Series-Guarding Our Youth From Spiritual Abuse
(Updated Dec. 19, 2021 – links at bottom)
Until recently, I considered 24/7 prayer/worship a ‘come up higher’ calling from the Lord, holding the 24/7 prayer movement up as a worthy, holy, higher calling, anticipating a monumental, societal shift, ushering in an unprecedented manifestation of God’s glory, producing an end time harvest of souls for His Kingdom. For years, prophecies promised such a phenomena. The 24/7 prayer challenge gauntlet had been thrown down by various ministries around the world.
I embraced the movement’s model, unhesitatingly, after all, “No one could ever pray to much, right?” When I began to re-examine many things in my life, and spiritual world view, 24/7 prayer/worship was re-considered as well, contemplated, explored, from a different perspective. The one question asked of the author here, is a clear ex. of comparing activities, and beliefs with Scripture, that never crossed my mind for years. How could anyone dare to question a prayer movement, esp. such a holy, righteously, zealous one?
This one question shines the light of truth on an ‘apparent’, ‘holy, higher calling,’ putting things into perspective, formerly blurred, in reality, by pseudo-righteousness, as questions asked, continue to peel back and remove scales from blurry vision, as my continued re-examining revealed much, sometimes shocking, very different perspectives on beliefs and practices popularized thro’out the larger Body of Christ.
May the Lord’s people humble themselves to yield to His grace, enabling questions to begin allowing different perspectives to open blurred eyes, and conditioned minds, accepting the Scriptures as the way of truth. I prayerfully plead with the Body of Christ, to think about it, in light of the light of Scripture!
10 Questions to Ask A Young Person Interested in Joining the House of Prayer
“This post is part of a series, primarily aimed at parents who have questions about sending their son or daughter to IHOPU or young people who want to know what they are getting into there at IHOPU or the wider IHOP-KC community.”
- “What does the New Testament say about work v. idleness?
IHOPKC has a couple thousand “staff.” … Continue reading 10 Questions to Ask A Young Person Interested in Joining the House of PrayerContinue reading →
*> Daryl here I read these articles as if they were written yesterday, my heart aching, knowing the relevancy today.
Most sites dedicated to disclosing the spiritual abuse at IHOPKC seem to have ended in 2014. It wasn’t until several years ago, after beginning to ask myself and the Lord questions about numerous ‘spiritual’ phenomena, beliefs and practices, followed by intense research, examination, and searching the Scriptures, that some questions became certainties of error and spiritual aberrancies.
This is where my own examination of IHOP and other ministries began. Since then, I have also personally communicated with former IHOP and family members affected by the spiritual abuses exp’d at the time. I don’t know if any changes have occurred since former web sites have deceased, but the level of abuse reported, would of necessity, required full public disclosure, which has not been reported in any research I have done.
Question #10: Who speaks for God?
“This is the final post in a series, primarily aimed at parents who have questions about sending their son or daughter to IHOPU or young people who want to know what they are getting into there at IHOPU or the wider IHOP-KC community. When I was a child, the incidence of kidnappings were on the “… Continue reading Question #10: Who speaks for God?Continue reading →
‘IHOP Kansas City Leadership Review’
*>Daryl here In a recent post I include and cover a book written in 2018 – ”IHOP Kansas City Leadership Review’: (Grievances and Concerns About Theology, Culture, Students and Leaders) Paperback – Oct. 28 2018″
A group of former students, radical bloggers, outspoken critics, and a former teacher at the International House of Prayer (IHOP) in Kansas City pooled their experience, research and complaints into a bold live presentation to Mike Bickle, founder of IHOP-KC, and members of his leadership team.
Speaking truth to power, this small book is a distilled version of that historic meeting, concisely articulating serious unresolved problems at the famous organization.One of the authors led the public charge against IHOP-KC after the tragic Bethany Deaton suicide and suspicious Micah Moore fake confession scandal, demanding answers from leaders.”
It is because of these apparent unresolved, unacknowledged (ongoing?) issues, that my grief over all of the years of spiritual abuse compel me to continue bringing this egregious knowledge and facts to public awareness.These penetrating questions posed by a former participant of IHOPKC, speak to the continued urgent cry, to protect our youth from spiritual abuse!
