The cover up has begun, do not be fooled beloved...

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Oh, it is getting ugly down in Kansas City. Yesterday, Dr. Michael Brown withdrew from being connected with IHOP and the investigation. Of course, he offered up lame excuses like traveling hardships, but the timing seems obvious because it was right after IHOP changed their mind about hiring an outside firm to investigate the decades long, multiple women allegations of sexual abuse against the founder of IHOP. Brown had correctly said initially that they needed to hire such an entity for transparency's sake. When asked about it yesterday he stammered out something about IHOP previously saying they were open to it. We all know that the gatekeeper, Brown, will never say a disparaging word about any charismatic preacher, let alone someone he considered a friend. The above link is to a new statement from the current leadership at IHOP. Now, stay with me because the web gets confusing sometimes.

The initial statement was signed by three former IHOP leadership team and IHOP board members, including a former pastor of their Forerunner Church. This statement included the following:

"A few days ago, we made the leadership team of the International House of Prayer in Kansas City (IHOPKC) aware of serious allegations spanning several decades concerning its founder, Mike Bickle. Without going into details to protect the privacy of the victims' identities, we have found these allegations of clergy sexual abuse by Mike Bickle to be credible and long-standing. The credibility of these allegations is not based on any one experience or any one victim, but on the collective and corroborating testimony of the experiences of several victims."

"Prior to meeting with the leadership team of IHOP, we attempted to bring the allegations and

the testimony of one of the victims directly to Mike Bickle in the spirit of Matthew 18:15-17. How- ever, we were repeatedly rebuffed by Mike Bickle and we were refused any sort of meeting. Instead, Mike used manipulating and intimidating tactics towards the victims to isolate them and discredit them. To avoid further wounding of victims, we met with several members of IHOPKC's Executive Leadership Team. There, we shared testimonies of these victims of Mike's inappropriate words and actions."

"The Scriptures inform us that leaders in the church, especially those who teach the Word of God, are held to a higher standard and stricter judgment. We believe that Mike Bickle's actions were not above reproach and fall short of biblical standards for leaders in the church. To be clear, the allegations made about Mike Bickle's misconduct were sexual in nature where the marriage covenant was not honored. Furthermore, the allegations made also reveal that Mike Bickle used his position of spiritual authority over the victims to manipulate them."

So, the accusations were from many women, investigated, and based upon collected and corroborating experiences of the victims. When these folks, who had previously worked closely with Bickle approached him in the spirit (although misapplied) of Matthew 18, Bickle rebuffed them and refused to meet with them, you know, like innocent people do, right? They also stated that Bickle used manipulating and intimidating tactics towards the victims! They further concluded that Bickle had used his position of spiritual authority to manipulate them. Let us not lose sight of these founding facts. These three people were highly respected members of IHOP. Mike Bickle was their spiritual father and friend. Now fast forward a week or so and under mounting pressure, the current IHOP leadership states they will hire an outside firm, known as GRACE, to investigate.

Then the charismatic industrial complex went to work. Soon Misty Edwards puts out a statement saying IF she was one of the listed victims it was untrue. Then someone randomly makes a Facebook post claiming she was listed as a victim, but she swears she was not. Steven Strang at Charisma seizes on this and starts writing and making videos casting shade on the underlying accusations because now several of the alleged victims have recanted. Dr. Brown starts to mention this as well in his "let's wait and see and say nothing" defense. The groundwork has now been laid to provide some cover and the IHOP leadership team changes course entirely with the above linked statement. Let's review portions of this "major update:"

"After three weeks of examination, IHOPKC has identified five of eight alleged victims.

Three of those five have publicly called the allegations lies, a fourth has not wanted to

communicate with IHOPKC's attorney, and the fifth's allegations relate to incidents that

preceded IHOPKC's founding. Further, it became apparent that the Complaint Group did not

have permission to include at least four of the women in their list of alleged victims.

We remain committed to verifying the remaining allegations, but we need the Complaint Group

to assist in our inquiry of the remaining alleged victims to ensure their veracity. There is much at

stake in getting to the truth." - IHOP Leadership

First of all, everyone seems to be glossing over this absurd comment about one of the accusations predating Bickle founding IHOP. Does that matter to us as Christians? Who cares if the allegation is old? Most sexual abuse victims do not come forward when they have been abused and victimized as in this case. Also, the initial findings say Bickle manipulated the victims using his spiritual authority. I remember reading the report of the Ravi Zacharias debacle. Ravi spiritually extorted his victims by claiming they could be consigning millions of people to hell by depriving them of his ministry if they dared to tell on him. I might add they often do not come forward because of actions such as these. Why in the world would the complaint group help leadership when it is quite apparent, they have no intention of dealing honorably and fairly?

"The second, and only detailed, allegation is from 26 years ago, before IHOPKC was founded.

