We have two Bicklegate updates in one devotional...

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See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no "root of bitterness" springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; - Hebrew 12:15

From the files of you gotta be kidding me, IHOPKC decided recently that the best course of action amidst the Bicklegate scandal, was to have his sister preach. Yes, you read that correct. Tracey Bickle, sister of the predator Mike, was allowed to speak to the IHOPKC congregation recently where she proceeded to do her best to throw the attention off of her brother and blame the congregation. While I listened to the entire mess, I will only discuss the lowest lowlights here for the sake of time because we also have to address the Lathrop Report that was just released. This is the fake independent investigation that was again, designed to deflect as much as they could from Bickle, while trying to ensure IHOP itself survives this debacle. First however, let us deal with Tracey Bickle.

The fact that leadership would allow this reveals how much they hold the sheep in utter contempt. It is simply mind blowing that they thought this was even vaguely appropriate. I hardly blame Tracey as I would expect her to at least subconsciously defend her brother. I do not know why I would expect anything less from such a compromised leadership at IHOP. Tracey opens up by declaring proudly that she trusts Eric Volz and General Fuller, the two current people in charge of this unholy situation. Volz is nothing more than a PR flack and Fuller, who has been in charge less than a month, has already smeared the victims and refused to bring in truly impartial investigative resources. They are not merely participating in the cover up - they are the cover-up. Tracey however says she trusts them to navigate us through this season because the season is complicated and challenging. Allow me to uncomplicate it for you Tracey. Your brother is a sexual predator who has lied to everyone for decades while abusing the sheep of the Lord. It is not very complicated at all. When your brother was 42, he lied about a prophecy he claimed God gave him to lure a 19-year-old sheep into his bed. This was the daughter of a friend mind you, and the prophesy lie he told her was that God told him his wife would die so they could one day marry. This disgusting prophecy lie has been confirmed by other people as something Bickle routinely told other people as well. He did all of this, while building IHOP based on the prophecy lies of Bob Jones and Paul Cain, both of whom had their own sexual predator problems, Cain with children. Hope this uncomplicates things for you.

The point of her saying this of course is she wants things to appear to people as complicated as they can be. The muddier the waters the more folks will have doubt and they are hoping for as much doubt as possible. It's the same reason why the next words out of her mouth were, "are they going to make mistakes, eh probably but I trust them and that matters." Except it does not matter. She is saying it matters so she can readily dismiss planned and orchestrated schemes by IHOP leadership to protect the status quo as mere mistakes. No big deal, nothing to see here, move along. Except the heresy-Jedi mind trick does not work when one properly understands the bible. Here is the next nugget from Tracey Bickle's false sermon:

"This season is going to end and God will help us see where everything lands. I'm not looking for a positive or negative end, I am just looking to navigate my heart either way. We are talking about navigating our heart. I am not asking for your opinion of how the other sides are doing it. You know there is about 15 sides, amen. I'm asking you about you. How are you handling you. Not how are you handling the person next to you. Tracey has to do Tracey." - Tracey Bickle

Ok, so the sister of Mike Bickle is not looking for a positive or negative end to this, right. Once again, trying to make murky what is clear, she declares there are 15 sides. No there isn't Tracey. There are two. Right and wrong. Truth and lies. Your brother and his victims. We know what side you are on, which is why you should have never been allowed to speak here. It is not surprising that she does not want your opinions. Here is the start of the thrust of her false sermon. It is not about her brother. It is not about his abuses. It's about you. How are you handling the news that her brother is a predator? Let's watch this unfold in a spectacularly unbiblical manner.