‘IHOP Kansas City Leadership Review’
‘IHOP Kansas City Leadership Review’: (Grievances and Concerns About Theology, Culture, Students and Leaders) Paperback – Oct. 28 2018″
A group of former students, radical bloggers, outspoken critics, and a former teacher at the International House of Prayer (IHOP) in Kansas City pooled their experience, research and complaints into a bold live presentation to Mike Bickle, founder of IHOP-KC, and members of his leadership team.
Speaking truth to power, this small book is a distilled version of that historic meeting, concisely articulating serious unresolved problems at the famous organization.
The authors present a compelling case in a reasonable tone without hyperbole or cheap shots. This is a professional-quality document which a retired professor and historian called “maturely written.” It solves the IHOP puzzle. It gets to the bottom of critical Biblical issues of sound doctrine and human dignity. It is must reading for all students, staff, and interns at IHOP struggling to understand what is happening and why something doesn’t seem right.
Anyone considering IHOP should read it to weigh the risks and find out whether they should commit themselves. Getting in is easy, the authors say; getting out is another story. This is a wake-up call to IHOP leaders who claim to want the Holy Spirit to be released in unprecedented fashion for an epic revival of Biblical proportions, yet continuously grieve the Holy Spirit and quench the Spirit by mean and abusive sociopathic behaviour, then wonder why there is no revival.
IHOP ‘Kansas City Leadership Review’ was written with a depth of analysis rarely found in charismatic circles about a darling in the charismatic world. Discover secrets and lies revealed by named insiders not anonymous internet complaints. One of the authors led the public charge against IHOP-KC after the tragic Bethany Deaton suicide and suspicious Micah Moore fake confession scandal, demanding answers from leaders.
The controlling IHOP behavior is annoying to some and stifling to others. Strange things go on there. The mini book is a tour de force; it is like John the Baptist, a voice crying in the wilderness, calling leaders to repent. It is respectfully written but very direct. The authors show a huge amount of restraint while they were deeply concerned about inexplicable decisions and IHOP-KC’s fake leadership culture. Without flinching they begin an intellectual challenge against two IHOP sacred cows considered by some as infallible as the Pope and as reliable as the Book of Mormon: Mike Bickle and Prophetic History.
The book concludes by raising the obvious and most basic question: how could everything happen right under Bickle’s eyes without him knowing? The answer of whether it was by design or negligence will be determined in large part by how Bickle responds to the stunning revelations about his leaders.“
*< Daryl here. I would call this plausible deniability! (see comment directly below) https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07JZ7KR4V/ref=kinw_dp_ke – order on Kindle https://www.amazon.ca/IHOP-Kansas-City…/dp/1729216846
Comments From Page Review:
“Everyone hears one thing from the platform, but several leaders directly under Mike enforce a radically different policy. That has to be the most common/recurring theme I’ve heard countless times over the past 11+ years.”
“IHOP KC has emphasized that great controversy is always right around the corner. These stories and prophecies provide ready-made interpretive categories by which to dismiss all controversy as unfounded and actually provide a sense of rejoicing when controversy comes because they validate the narrative IHOP KC lives by. It enables easy placement of all dissent into these categories of opposition and shuts down all genuine criticism.“
AMAZON.CAIHOP Kansas City Leadership Review: Grievances and Concerns About Theology, Culture, Students and LeadersIHOP Kansas City Leadership Review: Grievances and Concerns About Theology, Culture, Students and Leaders
Full Documented Report – https://edoc.tips/download/summary-of-grivances-and-concerns-regarding-ihop-kc-prophecy_pdf
A TPM Investiagation: Inside The International House Of Prayer
By Sarah Posner | October 1, 2014 1:30 p.m.
a https://talkingpointsmemo.com/feature/inside-the-international-house-of-prayer-2
Drawn To The End-Times & A Murderous Jesus
“When I started IHOP I was enamored by Mike’s end-times message and the grandeur of it all,” said Kendall Beachey, who moved from Indiana to Kansas City in 2008, abandoning his college studies to become an IHOP intern. He ended up staying, and graduated in 2012 from IHOPU, which, according to promotional materials, trains “forerunner messengers” to stand against “liberal theology,” “radical Islam,” and “the mediocre expression of Christianity.”