The allegations include physical contacts between Mr. Bickle and an adult woman; it is also

insinuated that Mr. Bickle may have committed a crime. IHOPKC has not been able to determine

whether this criminal allegation has any credibility. Nonetheless, in light of the detail provided,

IHOPKC immediately asked Mr. Bickle to step away from his ministry at the church while the

allegation was further investigated. Our attorney then reached out to this alleged victim by phone and email on November 9, without success. Then on November 10, we learned that the founder of G.R.A.C.E. was the attorney representing her regarding these allegations. IHOPKC's attorney was able to make initial contact with this attorney on November 13 and 15." - IHOP Leadership

Ahh, one little problem. When contacted GRACE reveals that at no time had IHOP leadership contacted them regarding this matter. This despite the Leadership team claiming to have reached out to them multiple times with no response. Translation? They lied when they said they were going to hire them. Dwayne Roberts, from the former leaders who brought this matter to light, balks at referring to this victim as "partially credible." His exact response:

"This case includes a relationship between a 42-year-old internationally renowned minister and a 19-year-old, a relationship that began with prophetic manipulation and became a 4-year sexualized relationship that lasted into the early years of IHOPKC," - Dwayne Roberts

But this is just an issue predating IHOP, right. The leadership would go on to refute whatever they could and try to deflect back to these three former leaders of their church organization. Go back and read the initial findings, however. Does the findings about spiritual manipulation matter? Does the victim bullying and threats matter? Does it mater that the alleged partially credible accuser was 19 when the then 42-year-old Bickle used prophecy to sexually lure and abuse her? Are you serious here? No, you are not as we can tell from their conclusion:

"IHOPKC has heard the demands to bring in a third party to investigate the organization in

general, but this step is premature until IHOPKC can establish the credibility of the allegations

and genuine intent of the Complaint Group." - IHOP Leadership

Uh-huh. It is premature to bring in an outside, independent investigatory firm, even though they are best suited to determine the facts with utter transparency, right. Even if the complaints have no veracity as you clearly are trying to convey, who better to find that out? Read this statement beloved. The current IHOP leadership is essentially chucking the old leaders under the bus to save Mike Bickle. They questioned their motives in this statement. So, their solution is to not bring in an objective party until they determine the credibility of the accusers? Seriously? No beloved. This stinks to high heaven and casts more credibility to the accusations, not less. The only thing transparent about the current leadership is how opaque they are acting regarding this entire sad affair. If you are part of the IHOP community, you need to get out now. Not just because your leadership clearly thinks you can be manipulated but their teaching has been false for decades. Get out and find a good bible-based church that doesn't force you to prayer house until three AM and pretend that there is something righteous in it. If you consider yourself a leader and you are standing with IHOP I also implore you to get out now, as Dr. Brown wisely has done, albeit meekly. When the music stops and you find yourself without a chair, it will be too late.

Just consider the abject stupidity of their yarn here. Three well respected former pastors and board members of IHOP must have all secretly hated Mike Bickle for some unknown reason. So, they concocted an elaborate web of lies involving at least eight woman spanning forty years but they apparently made up all the stories because five of them now have allegedly "recanted." They must have also been lying when they claim to have approached Bickle and been rebuffed, even though Bickle has not commented, on anything. Instead, innocent Mike agrees to step down, instead of fighting, for a matter he refuses to even publicly refute. These three rogue former IHOP leaders then present this to current leadership who brokers the step down but then realize they may have been too quick to act because random people start making Facebook posts. They hire a local lawyer to represent them, not the victims, and then lie about contacting GRACE after they publicly change their mind about using them. Oh, but it is not on them. It is all on the victim group. They do not need someone independent because they want to first vet the charges themselves despite their clear subjectivity. Oh, and the most damning accusation? They seem to dismiss out of hand that their leader when he was 42, prophetically manipulated a 19-year-old sheep into a decades long sexual relationship just because it started prior to IHOP being founded. Very Christian. Maybe Bickle can teach on holiness again. Yeah, this dog won't hunt beloved.

In all likelihood, these are credible accusations. Maybe some have changed their mind and recanted due to the pressure I am sure people, their friends and maybe Bickle himself put that pressure on them. The three former leaders were nothing but respected up until they dared to try and help these victims. Now they are maligned and marginalized by the current leadership who is clearly compromised. They pretended to want to get outside help but quickly recanted due to the same pressures the recanters probably faced. It is vile. It is disgusting. It is obvious. Their needs to be a crescendo of outside demand and insistence from within their own community to stop defending Bickle and hire GRACE to investigate. Then they need to shut up until the results are in. If they are so confident of Bickle's innocence then this would be a no-brainer. The fact that they themselves are lying, manipulating and disparaging the victims and former colleagues tells you all you need to know. There is something rotten in Kansas City. There has been since Mike Bickle brought his horribly warped theology there but now the rot has deepened as it usually does on all cult leaders. Enough is enough.

Reverend Anthony Wade - November 17, 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.