If I say IHOP, you’re probably thinking International House of Pancakes! But there’s another IHOP, the Kansas City-based International House of Prayer, founded and headed up by Mike Bickle, and the main thing on its menu are round-the-clock prayer rooms. Bickle, who is being accused of several incidents of “sexual immorality,” is also a major player in the little known but powerful New Apostolic Reformation.
According to Religion News Service’s Bob Smietana (https://religionnews.com/2023/10/29/mike-bickle-leader-of-ihop-movement-accused-of-sexual-abuse/), former IHOP leader Dwayne Roberts and Brian Kim, along with Wes Martin, the former pastor of Forerunner Christian Fellowship, which has close ties to IHOP, issued a statement saying that “they had made the IHOP leadership team … aware of serious allegations spanning several decades concerning its founder, Mike Bickle.”
That statement added: “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.”
Bickle “is a one of the highly influential charismatic Christian in the United States and a leading figure in the so-called New Apostolic Reformation, which seeks to make prophecy and the leadership of apostles a major part of modern evangelical practice.”
In a 2021 story for BuzzFlash headlined “The New Apostolic Reformation, The Largest Religious Movement You Never Heard Of, Pushing Guns, God, and Secession in the Northwest,” (https://buzzflash.com/articles/bill-berkowitz-for-buzzflash-the-new-apostolic-reformation-the-largest-religious-movement-you-never-heard-of-pushing-guns-god-and-secession-in-the-northwest)
I wrote:
According to People for the American Way’s Right Wing Watch, leaders of the New Apostolic Reformation, “which believes a triumphant, dominion-taking church will help bring about the return of Christ, were part of POTUS Shield, a network of self-described apostles and prophets who believe President Trump was anointed by God to help bring that all about.”
The NAR has a stable of stars, including Paula White, Donald Trump’s spiritual advisor, David Barton, Texas-based political strategist and purveyor of numerous faux interpretations of history, Rev. Samuel Rodriguez of the National Hispanic Leadership Conference; and Lt. Gen. William Boykin, (ret.) the notoriously anti-gay/trans and anti-BLM Executive Vice President of the Family Research Council.
“NAR holds to a comprehensive theonomic vision, popularly described as Seven Mountains Dominionism which calls for believers to take control over seven leading aspects of society: family, government, religion, education, media, arts and entertainment, and business,” Frederick Clarkson and Cloee Cooper reported for Religion Dispatches.
(Wikipedia describes Theonomy, from theos (god) and nomos (law), as “a hypothetical Christian form of government in which society is ruled by divine law. Theonomists hold that divine law, particularly the judicial laws of the Old Testament, should be observed by modern societies.”)
“NAR rejects such contemporary denominational offices as popes and presidents, and recognizes those prescribed in the New Testament book of Ephesians: apostle, prophet, teacher, evangelist, and pastor—what they call ‘the five-fold ministry,’” Clarkson and Cooper wrote.
Pinkville.com noted that Christianity Today, reported that Bickle's “religious path has been defined by unusual associations and teachings. In the 1980s and 1990s, he began his ministry, abandoning the Vineyard denomination as he adopted charismatic views and interacted with local prophets. Notably, some of these friends were eventually embroiled in their own controversies involving sexual misbehavior and spiritual abuse. Bickle's emphasis on prophecy, fasting, and the spiritual realm, while avoiding titles like ‘New Apostolic Reformation,’ has given him a distinct position within the independent charismatic movement”.
In a story earlier this year, Rick Pidcock of Baptist News Global, called Bickle one of a group of “self-proclaimed modern-day apostles” (https://baptistnews.com/article/the-new-apostolic-reformation-drove-the-january-6-riots-so-why-was-it-overlooked-by-the-house-select-committee/). According to Pidcock, Independent charismatic prophets are those who say they experience dreams and visions that allow them to tell what God wants to say for a certain moment. They often believe they can discern where certain demonic spirits are so that the apostles can lead the charge against them.
Worship leaders know how to sing, play an instrument and whip a crowd into a frenzy of collective effervescence. While they carry no apostolic authority and potentially no prophetic insight, they wield music and technology in ways that help people move their trauma through their bodies while potentially being manipulated or moved toward specific theological, ethical or political aims.
Religion News Service’s Smietana reported that, “Bickle has been asked not to teach or preach, take part in the group’s 24/7 prayer room, or engage in social media as they look into the allegations.
“We are heartbroken to share that we have recently become aware of serious allegations including sexual immorality directed against Mike Bickle, the founder of IHOPKC,” the leader said in a statement at a Forerunner church service and later posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “Our leadership team takes allegations very seriously and we are laboring for truth, light, redemption, and righteousness.”
“We are not going to be secretive,” David Sliker, an IHOP leader, told worshippers on Sunday, according to the Kansas City Star. “But we are going to be as careful as we can be to stay in step with the leadership of Jesus, as we understand it from the word. And so in that, again, I appeal, be patient. We found out about these things very recently. And we are moving as we can.”