The allure of Bickle’s teaching, said Beachey, is that his followers believe they are the heroes in his end-times vision, which is central to his theology. While it shares a general narrative with other apocalyptic end-times scenarios, Bickle’s view is post-tribulation, rather than pre-tribulation (The tribulation is the period during which, these end-times theories maintain, the Antichrist will reign over the earth, leading to wars, famines, natural disasters, and religious persecution.) Pre-tribulation, the more popularized view, such as in the Left Behind series, holds that Christians will be raptured to heaven before the Great Tribulation on earth. Bickle calls that view “unbiblical,” promising his followers that in his post-tribulation scenario “the Church will be on earth, walking in victory through the Great Tribulation. This will be the Church’s finest hour, when the power of God will be experienced in great measure, surpassing any other time in history.”
“For me,” said Beachey, “this kid who grew up in the Midwest who never had any significance, I had this storyline that gave my life an epic significance.”
Herrington, who came to IHOP with the Deaton group in early 2009, said that Bickle’s sermon at the popular “One Thing” conference in 2008, “The Coming Eschatological Revolution parts 1 and 2,” convinced the group to move to Grandview. These sermons, Herrington said, were recently removed from the website, but in them Bickle “talks about Jesus killing all the heads of state and there’s a part at the end of the first sermon where he says he saw an angel in his bedroom and had an ‘open vision’ that tanks were rolling across America,” Herrington said. Herrington briefly attended IHOPU and later worked in IHOP’s marketing and editing department, proofreading 30 years of Bickle’s teachings.“The day is coming when every head of state in the United Nations will be killed by the prayers of the saints answered in person by Jesus”
Herrington shared with me copies of these sermons which he kept before they were removed from the IHOP website. In one, Bickle said, “The day is coming when every head of state in the United Nations will be killed by the prayers of the saints answered in person by Jesus,” citing Psalm 110:5-6. Responding to anticipated objections to his depiction of a violent Jesus, Bickle added, “Let me tell you, the Jesus of Christmas, peace and goodwill, and the Jesus of Armageddon are the exact same person, and Jesus of Armageddon is executing the kings of the earth in order to establish peace on the earth, because the kings will be joining the greatest oppressor ever to raise up in human history, the Antichrist. These kings will be oppressors in unity with him, and Jesus is coming to confront oppression and drive oppression off the planet and to drive evil off the planet in relationship to the praying Church.”
In a more recent sermon, (and this one is still accessible on the internet), “The Battle for Jerusalem: Litmus Test for the End-Time Church,” which Bickle delivered at IHOP’s annual Israel Mandate Conference in June, Jesus is described as “the head of the army” and “politically the head of the nations.” The armies of the world will gather in Jerusalem, Bickle claimed, “to make war against Jesus.” The world’s “kings” and their armies “will be killed with a sword that comes from the Lord,” after which Jesus will “liberate Jerusalem.”
Some arrive in Kansas City driven by the need for acceptance, said a former IHOPU faculty member. “People have self-esteem needs, and the way they meet them is by attaching themselves to delusions of grandeur.” In this case, he said, they have the idea that “we are the people who are restoring the understanding of Christianity, we are the people who have the greater amount of revelation, we know what God is doing, what is about to come, and the rest of the church has to catch up with us.”
But that can backfire at IHOP—where there are high, possibly unattainable, expectations for demonstrating one’s devotion to God. “I’ve talked to many people who don’t feel loved,” the former faculty member said. “They feel like they’re a failure to God.”
For those who persevere and stay, the draw of IHOP’s elitism is what holds them, he added. “Implicitly it’s taught that we are the epicenter,” leading to a fear that if they leave, “they won’t have the same level of spiritual growth.”
scribal well 
I had a roommate who was on staff with IHOP. In its 2nd year, she decided that she was being called to marry Jesus and choose never to marry. They allowed her to have the ceremony in the prayer room and many attended. She told me that Mike Bickle wanted to build a convent on Shiloh property, an undeveloped piece of land that IHOP owned, and that he wanted her to run it. The convent was never built.
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Hi Elizabeth. The book I mentioned, (if you rec’d my 1st reply), is in this blog. I was wondering if you knew anything about what transpired with the meeting with IHOP, re: the concerns accumulated in the report. Thank you for your comments. Mike’s smile and demeanor can be quite disarming, but behind the smile it’s quite alarming.
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No, I don’t know anything about the meeting. I became an outsider to that community after my first year of belonging to it. It was too much, too extreme, so dysfunctional.
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