I said where there was this much smoke something must be on fire. As more and more of the Bicklegate story comes to light however, the more disgusting it becomes. I remember when Steven Strang of Charisma News mocked the accusation of what "prophetic abuse and manipulation even means." I guess now we all know what it means. It means that Mike Bickle used God to lure a then 19-year-old sheep, his intern, who was friends with her father, into bed. He did so however in a most vile way that I did not even see coming. According to the victim, Bickle told her God showed him that his wife Diane would die, so that they could then get married. This disgusting false prophecy was apparently used by Bickle with other women as well as details now emerge of a 40+ married Bickle who was always surrounding himself with attractive young women and "prophesying" over them.
Before we get too far ahead let us go back to 1996. This is when Jane Doe, then 19, went to IHOP to intern for her father's friend, Mike Bickle. Kudos to the Roys Report for such a detailed account directly from the victim. The first prophecy Bickle gives Doe is in front of his wife and it amounts to Bickle claiming he was David and Doe was an Esther who would lead thousands of Esthers. To claim such to a starry-eyed kid is simply despicable. The trap was being laid, however. A few weeks later Bickle calls Doe from a trip in Asia, apparently drunk, and lays the "my wife is going to die" prophecy on her. He says that the Lord has spoken to him and told him this. Before you go thinking this was so long ago and maybe she is misremembering, Doe says that Bickle reiterated to her this prophecy over 100 times.
From 1996 to 1999, Bickle pursued Doe. He put her up in an apartment that he paid for. He gave her a key to his office. He engaged in sexual activities, everything up until intercourse, while prophetically manipulating her with the "my wife is going die" prophecy. During this time, he was also starting IHOP, building it on holiness teaching, while cheating on his wife and lying about what God told him personally, in order to accomplish it. Before anyone goes about slandering Doe, as Strang and the Charisma-ites have tried to do, former IHOP president Alan Hood has stated she is unimpeachable. Doe also says that she confronted Bickle multiple times over that time period for being inappropriate with other young women. Other young women were given keys to his office, which had internal deadbolts. His devotees at the time were largely young, impressionable women, who he would dote on, buy things for and prophesy over. He regularly referred to them as the pillars of IHOP. He would hold secret meetings with the women to discuss matters of celibacy and how they needed to set themselves apart.
Around 1997, Bickle was looking to separate from Metro Christian Fellowship (MCF) church to splinter off into IHOP. As part of this, he convinced Doe to leave her MCF Internship and do research strictly for Bickle. He began telling her that one day she would join him in a chariot that God had invited him to. Doe admits that at the time she felt like the center of his world. Then the world started getting a little creepier. Bickle would start controlling her life. Inviting her to fast with him from Sundays to Wednesdays. He would restrict who she was allowed to see down to a couple of friends and then it would have to only be for bible study. No personal time. In late 1997 Bickle took his research team of five young women and one man to Paris. He would have dinner alone with Doe, who he plowed with a couple round of drinks. After dinner Doe says Bickle took her to an alley and kissed her "full on." She blacks out the rest of the night. Doe said after Paris the sexual nature of the relationship was increasingly severe. Then he would have her pray Psalm 51 for forgiveness. He changed her apartment then and told Doe that one day they would have their own house.
In 1998 however, Doe's father bought her a house. At the same time Bickle was transitioning from MCF to IHOP and their relationship was weakening. While leaders of MCF believe Bickle left to avoid accountability, Bickle again used God to pretend that prophetically he had been shown to establish IHOP because of the spiritual culture of MCF that evolved by 1999. This pattern of abusing prophecy to avoid biblical standards is now a hallmark of the legacy of Mike Bickle. Doe started dating a man who would become her husband and Bickle was less than pleased. He would berate her at a meeting and told her she was ruining her life by dating him. Even though Bickle had officiated Doe's brother's wedding, he refused to do so for Doe and instead walked up to the front at the service, sobbing. After she was married, Bickle would still text her that he loved her.
The rest of the Roys Report goes into details about what has happened since the allegations have come to light, which we have already discussed. Please keep in mind that this is one victim's testimony. There may be another seven or so. It has become obvious that the Bickleites decided early on to poison the well with leaks about people like Misty Edwards so they could act shocked and deny the allegations and thus provide cover for Bickle and his henchmen. Yes, that is what they now are. Steven Strang, Larry Tomczak, Dr. Michael Brown and anyone else who did not stand with the victims and tried to excuse the inexcusable. Strang even claimed Bickle was exonerated a few weeks back. How's that working out for you Steven? They have collectively worked to smear the former IHOP leaders who stood with the victims. They created this false narrative out of thin air that this was just a nasty church split. That people secretly wanted to overthrow poor Mike Bickle. That he would never do anything untoward because he was such a quiet, simple holiness teacher. Oops.
Do not get lost in the talking points. Mike Bickle was a 42-year-old pastor who lied about what God said, even claiming his own wife would die, just to sexually abuse a 19-year-old intern. He would continue to abuse this daughter of a friend for years, while he was building his IHOP empire. He would buy her apartments and give her the keys to his office. He took her overseas. He tried to manipulate and control her. Tell her who she could see and what they must discuss. He told her a chariot of God would await her for fooling around with him. Even after she was gone and married to another, he would still text her to try and manipulate her. These are not oopsies beloved. They are not mistakes. Bickle recently tried to tell us that he honestly thought this was all covered by the blood and that God assured him all was forgiven. Right. Just like God told you that your wife was going to die so it was ok to have sexual relations with your 19-year-old intern. I have said this before but pay attention because this is still only the tip of a very loathsome, disgusting iceberg. There are other victims. Stop trying to save IHOP and Mike Bickle. God has said no more and has exposed what they tried to keep hidden. Pray that the victims can move one. Please do not lose sight of what devastation was visited upon this woman for decades because of this predator. Stop defending vile wolves. I pray the doctrinal victims of Bickle find real churches so that they might hear the real gospel, and thus be really saved. In Jesus name.
