I won’t start this one with a fancy quote like I usually do…
My heart is weighted down… I take no joy in seeing another organization engulfed in flames and throwing gas onto the blaze through their infatuation with the leader or the organization to such a degree that the organism itself dies under its own weight.
I’ve spent probably 20 plus hours studying and reading this dark subject for a few weeks. What you have heard so far in terms of what happened and is happening at IHOPKC is just the tip of the iceberg… sadly there is much more that will be released in coming months. Three victims now have come out publicly and others who have been previously silenced may still come forward… even as Mike Bickle and some leaders at IHOPKC seem to be forming a narrative that makes it look like somehow the Church or Mike himself is the victim.
I’m not going to spend a ton of time on this today… I’m in the middle of writing what could be two or three blog posts on this, I’ve scrapped several in the process as this is difficult to write about.
I attended a Church where the cult of personality was strong. I can understand when someone goes through this difficult internal process where they are trying to make sense of quantify whether the allegations are true.
“There’s no way he would do that!”
“I know him, he would never even think of that”
One can hear the lines…
I’ll just say this for today:
If a Church culture is more concerned about the organization and the reputation of the leader than the organism or rather the individual “cells”, those souls that make up the organism… that Church won’t stand the test of time. It will fail spectacularly…
Wake up people of God… it’s time to lay aside the cult of personality and building massive brick and mortar organizations and turn to wholeheartedly do the things Christ is calling us to!
There will always be a Mike Bickle… a man who uses his charisma and leverages the Bible as a tool to manipulate and gaslight... or as happened in Mikes case, utilize “Prophecy” to satisfy his need for self importance.
We don’t have to listen…
Praying for the victims in this story as well as the followers of Christ who are finding themselves in the middle of a firestorm they didn’t create.
I was speaking with a someone who was intending to spend some time at IHOPKC awhile ago - I didn’t know what was happening yet in the undercurrent that we are seeing now but I asked them something like this
“if let’s say a core leader here is caught in a scandal - what does that do to your faith?”
I think we should always be asking ourselves this question. When a leader is to big to fail... perhaps he or she has become an idol.
Enough said for today… I may release some more on this.
Let the idols fall... let Christ be glorified! Let His perfection heal the brokenness and trauma that mere men have left as they chose the created over the creator. Let TRUTH reign over lies, manipulation and deception!
I'll leave this quote here:
“Reformed evangelicals regularly talk about the doctrine of total depravity—how sin is deeper and more pernicious than we realize, affecting every aspect of our lives (actions, mind, will). While every human being is not as sinful as they could possibly be, every human being—even pastors—has the potential to commit acts of serious wickedness. Despite many churches’ affirmation of this important doctrine on paper, it can quickly be forgotten when it comes to cases of spiritual abuse. As soon as victims have the courage to speak up about abusive behavior, they are usually met with a chorus of rebuttals along the lines of, “I know this pastor, and he could never do this,” or, “This pastor has blessed and helped countless people over the years. He could never do something like this.” Rather than taking the concerns seriously and investigating them carefully, leadership dismisses them as impossible or so unlikely as to not merit real consideration. In other words, monsters don’t exist (at least not in our church). And in a tragically ironic turn, the defenders of the abusive pastor often raise questions about the integrity and the character of the victims, suggesting they are out to slander or malign the leader’s “good name.” So the doctrine of total depravity is forgotten when it comes to the pastor but remembered when it comes to the victims.”
— Bully Pulpit: Confronting the Problem of Spiritual Abuse in the Church by Michael J Kruger
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