Dr. Brown is at it again, conflating our individual call to pray with Bickle's unbiblical call to 24-7 prayer rooms...

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But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. - Galatians 1:8-9 (ESV)

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One of the fatal flaws in Charismania is the propensity to ascribe everything positive to a move of God and anything negative as an attack from Satan. This is the opposite of discernment, which requires us to actually test everything. So even examining the saga in Kansas City we see this poor theology play out. When the IHOP backers look at everything, they see that the enormous growth of the 24-7 prayer movement in general and IHOPKC specifically, as a sovereign move of God. Many attribute the Bicklegate scandals as being a spiritual attack from Satan. Dr. Michael Brown and Steven Strang from Charisma News just posted a video espousing this very position. Because this allows them to continue to pretend they were not duped by the serial liar and abuser Bickle, they never really test everything, stand back and realize that their positions are untenable.

That is because now we know that the man who founded IHOPKC and birthed the 24-7 prayer movement was never a man of God. He was never hearing from God. This movement was birthed by Satan, using three sexual predators posing as prophets. It was built on the bones of ruined lives. Ruined by the very people claiming to hear directly from God. There is ZERO chance this was ordained by God. There is also no chance that God would then bless this mess. Maybe we have to consider that all those people clamoring that IHOP was a dangerous cult for the past 25 years were the ones that had it right. Conversely, the scandals are entirely the work of one man and an institution that enabled him and refused to hold him accountable. The devil is not using the victims or the advocates. He used Mike Bickle. He is using now, all of the people defending Bickle or trying to preserve what God is clearly tearing down. The devil is not trying to destroy the 24-7 prayer movement. Why would he when he created it? I know that is hard to hear from some because they continue to confuse prayer, which is a good thing, with forcing people to pray for school credit, allowing all sorts of false prayer and worship and even suspect characters in the prayer room like the false prophet recently banned for being sexually inappropriate. The link above is from Dr. Michael Brown, who as always, is trying to protect the brand. His position is simple. We do not destroy a work of God because of the failings of one man. Except it wasn't just one man. It was three sexual predators that lied about hearing from God to come up with the idea. That means the foundation of 24-7 prayer was entirely carnal and sinful and not from God. The building of the carnal success of the movement was at the same time that the leader building it, was abusing other women. That means the success of it cannot be attributed to God either. It was not a work of God. In fact, when you assume all negative occurrences in your view are from Satan, you never consider what God might be doing. God is destroying IHOPKC and the 24-7 prayer movement. He is bringing justice to those who were ruined through it and because of it. Let us reason once more through Dr. Brown's latest attempt to save IHOP.

"Believers around the world are hurting right now; in particular, charismatic believers involved in the global prayer movement. A key leader in that movement, a man known as a deeply devoted, godly believer, has credibly been accused of gross sexual misconduct, not once but a number of times. How could this be? How could it be possible for someone to lead a double life on that scale, especially over the decades? This leads many to wonder if anyone can be trusted. Pastors who lead prayer ministries have reached out to me, telling me of the agonizing struggles some of their people are experiencing. Their very acts of worship and prayer seem tainted. Was any of it ever real? Or were they just fooling themselves all the time, thinking they were making a spiritual impact when they were just singing to the walls and praying to the ceiling? The sense of upheaval is deep." - Dr. Michael Brown

These are all appropriate questions for people to be asking at this time. The problem is the answers they are going to be hearing from leaders such as Dr. Brown will be wrong and only further their involvement with something that is clearly not from God. Listen beloved, your sincere prayers to God always matter. Your sincere acts or worship to Him, always matter. What did not matter was the room. What did not matter was the insane 24-7 mandate. What did not matter was IHOPKC and Mike Bickle. People in leadership keep conflating the genuine prayers of people with the movement but prayer existed before Mike Bickle lied and sexually abused multiple women and will exist after he is long gone. So, it is not that their prayers and worship were tainted but rather where they were practicing them was. It is a time for reflection to examine all of the false doctrine you may have believed, not just the tainted and corrupt 24-7 prayer model.

"Other leaders have shared with me the depth of personal pain they are experiencing and the overwhelming sense of grief they're living with. This fallen leader was their friend. Others have expressed a feeling of spiritual schizophrenia. Their worlds have been turned upside down.

Many feel betrayed. Others feel used. All feel massive disappointment. How do they rebuild their lives without becoming cynical? How do they regain that sense of childlike faith and purity? And even though they themselves may not have committed the same sins, how do they escape the feeling of being polluted? How do we sort this out?" - Dr. Michael Brown

We start by stopping. Stop defending the victimizer and start acting vaguely concerned about the victims. Stop deflecting, dissembling, and lying. Stop covering up. Stop hiring your congregants to pretend to do your investigations. Stop smearing the victims and the advocates. Stop pretending this is a spiritual attack and thus bearing false witness against the victims and advocates. Stop trying to protect the brand. Stop trying to save IHOPKC and the demonic 24-7 movement. Only after this can we think about starting over. For people to examine their beliefs and strip out the Mike Bickle false teachings because while we may have thought he was a godly man, he was clearly not. We challenge becoming cynical by becoming Bereans. By learning to discern. By moving on from the spoiled milk of cult of personality church leaders and into the solid meat of the word gleaned by being led by the Holy Spirit into all truth. It is ok to feel betrayed. It is ok to feel disappointed. Not in God but in our blind allegiance to one man, any man.

