If you don’t know who Mike Bickle is, he’s the founder of the charismatic organization known as International House of Prayer (IHOPKC) which is headquartered in Kansas City. Bickle, a former Kansas City pastor, founded the organization after he claimed a man named Augustine approached him, and “prophesied” to his congregation with astonishing accuracy about the state of his church.
Bickle later claimed to receive an audible revelation from God that told him “I am inviting you to raise up a work that will touch the ends of the earth. I have invited many people to do this thing and many people have said yes, but very few have done my will.”
Bickle became the subject of controversy several years ago when former Southern Baptist president, Ronnie Floyd, began appearing at his church–which regularly blasphemes the Holy Spirit–to preach at its annual conference. Along with Floyd appeared Francis Chan who, at the time, still appeared to be relatively orthodox. It was disheartening, but not surprising, to see these mainstream Evangelical pastors and leaders partner with this flaming heretic, Mike Bickle.
Now, it appears that these aren’t the only two–according to Francis Chan, John Piper not only gave glowing accolades to Mike Bickle, but gave Chan “permission” to partner with him.
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I got so much hate mail that I remember asking John Piper, “where I go, man? What do you know about Mike Bickle?” Like I’m getting so many people angry, you know, and kinda asking his permission almost. He goes, “Francis, if you’re asking me if I’m mad at you because you’re going to speak for Mike Bickle,” he goes “no, I’m not. I tell you, he loves Jesus.” He goes, “I don’t know all his theology and I think we differ some on eschatological things,” he goes “but he loves Jesus.” And that’s exactly what I found in Mike, ahh, the man loves Jesus.
The lack of discernment among mainstream Evangelical leaders is beyond astonishing. The Scriptures are clear–even Satan himself disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:!4). We don’t judge false teachers based on how nice they are–we judge them based on their fruits (Matthew 7:15-20). And Bickle’s fruit is rotten. He denies the sufficiency of Scripture, he blasphemes the Holy Spirit, and he perverts the grace of God for personal gain. And, according to Francis Chan, John Piper endorsed him.
