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)
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.