"Let's start with this profound statement from Paul: "What if some were unfaithful? Will their unfaithfulness nullify God's faithfulness? Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: 'So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge'" (Rom. 3:3-4, NIV). As devastating as our unfaithfulness can be, especially when we are spiritual leaders, it does not nullify God's faithfulness. Rather, it underscores it: "Let God be true, and every human being a liar." The truth be told, as much as we may trust our closest family members or friends, there is an absolute, eternal trust that only God deserves. He alone is perfectly faithful, perfectly true, perfectly just, perfectly good, perfectly reliable. He alone has the power to bring His will to pass, and He alone is worthy of worship. That's why we make a terrible mistake when we over-exalt people, fellow humans who themselves are flesh and blood." - Dr. Michael Brown

Dr. Brown is of course right but he fails to see how his entire faith in Charismania creates the very cult of personality pastors that are exalted! The fact that he cannot bring himself to speak to the evil that Bickle is and was shows that he is still exalting him. He recently extolled Ravi Zacharias in an interview as a "great holiness preacher." What? No! He was a great liar! Brown also said the same of Bickle! No again! He was a great liar! Brown is right that we should not exalt any man, but we really shouldn't be doing it after they have been exposed as being a serial sexual abuser who lies about what God has and has not said!

"We can show respect and give honor. We can recognize those who have worked and served among us over the years, acknowledging the genuineness of their faith. But we can never make them into some kind of godlike beings, as if they were on an entirely different plane then we are. To do so is to deceive ourselves and to set ourselves up for disappointment. As for those whom we over-exalt, we're not doing them any favors either. To repeat: "Let God be true, and every human being a liar." The Bible tells us clearly that people will fail and fall, even some leaders.

Of course, this does not excuse their sin or minimize their accountability. It simply reminds us that if our faith in God can be shaken because of human failure, then some of our faith was misplaced. Or can you really look Jesus in the eye, spiritually speaking, and say to Him, "You failed me!"? He would rightly say to you (and me), "The only reason you have any faith is because I've been helping you. And had I not carried you through your weakest and worst times, you would have fallen away a long time ago. And have I not had great mercy on you as well?"

There's a reason that every one of us needs a Savior, that all of us need forgiveness, and that on the day we stand before Him, our only boast will be in Him." - Dr. Michael Brown

I saw Dr. Brown and and another Charismatic leader, prior to the Bickle revelations, and they offered Bickle up as someone they get upset at people for questioning. They both defended him in quite exalting fashion. It is difficult. Especially when we are deceived in such spectacular fashion. Realize though that no one can be that deceptive without help and that starts with our naivete'. Our abject refusal to consider that people we might look up to might have issues of their own they are dealing with. There is a reason why Jesus says that a prophet has no honor in his hometown. We can try to be discerning. Does the leader take female masseuses with him on international ministry trips like Zacharias did? Maybe not a good sign. Does he have a deadbolt on his office door and like to visit his girlfriend at her high school? Both of which were true in Bickle's case. Again, maybe not a good sign. Not sure why Brown is devoting so much ink here to things that people are probably not feeling. The fact that Mike Bickle turned out to be sinful human, does not change who God is and I think most, even those unsaved under the Bickle deception, would not make that kind of error.

"It's also important to remember that the prayer movement, including the 24/7 prayer movement, has been around for many centuries. The Lord may have used people over the centuries to help spark intercession or spread the fire of prayer. But He is the one who births and sustains these movements, and the worship that comes from our hearts and lips goes to Him and Him alone.

Why on earth would the severe failings of a human being"one of billions of people for whom Jesus died"get in the way of our worship and praise? How has the Lord become any less worthy of praise and adoration? And can we really afford to pray less when the needs of the hour are so great?" - Dr. Michael Brown

This is the latest shift from the IHOPPERS. To try and now downplay the movement as being ordinary, so as to keep it afloat. They spent the last 25 years swearing how one of a kind it was and how awesome Mike Bickle was for listening to God and starting it. Now it is commonplace? Right. We see now the true aim of this article was to put forth the notion that the 24-7 prayer thing was entirely of God when it was not. Again, what Brown keeps doing is conflating prayer, which is a very good thing and the 24-7 prayer movement, which was not. It is not that God is less worthy, it's that He did not birth IHOP or grow it. That was entirely Mike Bickle, with the help of two other sexual predators/false prophets. Prayer does not need sparks or to be set on fire. Stop with the hyperbolic Charismatic mysticism! Take close notice of what sleight of hand Brown is using here. He is selling that if we stop the 24-7 movement, that we are allowing Mike Bickle to get in the way of praise and worshipping God! What utter garbage! No one who is rightly calling for the demise of IHOPKC is suggesting people should not pray and worship God, just the opposite! It is even more mindful of God to stand back and watch Him destroy IHOP. It is more worshipful to say that we will not partake in the evil that crushed so many lives and faiths. So please, keep praying but not in prayer rooms set up by a serial sexual abuser. Not within that model. Do not force kids to participate to earn school credits. It just never occurs to Brown that maybe God did not birth and sustain a movement founded by Mike Bickle, while he was actively abusing women.

