When the Bicklegate story first blew up in October, Steven Strang was defiant. He refused to accept the truth, smeared the victims and the advocate group of former IHOP leaders and was unapologetic about it all. He then doubled down in December by declaring Bickle exonerated because people like Misty Edwards used a fake leak to pretend the advocates said she was named as a victim. They never did. Right after that Bickle himself admitted to partial guilt and Strang shifted to declaring the victims and former leaders were being used by Satan who wanted to destroy the prayer movement. He spoke about it all as a nasty church fight and accused the former leaders of trying a coup of Bickle. Then a second victim came forward to reveal Bickle had abused her since the age of 14. There was silence from Strang for a short while and then a third victim came forward to say Bickle had abused her since the age of 15, when he was a 20 something intern.
Concurrent to this, Dr. Michael Brown has tried to play mediator. In typical fashion however, he just refuses to call out people who are wrong. Instead, he distanced himself from IHOP when they reneged on bringing in an independent outside investigator. The real problem for Brown is his insistence on propping up the disgusting Strang. I understand to some extent because Strang runs all of his work and publishes his books but at some point, he has to call his boss out if he is to salvage the shred of credibility he may still have. So, when I saw he was going to be on Strang's podcast this week, linked above, I hoped. I had hoped for at least some push back. At least some correction. Unfortunately, Dr. Brown allowed Strang to go unchecked again as he eviscerates the truth and maligns the victims. So let us reason once more together beloved as we continue to remind people it is time to force Strang out.
"Strang - Let me start with a disclaimer and an apology. I have dealt with this a couple of times before. When it first came out in October, I absolutely did not want to believe it. He was my long-time friend. I never saw anything in his life or conversations. He was a guest in my home. I was a guest in his. I never saw anything that would indicate he had these kinds of issues. I haven't really defended him but I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. I have a transcript of what I have said and I said if I am proven wrong, I will be the first to admit it. I need to say I was wrong; I did not have all the facts. I still don't have all the facts. We are not here to discuss facts because facts change or are obscured, or hard to understand but we need to talk about principles."
So, you want to apologize and then do not actually say you are sorry? Whatever. It is beyond laughable at this point for Strang to say he has not defended Mike Bickle. That is all he has done! He actually declared he was exonerated in December! He ran a video asking why he couldn't be restored! He has claimed the entire scandal was just a spiritual attack, smearing the victims. He has declared this is just a church split orchestrated by the former leaders. I am glad Strang finally says he is wrong, but the notion that he did not have the facts is wrong. We all had the same facts as they came trickling out. If you are going to use your international media platform, maybe you should shut your mouth if you feel you are missing facts. You see, Strang has come around to the truth only because two new victims have identified themselves and said they were minors when Bickle started abusing them. He knew he could not keep hugging Bickle at that point. The rest of us with a sliver of discernment however, were appalled at the first accusation. You remember, when the 42-year-old Bickle lured the 19-year-old sheep into his bed. That one. That was enough for us, but not Strang. Note here that Strang sets the boundaries for the interview that they are not going to discuss the facts! The facts are not hard to understand Steven. Your friend was a sexual predator for decades and lied to your face. His movement was never of God, never used by God, and will not be needed by God moving forward. You have born false witness throughout this Steven against the victims and the former IHOP leaders. These are the facts that keep escaping you. The facts have not changed Steven, just your acceptance of them.
"Brown - Fuller had accused people in the advocacy group of lying. He has since apologized privately to people in that group. There was a misunderstanding. He got things wrong. But I think some of that might have been reiterated on your podcast. There is so much emotion, so much pain, people are overreacting, how do we handle this. I am working on this there will be an overseeing panel of leaders who will oversee the investigation that all of those who have come forward will feel comfortable with."
Yeah. No Dr. Brown. People are not overreacting. People are reacting quite appropriately to the cover up by the current IHOP leadership, including General Fuller. Similar to the Strang problem, Fuller felt justified calling the advocates liars when the only known victim was Jane Doe number one, but now that there are two more public victims who were minors, he is trying to clean up his mess. It is too late. It dishonors the pain of Jane Doe. There was no misunderstanding and it belittles Jane Doe to pretend otherwise. Her story matters Dr. Brown. For four years Bickle abused her and lied about his wife dying and what God was saying or not saying. That counts Dr. Brown, even though she was 19 years young at the time the abuse started. We also say no to your idea of a Todd Bentley clown car number two. We do not need other charismatic leaders, who ultimately will act to save IHOP when we need to let God destroy it until there is nothing left. IHOP current leaders, including Fuller, need to step down and GRACE or another outside group amenable to the advocates needs to be brought in. Stop trying to control the truth and shape the truth. Stop trying to protect the brand. Just get out of the way of the truth. Tell Strang to repent and walk away. You can still sell books. You can get another publisher. Move on.