"How to navigate disappointment. We see that in Cain. All we know sometimes is that Cain killed his brother but the story line is about disappointment. Cain was disappointed because he didn't get what he felt he deserved. Anyone feeling like you're not getting what you think you deserved? The beauty of the story is God said, I'm ok with that. I'm ok that you're mad at me. Come talk to me. What we see for the first time in human history is the first counseling session. We see God say to Cain, what are you angry at. I am asking you - what are you angry at. What are you actually mad at. Then God says why has your face fallen which means he was oppressed and depressed. I have found myself many times in these last months actually not wanting to get out of bed." - Tracey Bickle

Before we get to Cain, Tracey's key verse was the same one I chose above. Hebrews 12:15. She chose this to convince people that if they had a negative opinion of her brother in this situation that they run the risk of a root of bitterness springing up. This is utter nonsense of course. Correctly realizing that IHOP was built upon lies does not mean we are bitter. It means we are conscious. Nonetheless, Tracey offers up Cain as proof, but scripture does not support this either. It is generally accepted that Cain was angry and jealous. Sure, there may be some whiff of disappointment, but God quickly dispels this. This was also not a "counseling session." God is not practicing Rogerian therapy here telling Cain that He was ok with anything he had done. Why? Because He was not. The line about his face being fallen simply means that his countenance went from happy to sad. From joyful to angry. Cain was not oppressed. He was wrong and God let him know he was wrong. Just like Tracey is wrong. This is not about the flock feeling they have not gotten what they deserve - it is about the fact that they have not gotten what they deserved. Feeling has nothing to do with it. They did not deserve a spiritual father trying to have sex with them. They did not deserve decades of false prophecies. They did not deserve the unbiblical 24-7 prayer stuff shoved down their throat as curricula. They certainly did not deserve the last two months of IHOP trying their best to cover this up like they were stupid. They did not deserve any of this.

"So why is God asking Cain these questions? Because He knows that Cain is oblivious to why he feels what he feels. He is oblivious to what is going on in his own soul. And God knows that we are oblivious to what is going on inside of us. So I am asking you, have you paused in the evaluation of all of the allegations, the evaluation of all of the people - have you put that aside to do you and what's going on with your own soul." - Tracey Bickle

No, Cain knows exactly why he feels angry. He is angry that God did not accept his offering but accepted his brother's. In typical, human, sinful fashion, he blamed everyone but himself. Kinda like the IHOP leadership team keeps doing here - blaming everyone except who is to actually blame for this mess - Mike Bickle. That does not fit the agenda here for Tracey's message so she has proof-texted her way into a false interpretation of the Cain and Abel story so she can pretend we all need to pause. Stop focusing on her brother and just do you, whatever that nonsense is supposed to mean. The souls of those who have been lied to is not at issue here. Perhaps Tracey and IHOP leadership should act vaguely concerned about the souls and spiritual conditions of the victims of Mike Bickle instead of trying to constantly undermine them.

"During that counseling session, Cain did not listen. We often don't listen to the wise counsel in front of us. Now some of us go, well if it was God, then I'd listen. I'm doing bible verses here, so God is talking to ya. God's actually talking to ya. He's going, how are you handling this. How are you handling your soul, not the situation. Because how you handle you, will directly affect the person next to you. How you handle you, will directly affect your children. Your grandchildren. It affects them." - Tracey Bickle

Cain did not listen because it was not a counseling session. It was God correcting him and he did not like it one bit. What Tracey does here is simply beyond the pale. First of all, incorrectly interpreting bible verses to serve your own personal agenda is not "God talking to you." God is not talking through Tracey Bickle beloved. Mike Bickle is talking through Tracey Bickle. Eric Volz and General Fuller are talking through Tracey Bickle. The devil is talking through Tracey Bickle. If God was talking to them, He would tell them to run as fast as they can from the wolves before them. Tracey knows this, which is why she has now resorted to threatening them with their own children and grandchildren. I will only make one more citation from this self-serving mess.

"God also says to Cain, if you turn, I will make your life go well. If turn. If you work it out. If you say, yeah, I kinda want to hurt someone God. Anyone want to hurt someone? Or am I out here confessing. I wanted to hurt a few people, a couple of times. Ok, multiple times. For real. God is saying that's ok Tracey, it's ok that you feel that. Just work it out. I just don't like people anymore. I want to sign up to be thankful, I don't want to be a complainer." - Tracey Bickle