Let me make an obvious contrast. Mormonism was founded by a 19^th century pedophile, bigamist, and insurrectionist, who claimed an angel showed him golden tablets in the woods behind his upstate New York home that written upon them was a new gospel. The key verses today seemed to be written by God specifically about this! Even if an angel should give you a gospel contrary to ours, let them be accursed! Yet despite this, Mormonism grew to the point today that there are 16 million Mormons. Joseph Smith added two books to the canon of scripture, rewrote the bible, and taught that Jesus and Satan were brothers from another planet yet there are now 16 million Mormons today. According to the same logic Brown uses, God must have birthed and grown this right? Of course not. Human success, measured by carnal metrics does not always mean God is somehow to blame. By the way, these 16 million people all pray as well. They all worship as well. They just pray and worship to a false God, much like IHOP did for decades. Both IHOP and Mormonism were birthed by sinful men claiming to have heard from God when they had not. Yes, Mormonism is a cult but what did you think IHOP was? Talk to the victims who escaped and they all tell the same stories of a cult. God has had enough and is destroying it. Dr. Brown is just getting in the way.

"The fact is that God not only calls us to prayer and commands us to pray, but He actually appoints us to pray. He is the one who commissions us! To quote the Lord's words directly, "I have posted watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the Lord, give yourselves no rest, and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth" (Isa. 62:6-7). No person appointed you to pray. No church posted you as a watchman on the wall. No organization called you to worship. It is God Himself, the Creator of the universe, who gave you this sacred assignment, and it is to Him that your prayers and worship ascend. The book of Hebrews exhorts us, "Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. 'Make level paths for your feet,' so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed'" (Heb. 12:12-13). Your faithful intercession in prayer is needed more than ever! By God's grace, raise your voices once again." - Dr. Michael Brown

Let's be clear. God does call us all to pray. He does not call us all to pray in a 24-7 live streamed prayer room in Kansas City Missouri. The comparison Brown is making is absurd. What he is trying to do is pull on your heartstrings of bad Bickle theology. Isaiah 62 is not specifically written to you beloved. You may fancy yourself a watchman on the wall and indeed may serve as such through intercession but that intercession does not need to occur in IHOP's prayer room! Stop the insanity! I used to tell my pastor to make the flaggers do their flagging in the rooms behind the sanctuary and you see if you have any left. It is not about God. If it were, it shouldn't matter where you flag, pray or worship. So be a watchman in your bedroom. Or at a church that actually preaches the real gospel of Jesus Christ. Do not let Brown or anyone manipulate you spiritually, which by the way is exactly what Bickle specialized in. You are not as special as you have been led to believe. Nor am I. Only God is and praying to Him or worshipping Him, is actually far more important than your location when doing so.

"I know you are hurting. I know your world has been turned upside down. But there is only one way forward: on our faces and knees before Him, pouring out our hearts, sharing our disorientation and pain, and leaning on Him alone. He will get us through! Let the prayer of Jeremiah, who knew his share of spiritual agony, be yours today: "Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise" (Jer. 17:14). He remains worthy still." - Dr. Michael Brown

To this point, me and Dr. Brown finally agree. Look, I understand that he is trying to be an encourager but he is doing so in the wrong way. Encouraging people to get in the way of what God is doing in KC is not a good idea. There remains only one proper course right now. IHOP leadership, including General Fuller need to step down. They need to bring in GRACE or another independent investigatory organization to not only examine the victims claims about Bickle but IHOPKC as a whole. The report needs to come out unredacted and the victims need to be helped in whatever ways they need. Then IHOPKC needs to be shuttered, for good. A blight on the history of the church to be maligned in perpetuity. It should serve as a clarion call for discernment in the body of Christ. Those that were caught up in the false teaching of the former cult that was IHOP need godly counsel to hear the gospel for possibly the first time. They need help finding true bible-based churches. They should be encouraged to continue their prayer and worship life with the new understanding that it was never about 24-7, prayer rooms, prayer closets, or the institutions of man. It is ok to take a nap. God understands. I just wish Dr. Brown did. Pray? Yes. Prayer room? No. Worship? Yes again. Live stream it and give kids school credit for it? No. Save our devotion to both? Absolutely. Save IHOP? Absolutely not.

Reverend Anthony Wade - February 18, 2024

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.