Anthony Wade - January 3, 2023

Authors Bio:
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 His purpose.