Now Tracey has just abandoned all pretense that she is actually preaching from the text. Genesis 4 offers no such discussion about if Cain would just turn God promised to make his life go well. Not even close. This fairy tale that God just wanted Cain to admit he wanted to hurt someone is pathetic and ridiculous. God sees all time. God knows full well at the time He is talking to Cain that Cain not only harbored anger but that he would act upon it. This does however seem cathartic for Tracey as she is now confessing that at multiple times during this drama, she has wanted to hurt a few people, meaning not her brother. When she first opened, she confessed she really didn't want to even speak to many of those in the congregation. She now admits that she really doesn't like people anymore. This seems to be therapy for Tracey! But one of the main points she leads to closing with is this notion that she doesn't want to be a complainer. Translation? Don't you go complaining about my brother! Don't you worry about his wretched heart - worry about your own! Just a vile and despicable sermon but the overarching point is she should never have been allowed to speak there to begin with and all it reveals is how much disdain IHOP leadership has for the people it claims to love and serve.

We can also see this disdain from the just released Lathrop Group Report. This is the sham investigation commissioned by the compromised leadership at IHOP. The advocacy group dismissed them out of hand because they were nothing more than a shill for IHOP. The primary victim, never agreed to interview with them, yet they conclude the veracity off her four-year ordeal. Eric Volz did another PR video in trying to get ahead of the release of this report. He characterized Bickle as refusing to interview with the sham investigator but that he answered their questions in writing honestly. How does Eric know this? He doesn't. In this, Bickle now admits to a second victim, around 2002, and five inappropriate interactions with her, that twice were kissing that they "repented of." Now, I am going to go out on a limb here that if there were five, and two were just kissing, that these two were probably the first two. So how exactly did they repent of these two, and then have three more interactions that were sexual in nature? Again, everything is couched to sound as innocent as possible. The same thing can be seen in Volz's statement when he points out that it was the revealing of this second Jane Doe as credible that led to them severing ties with Bickle. Look we did the right thing! Except you didn't. Not for forty years and not over the past two months. Not with this sham investigation and not with the very next words out of Volz's mouth. He now cites the report as saying they also interviewed four other women that were "identified by others" as alleged Jane Does, and found that each woman, without exception was very credible in their denial of any inappropriate contact with Mike Bickle.

I want to pause here to allow us to understand the depth of the deception being played here. The key words here are "identified by others." I have long said that these women, led by Misty Edwards, had their names leaked to the press as Jane Does by pro-Bickle forces, on purpose. The purpose? To allow Bickle defenders to use them to cast doubt on the real victims. It was revealed last week by the advocacy group That Misty Edwards was NEVER listed as a Jane Doe. NEVER. That means her steadfast denials and selfish posts are either orchestrated lies or she herself has been duped. Either way, why did this investigation bother to interview people who were clearly NOT Jane Does? So, they could report that they were credible in their exoneration of Bickle and by doing so, continue to try and cast doubt over the real victims. It is transparent in its vile nature. Volz uses this as the launching point to declare that General Fuller is going to ensure that something like this never happens again.

There you have it. It has become crystal clear that General Fuller's marching orders are to protect the brand at all costs. Bickle has now confessed to two ridiculously inappropriate sexual relationships spanning several years and we know there may be another eight or so victims. Real victims, not the leaked names "identified by others." These people do not have the best interest of the people of Kansas City at heart. If they did, they never would have allowed the sister of the predator to speak to them about how they are really Cain, waiting to kill their brother. They never would have allowed such a blatantly compromised investigation to proceed and then leveraged it to downplay Bickle and try to get everyone in the mindset to start moving on. Except there is no moving on because they admit that this investigation ONLY investigated Bickle. There was no investigation into the IHOP involvement. The bottom line is this entire ungodly ministry needs to be burned to the ground. It was founded on the lies and false prophecies of three sexual predators. It was built on those lies and grew under them. There is nothing vaguely Christian about it. I am sorry for those who have lived under this false leadership for decades, thinking they were serving the Lord. These are the textbook people Jesus spoke about in Matthew 7 who will stand before Him one day and say, "Lord Lord." Tracey Bickle was technically right about one thing. God is speaking to you now and He is saying come out from among them, while you still can.

Reverend Anthony Wade - February 1, 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.